Ngala’s Ngalang Moort Ngalang Kurlangah program recently presented the Our Children Our Future Aboriginal Early Years Forum in Midland.

The forum was an opportunity to bring together local services and organisations who work in the early childhood sector, to collaborate, network and establish pathways for working in partnership, so that Aboriginal children will thrive, are confident and successful in their early years.

Throughout the morning, guests listened to speakers on topics including transitioning to school, identifying children who may be at risk of learning challenges, support for children with developmental delays, the importance of dads and the need to support early brain development.

You can read the full list of speakers and topics here:

Transitioning to school – early childhood education – Gail Barrow – Early Childhood Specialist Teacher : Gail shared information about transitioning to school – early childhood education and the impact this has, and continues to have on Aboriginal children. Gail also shared stories from her own lived experiences.

What do school screening letters mean? Ann Carmody-Senior Speech Pathologist : Ann shared the meaning of school screening letters, explained how the screening assessment process worked, and the steps taken to identify children who may be at risk and need extra support in the classroom or further diagnosis.

Supporting Aboriginal children with Developmental Delay and/or Disability (0-7 years) – Lennett Sandy and Roma Kolatowicz – Wanslea ECA : Lennett and Roma talked about supporting Aboriginal children with Developmental Delay and/or Disability (0-7 years) and shared the NDIS funding process and criteria information.

Supporting Dads in the Early Years – Jon Blurton – Strong Father’s Program (Indigo Junction Midland) : Jon shared his life line story, who he was then to who and where he is now. John’s powerful presentation outlined his journey to overcome barriers, to become a positive role model for other Aboriginal men though the Moorditj Maaman program, located in the Midland area.

Growing Strong Brains® – Jacquie Taylor – Aboriginal Project Officer (Ngala) :
Jacquie shared with us the Growing Strong Brains® Toolkit and how it is used as a portable yarning tool to talk with families about pregnancy, early brain development and growing up strong and healthy kids.

Thank you to our wonderful speakers and supporters, including Trudy Snow for being our Emcee, Aunty Vanessa Corunna – Local Noongar Elder, for her moving Welcome to Country, and the inspiring Corroboree for Life Dance Group, whose performance reflected the confidence and pride of our young people who connect to culture through dance.

Thank you also to Marissa Verma from Bindi Bindi Dreaming who spoke about cultural/traditional Aboriginal food and flavours and provided an incredible lunch for our attendees.

Together we are supporting Aboriginal children and families to achieve positive outcomes through quality early childhood education and learning through the early years.

A huge congratulations to the Ngalang Moort Ngalang Kurlangah team on coordinating and delivering a fantastic forum for the local community.

Our Ngala team is working with parents in Pannawonnica and Onslow this week!

EPIC/Ngala Parent Education to Pannawonica and Onslow, providing FREE parenting education workshops at both locations. You’ll meet our friendly and encouraging Ngala team who will be facilitating sessions which include:

In Pannawonica

• Guiding Chidrens Behaviours
• Building Resilience (2 – 5 years)
• Building Resilience (5-8 years)
• Switched On Dads

In Onslow:

• Building Resilience (5-8 years)
• Secrets of a Good Sleeper (6m – 2 years)
• Switched on Dads

This education trip is made possible by EPIC, RTIO, and Chevron.

if you have attended these workshops, please provide feedback after your session via  https://epicngalapannaonslow.questionpro.com

Edith Cowan University is conducting a survey to obtain feedback from fathers who attended the Dad’s only antenatal session at the Joondalup Health Campus (JHC) antenatal education program. The results of this survey will form part of a cycle of continuous improvement. Your name and contact details were collected on the DadsWA registration form you completed at the time of the Dad’s only antenatal session and where you indicated your consent to be contact for future feedback and evaluation of the program.

The aim of the Dad’s only antenatal sessions is to support new fathers in the early stages of parenting by providing a facilitated discussion amongst fathers-to-be about a range of issues relevant to new fathers.

To evaluate whether these sessions are meeting this aim, we would like to invite your feedback on how your recollections of the session and how you think the session can be improved. Involvement in this evaluation will involve responding to an online survey (about 5-10 minutes).

If you experience any distress or have concerns as a result of completing the survey, you are encouraged to contact the Ngala Parenting Line on 9368 9368, Lifeline Crisis Support on  13 11 14, or MensLine Australia on 1300 78 99 78.

Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary and will not affect your participation in any current or future services with Ngala or JHC. You may withdraw at any time without discrimination or prejudice. All information is treated as confidential and no names or other details that might identify you will be used in any spoken or written material arising from the research. If you withdraw, all information you have provided will be destroyed.

This study complies with the Western Australian University Sector Disposal Authority (WAUSDA) for research data, which means that the research data will be retained for a minimum of 7 years.

Your responses in this survey will be analysed by staff at Ngala. All responses are anonymous and will remain confidential as we will ensure no names or contact details are reported.

If you have any queries about this survey please do not hesitate to contact Associate Professor Vicki Banham, Chief Investigator, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University 6304 5530, Email: [email protected]  or Wendy Simpson, Coordinator Research and Evaluation at Ngala on 08 9367 0929, Email: [email protected]

Kind Regards,

Associate Professor Vicki Banham

Edith Cowan University

In October and November, Ngala will be visiting Port Hedland and Newman to provide parent education and support opportunities to local families. Ngala would like to thank our sponsor Rio Tinto for their support, as well as local community organisations and services who have worked to provide these opportunities to families.

Workshops are available to all families in the community. 

Our Ngala team will soon be in your neighbourhood with new workshops and sessions for parents living in the Pilbara. Here’s what’s coming up, click on the links below to find out more and to secure your spot:

The post session Evaluation Surveys can be found her:

PFBPC Newman Parents https://pfbpcnewmanparents.questionpro.com

PFBPC Hedland Parents  https://pfbpchedlandparents.questionpro.com

Please note this is for attendees of the the sessions only.

PFBPC Newman Services https://pfbpcnewmanservices.questionpro.com

PFBPC Hedland Services https://pfbpchedlandservices.questionpro.com