23 February 2015
As this message reaches you, I hope you and your child are beginning to feel settled into your ECMS service and excited about the year of learning ahead of you.
Transitions can be challenging for young children and for parents and caregivers at times. Whether it’s from eating breakfast to getting dressed, or moving from one year of early learning into another – we recognise that sometimes simply getting to kindergarten or childcare is a massive achievement in itself. We congratulate you for investing in your child’s early education and thank you for the opportunity to contribute to their growth and development in 2015.
We’ve had a fantastic start to the year with three brand new services opening their doors at Keon Park Children’s Hub in Reservoir, Bridge Road Kindergarten in Melton South, and Clayton South Kindergarten (formerly Kallay Street Kindergarten) which has transitioned to an on-school-site service. Two more services at Hurstbridge Family and Children Centre and Oakhill Children’s Centre in Darebin are set to open in March. Each of these services demonstrate how ECMS is working in partnership to respond to community needs, planning for and developing joined-up, innovative services.
You may be aware that there is still some uncertainty around the Federal Government’s future funding for universal access to 15 hours of kindergarten for four year olds in 2016. Along with our sector peers, we are working hard to lobby government to provide certainty and commit to funding universal access for the long term. This is an important factor in providing choices for families and better outcomes for more children, particularly those who are more vulnerable in our communities.
ECMS is committed to advocating for the rights of all children, families and educators. The final report of the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Child Care and Early Childhood Learning was released on Friday. This is the next step in the process towards the Federal Government’s review of the early childhood education and care sector and development of its new Families Package, so it’s more important than ever for us to continue calling for increased investment in the early years.
We need to raise the bar on quality, affordability and accessibility of early years services in Australia, especially for those who are vulnerable and at-risk. I’d like to invite you all to support The Smart Start campaign and sign the Smart Start petition which calls on the Senate to increase investment in quality, affordable and accessible early learning services. This petition will be tabled in late March – please sign and share this with your friends. Hard copies of the petition are also available in our services.
While there is a lot of activity happening in the here and now, we’re also making time to look beyond 2015 with our new Strategic Plan for 2016-2020. This is important and exciting work for the ECMS Board and the Executive Leadership Team. Late last year, the ECMS Board agreed on a new strategic direction for the evolution of our organisation, ensuring we grow the depth and reach of our services and increase the impact we have on positive outcomes for children, particularly during the years of heightened brain development and amongst those who are vulnerable and at-risk. We will continue to build on our pillars of leadership, inclusion, quality and responsiveness, people and team, and resources and sustainability. I look forward to sharing more detail with you all soon and welcome any thoughts you may have.
Thanks,
Bernie