Increased access to Kinder for children and families from CaLD backgrounds

Council-led outreach programs are the latest initiative from the Victorian Government, designed to bring more culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) families into three and four-year-old kinder in the state.

The programs were announced by Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep Ingrid Stitt, who visited Springvale Service for Children to receive an update from one of the recipients of the 22 CALD Outreach Initiative grants and meet families in the City of Greater Dandenong who have benefitted from the program.

The CALD Outreach Initiative started in eight local councils in 2021 and has already supported more than 2,500 children to enrol in and attend kindergarten. Supporting councils to run engagement activities and employ outreach workers, grants totalling $3.5 million have backed children and families from CaLD backgrounds to access and attend kindergarten, connect with other early childhood supports and transition successfully to primary school.

CaLD outreach teams work across communities to help CaLD families access early childhood services in their local area, including visiting playgroups, libraries and community hubs, assisting families with kindergarten enrolment, organising information sessions and working with educators to address attendance barriers.

The Municipal Association of Victoria is receiving funding to support council-led outreach programs and activities, and share key learnings and insights with all councils state-wide.

A further $800,000 in funding over two years is also supporting bicultural workers from the Brotherhood of St Laurence to deliver targeted outreach to CaLD families living in public housing in the cities of Maribyrnong, Melbourne, Moonee Valley and Yarra through the Family Learning Support Program.

Since 2020, the program has worked with families from Eritrean, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Somali, Pakistani, Turkish, Sudanese and Pacific Islander backgrounds, with a full suite of translated resources and free interpreters available to support Victoria’s multicultural communities to engage with kindergarten.

For more information visit vic.gov.au/kinder/translations or vic.gov.au/use-interpreter-early-childhood-educationservices

A list of CALD Outreach Initiative grant recipients appears below:

* Greater Shepparton City Council and Cardinia Shire Council will also have a CALD outreach worker in place until mid-2023, supported by funding received through previous grants.