In September 2006, Kate King walked into our Serpentine Jarrahdale Community Recreation Centre (SJCRC) for a Friday morning crèche shift. Twenty years later, she’s still here, and has just celebrated her 20-year anniversary with the Y WA.
Kate started as a crèche attendant, customer service officer and cleaner, all rolled into one Friday morning role. Since then, she has become what she and her fellow coworkers call a ‘jack of all trades’, working across crèche, learning, front desk, making coffees, operating cleaning machines, supervising functions and more.
A lot has changed along the way, “I’ve seen managers come and go, staff come and go, kids come and go, and people come and go. But I’m still here!”, Kate said.
Of everything she has done at the centre, it’s the crèche that Kate is most proud of. “I feel having a familiar face and someone a parent can trust with their little treasures [with experience] and talk to is important, even if it’s only for a few hours,” she said.
The crèche is also where Kate finds the most joy. “My favourite part of the job is seeing the children in crèche grow up and develop into little people, then enrolling them in the gym as young adults”. For Kate, the centre has been far more than a workplace.
“The centre has become part of my life. have made many friends with not only the staff but the people who attend the centre”, she said.
When asked what has kept her here for 20 years, Kate points to the people she works with, the variety of positions, and the flexibility to balance work and family life. Her daughter started in crèche with her as a one-year-old, and that flexibility meant Kate could drop her off and pick her up from school right through to Year 12.
Looking back, Kate sums up her time at the centre simply,
“It’s been a wild ride… I have learnt a lot of new skills, both life and actual. Kind of think I earned a gold watch!” Her advice to her first-day self? “Be prepared to try new things!”
Thank you, Kate, for 20 years of loyalty, care and trust. Your familiar face has been part of countless families’ lives in the Serpentine Jarrahdale community, and we look forward to what the next chapter brings. Congratulations from all of us at the Y WA!
