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Inclusion and Early Intervention General Manager Update Well it’s been a very busy and productive start to the year! ECA has been working hard with our department funders for both the NDIS and our Inclusion Support Program to define our work for the next couple of years. We are going to be extending both contracts to continue to do our inclusion and early intervention work whilst the government reviews this work into the future. We have been invited to participate in practice consultations for both programs and have been able to provide really positive feedback and insights into our work. The IP’s have been busy, out and about visiting services and I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in Alice Springs in February. We hosted a very successful networking brunch and I got to visit some of our services including a trip to Finke, which was very exciting. ECA has supported two submissions to both the ECA and SNAICC national conferences this year and we look forward to supporting educators from community to attend and present on their work later this year. ECA national has been very busy being involved in advocacy at the Jobs & Work Summit and the Early Years Strategy work with our federal government. Finally, I was privileged to be asked to represent ECA at the launch of the ‘Yes Campaign’ on a Voice to Parliament in February in Adelaide. ECA is very much supporting this campaign and will be working with key stakeholders in the NT in the coming months to organise some activities, events and information sharing. Janet
Williams-Smith ECA NT Staff Update We welcomed Erin Murphy to our Inclusion Team in January 2023. Erin has worked in the Early Years sector in mostly remote services throughout the NT since 2013 as a Team Leader, Lead Educator and a Director with a short break after having her son in 2021. Erin is passionate about inclusive environments, learning through play and nature play. Erin holds a Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care and believes all children have the right to quality education and care and equal opportunities. We are very excited to welcome Samantha Withers back to ECA. Sam has been working with the g4gd® team in their current program being run with Get Active, Palmerston. Sam has been enjoying re-connecting with her ECA colleagues and interacting with families and we are happy to have her back in the ECA fold. We also welcome Ann Lloyde back to ECA who is coordinating the 2023 Education and Care Awards. Ann spent 15 years teaching in the Northern Territory, firstly in remote communities including Gapuwiyak, Wurrawi and Wugularr, before taking on the role of Mainstream Special Education Teacher at Woodroffe Primary for five years. She then took up a position with Early Childhood Australia, helping very young children access early intervention therapy. These days Ann is enjoying spending time with her husband, who recently retired after a 49-year teaching career. She is semi-retired herself and keeps active working as a relief teacher, a pre-school assistant and taking on interesting projects such as coordinating the Education and Care Awards. Inclusion Support Program: Northern Region Welcome to the first quarter of 2023! As we usher in the new year, the NT-IA team hopes that you’re feeling rejuvenated and ready to take on 2023 with fresh new perspectives. Our Darwin team has started the year off with business as usual. We have been busy working with services and educators to support inclusive practices so that all children can have access to quality education and care. We have been fortunate to visit Jirnani Early Learning Centre, in Bathurst Island, as well as visiting our Katherine services to continue supporting them in their inclusion journey. Wondering how IPs have supported services? How specialist equipment helped one child interact with his peers? In one service, educators worked with us to understand barriers to inclusion for a child with down syndrome. Together with their Inclusion Professional and Allied Health Professional, the service realised that a specialist chair would allow the child to play alongside other children. Since borrowing the equipment from our Specialist Equipment Library, the child’s gross motor skills and core strength has significantly improved. How coaching and mentoring sessions are helping services to include children with additional needs? In one service, our IPs facilitated a coaching and mentoring session which included 25 educators. This coaching and mentoring session focused on an introduction to policies and procedures, with a particular focus on EYLF, developmental milestones and appropriate ways of interacting with children. Educators appeared to enjoy the hands-on activity and conversations had a renewed energy and passion about programming and planning and how best to meet children’s needs. Erin Murphy and Lucy Stephens delivered gifts bought by ECA to children and families evacuated to Howard Springs who were the victims of floods in remote communities. Lastly, we said goodbye to Breanna Anthony. Bree is returning to her early childhood teaching roots. We wish Bree the very best in her new endeavours. This means we are looking for new Inclusion Professionals to join our wonderful team. If you are interested in becoming an Inclusion Professional, please see our SEEK ad and apply within! https://bit.ly/3y6KatT You can also see an article on the role of the IP in the latest edition of The Spoke: https://bit.ly/3ZOIXUv Hear from two of our wonderful IPs and their 'on the job' experience. Filomena Lay, Inclusion Support Program: Southern Region What a busy start to the year it’s been for all of us in the Southern Region! Some region-wide obstacles have been impacting our services' capacity including ongoing staffing shortages as well as some wild weather events. The Inclusion Support Team has been out reconnecting with and working alongside our educators as they work hard to support all children and families in their communities. We’ve been working through practical inclusion support, providing assistance in accessing funding, helping and identifying relevant resource material and providing general capacity-building support to educators. Inclusion Professionals have recently been attending the Batchelor College workshop week in Alice Springs, helping support remote service educators as they learn. A highlight to date has been the first Networking Brunch for the region which was well attended by the early childhood sector. ECA’s Inclusion and Early Intervention General Manager Janet Williams-Smith was a guest speaker. These monthly networking meetings will provide the opportunity for early childhood educators to connect with their peers to discuss issues relevant to our sector and our region. Access to peer-to-peer support and interaction is so important to sustaining us in our work. Whilst visiting, Janet took the opportunity to witness first-hand the amazing work our remote service educators are doing as well as experiencing some of the challenges, they and the children in their care face on a daily basis. The Southern Region also has a position vacant with their wonderful IP team. Please apply via the link: https://bit.ly/3yi2joL Bronwyn Truscott, NDIS - Early Childhood Approach The NDIA team have started 2023 with gusto. Everyone has returned from Christmas and New Year refreshed and ready to embrace all that 2023 will bring. The first Circles of Security program has commenced in partnership with Darrindirra Family Centre. We are very grateful to be able to deliver this program to families in our pathway and thank our partners who co-deliver with us: Darrandirra Family Centre and Mimik-Ga FaFT. Our Little Geckos Early Support group is also running again for 2023 in partnership with Charles Darwin University. Little Geckos early support group is an invitation only group for children in the ECA pathway. If you have any concerns regarding a child’s development, please feel free to reach out to us and discuss options for referrals and support. We are happy to help. The NDIS team are also recruiting! https://bit.ly/3L2IrNZ Trish Wachtel g4gd® (gym 4 growth & development program) Term 1 The g4gd® team has had an exciting start to the year working with a few different groups in the Darwin and Palmerston areas. Mondays has seen a return to g4gd® at the Palmerston Rec Centre with the Get Active, Palmerston program which offers free health and wellbeing sessions for Palmerston residents and visitors to the area. Each week around 20 families participate in our program; singing, dancing, moving and connecting with each other. The g4gd® team were also asked to work with the FAFT group at Ludmilla Primary School which is a new space and group of families we have been having fun with. The team were also invited to run a g4gd® session within the Child Australia Playgroup at the Bagot Community Centre. We had so much fun break-dancing, popping bubbles and delivering the program with the families of this community and we look forward to our return visit. Claire Bredhauer ECA NT Committee Early Childhood Australia NT Committee said farewell to some very dedicated outgoing members in Maree Toll, Maree Bredhauer, Heather Havens and Sarah Lloyd who have collectively invested decades in ECA NT. Amongst other achievements, these women have been part of a committee that tendered and won the ISP and NDIS contracts resulting in the ongoing support to a huge number of families and services across the Territory. We thank them for their hard work and dedication over many years.New members were also welcomed including Sarah Rheinburger, Anna Latz, Kim Theyers, Susah Wellfair, and Meaghan Lake. They join current members Liz Chick, Georgie Nutton, Renata Harris and Amanda Docksey who together form a cohesive group dedicated to ECA's Vision that every young child is thriving and learning.Welcome to all.Recent Events 22nd March - Harmony Day EventHarmony Day will see us attending the Harmony Day Event at the Malak Community Centre on March 22, 9-12pm. This event is co-hosted by The City of Darwin, Territory Child Care Group and ECA and it is an event where the community comes together to recognise and celebrate our diversity, bringing together Australians from all different backgrounds. The FREE Family Fun Day will include the Fun Bus, a jumping castle, multicultural art and craft activities, and world café taster for morning tea. Everyone is welcome.You can wear orange or come in traditional dress.9-10 June - ECA Reconciliation Symposium
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