Inaugural early childhood policy and strategy launched

City of Wanneroo Mayor Tracey Roberts, who launched the strategy last month, acknowledged the City's responsibility to lead community driven early childhood initiatives.

"Children aged 0-8 make up almost 15 per cent of the City's population and recent Australian Early Development Census results indicated that 23.7 per cent of children tested in the City were assessed as being developmentally vulnerable," she said.

"While the majority of five year olds in the City are developing well, these findings, coupled with our high proportion of children, highlight the importance of a comprehensive and coordinated approach in this area.

"The City's Early Childhood Policy and Strategy, endorsed by Council earlier this year, is a three year plan that provides a common agenda for the healthy development of children in their first eight years of life.

"Our aim is to make a lasting improvement in the lives of young children by helping them and their parents before problems arise. This contributes to a stronger community, both socially and economically."

The policy and strategy will complement and support existing programs and activities including, It's All About Play, It's All About Parenting, Rhyme Time and Story Time.

The City provides advocacy, advice and facilitation to early childhood services to ensure they are accessible and engage disadvantaged and hard to reach families.

Early Childhood information