Our Mission

We aim to reduce educational vulnerabilities in children transitioning to school by strengthening resilience within families, communities, early education and care services and the local health, welfare and social care system.

Our Mission

We aim to reduce educational vulnerabilities in children transitioning to school by strengthening resilience within families, communities, early education and care services and the local health, welfare and social care system.

"Resilience can be broadly defined as the capacity of a dynamic system to adapt successfully to disturbances that threaten system function, viability, or development. The concept can be applied to systems of many kinds at many interacting levels, both living and nonliving, such as a microorganism, a child, a family, a security system, an economy, a forest, or the global climate."

Masten, 2014

Why early childhood development is important

Harvard University’s Centre on the Developing Child

"Healthy development in the early years (particularly birth to three) provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation."

Global Access Partners (GAP)

"More than one in five children in Australia are vulnerable to falling behind in at least one of five key developmental areas when they begin school. For Indigenous children, the number rises to two in five. And while funding for early childhood has been increasing, the gap between children in most disadvantaged and least disadvantaged areas has continued to widen since 2009.

Our current system of funding, delivering, and organising the various services needed to help children meet developmental milestones is not working for many children who need it most.

In some communities, the problem is too many overlapping efforts, rather than not enough. We need to use existing funding better and enable services to work together to help families."

Influences on early childhood development.

  • The quality of relationship with parents and other caregivers, exposure to toxic stress and access to the ingredients of healthy living including nutrition, play and exercise.
  • Every child needs to feel safe; eat, play and exercise well; and be exposed to positive learning opportunities.
  • The parents’ or caregivers’ self-a gency and identity strengthens resilience of the child, the family and contributes to the resilience of the community.

Improving early childhood development requires policy, programs, and practice.

There is a significant gap between science and practice. The science of implementation is a methodology that is proven to close that gap. Thriving Together is a collaborative movement to science implementation in early childhood development.

The Science

  • Support positive relationships with children and adults.
  • Strengthen core life skills.
  • Reduce sources of stress to families and children.
  • Ensure access to early learning and healthy lifestyle.
  • Protect children for neglect and abuse.

The science (expert knowledge) coupled with what matters locally (public knowledge) is a powerful lever for local change.

We acknowledge “what works” with “what matters” in all our activities.

Assets and capabilities already sit in the community. The community is best qualified to define the problem, to design and execute the solution.

The community is best served when we share hope, expert knowledge, provide tools to facilitate and support the expansion of local leadership.

Capabilities in the community will emerge over time if given the opportunity.

We are not interventionist. We enable, guide, and support the community to create their own opportunities to support early childhood development.