Wednesday, 17 August 2022

 Ms TERPSTRA (Eastern Metropolitan) (09:43): I rise to make a members statement today on a wonderful outing that I had with Minister Ingrid Stitt when we both visited the Donwood community aged care centre in Croydon. What was really special about this visit last week was that it was a pleasure not only to visit the Donwood community aged care centre but also to see the children from the Maroondah Pre-school visit the aged care home as part of their intergenerational program. What this meant was the children got to mix and interact with the elderly aged care residents, but they also got to practise their Auslan skills. Part of this intergenerational program has been running for three years, and every three weeks the children visit the community aged care home to share their new Auslan skills with residents and to teach them how to sign as well. So it was fabulous to be able to watch the children interact with the residents and then also to see both the children and the adults mirroring the Auslan signs that were being done.

Teacher Zee and her fantastic team of teachers and educators are doing an amazing job teaching our youngest learners important social and emotional skills. It is really good to see the children develop empathy and consideration and understanding of people with different needs, and at a young age it is so critically important. It was clear to see that everyone from the youngest participant to the oldest participant were all benefitting from spending time together. It was a wonderful thing, and I think we all really need to see more of those sorts of programs.