QLD follows Vic suit with $40m three-year-old kinder initiative, announced yesterday

The Queensland Government will invest $40 million into a targeted three-year pilot program that will provide extra support for vulnerable and disadvantaged children at more than 400 kindergartens across the state.

Minister for Education Grace Grace made the announcement yesterday, on Early Childhood Educators’ Day, saying “We have more than 34,000 early childhood educators and staff across some 3,000 early childhood services in Queensland, and every one of them makes an important contribution to building strong, lifelong learning foundations for our youngsters.”

The announcement received a warm welcome from Queensland’s early childhood sector, with Kindergarten Director of Kambu Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Health, Caroline Baum, excited to be taking part in the pilot.

“We are delighted to join Minister Grace today and be part of this amazing program to help nurture, engage and improve children’s outcomes,” Ms Baum said.

The program has been targeted to support approximately 13,500 Queensland children to get the most out of their time at kindy, and will focus on five specific areas for improvement: 

• Oral language and communication
• Processing information and responding 
• Physicality
• Social and emotional capacity 
• Access and inclusion.

The funding is designed to be flexible, so that it is able to be allocated where it will make the most difference. 

“For example, funding could be used to introduce a wellbeing support program for kids who are doing it tough and will trial a model of additional resources and early support for kids who need it most,” Ms Grace explained. 

“To offer a quality education and care program with dedicated and upskilled educators who are passionate about the child’s education journey and smooth transition progress, is a wonderful opportunity,” Ms Baum added.

“We know the benefits for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in particular will be lifelong.”

For more information about Kindy uplift please see here.