School Readiness Funding

Services will spend the majority of funding (a minimum of 75% for services receiving over $10,000, and all funding for services receiving under $10,000) on items from the menu of evidence-informed programs and supports (the Menu). Items on the Menu align with the 3 School Readiness Funding priority areas:

• Communication (language, literacy and numeracy)
• Wellbeing (social, emotional and executive function), and
• Access, inclusion and participation.

Each program and support item has been externally validated for how well they support children's learning and development. The Menu has been developed to help services make informed choices on how to spend their funding to improve outcomes for children. It includes:

• programs and services that target speech, language and literacy
• allied health supports (speech pathologists, psychologists, occupational therapists)
• programs and services that inform educators and families about trauma-informed practice, secure attachment and mental health
• resources and programs to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of children
• support for culturally and linguistically diverse children and families
• tools for parents to support their child's development.

Services work directly with the Menu providers to organise access to programs and supports. Services must ensure these providers follow all relevant child safety policies, procedures, and expectations to ensure active protection of children’s physical, emotional, and cultural safety while working within the service.

Services that receive over $10,000 in School Readiness Funding may optionally spend up to 25% of their funding flexibly on programs and supports not listed on the Menu. Items purchased using Flexible Funding must:

• align with the three priority outcome areas or a local priority
• address educational disadvantage
• build the capacity of educators and/or families to address the needs of the group of children in the service
• not be listed or similar to those already on the SRF Menu.

Flexible Funding should not be spent on items such as infrastructure or information technology (IT).

Services that wish to spend some of their funding flexibly must discuss this with their Early Childhood Improvement Branch and gain approval.

Services that receive under $10,000 in School Readiness Funding must spend all their funding on items from the Menu.

Allied health supports have been engaged by the department to ensure that services receiving School Readiness Funding have access to high-quality allied health services, including psychologists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists. Allied Health professionals will share specialist skills and knowledge with educators and families to build their capacity to embed practices in their programs and home settings, supporting children’s development in the priority outcome areas.

Services that receive over $10,000 over a 2-year cycle in School Readiness Funding will have a portion of their funding allocated to allied health sessions pre-purchased by the Department. Allied health professionals will work with services to support teachers/educators to address the needs and goals for children and their families identified in their SRF plan. A list of allied health providers can also be found in the School Readiness Funding Menu.

Services with an allocation of allied health sessions will be contacted directly by their local allied health providers in the first instance.

Services that receive under $10,000 over a 2-year cycle in School Readiness Funding can also access allied health support through an allied health support phone line at no cost. Services are also able to independently source allied health services through the allied health Menu items in the School Readiness Funding Menu.

An allied health support line is available for services that do not receive an allocation of allied health sessions through School Readiness Funding (i.e. services receiving under $10,000 over a 2-year cycle).

The types of supports available include:

• case consultation (phone, email, video conferencing)
• coaching (phone, email, video conferencing)
• provision of resources (for both educators and families)
• referral pathway advice and connection to relevant local services
• online information sessions for educators and families on commonly sought topics
• facilitated Q&A sessions via video conferencing
• a quarterly newsletter with ‘tips and tricks’ on a range of allied health relevant topics.

The allied health support line provider is DPV Health. DPV Health can offer outreach assistance to all kindergarten services who meet the above criteria.

You can contact DPV Health via:

• Tel: (03) 9020 9156
• Email: srf.phoneline@dpvhealth.org.au

Services may choose to partner, or pool funding with other services to access programs and supports of shared interest.

Pooling funding may help services to:

• access programs or supports that are beyond the reach of a single provider's allocation, yet are identified as a collective need by multiple services in a local area
• support a larger community-focused initiative that needs sustained support to result in long-term practice change
• strengthen links with local providers and education settings (including primary schools), enabling a more collaborative approach to identifying and meeting the needs of children and families in the local community.

If your service is interested in pooling funds, discuss this with your Early Childhood Improvement Branch.

Attendance is a key component of the SRF priority outcome area Access, Inclusion and Participation. If your service has identified attendance as a goal within this priority outcome area, you may wish to consider the following SRF menu items:

• Social Worker and Family Support Worker to increase family support, engagement and partnerships.
• Transport to support families to get their children to and from kindergarten.
• Breakfast Club to support families to give their children a healthy breakfast, which creates positive conditions for learning.
• Programs/supports that help services create a culturally inclusive and supportive learning environment – please see sections below on supporting First Nations and Cultural and Linguistic Diversity.
• Programs/supports that help services to follow trauma-informed practice – see section below on trauma-informed practice.

Trauma-informed practice is a key component of the SRF priority outcome area Wellbeing (social, emotional and executive function). Trauma-informed practice means recognising that a child or young person’s behaviour or distress is often a stress response.

Educators need to focus on the child or young person’s need for safety and connection. This will support the child or young person to learn, access the curriculum and learning program, and have their wellbeing attended to.

If your service has identified trauma-informed practice as a goal within this priority outcome area, you may wish to consider the following SRF menu items:

For First Nations children, learning, wellbeing, and identity are strengthened through deep connections to Country, culture, kin, and community. Services can use SRF to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives across programs, relationships, and environments.

Even where there are no identified First Nations children currently attending, services can create culturally safe, inclusive and respectful environments that acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and ways of knowing.

Through intentional planning, meaningful reflection and ongoing learning, services can contribute to a greater sense of belonging, recognition and respect for First Nations peoples and communities.

To support First Nations perspectives, services may wish to consider the following SRF menu items:

Supporting cultural and linguistic diversity is a key component of the SRF priority outcome area Access, Inclusion and Participation. It is also relevant to supporting the language component of Communication.

If your service has identified a goal related to cultural and linguistic diversity, you may wish to consider the following SRF menu items: