School takes part in early childhood census

Umina Beach Public School will be taking part in the Australian Early Development Census between May and August this year.

The nationwide census of early childhood development aims to help schools and communities understand how children are developing before they start school: what is being done well, and what can be improved.

The census will be run by the Department of Education and Training, said Umina Beach principal Ms Lyn Davis.

"Children do not need to do anything to be included in the census and will attend class as usual," she said.

"During the census, teachers will record information (including children's names and dates of birth) based on their knowledge and observations of each child in their class.

"Once all schools participating have provided their information, some of the data collected is compiled and made available publicly as de-identified data."

Ms Davis said: "This data can be very useful for a wide variety of policy, analysis, and statistical and research purposes, so it is provided to a number of bodies, including government and non-government education departments and organisations, independent school systems and researchers.

"Some of these organisations may also link the data with information from other organisations (such as health departments) to improve programs and policies for young children."

SOURCE:

Email, 1 May 2018

Lyn Davis, Umina Beach Public School