Karen Grieve's North West educator excellence award came from Family Daycare Australia.

The award recognises her for "dedication to children and families, and her unique and nurturing approach to early years education," according to Family Day care Australia CEO Andrew Paterson.

Confident in the quality of her service, Ms Grieve said "It's a privilege to be recognised for the high level of commitment and the support I provide to families and children."

Ms Grieve said that in a time when committed childcare is in high demand, the family daycare model has some big advantages over centres.

"It's very one-on-one and I see the children at the start of the day," she said.

"And I can tell the parents everything that happens because I'm here for the whole journey."

"We explore cultural heritage backgrounds and traditions of each child that uses my service and celebrate these," she said.

"These all help me build bridges of trust, respect, and understanding with each of my families."

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This culturally sensitive approach is quite obvious in the play area Ms Grieve has designed.

Amongst the assortment of puzzles and building blocks are Indigenous flags and art.

Ms Grieve has now been in childcare for nearly 20 years and for just under 10 of those she has been based in Tamworth.

Over this time she had developed a program that has "strong play-based learning."

"That supports children to learn through play, as children makes sense of the world, they are supported to ask questions, solve problems and engage in critical thinking," she said.

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