Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Ministers statements: early childhood education

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:31): This week our littlest Victorians went back to kinder, and I rise to update the house on this government’s delivery of kinder kits for the new kinder year. I was recently able to celebrate the launch of the 2024 kinder kit at Sherbrooke Family and Children’s Centre with the fabulous member for Monbulk in the other place. It was a pleasure to see the students of Sherbrooke Family and Children’s Centre test the kinder kits ahead of their distribution across the state. Every child enrolled in a funded three-year-old kindergarten program will receive a kinder kit, and kinder kits celebrate an exciting and important stage in our children’s lives – starting kindergarten. These kits are designed to encourage families to get involved in their child’s education at home. They contain high-quality educational toys and books that promote learning through play. Importantly, two of the books selected for the kits are written by First Nations authors, and many of the activities and toys included are produced right here in Victoria.

Play-based learning is supported by many decades of research on how children best learn and how children best grow. Through play, children engage with the people, places and objects around them to build an understanding of their world and that beyond it. Play also helps children develop persistence, curiosity and imagination. Every item in the kit is designed for young children to engage in inclusive play. Most important of all, as well as being educational, everything in our kinder kits is fun. The kit also includes tips and ideas to help parents and carers guide their child’s early learning and development, and videos will be made available online to support kindergarten teachers and educators to talk to families about the many ways they can use their kinder kit to continue play-based learning at home.

All children deserve the best start in life, and that is why this government has invested $14 billion in our Best Start, Best Life reforms, and our kinder kits are another way we are giving Victoria’s youngest learners the best start in life. I cannot wait to see what the children across our state will make of the kinder kits this year, and I take this opportunity to wish all our three- and four-year-old children a successful year at kinder.