18
tertiary placements and traineeships through ELC
The Y Canberra Region
2023-2024 Community Impact Report
Children Services
Inspiring our youngest minds
Children Services
The Y Canberra Region operates 5 Early Learning Centres and 11 Outside Hours School Care Programs, and we have been running children’s programs since the 1970’s.
Early Learning is different at the Y. We recognise that the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is critical, and we understand the crucial role that learning, a nurturing community and home environment play in setting a child up for success.
We create real-world environments that allow children to have true experiences. We encourage children to explore and be adaptable to their environment, and we promote community connections and sustainable practices as a core value.
As children grow into young people, they transition to outside hours school care (OSHC), where they are provided a fun, stimulating and safe environment that creates comfort, belonging and community.
Throughout Early Learning and OSHC, children are exposed to developing who they are as a person. They are supported and given opportunities to try new things, express themselves, and create friendships.
eight hundred and ninety six
children enrolled in Early Learning Centres
174,042
attendances at OSHC and Vacation Care
sixty two
children from vulnerable families receiving placements in Early Learning
1,551
families supported with Before and After School Care, and Vacation Care
Children Services Program (CSP)
The Y is a proud partner of the Children Services Program (CSP), which is funded by the ACT Government and managed by the Office of Child, Youth and Family Services, Community Services Directorate.
The aim of the program is to assist vulnerable families to access short term early childhood education and care, thereby making early childhood services more accessible to those who need it.
The CSP funds early childhood education and care places for a specific amount of time, and is dependant on the needs of the family. We find that children experiencing a family crisis, more often than not, also have a background of financial hardship and are at an even greater risk of vulnerability.
Of note, our Jamison Early Learning Centre has seen high placement longevity, with one child in excess of 100 weeks of care, and another two children in excess of 60 weeks.
The Y Canberra Region is contracted to hold five full-time places a week across our five Early Learning Centres. We placed 27 children from July – December 2023, and another 35 children during January – June 2024.
“I don’t have the words to thank you enough… [child] and I are deeply grateful for your consideration and submitting two applications on our behalf. Any relief will be a massive difference in our situation.”
“I am deeply grateful for the kindness and support you’ve shown me and my family. Meeting someone as genuinely helpful as you have made me reflect on the blessings of my past. Your generous assistance has meant the world to us, and we will forever cherish your kindness. Thank you immensely.”
Three-Year-Old Initiative Program
The 3-year-old initiative offers up to 500 ACT families two days per week of free Early Childhood Education in an ECEC service. Referrals into the initiative commence from when a child is 2 years and 10 months old, until they are 3 years and 11 months.
The program is designed for children who will benefit from sustained access to a play-based program.
The Y Canberra Region currently is contracted to hold 62 places across our 5 ELCs at 2 days a week. Currently we have 44 children benefiting from this initiative.
6
Belconnen
13
Gunghalin
4
Holder
11
Holt
10
Jamison
Three-Year-Old Universal Access Preschool Program
The three-year-old pre-school program provides funding from the ACT Government to deliver free, quality preschool education to children aged three, who are enrolled with the Y Canberra Region.
The program supports access to 300 hours of care per year, per child, of free pre-school.
This program has been the biggest investment in Early Childhood Education in the ACT by the Government, who advocate for play-based learning as a powerful way to support a child’s wellbeing, learning and development.
Currently, 136 three-year-old children have benefited from one day of free care across our 5 ELC’s for the period of January – June 2024, which brings an average saving to families of $1406 per family.
Y Gungahlin Bush Kinder Program
In line with the Y’s mission to build a better world, with and for young people, and our Y Gungahlin Centre Philosophy to embed environmental responsibility within our centre and the wider community,
Over the past six months, the Y Gungahlin Early Learning Centre has been researching, observing, planning and gathering the resources required for the Pre-School children to engage in a bush kindy program. Through the program, we have been able to create curiosity, exploration, active and social learning opportunities for the children to become involved with the world around them.
Nature inspires children to become explorers, engaging with their imagination and expressing wonder and excitement as they are learning to navigate new challenges.
When the children arrive on the bushland, we invite them to gather and acknowledge the country that we are meeting on, and discuss how we will show our respect to the land.
We thank the Nation’s First People during our daily yarning circle, and we aim to respectfully incorporate elements of the Indigenous culture into our curriculum and learning environments.
Throughout our time in the bush, the children have the freedom to explore, play, inquire, build, create, imagine, learn, and use different senses to experience and interact within the natural classroom environment. The bush kindy program supports children in enhancing their social connectedness, as well as their physical, mental, emotional and cognitive development. Being outdoors opens children up to new risks and challenges, and teaches them how to problem solve and investigate in a safe and supportive environment.
This program plays a pivotal role in extending the curriculum beyond our four walls, for children to explore, connect and contribute to the world around them.
Celebrating Children’s Voices (ELC)
Throughout the year, we engage with children’s voices through many celebrations, in our learning floor books, when designing our Centre Philosophies, with group learning stories, for summative assessments, and more.
At the beginning of the year, on January 25th, the children engaged in learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People during our “First Nations People Day” at the Y Gungahlin Early Learning Centre. We had spent several weeks collaborating with Educators at the centre and reflecting on the significance of Australia Day and what it means to us. We realised that informing the children at our centre about the day was not enough, we needed to involve them genuinely.
On January 25th, we established our Yarning Circle, and encouraged the children to explore the land as the Educators guided the children on the land’s importance, the meaning of the yarning circle, and the significance of gratitude
All comments and gestures from the children were noted down, and this was later used to design a new Acknowledgement of Country for the entire Centre to engage with each day.
At our school, we want to say thank you to the Ngunnawal People.
We thank you for our country, Australia.
We thank you for the sun.
We thank you for our mummies, daddies and our families.
And we thank you for sharing your land with us.
For the Ngunnawal people we promise:
To water your plants;
That we will not throw rubbish in the sea or on the land;
And work together to keep the Ngunnawal land clean.
Early Learning Partnerships
Our Belconnen Early Learning Centre has strong philosophies around community connection, and engages in several activities and opportunities to allow the children to explore and grow both within and outside the centre.
Sustainability as a service
This year, the entire Belconnen Early Learning Centre participated in an excursion for Clean Up Australia Day around our neighbourhood, picking up rubbish and giving back to our community. We have also established a worm farm, a compost bin and are refreshing our garden bed. Our Belconnen ELC has also been assessed and is Accredited through the ACT Government’s Business Recycling program!
Creating work-ready educators
Our Belconnen Early Learning Centre has partnered with UnitingCare Kippax, The Umbrella Collective and CIT this year to host two students completing their micro-credential clusters from Cert III in Early Childhood Education and Care. Specifically, these credentials are designed to fast-track the recruitment, training and employment of our local community for the ECEC sector in Canberra.
Learning and loving language
This year, we partnered with the University of Canberra to deliver a program in our Belconnen Pre-school rooms called ‘Learning Language and Loving It’, and is centred around promoting children’s social, language and literacy development. Our educators are provided with training and coaching for a series of strategies that encourage children to become active conversational partners and interact effectively.