Thank you Phil Conrick. It is always a pleasure to work with you, with colleen turner, and the whole team at Broadmeadows Uniting Care, who give such dedication and commitment to the local community in this area. Phil, Colleen, Cr Jack Ogilvie Mayor of the City of Hume, other distinguished guests, parents and children: Thank you for inviting me to launch this very practical collection of resources. I know they will support the great work a large number of people are doing to enhance early childhood for all our children in the City of Hume. It is especially appropriate that we are launching some really fun activities at a national playgroup day event. Playgroups are now an established part of the early childhood service network in the City of Hume. Not only are playgroups fun for children, they are also an enjoyable way for parents and carers to meet and exchange information with each other about the complex job of raising children. They are a way for parents to stay socially connected, a place for children to learn to play together in harmony and fun, and learn a whole range of life skills. Today could not have happened without local, active community partnerships. I look around and see at least 10 community agencies all with information and activities for parents and children. You have all worked together to help us celebrate national playgroup day. Communities for Children and the new Family Support Program I would like to briefly mention the communities for children program in broadmeadows, which is a great example of active partnerships. It is funded by the federal government, but it is only possible because a lot of local people and organizations have found a way to work together incredibly well. Over the last 4 years 35 separate projects have been undertaken by 25 community agencies. Headed by Broadmeadows Uniting Care, the groups have worked together to ensure that the projects are what the community wanted and needed, and that each project works collaboratively with other local services. It is great to know that this substantial project will continue and will become part of the recently announced family support program of the department of families, housing, community services and indigenous affairs. All families need support and communities for children will continue to find innovative ways for the community to support families and for families to support each other. One of the key areas of the current federal government program is its social inclusion agenda. The National Social Inclusion Board was launched here by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard in Broadmeadows last year. So it is appropriate that the first resource for families I launch today is a social inclusion kit for families and children. Being able to play with other children and make friends is very important for a young child’s overall development and in particular for being ready to start school. Social skills are skills for life. The “let’s play together” resource kit has been developed by broad insight group early childhood intervention program through the generous funding of Broadmeadows Communities for Children. It is a resource designed to help young children (3-6 years of age) develop their social skills so that they are able to be better included with other children in community activities such as kindergarten, child care, community groups and at home with friends and family. The resource includes five different kits filled with activities and equipment to promote social play. They are: 1. Building & construction 2. Pretend play3. Books & pictures4. Music, dance & drama5. Games The kits also contain an ’ideas book’ (in English, Turkish & Arabic) to assist families and services to make their own play resources. Individual kits are available for loan at no charge to all families and services within Broadmeadows, Campbellfield, Coolaroo, Dallas, Jacana & Meadow Heights. They are available from the resource library located at Coolaroo South Primary School. Families are able to use the kits at home to help their child/ren play with friends and siblings. The activities are ideal for learning how to take turns and work together. Family and children’s services can borrow the kits, and staff may also suggest the kits to families whose children who are experiencing difficulty in playing with others and being included. Education research tells us that children learn best through physical activity and play. Physical activity programs provide children aged eighteen months to five years with a wide range of activities that enhance their development, confidence, coordination, motor, social and emotional skills. Parent/child relationships can be further developed through active play and enhanced by the skills developed by carers of children. Broadmeadows Uniting Care, on behalf of communities for children Broadmeadows, contracted Victorian Cooperative on Children’s Services for Ethnic Groups (VICSEG) to manage the playgroup enhancement project. A component of this project was then developed by Carmel Barberio, Hume playgroup coordinator, based at Banksia Gardens Community Centre. Carmel had many opportunities to trial the kit having lots of fun with families and children, all in the name of work!!! This physical activity kit will encourage playgroups and parents to engage children. By providing these kits together with prepared training and support materials, it will be possible to have a direct and positive effect on the wellbeing of young children in the playgroup environment and at home. The physical activity kit includes:§ Parachute to run and jump and hide under § Hula-hoops in assorted colours to twirl § Balls in red, green, purple and yellow to throw and catch and kick and chase§ Storage bag to contain all the components of the physical activity kit And the following support materials:§ Physical development DVD which features local families talking about using the kit to learn physical skills. § A-z play sheets from Playgroup Victoria§ Healthy eating and play – kids ‘go for your life’ pamphlet The oral language and literacy kits, developed by the Coolaroo South Hub, are designed to prepare children for school with well developed language, literacy, emotional and social skills. The Coolaroo South Primary School and kindergarten community relies heavily on parent participation and ensures home interactions between parent and child to achieve our early year’s objectives. The kits aims to develop oral language, cognitive and communication skills for children in kindergartens through play based activities. Both schools and the AEDI had identified language as a vulnerability for a substantial proportion of children in the region (dallas, campbellfield and upfield). Therefore, an early intervention approach was taken by engaging with interested parents and children in their kindergarten year.
The language and literacy tubs comprise a range of inexpensive toys arranged into themes such as picnic time, shopping, clothes, animals of the wild, farm animals, sports, transport and food.
The kits include instructions for use in English,Turkish and Arabic.
The Coolaroo South hub at Coolaroo South Primary School and Kindergarten is an accessible and central location in our community and has experienced people who can distribute all the resources launched today and a range of other resources still being developed. Any one interested in borrowing any of the resources launched today should speak with Faye from Coolaroo South Hub. The time for talking is nearly over, and the time for playing is here at last. With a great deal of pleasure, I declare these fantastic resource kits officially launched. Thank you.