A note from Bernie Nott, our CEO...
Welcome to the Early Childhood Management Services website and thank you for taking the time to learn more about our organisation. I have recently joined ECMS as Chief Executive Officer and am very excited to be part of such a wonderful organisation with a proud history of quality early years education and care.
Throughout my 20-years of working in not-for-profit and public sectors, I have had the opportunity to work in many different community service settings and with some of the most disadvantaged people and communities. I have been constantly reminded that our work in early childhood services is clearly some of the most important work that we can be entrusted with.
At a recent conference put on by the Centre for Community Child Health (Royal Childrens Hospital) we discussed how society has changed and the challenges we face as a community:
- Families are smaller, more culturally diverse with many experiencing isolation and difficulty balance work and family demands
- Communities are more socially fragmented, there is less trust, more concerns about safety and reduced opportunities for physical activity
- Parenting has become more stressful and challenging
- Continued population growth is stretching our capacity to provide social services
- More children and families are missing out on services and children are arriving at school poorly equipped to take advantage of opportunities offered.
It’s certainly a challenging time for families and this simply reinforces the importance of our work in early childhood services and the difference we can make for children and their families and communities. It also reinforces the importance of improving and adapting our services to meet the changing needs of the community. ECMS has an ‘open-door’ policy and aims to work in partnership with families and communities in order to best respond to their needs. We invite you to share your thoughts and ideas with us by emailing ecms@ecms.org.au or calling us on 8481 1100. We are currently in the process of reviewing our online presence, so stay tuned for improvements in 2012.