What we’ll do

Our Vision: For all children in Loddon Shire to start school ready to learn

Outcomes
  • All children arrive at school ready for learning
  • All children have a voice and influence
  • All children are happy and enjoy healthy lifestyles

Priorities
  • Change the way services work so it is easier for families to get what they need
  • Resource and support services in partnering with families
  • Help children to live in safe, caring and supportive families
  • Support children to have the best start in life and be ready for learning
  • Improve social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing of children & their parents & carers
  • Increase voice, influence and participation of children and families in Early Year’s activities
  • Improve family knowledge and confidence to access the supports they need - when they need it
  • Raise family and community expectations of education

How we’ll do it

Earliest Support - We will invest in the early years of children’s lives by enabling children, families and the community to break the cycle of disadvantage.

Co-design for Maximum Impact - We will ask families what they need and do our best to provide this in a way that works best for children and families.

Strong Connections & Partnerships - We will develop quality connections, conversations and relations with children, families and services. We will join forces to work on making it easier for families to get the support they need when they need it.

A Flexible & Responsive Model - We will share our resources and expertise to ensure services bend to meet the needs of families.  We believe is it our responsibility to change to be there for families and not the other way around.

Stronger Families - We will increase the voice, participation and influence of children and families and always prioritise their wellbeing. Our work and the changes we need to make will be based on what children and their families tell us is needed to make the service system better for local families.

Outcomes Based Accountability - We will measure our progress against our goal of children and their families getting a better deal when it comes to support services and challenge whether anyone is better off.

How we’ll know if we’ve made a difference
  • Maternal Child Health, Kindergarten, Playgroup and School attendance in the early years will improve
  • More children will be on track developmentally when they start school. We will measure this against the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC)
  • More parents and carers will tell us they are feeling confident about knowing what is needed for their children and how to access or provide for this
  • More children will be living safely with their families. Fewer children will need statutory intervention by Child Protection Services
  • More families will tell us the service system is easy to access