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Support for the principals of the 100 new public preschools in NSW
Freya Lucas
Aug 15, 2024
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The New South Wales Department of Education will work with the principals of the 100 new public preschools announced last year to ensure that they are well supported to lead and manage a new public preschool as part of their school by 2027.
Principals will be able to access a range of support and resources to ensure the smooth delivery of new public preschools, including:Support from the Early Learning team
The department’s Early Learning team in Curriculum and Reform act on behalf of the department as the Approved Provider of 99 NSW public preschools.
The team holds the responsibility to ensure the preschools provide secure, positive, and stimulating learning environments to help all children make a strong start in life and learning and experience a successful transition to school.
The team will ensure schools receiving a new public preschool are well supported to understand and meet the requirements of the National Quality Framework, are compliant with the National Law and Regulations, and meet or exceed the National Quality Standard.
A dedicated member of the Early Learning team will be on each preschool’s Project Reference Group [PRG] to ensure regulatory compliance and alignment with school context.
As the number of public preschools increases, so too will the resources and support provided by the department to ensure Principals and school staff are supported to take on new responsibilities.
Thus far, in the first half of 2024, the Early Learning team has:
- completed 150 onsite preschool visits
- completed 781 hours of virtual support
- run 40 professional learning sessions (11 face to face and 29 online).
Support in the lead up to opening
In the lead up to the opening of a new public preschool, the Early Learning team will provide the following support:
Submit service approval application to ensure public preschools are granted approval to operate by the NSW ECEC RA:
- support and guidance to develop and submit documentation required under legislation, including risk assessments and mandatory procedures
- advice on resourcing the preschool and setting up the environments to ensure it is ready and equipped to be granted service approval from the NSW ECEC RA
- active involvement on the Project Reference Group and liaising with SINSW to provide building plans and required documentation related to the premises
- on-site support for the pre-approval visit from the regulatory authority.
Support after service approval is granted:
- guidance to include preschool in school’s Reconciliation Action Plan
- induction processes for whole school staff and ongoing preschool staff
- professional learning and guidance to develop service statement of philosophy
- support self-assessment against the NQF to develop a QIP.
Support for principals and leaders:
- delivery of leadership course focused on leading and managing the preschool
- well established platforms for leaders to collaborate with existing preschool principals
- leadership channel, newsletter and targeted termly meetings as well as professional learning
- onsite visits, phone calls and emails
- regular conversations with Public Schools and the NSW ECEC RA to ensure the delivery of consistent and clear information.
Capacity building for teachers and educators:
- delivery of induction sessions to prepare for operating a public preschool
- guidance to develop and deliver age-appropriate educational programs aligned to the Early Years Learning Framework, the legislated approved learning framework
- suggested learning pathways to engage with the most relevant professional learning (PL)
- invitation to participate in optional, ongoing PL
- invitation to join existing preschool communities of practice.
Support from across the department
Various teams within the department will work together to support schools delivering a public preschool on their site in a collaborative manner.
“The delivery of the election commitment to build 100 new public preschools by 2027 requires collaboration across the department. Every step of the way, the department will provide ongoing support to help Principals establish, lead and manage a high-quality public preschool,” information on the Department’s website notes.
Central support for principals and public preschools
The department as the approved provider has a suite of supports in place to support school leaders and preschool staff, these include the following resources:
- Leading and operating public preschool guidelines
- Early learning statewide staffroom
- Virtual staff meetings
- Annual leadership conference
- Termly leadership network meetings
- Termly newsletter
- Professional learning
- Biannual preschool induction
- Termly on-site support visits.
This information was first shared on the NSW Department of Education website and may be found here.
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