WHAT IS SCHOOL READINESS FUNDING - VICTORIA?

School Readiness Funding is a permanent and ongoing part of the Victorian kindergarten funding model. It funds programs and supports building the capacity of kindergarten services, educators, and families, to support children’s learning and development outcomes.

School Readiness Funding supports children in all funded kindergarten services in Victoria. It is available in all kindergarten settings, including long daycare, and for both three and four-year-old children.

Early Life Foundations is a Victorian DET School Readiness Funding Approved Provider and now have 5 approved PD sessions on the menu-of-evidence. These are:

  1. Building Resilience in Pre-Schoolers
  2. Bush Kinder – Starting an Outdoor Learning Program
  3. Early Childhood Play Matters
  4. Creating Engaging Environments for Pre-Schoolers
  5. Early Childhood – Teaching and Learning through Play.

From 2025, School Readiness Funding will move from an annual plan to a 2-year planning cycle. This will benefit services by providing greater predictability to be able to plan over a longer time, reducing the administrative requirements associated with the planning and implementation processes and ensuring timely intervention and support is provided. Early Life Foundations has professional development sessions, which can assist teams choosing to implement a 2-year planning timeframe. Our sessions can be viewed as a stand alone professional development session or can be completed in conjunction with the sessions outlined in our Certification pathway.

EARLY LIFE FOUNDATIONS SRF MENU

Victorian DET School Readiness Funding supports a range of externally validated programs for how well they support children’s learning and development. School Readiness Funding focuses on 3 priority areas:

  1. Communication (language, literacy and numeracy)
  2. Wellbeing (social, emotional and executive function)
  3. Access, Inclusion and Participation.

Early Life Foundations have a range of professional development and support which align to the priority areas. Review our scheduled events below or CONTACT US if you would like to organise a customised booking for your team or centre.

All our School Readiness Funded sessions can be delivered as fast-paced Live Webinars or in person. We have discounts available and can offer flexible delivery to suit the needs of your team. We can also support your team with custom mentoring and support which can either be delivered online or in person.

We can also support your service further through:
  • Educator Mentoring & Coaching sessions (Live online or face to face pending covid restrictions)
  • Parenting & Carer Presentations (Via Zoom directly to parents or as a Zoom delivery to your service)

CONTACT US today to see how we can support your staff and families.

Interested in booking customised professional development for your team or centre?

Coaching

For Teams of up to 6 Educators:

Online Coaching (2 x 1-hour sessions) for up to 6 Educators who have previously attended the LIVE Webinar: $1470 (excl. GST)

Educators and service leaders work with the consultant to improve their practical application of the theory including planning, pedagogical strategies and other aspects of practice particularly focused on the school readiness funding priority areas for their service

Delivered Live via zoom

SCHOOL READINESS FUNDING

VICTORIA

Early Childhood Play Matters

Early Childhood Play Matters aims to equip early childhood educators with evidence and affirmation about the value of play. This session can be viewed as a stand alone professional development session or can be completed in conjunction with the sessions outlined in our Certification pathway. Our Certification pathway can assist teams choosing to implement a 2 year planning timeframe.

SRF Priority Areas:

  • Communication
  • Wellbeing
  • Access, Inclusion and Participation

3 HOURS

ONLINE or IN PERSON

Creating Engaging Environments for Preschoolers

How do you create engaging and meaningful environments that promote, engage and sustain children’s learning through play? Join us as we explore the importance of creating spaces that nurture and inspire whilst facilitating learning and relationships. This session can be viewed as a stand alone professional development session or can be completed in conjunction with the sessions outlined in our Certification pathway.

SRF Priority Areas:

  • Communication
  • Wellbeing
  • Access, Inclusion and Participation

2.5 HOURS

ONLINE or IN PERSON

Early Childhood – Teaching and Learning through Play

We are delighted to bring you Early Childhood – Teaching and Learning through Play to deepen understanding and provide inspiration to teachers, leaders and educators in Early Childhood settings. We explore the importance of reflective and responsive practice, creating quality environments, intentional teaching and observing, analysing and monitoring children’s progress in all areas.

SRF Priority Areas:

  • Communication
  • Wellbeing
  • Access, Inclusion and Participation

3 HOURS

ONLINE or IN PERSON

Building Resilience in Preschoolers

Building Resilience in Preschoolers examines how to improve mental health and wellbeing and long term outcomes for children in all areas. Educators will be given strategies to understand and respond to children’s emotions and behaviour and ideas to provide environments that proactively nurture wellbeing.

SRF Priority Areas:

  • Wellbeing
  • Access, Inclusion and Participation

3 HOURS

ONLINE or IN PERSON

Bush Kinder – Starting an Outdoor Learning Program (online)

Are you looking to extend your centres learning program to offer offsite nature based Bush Kinder learning? Bush Kinder – Starting an Outdoor Learning Program is designed to empower and guide early childhood educators on a journey to unlock the full potential of nature-based education.

SRF Priority Areas:

  • Wellbeing
  • Access, Inclusion and Participation

3 HOURS

ONLINE

Bush Kinder – Starting an Outdoor Learning Program (in person)

Are you looking to extend your centres learning program to offer offsite nature based Bush Kinder learning? Bush Kinder – Starting an Outdoor Learning Program is designed to empower and guide early childhood educators on a journey to unlock the full potential of nature-based education.

SRF Priority Areas:

  • Wellbeing
  • Access, Inclusion and Participation

7 HOURS

IN PERSON

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR CERTIFICATION
in WALKER LEARNING

Because QUALITY Early Childhood experiences shape lives for the better

Early Life Foundations is excited to bring you our Early Childhood Educator Certification in the Walker Learning pedagogy – a pedagogy designed in Australia for Australian children.

Your Journey to Walker Learning Certification in Early Childhood.

Our certification pathway will embed the knowledge, create the inspiration, and give you the confidence to transform the children’s experiences in the early childhood setting. Broaden your knowledge and learn practical implementation strategies in play-based learning and assist our young learners to transition smoothly into the first years of school where the Walker Learning pedagogy is widely used.

Do you need Coaching & Mentoring? We can help.

There is a growing body of evidence that coaching support for early childhood educators and teachers leads to improved practice and supports children’s learning outcomes.

Can’t find what you are looking for?

REQUEST A CUSTOM SESSION

Customised sessions are where you choose a topic/area of support from our list, or a topic customised to suit your school, centre or community’s needs. Customised sessions are conducted nationally and internationally. These sessions are for educators and/or for parents.

Please submit a Request a Customised Session to detail your presentation requirements and the office will contact you to discuss your request.

Review all upcoming scheduled PD

STAY IN TOUCH


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    • This PD was one of the most valuable to understand Education Research Projects, especially how to utilise students interest. It provided clarity to both the teacher and student roles within this aspect of the Walker pedagogy. I appreciated the way Shona really targeted each individual teachers needs for the lesson and allowed us to have discussions throughout the day about our practice, how we could implement these aspects into the classroom and school and where to next in our own school's learning journey. Thank you again for the session. Brilliant!

      Stacey Karolidis

    • I learnt so much from the PD that I took back and discussed at length with my fellow educators and management. I always enjoy doing PDs at Early Life Foundations I always come away with so much knowledge and so many things I can put into practice.

      Pamela Minns

    • This PD was fabulous! It confirmed to me that we were on the right path in thinking in developmental terms rather that thinking in terms of the framework in regards to children's learning and development. I have discussed this briefly with staff at our centre but will do so in more detail at our first staff meeting next term. We had our 'Assessment Visit' so all of our energy was being put towards finalising everything in preparation. It just makes more sense to me and identifies areas individual children need to work on and perhaps be referred for specialist help.

      Barbara Hooper

    • ELF..Fabulous..........inspired once again...re-educated...refreshed...reassured...and renewed once again... thanks to Walker Learning.A wonderful professional development day... Melinda...you rock!!

      Bernadette Anne Cullen

    • I found the day to be informative, interesting and valuable. I found the presenters to be friendly , professional, practical, and really knew what a classroom situation was like. They we're able to relay practical information for use in the kindergarten educational setting. Katie and I have implemented strategies in our class room and presented to the early years what we learnt on the day. I really enjoyed the presentation and would like to learn more.

      Jenny Canty

    • Fantastic to see it in action gave a greater depth of understanding. Really enjoyed watching actual classroom teachers do the tuning in and reflection aspects of the approach. Would be nice to have received some recognition/certificate of attendance at these sessions. Well worth the trip from WA to Victoria.

      Jodie Goss

    • This was a great course, lots of opportunity share ideas with only 10 participants. having been out of the mainstream environment for 15 years and working in early intervention, this was a great course to remind me of some of the things that I use to do but also to gain an understanding of some of the changes that have occurred over this time. it also assisted to clear up some of those urban myths in regards to documenting (what it needs to look like) and what must be on a planning document.

      Leanne Clutterbuck

    • I had a great time on the tour and was very much inspired by Walker Learning. I gained valuable ideas and strategies which I can't wait to begin implementing in my classroom.

      Sylvia Faed

    • A very informative two days which reaffirmed/confirmed my notion of Walker learning pedagogy, also good to see the links to ERPs which we are intending to use in our Year 3-6 classes. Great to see the ideas in practice at the two schools we visited and take photos etc. Good for the three staff members from our school to attend together to discuss etc.​

      Nigel Kilpatrick

    • Hi Nicole, just wanted to give you some feedback on our session today - it was fantastic!! The staff came away from the session inspired and enthusiastic as Melinda was able to answer their questions and put to rest some of their concerns regarding documentation and Assessment and Rating visits. Many of the staff had been to a previous session about two years ago and found it very helpful to refresh their knowledge and also to reinforce what they are doing on the floor. Thank you again, Kind regards Diane Murphy

      Diane Murphy

    • Thank you so much for the session. It was great to have someone actually tell us what we need to do in terms of documentation. There is so much confusion about the requirements that we try to do EVERYTHING hoping that we get it right. I would recommend this PD to anyone wanting to clarify their procedures in documenting children's learning.

      Teresa McLeod

    • I found this PD invaluable. I was fortunate enough to attend this PD with my teaching team and we had so many valuable conversations during and after the day. I came away feeling very empowered to change my teaching practice and fight against the 'academic' pressure that is pushed onto us and our students in Kindergarten. Sally was wonderful in her presentation and Melinda was also fantastic with the insight she was able to provide. Thank you.

      Allison Scott

    • Thank you for this amazing opportunity. To be able to stay at the one school to see Walker Learning in action across the day was invaluable. A big thank you to the Frederick Irwin team for your generosity.

      Berrice Lodge

    • Hi, I really enjoyed the workshop and it has given me the confidence that my evaluation of the program that I am co teacher in (as the minor hours) is sound. This has given me some ideas to implement to improve the children's interactions with play areas, each other and more time for staff to give their attention to the children.

      Lydian Conway

    • Supporting Children with Additonal needs I must say thank you to all the speakers for an amazing day! Feeling fully informed & inspired now. The entire day was one of the best I’ve ever spent doing PD. All the sessions were inspiring, informative and the method of delivery was so easy to receive.

      Meena Nair

    • The two day course was excellent and has really impacted on my planning and preparation. it would be great to have some one on one time at the end to help each person plan their goals and strategies as this is the important part and guidance could be valuable.

      Kristin Dadd

    • I would encourage every passionate teacher to use this pedagogy in their teaching. Absolutely brilliant! The most productive and worthwhile PD I have ever been to.

      Ashwina Wilburn

    • It was very beneficial to be able to walk through the various classrooms and talk to the teachers about their classroom set up and the types of materials used at the different investigation areas before the students arrived, and then be able to observe a teacher in active practise with the Walker Learning Pedagogy from start to finish...this was extremely valuable! It was good to be able to debrief afterwards and to be able to ask questions about Walker Learning with our Mentor.

      Janet Hoek

    • We are Walker Learning because our children come first. Children deserve teachers who understand the link between theory, research and pedagogy. This is what I took away from the most inspiring PD I've done in my 15 years of teaching. Thank you Walker learning team, Anula and Janelle for providing us with the knowledge and tools to implement play based pedagogy.

      Shellie Bradbury

    • The Study Tour of Walker Learning at Anula Primary School was a interactive and engaging method of professional development. It was wonderful to see more than one teacher implementing the elements of Walker Learning in their classrooms.

      Selena Martin

    • Brilliant as ever. My 2 light bulb moments - Firstly I realised the literacy and numeracy areas are resource areas rather than sit down and work areas so will be resetting them Monday. Secondly I am making several adjustments to the way I use your planning format - I had wandered off the path just a little bit!!

    • I found the revision of the value of play helpful as a resource for parents. I particularly enjoyed the practical elements of the PD as often we know the theory but it is helpful to have practical ways to implement the theory. I also gain lots of ideas and information to support the staff at my centre. Thank you.

    • I definitely gained some new ways of thinking about how to use materials. Also, the value of Combining different types of media and using the correct paper. I also learned about some glue/ adhesive products I was previously unaware of. Overall an enjoyable and interesting day.

      Ingrid Wulfsohn

    • What a fabulous day!! Our observation was excellent, all of the teachers were very welcoming and happy to answer any questions we had. The session out of the classroom was presented to us in a great open discussion manner giving ample opportunity to ask questions. Overall the day left me feeling very inspired and with a place to begin as to not overwhelm myself. Thank you!

      Jessica Davis

    • This PD related immensely to challenges that I am dealing with especially in relation to children's diverse behaviours and why these behaviours might be occurring. The content covered so many areas! I feel that I left the PD more knowledgeable and motivated to put what I learnt into action in my everyday practices.

      Corrin Emerson

    • Thank you for your honesty and sharing some very valuable thought provoking information with us. There were some catch phrases you used (such as 'get rid of the fluff') and some metaphors (such as the 'doctor's clinical notes') that I will definitely keep in mind and critically reflect on with my wonderful preschool team in relation to our current practices and 'Get our Lives Back'.

      Jenny Ashenden

    • Thank you very much for the useful session. I enjoyed exploring Walker Learning and believe that this will be helpful for my future practice. You guys are amazing!

      Eugene Ezra

    • I was really impressed with the whole day, from the welcome to the environment set up for ideas and the whole presentation. The group size was good and everyone felt relaxed and happy to share their ideas and join in the discussion. Had a great day. Came away inspired and more understanding about how to be mindful and incorporate on a day to day basis in the class.

      Helen Angus Haileybury