Best Start
Best Start is a Victorian government early years initiative. It supports families, caregivers and communities to provide the best possible environment, experiences and care for young children in the important years from pregnancy to school. Best Start aims to improve the health, development, learning and wellbeing of all Victorian children (0-8 years). It supports communities, parents and service providers to improve universal early years services so they are responsive to local needs. It has a strong emphasis on prevention and early intervention.
These improvements are expected to result in:
- better access to child and family support, health services and early education
- improvements in parents’ capacity, confidence and enjoyment of family life
- communities that are more child and family friendly.
There are 30 Best Start project sites across the state. Six of these sites focus specifically on working with Aboriginal communities. Local partnerships are the cornerstone of each project site.
Supported Playgroup and Parent Group Initiative
This initiative is being implemented in Best Start sites across 29 Local Government Areas. It aims to provide quality play opportunities at a critical time in a child’s development (0-3 years of age) and provide families with opportunities to establish friendships and link into services. See Supported Playgroup and Parent Group Initiative.
More information
See the following sections for more information about this initiative: