Excellent rated Belrose Community and Children’s Centre speaks on inclusion and advocacy

ACECQA recently awarded Belrose Community and Children’s Centre the Excellent rating, noting in particular the service’s commitment to inclusive partnerships to enhance each child’s educational and developmental trajectory.

Elements of inclusion were highlighted in the Excellent rating, including the review undertaken by the service of its philosophy, with an intention to illuminate perspectives for inclusion. 

Children and families were seen as crucial to the review and were actively engaged from the beginning of the process. Through the use of creative arts and visual vlog learning experiences, the children were active participants, having their voices heard and sharing their vision for the service.

To further highlight the nuanced work undertaken in the philosophy review, the service created a display which features the updated philosophy alongside a collection of the contributions made by children and families during the review and update process. The display, ACECQA said, captures the collaborative partnerships and voices of the service’s staff, children and families.

The service also advocated strongly for, and participated in, a local social inclusion initiative called Play for All – Swing. This involved advocating, and getting approval for, all local park swings to be replaced with high backed swings and supporting features to cater for each child’s capabilities, including those who have low muscle tone.

Belrose Community and Children’s Centre established the collaborative partnership between the service, the project and Northern Beaches Council, sharing their expertise in child development and leading the initial trial phase of the project.

To learn more about Belrose Community and Children’s Centre, please visit the service website, here.