FAMILY SERVICES

Connect with a range of not-for-profit organisations committed to enriching children’s lives while supporting families to thrive.

Children First Training is a service of Growing Potential, a not-for-profit community organisation with a proud history of growing the potential of children, families and communities through a its range of easy-to-access family services.

Whilst our early childhood education and face-to-face services are mainly located in NSW – our NDIS allied health services are available through telehealth, allowing access all over Australia.

Children First is a not-for-profit organisation in the Early Education and Care sector, which has been an integral part of the community for over 70 years. With Early Childhood and OOSH services across NSW, they pride themselves on creating an inclusive, positive and stimulating environment where every child is encouraged to learn and have fun.

• Alpha Street Preschool
• Balmoral Street Preschool & Occasional Care
• Blacktown Road Children’s Centre
• Plumpton Long Day Care Centre
• Shelley Outside School Hours
• Hassall Grove Outside School Hours
• Tamworth South Outside School Hours

Children First supports families of all abilities and backgrounds and has 20+ languages represented by educators and staff to support the many languages spoken by children and families in the area.

Children First Training was initially developed to support educators of our Children First early childhood and OOSH services, and quickly expanded to reach educators from other services across NSW, and now interstate and even internationally.

Children First’s mission is to support and grow the potential of children, families and communities by providing a nurturing learning environment with expert educators to help children thrive. 

Growing Early Minds, is a community based not-for-profit organisation providing early intervention and disability support services to children between 0-16 years, since 1994. Growing Early Minds focuses on empowering children and their families by providing the best possible care using modern, evidenced-based practices and a family-centred approach.

As a registered NDIS and Medicare provider, they will discuss the best pathway and funding options that may be available to you.

What sets Growing Early Minds apart is families can access multiple allied health services under one roof. Families can visit the Blacktown clinic, or the team can see children in their everyday environments (home, child care centres, schools or playgroups) in North West and Western Sydney or via telehealth anywhere in Australia. Their services also include cognitive assessments, Autism diagnosis, feeding and nutritional management.

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Occupational Therapy
• Nutrition & Feeding Therapy
• Psychology
• Behaviour Support

Therapists at Growing Early Minds regularly hold Educator Training Sessions addressing a range of topics identifying and supporting children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, development delays in speech, language, motor skills and much more.

Educator Training by Growing Early Minds

Windaan is an innovative service that’s focused on developing culturally appropriate pathways for Aboriginal children and their families to access quality early childhood intervention, allied health, primary health and disability services. 

Windaan combines the best of traditional face-to-face services with innovative use of technology, like social media and telehealth technology. This unique blend ensures that Windaan is well positioned to provide Aboriginal children and families that live in remote, regional or interstate locations access to a range of quality services not otherwise available within their communities.

Windaan is a registered NDIS and Medicare provider, and will work with you on the best pathway and funding options that may be available to you.

They provide NDIS early intervention, NDIS support coordination, NDIS plan management, NDIS capacity building as well as Consultancy and Social enterprise services.

Windaan provides Aboriginal children and their families access to primary health, allied health, early intervention and disability services that meet their individual needs, in a culturally appropriate way.

Familylinks is a service of Growing Early Minds, offering supported playgroups, programs and facilitating a variety of parenting programs in Western Sydney, NSW.

Familylinks programs are facilitated by early childhood trained educators and promote inclusion for all backgrounds and abilities. Children are encouraged to explore, investigate, problem-solve, and most importantly have lots of fun with supported, play-based activities.

• Supported Playgroup for children 0-6
• Parent-Child Mother Goose program
• DRUMBEAT® program for primary school aged children

Familylinks also provides a range of supported parenting programs, workshops and information sessions such as:

• 1-2-3 Magic & Emotion Coaching
• Circle of Security® Parenting™

These are designed to support, inform, educate, build confidence and develop new skills. They can also assist parents in recognising developmental concerns and provide links to the relevant community, medical or early intervention service providers.

Early Words is a resource that our very own, Nancy, helped develop for carers to build literacy skills in their young children. Children’s brains are more active than adult brains in the very early years, so Early Words aims to help families build the basic skills that children need for reading and writing, right from birth. The resources are available in multiple languages.

There is also a dedicated Aboriginal Early Words website which was developed in partnership with our Western Sydney Aboriginal community. Families can look at easy activities that will help bub get ready to read, write and yarn well from birth to 5 years. The website includes dedicated Aboriginal resources, including:

• Videos with Aboriginal families
• Story Telling with Aunty Gloria
• Learning to Write Guide
• Fun Recipes for Messy Play