Putting Kids First

Kids First Australia is a national not-for-profit child and family services organisation with 120 years of experience providing educational, family and support services.

Initially, its Early Years Education Program (EYEP) was designed specifically for vulnerable children and was not available in regular kindergarten settings. To align with Kids First's vision of helping all children thrive, the program's key elements were adapted into a kindergarten education model that supports all children's development, learning, and family engagement.

The pilot

In 2019, the Australian Early Development Census revealed that 21.7% of children starting full-time school were developmentally vulnerable. Children who begin school behind their peers often struggle to catch up, leading to lower educational achievement, poor health, unemployment, and social challenges.

To address this, Kids First launched a groundbreaking pilot education and care program inspired by successful early intervention programs in the USA. Federal and State Government funding, along with philanthropic support, enabled 45 children to participate in this first-of-its-kind Australian initiative.

The Ian Potter Foundation initially contributed $600,000 to launch the trial in 2010, with an additional $750,000 awarded in 2022 to adapt and expand the program into a universal kindergarten model.

The Kids First EYEP improves education, health, and well-being outcomes for children and their families. The model has six core principles that support a progressive curriculum based on the children's needs and interests whilst providing holistic care and support to their families.  

The EYEP aligns with the Australian Early Years Learning Framework and Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, which sets out outcomes and practices to guide early childhood professionals in their work. The model meets or exceeds expectations from these frameworks.

Model approach

The research for Kids First Early Years Education Program began in 2010, focusing on 45 highly vulnerable young children in Heidelberg West aged six months to six years. These children received intensive care and education to compensate for their challenging home environments, while their parents were supported through services aimed at improving parenting, relationships, and job skills. The goal was to prepare these children to start school ready to learn and keep up with their peers.

The EYEP trial ran for six years at Kids First's Heidelberg Centre, providing targeted education and care to children experiencing acute disadvantage. The program aimed to equip these children with the knowledge, skills, and attributes needed for ongoing successful learning, ensuring they could start school on par with their peers.

The trial demonstrated that high-quality education and care could significantly improve the educational outcomes and lives of vulnerable children. Kids First then looked at how this model be adapted and provide high-quality education in universal kindergarten settings where children and their families were not specifically chosen for the program.

The Kids First Early Years Education Program—Kindergarten Model was implemented in three Kids First Australia kindergartens in late 2020 in collaboration with the Murdoch Children's Institute. Three more kindergartens adopted the model in 2022.

In 2023, Kids First Australia began developing the EYEP—Kindergarten Model into a program that external service providers could adopt to provide an easily accessible program that supports all children to thrive regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances.   

Successes

Children in the targeted and intensive EYEP program outperformed their peers in relation to IQ, and their families' ability to support their child's resilience and social and cognitive skills improved. Families also responded better to stress.

The Heidelberg West Centre was awarded the Excellent rating in 2014 by the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), the highest rating a service can achieve under the National Quality Framework. The centre was recognised for its collaborative and inclusive partnerships with children and families, practices that enhance children's learning and growth and commitment to professional development and support for educators.

National Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) ratings suggest a national decline in the quality of early childhood education and care since 2018. Murdoch Children's Institute reports that the Kids First EYEP may have helped keep a high quality of education and care in its centres over the three-year evaluation period. Families consistently identified that the teachers and educators were the best thing about their children's kindergarten and expressed high satisfaction with the program, particularly in areas related to family experience, supporting child needs, and family confidence.

By 2023, Kids First expanded from six to eleven kindergartens in Victoria, opening new locations across the City of Casey, the City of Whittlesea, and the City of Darebin. All e11 kindergartens use the Early Years Education Model as its 'way of working'.

Available for all

Kids First Australia has collaborated with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute to explore how the success of its EYEP model can be replicated in centres across Australia.

This model can be implemented in any kindergarten or early childhood education and care setting. The ultimate goal is to help early childhood centres nationwide adopt this model, providing all children, regardless of their background or circumstances, with access to high-quality early years education and care.