From birth to school: How Family Services supports families every step of the way

Did you know that the City’s Family Services team, made up of nearly 450 staff, educates and cares for more than 1,300 children annually?

Across 11 child and family centres, we offer kindergarten, playgroup, long day care, occasional care, maternal and child health support and individual child and family services, as well as new parent groups, a sleep and settling program and a feeding support service.

Delivered under the National Quality Framework and state regulations, our Early Childhood Education and Care programs are designed to be high-quality, responsive and inclusive, and offer a respectful and engaging environment for every child's learning and development.

Judy Johnston has been our Quality Assurance team leader since October 2016 and describes the position as..

The glue that supports and connects the different programs across Family Services together.

The former kinder teacher focuses on developing and implementing robust regulatory policies and guidelines to ensure..

That we are really delivering the very best that we can for the children.

At Family Services, we have always taken that very seriously.

We have a very strong level of expectation about following policies and procedures, having guidelines for good supervision for children and ensuring that staff have a lot of professional development to keep them aware of best practice.

There is always information being filtered through from the state or federal government and we need to be all over that.

That's part of my role; to read it, to interpret it and to disseminate it.

Judy explains that the City has been a leader in this space for many years.

Recent media coverage of distressing episodes in the educational sector has led to the introduction of a new regulatory policy from Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) around digital safety and online technology in services and that extends to no personal devices being used in our centres.

This has been a requirement in council services - no personal phones in program rooms - for several years and the whole time I've been in my role.

The policies and regulations provide a base level of compliance, and we have always considered ourselves operating above that.

We also have really rigorous recruitment and that ensures our educators have a high level of capability.

A typical day sees Judy meeting with staff to discuss programs, identifying improvements, writing policy, visiting centres, keeping up with research and even pop-up stalls in community shopping centres.

Recently, I was out at a shopping centre with the team where we were there reaching out to connect with our community.

We stopped parents with their infants, toddlers and children to see if there was anything we could support them with.

Were they connected to maternal and child health services or did they know about playgroups and kindergartens?

Had they heard of a state-funded project for multicultural families? We recognise that when English is your second language, these programs are not clearly apparent.

Judy is proud that the City provides exceptional educational programs.

That doesn't just happen by chance; it happens by having well-trained, well qualified and a mix of experienced and new educators providing supports that wrap around families.

You can see it in the interactions between the children and the team, and you can see it in the joy in the children's eagerness to get into the program and their love of learning.

With retirement approaching next year, Judy thinks working alongside her colleagues will be what she’ll miss the most.

We have a shared passion and a commitment to the children, families and the community, and that is what really makes it worthwhile.

Greater Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj OAM

Council has committed to ‘integrated practice’ over the last decade.

Families can come to our 11 child and family centres and there are maternal and child health services, a long day educational program or a kindergarten to participate in, or even a toy library or playgroup.

Family Services supports young parents and their children from birth, right through until they head off to school, in what is one of the most important times of their lives.

Councillor Melissa Cadwell

We thank the hundreds of staff who provide trusted and enriching early childhood education and care in such a professional manner.

The team is committed to being a leader in this space and going above and beyond for all the children they deliver programs to.