More children will get free health and development checks with the Minns Labor Government today announcing $7.2 million for 881 early childhood education and care services across NSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NSW Government opt-in Health and Development Checks in Early Childhood and Care program supports health professionals to visit early childhood education and care services to conduct the checks for four-year-olds to help identify additional support the children may need before school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 7,000 children have received a free health and development check in their early childhood education and care service since the program began in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The checks assess various aspects of the child development, including problem solving skills, listening, talking and, social skills. Physical growth and dental health will also be monitored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The program aims to make it easier for more services to offer the checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eligible services received up to $7,500 to support: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Staffing to support services to deliver the health and development checks<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Provision of private space to conduct the checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Support to address health and development needs identified through the checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The checks offered through early childhood education and care services provide families with a free alternative to visiting a doctor or Child and Family Health service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly half (44 per cent) of NSW children are not developmentally on track when they start school, according to the most recent Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All preschools and long day care services can participate in the Health and Development Checks in Early Childhood Education and Care program by contacting their local health district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is all part of the Minns Labor Government\u2019s plan to give kids across NSW the best start in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHealth and development checks provide families with valuable information about their child\u2019s growth and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOffering the free checks at early childhood education and care services makes it easier for working families to participate and ensures there is early intervention for students who need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Minns Labor Government is supporting long term health and development outcomes for all children across NSW, regardless of their family\u2019s postcode, income or circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Health and Regional Health Ryan Park said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStarting school is an exciting time, but with two in five children starting school developmentally off track we need to do more to support young children and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProviding health and development checks for four-year-olds in preschools or long day care centres makes it far more convenient for busy families to help their children have the best start to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese checks especially in the first 2,000 days help families get the information they need to support their child\u2019s development and to seek help, if needed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More children will get free health and development checks with the Minns Labor Government today announcing $7.2 million for 881 early childhood education and care services across NSW. The NSW Government opt-in Health and Development Checks in Early Childhood and Care program supports health professionals to visit early childhood education and care services to conduct … Continue reading “$7.2m boost for little learners \u2013 more free health checks rolled out for preschoolers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29860,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29859\/revisions\/29860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}