Our Connected Beginnings program’s purpose:
Is about improving the opportunity for our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children to achieve their best potential by increasing their level of participation in mainstream Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and any other relevant services and settings. Our aim is to achieve systemic and sustainable positive change by working together across the community and services system to improve school readiness and educational outcomes for our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children and their families across the Mt Druitt and Doonside area.
Our initiative is to address the elevated levels of developmental vulnerability, long waiting list, issues in accessing Culturally appropriate services and the barriers that our mob face when trying to access Early Childhood Education and Care services in the Mt Druitt & Doonside Communities.
Our Connected Beginnings Teams are about strengthening the child service system by having our mob in our communities’ voices lead the way. The team does this by using the principles of the collective impact approach, which will support us to ensure we have our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander community voices at the centre and then shared across the service system. The aim is then to bring the whole community together to address these issues and start working towards a common goal to achieve better outcomes for our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children and their families.
Our Connected Beginning Programs also run community activities & programs for our mob in
Mt Druitt & Doonside these include:
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Early Learning Education Fair Days
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School Readiness Fair Days
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Provide a Cultural supported referral pathway for our families.
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Community Events – NAIDOC, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children Days and many more.
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Outreach Programs – Hearing Program, Speech Therapy, Playgroups
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Host bi-monthly partnership meetings between all services and our Mob
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Bringing Sovereignty of Data to our Community
