SDN is committed to making our long day care centres, preschools and programs more accessible to Aboriginal children and their families by creating welcoming and inclusive environments and programs. To achieve this we believe staff need to have ongoing cultural awareness opportunities.
We have 63 Aboriginal children from birth to school age enrolled in 15 of our centres. SDN Redfern Children’s Education and Care Centre has the largest number of Aboriginal children enrolled. Through Ngara Nanga Mai we are working to involve more Aboriginal children and families at SDN.
SDN is committed to working with Aboriginal elders to allow appropriate consultation, and to ensure community members feel heard when working with our mainstream services. We are encouraging staff to participate in local Aboriginal community events and celebrations.
We aim to employ more Aboriginal staff and we advertise employment vacancies in Aboriginal media sources and agencies.
SDN Ngara Nanga Mai has produced a research paper with recommendations about ways to attract and retain Aboriginal families in preschools. It provides practical advice to services and can be downloaded below.
