Our learning support and mentoring programs in 90 Australian communities directly help children in need achieve their goals through education.
View all programs Investing in the Early Years
Families are the primary ecosystem for children, and parents are children’s first teachers.
Our evidence-based programs targeting early years literacy and numeracy are designed to support parents, and early childhood educators, to gain the skills and confidence to help young children to dream big and be ready to start school.
This is especially crucial for children living in families experiencing poverty, who are more likely to be developmentally behind their peers.
"Learning starts in the early years. Little children's brains are wired to learn, and The Smith Family is all about education," says Karen Russell, our National Manager of Early Years and Government Programs.
"So, starting with children in those early years and helping them, while helping families develop those building blocks, for children to engage in productive learning for all of their life, that's who we are. That's our DNA."
Our Small Steps, Big Futures research report, explores what works to raise preschool participation for children experiencing disadvantage, with a particular focus on the lived experience of families and community practitioners
"It's really important that we help families reach into the early childhood education system and get what they need because early, bad experiences can really cruel the entire journey for that family and undermine the child's opportunity to interact in the early childhood education space."
The Federal Government has announced an Early Years Strategy is in development to better support the education, wellbeing and development of children under five.
