Thursday, 29 October 2009 9:39 AM Media Releases

The City of Greater Geelong has again achieved success at last night’s Victorian Early Years Awards presented as part of International Children’s Week.
 
This year the City of Greater Geelong was listed as a finalist in the category ‘Better access to early years services’ and received a High Commendation award for the production of the Early Years to School Transition Project.

The award was presented by the Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development, Hon Maxine Morand, at a special ceremony held in the Great Hall of the National Gallery of Victoria.

The Victorian Early Years Awards are provided by Victorian Department of Education & Early Childhood Development in recognition of ‘leadership, dedication and innovation toward improving the health, learning, development, and wellbeing of young children.’

City of Greater Geelong Councillor Kylie Fisher said it was the fourth year in a row that early childhood projects in Geelong had been listed as finalists in the Victorian Early Years Awards, including last year, winning the state award for the Early Learning Centre @ Rosewall.

“Being listed once again this year as a finalist and receiving this award (on top of last year’s success) is indeed a wonderful and significant recognition of the strong commitment and collaboration that exists within the City of Greater Geelong toward strengthening early learning and education opportunities for children,” she said.

Cr Fisher, who holds Council’s portfolio for Community Development, said a major factor in the success of these projects was the great spirit of teamwork that exists among the staff involved.

She said starting school was an important milestone for young children and their families. It is a period of change that can be both challenging and exciting, in which children and families are expected to manage and adjust to a range of significant changes in their physical surroundings; social interactions, expectations; the structure of learning; and how both children and parents feel about themselves.

There has been a growing body of evidence about the importance of children’s transition from preschool and other early childhood environments to school, along with the practices that can either assist or hinder this process.

When children experience social and behavioural adjustment difficulties in the early stages of their development and experience of school, evidence tells us they are more likely to continue experiencing these problems throughout their school life and into their other aspects of later development.

Consequently, careful planning and development of supportive transition processes and environments are necessary to assist both children and parents to successfully traverse the changes and adjustments required.

Geelong is certainly at the forefront of supporting best practice in children’s transition to school and there are many examples of exemplary programs and practices already occurring amongst our local schools and early childhood services.

A successful start to school establishes the foundations for children’s positive engagement and achievement, along with facilitating the active support and participation of parents and other family members in children’s learning and education.

The City of Greater Geelong’s Early Years Transition to School Project was specifically designed to assist in strengthening the linkages and development of quality transition programs and practices operating between local early childhood services and primary schools across the City of Greater Geelong.

The project published 200 transition kits providing a comprehensive package of resources to assist with the planning and implementation of sound and innovative transition programs and processes, along with successfully engaging over 300 early childhood educators, primary school teachers and support agencies from over 170 local organisations in professional development programs.

Content from Geelong’s Early Years Transition Resource Kit was also used in the recent production of the Victorian Government’s Transition: A Positive Start to School Guide, that has been distributed to all schools and early childhood services across the state.

The immense variety in children’s development and experiences makes each child’s transition to school unique. Children enter school with differing experiences and skill levels and it is vital that children continue to be planned for as individuals within the school environment.

Early childhood professionals planning transition programs for children starting school need to be aware of various and often complex factors impacting on children's early adjustment to school.

Transition programs should create an appropriate degree of continuity between children’s prior-to-school and school experiences, and develop strategies to support children adjustment and transition to school.

As a result of the Early Years Transition to School Project children, parents and early childhood educators can be more comfortable and confident about the positive steps involved in commencing school.

Cr Fisher offered her congratulations to everyone involved in this year’s project. For a full list of award winners and finalists go to: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/events/childrensweek/awards.htm#1