Thursday, 28 October 2021

 Mr MAAS (Narre Warren South) (18:17): (6123) The adjournment matter I wish to raise is for the attention of the Minister for Early Childhood and concerns school readiness funding. The action I seek is that the minister provide any information on how school readiness funding will help early childhood education in my electorate of Narre Warren South. Studies show that one in five Victorian kids starts their education developmentally vulnerable, which can compound learning difficulties if not addressed early. This could leave some children behind before they even really start.

So many of our children have individual needs that require extra assistance in areas such as speech, language, literacy, wellbeing and cultural diversity. The school readiness package is an Australian-first initiative which also aims to improve in-school support for emotional and social wellbeing, and I am very proud to be a part of a government which looks after the needs of all. This initiative demonstrates that our government is committed to early childhood education along with investing almost $5 billion this decade to support three-year-old children to access 15 hours of fully funded kindergarten programs.

I would appreciate any further information that the minister could provide on how school readiness funding will benefit students and families in my electorate, and as always I look forward to sharing the minister’s response with my community.