Dear colleagues
With Term 1 coming to an end, I would like to thank you for your work in supporting children and families to start the year off smoothly. The beginning of the year can be a time of adjustment as your new learners get used to routines, form friendships and get to know new faces. I hope that everyone has settled in well and you and your colleagues are looking forward to the rest of the year.
I would like to begin by acknowledging your ongoing commitment to ensuring the safety, health and wellbeing of the children in your care. This is our highest priority, and I encourage you to continue referring to guidance from the Quality Assessment and Regulation Division (QARD) on complying with all your regulatory requirements under early childhood legislation and the Child Safe Standards.
As the Victorian Regulatory Authority, QARD takes all notifications seriously, and rigorously investigates serious non-compliance and takes action where required. Notifications can be made anonymously. Please consider subscribing to the QARD newsletter to make sure you receive this information each month.
Recently, it was wonderful to see how enthusiastically attendees embraced the 2025 Best Start, Best Life: Educational Leaders Conference and the 2025 Maternal and Child Health Conference, with MCH and early childhood educational leaders from across the state joining in person and online. If you attended, I hope you enjoyed the opportunity to learn from international experts and connect with colleagues and thank you for taking the time to invest in your professional development and practice.
The opportunity for maternal and child health nurses and early childhood educational leaders to come together is a great example of our vision for children’s care and education in Victoria – to improve outcomes for children and families.
While we’ve welcomed so many new faces at the start of the year, and our focus is on supporting these children and their families through their kinder journey, it’s also time to start looking ahead to enrolments for next year, and I know a big focus for services in the coming weeks will be preparing for 2026 enrolments. This is an exciting opportunity to welcome new families and ensure that children begin their learning journey in the best possible way.
In this month’s edition, you’ll see resources to help you communicate about your service to families and the local community in preparation for the enrolment period. With Pre-Prep continuing to roll out, it is more important than ever to ensure families understand how to enrol and what to expect to receive from your service. We’ve also developed resources to help you respond to any questions you may get from your teams and families about Pre-Prep, which you can find in our Change Management toolkit.
Term 2, 2025, also marks the beginning of Prep enrolments for the 2026 school year. To help families of children in Four-Year-Old Kindergarten to understand the enrolment process and timeline, we are asking you to share resources through your communication channels.
With the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends later this month, I hope you’re able to take a well-deserved break and enjoy some quality time with your loved ones.
Bronwen FitzGerald
Deputy Secretary
Early Childhood Education
Updated