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Florence Mah is 1744 days into the most important period of her life. Her brain is developing faster than it ever will again. It’s why her preschool doesn’t just teach her letters and numbers – it screens her and her classmates for health and developmental issues long before they start big school.
The first 2000 days of a child’s life – from conception to the day they start school – are now recognised as critical for physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. What happens in those years can shape everything from school success and employment to lifelong health, and even the risk of substance abuse and criminal behaviour.
Amid soaring demand, thousands more children will receive free health and development checks this year, as the Minns Labor government invests an extra $9.8 million in participation grants for early learning services across NSW.
More than 1400 preschools and long day care centres will receive grants of up to $7500 to upskill educators and buy resources that support children’s health and development.
At Matraville Soldiers’ Settlement Public School and Preschool, teacher Jeanine Bedwell has taught kindergarten and preschool for more than 40 years. She has watched what happens when problems are picked up only after children start school.
“If we wait until children come to kindergarten, and we identify a speech articulation or fine motor issue, the waiting list [for a specialist] can be up to 12 to 18 months,” she said. “By doing it in preschool, it means we are ahead.”
The preschool was a pilot site for the screening program, which brings nurses and specialists such as occupational therapists onto the preschool grounds. They check children’s height, weight and teeth, but also how they play, talk and interact with other children in their usual environment.
“Now we feel as if we have other professionals backing us,” Bedwell said. “It’s not, ‘oh it’s a teacher – what do they know?’ They don’t have the medical background, whereas having a nurse give advice has made a huge difference.”
For Florence’s mum, Chloe Mah, the program has been a relief. “For my older daughter, for all those checks it was the responsibility of the mother or father to take them into an early childhood centre,” she said.
Her eldest daughter found the clinical setting intimidating. But with the preschool checks, everything is completed at preschool. “Having all her peers around her, she had no hesitation whatsoever,” Mah said. “Whereas when we go to a doctor I have to bribe her to be a good girl.”
South Eastern Sydney Local Health District’s director of child, youth and family services, Michelle Jubelin, said staff had been struck by how many children need further help.
“The volume of children we are seeing that are needing an onward referral is telling us that we need to really be supporting children,” she said. “We know the earlier we get intervention for children, the better the outcome.
“By doing it in a preschool, we get to observe a child in their natural environment. It also means parents aren’t having to take the day off work.”
The program, a joint initiative between the departments of education and health, has been running since 2023. In that time, more than 30,000 children have been screened.
Almost 60 per cent have been referred on for extra support, most commonly for oral health, speech therapy and occupational therapy – problems that, without early checks, might not be noticed until years into school.
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