Page 883 - Week 03 - Thursday, 7 April 2022
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childhood education for three-year-olds initiative. Children who would benefit most can access two days per week, 48 weeks per year, of free, high quality early childhood education. Up to 100 places are also available across all five Koori preschools in the ACT for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. These initiatives will expand to reach more three-year-old children in the coming years.
We are also improving our preschool program, with the new preschool reform agreement with the Australian government providing long-term funding for four-year-old children to access quality preschool programs. This agreement will increase access to, and participation in, quality preschool programs to maximise the benefit of early education and support children to be ready to learn when entering primary school.
Two region-based initiatives are underway to further understand how our community can best support children who are developmentally vulnerable, and ultimately to reduce the number of children in these circumstances. These are the Good Start in Life study, run by the University of Canberra, which looks at how to deliver complex, integrated services and interventions across sectors to improve the health and wellbeing of children who are at risk of developmental vulnerability; and the Village For Every Child program, which identifies issues facing young families in the Belconnen area with the aim of transforming early childhood systems.
We are also developing a five-year strategy for the first 1,000 days. The Best Start for Canberra’s Children: the First 1,000 days Strategy, aims to lay strong foundations for children from conception to two years old, mothers and families to improve wellbeing and development in the early years. The strategy will build on extensive research and engagement with a range of experts through a dedicated reference group. We are engaging with people with lived experience, to make sure the strategy is relevant, targeted and useful for those who the system often misses and whose voices are rarely heard directly.
Health promotion programs in schools and early childhood settings reached more than 42,000 students during 2020 and 2021. They supported more than 100 ACT schools and early childhood education and care services to improve students’ health literacy and support health promoting environments. These programs, including It’s Your Move, Kids at Play Active Play, and Fresh Tastes: healthy food at school, are well embedded and supported by the community.
We are committed to keeping children and young people safe and protecting them from harm. We all play a role to keep children and young people safe. As a community we owe it to our children, young people and families to do everything we can to support them to grow up safe, strong, connected and, wherever possible, together. The business of child protection belongs to us all.
Over the past six years, through the delivery of A Step Up for Our Kids out of home care strategy 2015–2020, the ACT government has achieved a considerable amount to establish a responsive and high functioning out of home care system. The implementation of this strategy has seen a marked change in the way the ACT supported children, young people and families at risk of entering out of home care.
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