In The Field
NSW rolls out free health and development checks in ECEC centres
Freya Lucas
Sep 27, 2023
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The NSW Department of Education and NSW Health are working in partnership to provide onsite health and development checks for preschoolers in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services across the state.
“We want to support long term health and development outcomes for all children across NSW, regardless of their family’s postcode, income or circumstances,” said Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car.The NSW Government is investing $111.2 million over four years into the program. Local health districts (LHDs) will work with ECEC services to implement the program, taking into consideration local community and cultural needs.The checks will give families crucial insights into how their children are tracking before they begin school regardless of if their child attends a public preschool, community preschool or long day care centre, and will look at how children’s physical and cognitive development, social and emotional development, and speech and communication skills are tracking.“Health and early childhood education providers working together with families will make the delivery of these health and development checks within local early learning settings a reality,” said NSW Minister for Health and Regional Health Ryan Park.
The program also aims to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children developmentally on track in all five Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) domains to 55 per cent by 2031, in line with Closing the Gap target four. Starting this month, the program will roll out in a small number of locations across six LHDs: South Eastern Sydney, South Western Sydney, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Hunter New England, Mid North Coast, and Nepean Blue Mountains. By the end of 2023, implementation of the program will be underway in almost all local health districts across NSW, and it will be available statewide by the end of 2024. Find out more about health and development checks in early childhood services using the link provided.
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