Media Release

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

In a network first, a group of early childhood educators representing Family Day Care (FDC), Long Day Care, kindergarten, Early Intervention and Noah's Ark support programs, Communities For Children and the Sunraysia Institute of TAFE met late last month to share dinner and discuss childcare in the region.

Council's Children's Advocate Leah Farrow, in collaboration with Noah's Ark Inclusion Support person Netti Adams and TAFE's Co-ordinator of Children's Services at Sunraysia TAFE's Swan Hill campus Gabrielle Schammer arranged the successful evening.

The night also involved an exhibition of photos and stories about aspects of local programs as well as a digital story prepared by Ms Schammer after some inspirational excursions to Ballarat and Melbourne in which local TAFE students took part.

The photo exhibition, compiled by Council's FDC fieldworker Marg Hartshorn, can also be seen at the Swan Hill Rural City Council Splatt Street offices this week.

The connect network has met each term this year to establish closer relationships between the educators working in early childhood services within Swan Hill and the surrounding areas.

“At a time of rapid change across the children and family's service sector we need more than ever to work together and support each other professionally and personally,” Ms Farrow said.

“We have an exciting new national early childhood agenda, a new Victorian Framework for learning and development and a series of new regulations that all increase demands on us to read, reflect and implement programs that are genuinely respectful of all children and their families.

“The night was planned as an effort to increase the connections among local early childhood professionals, thus enabling a stronger message to be communicated to our community about the significant contribution all children's programs make to the health and wellbeing of our children and community.”