Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan

This plan has been developed through the

Regional Community Child Care Development Fund

administered by the

Department of Local Government and Communities

and funded through the State Government’s

Royalties for Regions program.

October 2014

W H E A T B E L T W A

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Executive Summary

The Wheatbelt Region

The Wheatbelt region is situated in the south west of Western Australia and comprises an area of 154,862 square kilometres, extending out to the north, east and south east of the Perth metropolitan area. The region is home to approximately 73,817 people (projected June 2012 Population, 2011 ABS census) making it the third most populous region in the State.

According to the Wheatbelt Blueprint (Wheatbelt Development Commission, 2014) the Wheatbelt’s population, as compared to the State population is characterised by an over representation of the 0-14 age cohort. Data from the 2011 ABS Census indicates that there were 14,950 residents aged between 0 and 14 years, which represents approximately 20 percent of the total population of the region1.

The Wheatbelt is divided into five distinct but inter-connected sub regions, each of which is serviced by a regional centre. The sub regions are:

Avon, with Northam as its regional centre; Central Midlands, with Moora as its regional centre; Central Coast, with Jurien Bay as its regional centre; Central East, with Merredin as its regional centre; and Central South, with Narrogin as its regional centre

There are no major cities in the Wheatbelt. Northam is the largest regional centre with an estimated resident population of 6,580 (ABS, 2011). The clear division of the Wheatbelt in to sub-regions makes it unique to other regions in Western Australia as with no one dominant regional centre the infrastructure and service provision models that work in other areas are not suitable for this context.

The Wheatbelt is so called because of its extensive agricultural industry. The region is the primary producer of cereal crops in the state and contributes other agricultural products such as canola, olives, vegetables, wine grapes, honey, citrus fruits and livestock.

Whilst agriculture remains the dominant industry, the economy of the region is also supported by mining, commerce, retail, manufacturing, fishing and tourism.

1 This is based on the projected June 2012 population estimates

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Children’s services available within the Wheatbelt are many and varied and include Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services, play groups, toy libraries, mothers groups, parenting support and a range of programs and initiatives delivered by Government and non-Government organisations, aimed at improving early years outcomes.

Regional Children’s Services Plan

The Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan forms part of the state wide initiative of the Department of Local Government and Communities to develop specific plans for each of the nine regions in Western Australia (WA). Once completed these region specific plans will form the basis for an overall State-wide plan.

RDA Wheatbelt was contracted by the Department of Local Government and Communities with funding from the State Government’s Royalties for Regions Regional Community Child Care Development Fund.

Regional issues/trends for the children’s services sector

Five key areas of focus were identified through the planning process:

Accessible and Responsive Children’s Services: innovative service delivery models are required that reflect the local context and improve the range and accessibility of services. This may include developing new facilities and introducing targeted services/supports for children and parents. There is a need to take into account the provision of services and support for low population communities as well as the bigger regional centres within the Wheatbelt. Raising awareness of services and supports is imperative to improving access to what is already available within the region.

Workforce Development: the attraction and retention of many professionals including suitably qualified ECEC professionals (child care workers) is a challenge faced by the Wheatbelt and across all regional and remote areas. The ability for staff to participate in training and development opportunities is a further workforce challenge faced in the region as a result of distances required to travel to access opportunities and a limited pool of relief staff to fill positions when staff take time off work to attend training. Coordination of local training among agencies and organisations can assist.

Provision of Infrastructure & Equipment: the lack of purpose built children’s service infrastructure in the region means that not all facilities are fit for purpose

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or appropriate for the activities they are being used for. A lack of funding for maintenance/improvements to existing infrastructure and for equipment purchases presents a challenge for service providers who often rely on fundraising efforts, Local Government support and/or one off grants to secure funding for any developments.

Governance structures: significant pressure is placed on volunteer management committees to establish and maintain early childhood education and care services in the region. The resultant “burnout” of volunteers and deterrence of new volunteers to take up positions, threatens the sustainability of existing governance structures. This has resulted in some instances, in the Local Governments having to step in and take on responsibility for the management and funding of services to enable them to be retained within a community and can impact on volunteerism in in other areas of need.

Leadership and vision: there is a need for an underlying vision for the children’s services sector that underpins reform in children’s services in the Wheatbelt. This needs to be driven by a strong leadership structure (or structures) that recognise the importance of investment in the early years. Coordination and collaboration across children’s services providers in the region is essential to ensure cohesive planning and delivery of sub-region specific or universal Wheatbelt initiatives aimed at improving early childhood development.

Regional Plan

Vision for the Region

“The Wheatbelt has a sustainable, well provisioned and first class children’s services sector that meets the needs of Wheatbelt families today and into the future”

When this vision is realised the Wheatbelt will have:

A cohesive and well-structured network linking a range of Children’s Services that has the capacity to identify and act on key issues impacting on children in the Wheatbelt.

A strong, diverse workforce of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) professionals that are well trained, well supported and fully understanding of the needs of regional children and their families. They are well versed in the National Quality Framework (NQF), their industry and the importance of transition to schooling.

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Children’s services management structures that are flexible and adaptive to the needs of their communities and demonstrate best practice in governance.

An informed and supportive community that understands the need for and value of Children’s Services and Early Childhood Education and Care.

Implementation Mechanisms

The implementation of the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan will be a priority for RDA Wheatbelt throughout 2015. Commentary around recommended actions and priorities for implementation is provided for each of the five key areas of focus identified by key stakeholders through the planning process.

In implementing the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan RDA Wheatbelt will:

Work with a range of key stakeholders, including existing networks and the Wheatbelt community to increase awareness and understanding of the issues faced by the Children’s Services sector in the region. This will be achieved through collaborative action with key partners and focus on the effective dissemination of information via a range of mediums (e.g. newsletters, workshops and community events).

Explore and support innovative business models and practices that will enhance existing services and facilitate the creation of new services/initiatives that align with identified priorities for the region.

Facilitate the development of a “fit-for-purpose” regional governance group that has the capacity to identify and act on key issues impacting on children in the Wheatbelt.

Provide support for Children’s Services Sector workforce development by liaising with key stakeholders to identify training/workforce development needs and the most appropriate and effective means of delivering training in the Wheatbelt context.

Raise awareness and ensure services are informed of external factors that will impact on Children’s Services as a result of legislative or regulatory changes at a State or Federal Government level and enable a collective approach to providing feedback regarding the impact of these changes on the Wheatbelt sector.

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Figure 1: Wheatbelt Region of WA

Source: Department of Infrastructure & Regional Development

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Contents

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 1

The Wheatbelt Region .................................................................................................... 1

Regional Children’s Services Plan .................................................................................. 2

Regional issues/trends for the children’s services sector ................................................ 2

Regional Plan .................................................................................................................. 3

Vision for the Region ............................................................................................ 3

Implementation Mechanisms ................................................................................ 4

Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 8

Regional Overview .......................................................................................................... 9

Geography and Location ...................................................................................... 9

Demographics ...................................................................................................... 9

Wheatbelt Sub-Regions ...................................................................................... 11

Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) .................................................. 17

Workforce Training & Development .................................................................... 21

Children’s Services ............................................................................................. 25

Governance Structures ....................................................................................... 28

Background and Methodology....................................................................................... 29

Desktop Review ............................................................................................................ 30

Regional Planning Documents ........................................................................... 30

Mapping and Service Coverage .................................................................................... 32

Avon Sub-Region ............................................................................................... 33

Central East Sub-Region .................................................................................... 35

Central Coast ...................................................................................................... 36

Central Midlands Sub-Region ............................................................................. 37

Central South Sub-Region .................................................................................. 38

Consultation and Engagement ...................................................................................... 40

Regional Survey ................................................................................................. 41

Mapping Community Assets & Strengths ........................................................... 42

Promotional Material ........................................................................................... 42

Attendance at Community Events ...................................................................... 42

Targeted Engagement for Local Government..................................................... 42

Presentations ...................................................................................................... 43

Face to Face meetings with Key Stakeholders ................................................... 43

Feedback on the Draft Regional Children’s Services Plan. ................................ 44

Implementation Activities .................................................................................... 44

Regional Trends and Issues ......................................................................................... 47

SWOT Analysis ............................................................................................................. 47

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Strengths ............................................................................................................ 47

Weaknesses ....................................................................................................... 48

Opportunities ...................................................................................................... 49

Threats ............................................................................................................... 50

Key Findings and Recommendations ............................................................................ 51

Workforce Development ................................................................................................ 55

Governance structures .................................................................................................. 59

Regional Plan ................................................................................................................ 63

Vision for the Region ..................................................................................................... 63

Implementation Mechanisms ........................................................................................ 63

Accessible & Responsive Children’s Services .................................................... 64

Workforce Development ..................................................................................... 66

Governance structures ....................................................................................... 67

Provision of Infrastructure & Equipment ............................................................. 68

Leadership and vision ......................................................................................... 69

References .................................................................................................................... 70

Appendix A – AEDC Results ......................................................................................... 71

Appendix B – Regional Children’s Services .................................................................. 75

Avon Sub-Region ............................................................................................... 75

Central East Sub-Region .................................................................................... 89

Central Coast ...................................................................................................... 98

Central Midlands Sub-Region ........................................................................... 101

Central South Sub-Region ................................................................................ 109

Appendix C – Regional Survey Results ...................................................................... 126

Appendix D – Sub-Regional SWOT Analysis .............................................................. 136

Appendix E – Wheatbelt ECEC Map (2014) ............................................................... 140

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Introduction

The Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan forms part of the state wide initiative of the Department of Local Government and Communities to develop specific plans for each of the nine regions in Western Australia (WA). Once completed these region specific plans will form the basis for an overall State-wide plan.

Funding for this project is provided through the State Government’s Royalties for Regions Regional Community Child Care Development Fund (RCCCDF) and administered by the Department of Local Government and Communities.

The Royalties for Regions Regional Community Child Care Development Fund was established to support the development of sustainable models of regional community-managed education and care that meet the needs of families living in regional Western Australia. Funding of $9.3 million has been provided through the State Government’s Royalties for Regions budget over four years, which will support the transformation and longer-term sustainability of regional community-managed education and care services.

Regional Development Australia (RDA) Wheatbelt was awarded the contract to develop the Regional Children’s Services Plan for the Wheatbelt. RDA is a partnership between the Australian, State and Local Governments that aims to develop, strengthen and ensure the long-term sustainability of Australia’s regions. RDA Wheatbelt Inc. is part of a national network of 55 RDA committees representing regional areas across the country.

RDA Wheatbelt is a locally based, not-for-profit, incorporated association governed by a volunteer committee, who come from varied personal and professional backgrounds and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the organisation.

RDA Wheatbelt engages with local communities and other stakeholders to identify issues and barriers and to highlight opportunities for the sustainable social and economic growth of our region.

RDA Wheatbelt recognises that providing children’s services in regional and rural areas is challenging. Factors such as distance, smaller numbers of children, isolation, limited resources, staff training needs and the reliance on usually voluntary community based management committees or local government to provide and manage these services are ongoing issues that impact on the delivery and sustainability of services in the Wheatbelt.

It must be noted that individual Health and Education services are not specifically documented within this plan. Information on Schools – both public and private, can be

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sourced via the Department of Education website, to ensure the information is current and accurate at the time it is accessed.

WA Country Health Services Health (WACHS) provides a range of services including home visits to every newborn in the region and access to child health nursing services in most communities. School health nursing services are available at private and public schools in the region. Child development services are also available to families within the region and WACHS supports and leads many of the existing Early Years Networks (EYNs).

Regional Overview

Geography and Location

The Wheatbelt region is situated in the south west of Western Australia and comprises an area of 154,862 square kilometres, extending out to the north, east and south east of the Perth metropolitan area. The region is home to 73, 817 people (Projected June 2012 Population, 2011 ABS census) making it the third most populous region in the State, after Peel and the South West.

The Wheatbelt is a large and diverse region encompassing a range of environments, social and economic characteristics. Opportunities and constraints differ greatly across the region, especially when comparing the high growth peri-urban and coastal communities with the broad acre farm land in the east and south of the region.

The population of the Wheatbelt is dispersed over 43 Shires and approximately 160 towns and smaller settlements with the highest density occurring in towns closest to Perth. Travelling towards the far north and east of the Wheatbelt, there are further distances between towns and a smaller concentration of people. There are no major cities in the Wheatbelt. Northam is the largest regional centre with an estimated population of 6,580.

Demographics

The population of the Wheatbelt region has been steadily growing over the past four years and projections based on the 2011 ABS Census indicate that the population reached 73,817 in June 2012. The average annual growth rate for the Wheatbelt region over the past ten years (2002-2012) is 0.2 percent and the total population growth between 2002 and 2012 was 1.71 percent (refer to Figure 2). Whilst the population of

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the region has increased overall, population decline or stasis has occurred in many Local Government areas.

Figure 2: Wheatbelt Population Growth (2002 - 2012).

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

The Regional Australia Institute’s (RAI) Pathways to Settlement Summary Report (2014) observed population change between the 2006 and 2011 Census’s and noted that 18 Wheatbelt Local Governments had a static population growth (between 0.99 percent annual average loss to 0.99 percent annual average growth) and 12 have shown an average annual decline of 1 percent or more. The remaining 13 Local Governments have experienced a rate of 1 percent to 4.99 percent annual average growth.

The Wheatbelt Blueprint (Wheatbelt Development Commission, (WDC) 2014) sets an aspirational goal of a population increase from 74,000 people in 2014 to 180,000 in 2050. According to the RAI report (2014), the majority of growth in the Wheatbelt will be concentrated in the peri-urban, north-south corridor of the region.

According to the Wheatbelt Blueprint (WDC, 2014) the Wheatbelt’s population, as compared to the State population is characterised by an over representation of the 0-14 age cohort. This is attributed to the liveability for young families and quality of primary education services. Data from the 2011 ABS Census indicates that there were 14,950 residents aged between 0 and 14 years, which represents approximately 20 percent of the total population of the region.

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Population 72,575 72,633 71,964 72,160 72,142 72,099 72,364 72,783 72,833 72,856 73,817

71,000

71,500

72,000

72,500

73,000

73,500

74,000

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The Wheatbelt has an estimated 3,293 people who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, which represents 4.7 percent of the Wheatbelt population. This is a higher proportion than for the whole of Western Australia (3.1 percent) and according to the Wheatbelt Blueprint (WDC, 2014) the 0 -14 cohort make up 39 percent of the Aboriginal population.

Wheatbelt Sub-Regions

The Wheatbelt is divided in to five distinct but inter-connected sub regions, each of which is serviced by a regional centre. The five sub regions are:

Avon Central Coast Central Midlands Central East Central South

Avon

The Avon sub-region had a projected population of 26,326 people as of June 2012. The Avon encompasses the Shires of Beverley, Cunderdin, Dowerin, Goomalling, Koorda, Northam, Quairading, Tammin, Toodyay, Wyalkatchem and York.

The town of Northam, with a population of approximately 6,580 (2011 ABS Census) is the main service centre for this sub-region and has by far the highest population of children in the 0-14 age range in this sub-region (refer to Table 1).

Population projections provided by the WA Planning Commission (2012) suggest that the population of 0 – 14 year olds in Northam, Toodyay, York, Beverley, Goomalling and Quairading will continue to grow, whilst the remaining Local Government Areas (LGA) in the Avon sub-region will experience a decline in the population of this cohort.

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Table 1: Current and Projected Population of children (0-14) in the Avon Sub-region

Current Population Projected 2026 Population

LGA 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total

Beverley 72 125 91 288 110 130 110 350

Cunderdin 95 86 74 255 40 35 35 110

Dowerin 58 52 42 152 40 35 25 100

Goomalling 97 78 68 243 100 110 100 310

Koorda 52 30 29 111 40 30 30 100

Northam 741 797 791 2329 930 990 1000 2920

Quairading 74 62 65 201 90 100 100 290

Tammin 34 49 37 120 20 25 20 65

Toodyay 227 255 325 807 260 320 350 930

Wyalkatchem 25 39 33 97 20 20 20 60

York 161 217 219 597 280 330 320 930

TOTAL for Sub-Region

1636 1790 1774 5200 1930 2125 2110 6165

Source: ABS and WA Planning Commission, 2012.

Central East

The Central East comprises of a large number of small communities over an expansive geographical area. This sub-region has a total projected population of 9,842 people as of June 2012, with 20 percent falling within the 0-14 age range.

The Central East sub-region includes the Shires of Bruce Rock, Kellerberrin, Merredin, Mount Marshall, Mukinbudin, Narembeen, Nungarin, Trayning, Westonia and Yilgarn. Over one third of the sub-region’s population overall, and more specifically the population of 0-14 years old, resides in the service centre of Merredin which is located 260kms east of Perth.

Population projections out to 2026 (WA Planning Commission, 2012), suggest that the population of 0-14 year olds in this sub-region is expected to decline overall. Only the Shires of Westonia and Mt Marshall have projected growth in this age cohort.

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Table 2: Current and Projected Population of children (0-14) in the Central East Sub-region.

Current Population Projected 2026 Population

LGA 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total

Bruce Rock 77 68 86 231 35 40 35 110

Kellerberrin 89 84 83 256 75 80 75 230

Merredin 229 242 252 723 230 210 200 640

Mt Marshall 26 49 27 102 70 75 60 205

Mukinbudin 37 33 28 98 35 30 30 95

Narembeen 49 57 48 154 30 35 30 95

Nungarin 8 17 21 46 10 15 15 40

Trayning 16 35 14 65 25 25 20 70

Westonia 12 19 12 43 20 20 15 55

Yilgarn 90 112 89 291 70 60 40 170

TOTAL for Sub-Region

633 716 660 2009 600 590 520 1710

Source: ABS and WA Planning Commission, 2012

Central Coast

The Central Coast sub-region consists of the Shires of Dandaragan and Gingin and covers the coastal area of the Wheatbelt extending from Guilderton to Jurien Bay.

The projected population of this sub-region in 2012 was 8,301 of which 18 percent (refer to table 3) were children aged 0-14.

Jurien Bay, as the Central Coast’s regional centre, was announced in 2011 as one of WA’s nine Supertowns. The Jurien Bay Regional Centre Growth Plan released in 2012 outlines that the town has the aspirational goal of transforming from a small coastal settlement to a regional city of 20,000. Consistent with this, the population of 0-14 year olds in the Dandaragan Shire is expected to increase by close to 40 percent by 2026. The Shire of Gingin is also expected to experience growth but not at the same rate.

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Table 3: Current and Projected Population of children (0-14) in the Central Coast Sub-region.

Current Population Projected 2026 Population

LGA 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total

Dandaragan 221 204 190 615 290 320 250 860

Gingin 280 328 321 929 320 340 320 980

TOTAL for Sub-Region

501 532 511 1544 610 660 570 1840

Source: ABS and WA Planning Commission, 2012

Central Midlands

The Central Midlands sub-region had a projected population of 10,977 in 2012, with ~21 percent of this consisting of children in the 0-14 age range (refer to table 4). Shires in this sub-region include Chittering, Dalwallinu, Moora, Victoria Plains and Wongan-Ballidu.

The sub-region’s main service centre is considered Moora and this local government area has the second highest population of children within the Central Midlands sub-region. It is the Shire of Chittering that has the highest concentration of children within the Central Midlands sub-region. It is also the Shire of Chittering that will have the highest growth in children aged 0 – 14 (close to a 70 percent increase) by 2026 based on WA Planning Commission (2012) projections.

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Table 4: Current and Projected Population of children (0-14) in the Central Midlands Sub-region.

Current Population Projected 2026 Population

LGA 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total

Chittering 265 293 417 975 450 540 650 1640

Dalwallinu 107 73 71 251 55 55 45 155

Moora 216 171 197 584 150 150 150 450

Victoria Plains

64 67 62 193 50 50 35 135

Wongan-Ballidu

143 117 86 346 100 100 85 285

TOTAL for Sub-Region

795 721 833 2349 805 895 965 2665

Source: ABS and WA Planning Commission, 2012

Central South

The Central South includes the Shires of Brookton, Corrigin, Cuballing, Dumbleyung, Kondinin, Kulin, Lake Grace, Narrogin Shire, Narrogin Town, Pingelly, Wagin, Wandering, West Arthur, Wickepin and Williams.

This sub-region comprises an approximate population of 18,371 people with ~21 percent of these being children in the 0-14 age range. The highest population of children within this sub-region is found within in the Town of Narrogin.

Populaton projections indicate that approximately half the Shires within the Central South sub-region, will experience a decline in the 0-14 population over the years to 2026.

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Table 5: Current and Projected Population of children (0-14) in the Central South Sub-region.

Current Population Projected 2026 Population

LGA 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 Total

Brookton 66 57 63 186 40 35 25 100

Corrigin 78 64 54 196 95 95 95 285

Cuballing 61 62 61 184 65 75 80 220

Dumbleyung 43 47 40 130 35 40 25 100

Kondinin 59 62 54 175 65 65 40 170

Kulin 64 78 68 210 65 65 55 185

Lake Grace 106 115 84 305 80 60 45 185

Narrogin Shire

56 57 54 167 65 65 55 185

Town of Narrogin

347 319 345 1011 400 330 410 1140

Pingelly 75 91 90 256 90 100 100 290

Wagin 141 113 115 369 130 130 120 380

Wandering 30 41 21 92 35 35 25 95

West Arthur 66 63 67 196 50 50 45 145

Wickepin 82 50 51 183 50 50 50 150

Williams 77 55 56 188 70 75 75 220

TOTAL for Sub-Region

1351 1274 1223 3848 1335 1270 1245 3850

Source: ABS and WA Planning Commission, 2012

Population Projections

The Population Projections provided in the preceding section were taken from the Western Australia Planning Commission’s “Western Australia Tomorrow Forecast Summary for Local Authorities” released in February 2012. This document provides future population estimates based on observed trends in fertility, mortality and migration.

The estimates are broken down into bands according to the total population in any given year. The median value of each band is published to give five forecasts for each Local

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Government in WA. Band C contains the median value for all forecasts so is neither at the highest or the lowest end of the estimated population figures. Band C figures, have for this reason, been used for interpretive purposes in the Wheatbelt Children’s Services Plan.

Population estimates based on the 2011 Census were compared with projected population figures for all Wheatbelt Local Governments in the year 2026.

Over half of Wheatbelt Local Governments are projected to experience a decline in population of children over this period. The Local Governments with the highest anticipated growth of children aged 0 to 14 are Chittering, Northam, York, Dandaragan and Toodyay.

The WA Planning Commission demographic data included here has raised some concerns amongst Wheatbelt Local Government’s as it is felt that this may not be an accurate representation of their true future demographic profile.

Australian Early Development Census (AEDC)

The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC – formerly known as the Australian Early Development Index - AEDI)2 is a nation-wide population measure of young children’s development. It is based on a teacher completed checklist for children enrolled in their first year of full-time school (Pre-primary in Western Australia). The information collected for individual children is analysed and reported back for groups of children, based on the child’s place of residence (Local Government area and suburb/town).

The first national collections took place in 2009 and 2012. Further collections are planned for every three years with the next collection scheduled for May 2015. The data provides a rich source of information about children’s development.

The AEDC measures the proportion of children developmentally on-track, developmentally at risk, and developmentally vulnerable across five areas of early childhood development:

2 See www.aedc.gov.au for further information

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Demographic data is also collected, and includes non-parental early childhood education and/or care experiences in the year before full-time school. In the Wheatbelt this care is often provided by Grandparents and other family members.

Results for the Wheatbelt are available to AEDC Communities that meet the minimum reporting requirements (minimum of 15 children and 2 teachers). In most cases the AEDC Communities are the same as a Local Government Area. Where appropriate some Local Governments have been merged in to one AEDC Community to enable the release of data.

The AEDC results give communities a snapshot of children’s development as they arrive at school. The results help communities to understand the degree and concentration of developmental vulnerability within their community and the evidence base to develop interventions to better support children and their families. The results can also be used to re-focus the allocation of resources to areas of need and form the basis of activities delivered by Early Years Networks and ECEC’s.

Where a 2012 profile was publicly available, the results have been presented in this Plan in preference to the 2009 results. Where only the 2009 profile was available this information has been used. 2012 Results In Western Australia, the 2012 results show that 23.0 percent of children were developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains compared to 22.0 percent nationally. In areas of the Wheatbelt there are communities above this.

Of the 19 Wheatbelt Local Governments in the 2012 reporting, nine had percentages of developmentally vulnerable children on one or more domains, above the Australian average (refer to Figure 3). This includes the Brookton, Pingelly and Cuballing regional grouping (28.1 percent), Kondinin (33.3 percent), Lake Grace (27.3 percent), Merredin

Physical Health & Wellbeing

•Physical readiness for the day

•Physical independence

•Gross and fine motor skills

Social Competence

•Overall social competence

•Responsibility and respect

•Approaches to learning

•Readiness to explore new things

Emotional Maturity

•Pro-social and helping behaviour

•Anxious and fearful behaviour

•Aggressive behaviour

•Hyperactivity and inattention

Language & Cognitive Skills

•Basic literacy•Interest in literacy, numeracy and memory

•Advanced literacy

•Basic numeracy

Communication Skills & General

Knowledge•Communication skills and general knowledge

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(30.4 percent), Moora (24.3 percent), Narrogin (28.9 percent), Northam (34 percent), Toodyay (30.6 percent) and Wagin (29.3 percent).

A total of eight Wheatbelt Local Governments recorded above the Australian average percentages of developmentally vulnerable children on two or more domains. This includes Brookton, Pingelly and Cuballing regional grouping (15.8 percent), Kondinin (13.3 percent), Kellerberrin (12.5 percent), Merredin (15.2 percent), Narrogin (13.1 percent), Northam (22.4 percent), Toodyay (16.3 percent) and Wagin (17.1 percent).

Dalwallinu and Gingin had the lowest percentages of developmentally vulnerable children with Dalwallinu having only 6.3 percent of children vulnerable on one or more domain and none on two or more domains. Gingin had 8.3 percent of children vulnerable on one or more domain and 5 percent on two or more domains.

Performance against the five AEDC domains is provided individually for each Local Government in Appendix A.

Figure 3: 2012 AEDC Results for Wheatbelt Local Government Areas

Source: AEDC Community Profiles

2009 Results

The 2009 data collection showed that overall in Australia, 23.6 percent of children are developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains of the AEDC and 11.8 percent are developmentally vulnerable on two or more domains.

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101520253035

Wheatbelt AEDC Results 2012

% Developmentally Vulnerable on one or more domains

Australian Average % Developmentally Vulnerable on one or more domains

% Developmentally Vulnerable on two or more domains

Australian Average % Developmentally Vulnerable on two or more domains

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Of the 11 Wheatbelt Local Governments, for which only 2009 reports are publicly available, five had percentages of developmentally vulnerable children on one or more of the AEDC domains, above the Australian average (refer to Figure 4). These were Bruce Rock (32.1 percent), Dumbleyung (57.9 percent), Narembeen (38.1 percent), Quairading (31.4 percent) and Victoria Plains (38.5 percent).

Only two Wheatbelt Local Governments had higher percentages of developmentally vulnerable children on two or more domains than the Australian Average. These were Narembeen (14.3 percent) and Wickepin (13.3 percent).

Performance against the five AEDC domains is provided individually for each Local Government in Appendix A.

Figure 4: 2009 AEDC Results for Wheatbelt Local Government Areas

Source: AEDC Community Profiles

Implications of the AEDC Results

As previously mentioned, the AEDC results can be used to help identify the need for interventions that better support children and their families in the pre-schooling years. The Wheatbelt Blueprint (WDC, 2014) suggests that improved access to parental support services and early childhood development programs will assist to reduce the instance of developmentally vulnerable children in the region.

Any solutions/interventions devised to address developmental vulnerability should be place-based and community driven to ensure that they are targeting specific needs within a community. Information sharing and collaborative strategies and activities are appropriate where common underlying causes might be contributing to the results. Early

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

AEDI Results 2009

% Developmentally Vulnerable on one or more domains

Australian Average % Developmentally Vulnerable on one or more domains

% Developmentally Vulnerable on two or more domains

Australian Average % Developmentally Vulnerable on two or more domains

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Years Networks (EYNs) can provide the conduit for targeted actions and information sharing as well as provide a link with community, Government agencies and supports, Local Government and other key stakeholders.

Changes in AEDC results over time provide a useful indicator of the impact of targeted programs. Wheatbelt EYNs are already using the data for this purpose and will continue to create innovative ways of achieving positive outcomes with varying emphasis on the available data.

Workforce Training & Development

The National ECEC Workforce Census 2013 was commissioned by the Department of Education as part of a range of Australian Government initiatives designed to improve the quality of information used in developing and measuring early childhood policy and programmes. Information from this Census suggests that nationally there are an estimated 153,155 staff employed in the ECEC sector, with the large majority (49.4 percent) engaged by long day care services (refer to Table 6). In Western Australia 13,993 people were employed in the ECEC sector, which represents 9.1 percent of the national ECEC workforce. Data specific to the Wheatbelt is not available.

Since the 2010 National ECEC Workforce Census the number of workers employed in the sector grew by an average of 10 percent across all service types.

To correspond with this the number of services increased by 5.7 percent and the number of children in care grew by 15.3 percent (Australian Government Department of Education, 2014). The census also showed that in Western Australia specifically there was strong growth amongst workers aged 55 and over between the 2010 and 2013 censuses. Aligned with the requirements under the National Quality Framework (NQF) that were introduced between the census periods, the proportion of paid contact staff without an ECEC related qualification (e.g. Certificate III/IV or bachelor degree) fell from 30.2 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2013.

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Table 6: Size of the ECEC workforce

State PS LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total Total %

NSW 8,284 24,792 4,496 327 296 5,436 4,557 48,188 31.5

Vic 6,840 17,490 4,114 447 339 4,102 2,729 36,061 23.5

QLD 3,527 18,260 2,516 550 90 4,031 4,090 33,065 21.6

SA 2,051 5,388 975 115 2 1,785 1,935 12,250 8.0

WA 4,399 5,533 1,130 218 108 1,310 1,295 13,993 9.1

Tas 882 1,477 447 145 18 364 362 3,695 2.4

NT 456 734 260 0 0 221 228 1,898 1.2

ACT 513 1,972 117 7 19 837 541 4,005 2.6

TOTAL percent 17.6 49.4 9.2 1.2 0.6 11.8 10.3 100 - Source: National ECEC Workforce Census.

Note* PS = Preschool, LDC = Long Day Care, FDC = Family Day Care, IHC = in home care, OCC = Occasional Care, OSHC = Outside School Hours Care, VAC = vacation care.

The staff survey component of the National ECEC Workforce Census suggests that overall ECEC staff have become less satisfied in working within this sector. Between the 2010 and 2013 data collections, there was a small decrease (1.1 percent) in job satisfaction and in satisfaction with pay and conditions (5.4 percent) and an increase of 13.1 percent in the proportion of staff agreeing that they would leave the sector today if they could. There was also a decrease in the proportion of staff interested in furthering their career in the sector (3 percent) and a decrease in those who said they would recommend the sector to others (4.3 percent).

The Early Childhood Development Workforce research report (Productivity Commission, 2011) acknowledges that providing ECEC services in rural and remote areas involves particular workforce challenges. The report cites factors such as insufficient housing, competition with other employment sectors, low wage rates, culture shock for new immigrants and those new to rural and regional living and limited opportunities for professional development and support as contributing to the particular difficulties face in recruiting and retaining an ECEC workforce.

The Productivity Commission (2011) research report notes that characteristics of individual communities gives rise to additional workforce issues. An example given is that in agricultural communities during times of drought when farmer’s incomes are

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reduced, rural ECEC services face falling enrolments which can make it difficult to continue to maintain services and to offer job security particularly when it comes to qualified staff.

This example is directly applicable to the Wheatbelt region, where agriculture remains a dominant industry and employment sector.

Quoting figures from the 2010 National ECEC Workforce Census (Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations), the Productivity Commission’s research report notes that a greater proportion of ECEC staff are unqualified in remote and very remote areas (37 percent) when compared to other areas (29 percent). This places additional stress on ECEC services in these areas to obtain educators with a Certificate III or Diploma level qualification.

The WA Department of Training and Workforce Development prepares a State priority occupation list (SPOL) which is an annually produced list of skilled occupations in high

demand or considered industry-critical in Western Australia. The 2014 SPOL, released in July identifies “child care worker” as a State Priority 1 occupation. An occupation is deemed to be within the State Priority 1 tier if:

The occupation is a critical occupation There is sufficient evidence that the occupation is experiencing unmet demand or

other non-market related factors influencing future training; and It has a statistical Occupational Priority Index rating in the top 50 percent of

occupations in the State

As part of the preparation of the Wheatbelt Workforce Development Plan 2013-16 (Department of Training & Workforce Development, 2012), sub-regional consultations were undertaken to identify (amongst other things) priority occupations for that sub-region. Child care work was identified in both the Avon and Central-Midlands sub-regions as a priority occupation. Whilst not identified through these consultations as a priority in the other three sub-regions, subsequent research undertaken by RDA Wheatbelt through an on-line survey in early 2014 (refer to Appendix C), has shown that the lack of qualified staff is the most significant issue facing ECEC services in the Central East, Central-Midlands and Coastal (these two regions were grouped together for the purposes of the survey) and the Central South sub-regions.

In June 2012 the former Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) hosted a Wheatbelt ECEC Industry Roundtable. This event pulled together a broad cross-section of stakeholders in the Wheatbelt Child Care sector to provide their views on barriers and solutions to effective regional service delivery.

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Two issues consistently identified by attendees of this workshop were the difficulty in recruiting and attracting child care workers and the expected loss of existing staff due to the requirements under the NQF for staff to have attained or be working toward a minimum Certificate III level qualification.

“Workers in rural and remote areas have difficulties accessing training and professional development opportunities, whether by travelling to larger population centres to attend courses, or through distance education. Distance from training providers and the difficulty in finding replacement staff both present major barriers to training for ECEC workers” (Productivity Commission, 2011). The Wheatbelt is no exception to this, with CY O’Connor Institute the only registered training provider of Certificate III and Diploma level qualifications in children’s services within the region. Other non-certified training and professional development opportunities for ECEC services are provided by organisations such as Child Australia, who are not based in the region and offer either one off or infrequent training opportunities.

The Productivity Commission (2011) research report identified some potential measures to address ECEC workforce challenges in rural and remote areas. Specifically:

Offer targeted incentives (particularly for degree-qualified teachers who will be most difficult to attract): Financial and non-financial incentives such as district allowances, housing packages (this is particularly important as poor availability of housing has been found to adversely impact on worker retention), career development opportunities, flexible work arrangements, etc. will potentially entice workers to consider positions in rural/regional areas over and above opportunities in metro or large urban centres.

Focus recruitment and development efforts on local workers: There is a greater success in retaining ECEC workers where they are initially recruited from the local community (Flaxman, Muir and Oprea, 2009) and training workers in rural locations increases the likelihood of those workers choosing employment in rural areas (McClure and Reeves, 2004).

Look for opportunities to provide training and development opportunities via alternative means, particularly on-line: It is not viable to build new or additional training institutions in all rural/remote areas so remote training delivery presents a real opportunity to overcome barriers of distance and back-filling positions when staff are away to attend training. The North West Early Childhood Teacher Development program is an example of an innovative approach to remote training delivery that was offered by Murdoch University in collaboration with the WA Department of Education with a focus on the Pilbara and Kimberley regions.

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These suggested measures warrant further exploration in the Wheatbelt context as on face value they appear to have direct applicability. An additional consideration to overcome workforce development challenges in the region, is the need to address the difficulties of backfilling positions to enable staff to participate in training and development opportunities. A sub-regional pool of relief staff being available to ECEC services is one potential avenue to address this particular barrier.

The Productivity Commission Report into Childcare (2014) is scheduled for release on October 31st 2014, however it may not be released immediately to the public. RDA Wheatbelt provided two written submissions and presented at the WA Hearing and these are publicly available documents. They reinforce many of the issues previously identified and highlight those recommendations most likely to impact on regional and rural Australia and the Wheatbelt communities and ECECs.

The National Partnership Agreement on the National Quality Agenda for Early Childhood

Education and Care (2014 Review) is currently underway and the secondary

consultation process phase that considers the proposed options for changes to the

National Quality Framework and the WA Feedback session is scheduled for November

24th 2014.

The outcomes of both of these important national reviews will be carefully scrutinised and consideration given to possible impacts during the Implementation phase of the RCSP.

Children’s Services

The Wheatbelt region is home to a range of Children’s services including education and care facilities, Early Years Networks, playgroups, toy libraries, Government agency services and programs (e.g. child health services, better beginnings programs, best start, etc.) and a variety of community and other non-government organisations who deliver programs or initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for children in the region. A comprehensive list of identified Children’s Services available in each sub-region is provided in Appendix B3.

Early Childhood Education and Care Services (ECECs)

In the Wheatbelt, ECEC services provide a combination of full-time long day care, part-time long day care, occasional care and family day care. There is also a mobile service

3 Please note that this list is based on desk top research done by RDA Wheatbelt in the process of developing the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan. It cannot be guaranteed that all Children’s Services available in the Wheatbelt have been documented here or remain current from January 2015.

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that operates out of Narrogin and successfully services the communities of Pingelly and Wickepin. Outside schools hours care is limited across the region but is provided in bigger population towns such as Northam, Jurien Bay and Narrogin.

Currently there are approximately 510 licensed long day care places in the Wheatbelt region, with the largest number of places being offered in the bigger population centres such as Northam, Narrogin and Toodyay (DEEWR, 2013).

In 2010 the Wheatbelt Organisation for Children’s Services (WOCS) together with Child inclusive Learning and Development Australia (CHILD Australia) undertook a comprehensive profiling and mapping excersise of child care services in the Wheatbelt. The report produced provided a snapshot of ECEC services in the region at that point in time and outlined the major issues/barriers that were impacting on the sustainability of these services.

The Wheatbelt Child Care Services Profiles and Mapping (WOCS & CHILD Australia, 2010) quotes O’Hagan (1998) in saying that low populations in smaller rural centres result in a lack of the critical mass required to attract private enterprise to invest in child care services as the services would not be profitable. This applies to almost all Wheatbelt communities outside of the sub-regional centres where the numbers of children have enabled private providers to establish and be viable. In the smaller population communities, the Local Government or community volunteers are generally responsible for establishing and maintaining ECEC services.

Unlike metropolitan areas or larger rural communities, in the Wheatbelt there is generally limited choice in terms of the type of ECEC service that is accessed. As the WOCS and CHILD Australia paper alludes to, the primary factor that influences what service a parent will access in the Wheatbelt is the vicinity to their place of residence and/or employment. This means that the service being accessed is not necessarily meeting the needs of the parent and may in fact impede their ability to participate in paid employment, further study, etc. In support of this, a paper by Pelusey, Hatch and Tonts (2010) notes that the lack of adequate day care facilities for children is a significant workforce development issue for the Wheatbelt, particularly in the Central East and Central South sub-regions as it restricts the available supply of labour for local employers.

The Wheatbelt Child Care Services Profiles and Mapping paper identifies that the vast majority of ECEC services in the Wheatbelt are not located in purpose built facilities, but rather are located in existing buildings (often times Local Government owned and maintained) and in some cases are co-located with other services. The lack of purpose built services impacts on both children and staff as the premises have not been

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designed with child care in mind and often face impediments such as accessible rooms, lack of storage and administration areas for staff members or a lack of toilet facilities that meet the needs of all patrons of the building. Furthermore, difficulties in accessing suitable premises or funding to get premises up to regulation standard and ensuring the maintenance of building and equipment has been identified as two of the major challenges facing ECEC management committees in the Wheatbelt (WOCS & CHILD Australia, 2009). In 2010 there were seven services operating under building exemptions as a result of the premises not meeting child care regulations (WOCS & CHILD Australian, 2010).

In the Wheatbelt there are a number of examples of where part-time long day care or occasional care ECEC services are co-located with play groups, mothers groups and/or toy libraries (e.g. Cunderdin and Quairading part time long day care services are co-located with the playgroup). The co-location of children’s services has the benefit of enabling shared equipment and other resources as well as distributing costs that might be incurred (e.g. rent or maintenance). The limitation of a co-located service is that if additional hours of operation were to become feasible for one of the services the standing shared arrangements would likely result in one of the services having to find an alternative premises to continue operating, risk closure or be unable to extend service hours (e.g. Dalwallinu).

As one avenue of addressing limitations around existing infrastructure, Local Governments and funding bodies should be encouraged to consider options for co-located children’s services when developing new community infrastructure. This would be applicable to a range of services including playgroups, toy libraries and even ECEC services.

Other Children’s Services

There are a wide range of children’s services available within the Wheatbelt region. Outside of ECEC’s the children’s services most available are child health clinics, playgroups and toy libraries, with the majority of Wheatbelt communities having access to one or all of these services. Individual communities also offer localised services such as story time at the Community Resource Centre (CRC’s) or town library, Kindy gym’s and mothers groups but there is not an even distribution of these types of services across the region and their existence is largely dependent on the support of Local Government or an active community group or individual.

Specialised children’s services such as those for minority groups or children/families with special needs are generally limited to the larger regional centres of Merredin, Moora, Northam and Narrogin and small numbers of staff are required to cover vast tracts of land and a significant number of communities. A good example of this are the

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Disability Services Local Area Coordinators (LACs), which are located out of the four aforementioned communities and the Parenting WA Coordinators, of which there are two, based in Northam to cover the entire region.

According to the Disability Services Commission’s, Profile—Wheatbelt area Consultation Document (2013) in 2011-2012 the following numbers of people were observed as registered with LACs in the Wheatbelt area:

Zero to four age range, 29 people.

Five to nine age range, 64 people.

Ten to 14 age range, 45 people.

Of all people registered with LACs in the Wheatbelt more than 52 percent were aged between five and 19 and most live in Narrogin, followed by Northam and Merredin. Whether there is unmet demand is not clear but given the large numbers of communities that each LAC is required to service, it is possible that some children and families with need of support are not able to access this service.

Coordination and collaboration across the myriad of children’s services providers in the Wheatbelt is important to reduce duplication of effort and to maximise impact with the limited resources that are available. A number of Early Years Networks are currently operating in the Wheatbelt and are providing this coordination to varying degrees of success. EYNs exist in the Eastern Wheatbelt, Avon, Central Midlands and Southern Wheatbelt sub-region. There is currently no EYN in the Coastal sub-region.

Whilst the EYN structure provides an avenue for stakeholders to share information and collaborate on initiatives, in most cases they lack a dedicated coordinator and rely on their members, most of whom have full time work commitments that restrict their ability to develop the network and coordinate with other areas.

Governance Structures

An “Evaluation of Supports and Strategies Implemented to Increase the Capacity of Wheatbelt Child Care Service’s Volunteer Management Committees”, was completed by WOCS in conjunction with CHILD Australia in 2009. This evaluation identified barriers and issues encountered by volunteer management committees in establishing and running a child care service and included:

Limited or no knowledge or awards and employer obligations and staff management

Limited knowledge and experience in dealing with regulations, financials and policy development.

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The demands of a volunteer role, particularly in fitting it in around work, family and other commitments.

Lack of support for volunteers Limited knowledge of what other ECEC services are doing and therefore no

opportunity to share learnings or collaborate on initiatives. Time and effort required to ensure financial sustainability of services through

fundraising and grant applications. Length of the process involved in establishing a service and delays in receiving

funding. Processes for establishing and running ECEC services are onerous and not

streamlined

The level of responsibility placed on volunteer management committees is onerous. Volunteer burnout and the consequent impacts on recruiting new volunteers to take up positions on committees is an underlying theme that was identified in the WOCS and CHILD Australia (2009) report and reiterated through RDA Wheatbelt’s community survey (2014), which found that demands on volunteer board/committee members is considered to be one of the most significant issues impacting on ECEC services in the region. The Wheatbelt ECEC Industry Roundtable (DEEWR, 2012) identified that the lack of mentoring and support for ECEC management committees is also a significant issues impacting on ECEC’s in the region.

Background and Methodology

In the development of a Regional Children’s Services Plan for the Wheatbelt, extensive desktop research was undertaken to identify relevant demographic and statistical information and to determine what existing plans or other documentation for the region identified priority considerations for the children’s services sector.

Extensive consultation with a broad cross-section of stakeholders (e.g. community members, Local Government, children’s services providers) was achieved through a combination of face to face meetings/presentations, engagement at community events and through a regional on-line survey.

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Desktop Review

In the process of developing the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan, extensive desktop research was undertaken to identify and build a strong evidence base for the priority issues and opportunities for the region.

Regional Planning Documents

The following section outlines existing regional plans/documents that discuss and/or identify specific strategies relevant to the children’s services sector. In the context of existing regional Plans, children’s services are primarily discussed in terms of the impact that the inadequate provision of child care services has on workforce development in the region.

Wheatbelt Blueprint (Draft)

The Draft Wheatbelt Blue Print (WDC, 2014) states that the Region’s high percentage of population in the early years presents strong demand for child care services. It is suggested that new innovative service delivery methods are required to deliver services to a dispersed population and overcome the challenges the sector is currently facing including cost of capital upgrades, access to skilled staff and increasing wages.

The Blueprint identified that improved access to parental support services and early childhood development programs will assist to reduce the instance of developmentally vulnerable children in the region. Previous initiatives such as the Eastern Wheatbelt EYN which was run in Merredin have resulted in improved rankings. The development of improved early childhood care and education services will also support the Region’s 0-14 demographic and young families, and allow increased workforce participation to meet labour shortages.

A specific action identified in this plan for the near term (1-3 years), as identified under Regional Priority 2.3 – Education and Lifelong learning drives productivity and thus economic growth - is for “affordable childcare services to be available close to home”. The desired outcome of this is for “childcare services to increase workforce participation”.

The Wheatbelt Planning & Infrastructure Framework (WA Planning Commission, 2014)

The Wheatbelt Planning and Infrastructure Framework (WPIF) discusses childcare in the context of workforce participation and suggests that poor access to childcare services is inhibiting people from participating in the workforce. This is identified as a particularly

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pertinent issue for the Wheatbelt, in communities where there is a documented labour shortage, and projected demographic changes predict ongoing issues in attracting and retaining a workforce.

The WPIF acknowledges that the Wheatbelt’s dispersed settlement pattern means that provision of economically viable services is challenging and suggests that opportunities may exist for collective solutions to deliver services based on local community needs. This may involve collaboration between small businesses who are the region’s major employers, and local government.

Living in the Regions 2013 (WA Department of Regional Development, 2013)

The purpose of the Living in the Regions 2013 survey was to ascertain what attracts people to the regions, to understand the barriers to living in the regions, to measure the quality of life in regional Western Australia, and to use that information to inform and direct regional development initiatives into the future.

Just under 10 percent of the respondents indicated that child care options were an important consideration of where they chose to live. This figure increased to 13 percent when respondents had children living with them. Thirteen percent of those with children indicated access to child care as a consideration for moving. This was predominantly among those with children in primary school or younger.

Thirty-two percent of those with children used child care (less than one percent indicated that they did not use child care but would if it was available). Fifty-four percent used some form of paid child care service. The highest percentages were seen in respondents aged:

• 30 to 39 years (29 percent)

• 40 to 49 years (24 percent)

• 50 to 59 years (22 percent).

The Great Southern (11 percent) and the Wheatbelt (11 percent) regions had the highest percentage of respondents who reported that child care options were important to them.

A small percentage of the total respondents (9 percent) would move for better child care options. Moving for better child care options was a consideration for a higher proportion of respondents in the:

• Kimberley (14 percent)

• Pilbara (12 percent)

• Goldfields-Esperance (11 percent).

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Fewer respondents would make a move in the South West who ranked this the lowest (4 percent).

Wheatbelt Workforce Development Plan 2013-16

The Wheatbelt region lacks adequate day care facilities for children, making it difficult for women with children to enter or remain in the workforce, as well as affecting the attraction of families to the region. In regions where education and care is provided, the low number of providers’ means that it is relatively expensive compared to the metropolitan area, thereby adding to the cost of living in regional areas. Pelusey, Hatch and Tonts (2010) cite this lack as a significant workforce development issue, as it not only restricts the available supply of labour for local employers, it also decreases the economic multipliers associated with additional income in the local economy. This situation is particularly an issue in the Central East and Central South sub-regions,

In many regional areas, the availability of child care is a key constraint, not simply in terms of attraction and retention, but also labour market participation. The absence of child care can prevent individuals from taking up work, thereby reducing the potential availability of labour and impede and limit further study and training.

Mapping and Service Coverage

In identifying services gaps across the region, it is important to note that due to the broad-acre agricultural landscape of the Wheatbelt, having to travel to access services is not uncommon. Services that residents’ access may be outside of the community or shire that an individual is geographically designated as living in because the service in another community may be in closer proximity to where they actually live. Commuting for work is also not uncommon in the region, particularly for people who reside on farms, and these individuals may prefer to access a service (including child care) in the community they work rather than one that is close to where they reside.

Due to the enormity of the task, gaining a comprehensive understanding of service usage patterns and distances that Wheatbelt residents are willing to travel to access a service is outside the scope of the process of developing the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan but would prove invaluable as a resource for future planning for services.

The seasonal nature of the dominant employment sector of the region, Agriculture, traditionally saw peaks and troughs in demand for/on labour at certain times of year. These seasonal variations can result in some services having little to no patronage during quieter periods in summer and experiencing unserviceable demand at other

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times. Additionally, good Agricultural seasons in the Wheatbelt often means farming wives do not have to supplement the family income by working off-farm- reducing attendance numbers and further impacting on the sustainability of services when bookings are not regular or permanent.

Finally it is important to note that whilst statistical or other information might lead to a conclusion about the need or otherwise for a service, possibly the most critical factor in the success of a service is community support and ongoing commitment to use that service. This is difficult to measure and will largely rely on a judgement call made by a Local Government Authority or community group to assess whether the perceived demand and potential social (and economic) benefit to the community outweighs the risk of establishing a service that may not be sustainable in the long term. In addition, whilst many desire a service, commitment to actual ongoing use of the service can change by the time the service becomes available.

A list of children’s services for each sub-region is provided in Appendix B. Whilst comprehensive desktop research and engagement with stakeholders was undertaken to compile this list, there are potentially some services in the region that have been omitted and not all issues will have been identified. Using this information, a Wheatbelt Family and Children’s Services and Support Directory has been developed is available on the RDA Wheatbelt website and will be updated regularly throughout the project.

The following section provides a brief commentary on possible service gaps in each of the five Wheatbelt subregions.

Avon Sub-Region

In terms of children’s services, the Avon sub-region has the most extensive services of all sub-regions in the Wheatbelt. There are ECEC services offered within the Shires of Northam, Toodyay, York, Cunderdin, Brookton, Quairading and Goomalling. There are also playgroups and toy libraries on offer in most communities within this sub-region.

Northam being the regional centre for the Avon and having the highest population of children, is where the greatest concentration of services is found. Northam is also the base for a number of programs/initiatives that are delivered across the sub-region and in some case the whole of the Wheatbelt (e.g. the Parenting WA Coordinators).

Currently there are no ECEC services available in Koorda or Beverley. Beverley was previously serviced by a family day care scheme but this is no longer available. If the population projections provided in Table 1 are an accurate reflection of the future demographic profile for the Beverley Shire and the 0 - 4 age cohort does increase as expected, the need for an ECEC service within the community of Beverley may become

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both necessary and viable in the future, however close proximity to nearby Brookton and access to Family Day Care or a Mobile service may be a preferred option. These same projections indicate that there is unlikely to be a case for an ECEC service in Koorda, with the population of 0 – 4 years olds expected to decline over the years out to 2026, however again- access to Family Day Care or a Mobile service may be an option

The existing ECEC services in Quairading, Cunderdin and Dowerin have, through engagement mechanisms undertaken in the development of the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan, identified that staffing issues are of particular concern to the sustainability of their services and had in fact resulted in the Cunderdin part-time long day care facility closing for a number of weeks during 2014. Low patronage was also reported as a potential ongoing issue in Cunderdin, which is already heavily supported by the Shire who administer and manage the facility.

AEDC results indicate that in 2012 the Shires of Northam and Toodyay recorded above the Australian average of developmentally vulnerable children on two or more domains. The data provided in Appendix A indicates that within the Northam Shire the percentage of children developmentally vulnerable on all five domains was higher than the State average and for Toodyay this was the case for four out of the five domains.

Actions Required:

Investigate the feasibility of a resource sharing model across the ECEC services in proximity to Dowerin, Cunderdin and Quairading. This may include devising a pool of potential relief and/or support staff that are willing to travel amongst these services to provide coverage in the instance of short-term staffing shortages.

Keep a watching brief over Beverley and provide assistance (if required/necessary) in identifying avenues for the provision of ECEC services either within the Beverley community or through links to services in the nearby towns of York and Brookton.

AEDC results indicate that targeted initiatives should be investigated to address the higher than National and State average levels of developmental vulnerability of children in Northam and Toodyay Shires. The Avon EYN can be utilised to identify and implement appropriate actions and garner support by community. Investigation into alternative models such as “Schools for the Future” or a “Communities for Children” style model is underway.

Support Playgroup WA who already have two Supported Indigenous Playgroups at Northam, one at York and other communities to develop them in areas of need such as Quairading.

Investigate the need in Koorda for before and after school care.

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Support the need for a purpose-built building in Fluffy Ducklings Day Care (Wundowie- a high growth area) to meet increasing demand and NQF challenges which has previously been identified.

Investigate the opportunity for Goomalling to be a Training Hub to support nearby services (with appropriate recognition and funding) due to its proximity to other services and larger centres including Perth. The service has an experienced team that is already demonstrating training, management and service outcomes.

Central East Sub-Region

Consistent with the demographic profile of this sub-region, which shows that over one third of the population resides within the Shire of Merredin, the majority of children’s services are located within the town of Merredin. This includes a proactive Early Year’s Network, which has recently been reinvigorated. Whilst Merredin is generally well provided for in terms of children’s services, there is currently no outside school hour’s care on offer.

Long Day Care is offered in Merredin and Bruce Rock while Yilgarn, Narembeen and Mukinbudin have Occasional care services. The Occasional care services in these locations are supported through the State Government as they do not meet the eligibility criteria for Commonwealth Government support. There are currently no ECEC services within the Kellerberrin, Mount Marshall, Nungarin, Trayning or Westonia Shires. Furthermore, within the Shires of Westonia and Nungarin there are no other children’s services (e.g. playgroups, toy libraries, etc.) which means that residents within these communities must travel to access any level of service or support. The low population of children aged 0 - 14 within these Shires (43 and 46 respectively) means that it is unlikely that services will ever be viable to offer within the communities.

According to the WOCS and CHILD Australia profiles and mapping report (2010), on three occasions the community of Kellerberrin had attempted to establish an ECEC service. The difficulties of the process, the level of community support required (including fundraising) and length of time taken to establish a service as well as the ongoing commitment and costs associated with doing so are barriers for the community.

In 2008 the Shires of Mount Marshall, Nungarin and Trayning lodged a proposal with DEEWR to establish a long day care that operated from differing communities with a supervising officer administering the services from one base (WOCS & CHILD Australia, 2010). This proposal was declined as it did not align with eligibility and licensing requirements. Subsequent to this a family day care commenced operating in Bencubbin but this service is no longer operating due to a decline in children within the age group at the time. The Shire of Mount Marshall are now actively seeking to establish a service to

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meet the need for an ECEC service in the North-Eastern Wheatbelt. Changes to eligibility and regulatory requirements may now make this more possible.

In the Central East sub-region two Local Government areas recorded numbers of developmental vulnerability children on two or more domains of the AEDC, above the National average. These were Merredin and Kellerberrin. Results provided in Appendix A show that children in the Merredin Shire had higher levels of developmental vulnerability on four of the five AEDC domains compared to the State average and Kellerberrin had higher levels on two of the domains.

Actions Required:

Assess options for providing outside of schools hours care within the town of Merredin- a local survey has previously been undertaken.

Monitor and if necessary assist the Kellerberrin community to revisit the need for an ECEC service and how this might be achieved.

Provide assistance as needed to the Shire of Mount Marshall in their attempts to establish an appropriate ECEC service for the North-Eastern Wheatbelt.

AEDC results indicate that targeted initiatives should be investigated to address the higher than National and State average levels of developmental vulnerability of children in Merredin and Kellerberrin Shires. The Eastern Wheatbelt EYN (EWEYN) can be utilised to identify and implement appropriate action for Merredin. Local Champions funding is providing strategic support to Merredin, Narembeen and to Kellerberrin- which has previously been active. The EWEYN links with the Eastern Wheatbelt Education Network. This provides a conduit for information and training opportunities that can be encouraged in other EYNs.

Highlight the outcomes the WACHS/Southern Inland Health Initiative (SIHI) “Kids Health Link” pilot project run by Amity Health in partnership with Merredin College as an excellent example of relationship building and early intervention which could be adopted elsewhere with the appropriate funding.

Central Coast

Long Day Care is provided within the towns of Jurien Bay and Gingin but services to other communities within this sub-region are currently limited. Residents of the townships of Dandaragan and Badgingarra, for example must travel to Moora or Jurien Bay to access childcare services. Other children’s services in this sub-region are also currently limited.

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Discussions during Strategic Planning processes indicate a desire for Day care and playgroups in smaller communities such as Dandaragan and Badgingarra including Family Day Care arrangements.

With huge growth projected in the town of Jurien Bay, it is likely that there will be a significant increase in demand for children’s services over the next 10 – 20 years.

Demand for services in adjoining coastal communities such as Cervantes is also likely to grow and may warrant an ECEC service within this community.

Currently there is no ECEC service available in Lancelin and whilst no evidence was found to suggest that there is community demand for a service at present, available statistics demonstrate that a service may be required now or in to the future. ABS 2011 Quick Stats for Lancelin, indicate that there were 43 couple families with children and an additional 22 one parent families within this community. Of the coupled families, 12.9 percent had both parents employed and working full-time and a further 5.3 percent were both employed but working part-time. There were 11.4 percent of couples where one parent worked full-time and the other parent part-time. It is not clear what care arrangements are currently in place for the children of these families whilst the parents are at work but the statistics suggest that an ECEC service of some form could be desirable.

Actions Required:

Investigate community demand and the viability for ECEC services provision to be established within the towns of Lancelin, Dandaragan, Badgingarra and Cervantes.

Identify if there is still an appetite for a more formalised Playgroup to be established within the town of Badgingarra and provide links to Playgroup WA to support the community if they wish to progress with this.

Work with the community of Dandaragan to investigate opportunities for innovative management and infrastructure collaborations across shire boundaries for the provision of ECEC services given the increasing population and industry opportunities.

Central Midlands Sub-Region

Within the Central Midlands sub-region, the highest concentration of children is found within the Shire of Chittering. Despite this, there is currently no ECEC service available and other services and supports for children are limited. It is possible that the lack of services is the result of the Shire’s close proximity to the outer Perth metropolitan area,

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which allows residents to access services outside of their immediate community and outside of the Wheatbelt region.

Based on the WA Planning Commission (2012) population projections, the Shire of Chittering will see an almost doubling of the population of children over the years up to 2026. The Shire of Chittering has established, through a community survey, that there is already strong demand for an ECEC service.

With the projected growth, particularly in the 0 to 4 age range (expected to reach 450 by 2026), the need for an ECEC service located within the Shire boundaries will become increasingly important as not all parents/carers will be willing to travel to access a service.

The Shire of Chittering has taken steps toward developing an EYN to improve the provision of services to children and their families and an existing EYN operates out of Moora.

Long Day Care is provided within the Shires of Wongan-Ballidu and Dalwallinu and an occasional care service, providing long day care hours, operates in Moora. There are no ECEC services within the Shire of Victoria Plains and there is no evidence of demand for a service at present.

Actions Required:

Provide assistance to the Shire of Chittering in establishing an EYN and provide linkages to existing EYN’s for support and guidance.

Investigate and support an appropriate ECEC service model for the Shire of Chittering with consideration given to innovative models of delivery across shires. Given the number of children in this Shire and the projected growth there may be an appetite for a private provider to establish a service. This option could be investigated further. Family Day Care is a possible business and service model that can be supported. The proximity to the metropolitan area and other ECEC services must be considered.

Central South Sub-Region

The highest population of children within this sub-region is found within in the town of Narrogin and not surprisingly this is also where the highest concentration of children’s services are located with ECEC services, playgroups, parent support programs and specialist services such as disability support all available. The primary service gap in Narrogin is the lack of outside school hours care.

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The Shires of Wickepin and Pingelly are provided with ECEC by a mobile service operating out of Narrogin. The WOCS and CHILD Australia (2010) mapping exercise indicates that the two days per week offered by the mobile service in Pingelly is not sufficent to meet demand. Consultation undertaken by RDA Wheatbelt in developing the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan indicates that this is still the case. Furthermore RDA Wheatbelt’s consultation indicates that there is limited awareness of the mobile service that is offered to Wickepin.

The mobile ECEC service that was provided to the Shires of Lake Grace and Dumbleyung ceased operating in April 2014. The Lake Grace Child Care Committee and Shire are establishing a long day care centre, which will open in late 2014. It is not clear what action the Shire of Dumbleyung may take to fill the gap left by the mobile service ceasing, but given that low patronage was the primary reason cited for this service being cut, there may not be a need to replace it.

Milly Molly Mandy’s is a NFP long day care centre located within the town of Brookton whose centre director was awarded Early Childhood Director of the Year at the 2014 National Early Education and Care Awards. Their 2014-19 Strategic Plan advises families from Brookton, Pingelly, Beverley, Aldersyde, Codjatotine and Wandering currently access the service

Of the eight Wheatbelt Local Governments that recorded above the Australian average percentages of developmentally vulnerable children on two or more domains of the AEDC, four were located within the Central South sub-region. This includes the Brookton, Pingelly and Cuballing regional grouping, Kondinin, Narrogin and Wagin Shires. The results provided in Appendix A, indicate that the percentage of children developmentally vulnerable on all five domains was higher than the State average in Narrogin, on four domains in the Brookton, Pingelly and Cuballing grouping and on three domains in Kondinin and Wagin.

Actions Required:

Investigate the need for outside school hours care in Narrogin Assess community need for additional days/hours covered by the mobile ECEC

service in Pingelly. A proposed EYN could be supported. Playgroup WA is currently investigating Supported Indigenous Playgroups in this sub-region.

Identify the need and potential mechanisms to provide an ECEC service to the Shires of Dumbleyung and Beverley.

Emulate the Strategic planning of the Brookton ECEC Multifunctional service in other communities by utilising the knowledge and learnings gained through their experiences and sharing this with other services.

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There may be potential to provide additional services and training in Brookton and this could be further investigated and supported.

AEDC results indicate that targeted initiatives should be investigated to address a higher than National and State average levels of developmental vulnerability of children in the Brookton/Pingelly/Cuballing, Narrogin, Kondinin and Wagin Shires. The Narrogin and Wagin EYNs are good examples of how local action can be implemented if supported.

Consultation and Engagement

The engagement methods utilised in the process of developing the Plan were largely determined by the size and nature of the Wheatbelt region and were specifically designed to access a diverse range of communities across a large geographical area.

During the early stages of undertaking this project, it became clear that there are many excellent services and supports in place across the region for parents and children’s service providers. What has been lacking however, is a connection between the myriad of services/supports and the result has been poor dissemination of information to those who need it and a lack of collaboration/cohesion in the delivery of initiatives and interventions.

This realisation became a focus of the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan and was reflected in the awareness and engagement campaign.

Engagement/consultation was undertaken using the following methods:

Social media interactions through Facebook and Twitter Emails to key stakeholders seeking feedback on specific components of the Plan

development A message board function on the RDA Wheatbelt website Dissemination of information through RDA Wheatbelt’s e-newsletter as well as

newsletters of other regional organisations Presentations at various meetings including EYNs, inter-agency meetings and

Local Government Zone and Regional Voluntary Organisations of Council meetings

Face to Face meetings/interviews with key stakeholders Attendance at community events (e.g. the Moora Children’s Expo, Northam

Children’s Expo and Merredin Show) A regional on-line survey

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Regional Survey

A key component of the preliminary regional engagement and consultation undertaken in the development of the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan was an on-line survey. The survey was created using Survey Monkey and was circulated via email, print media and social media to maximise participation across the geographically expansive region. Local Governments, Community Resource Centres and Playgroups were engaged to advertise and promote the survey.

The online survey was designed around key information required for the Children’s Services Plan as well as questions posed in the Productivity Commissions inquiry into Childcare and Early Childhood Learning. The survey was open from February until May 2014 and attracted a good response rate with a total of 212 completed survey’s.

The survey was separated into five streams depending on the interaction of the survey respondent to ECEC services. Whilst many of the questions were repeated in each section to enable data comparison, each stream included questions specific to the group it was targeting. The five groups were as follows:

Parent or carer currently accessing an ECEC service ECEC staff ECEC Committee member Local Government Community member (eg. potential ECEC service user, general public etc.)

To gain an understanding of the barriers parents and carers face when trying to access ECEC services in their community, the survey directed respondents to rate their top three barriers to access from a predetermined list of previously identified issues. To understand the internal challenges and issues faced by ECEC services, the survey asked ECEC staff and ECEC Committee members to identify their top three challenges.

Again a predetermined list was provided and respondents were asked to select their top three issues from this list. The lists of barriers/issues were determined by using previous research such as the WOCS and CHILD Australia (2010) profile and mapping exercise and the DEEWR (2012) round table discussion. Advice was also provided by the Wheatbelt Children’s Services Officer.

A summary of the survey findings is provided in Appendix C.

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Mapping Community Assets & Strengths

A requirement under the contract to develop a Regional Children’s Services Plan for the Wheatbelt was to undertake a mapping exercise to identify community assets and strengths. In completing this requirement, RDA Wheatbelt asked all Wheatbelt Local Governments to review a spreadsheet listing Children’s Services within their boundaries and make an assessment of how sustainable they were, what (if any) linkages between services existed and to provide any additional commentary on issues/barriers being encountered. Input was also sought from the Department of Local Government and Communities, Children’s Services Officer and training providers.

Promotional Material

A promotional Flyer for the Regional Children’s Services Plan project was developed and distributed to stakeholders via email and in many cases a hard copy form was also provided. The Flyer continues to be available to download from the RDA Wheatbelt website and is used to encourage stakeholders to engage in the project.

RDA Wheatbelt had previously identified the need for a Family and Children’s Services and Support Directory for the region and produced this is partnership with the former Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and the Department of Local Government and Communities in July 2013. This directory was used to assist with the initial identification of key stakeholders and agencies and as an engagement tool to encourage people to contribute to the development of the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan.

Attendance at Community Events

Attendance at key community events such as the Moora Children’s Expo, the Moora Community Day, Northam Children’s Expo Wagin Woolarama and the Merredin and Districts Agricultural Show have highlighted the program and provided an opportunity for informal discussions with a range of local community members and the services that support them. Avon Youth’s Community Jobs Expo in Northam provided the opportunity to highlight the RCSP and Children’s Services as a career and encourage job seekers and employment providers to consider further training.

Targeted Engagement for Local Government

Local Government in the Wheatbelt is a key player in the provision and support of Children’s Services. Children’s Services are often an important focus in community plans and Local Governments provide support for Early Childhood and Care Centres

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with management committee support, administration, providing or part-funding operational costs, equipment and infrastructure.

Engagement with this sector has included invitations to participate in the on-line survey, various emails requesting specific information and inviting general contact with the Regional Development Officer to discuss the project and provide input in to the Plan development, phone calls and face to face meetings/presentations. Engagement with Wheatbelt Local Government’s has largely taken place through Regional Organisations of Council (ROCs) and Zones. This was deemed the most appropriate approach given the large volume of Local Governments (43) and the fact that ROC groupings are functioning well on other planning initiatives taking place in the region such as the Wheatbelt Aged Support and Care Solutions Report. ROCs will continue to be the preferred mechanism of engagement going forward (as well as individual shire discussions as needed).

Presentations

Sub-regional Interagency group meetings have been attended and presentations provided to: Merredin Interagency Meeting, Northam Senior Officers Group, Moora Interagency Group and Narrogin Interagency Group.

Early Years Networks have been identified, liaised with and/or support provided to: Narrogin, Wagin, Kellerberrin, Moora, Avon, Eastern Wheatbelt, and proposed networks in the Chittering Shire and town of Jurien Bay. Currently three of these Networks have Local Champions funding: Narrogin, Wagin and most recently Merredin. There is no other mechanism to provide the means to identify issues, respond to AEDC indicators and act on local area needs such EYNs or similar going forward.

Face to Face meetings with Key Stakeholders

RDA Wheatbelt’s Regional Development Officer (RDO) has worked closely with the Wheatbelt Children’s Services Officer (CSO) to understand and document the current services in the region and the issues they face implementing the National Quality Framework. It must be noted that this role is now evolving with a focus on Regulatory requirements and Compliance with the National Quality Framework.

Other key individual stakeholders were identified and a range of meetings, emails and phone calls have occurred. These include: WACOSS Early Years Network Project officer, WA AEDC Coordinator, Individual remaining WOCS members, Early Childhood Education and Care services Coordinators/Directors and Committee members, Western Australian Country Health Services, Department of Child Protection and Family Support,

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Sport and Recreation, Local Government and Communities and regional bodies such as the Wheatbelt Development Commission and other Not for Profit organisations.

Meetings with the Department of Education Wheatbelt Regional Director and Operations Manager and presentations to two of the regions Education Networks (Avon and Eastern Wheatbelt) have occurred. Early Years are already a focus for the region and as per the recommendations outlined in the 2014 Productivity Commission report4, the Department of Education is set to play more of a role in this space in future.

Feedback on the Draft Regional Children’s Services Plan.

Stakeholders were given opportunity to provide input and feedback into the Draft Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Service Plan, released publicly for one month during October 2014.

An on-line survey and a range of presentation opportunities and activities were offered and a short video presentation was provided to share the key messages or themes of the plan across the region to encourage further discussion.

Input gleaned from this feedback period has been considered and integrated into the final Plan.

Implementation Activities

A key strength of this project has been the opportunity to commence implementation of interventions and initiatives across the region during the consultation and planning process. This has resulted in some early positive outcomes. Many of these will form the foundation for continued activities in the implementation phase:

The RDA Wheatbelt website has a dedicated RCSP page and an interactive map that displays all ECEC services in the region. Additional services such as a member’s area with an online forum for discussion will be activated as the project continues.

The RCSP project has provided an opportunity to support and reinvigorate two of the EYNs- Eastern Wheatbelt and the Avon by inviting and hosting initial events to encourage fellowship and discussion on what the EYNs are and could be in the future.

A new WACOSS opportunity “Drop-in” has been piloted to allow Networks to link in with their members and this can now be supported in the Wheatbelt.

4 Report can be accessed via http://pc.gov.au/projects/inquiry/childcare/draft

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Meetings with key training providers Child Australia and CY O’Connor Institute lecturers will have positive impacts on service delivery. Most recently access to the innovative Summer school program proposed by CY O’Connor Institute will trial the delivery of Certificate 111 and Diploma for Children’s Services in the Wheatbelt in 2014/15. Other service providers operating in the Wheatbelt have been identified. A Lecturer to be based in the sub-regional centre of Merredin to assist with training needs and demand has been requested.

Willingness of ECEC Coordinators to consider networking opportunities has been positive as they have been discussed as part of the planning process.

Regional Career Roadshows- Local ECEC professionals were contacted and supported to attend roadshows designed to address staff shortages and encourage students to consider career pathways in this industry at Narrogin, Wongan Hills, Merredin and Kulin. The same opportunity was facilitated for the Katanning Roadshow through RDA Great Southern.

The need for a Hearing Project was identified by the RDA Wheatbelt via the EYNs. A “Falling on Deaf Ears” project based on the RDA Kimberley program was supported by the Commonwealth Department of Employment. Six community events were held at Moora, Goomalling, York, Brookton and Narrogin as well as providing training sessions at Brookton, Narrogin and York’s ECEC. All feedback has been positive and it is hoped that this can be extended. The project has created an awareness of the issue. A funding application to Medicare SW Local in collaboration with SIHI was unsuccessful, however a Wheatbelt collaboration is now occurring to source the Healthy Ears, Better Hearing, Better Listening (HEBHBL) program.

York Children’s Hub - This is a great example of how a local Shire supports a community based group to think strategically. The York Children’s Hub now houses a collection of Children’s Services within one building and is the base for a future EYN. The Local Government then only needs to support one infrastructure. The RCSP provided a method to support the process by offering the “Falling on Deaf Ears” event to demonstrate the opportunities to share key messages that the “Hub” provides. There may be opportunities for Family Day Care or Outside Schools Hours Care to be considered.

The education sector and EYNs have been supported. As part of reinvigorating the Eastern Wheatbelt EYN, RDA Wheatbelt, through the RCSP project funded an Indoor Active Play day at the Merredin and Districts Agricultural Show. This initiative aimed to highlight the need for active play and created the opportunity to bring local groups together and provide demonstration activities, respite and information to parents. Seven of the local Merredin groups and Playgroup WA were involved. Feedback from the Show’s organising committee and the

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organisations involved was positive. This was the forerunner to a Community Monthly Play day that is to be continued in Merredin.

RDA Wheatbelt supported and managed external Activities funding for the successful Avon EYN – Early Years Expo on October 22nd 2014.

Other EYN outcomes include: Grandparents Carer Support group now underway in Northam, Poster developed of local networks, Checklist for AEDI analysis (EWEYN/SIHI)

RDA Wheatbelt presented to the National Productivity Commissions Inquiry into Childcare and Early Childhood Learning and provided input via two written submissions as well as encouraging key stakeholders and community to provide input. This has also been encouraged for the Review of the National Partnership

Agreement on the National Quality Agenda for Early Childhood Education and

Care (2014 Review). Consultation and Engagement will continue throughout the project. Changing contextual factors at a local, State and Federal level will be monitored and taken in to consideration as the implementation of the Plan unfolds to ensure that the priorities and actions are appropriately addressing Wheatbelt needs. In particular the outcomes of the Productivity Commission’s public inquiry in to future options for childcare and early childhood learning and any resultant legislative changes, have the potential to create opportunities for the Wheatbelt.

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Regional Trends and Issues

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT Analysis was undertaken at a sub-regional level to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats unique to each area. In undertaking this analysis it became clear that whilst sub-regional differences do exist a number of commonalities across the whole of the region are also easily identifiable. A summary of whole of region trends is provided below, while the sub-regional SWOT is provided in Appendix D.

Strengths

Different models of early childhood education and care delivery (e.g. long day care, occasional care, etc.) are available across the region and are generally meeting the need of the community in which the services are located.

The sub-regional centres, particularly Northam, Narrogin and Merredin are considered to be well serviced by a variety of children’s services, programs and activities including the provision of services specific to the needs of Aboriginal and children with additional needs.

Local Government or community provided Toy Libraries and/or Playgroups are available in almost every Local Government area within the Wheatbelt and are can found in some of the smallest population communities.

EYNs are established in the Eastern Wheatbelt (based out of Merredin and Kellerberrin), the Avon (based in Northam), the Southern Wheatbelt (based in Narrogin and Wagin), and the Central Midlands (based in Moora), and all are actively (albeit to varying degrees) pursuing opportunities to improve children’s services for the region.

Passionate committed Educators and ECEC service staff and committees want to make a difference and are working hard to improve and sustain the sector within the Wheatbelt.

A number of Wheatbelt Services that have already been assessed are “Exceeding” the standards for the National Quality Framework.

A number of Local Governments are providing support to local ECEC services through management/oversight and the provision of funding and/or infrastructure. These shires have a good understanding of the importance and value that the services provide for both their children and their workforce for future economic development.

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The Wheatbelt has a strong local registered training organisation servicing the region with experienced and supportive trainers that support innovative delivery mechanisms with external organisations also operating in the region.

There are good examples of innovative models of management and infrastructure that can be used as Case studies to share and encourage other communities across the region.

Weaknesses

Commonly cited barriers to parents/carers accessing early childhood education and care (ECEC) services across all sub-regions are the hours of operation, waitlist times, distance to the nearest service and affordability.

Aboriginal support programs and disability services, whilst being available in most of the sub-regional centres, are as a whole, quite limited across the region.

There is limited access to or no ECEC services available in a number of communities with apparent demand.

Some occasional care services are not eligible for Commonwealth support/funding and rely on State support to remain operational. The long-term viability of these services under the current arrangements is questionable.

Lack of infrastructure/equipment funding for ECEC services results in difficulty in maintain/upgrading facilities, which may ultimately result in non-compliance with national standards.

Respite care provision is minimal across the region. Distances between services makes sharing of resources challenging. Lack of consistency of language and understanding in the industry and local

communities. The Wheatbelt does not currently have any government supported Child and

Parent Centres as identified in the Wheatbelt Development Commission’s Blueprint planning.

Outside school hours care is only provided in a small number of communities across the region.

Holiday Activities and Care are provided on an ad hoc basis across the region and cannot be relied upon.

Almost all Long Day Care Services would not be viable without Sustainability funding support and ongoing fundraising by community. They often require ongoing waivers to operate.

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Opportunities

Private sector investment may see more services offered in areas with high population growth.

Part-time, mobile services may be a solution to providing some form of child care for communities where other models are not viable. Previously there were impediments to this occurring but it is now possible for this to be considered due to changes in regulations.

Local Government Infrastructure could be utilised by Family Day Care Schemes via lease or hire arrangements or co-located in existing infrastructure.

Shared resources (e.g. administration) and governance structures are an option for ECEC services to reduce reliance on volunteer committee members and minimise operational costs. Community Resource Centres provide this in other regions.

Greater peer support and mentoring of ECEC staff could be facilitated through networking of the ECEC services either through an early year’s network or more informal place-based arrangement.

A region wide or sub-regional specific relief pool could be established to assist ECEC services fill gaps created by staff absences from work due to illness or training/development requirements.

Community based Children’s Hub’s such as the one currently operating in York could be considered as an alternative to formalised Parenting Centres until such time that the Government recognises the need to invest in centres within the Wheatbelt.

Develop a Business Planning template and as an interim measure, provide a one-off project to upskill current Coordinators/Management teams on administration, governance, program development and mentoring to assist those Wheatbelt services currently struggling to access Operational and Strategic funding and implement the NQF.

Encourage training hubs strategically located and developed to assist with upskilling and providing additional traineeships to address current shortages in a one-off workforce development project.

Identify models of delivering outside school hour’s care that can readily be applied to Wheatbelt communities where demand indicates there is a need.

Support the new state project- Enhanced Transition to Schools (Playgroups and Schools), which aims to improve educational outcomes through enhanced school transition across Public, Catholic and Independent School sectors. It aims to assist families to be ready to attend and thrive when they go to school and for schools to be ready for children and families to transition to school. Transition to schooling has been consistently identified as requiring more resources and focus.

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Create a mechanism to incorporate National Education Reform measures on ECEC and the opportunities that could be progressed to link schools (particularly primary schools) with the programs, infrastructure, governance and workforce that is available in communities.

Support Community Resource Centres (CRCs) to promote Family Day Care as an opportunity for smaller communities. Some CRCs provide training activities, on-line and videoconferencing facilities, business enterprise services and new models or schemes including Crèche’s.

Threats

Limited understanding of and ability to respond to challenges associated with implementing the National Quality Framework requirements are a real threat to many ECEC services across the region.

Local Governments face multiple resource demands and community priorities and so are restricted in what support that can offer to maintain ECEC and other children’s services where there is market failure.

Workforce shortages and the difficulty in attracting and retaining suitably qualified staff is an ongoing barrier to services.

Perception by community, students and jobseekers that the ECEC industry is difficult, lacks career paths and has low wages. Create a mechanism to incorporate National Education Reform measures on ECEC and the opportunities that could be progressed to link schools (particularly primary schools) with the programs, infrastructure, governance and workforce that is available in communities.

Limited understanding by service providers and limited resources to ensure strong interagency collaboration and Early Years Networks.

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Key Findings and Recommendations

Five key areas of focus have been identified through the process of developing the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan. The following section provides an overview of the focus areas and recommendations for addressing the regional challenges associated with these five areas.

These are not listed in any order of priority. Many of the proposed solutions will have multiple benefits and outcomes as all of these priority areas are interlinked.

This section includes a consideration of various actions to address the five key areas of focus recognised in the Wheatbelt Regional Children’s Services Plan.

All strategies identified in this section have been assessed for their priority and likely effectiveness. This will ultimately assist to decipher which actions will form part of the Regional Plan.

For the purposes of this section the following definitions apply:

Priority Ratings: High = has a substantial impact on the sustainable and effective delivery of children’s services in the region. Medium = has a moderate impact on the sustainable and effective delivery of children’s services in the region. Low = has a negligible impact on the sustainable and effective delivery of children’s services in the region. Likely Effectiveness Ratings: High = Interventions identified are achievable and/or will have a high chance of resulting in desired outcomes. Medium = Interventions identified may be achievable and/or will have a moderate chance of resulting in desired outcomes. Low – Interventions identified are unlikely to be achieved and/or have minimal chance of resulting in desired outcomes.

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Accessible & Responsive Children’s Services

Innovative service delivery models are required that reflect the local context and improve the range and accessibility of services. This may include developing new facilities and introducing targeted services/supports for children and parents. There is a need to take in to account the provision of services and support for low population communities as well as the bigger regional centres within the Wheatbelt. Raising awareness of services and supports is imperative to improving access to what is already available within the region

Issue Children’s Services

Community Impact

Outcomes Required

Existing Interventions

Possible Strategies Priority/Likely Effectiveness

Limited region specific resources and information that are easily accessible to the general public

Confusion and/or lack of knowledge about services available and who to contact for information

Children’s services that meet the needs of Wheatbelt communities.

-RDA Wheatbelt Family & Children’s Services & Support Directory (2013) -Children’s Expo’s -Playgroups, MOPS -Triple P saturation /collaboration program being piloted in Northam by WA Department of Education -RDA Wheatbelt Website with children’s services page

-Continue Sub-Regional children’s services expo(s) to promote available services and supports -Host an Early Years Conference to raise awareness of regional programs and initiatives and encourage collaboration across service providers -Wheatbelt Children’s Services website and e-newsletter, which all new and existing parents will be notified of through existing information dissemination channels (e.g. Child Health Nurses) -Identify programs/initiatives that will address regional needs and provide support to bring them to the region (e.g. Falling on Deaf ears initiative) -Identify and support new EYNs in areas of need and provide linkages and models

Medium / High Funding/coordination could be issue High / High Currently being planned in regional collaboration High / High Ongoing maintenance/update of site would be difficult Medium / High Medium / High

Issue Children’s Services

Community Outcomes Existing Possible Strategies Priority/Likely

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Impact Required Interventions Effectiveness Poor awareness raising campaigns for initiatives such as the “My child” website and AEDC results

Lack of understanding about Parenting support available programs

Easily accessible information on children’s services and support that is well advertised and disseminated through appropriate channels.

-Highlight on the RDA Wheatbelt website and e-newsletter -Presentation at proposed Wheatbelt Early Years Conference -Presentations to Local Government Regional Organisation of Councils and Zone meetings -Invite and coordinate visits to EYNs and communities by AEDC WA Coordinator

High / High Already happening as part of planning process

High proportion of Wheatbelt children being cared for informally by grandparents or family members resulting in underutilisation of some ECEC services

Reduced access to formalised learning impacting on school readiness as highlighted by previous AEDC results

Playgroups/MOPs in most communities and some have ECEC services

-Work with communities identified through the Wheatbelt RCSP service mapping exercise, where there is a potential need for new services (primarily ECEC services) and provide assistance to determine appropriate models and the viability of establishing a new service. -Assist existing services to consider co-location or establishing mobile services in nearby communities of need.

High / Medium Establishing new services may be difficult particularly if in the absence of strong community support. High / High

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Issue Children’s Services

Community Impact

Outcomes Required

Existing Interventions

Possible Strategies Priority/Likely Effectiveness

A mechanism is required to incorporate National Education Reform measures on ECEC to link schools (particularly primary schools) with the programs, infrastructure, governance and workforce that is available in communities.

Confusion and lack of understanding around reform and responsibilities

Communities, Education, Health, Playgroups and ECECs working together Greater collaboration between ECEC industry and Education sector required

-Early Years Networks with some functioning better than others -Triple P Parenting program saturation/collaboration program being piloted in Northam by WA Department of Education and DGLC and WACHS.

-RDO to support existing and new EYNs as needed. -Investigate new structures in other regions e.g. Schools of future for Avon -Support Triple P and other Parenting programs to be provided cooperatively across the region -Support “Hub” thinking such as at York and share case-studies where good outcomes occurring - Work with WACOSS on proposed EYN project

Medium / High High / High Medium / High Medium / High High / High

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Workforce Development

The attraction and retention of suitably qualified child care workers is a challenge faced across all regional and remote areas in Australia and the Wheatbelt is no exception. The ability for staff to participate in training and development opportunities is a further workforce challenge faced in the region as a result of distances required to travel to access opportunities and a limited pool of relief staff to fill positions when staff take time off work to attend training.

Issue Workforce Development

Community Impact

Outcomes Required

Existing Interventions Possible Strategies Priority/Likely Effectiveness

Labour market shortages and high turnover of staffing due to factors such as

- Qualification requirements under NQF

- Uncompetitive wages

- Limited housing NQF requirements for staffing ratios

Difficulty in meeting NQF requirements puts services at risk.

-Suitably qualified staff and succession planning to fill vacancies. -Peer support and mentoring network to support current Coordinators and trainees - Reduced stress levels on Management committees and Direct/Coordinator

-Regional Career Roadshow run through RDA Wheatbelt's Youth Connections (now defunct) programme to promote various career opportunities Informal arrangements between services to share staff -Avon Youth Career Expo in Northam likely to become annual event. Merredin Career Expo -Training networks such as Education Networks and ECECs and other relevant agencies coordinating regulatory training needs. -Existing National awards and some regions have local awards -Local arrangements in place in some areas

-Develop a pool or network of relief staff made available across the region to fill in whilst staff undertake training/leave -Develop and trial a resource sharing model between smaller ECEC services -ECEC pathways roundtable discussion to identify strategies to improve workforce attraction and address training/development challenges

High / Medium Willingness to share resources may limit the effectiveness High / Medium High / Medium Uncertain of effectiveness of this approach

Issue Community Outcomes Existing Interventions Possible Strategies Priority/Likely

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Workforce Development Impact Required Effectiveness Training - Limited

training/development opportunities available in the region

- Difficulty in filling

positions to enable staff to participate in training/development opportunities

- Lack of Mentoring and

Peer support - Lack of collaboration of

local training needs across Agencies and services

-NQF requirements for staffing ratios -Limited training/development opportunities available in the region -Difficulty in filling positions to enable staff to participate in training/development opportunities -Lack of Mentoring and peer support -Lack of collaboration of local training needs across Agencies and services -Lack of recognition of ECEC professionals role

-Flexible delivery of training to clusters of ECEC’s within the region to limit travel and time out from service -Work with Child Australia and other training organisations to develop an appropriate schedule for training delivery in the region -Investigate innovative training delivery models including through the development of ECEC training clusters and via local CRCs -Provide peer support/mentoring through a “Champions” tour of local services to share learnings across the ECEC sector

Medium / Medium High / High Discussions already commenced Medium / High Medium / High Costly and challenging to coordinate

Issue Workforce Development

Community Impact

Outcomes Required

Existing Interventions Possible Strategies Priority/Likely Effectiveness

57

Lack of recognition of ECEC professional role

-Consider a State-wide Excellence awards for 2015 to highlight the ECEC professionals -See Champions tour above.

High / Medium Medium / High

Need for access to Early Childhood (EC) trained teachers by ECECs and cost

Identify and connect local EC teachers and highlight through case studies how they support interaction and transition

Medium / Medium

Provision of Infrastructure & Equipment

The lack of purpose built children’s services infrastructure in the region means that not all facilities are fit for purpose or appropriate for the activities they are being used for. A lack of funding for maintenance/improvements to existing infrastructure and for equipment purchases

58

presents a challenge for service providers who often rely on fundraising efforts, Local Government support and/or one off grants to secure funding for any developments.

Issue Provisioning

Community Impact

Outcomes Required

Existing Interventions Possible Strategies Priority/Likely Effectiveness

Lack of Purpose Built facilities Use of available facilities rather than suitable facilities

Infrastructure and equipment available for children and their families are not always fit for purpose or meeting community need

Well-equipped and safe children’s services facilities that meet national requirements and local needs

-Various funding avenues for capital investments -Local Government support -Use of existing infrastructure to provide multiple services in one location

-Investigate co-location opportunities for compatible services and where a standalone premises is not viable -Development and sharing of Case studies to highlight opportunities and innovative solutions

High / Medium High / High Easily done from existing resources

Limited funding available for infrastructure upgrades and equipment purchase and no revenue to cover these costs Ongoing maintenance lapses and lack of asset management

Extensive fundraising activities undertaken by local community

-Develop a sub-regional equipment pool to enable resource sharing (this is particularly important for specialist equipment) -Investigate the feasibility of a regional Toy Library depository to improve the quality and quantity of toys that families have access to.

Medium / Medium High / Low Logistically very difficult to coordinate

59

Issue Provisioning

Community Impact

Outcomes Required

Existing Interventions Possible Strategies Priority/Likely Effectiveness

Local Governments supporting multiple community services across multiple facilities

Communities forced to prioritise needs

Local Government comfortable and resourced to provide services for their communities

-Encourage the consideration of children’s services in planning for new publicly funded infrastructure such as Rec Centres or Multipurpose Community Centres -Develop a case study of the York facility as a demonstration model of a Children’s Hub – forerunner to Parenting Centre

Medium / Medium Requires a high level of planning and support from LGAs Medium / Medium Easy to provide a case study but possibly hard model to replicate

Governance structures

Significant pressure is placed on volunteer management committees to establish and maintain early childhood education and care services in the region. The resultant “burnout” of volunteers and deterrence of new volunteers to take up positions, threatens the sustainability of existing

60

governance structures. This has resulted in some instances, in the Local Governments having to step in and take on responsibility for the management and funding of services to enable them to be retained within a community.

Issue Governance

Community Impact

Outcomes Required

Existing Interventions

Possible Strategies Priority/Likely Effectiveness

Many small ECEC services having individual committees High reliance on volunteer committee members results in burnout and high turnover

Huge demand and obligations on volunteer committee members Inexperienced and/or unqualified committee members responsible for producing business/strategic plans beyond their capacity and/or time availability

Greater support for ECEC committee’s in some areas and complete reform in others to make governance structures sustainable and effective.

-WOCS Planning toolkit is being updated -Local Government support (e.g. oversight/ management, funding, administrative support) -LinkWest Governance and HR in Focus series of resources WACOSS support available- not utilised.

-Improved information delivery around funding opportunities (eg Strategic and operating grants) and support in preparing applications -Develop and share case studies of innovative governance arrangements that can be replicated in the region -Collaborate with other organisations (eg. Department of Sport and Recreation, WACOSS) in delivering Governance training

High / High High / High Easy to achieve and disseminate Medium / High

Issue

Community Impact

Outcomes Required

Existing Interventions

Possible Strategies Priority/Likely Effectiveness

Current arrangements require communities to self-identify ECEC

New national planning and development guidelines for child

See Leadership and Vision for Children’s Services MOU/Alliance proposal

High / High

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needs and fundraise to provide for initial and ongoing needs

care facilities have been developed by Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG)

ECEC Directors/ Coordinators have to undertake leadership and administrative roles to support committees

Improved information delivery around funding opportunities (e.g. Strategic and Operating grants) and support in preparing applications Develop a Business/ Strategic Planning support toolkit

High / High Medium / High

Leadership and vision

There is a need for an underlying vision for the children’s services sector that underpins reform in children’s services in the Wheatbelt. This needs to be driven by a strong leadership structure (or structures) that recognise the importance of investment in the early years. Coordination and collaboration across children’s services providers in the region is essential to ensure cohesive planning and delivery of sub-region specific or universal Wheatbelt initiatives aimed at improving early childhood development.

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Issue Leadership/Vision

Community Impact

Outcomes Required Existing Interventions

Possible Strategies Priority/Likely Effectiveness

Lack of formal structure to bring services together Time / Resource constraints

Duplication of effort and therefore less value for dollars spent in the region

Consolidation of myriad services on offer to provide targeted interventions and services that meet the needs of the sub-regional population

-Interagency Meetings across sub-regions with multiple priorities and varying functions -Early Years Networks - WACOSS Six month project on EYNs (to October 2014)

-Wheatbelt Children’s Services MOU/Alliance group to provide a formal structure for key stakeholders to meet and agree on priorities and actions for the sector -Investigate opportunities to replicate successful cross-agency collaborations trialled in other regions (e.g. the Schools of the Future program in the South West - Work with WOCS to determine future

High / High Achievable and high impact High / Medium Requires funding High / High Base programs on learnings from other areas

No one “Lead” agency taking responsibility for Children’s Services Different funding streams result in different focus/priority

Accepted roles and responsibilities by key agencies and organisations to improve early years outcomes

-Work with existing interagency groups and EYNs to identify and address regional priorities with a particular focus on developmental vulnerability (as identified through the AEDC results).

High / High New and existing structures require support

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Regional Plan

Vision for the Region

“The Wheatbelt has a sustainable, well provisioned and first class children’s services sector that meets the needs of Wheatbelt families today and into the future”

When this vision is realised the Wheatbelt will have:

A cohesive and well-structured network linking a range of Children’s Services that has the capacity to identify and act on key issues impacting on children in the Wheatbelt.

A strong, diverse workforce of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) professionals that are well trained and fully understanding of the needs of regional children, the National Quality Framework (NQF) and their industry.

Children’s services management structures that are flexible and adaptive to the needs of their communities and demonstrate best practice in governance.

An informed and supportive community that understands the need and supports and values Children’s Services and Early Childhood Education and Care.

Implementation Mechanisms

The following section outlines the priority actions required to address identified issues and barriers for the Wheatbelt. The priorities have been devised from the full list of considered actions outlined in the preceding section and have been identified as priorities due to the high likelihood of success in implementing them coupled with the perceived positive impact that they will have.

The priority actions have been broken down according to the five key areas of focus and assigned a priority ranking. The priority rankings may be reassessed as the project implementation unfolds and therefore only provide an initial indication of the order in which actions will be undertaken. Given the interlinked nature of many of the actions, it is anticipated that a number of priorities will be focused on at any given time.

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Accessible & Responsive Children’s Services

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Provide support for the establishment of new EYNs, where a need has been identified and work with existing networks to strengthen and empower them to deliver improved outcomes for children and their families.

RDA Wheatbelt’s Regional Development Officer (RDO) to undertake this support role initially with the aim to lead to self-sustaining/supporting EYN’s.

1

(this is already taking place and will continue to be a focus)

Collaboration / Responsibilities: Work with Local Government and/or agencies to determine potential sites for additional EYNs and support the initial start-up

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Provide support to communities where a need for new or additional children’s services (e.g. Playgroups, Supported Playgroups, (outside school hour’s care, ECECs or Family Day Care Schemes) has been identified. The level of support and specific actions taken will be determined on a case by case basis.

To be determined on a case by case basis.

2

Collaboration / Responsibilities: Work with Local Government and/or community groups such as Playgroup WA to undertake a needs assessment. Provide liaison to key agencies to help determine appropriate service models.

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Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Undertake targeted activities aimed at improving awareness of services and supports available to children and their families within the Wheatbelt region. This may include:

- An Early Years Conference aimed at raising awareness of current programs and initiatives and encouraging collaboration. In March 2015 in conjunction with the Wheatbelt Conference at Kellerberrin.

- Sub-regional children’s services roadshow targeting community members (primarily parents/carers) to raise awareness of services and supports available for children and their families in collaboration with existing Expos/ EYN and other stakeholders arrangements. By October 2015

- Promote the use of the online discussion forum to share information relating to children’s services. By March 2015

Sub-regional activities, if standalone events will likely require additional funding support.

3

Collaboration / Responsibilities: Work with existing interagency groups, EYNs and other organisations as appropriate to determine the best method of delivery and appropriate content for inclusion.

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Identify programs/initiatives that will address regional needs and provide support to bring them to the region e.g. Schools of the Future initiative, iLearn workshops, Impact of Mental Health on Families program.

Utilise existing networks to identify needs & opportunities.

4

Collaboration / Responsibilities: Work with existing interagency groups, EYNs and other organisations to determine appropriate programs/initiatives

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Workforce Development

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Develop ECEC training clusters and work with training organisations to consider and deliver opportunities to deliver training through new and flexible methods (e.g. online webinars, summer schools, video conferencing.

Investigate creating training Hubs and additional traineeships.

RDA Wheatbelt’s RDO and ECEC coordinators to develop the cluster concept.

1

Collaboration/Responsibilities: RDO will liaise with existing training organisations and funded providers such as Child Australia to identify opportunities. Work with ECEC’s to form training clusters and work closely with CSO and local CRCs.

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Provide peer support/mentoring opportunities to ECEC services through:

- A “Champions tour” of the region to showcase successful local services and share learnings across the sector.

- Promote the use of the online discussion forum available through the members section of the RDA Wheatbelt website as a means for sharing information/ideas.

- Target funding to deliver a six month “Mentoring” project to upskill existing professionals rapidly and support development of Business Plans to access funding.

Champion’s tour itinerary and programme developed. Dependent on costs external funding may need to be sourced.

External funding will be required for the “Mentoring” project

2

Collaboration / Responsibilities: RDA Wheatbelt’s RDO to work in collaboration with ECEC services to devise a model for delivery

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Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Develop a resource sharing model for smaller ECEC services and trial in areas of close proximity and with an identified need.

Case studies of existing resource sharing models that have applicability to ECEC services.

3

Collaboration / Responsibilities: RDO will work with Local Government, and ECEC service management committee/staff to determine need and possible delivery models.

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Support development of a regional (or sub-regional) pool of relief staff available to fill in for ECEC professionals to enable them to participate in training and to fill short-term vacancies resulting from leave or unexpected/unplanned departures.

Network or pool of relief workers with contacts, developed.

4

Collaboration / Responsibilities: RDA Wheatbelt’s RDO to work in collaboration with ECEC services to devise a model for delivery

Governance structures

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Facilitate greater access to Governance training for ECEC management committees. This will include collaborating with other organisations delivering Governance training in the region to limit duplication of effort and maximise value for money. Promote Linkwests “Effective Governance on line” training.

RDA Wheatbelt’s RDO

1

Collaboration/Responsibilities: RDO will continue to liaise with Linkwest, WACOSS, Community Resource Centres and Sport and Recreation Development Officers to coordinate governance training possibilities.

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Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Investigate the feasibility and if possible trial a model of shared governance and administrative arrangements for multiple small services in geographically close proximity

Support and work with LGAs already working on innovative arrangements for organisations - eg Dalwallinu/Moora/Wongan Hills to consider ECEC provision.

RDAs Wheatbelt RDO

2

Collaboration / Responsibilities: RDA Wheatbelt will investigate a possible trial area and in conjunction with the relevant ECEC’s and Local Governments, develop a model and process to progress with strategic funding assistance.

Provision of Infrastructure & Equipment

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Investigate co-location opportunities for compatible services where a standalone premises is not viable and provide support/guidance to enable new models of delivery based on existing regional examples (e.g. outside school hours care in Bakers Hill and Children’s Hub in York). Develop Infrastructure needs register eg Wundowie

Case studies developed based on existing examples.

Register created

1

Collaboration / Responsibilities: RDA Wheatbelt’s RDO to develop case studies and provide assistance based on identified need.

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Investigate and develop the structure for a sub-regional equipment pool to enable resource sharing across services (this is particularly important for specialist equipment). This would be applicable to ECEC’s, toy libraries, play groups and literacy programs like Better Beginnings.

Identify appropriate organisation to be responsible for set up (including purchasing the

3

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equipment), storage and management

Collaboration / Responsibilities: Regional librarians, Community Resource Centre Network, Local Governments, Toy Libraries, Playgroups and ECEC services.

Leadership and vision

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Form a Wheatbelt Children’s Services Alliance or MOU group (or similar) to provide a formal structure for key stakeholders to meet and agree on priorities and actions

Acknowledge and build on the outstanding WOCS (Wheatbelt Organisation of Children’s Services) legacy and support them to consider their future focus and activities.

RDA Wheatbelt’s RDO to instigate.

1

Collaboration / Responsibility: Engage with key stakeholders to establish group, with mechanism to support the ongoing maintenance of this group post October 2015.

Recommended Action Resources Required

Priority

Work with existing Interagency groups to address regional priorities and EYNs to identify local place based solutions. This may include replicating successful programmes trialled in other regions. The focus will be on areas of developmental vulnerability as identified through the AEDC results.

Existing interagency structures.

3

Collaboration / Responsibilities: EYN’s and interagency groups to identify priorities and opportunities and to facilitate bringing programs to the region.

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References

1. AEDC Community Profiles accessed via the AEDC website https://www.aedc.gov.au/resources/community-profiles

2. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 Census Data. 3235.0 - Population by Age and Sex, Regions of Australia, 2011 www.abs.gov.au

3. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 Quick Stats accessed on line http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/SSC50426?opendocument&navpos=220

4. Department of Education (2014), National Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Census May 2014 www.education.gov.au

5. Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations (2013). Wheatbelt Regional Education, Skills & Jobs Plan 2012-14.

6. Disability Services Commission (2013), Profile - Wheatbelt area Consultation Document

7. Department of Regional Development & Lands (2013). Living in the Regions 2013. A survey of attitudes and perceptions about living in regional Western Australia

8. Department of Training & Workforce Development (2012). Wheatbelt Workforce Development Plan 2013-16

9. O’Hagan, R. (1998). Innovative child-care solutions for families in rural Australia. Rural Society. 8(3). 281-283

10. Productivity Commission (2011), Early Childhood Development Workforce, Research Report

11. Pelusey, H, Hatch, J and Tonts, M (2010), Industrial Skilled Labour Force Attraction in the Avon Valley, Institute for Regional Development, University of Western Australia.

12. Regional Australia Institute (2014), Pathways to Settlement – Population Mobility in regional Western Australia from 2001 to 2011 Summary Report

13. Western Australian Planning Commission (2012), Western Australia Tomorrow Forecast Summary for Local Authorities

14. Wheatbelt Development Commission (2014). Wheatbelt Blueprint 15. Wheatbelt Organisation for Children’s Services & CHILD Australia (2009).

Evaluation of Supports and Strategies Implemented to Increase the Capacity of Wheatbelt Child care Service’s Volunteer Management Committees

16. Wheatbelt Organisation for Children’s Services & CHILD Australia (2010). Wheatbelt Child Care Services: Profile and Mapping March 2012

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Appendix A – AEDC Results

The results from the 2009 and 2012 data collections are available in the form of geographical maps and community profiles via www.aedc.org.au.

Western Australian Results for 2012

State Average % Developmentally Vulnerable

Physical health and wellbeing 9.8 Social competence 8.4 Emotional maturity 8.3 Language and cognitive skills (school-based) 8.6 Communication skills and general knowledge 9.1

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Wheatbelt Local Government Results for 2012 Percentage of Developmentally Vulnerable Children on the Five AEDC Domains

Local Government Physical health and wellbeing

Social competence

Emotional maturity

Language and cognitive skills (school-based)

Communication skills and general knowledge

Number of Children Surveyed

Wyalkatchem/Koorda/ Trayning 17.9 0 7.1 3.4 0 29 Brookton/ Pingelly/ Cuballing 10.5 8.8 5.3 28.1 12.3 60 Chittering 4.5 1.5 3 10.6 0 69 Corrigin 6.7 0 6.7 6.7 0 15 Cunderdin 10.5 5.3 5.3 10.5 5.3 21 Dalwallinu 0 0 0 0 6.3 16 Dandaragan 9.8 7.3 7.3 9.8 4.9 41 Gingin 3.3 3.3 3.3 4.9 3.3 64 Goomalling 6.7 6.7 0 6.7 0 16 Kellerberrin 6.3 0 12.5 18.8 0 16 Kondinin 6.7 13.3 26.7 20 6.7 16 Lake Grace 9.1 22.7 4.5 0 0 22 Merredin 21.7 8.7 13 15.2 0 48 Moora 13.5 2.7 10.8 8.1 2.7 39 Mukinbudin/Nungarin 10.5 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3 19 Narrogin 14.3 9.5 10.7 13.3 9.5 86 Northam 22.4 15.5 14.3 17.7 16.3 153 Toodyay 16.3 10.2 8.2 20.4 12.2 52 Wagin 14.6 9.8 7.3 24.4 4.9 41

*Note: Figures highlighted in red demonstrate percentages above the State average

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Western Australian Results for 2009

State Average % Developmentally Vulnerable

Physical health and wellbeing 10.1 Social competence 7.7 Emotional maturity 8 Language and cognitive skills (school-based) 12 Communication skills and general knowledge 8.9 Wheatbelt Local Government Results for 2009

Percentage of Developmentally Vulnerable Children on the Five AEDC Domains Local Government Physical health

and wellbeing Social competence

Emotional maturity

Language and cognitive skills (school-based)

Communication skills and general knowledge

Number of Children Surveyed

Beverley 7.7 2.6 5.1 12.8 5.1 42 Bruce Rock 10.7 7.1 10.7 21.4 10.7 29 Dowerin 6.3 6.3 0 6.3 6.3 16 Dumbleyung 21.1 15.8 36.8 5.3 5.3 20 Kulin 4 4 4 8 4 25 Narembeen 14.3 9.5 14.3 28.6 4.8 21

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Quairading 11.4 2.9 5.7 14.3 14.3 37 Tammin 6.3 0 0 6.3 6.3 16 Victoria Plains 26.9 7.7 3.8 3.8 15.4 27 West Arthur 0 5 10 15 0 21 Wickepin 13.3 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.7 17 *Note: Figures highlighted in red demonstrate percentages above the State average

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Appendix B – Regional Children’s Services

Key sources of information for compiling this data base of Children’s Services in the Wheatbelt include the Playgroups WA website and databases, My Child website, Western Australian Association of Toy Libraries website, WA Department of Health website and local Shire and Community Resource Centres. The Wheatbelt Family and Children’s Services and Support Directory was also a valuable resource.

Avon Sub-Region

Shire Service Name

Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Beverley Beverley

Playgroup

Playgroup Beverley Operates one morning per week out of

a Shire owned building.

Beverley Toy

Library

Toy Library Beverley Open Thursday 9:00 to 10:00am

Monday - Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

(able to collect key)

Toy library no longer operating.

The Community Resource

Centre is looking to take this on

again.

Beverley

Child Health

Centre

Child

Health

Services

Beverley Child Health Clinic operates out of the

Beverley Health Service.

76

Shire Service Name

Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Cunderdin Cunderdin

Early

Learning

Centre

ECEC –

Part-time

Long Day

Care

Cunderdin Shire Managed service. Operates

Tuesday to Thursday from 8.00am

to 5.00pm

-

This service has experienced

staffing difficulties and was

closed for a period of six

months. Re-opened in late

August 2014.

Cunderdin

Playgroup

Inc.

Playgroup Cunderdin Operates Friday morning 9.00am –

11.00am out of the Cunderdin Early

Learning Centre.

Co-located with ECEC service.

Cunderdin

Toy library

Toy library Cunderdin Run out of the Cunderdin Community

Resource Centre.

Meckering

Playgroup

Playgroup Meckering Operates Wednesday morning 9.30am

– 11.30am. Located on the Meckering

Primary School grounds.

Volunteer run with support from

the school.

Cunderdin &

Meckering

Child Health

Centre

Child

Health

Services

Cunderdin Child Health Clinic operates out of the

Cunderdin District Hospital. Cunderdin

clinic is open on the first and third

Tuesdays of the month. Meckering

clinic is open on the second and fourth

Tuesdays of the month.

77

Shire Service Name

Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Dowerin Lil Tigers

Early

Learning

Centre

ECEC –

Part-time

Long Day

Care

Dowerin Operates Wednesday to Friday

8.00am to 5.30pm. Shared premises

and equipment with the Dowerin

Playgroup.

Dowerin

Playgroup

Playgroup Dowerin The Playgroup and Dowerin District

High School work together to help with

the transition into school by having

regular visits to the Kindergarten class

and orientation days.

Dowerin

Child Health

Centre

Child

Health

Service

Dowerin Child Health Clinic operates out of the

Silver Chain Centre on the second and

fourth Wednesdays of the month.

Goomalling Goomalling

Gumnuts

ECEC –

Long Day

Care

Goomalling Operates Monday to Friday 8.00am to

5.30pm.

Better

Beginnings

Literacy

Program

Goomalling Operates out of the Goomalling

Community Resource Centre every

Friday 10.30 - 11.00am during school

term.

78

Shire Service Name

Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Goomalling

Toy Library

Toy Library Goomalling Open 9.30-10.30am Friday (during

school terms) to coincide with Better

Beginnings Story time.

Goomalling

Children’s

Centre Inc.

Playgroup Goomalling Operates 9.30 - 11.30am on Mondays

during the school term. Located behind

the Primary School.

Goomalling

Child Health

Centre

Child

Health

Services

Goomalling Child Health Clinic operates out of the

Goomalling Community Health Centre

on the first and third Wednesdays of

the month.

Koorda Country

Bratz

Playgroup Koorda Operates Wednesday 9.30am -

11.30am. Located in a Shire owned

building.

Koorda

Community

Health

Service

Child

Health

Services

Koorda Child Health Clinic operates out of the

Koorda Nursing Post on the second

and fourth Wednesdays of the month.

79

Shire Service Name Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Northam Great Beginnings

early education

for life

ECEC –

Long Day

Care

Northam Privately owned and operated. Offers

before/after school care for 4 – 7 year

olds

Fluffy Ducklings

Day Care

ECEC –

Long Day

Care

Wundowie Caters for 18 months to 12 year olds. Operates out of a Shire owned

building that requires

renovation.

Avon Early Years

Network

Early Years

Network

Northam Currently in transition.

Lumsden House

Family Day Care

ECEC –

Family Day

Care

Northam With Great Beginnings FDC Scheme

Northam

Playgroup

Playgroup Northam Operates 5 days a week and offers

different programs for different age

groups (e.g. 0-1 and 1-4) as well as

mixed aged groups.

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Shire Service Name Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Northam Bilya

Koolangars

Aboriginal

Playgroup

Northam Operates out of the Kind building, Hutt St

Northam.

Bridgeley

Playgroup

Playgroup Northam Tuesdays 9.00am and Fridays 9.00am and

10.45am. Privately run by Northam Church of

Christ

Little Smarties Playgroup Northam Supports Aboriginal children from 0 to 5 year

olds, and their parents / carers.

Not registered under

Playgroups WA.

Limited details

available

Bakers

Hill/Clackline

Playgroup

Playgroup Clackline Operates at the Clackline Hall on Friday 9.30am

– 11.30am.

Mothers of Pre-

schoolers

(MOPS)

Mothers

group

Northam Run by the Northam Church of Christ. MOPS

groups encourage, equip and develop mothers

of pre-schoolers with practical parenting

strategies. When mums arrive at MOPS, they

sign their children into the MOPPETS program.

In MOPPETS, children from infancy through to

school age experience a caring environment

where they learn, sing, play and make crafts.

81

Shire Service Name Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Northam Bakers Hill Out

of School Hours

Outside

school

hours care

Bakers Hill Vacation care is provided for primary aged

children during school holidays between the

hours of 7.30am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday

Avonvale

Education

Support Centre

(ECS)

Educational

facility for K-

12 students

with Autism,

intellectual

and physical

disability.

Northam Located on the Avonvale Primary School

grounds. Purpose built centre with 3 well-

equipped classrooms. Avonvale ESC has

established a K-1 intensive Early Intervention

class that caters for students with Autism and

Intellectual Disabilities.

St Joseph’s 3 year old

kindy

Northam Provides an opportunity for 3 year olds to learn

through play, improve self-awareness and

confidence in a fun environment.

Northam Toy

Library

Toy Library Northam Operates out of the old fire station, open

Saturdays 9.00am to 10.30am.

Story Rhyme

Time

Literacy

Program

Northam Every Wednesday from 10.00am to 11.00am at

the Northam town library.

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Shire Service Name Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Northam Strong Families Parenting

Support

The

Wheatbelt

coordinator is

based in

Northam

The aim of the Strong Families process is to

draw together the energy and experience of

different agencies and support groups, moulding

these into a single seamless source of help and

support for families experiencing difficult and

complex problems.

Avon and

Central Primary

Health Service

Community

& Child

Health

Provides child

health clinics

to Northam,

Beverley,

Bruce Rock,

Cunderdin,

Quairading,

Toodyay,

Wundowie

and York.

Child Health Centres are staffed by registered

nurses with qualifications in child and family

health. They provide a range of services in

partnership with parents and carers of babies

and young children up to the age of 4 years.

Community Child Health Nurses can assess

children's health and development as well as

provide information about many aspects of

parenting, maternal and family health and

healthy lifestyles.

83

Shire Service Name Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Northam Department for

Child Protection

- Best

Beginnings

programme

Parenting

Support

Northam A home visiting service for families of new

infants. It involves regular home visits by trained

professionals who provide support, advice,

information, connections and practical help.

Improves child health and wellbeing, parent and

family functioning and social support networks.

Referral to the program is required pre-birth or

before 3 months old. Participation and support is

available until the child is two years old.

Department for

Local

Government &

Communities

Parenting

Support

Northam Parenting WA Coordinators support families

with children up to eighteen years of age by

helping them gain confidence in their

parenting. Parenting WA services are free and

no referral is needed.

The two coordinators

for the Wheatbelt are

based out of Northam.

Disability

Services Local

Area

Coordinator

(LAC)

Disability

Services

Northam LACs work with family members and others involved in supporting people with disability, helping them to further strengthen their caring role. LAC support is available to people with intellectual, physical, sensory, neurological and/or cognitive disabilities.

There are two LACs

based out of Northam

who cover 31

communities/settleme

nts.

84

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Northam Australian

Breastfeeding

Association

(Northam

group)

Parent

support

Northam Primarily based in Northam, but hold meetings in

Toodyay and York. The Northam group area

covers the Avon Region including towns such as

Cunderdin, Meckering, Beverley and Goomalling.

Wundowie

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Wundowie Operates every Monday.

Young

Parents at

Northam

Playgroup Northam Limited details available

Quairading Little

Rainmakers

ECEC – Part-

time Long

Day care

Quairading Shire Managed service. Located in the Country

Women’s Association building. Operates Tuesday

– Thursday 8.00am to 5.00pm.

Quairading

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Quairading Child Health Clinic operates out of the Quairading

Hospital.

Quairading

Toy Library

Toy Library Quairading Located within the Community Resource Centre.

Opening hours are every second Friday 10.00am

to 11.00am in conjunction with story time.

85

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Quairading Quairading

Playgroup Playgroup Quairading Operates Friday 9.00am – 10.30am. Co-located

with Little Rainmakers. Possible supported

Aboriginal playgroup.

Tammin Tammin

Playgroup

Playgroup Tammin Operates 9.00am – 11.30am on Thursdays.

Tammin Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Cunderdin Child Health Clinic operates out of the Cunderdin

District Hospital on the second Thursday of the

month.

Toodyay

Great

Beginnings

Early

Education for

life

ECEC – Long

Day care

Toodyay Purpose built facility, privately owned and

operated. Operates Monday to Friday 6.30am to

6.30pm. Before and after school hours care.

Toodyay

Kindergym

Play Group

Playgroup Toodyay Operates Fridays during the school term. Located

at the Sports Pavilion.

Toodyay

Playgroup

Association

Inc.

Playgroup Toodyay 9.30am – 11.30am - Tuesday all ages,

Wednesday 0-1, Thursday all ages. Runs out of

the Toodyay Community Centre.

86

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Toodyay

Toodyay Toy

Library

Toy Library Toodyay Operates out of the Community Resource Centre

on Tuesdays and Thursdays 9.30am – 11.30am.

Morangup

Playgroup

Playgroup Morangup Operates out of the Community Centre on

Wednesdays 9.30am to 11.30am

Toodyay

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Toodyay Located on Stirling Terrace.

Wyalkatchem Wyalkatchem

Playgroup

Inc.

Playgroup Wyalkatch

em

Operates Wednesday and Thursday 9.30am to

11.30am. Community Centre.

Kindy Gym

Health & well-

being

program

Wyalkatch

em

Town Hall - Dance classes,

Wyalkatchem

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Wyalkatch

em

Limited details available.

87

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

York York Early

Years Hub

(EYH)

Various York The York Early Years Hub began operating in

March 2014. It is intended to be a hub of

services for families with children aged 0 – 5

years in York.

Noongar

Family

Playgroup

Playgroup York - EYH A learning-through-play opportunity for

Aboriginal families in York with children aged 0-

5 years. Operates Tuesdays 10.00am-12.00pm.

York Family

Playgroup

Inc.

Playgroup York - EYH Located within the Early Years Hub the family

playgroup is a learning-through-play opportunity

for children aged 0-5 years and their families.

Operates Fridays 9.00am to 11.00am

York Mother’s

Group

Mother’s

group

York - EYH A support and information session for parents

with children aged 0-2 years.

York Toy

Library

Toy Library York - EYH A library with a vast array of toys to borrow to

aid children in learning-through-play. Operates

fortnightly on Tuesdays 9.00-10.00am and

Saturdays 9.30am-11.00am.

88

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

York York

Childcare

Centre

ECEC- Long

Day care

York Privately owned and operated. Offers before

and after school hour care as well as day care

services. Operates Monday to Friday from

7.30am to 5.30pm.

York Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

York Child Health Clinic operates out of the York

District Hospital.

Ability Focus

Inc.

Disability

services

York Previously called the Wheatbelt Individual and

Family Support Association (WIFSA). Aims to

enable people with disabilities to thrive within

their communities.

York Library

Story Time

Literacy

Program

York Story time every Tuesday at 9.30am during the

school term

89

Central East Sub-Region

Shire Service Name

Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Bruce Rock Bruce Rock

Child Care

Centre

ECEC –

Long Day

care

Bruce Rock Operates 8.30am to 5.30pm Monday to

Friday. Community managed centre with

administration provided by the Bruce Rock

Shire.

Bruce Rock

Playgroup

Playgroup Bruce Rock Operates Friday 9.00am to 11.00am.

Leases property off of Shire.

Bruce Rock

Toy library

Toy library Bruce Rock Located within the Community Resource

Centre.

Bruce Rock

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Bruce Rock Operates out of the Bruce Rock Health

Centre.

Magic Minds Early

Development

Program

Bruce Rock Operates in various venues around town.

Wednesday 9.30am – 11.00am during

school terms. Caters to 0-4 year olds.

Kellerberrin Kellerberrin

Playgroup

Playgroup Kellerberrin Operates Thursday 9.00am to 10.30am.

90

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Kellerberrin Little Learners Early

Development

Program

Kellerberrin Little Learners is for parents and children

aged 0-4. It is an early development

program initiated by the Kellerberrin School,

Kellerberrin Playgroup and the Kellerberrin

Community. Runs on Tuesdays from

9.00am to 10.30am throughout the school

terms.

Kellerberrin Toy

library

Toy library Kellerberrin Located within the Community Resource

Centre.

Kellerberrin

Early Years

Network

Early Years

Network

Kellerberrin Run by the Kellerberrin District High School.

Kellerberrin

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Kellerberrin Operates out of the Kellerberrin Memorial

Hospital.

Kellerberrin

Playgroup

Playgroup Kellerberrin Operates Thursdays at 9.00am-10.30am.

Merredin Merredin &

Districts

Childcare and

Playschool

ECEC – Long

Day Care

Merredin Operates Monday to Friday 8.00am to

5.15pm. Caters for 0 – 5 year olds.

91

Shire Service Name

Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Merredin Mothers of

Preschoolers

(MOPS)

Mothers

Group

Merredin Church of Christ operate the Merredin MOP’s

group.

Merredin

Playgroup

Playgroup Merredin Operates 9.30am to 11.30am Monday,

Tuesday and Thursday. Located in a Shire

owned building.

Merredin Toy

Library

To Library Merredin Located in the Playgroup centre, opening

hours are Monday and Thursday 9.30am to

11.30am.

Merredin

Kid’s Health

Link

Parenting

Support

Merredin This program is delivered by Amity Health at

the Merredin college. This program supports

the children and families of Merredin College

to stay healthy, active and connected to their

community. Amity Health employs a Social

Worker and an Aboriginal Family Health

Support Worker. This program involves

school based activities and develops links

with families in the crucial pre-school years

through a playgroup located at the College.

There is also an after-school program.

Only open to children and

families of the Merredin

college.

92

Shire Service Name

Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Merredin Kids Health

Link Kindy

readiness

program

Parenting

Support

Merredin Delivered by Amity Health under the

Southern Inland Health Initiative. It aims to

improve health outcomes for pre-school age

kids through effective connection between

health and education services. The program

provides the opportunity for parents to seek

guidance on their child's development and

behaviour and to access early-intervention if

they have any concerns.

Merredin

Community

Health

Child Health

Services

Merredin Child Health Centres are staffed by

registered nurses with qualifications in child

and family health. They provide a range of

services in partnership with parents and

carers of babies and young children up to the

age of 4 years. Community Child Health

Nurses can assess children's health and

development as well as provide information

about many aspects of parenting, maternal

and family health and healthy lifestyles.

93

Shire Service Name

Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Merredin Mums and

Bubs

Walking

Group

Health &

well-being

program

Merredin Merredin Regional Community and Leisure Centre

run this program every Friday morning, starting at

9.15am. After a walk around town the mums and

bubs utilise the indoor playground at the Leisure

Centre.

Kinder

Moves &

Mini Moves

Health &

well-being

program

Merredin Kinder Moves is a structured physical activity based,

indoor play program for young children aged 3 to 5.

Mini Moves is a physical activity program that

provides an exciting way for children to be physically

active, without fear of failure or the negative aspects

of some sport. Interactive games, fun circuits and

healthy snack making. Program targets 6 – 12 yr olds

and operates after school hours.

Eastern

Wheatbelt

Early Years

Network

(EWEYN)

Early Years

Network

Merredin EWEYN has developed a successful framework for

delivering activities and services across a number of

small towns, with relatively high numbers of young

children. The network has a high level of interagency

and school involvement.

Formed in 2009. The

loss of a dedicated

coordinator has been

a challenge.

Reinvigorated in

2013/14 through the

WRCSP project.

94

Shire Service Name

Service Type

Location Details Issues/Interventions

Merredin Department

for Child

Protection -

Best

Beginnings

programme

Parenting

Support

Merredin A home visiting service for families of new infants. It

involves regular home visits by trained professionals

who provide support, advice, information, connections

and practical help. Improves child health and

wellbeing, parent and family functioning and social

support networks. Referral to the program is required

pre-birth or before 3 months old. Participation and

support is available until the child is two years old.

Disability

Services

Local Area

Coordinator

(LAC)

Disability

Services

Merredin LACs work with family members and others involved in supporting people with disability, helping them to further strengthen their caring role. LAC support is available to people with intellectual, physical, sensory, neurological and/or cognitive disabilities. There is one LAC based out of Merredin who covers approximately 67 communities/settlements.

Aboriginal

children get

ready for

school

program

Parenting

Support

Merredin Limited details available.

95

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Mt Marshall

Bencubbin

Playgroup

Playgroup Bencubbin Operates Wednesdays 10.00am to

12.00pm.

The Shire owns the

premises and assists

as needed.

Beacon

Playgroup

Playgroup Beacon Playgroup rooms at the rear of the Beacon

Hall. Operates 9:30 –11.00 am each

Wednesday

Beacon Toy

Library

Toy Library Beacon Operates out of the Beacon Community

Resource Centre during office hours.

Beacon Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Beacon Child Health Clinic operated out of the Silver

Chain Nursing Post.

Bencubbin Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Bencubbin Child Health Clinic operated out of the Silver

Chain Nursing Post.

Mukinbudin Boodie Rats ECEC –

Occasional

Care

Mukinbudin Operates Monday, Tuesday and Thursday

8.30am – 4.30pm. Shire owned premises.

Mukinbudin

Playgroup

Playgroup Mukinbudin Operates 10.00am to 11.30am on

Wednesdays. Shared premises with Boodie

Rats Occasional Care

Bonnie Rock

Playgroup

Playgroup Bonnie

Rock

Operates out of the Bonnie Rock town hall.

Limited information available.

96

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Mukinbudin Mukinbudin

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Mukinbudin Child Health Clinic operated out of the

Nursing Post on the first and third Tuesdays

of the month.

Mukinbudin Toy

Library

Toy Library Mukinbudin Operates out of the Mukinbudin Community Resource Centre. Monday 8:00am to 4:00pm and Tuesday to Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

Narembeen

Narembeen

Playgroup

Playgroup Narembeen Operates 9.30am to 11.30am on Fridays.

Shire owned premises that is shared with

Narembeen Numbats.

Narembeen

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Narembeen Operates out of the Medical Clinic on the

first and third Tuesdays of the month.

Narembeen

Numbats

ECEC –

Occasional

Care

Narembeen Operates Tuesday and Thursday 8.30am to

3.30pm.

Not registered on “My

Child” website.

Narembeen Toy

library

Toy library Narembeen Located within a Shire owned building

located next to the Shite offices. Open on

Mondays from 11.15am to 11.45am. Caters

for 0-6 year olds.

Nungarin NIL

97

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Trayning KTY Playgroup Playgroup Trayning Operates Tuesdays 9.30am to 11.30am.

Located in a Shire owned premises

Westonia NIL

Yilgarn Yilgarn

Occasional

Care Centre

ECEC –

Occasional

Care & 3 year

old Kindy

Southern

Cross

Operates Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

8.30am to 3.30pm. Offers three year old

Kindy on Tuesday 9.00am to11.30am.

Located in a Shire owned building.

Not registered on “My

Child” website.

Southern Cross

Playgroup

Playgroup Southern

Cross

Operates Wednesday 9.30am to 11.00am.

Southern Cross

Community

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Southern

Cross

Child Health Clinic operates out of the

Medical Centre.

98

Central Coast

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Dandaragan Coastal Kids

Care Inc.

Long Day

Care, After

School Care,

Vacation Care

Jurien Bay Long day care and vacation care operates

from 7.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday.

After school care is available from 2.30pm to

5.30pm.

Dandaragan

Playgroup

Playgroup Dandaragan 9.30am to 11.30am on Wednesdays.

Jurien Bay

Playgroup

Playgroup Jurien Bay 9.30am to 11.00am on Wednesdays.

Dandaragan

Community

Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Dandaragan Child Health Clinic operated out of the

Dandaragan Community Centre.

Jurien Bay

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Jurien Bay Child Health Clinic operated out of the Jurien

Health Centre

Badgingarra

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Badgingarra Child Health Clinic operated out of the

Badgingarra Community Centre on the first

and third Tuesdays of the month.

99

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Gingin Gingin Early

Years Care

and

Education

Centre

ECEC – Long

day care

Gingin Operates Monday to Friday 7.30am to

5.30pm

Lancelin

Playgroup

Association

Inc.

Playgroup Lancelin Operates Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9.00am

to 11.00am

Lancelin

Primary 3

year old

Playgroup

Playgroup Lancelin Located at the Lancelin Primary School this

service operates from 8.50am to 10.50am on

Thursdays.

Gingin

Community

Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Gingin Child Health Clinic operated out of the Gingin

Business Centre on the first and third

Mondays of the Month

Lancelin

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Lancelin Child Health Clinic operated out of the

Lancelin Health Centre on the first and third

Wednesdays of the Month

100

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Gingin Gingin

Playgroup

Inc.

Playgroup Gingin Operates Tuesday 9.30am to 12.30pm,

Wednesday 9.00am to 12.00pm and

Thursday 10.00am to 1.00pm.

Story time –

Gingin and

Lancelin

Library

Literacy

Program

Gingin and

Lancelin

Shire funded initiative.

101

Central Midlands Sub-Region

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Chittering Bindoon

Better

Beginnings

Playgroup Bindoon Located in the Kindergarten room at

Bindoon primary. Operates Monday 9.00am

to 3.00pm and caters for 1 to 4 year olds.

Bindoon

Playgroup

Playgroup Bindoon Operates Fridays 9.30am to 11.30am in the

Bindoon Sporting Complex.

Immaculate

Heart

College

Playgroup

Playgroup Lower

Chittering

Operates Tuesdays 9.15am to 11.15am in

the Lower Chittering Hall.

Proud

Parenting

Program

Parent Support Bindoon Bindoon Playgroup together with the Shire

of Chittering and supported by the Bindoon

Primary School and the Department of

Health hosts workshops designed to help

parents and caregivers with children under

school age to recognise and enhance their

contribution to their child’s education as well

as their social, psychological and physical

development

Supported by the Bindoon

Primary School and

Department of Health.

102

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Chittering Bindoon

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Bindoon Child Health Clinic operated out of the

Bindoon Community Health Centre on the

second and fourth Wednesdays of the

Month

Early Years

Network

Early Years

Network

Bindoon Coordinated by the Shire of Chittering

Dalwallinu Dalwallinu

Clubhouse

Early

Learning

Centre

ECEC – Part

Time Long Day

Care

Dalwallinu Operates Monday to Wednesday 8.15am to

5.15pm.

Dalwallinu

Playgroup

Inc.

Playgroup Dalwallinu Operates Friday 9.00am to 11.00am at the

Clubhouse Early Learning Centre.

Concerned about losing

premises if the ECEC

service is extended to five

days a week.

Aboriginal

Playgroup

Aboriginal

Playgroup

Dalwallinu The Aboriginal Playgroup operates out of the Dalwallinu District High School and meets fortnightly.

Currently only funded to

run until the end of the

2014 but may be re-funded

for 2015 as well.

103

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Dalwallinu Kalannie

Playgroup

Playgroup Kalannie Operates Wednesday 9.30am to 11.30am.

Kalannie Toy

Library

Toy Library Kalannie Run out of the Kalannie Community Resource

Centre

Dalwallinu

Toy Library

Toy Library Dalwallinu Open every third Saturday during school terms

9:30am to 10:30am.

Dalwallinu

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Dalwallinu Child Health Clinic operated out of the

Community Health Centre

Kalannie

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Kalannie Child Health Clinic operated out of the CWA

rooms

Isolated

Children’s

Parents’

Association

(ICPA)

Parenting

Support

Kalannie ICPA (Aust) is a voluntary, non-profit, apolitical parent body dedicated to ensuring that all rural and remote students have equity of access to a continuing and appropriate education.

104

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Moora

Moora &

Districts

Child Care

Centre

ECEC –

Occasional Care

Moora Operates Monday to Friday 8.15am to 5.15pm.

Mothers of

Preschoolers

(MOPS)

Mothers Group Moora Baptist Christ operate the Moora MOP’s group.

Moora

Playgroup

Inc.

Playgroup Moora Operates Wednesday 9.00am to 11.00am,

Thursday 9.30am to 11.30am and Friday 9.00am

to 11.00am

Bindi-Miling

Playgroup

Playgroup Miling Operates Tuesday 9.30am to 11.30am from the

Miling Football Pavilion.

Watheroo

Playgroup

Playgroup Watheroo Operates 9.00am to 11.00am on Fridays in the

Watheroo town hall.

Moora Toy

Library

Toy Library Moora Open 10.00am to 11.00am on Tuesdays every

fortnight

105

Shire Service Name

Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Moora Moora Early

Years

Network

Early Years

Network

Moora Meetings are facilitated bimonthly by the Primary

Health Team of WA Country Health Service and

are located at the Moora hospital.

The network collectively works towards improving

outcomes for children by:

- Advocating for and supporting early years services that promote raising healthy strong children; and

- Providing relevant information, resources and support for families with young children.

- Raising awareness of the importance of the early years

Department

for Child

Protection -

Best

Beginnings

programme

Parenting

Support

Moora A home visiting service for families of new infants.

It involves regular home visits by trained

professionals who provide support, advice,

information, connections and practical help.

Improves child health and wellbeing, parent and

family functioning and social support networks.

Referral to the program is required pre-birth or

before 3 months old. Participation and support is

available until the child is two years old.

106

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Moora Moora Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Moora Child Health Centres are staffed by registered nurses with

qualifications in child and family health. They provide a

range of services in partnership with parents and carers

of babies and young children up to the age of 4 years.

Community Child Health Nurses can assess children's

health and development as well as provide information

about many aspects of parenting, maternal and family

health and healthy lifestyles.

Miling Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Miling Child Health Clinic operated out of the Miling Child Health

Clinic on the second Friday of every month.

Watheroo

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Watheroo Child Health Clinic operated out of the Watheroo Town

Hall on the fourth Friday of every month.

Best Start

Coordinator

Aboriginal

Family/Parenti

ng Support

Moora Best Start is family-friendly and flexible, and a program

for Aboriginal families with children up to five years of

age. It can include:

playgroups and fun activities for young children and their carers

nutrition and health education programs early language and numeracy skills integration into kindy and pre-primary programs

107

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Moora Disability

Services Local

Area Coordinator

(LAC)

Disability

Services

Moora LACs work with family members and others involved in supporting people with disability, helping them to further strengthen their caring role. LAC support is available to people with intellectual, physical, sensory, neurological and/or cognitive disabilities.

There is one LAC based out of Moora who covers approximately 44 communities/settlements.

Victoria Plains

Victoria

Plains Playgroup

& Toy library

Playgroup &

Toy Library

New

Norcia

Operates Tuesdays and Fridays from 9.30am to

11.30am. Includes a toy library. Building provided

by the Benedictine Community.

Bolgart Playgroup Playgroup Bolgart Operates Thursday 9.00am to 11.00am. Building

and maintenance/improvements provided at no

charge by Shire of Victoria Plains.

Calingiri

Playgroup

Playgroup Calingiri Operates Friday 10.00am to 12.00pm. Building

and maintenance/improvements provided at no

charge by Shire of Victoria Plains.

Bolgart Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Bolgart Child Health Clinic operated out of the CWA

rooms on the first and third Tuesdays of every

month.

108

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Victoria Plains

Kindy Gym

Health & well-

being program

Yerecoin Based at Yerecoin Hall, attended by Piawaning,

New Norcia and Calingiri Families. Equipment is

owned and provided at no charge by Shire of

Victoria Plains.

Wongan-Ballidu

Wongan

Cubbyhouse

ECEC – Long

Day care

Wongan

Hills

Operates Monday to Friday from 8.15am to

5.15pm.

Wongan Hills

Playgroup

Playgroup Wongan

Hills

Operates Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9.00am to

11.00am

Wongan-Ballidu

Ballidu Playgroup Playgroup Ballidu Operates Wednesdays 9.30am to 11.30am

Wongan Hills

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Wongan

Hills

Child Health Clinic operated out of the

Community Health Centre on the first and third

Wednesdays of every month.

Wongan Hills Toy

box

Toy Library Wongan

Hills

Open Thursdays from 10.00am to 11.00am.

109

Central South Sub-Region

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Brookton

Seabrook Aboriginal

Playgroup

Brookton Operates Wednesdays 9.30am to

11.30am

Brookton

Family

Playgroup Inc.

Playgroup Brookton Operates Fridays 9.00am to 11.00am

Milly Molly

Mandy’s

ECEC – long

day care

Brookton Operates 5 days a week 8.00am to

5.00pm catering for 0-12 year olds.

Offers before and after school hour’s

care.

Brookton

Community

Health Service

Child Health

Services

Brookton Child Health Clinic operated out of the

Brookton Medical Centre.

Corrigin Corrigin

Playgroup

Playgroup Corrigin Located in a Shire owned building. Not listed on Playgroups

WA website so may not

be affiliated.

Giggle Pots

Day Care

ECEC – Part

Time Long Day

Care

Corrigin Operates Tuesday to Friday 8.30am to

5.30pm. Shire owns the building and

provides assistance to the service.

110

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Corrigin Corrigin Toy

Library

Toy Library Corrigin Open Monday to Friday. Located within

the Community Resource Centre.

Bright Start

Programme

Literacy

Program

Corrigin Birth to four year old literacy program

run by Corrigin District High.

Boogie Roos Health & well-

being program

Corrigin

(Senior

Citizen

Building)

Boogie Roos is an action packed,

music and movement activity group for

babies, toddlers and kindys. This

program runs every Monday from

9.30am to 10.30am.

Corrigin Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Corrigin Limited details available.

Cuballing NIL

Dumbleyung Dumbleyung

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Dumbleyung Child health clinic operates from the

Dumbleyung District Hospital on the

first and third Thursdays of every

month.

Kukerin Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Kukerin Child health clinic operates from the

Kukerin Health Centre on the fourth

Thursday of every month.

111

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Dumbleyung Dumbleyung

Toy Library

Toy Library Dumbleyung Located in the St Johns building,

opening hours are Tuesdays 12.00pm

to 1.00pm

Dumbleyung

Playgroup

Playgroup Dumbleyung Operates out of the Ambulance Centre.

Great

Beginning

Family Day

Care Service

Family Day

Care Service

Dumbleyung

& Surrounds

Operates five days per week out of a

Shire owned building that is shared

with the mobile child care service.

Gnowangerup

Family Support

Association

Mobile care Dumbleyung

& Surrounds

Mobile services provide an itinerant

service for children & families living in

isolated communities or where a stand-

alone service is not viable. A vehicle is

used to transport staff, equipment &

appropriate materials to these

localities.

Service currently

suspended due to low

numbers.

Kukerin Family

Day Care

Family Day

Care Service

Kukerin Limited details available.

Kukerin

Playgroup Inc.

Playgroup Kukerin Operates Tuesdays 9.30am to

12.00pm

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

112

Kondinin

Hyden Child

Care Centre

ECEC – Long

Day Care

Hyden Operates Monday to Friday 8.30am to

5.00pm.

Hyden Toy

Library

Toy Library Hyden Open Monday, Wednesday and Friday

12.00pm to 4.00pm, Tuesday 10.00am to

4.00pm and Thursday 10.00am to 5.00pm.

Kondinin Early

Years program

Aboriginal

Family/Parentin

g Support

Kondinin The early year’s program aims to provide

child development and early health

intervention advice to local Aboriginal

families. It supports the early development

of hygiene, social and fine motor skills

through access to play and learning

equipment. It was developed by Kondinin

Primary School in consultation with the

Aboriginal Islander education officer, the

Mallee Aboriginal Corporation and the

school nurse.

Funded under the

Aboriginal Community

Innovation Grants.

Commenced in 2012 –

not clear if this is still

operating.

Hyden Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Hyden Child health clinic operates out of the Silver

Chain Nursing Post on the first and third

Thursdays of the month.

113

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Kondinin

Boogie Roos Health & well-

being program

Hyden

(Recreation

Centre)

Boogie Roos is an action packed, music

and movement activity group for babies,

toddlers and kindys. This program runs

every Tuesday from 9.45am to 10.45am.

Kondinin Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Kondinin Operates out of the Kondinin District

Hospital on the second and fourth

Wednesdays of the month.

Isolated

Children’s

Parents’

Association

(ICPA)

Parenting

Support

Hyden ICPA (Aust) is a voluntary, non-profit, apolitical parent body dedicated to ensuring that all rural and remote students have equity of access to a continuing and appropriate education.

Kulin

Kulin Kids Club Playgroup Kulin Operates on Wednesdays 9.30am to

11.30am

Kulin Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Kulin Child health clinic operates out of the

Medical Centre on the first and third

Wednesdays of the month.

Boogie Roos Health & well-

being program

Kulin (Rec

Centre)

Boogie Roos is an action packed, music

and movement activity group for babies,

toddlers and kindys. This program runs

every Tuesday from 9.30am to 10.30am.

114

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Kulin

Kulin Child Care

Centre

ECEC – Long

Day Care

Kulin Kulin Child Care Centre is run by the Kulin

Child Care Management Committee, which

is a delegated committee of council. This

Shire provide administrative support and

management of the center. Provides full

day care, occasional care and after school

care and is open Monday to Friday from

8:00am to 5:30pm.

Not listed on “My Child”

website

Kulin Toy

Library

Toy Library Kulin Operates out of the Kulin Community

Resource Centre. Open Monday to Friday

9.00am to 4.30pm

Lake Grace

Lake Grace

Playgroup Inc.

Playgroup Lake Grace Operates Thursdays 9.30am to 11.30am.

Shire owned premises.

Lake Grace Toy

Library

Toy Library Lake Grace The toy library is open the first and third

Wednesdays of the month from 9.30am to

10.30am.

Located in the Lake

Grace RSL building

115

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Lake Grace

Gnowangerup

Family Support

Association

Mobile care Lake Grace

&

Newdegate

Previously provided a mobile service for

three days per week in Lake Grace and

one day per week in Newdegate.

This service ceased in

April 2014 and now only

operates for one day per

week in Newdegate.

Lake Grace Child Care

Committee and Shire

are looking to establish

a long day care centre.

Newdegate

Nippers

Playgroup Inc.

Playgroup Newdegate Operates Wednesday 10.00am to

11.30am. Located at the primary school

Lake King

Playgroup

Playgroup Lake King Operates Monday 9.30am to 12.00pm.

Located in the town hall.

Varley &

Districts

Playgroup

Playgroup Varley Operates Friday 9.00am to 11.00am.

Lake Grace

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Lake Grace Located in the Medical Centre.

116

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Lake Grace

Newdegate

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Newdegate Child health clinic operates out of the Shire

Hall on the first and third Thursdays of the

month.

Lake King Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Lake King Child health clinic operates out of the town

Hall. No further details available.

Varley Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Varley Child health clinic is listed on the WA

Department of Health website but no

further details available.

Isolated

Children’s

Parents’

Association

(ICPA)

Parenting

Support

Newdegate ICPA (Aust) is a voluntary, non-profit, apolitical parent body dedicated to ensuring that all rural and remote students have equity of access to a continuing and appropriate education.

117

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Narrogin Town & Shire

Best Start

Coordinator

Aboriginal

Family/Parentin

g Support

Narrogin Best Start is family-friendly and flexible,

and a program for Aboriginal families with

children up to five years of age. It can

include:

playgroups and fun activities for young

children and their carers

nutrition and health education programs

early language and numeracy skills

integration into kindy and pre-primary

programs

Boogie Roos Health & well-

being program

Narrogin

(Baptist

Church)

Boogie Roos is an action packed, music

and movement activity group for babies,

toddlers and kindys. This program runs

every Thursday from 10.00am to

11.00am.

Southern

Wheatbelt

Primary Health

Service

Child Health

Services

Narrogin Operates a Child Health Centre.

118

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Narrogin Town & Shire

Narrogin

Regional Child

Care Services

Multifunctional

Child care –

Long Day Care

and Mobile

Service

Narrogin Provides long day care and a mobile

service. The long day care centre is based

in Narrogin town and operates Monday to

Friday 7.45am to 5.30pm.

The Mobile service operated by this centre

covers Pingelly and Wickepin.

Great Beginnings Family Day Care Service

ECEC – Family Day Care

Narrogin & Surrounds

Family day care scheme.

Narrogin Regional Recreation Complex Childcare

Before and After school care

Narrogin Narrogin Regional Recreation Complex - Childcare offers before & after school care services

Information on this service is listed at http://www.careforkids.com.au/child-care/narrogin/6312 but no additional information can be found.

Narrogin Toy

Library

Toy Library Narrogin Located in the Narrogin Leisure Centre,

opening hours are Monday 9.30am to

10.30am and Saturday 9.30am to 11.00am.

119

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Narrogin Town & Shire

Narrogin library Story time Narrogin Narrogin library runs Baby Rhyme time

sessions for zero to two year olds on

Fridays at 11.00am.

Story time session for children aged two to

five are held on Mondays and Wednesdays

at 10.30am.

Narrogin

Independent

Playgroup Inc.

Playgroup Narrogin Operates Fridays 9.00am to 11.00am

Kindy Gym Health & well-

being program

Narrogin Narrogin Leisure Centre runs a Kindy Gym

for one our every week. The Town of

Narrogin supplied some of the equipment.

New Parent

Coffee and Chat

group

Parent Support Narrogin The Child and Community Health Nurse

runs this group every Tuesday from

10.00am to 11.30am at the Primary Health

building. It provides an opportunity for

parents with a baby under 18 months to

meet others and discuss topics relevant to

parents and babies.

120

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Narrogin Town & Shire

Mothers of

Preschoolers

(MOPS)

Mothers

Group

Narrogin The Baptists Church operate the Narrogin

MOP’s group.

Department for

Child Protection

- Best

Beginnings

programme

Parenting

Support

Narrogin A home visiting service for families of new

infants. It involves regular home visits by trained

professionals who provide support, advice,

information, connections and practical help.

Improves child health and wellbeing, parent and

family functioning and social support networks.

Referral to the program is required pre-birth or

before 3 months old. Participation and support is

available until the child is two years old.

Disability

Services Local

Area

Coordinator

(LAC)

Disability

Services

Various LACs work with family members and others involved in supporting people with disability, helping them to further strengthen their caring role. LAC support is available to people with intellectual, physical, sensory, neurological and/or cognitive disabilities.

There is one LAC based

out of Narrogin who

covers approximately 54

communities/settlements

.

Early Years

Network

Early Years

Network

Narrogin Coordinated by the Southern Wheatbelt Primary Health Service

121

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Pingelly Pingelly

Playgroup &

Toy library

Playgroup &

Toy Library

Pingelly Playgroup operates Wednesdays 9.30am to

11.30am. Toy library is open every second

Wednesday during Playgroup.

Great

Beginnings

Family Day

Care Service

Mobile

Service

Pingelly Mobile service provided to Pingelly two days

per week during the school term. Operates out

of a Shire owned building.

Feedback indicates that

this services is not

currently meeting

demand.

Pingelly Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Pingelly Located at the Pingelly District Hospital

Mothers of

Preschoolers

(MOPS)

Mothers

Group

Pingelly The Baptist Church operates the Pingelly

MOP’s group.

Wagin Wagin

Playgroup

Playgroup Wagin Operates out of the Playgroup room in the

Wagin Recreation Centre on Wednesday from

9.30am to 11.30am. A session for toddlers

(one to four) only is run on Friday from 9.30am

to 11.30am.

Wagin Toy

Library

Toy Library Wagin Located at the Wagin Showgrounds and open

Tuesdays.

122

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Wagin Wagin Huggle

Bears Day

Care

ECEC – Long

Day Care

Wagin Operates Monday to Friday 7.00am to 6.00pm.

Wagin Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Wagin Child Health Clinic operates out of the Wagin

Medical Centre.

Wagin Early

Years Network

Early Years

Network

Wagin Primarily focused on activities for children aged 0-

5 so their transition from home to school will be

as successful and smooth as possible

Wandering Wandering

Playgroup

Playgroup Wandering Operates Tuesdays 9.30am to 11.30am out of the

library.

Wandering

Toy Library

Toy Library Wandering The Wandering CRC doubles as the local public

library and Toy library.

Better

Beginnings

Literacy

Program

Wandering The Community Resource Centre hosts Better

Beginnings during the school term for 0 to 5 year

old children. Better Beginnings supports parents

in reading to children so that they build the early

literacy skills they need to become good readers

and succeed at school.

123

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Wandering Boogie Roos Health & well-

being

program

Wandering

CRC

Boogie Roos is an action packed, music and

movement activity group for babies, toddlers

and kindys.

Wandering

Child Health

Centre

Child Health

Services

Wandering Child Health Clinic operates out of the CWA Hall

on the second Monday of the month.

West Arthur

Darkan

Playgroup

Playgroup Darkan Managed by the Shire of West Arthur. The

playgroup is located at the Sport and

Community Centre.

Not listed on

Playgroups WA

website so may not be

affiliated.

Kids Central

Child Care

ECEC – Part

Time Long

Day Care

Darkan Managed by the Shire of West Arthur. The child

care service is located at the Sport and

Community Centre. Operates Tuesday to Friday

8.00am to 5.00pm

Not listed on “My Child”

website.

Geraldine King

Family Day

Care

Family Day

Care

Darkan Contact: Geraldine King

Bunce-King Road, Darkan

Tel: 9736 1086

Listed on the West

Arthur Shire website.

Darkan Toy

Library

Toy Library Darkan Community run service out of the Sport and

Community Centre.

124

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

West Arthur

Darkan Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Darkan Child health clinic operates out of the Health

Resource Centre on the second and fourth

Thursdays of the month

Wickepin Wickepin

Playgroup

Playgroup Wickepin Operates Thursdays 9.30am to 11.30am.

Great

Beginnings

Family Day

Care Service

Mobile

Service

Wickepin Mobile service provided out of Narrogin during

the school term.

Limited awareness of

this service within

Shire.

Wickepin Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Wickepin Child health clinic operates out of the Health

Centre on the first and third Tuesdays of the

month.

Williams Williams

Playgroup

Playgroup Williams Operates Thursdays 9.00am to 11.00am.

Williams Playgroup share shire owned facility

with Williams Arts & Crafts Centre and Williams

Toy Library. Pay Shire a nominal usage amount

per annum.

Shire assists with

funding opportunities

where they arise (e.g.

new storage shed;

playground equipment

etc.).

125

Shire Service Name Service Type Location Details Issues/Interventions

Williams Willi Wag Tails ECEC – Long

Day Care

Williams Centre is open Monday to Friday from 8am

to 5:30pm. Offers full day care as well as

half day sessions, morning or afternoon, and

hourly care.

Shire owns facility and

provides assistance with

administration of the

Centre (accounts, payroll).

Williams Toy

Library

Toy Library Williams Opening hours not advertised. Williams Toy

Library share shire owned facility with

Williams Art & Crafts Centre and Williams

Playgroup. Pay Shire a nominal usage

amount per annum.

Williams Child

Health Centre

Child Health

Services

Williams Child health clinic operates out of the Health

Centre Monday to Friday 9.00am to 4.30pm.

126

Appendix C – Regional Survey Results

As part of RDA Wheatbelt’s initial submission to develop a Regional Children’s Service Plan, an online survey was successfully designed and completed as part of the preliminary regional engagement and consultation. The survey was created using the online program, Survey Monkey, and circulated via email, print media and social media to maximise participation across the geographically expansive region. The online survey was designed using key themes outlined in the proposed methodology as well as questions posed in the Productivity Commissions inquiry into Childcare and Early Childhood Learning. Of the 246 surveys commenced, 212 were fully completed excluding four responses not relevant to the Wheatbelt.

To ensure that the online survey appealed to all facets of Wheatbelt communities and to maximise data collection, the survey was separated into five streams depending on the interaction of the survey respondent to ECEC services. Whilst many of the questions were repeated in each section to enable data comparison, each stream included questions specific to the group it was targeting. The five groups are as follows:

Parent or carer currently accessing an ECEC service ECEC staff ECEC Board or Committee member Local Government Community member (e.g.: potential ECEC service user, general public, etc.)

Before the survey split into the five streams relative to the target groups mentioned above, a series of broad questions were posed relating to the closest community or town for survey respondent as well as their closest Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) service. The www.mychild.gov.au online Service Locator tool was referenced in this question both to enable respondents to find their nearest ECEC service but also to promote awareness of the tool and website more broadly.

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) service demand and availability The following two questions were designed to capture information about both the availability and demand of ECEC (Q3) and other services (Q4). Respondents could choose from four options with varying degrees of availability and demand.

127

Image 1: Screen capture of Q3 in the online program, Survey Monkey The data collected in the online survey reflected much of the desktop research and anecdotal evidence gathered on the availability and demand of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services in the Wheatbelt. The responses for the availability of services correlated strongly with the database of services provided by the Department for Local Government and Communities which indicated Wheatbelt residents have a good understanding of what ECEC services are available in their given communities. For the purpose of differentiating a formal ECEC service to an informal ECEC service, the services included in this particular analysis were long day care, family day care, mobile care, occasional care and outside school care, as listed in the image above of Q3. This was due to the variable nature of informal ECEC services which can be difficult to identify and monitor, and can change relatively quickly.

The data for the demand and availability of formal ECEC services (Q3) was aggregated into Local Government Authority (LGA) areas and grouped according to the sub-regions of the Wheatbelt. This was done to give both a local perspective to data but to also assess the sub-regional averages against current and projected population trends.

This question was asked of all of the survey respondents so in some cases the survey respondent may be aware of a formal ECEC service within their LGA, but may not access it. Comparison between an ECEC service availability and whether the survey respondent would use this service in the future showed varying responses between LGA’s. When data was grouped by sub-region it showed that of the LGA’s in the Avon sub-region 54.55% had a higher future usage (demand) for an ECEC service than is currently available. For the Avon sub-region it also showed that 36.36% of the LGA’s had a lower future demand for ECEC services and 9.09% having the same demand.

128

The Central Midlands and Coastal sub-region also showed similar trends with 57.14% having higher, 28.57% having lower and 14.29% having equal future demand for ECEC services. The Central had fairly evenly split results of 30%, 40% and 30% of LGA’s stating they will have higher, lower and equal future demand for ECEC services in their sub-region. Of the 15 LGA’s in the Central South sub-region, the average survey responses from 10 of the LGA’s (66.67%) stated that they have a lower demand for ECEC services in the future, with only 4 (26.67%) having higher demand and 1 LGA having equal demand to current availability.

Graph 2: ECEC service availability, usage and projected future demand per LGA The survey responses to Q3 (and Q4) are a snapshot in the current availability and demand of ECEC (and other) services at this point in time within the Wheatbelt. With this in mind and the varying projections of ECEC service demand for each LGA and more broadly each sub-region, it highlights the need for ECEC service provision to be flexible and responsive to the needs of a given community.

Building on the reference made to the www.mychild.gov.au website, Q5 gauged the awareness and usage levels of the MyChild website and other online resources. Of the 239 respondents that completed this particular question in the survey, 71.13% weren’t aware of the MyChild website with 77.40% stating they’d never navigated to the website previously. The vast majority (93.72%) of respondents had never used the MyChild website to search for ECEC service vacancies. Whilst only 54.81% conveyed that they didn’t know whether their local ECEC service is listed on the MyChild website, a further 31.80% were unsure.

The final question in the broad opening questions of the survey asked whether there are any other websites respondents find useful of which 7.33% said ‘Yes’ and specified

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Avon Central East Central Midlands and Coastal Central South

129

websites and online media such as the Department of Local Government and Communities, Child Australia, ACEAQA, Ngala, Parenting WA, BabyCentre, ECA (Early Childhood Australia), PSCWA (Professional Support Coordinator WA, Gowrie, Kidsafe, Care For Kids, Facebook, WOCS (Wheatbelt Organisation for Children’s Services), Playgroup WA, various Local Government websites, WACOSS and WANSLEA.

Key issues or barriers from people trying to access children’s services In the stream developed for Parents or carers currently accessing an ECEC service, there were a series of questions gathering contextual information about current employment levels and arrangements as well as study enrolments, for both the survey respondent and their partner, if applicable (Q7). Two questions then followed seeking information about how the survey respondent initially identified a vacancy in their ECEC service (Q8) and further to that, how the ECEC service is currently meeting the survey respondents needs (Q9).

To get an understanding of the barriers parents and carers face when trying to access ECEC services in their community, the survey directed respondents to rate their top three barriers to access. These barriers included:

Number of days per week Number of hours per day Affordability Proximity to home residence Quality of care Waiting list times Special needs requirements Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) aware Readiness for school Links with other services Not applicable

130

Image 3: Screen capture of Q10 in the online program, Survey Monkey The data was once again aggregated into Local Government Authority (LGA) areas and grouped according to Wheatbelt sub-regions. According to sub-region, survey respondents identified two key barriers shown which is evident by the majority selecting Not applicable for the third option. As noted in the graph below, the next two clear barriers to access ECEC services are the Number of days per week and Affordability.

Of all the sub-regions and possible barriers to access, 39.13% of the survey respondents in the Avon sub-region relayed that the Number of days per week was their most significant barrier. This issue was also the most significant for the Central East (26.67%) and Central South (20.51%) survey respondents identifying it as the number one barrier. Proximity to home residence was identified as the Central Midlands and Coastal sub-regions most significant barrier at 30%.

The second most significant barrier to accessing ECEC services for the Avon sub-region was Waiting list times with 19.05% of survey respondents. Affordability was the second key barrier for Central East (33.33%) and Central Midlands and Coastal (25%). The number of hours per day was the Central South sub-regions second key barrier to access ECEC services at 27.03%. Survey respondents in the Central South (18.92%), Central Midlands and Coastal (20%) and Central East (20%) all indicated that the third most significant barrier was again Affordability with 21.05% of survey respondents in the Avon sub-region stating that Proximity to home residence as third most significant.

As the Number of days per week was continually identified as a key barrier in each sub-region, this reinforces the need for flexible and responsive ECEC services further, to respond the community needs and demand.

131

Number ofdays per

week

Number ofhours per

dayAffordability

Proximity tohome

residence

Quality ofcare

Waiting listtimes

Specialneeds

requirements

Culturallyand

LinguisticallyDiverse(CALD)aware

Readinessfor school

Links withother

services

Notapplicable

Central South (third issue) 8.11 0.00 18.92 10.81 2.70 10.81 0.00 0.00 8.11 5.41 35.14

Central Midlands and Coastal (third issue) 10.00 0.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00 0.00 10.00 10.00 20.00

Central East (third issue) 13.33 6.67 20.00 13.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 13.33 0.00 33.33

Avon (third issue) 10.53 10.53 5.26 21.05 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.26 5.26 42.11

Central South (second issue) 16.22 27.03 16.22 5.41 2.70 8.11 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 24.32

Central Midlands and Coastal (second issue) 20.00 10.00 25.00 10.00 5.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 5.00 0.00 5.00

Central East (second issue) 13.33 20.00 33.33 0.00 13.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.67 6.67 6.67

Avon (second issue) 14.29 14.29 9.52 4.76 9.52 19.05 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 28.57

Central South (first issue) 20.51 12.82 17.95 7.69 2.56 20.51 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.95

Central Midlands and Coastal (first issue) 10.00 10.00 25.00 30.00 10.00 10.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.00

Central East (first issue) 26.67 6.67 13.33 20.00 0.00 20.00 6.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.67

Avon (first issue) 39.13 0.00 4.35 17.39 8.70 8.70 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.35 17.39

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Graph 4: Three most significant barriers to accessing ECEC services by sub-region Key issues faced by Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and other children’s services providers

To understand the internal challenges and issues faced by ECEC services, the online survey posed the same question to both the ECEC staff and ECEC Board or Committee. The question was designed similarly to the rating of issues to access ECEC services in the Parents or carers accessing an ECEC service stream of questions. The issues included:

High staff turnover Lack of qualified staff Operating costs including staffing Understanding NQF requirements NQF reporting

132

NQF staff ratios Implementing NQF Access to training Demands on volunteer board/committee members Understanding NQF Lack of assistance to implement NQF

Image 5: Screen capture of Q25 in the online program, Survey Monkey (the same wording and question design was used in Q31) The Lack of qualified staff was identified as the most significant issue for the combined sub-regions as well for three of the four Wheatbelt sub-regions of Central East (75%), Central Midlands and Coastal (66.67%) and Central South (66.67%). This key identified issue aligns with the ECEC Industry Roundtable workshop hosted in Northam in June 2012 and demonstrates that a creative solution is yet to be realised and implemented.

Operating costs including staffing was another clearly identified key issues facing the Wheatbelt with Avon indicating that this along with Understanding the NQF as foremost significant issues (50%). The survey respondents within the Avon sub-region also identified that Understanding the NQF and Implementing the NQF were secondary key issues (50%). Central East equally identified four secondary key issues (25%) including Lack of qualified staff, Operating costs including staff, Understanding NQF requirements and Implementing NQF. The Central Midlands and Coastal sub-region listed Understanding NQF requirements (33%), NQF staff ratios (33%) and Access to training (33%), with Central South also identifying the latter two as key issues alongside Implementing NQF (33%).

133

Graph 6: Three most significant issues facing ECEC services according to ECEC staff Whilst there weren’t many ECEC Board or Committee members who responded to the online survey (15 responses), the graph 7 and data clearly show that a Lack of qualified staff, Operating costs including staff and the Demands on volunteer board/committee members are the key issues they identified. Both Central South (60%) and Central East (66.67%) identified that Lack of qualified staff were the most significant issues facing ECEC services according to their Board or Committee. The Avon sub-region specified that Operating costs including staffing (80%) was the top issues with the Central Midlands and Coastal sub-region unanimously stating NQF staff ratios was most significant.

All of the survey respondents in the Central Midlands and Coastal sub-region also identified that the Demands on volunteer board/committee members was the second most significant issue with similar unanimity with their tertiary issue of Access to training.

High staffturnover

Lack ofqualified

staff

Operatingcosts

includingstaffing

Understanding NQF

requirements

NQFreporting

NQF staffratios

Implementing NQF

Access totraining

Demands onvolunteer

board/committee

members

Understanding NQF

Lack ofassistance toimplement

NQF

Central South (third issue) 33.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 33.33 0.00 33.33 0.00 0.00 0.00

Central Midlands and Coastal (third issue) 10.00 0.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00 0.00 10.00 10.00 20.00

Central East (third issue) 0.00 0.00 25.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 75.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Avon (third issue) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.00 0.00 50.00 0.00 0.00

Central South (second issue) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 33.33 33.33 33.33 0.00 0.00 0.00

Central Midlands and Coastal (second issue) 0.00 0.00 0.00 33.33 0.00 33.33 0.00 33.33 0.00 0.00 0.00

Central East (second issue) 0.00 25.00 25.00 25.00 0.00 0.00 25.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Avon (second issue) 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.00 0.00 0.00 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Central South (first issue) 0.00 66.67 33.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Central Midlands and Coastal (first issue) 0.00 66.67 33.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Central East (first issue) 25.00 75.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Avon (first issue) 0.00 0.00 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.00 0.00

Per

cen

tage

of

su

rvey

res

po

nse

nts

134

Central East listed NQF staff ratios (66.67%) as the second most significant issue followed by Operating costs including staffing (66.67%) as the third. The secondary issues for Avon included Lack of qualified staff (40%), Operating costs including staffing (20%), Demands on volunteer board/committee members (20%) and Lack of assistance to implement NQF (20%) with its tertiary issue also reflecting the latter issue at 60% of survey respondents. The survey respondents is the Central South sub-region listed Demands on volunteer board/committee members (60%) as the second most significant issues and Access to training (40%) as the third.

Cross-referencing responses from the ECEC staff against the ECEC board or committee, the Lack of qualified staff is evident as the leading key issue both as a regional challenge but especially for the Central South and Central East sub-regions. Operating costs including staffing is paramount to the Avon sub-region with factors relating to the NQF being significant issues for the Central Midlands and Coastal sub-region.

135

High staffturnover

Lack ofqualified

staff

Operatingcosts

includingstaffing

Understanding NQF

requirements

NQFreporting

NQF staffratios

Implementing NQF

Access totraining

Demandson

volunteerboard/com

mitteemembers

Understanding NQF

Lack ofassistance

toimplement

NQF

Central South (third issue) 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 0.00

Central Midlands and Coastal (third issue) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Central East (third issue) 0.00 0.00 66.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 33.33 0.00 0.00

Avon (third issue) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 60.00 0.00 20.00

Central South (second issue) 0.00 20.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 60.00 0.00 0.00

Central Midlands and Coastal (second issue) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00

Central East (second issue) 0.00 33.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 66.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Avon (second issue) 0.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 20.00

Central South (first issue) 0.00 60.00 40.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Central Midlands and Coastal (first issue) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Central East (first issue) 0.00 66.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 33.33 0.00 0.00

Avon (first issue) 0.00 20.00 80.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Per

cen

tage

of

su

rvey

res

po

nse

nts

Graph 7: Three most significant issues facing ECEC services according to ECEC Board or Committee

136

Appendix D – Sub-Regional SWOT Analysis

Current Future

Geographic area Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Avon – Shires of Beverley,

Cunderdin, Dowerin,

Goomalling, Koorda,

Northam, Quairading,

Tammin, Toodyay,

Wyalkatchem and York

Long day care is available in Northam, Toodyay, Goomalling, Cunderdin, Quairading and York

After school hours care is available in Northam

Northam is well serviced by a variety of children’s services program s and activities

Playgroups are present in each Shire within this sub-region

Some disability support services are available in this area

There are currently no ECEC services in Tammin or Beverley despite an apparent demand for these services, particularly in Beverley

Hours of operation and waitlist times are barriers to accessing ECEC services in this sub-region

Innovative and forward thinking service in York looking to provide a parenting centre.

Continued population growth in this sub-region will see more services offered as it is viable for private sector investment

Common resource funded by the services in this sub-region to assist with training, implementation of NQF and other operational work

Understanding and implementing NQF requirements is a threat to ECEC services in this area

137

Current Future

Geographic area Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Central Coast - Shires

of Dandaragan and Gingin

Long day care is available in Jurien Bay and Gingin towns

Playgroups are available in all major towns in this sub-region and there is a toy library in Jurien Bay

Dandaragan and Badgingarra residents must travel to either Moora or Jurien Bay to access an ECEC service

Aboriginal and disability support programs are not available in this sub-region at all

Proximity to services, affordability and wait list times are barriers to accessing ECEC services

Funded in-home care for remote areas within the Shire of Dandaragan as an alternative to accessing an ECEC service

High growth in the

coastal areas may make

it difficult to keep up

with demand for

services

Central Midlands -

Shires of Chittering,

Dalwallinu, Moora,

Victoria Plains and

Wongan-Ballidu

Long day care is available in Dalwallinu and Wongan Hills

Occasional care is available in Moora

Playgroups a and toy libraries are available in the major towns within this sub-region

Moora school offers Kindy prep

There are no ECEC services in the fastest growing Shire in the region – Chittering – despite an apparent demand for the service

Aboriginal support programs and disability services are limited throughout this area

Proximity to services, affordability and wait list times are barriers to accessing ECEC services

Expansion of Aboriginal

specific programs,

particularly to support

young parents

(something similar to

the MISSYA program)

Meeting NQF

requirements,

particularly around

staff, access to training

and operational costs

are a threat to ECEC

services in this area

138

Current Future

Geographic area Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Central East - Shires of

Bruce Rock, Kellerberrin,

Merredin, Mount

Marshall, Mukinbudin,

Narembeen, Nungarin,

Trayning, Westonia and

Yilgarn.

Long day care is available in Bruce Rock and Merredin

Occasional care is available in Southern Cross (Shire of Yilgarn), Narembeen and Mukinbudin

Toy libraries are available in Merredin, Beacon, Mukinbudin, Nungarin, Trayning, Wyalkatchem and Bruce Rock

Disability support services are available in Merredin and Kellerberrin

Reinvigorated EYN, which previously delivered great outcomes for this sub-region

Kellerberrin – Little Learners

Strong MADCAPs at Merredin – actively publicising issues

ECEC services are very limited in this sub-region

Kellerberrin has a 0-4 population of 93 and Yilgarn 183 and there is evidence of demand for ECEC services in these areas in particular

Aboriginal specific support programs are not available in this sub-region

Affordability, wait list times, proximity of services and hours of operations are barriers to accessing ECEC services

Occasional care in Narembeen and Mukinbudin is not eligible for Commonwealth funding and is supported by the State

Provision of outside school hours care in Merredin to meet demand

Build a sustainable model for the delivery of the Eastern Wheatbelt EYN-EWEYN

Expand EWEYN to include Shires of the North-East (e.g. Trayning, Mouth Marshall, Nungarin etc.)

Creation of part-time Mobile services to NEWROC Shires

Outsource management of ECEC services to a private provider or LGA

Greater peer support and mentoring of ECEC staff could be facilitated through networking of the ECEC services either through the EYN or more informal arrangement

Lack of qualified staff, operating costs and reliance on volunteers are barriers to the effective delivery of ECEC services in this area

Low numbers and geographical dispersion of the population of children in this sub-region make additional Long Day Care services unviable so alternative models are necessary.

Distances to other services make relief pool concept or staff sharing difficult

Different management structures make change challenging

Reduced funding to LGAs, community priorities

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Current Future

Geographic area Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Central South - Shires

of Brookton, Corrigin,

Cuballing, Dumbleyung,

Kondinin, Kulin, Lake

Grace, Narrogin Shire,

Narrogin Town, Pingelly,

Wagin, Wandering, West

Arthur, Wickepin and

Williams.

Long day care is available in Brookton, Williams, Wagin, Kulin, Corrigin, Hyden, Darkan

Narrogin has long day care, family day care and a mobile care.

Pingelly has access to a mobile service

Most Shires in this sub-region have a playgroup and toy libraries (except Wickepin)

Disability support and Aboriginal specific programs are available in Narrogin

History of successful joint projects in between the Shires in the 4WDVROC including current Housing project.

Active CDO at Williams who is championing ECEC services set-ups.

EYN- Champions funding

Aboriginal support programs and disability services are not available throughout this area

Hours of operation and the affordability of services are major barriers to accessing ECEC services in this sub-region

Wandering and Wickepin currently have no ECEC services so people in these communities must travel if they need to access these services

Waitlist times and hours of operation are barriers to accessing ECEC services in this area

Share learnings from Williams ECEC service in using the early childhood planning toolkit

Outsource management of ECEC services to a private provider

Greater peer support and mentoring of ECEC staff could be facilitated through networking of the ECEC services either through an EYN or more informal arrangement

Create Network opportunities for training/relief opportunities

Loss of mobile service to Lake Grace and Dumbleyung

Lack of qualified staff, understanding NQF requirements and lack of training are a threat to ECEC services in this sub-region

NQF requirements around staff ratios and qualifications is a major concern to the ECEC service in Narrogin

140

Appendix E – Wheatbelt ECEC Map (2014)

141

Disclaimer: The information and advice within this document is provided voluntarily by Department of Local Government and Communities as a public service. The information and advice is provided in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for purpose of this document. The reader of this document should satisfy him or herself concerning its application to their situation. The State of Western Australia, the Department of Local Government and Communities and their officers expressly disclaim liability for any act or omission occurring in reliance on this document or for any consequences of such act or omission. Current as at July 2014.