The National Quality Framework (NQF) recognises all children’s capacity and right to succeed regardless of circumstances, cultural background and abilities. Our Inclusion Support Team work collaboratively with Glen Education educators to support families and children who may have a disability or individual support needs to ensure access to inclusive, high-quality education and care.
Working in Partnership with Allied Health Professionals
At Glen Education, we value the important role allied health professionals play in supporting children’s learning, development and wellbeing. We are committed to working collaboratively with families and therapists to ensure children receive consistent and meaningful support across their learning environments.
Our Approach
Our kindergarten programs are founded on an inclusive educational model that supports every child to learn, participate and thrive alongside their peers. Rather than facilitating individual therapy sessions during kindergarten attendance, we work in partnership with families and allied health professionals to build a collaborative support team. By sharing knowledge, goals and strategies, we can embed evidence-informed practices into everyday learning experiences and routines. This coordinated approach promotes consistency across home, therapy and kindergarten, helping children develop skills in meaningful contexts while fostering their confidence, independence, participation and sense of belonging.
How We Work with Therapists
Collaboration with the support team may include:
- Forming the support team
- Documenting a Glen Education Allied Health Support Plan
- Sharing information about a child’s strengths, interests and goals
- Receiving reports and recommendations from therapists
- Participating in meetings with families and therapists
- Discussing strategies that can be implemented within the kindergarten program.
Strategies may include:
- Using visual supports to promote communication and understanding
- Embedding language-building strategies during play
- Supporting social interactions and peer relationships
- Providing sensory supports and environmental adjustments
- Using consistent prompts and communication approaches recommended by therapists
- Supporting therapists to understand the kindergarten context
- Monitoring and sharing observations about a child’s progress throughout the year
- Immersion in the program alongside the education team
By embedding strategies throughout the day, children have opportunities to practise and generalise skills across a range of experiences, relationships and environments
Why Individual Therapy Sessions Are Not Facilitated During Kindergarten Attendance
Kindergarten is a shared learning environment where over one hundred children and families participate across a week. Children attend as part of a funded 15-hour kindergarten program delivered in line with the Victorian Government’s Best Start, Best Life reforms, which support equitable access to high-quality, play-based early childhood education.
Glen Education is committed to protecting every child’s right to learn, play and participate safely within their full 15-hour kindergarten entitlement as a consistent, uninterrupted play-based educational experience. Play is the foundation of the kindergarten program and is central to children’s learning, relationships, wellbeing and development. This includes ensuring that children can fully participate in the everyday rhythms of the program, engaging in sustained play, building relationships, and accessing learning experiences alongside their peers within a consistent educational environment.
Consistent with the Victorian Child Safe Standards, Glen Education carefully manages the involvement of external professionals within kindergarten settings to ensure appropriate supervision, clear accountability and child-centred practice. These arrangements help safeguard children’s wellbeing, privacy and dignity while maintaining a safe, inclusive and predictable learning environment for all children.
Glen Education kindergartens are committed to:
- Acknowledging and respecting the rights of all children and ensure they are provided with, and participate in a quality early childhood education and care program
- Creating an environment that supports, reflects and promotes equitable and inclusive behaviours and practices
- Creating a sense of belonging for all children, families and educators, where diverse identities, backgrounds, experiences, skills and interests are respected, valued and given opportunities to be expressed/developed
- Ensuring that programs are reflective of, and responsive to, the values and cultural beliefs of families using the service, and of those within the local/broader community
- Working to ensure children are not discriminated against on the basis of background, ethnicity, culture, language, beliefs, gender, age, socioeconomic status, level of ability or additional needs, family structure or lifestyle
- Ensuring that no employee, prospective employee, parent/guardian, child, volunteer or student at the service is discriminated against on the basis of having or being suspected of having an infectious disease or blood-borne virus
- Upholding the values and principles of Early Childhood Australia (ECA), the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) and Early Childhood Intervention Australia’s (ECIA)
- Consistently updating and supporting the knowledge, skills, practices and attitudes of educators to encourage and ensure inclusion and equity.
Kindergarten Inclusion Support Funding
To access the Kindergarten Inclusion Support program (KIS), the child must be enrolled in a kindergarten program funded by the Department of Education.
The KIS program is designed to contribute to the delivery of quality kindergarten programs in line with the National Quality Framework and the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. The program:
- Provides assistance to complement the early childhood education team’s knowledge and skills, while acknowledging their expertise in supporting children’s learning and development
- Supports the early childhood education team to build their capacity to develop and implement an inclusive program
- Supports the early childhood education to contribute to positive outcomes for children, as defined in the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework
- Responds to the child’s abilities and strengths, as well as their needs by supporting the kindergarten to enhance their learning and development.
The eligibility criteria for Kindergarten Inclusion Support funding includes:
- The child has a disability as defined by the Disability Act 2006 and ongoing high support needs requiring an additional level support to access and participate in the funded kindergarten program
or - The child is undergoing continuing assessment of a disability, as defined by the Disability Act 2006 and ongoing high support needs requiring an additional level support to access and participate in the funded kindergarten program.
- In the context of the kindergarten program, it must be demonstrated that the functional limitations of the child’s disability meet at least one of the following:
- they are at significant risk of serious injury to self or others and/or
- they are extremely restricted in their capacity for movement and/or
- they have exceptional support needs that require immediate medical intervention for life-threatening situations and the child.
Further information on Kindergarten Inclusion Support is available here:
Help for children with additional needs at kindergarten | Victorian Government (www.vic.gov.au)
We Are Here to Help
If your child is currently receiving allied health support, please speak with your child’s Early Childhood Teacher or contact the Education and Inclusion Team educationandinclusion@gleneducation.org.au. We look forward to working collaboratively with families and therapists to support positive outcomes for every child.
