Amplify! Blog

Author Jasmine Seymour and artist Leanne Mulgo Watson have teamed up to release Cooee Mittigar this month, a beautiful book that aims to teach children about Aboriginal songlines.

In this week’s Amplify we share a story from Emma Harrison, the Centre Coordinator for Victoria Avenue Children’s Centre in Sydney. She writes about their wellbeing program MIndfully Me, a healthy community initiative devised as part of their QIP, and how it has positively impacted the staff.

 Recently the CELA office received a moving letter from the Director of a Mobile early childhood service in regional NSW, which is severely drought affected.

The early years are a crucial time when children’s brains are developing the architecture to understand and manage their emotions, and how adults respond to them can either help or hinder their emotional development and mental well-being.

As part of Mental Health Month, Amplify! reviews some of the best regarded experts and most helpful resources for educators on supporting resilience and mental wellbeing in children.

Kids love to put everything in their mouths. We understand that this is developmentally normal, however when busy little bodies run around with objects in their mouth the risk of choking is high!

We all love to celebrate Children’s Week, after all supporting children’s happiness and wellbeing and helping them to thrive is the foundation of quality early childhood education.

This year’s theme looks straightforward, but it actually contains many layers which we unpack with the help of the National Children’s Commissioner.

CELA covers the key points raised in the annual Family Matters Report for 2019, which focuses on ways to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia’s child protection systems.

We asked experts at STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors) how services can be more open to and prepared to accept refugee families into their communities, as well as how to prepare to work with families that have suffered through trauma.

We hear you – the National Partnership for Universal Access has worked, and funding must continue!

Sharp knives. Raw meat. Cooking on the BBQ. Does this sound risky or does it sound like real cooking experiences for children? John Stewart shows services how to bring more risk into the kitchen, and beyond.