Brimbank

Children’s Strategy

Our vision is that Brimbank is a place where all children feel they belong and are

safe, and where they can play, learn and develop to be confident and healthy. Our

Children’s Strategy is underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of

the Child (CRC). The Convention states that all children have the right to opportunities

to survive, grow and develop - within the context of physical, emotional and social

wellbeing – to their full potential. Our Strategy demonstrates a commitment to

strengthen support for all families during the formative years of their children’s lives,

bolstering parent capacity to be their child’s first and most influential educator. We will

work to ensure that the built and natural environments in Brimbank enable children to

learn, develop, play, connect, feel welcome and safe. We will work with our partners

and services in Brimbank to promote equitable and timely access for children and

families to good quality, integrated services.

Playgroups

Supported Playgroups

640 Smalltalk Supported Playgroup sessions

delivered:

• This engaged 361 parents and 437 children.

• 230 home visits delivered – 46 families

participated.

• Groups are delivered in English, Vietnamese

and Burmese.

• 133 parents participated in groups and home

coaching delivered in Vietnamese and Burmese.

• Self-referral portal on Brimbank City Council

(BCC) Playgroups website.

Volunteer Community Playgroups

100 families established their own volunteer

family led playgroups in Brimbank Playgroup

venues.

Brimbank Playgroup Leader Training was delivered

in virtual mode – resuming in face to face in 2022.

First Steps New Parent Groups

First Steps new parent group model is delivered in

partnership with Early Years Community Programs

and Maternal and Child Health.

• 538 first time parents participated in sessions.

• 91 first time parents participated in Vietnamese

and Burmese groups.

• Council’s Parent Support Facilitators delivered the

program in English, Vietnamese and Burmese.

• A hybrid model was developed and embedded

into usual practice.

• Self-referral portal on BCC First Steps webpage.

Cultural Competency and Responsiveness

of our services to meet the needs of all

families

First Steps New Parent Groups and Smalltalk

programs in English, Vietnamese, Burmese, Chin,

Arabic, Dinka, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Partnership established with VICSEG to deliver a

‘Baby Makes 3’ Saturday session in Vietnamese for

First Steps new parents.

A partnership established with the Multicultural

Centre for Women’s Health to target refugee and

migrant women in playgroup.

IPC Health Nurses visit Smalltalk groups to deliver

Women’s Health talks.

Early Years

Preschool Field Officer (PSFO) team providing

capacity building role to educators, to provide

culturally competent and responsive support to

engage families with children with additional

needs. The service supported over 300

children per annum.

Maternal and Child Health (M&CH)

Use of the ‘Bear Bus’ during COVID to provide

outreach visits to families at their home.

Development of an M&CH Outreach Strategy

to support families requiring outreach support

and services.

Parenting Support at various locations – M&CH

offered Park Play at local parks for families,

Circle of Security Group for families.

M&CH Enhanced Service participated in the

state-wide review of the Enhanced Maternal and

Child Health Service which supports families who

require additional assistance.

The 2022 annual M&CH Client satisfaction

survey received 172 responses, a response rate

of 9.8 per cent.

Playgroups

Playgroup survey tools revised and translations

updated to gain greater information and feedback

from families and hear the voices

of children.

Early Years

Early Start Kinder Program saw an increase from

approximately 40 to 50 participants per year to

around 150 per year in 2022.

Developed ‘Plan-Do-Study-Act’ cycles through

Best Start to test ideas and if necessary modify

approaches to engage vulnerable children and

families into kindergarten.

Continued the National Kindergarten Registration

model, registering families from birth to reduce

the impact of lack of kindergarten awareness and

English language proficiency.

Continued extensions of DET (Department of

Education and Training Victoria) CALD (Culturally

and Linguistically Diverse Communities) Outreach

Engagement Officer funding due to the success of

the program in supporting families.

Maintained partnerships with and outreach to

CALD community playgroups and services

Kindergarten Registration Policy was reviewed in

2022 to ensure accessibility and equity for all.

Delivered kindergarten registration outreach at

shopping centres and community events.

Continued working with key partners to support

and increase kindergarten participation by

families with high needs.

Continued to strengthen links with key community

stakeholders including Early Years Managers;

community health partnerships with IPC Health,

Brotherhood of St Lawrence, Drummond Street

Services and Parent Under Pressure Program (Good

Shepherd). These partnerships proved crucial

in ensuring that Early Childhood Teachers, their

children and families received the most up to date

information on supports available for families.

Kindergarten Registration Outreach team

continued to support vulnerable families to

re-engage with kindergarten programs.

Developed and refined the Preschool field Officer

Service Model in 2021 to identify vulnerable

services for targeted support.

Maternal and Child Health (M&CH)

M&CH continued to manage the following

partnerships:

Tweddle & Family Health Service for

breastfeeding support services.

Brimbank – Melton Child First Alliance.

Royal Children’s Hospital ‘Bubs in Mind’ Project.

Early Years

Facilitated the Brimbank Best Start

Governance Group.

Participated in the Brimbank/Melton Early

Start Kindergarten and Out-of-Home-Care

Working Group.

Facilitated the Long Day Care Teacher Network,

which provides connections to support services,

DET and customised training to teachers in

Long Day Care settings who do not have the

same access to support as those in Early Years

Managed Services.

Aiming to enhance service delivery of Early Years

programs in Brimbank, officers participated in in

the DET Derrimut Communities of Practice, with

facilitators offered professional development

opportunities and encouraged to share

experiences and learnings and network.

Participated in the Municipal Association of

Victoria’s Outreach CALD Engagement Officer

program and network. Part of the Outreach CALD

Engagement Officer’s main role is to advocate

for CALD children and families within Brimbank,

this includes, identifying and prioritising those

vulnerable children and families.

Co-facilitated the Brimbank Early Years Network

(BEYN) with The Smith Family Communities for

Children.

Offered Preschool Field Officer support to families

to understand the rights their children have when

choosing a school.

The Preschool Field Officer team continued

to provide links to educators and families with

the Brimbank Family Violence Practitioner for

1:1 support.

The Preschool Field Officer team provided

customised training for early childhood educators

to help staff recognise, respond to and support

children and women experiencing family violence.

Child Safety and Wellbeing

Preparation for the introduction of the new

Child Safe Standards Legislation coming into

effect on 1 July 2022, including development

of a new online compulsory Council’s B-Train

training module ‘Keeping Children and Young

People Safe From Harm and Abuse’ for staff and

volunteers. Training of 13 Council’s new Child

Safe Champions to support various areas within

Council with more detailed knowledge and

skills around child safety and wellbeing.

Internal audit to support future work.

Maternal and Child Health (M&CH)

The M&CH service won the LGPro Safer

Families in Brimbank Award for supporting

families experiencing Family Violence.

Playgroups

Children’s Week Annual Playgroups ‘Picnic in the

Park’ was delivered as a virtual package due to

COVID restrictions. There were 615 early year’s

playgroup YouTube views. The picnic is scheduled

to return to face to face in 2022 at Sunvale

Community Park, Sunshine.

9249 4000

info@brimbank.vic.gov.au

PO Box 70, Sunshine, VIC 3020

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133 677

• Speak & Listen

1300 555 727

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03 9249 4000

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brimbank.vic.gov.au

367 - 1022