VEYLDF Alignment
Item uses these practice principles: Reflective practice, Partnerships with families, High expectations for every child, Respectful relationships and responsive engagement, Equity and diversity, Assessment for learning and development, Integrated teaching and learning approaches, Partnerships with professionals.
Item responds to these sub-outcomes: Children become strong in their social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing, Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.
Description
Sing&Grow is an evidence-based music program supporting children aged birth to five years, their parents and communities, to use music for building relationships, increasing community connection and facilitating childhood development outcomes.
Sing&Grow has capacity to offer programs to kindergartens in metropolitan Melbourne and some regional areas of Victoria. Sing&Grow can also provide services remotely via online platforms for regional areas outside 85kms radius from Melbourne. Additional travel and accommodation costs may apply for in-person delivery outside this radius.
Sing&Grow offers:
Off-to-School (OTS) program for children aged 3-6 years with early childhood professionals:
The OTS program assists with school readiness, promotion of self-regulation skills and focuses on developing social skills, motor skills, literacy and numeracy skills, routines, emotional wellbeing, and independence.
As a music therapy program, Sing&Grow music therapists focus on children's emotional wellbeing, supporting children to understand their feelings, become aware of their peers and their needs, and develop coping strategies using music as the tool to teach and model these skills for lifelong learning. Each session includes instrumental play, songs, rhymes, and dancing, and is delivered by a qualified Registered Music Therapist in partnership with the room educators.
Kindergarten services can choose to book either six or eight OTS sessions per kinder group. Evidence shos that delivering the session consecutively over the course of 6 or 8 week produces the best results for children. The program cannot be split up across different rooms.
Sing&Grow music therapists must be booked in for a minimum of one hour on site. This allows for a session that will run between 45 and 55 minutes, with time to clean instruments and pack up at the end. Three-year-old sessions are likely to be shorter than four-year-old sessions.
It is expected that educators participate and are engaged within all Sing&Grow sessions in order to further embed the learnings throughout the week for the children. OTS programs are most effective when Sing&Grow music therapists and early childhood educators are able to communicate with one another and collaborate within sessions.
Included in all Sing&Grow services is access for all educators and families to the Sing&Grow Family Portal for the duration of the term. The portal provides access to online Sing&Grow sessions, companion booklets to each session, free download of the Sing&Grow CD and other resources to support services and families to continue using music throughout the day. As part of the OTS program, educators will also receive a companion booklet that includes further information and ideas for embedding music within their teaching practice.
Professional development workshops for early childhood professionals
Two professional development workshops, Time for Tunes and Music Tools, are offered for early childhood professionals. These workshops build capacity and confidence of early childhood professionals to use music more effectively:
- Time for Tunes: 1-hour workshop empowers educators to facilitate their own small music sessions.
- Music Tools: 2-hour workshop supports educators to responsively use music throughout the day to support children’s diverse needs.
Both workshops can be delivered online or in-person for up to 20 participants.
Kindergarten services are encouraged to book in a workshop for their whole team where possible, however if only a small number of educators can participate in the training, individual sign-up workshops are available.
Detailed Costs
8-week off-to-school program for children aged 3-5 years with early childhood educators: $4,400 per group (incl. GST)
6-week Off-to-School program for children aged 3-5 years with parents or early childhood professionals (maximum of 10 participant dyads): $3,300 per group (incl. GST)
Time for Tunes professional development workshop (maximum of 20 participants): $550 per group (incl. GST)
Music Tools professional development workshop (maximum of 20 participants): $1,100 per group (incl. GST)
All above prices include travel with all Melbourne Local Government Areas. Travel and/or accommodation costs for regional or remote locations may vary. Please contact the provider to discuss further.
Implementation Considerations
Target Population: Educators, children.
Program/practice descriptions and details: Sing&Grow clinicians are Registered Music Therapists with either Bachelor or Master’s degrees in music therapy and have received specific Sing&Grow training and ongoing professional development learning on a quarterly basis. All Sing&Grow therapists receive regular supervision from their State Manager in order to ensure quality and safety standards in practice are maintained, and continually refine clinicians’ reflective practice.
The provider recommended that group sizes are capped at a maximum of 20 children per session where possible. Sing&Grow music therapists will be on site for a minimum of one hour. Two x 30-minute sessions can be offered if the group is larger than 20 children.
Program adaptability: Sing&Grow services are adapted to meet individual service's and children's needs. Online service delivery is available.
Staffing: Services should consider the cost of backfill in determining the cost of accessing this resource.
It is required that at least one staff member
attend and engage with the children within the session in order to get the best
outcomes from the program.
Factors to consider: In order to ensure your preferred term/day/time for the OTS program, it is recommended that you notify Sing&Grow if you put Sing&Grow's OTS program or Workshops on your SRF plan prior to the end of the calendar year. If your service requires a purchase order number in order to process invoices, please arrange this and inform Sing&Grow of the purchase order number as early as possible prior to the program commencing.
Tools and systems: For online service delivery, services require access to a large TV screen with reliable internet access in order to 'zoom' in the music therapist and preferably a quality speaker system. For services delivered in-person, Sing&Grow provides all instruments and resources needed for the implementation of the program.
Priority Area
Communication (language development), Wellbeing (social and emotional)
Strength of Evidence
Level 5 – Foundational research evidence