Tuesday, 16 May 2023

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (13:19): It is Education Week, and I rise to update the house on how the Andrews Labor government is supporting children and families from diverse backgrounds to go to kindergarten. Since it was launched in 2021, our culturally and linguistically diverse outreach initiative has supported more than 2500 children to enrol in kindergarten.

Just last week I had the pleasure of joining the Premier at Springvale Service for Children to announce $3.5 million in grants to 22 councils, helping even more children from diverse backgrounds to attend kinder. I had the opportunity to speak with local families who have benefited from these supports and to meet Vicky, a community engagement officer from the City of Greater Dandenong. Vicky told me how the initiative has helped almost 500 children and their families in her community to start their kindergarten journey by helping them to overcome common barriers to participation. She said that this can involve helping families to access interpreting services, providing support to complete enrolment forms or organising information sessions.

Making sure all Victorian children can access the lifelong benefits of kinder is central to our $14 billion Best Start, Best Life reforms, and it is why we have made kinder free right across Victoria, meaning families do not need to think about how the household budget will be balanced when deciding whether to send their children to kinder. By making sure all Victorian children can access high-quality preschool education, no matter their postcode, background or family circumstances, we are helping to give them the best possible start in life.