Tamworth's Rachael Phillips wins national HESTA award.

Ms Phillips was handed the Individual Leadership award at the HESTA Early Childhood Education and Care Awards in Adelaide on Friday, October 6.

The award recognises leadership in advancing education for First Nations children and advocating for more culturally appropriate early childhood settings.

"I've just been on these high because even just being one of three who was selected out of a couple of hundred across the whole nation, was an achievement in itself," Ms Phillips said.

"Then to win, well, I've just been overwhelmed with so much support."

Ms Phillips runs the Birrelee Multifunctional Aboriginal Children's Service (MACS) in West Tamworth for youngsters aged 0 to six years old. The centre opened in 1985.

"Our philosophy is very much still the same as it was then," Ms Phillips said.

"It's an inclusive practice that provides a culturally safe and culturally enriched curriculum for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children as well as non Aboriginal children because culture is everybody's business.

"I truly believe that everyone living in Australia should know Australia's history. Everyone should know what country they're on."

Birrelee is also where Ms Phillips went to preschool, where he sister worked, and her mother was once part of the governing body, so her connection and family ties to the school runs deep.

"It's a generational service. And to me, that is my purpose. And it's my love and my passion," Ms Phillips said.

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Ms Phillips said she brings a "voice straight from communities and families" to the consultative groups and various boards she sits on as an advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

"It's about knowing our community, what the community needs, and championing what we do in that space," she said.

"It's about connecting with knowledge holders, and having a safe space where we can be the bridge between families and external services."

Ms Phillips started working at Birrelee about 16 years ago, with no formal training before being enrolled in a Bachelor of Early Childhood Teaching at MacQuarie University, studying off-campus.

After graduating in April 2011, she became a teacher there and was later promoted to the role of the school's director in 2015.

"I've done every role at Birrelee, including the bus driving and the cook and the cleaning, and studying and working full time," she said.

Ms Phillips won $10,000 for her efforts as part of the HESTA award and plans to travel to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other multicultural schools in Australia, to learn how she can do things better at Birrelee.

"One of the biggest things I'm advocating for right now is that early childhood education is for every single child," Ms Phillips said, alluding to her support for scrapping pre-enrolment 'activity tests' that determines a family's suitability for a subsidy.

"It shouldn't be limited due to family dynamics or family types."

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