Celebrating eight years of inclusion for children
Under the Inclusion Support Program (ISP), Yooralla’s Inclusion Professionals have provide resources, professional development, and tailored strategies for the last eight years.
We celebrated almost a decade of the Victorian Inclusion Agency (VIA) in July, marking our dedication to the promotion of inclusive practices in early and middle childhood education with a special morning tea.
Yooralla’s Inclusion Professionals, past and present, gathered at the recently reopened Morwell office for a lovely morning to celebrate eight years of great work of the VIA.
“It was a fabulous morning spent celebrating our Inclusion Support team. There was plenty of cake, lots of laughs and many stories and reflections of our last 8 years of VIA Yooralla,” said Jenni Morris-Cosgriff, Senior Group Manager – Early Childhood Inclusion.
“It was great to celebrate 8 years of shared achievements,” Jenni said.
“The day was highly successful,” agreed the ISP team.
“It was lovely to take time to come together and catch up with colleagues past and present. It was a good day and nice celebration of the people within the team,” said the ISP team.
About the VIA
VIA is a partnership between Yooralla, Community Child Care Association, and KU Children’s Services that focuses on enhancing the capacity of educators and staff within Early Childhood Education Centres (ECEC), to ensure the inclusion of children with additional needs.
This includes providing skilled and trained support staff for centre-based day care, outside school hours care, family day care, and occasional care. Under the Inclusion Support Program (ISP), Yooralla’s Inclusion Professionals provide resources, professional development, and tailored strategies to create environments where children can thrive.
Since the VIA was established, thanks to funding from the Department of Education, the Yooralla ISP has experienced exponential growth year-on-year, currently employing 23 staff to support 1172 services, across the Gippsland and Melbourne's south-east and eastern regions.
In FY2023-24 alone, there were 2365 requests for support in 1172 early childhood settings, with 4009 service delivery visits.
As part of the ISP, Yooralla also manages a specialist equipment loan service, to provide equipment to support and enable participation and inclusion of children with additional needs. In FY2023-24, the Specialist Equipment Library supported 128 loans, 67 new requests, with 149 children supported with equipment loans across the state.
Supporting inclusion in mainstream settings
The support offered through the ISP reflects the recent recommendations of the NDIS review and Disability Royal Commission, which emphasised the importance of inclusion in mainstream settings for children with additional needs.
“Inclusion in early childhood education is hands down the best investment possible in our future,” said Terry Symonds, Yooralla Chief Executive Officer.
“We proudly support early childhood centres across eastern Victoria to include children with disabilities and from families of First Nations, CALD and refugee backgrounds,” Terry said.
Check out photos from the day below.
Celebrating 8 years of the VIA
