South Gippsland Supports
Early Childhood Practice
At South Gippsland Supports our Early Childhood Practitioners, recognise families as central to a child’s growth and work collaboratively to support them. We believe learning through play is engaging, meaningful, and developmentally powerful. We create safe, inclusive environments where every child and family is valued. We nurture confidence and independence in children while supporting families, caregivers and educators to feel capable and informed. We honor achievements of all sizes and recognise every step of growth as important.
Mission
Our mission is to provide high quality, family-centered Practice that supports children’s growth and development through play-based learning in their natural environment. We are committed to working alongside families, focusing on everyday routines and tasks to address developmental needs, build confidence, and create meaningful opportunities for lifelong learning. We believe that best practice includes working together with the child’s support network.
Vision
Our Early Childhood team has a vision to see every child thrive through play, everyday experiences, and strong family partnerships, reaching their fullest potential in safe and natural environments.
Our Commitment to Child Safety
At South Gippsland Supports, the safety and wellbeing of every child and young person is our highest priority. We are dedicated to providing an environment where children feel safe, respected, and heard. We value their voices and include them in decision that impact their lives. Our team is fully committed to maintaining a child-safe culture and meeting all Child Safe Standards established by the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) in Victoria. These national standards provide a framework for embedding a culture of child safety within our organisation, leadership, governance, practices and everyday thinking.
The 11 Child Safe Standards
Standard 1: Cultural Safety for Aboriginal Children and Young People
South Gippsland Supports is committed to ensuring Aboriginal children and young people experience a culturally safe service that recognises and values their unique identities, cultural practices and community connections.
Standard 2: Child Safety and Wellbeing in Leadership and Culture
South Gippsland Supports embeds child safety and wellbeing in all leadership decisions, governance practices and the everyday culture of the organisation, ensuring it is not a separate initiative but central to all we do.
Standard 3: Empowerment of Children and Young People
South Gippsland Supports actively empowers children to understand their rights and supports them to participate meaningfully in decisions about their own care, support and lives.
Standard 4: Family and Community Involvement
South Gippsland Supports partners with families and communities, keeping them informed and engaged in promoting child safety and wellbeing, recognising their crucial role in a child's safety.
Standard 5: Equity and Diverse Needs
South Gippsland Supports ensures policies and practices are equitable and responsive to the diverse needs, backgrounds, abilities and circumstances of all children, families and communities.
Standard 6: Suitable and Supported Workforce
South Gippsland Supports recruits, selects, supports, inducts, supervises and develops workers who are suitable, qualified and committed to child safety and wellbeing, and provides them with the support and resources needed to reflect these values in daily practice.
Standard 7: Child-Focused Complaints and Concerns
South Gippsland Supports has clear, accessible and child-focused processes for receiving, responding to and acting on complaints and concerns about child safety and wellbeing.
Standard 8: Education and Training for Workers
South Gippsland Supports ensures all workers receive ongoing professional development to build knowledge, skills and awareness needed to keep children and young people safe.
Standard 9: Safe Physical and Online Environments
South Gippsland Supports maintains safe physical environments (whether in homes, facilities or community settings) and manages online communications in ways that promote safety and wellbeing and minimise opportunities for harm.
Standard 10: Continuous Review and Improvement
South Gippsland Supports regularly reviews and evaluates implementation of child safety and wellbeing practices, using findings to drive continuous improvement and strengthen our approach.
Standard 11: Documented Policies and Procedures
South Gippsland Supports has documented, comprehensive and accessible policies and procedures that set out how we keep children and young people safe and how we comply with the Child Safe Standards.