Health and development checks in ECEC program
This page provides information for early childhood education and care (ECEC) services and professionals on the health and development checks (HDC) program.
The HDC in ECEC program
To increase the number of children starting school developmentally on track, the NSW Government is rolling out free health and development checks for 4-year-old children at their preschool or long day care service.
Preparing your service for the program
To assist your service in preparing for the program, please download the HDC Pre-Visit Checklist (PDF 117 KB). The checklist has been designed to assist your service in ensuring children, families and staff are adequately prepared and all regulatory requirements are met before, during and after the visit.
Resources to support ECEC professionals
Visit NSW Health website for information for families. This page is available as an information sheet information sheet (PDF 2.3 MB).
What to do after the visit
Participating in the program is a useful way to gather information about children’s learning, development and wellbeing. The results of the checks, along with educators’ critical reflection and consideration of the effectiveness of their planning and curriculum, can be used to formulate short and long-term goals for your service. They can also be used to formulate learning goals and teaching strategies for individual children in collaboration with the child, family and other professionals.
Following the visit to your service, Local Health District staff may speak with your service directly or provide a service summary (PDF 118 KB). This summary outlines the areas where children at your service may require additional support at a cohort-level.
Please read the Post-Visit Pack (PDF 103.4 KB) for further information.
Offer the program at your service
All NSW preschools and long day care services are invited to join the program. Your Local Health District will contact you to discuss bringing the program to your service.
You can also email your Local Health District to let them know you'd like to offer the program at your service.
Please note Local Health Districts are dealing with a high volume of requests and will do their best to get back to you as soon as they can.
The program is currently available in these Local Health Districts:
| Local health district | Contact |
|---|---|
| Central Coast | CCLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Far West | fwlhd-brighterbeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Illawarra Shoalhaven | ISLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Hunter New England | HNELHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Mid North Coast | MNCLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Murrumbidgee | MLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Nepean Blue Mountains | NBMLHD-4yearoldchecks@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Northern NSW | NNSWLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Northern Sydney | NSLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| South Eastern Sydney | SESLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| South Western Sydney | SWSLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Southern NSW | SNSWLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Sydney | SLHD-brighterbeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Western NSW | WNSWLHD-BrighterBeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
| Western Sydney | WSLHD-brighterbeginnings@health.nsw.gov.au |
If you aren’t sure what your local health district is, contact earlychildhooddevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au.
Professional learning and development
The list below provides recommended courses related to supporting children’s health and development and the HDC in ECEC program. Further training specific to health and development checks in ECEC will also be made available at a later date.
Services in receipt of Health and Development Participation (HDP) Grant Program funding are encouraged to use their funding to participate in any of the courses listed below or in the additional training once it is made available.
Understanding and Supporting Children’s Behaviour
This webinar series and accompanying workbook from Pheonix Support teaches educators about understanding and supporting children’s behaviour in early childhood education and care services.
Early Childhood Inclusive Education Webinar Series
This series of 7 interactive webinars from Special Teaching and Research (STaR) outlines the delivery of quality educational programs for children with disability and developmental delays.
Small Bites for Big Steps
The Small Bites for Big Steps on-demand video series and 3 NESA accredited Professional Development courses developed by Northern Sydney Local Health District cover a range of topics.