QKindy and early childhood Edition 1, 2015
Welcome
Welcome to the first edition of QKindy and early childhood for 2015.
Every Queensland child should have the opportunity to be a ‘kindy kid’ and benefit from a high quality early childhood education.
I believe children are born ready to learn and that in the early years, children learn through play.
That’s why I’m pleased that the reforms to give every Queensland child access to kindergarten have continued to roll out since 2009.
We’ve come a long way in the past six years, with more children than ever before taking part in approved kindergarten programs.
This year, communities in Mackay South, North Lakes, Redbank Plains, Murrumba Downs and Dalby are benefiting from new kindergarten services.
My focus is to make sure more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and children in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities, have a real chance to become part of a kindy community in their journey to Prep.
I also acknowledge the need to raise the profile and standing of early childhood educators as a profession.
I welcome the news that the Australian Government has announced two more years of national funding. I see this announcement as a down payment while the details about the extended national partnership are clarified.
I hope you enjoy this edition of QKindy and early childhood.
The new name reflects the wide scope of initiatives and programs across the department, dedicated to the education of Queensland children from birth to eight years.
This edition focuses on some of these initiatives including Families as First Teachers, dads playgroup, and workshops helping rural and remote services to deliver culturally inclusive programs.
I look forward to meeting you, listening to your ideas and vision, and visiting as many services as I can in the near future.
Kate Jones MP
Minister for Education and Minister for Tourism,
Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games
Dads connect through playgroup
A new playgroup in Pine Rivers is helping dads spend quality time with their children and build new friendships in a welcoming environment.
The dads playgroup was formed by a Pine Rivers neighbour centre, Encircle, through Playgroup Queensland’s Accessible Playgroup Initiative.
The playgroup aimed to respond to the growing number of stay-at-home, single and shared care dads.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013) reveal that the number of Australian stay-at-home dads has almost doubled over the past decade, from 57,900 to 106,000.
Single dads have also increased by 20,000 over the past five years.
Being a stay-at-home, single or shared care dad can often be challenging, especially without the support of a strong network.
Playgroup Queensland’s State Coordinator for Accessible Playgroups Andrew McMahon says local playgroups provide an opportunity for parents and carers, including dads, to meet new people, build friendships and share ideas and experiences in a safe environment.
‘Our dads playgroup is a great way for dads to spend quality time with their children, and talk about their family situation or experiences with other dads,’ Mr McMahon said.
‘The best thing about the dads playgroup is that it is helping the dads build a new network of mates who can help and support them in their role as parents.
‘No one in the group judges any of the other dads’ backgrounds or situations. What’s important is that each dad is there because they love their children and want to be involved with them,’ he said.
Paul Bradshaw takes his daughter to the dads’ playgroup regularly and says it’s a great way for him to spend quality time with her.
‘I’ve taken my daughter to other playgroups before, which have been mostly attended by mothers, and have sometimes felt like I was intruding — being a dad and all,’ Mr Bradshaw said.
‘I find the dads playgroup a fantastic way to talk to other dads about pretty much anything, as well as sharing fun learning experiences with my daughter.
‘It’s so much more than just having a chat with the other dads and playing with toys.
‘We’ve done so many different activities at the playgroup — making pancakes, going out into the garden, making toy cars out of cardboard boxes and lots more.
‘I’d definitely recommend other dads to attend, especially dads playgroups like this one at the Pine Rivers Neighbourhood Centre,’ Mr Bradshaw said.
The dads playgroup has gone from strength to strength over the last two years, successfully transitioning to a community playgroup in November last year.
The dads playgroup is led by the dads, community volunteers and the Encircle program, with continued support from Playgroup Queensland and the Queensland Government.
More information
For more information about dads playgroup or to find a playgroup near you, visit
Aunty Wasietalks kindy
The laughter, fun and emotion of kindergarten experiences have been captured through a new Kindy counts! video.
The video features Thursday Island Elder and educator, Aunty WasieTardent sharing her love of kindy.
Aunty Wasie started the first kindergarten service in the Torres Strait in 1979 and has extensive experience in early childhood.
In her video, Aunty Wasie shares stories of her career and philosophy about early childhood education to help Torres Strait Islander families learn about the importance of kindergarten.
‘Parents are the first teachers at home to help the children before they send the children to kindy,’ Aunty Wasie said.
‘There are lots of things parents can do to help them.
‘When they go to the beach they can count shells, or walk into town and look at things and talk about them.
‘Children also learn good things at kindy.
‘When they come to kindy, they come to be one happy family and learn how to share, care for each other and solve problems.
‘The children learn all these things, lots of things, when they come to kindy,’ she said.
Visit the department’s YouTube channel ( the Kindy counts! Facebook page ( watch Aunty Wasie’s video.
To find out more about the Kindy counts! campaign, visit
Say g’day to Jay team tour the south-east
Kindy ambassador Jay Laga’aia and the Kindy counts! team had a ball bringing the fun of kindergarten to communities across south-east Queensland recently.
The third Say g’day to Jay kindy concerts tour was the Kindy counts! team’s biggest and brightest so far.
More than 20,000 people attended booked out concerts on the Gold Coast, in Logan, Kingaroy, Toowoomba, Caboolture and Brisbane.
In a testament to the success of the concerts and why kindy really does count, families across the south-east sang, danced and played with Jay over 12 kindy concerts across eight days.
The full itinerary and concert info can be found at the Say g’day to Jay kindy concerts website at
You can also visit the Kindy counts! Facebook page(
to see photos, videos and updates from Jay.
Parents build knowledge with Starting Blocks
Parents are often faced with many decisions and sometimes an overwhelming amount of information and opinions about their child’s early years.
Although services are keen to meet the National Quality Framework and achieve ratings that meet or exceed minimum requirements, it seems parents place more value on the outcomes their child achieves.
The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority has spoken to parents and families and found they want information to help them make choices about quality education and care for their children.
In response to this feedback, the Starting Blocks website ( has been developed to provide families with trusted information about early childhood education and care, all in one place.
The website is a starting point for parents looking for information about a wide range of topics including what early childhood education and care can offer them and their child, what they can expect from a service, the different types of services available, and how to find a service.
There is also helpful information about how parents can prepare their child (and themselves) before their first day in an early childhood education and care service.
Practical advice about what activities parents can do at home with their children to support early childhood development is also available on the website.
For example, helping their child ‘learn’ through a range of playbasedactivities such as playing peek-a-boo with a baby or playing dress-ups with kindy-aged children.
These types of activities can build a strong foundation for
the development of their child’s social, emotional, physical, cognitive and language skills.
This information can be helpful for parents who aren’t thinking of enrolling their child in early childhood education and care as yet.
The Starting Blocks website also provides a forum for parents to talk to other parents, as well as parenting experts.
Parents can also join the conversation by visiting the Starting Blocks Facebook page( and YouTube channel(
For more information, visit the Starting Blocks website at
Program supports families in role as children’s first teachers
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families are successfully transitioning to early education with the help of the Families as First Teachers (FaFT) program.
Developed 10 years ago in Kuranda to improve education outcomes for Indigenous children, the FaFT program is now being used in communities across Queensland and interstate.
The FaFT program supports families in their crucial role as their child’s first and most influential teachers, and engages them as partners in their child’s learning.
The program builds the capacity of parents, grandparents, carers and community members to engage with children in planned early learning experiences that promote strong cultural identity, learning and development.
FaFT manager Kathryn Mannion said the program is delivered through a three-hour interactive early learning session each week for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0to 4 and their families in schools and community venues.
‘During the sessions, families learn about early literacy and numeracy and how they can be actively involved in their child’s learning by helping their child participate in play-based learning experiences,’ Ms Mannion said.
‘Our sessions are fun and offer a welcoming and safe environment that is culturally responsive.
Learning second language is child’s play for Mt Isa service
The children at Mt Isa’s Red Oasis Early Education and Care are learning more than their ABCs and 123s this year.
Selamatpagi, Indonesian for good morning, is one of many new phrases the children are learning as part of the Australian Government’s Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) online language learning trial.
The Mt Isa service is one of 41 early childhood education and care services selected to take part in the trial for 2015.
Red Oasis management consultant and teacher Darlene Wadham said the aim of the ELLA trial was to generate children’s interest in language studies through the use of play-based apps.
‘Red Oasis was the only service in a rural setting in Queensland selected for the trial,’ Mrs Wadham said.
‘This is really exciting for us because we believe children in the outback should have the same opportunities as their city cousins.’
Mrs Wadham said research showed learning languages developed children’s overall literacy, which strengthened literacy-related capabilities that are transferable across learning areas.
‘Children learn so rapidly in the first five years of life – they are little sponges thirsty for information.
‘Just look at how they learn to speak their native language in just a few years.
‘We know children learn best through play, and foreign languages can be taught using familiar songs, rhymes
and words which help children to connect with their own experiences,’ she said
As part of the trial, Red Oasis received five iPad tablets for children to use to learn the Indonesian language.
The unique apps installed on the tablets allow children to explore the Indonesian language through characters, animation, play-based learning experiences and surprises.
Each child has their own log-in which allows educators to track each child’s progress over the year.
Red Oasis service director Tania Booth said the families and educators were excited about the children getting the opportunity to trial this new program.
‘The integration of the iPads and the ELLA apps into the kindergarten program has enabled the children to not only further their literacy skills, but also develop their social skills and capability to engage technology,’ Ms Booth said.
‘The apps also meet learning outcomes in the Early Years Learning Framework of having a strong sense of identity and being effective communicators.
‘Some of the children really enjoy, and are quite confident using the apps, while some have needed a little more encouragement to engage with the technology.
‘Through the introduction of the apps, the children have shown an interest in the Indonesian culture, so we have extended their learning through reading Indonesian folk tales and learning about their traditional cuisine,’ she said.
Census supports early development
A new range of resources is available to help services use the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) to develop programs that meet the development needs of children in their community.
Held every three years, the AEDC is a nationwide survey that shows how young children have developed as they start their first year of full-time education.
The 2012 AEDC assessed 289,973 children, providing local-level data across 561 communities.
The census data identifies the degree and concentration of children’s developmental vulnerabilities within each community.
Developed by Early Childhood Australia on behalf of the department, the new resources provide clear guides for navigating and using AEDC data and linking it with the Early Years Learning Framework and National Quality Standard.
There is information on each of the five domains measured in the AEDC, and practical strategies for supporting children’s learning and development through programs and engagement with families and services.
Case studies of Queensland kindergarten and long day care services that are successfully putting AEDC data into action are also included, along with links to useful websites, materials and apps for both educators and families to support children’s development.
Printed copies of the key resources and a DVD with supporting documents and videos have been distributed to all Queensland kindergarten and long day care services.
The resources are also available at
Educators are encouraged to review the resources and refer to them when accessing their community data on the AEDC website (
The next step is to consider ways your service and community can use this important information to support children’s development.
Through a national data collection every three years, the AEDC provides a picture of early childhood development at community level across five domains.
- Physical health and wellbeing – Children’s physical readiness for the school day, physical independence and gross and fine motor skills.
- Social competence – Children’s overall social competence, responsibility and respect, approach to learning and readiness to explore new things.
- Emotional maturity – Children’s prosocial and helping behaviours, and absence of anxious and fearful behaviour, aggressive behaviour and hyperactivity and inattention.
- Language and cognitive skills (school based) – Children’s basic literacy, interest in literacy, numeracy and memory, advanced literacy and basic numeracy.
- Communication skills and general knowledge – Children’s communication skills and general knowledge based on board developmental competencies and skills measured in the school context.
The third national collection is taking place in schools from May to July 2015.
Free cultural workshops boost community links in Mareeba
QT’s Early Learning Centre in Mareeba was one of 178 services which took part in an Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in Early Childhood (EATSIPEC) workshop in 2014.
The EATSIPEC program supports approved kindergarten program providers to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and children and deliver inclusive early childhood education programs.
Acting director Lesley Robson said she heard about the workshops when the local EATSIPEC project officer made contact with the centre director.