We are committed to providing all children in Latrobe with a strong start to life.
Introduction
The Latrobe Health Assembly is committed to providing all children in Latrobe with ‘a strong start to life’, which includes projects related to early childhood development, equity, education and overall wellbeing.
The Latrobe Health Assembly has identified key challenges within Early Childhood Development, and the explored opportunities, and potential initiatives (prototypes) to address the challenges raised.
Subsequently, a Five Pillar Framework was developed utilising the input (e.g., challenges, opportunities, prototypes) and logic maps were developed to explore the key issue themes identified.
The Five Pillar Framework underpins the future initiatives being explored by the Latrobe Health Assembly, partner agencies and the broader community.
The Five Pillars are:
- Pregnancy
- Confident Parents
- Safe & Healthy Children
- Value of Education
- Great Start to School
Ways you can get involved
Do you care for or work with a young child or children?
If you answered yes, then the Latrobe Health Assembly would love to hear from you.
The Latrobe Health Assembly, in partnership with Melbourne University, are hosting local workshops to explore ways of ensuring children feel engaged and supported in their education.
The workshops being held across four towns within Latrobe Valley will help shape future work done in the community to help improve engagement and support for children in relation to their education.
The Five Pillar Framework
During 2021, the Latrobe Health Assembly commenced a program of work to identify challenges and opportunities across the Latrobe Valley to improve Early Childhood Development outcomes. A Five Pillar framework was designed to segment challenges and ensure that all age groups across 0-8 years old are accounted.
A total of 82 suggested outcomes were identified for further development across the five pillars.
The Five Pillars identified are:
Pregnancy
- Support mothers and parents through physical and psychological
- Preparing them for
parenthood
Confident Parents
- Build confident parents through community
engagement and access to services/ resources - Build strong emotional
connections with babies/toddlers
Safe & Healthy
Children
- Ensure children are safe from violence and feel a sense of belonging in the community
- Promote healthy behaviours (e.g., nutrition, physical activity, engagement with learning)
Value of Education
- Increase early years
education participation - Build strong social and
emotional identities - Promote curiosity, and
increase engagement with learning wellbeing
Great Start to School
- Define clear pathways to schooling
- Provide resources to
ensure health, safety, and confidence - Foster collaboration
between early year
education to ensure equity for children in Latrobe
Valley