News

New opportunity for HIPPY families - sign up this week

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 12:54:00

There are still a few places left in a successful school-readiness program for vulnerable children.

Mallee District Aboriginal Services implemented the HIPPY (Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters) in 2014 and it’s resulting in improved school readiness among participant families in its first two years of operation.
A second group of HIPPY program pupils began primary school last month, and MDAS Early Years manager Danielle Dougherty says teachers and families are noting the youngsters are much better-prepared for school.
“HIPPY works closely with families on activities that promote school readiness and is designed to be integrated into the daily life of the family,” Ms Dougherty said.
“HIPPY parents commit to working on the activities at regular times each week, but HIPPY also focusses on improving communication between children and their parents and gives parents a sense of empowerment in their children’s education, school and community life,” she said.
HIPPY’s coordinator and tutors are Aboriginal women and the program is aiming for 50 participants for 2017.

There are still a few places left in the program this year.  Parents of four year olds keen to get involved should contact the MDAS Early Years Team on 5018 4100.

Families take part in the HIPPY program over two years, from the start of pre-school (four year olds) and during the first year of primary school.
Ms Dougherty said the home-based parenting and early childhood program is assisting parents and carers to develop the skills to become their child’s first teacher and is provided through a mix of home visits and parents’ groups.
“Most importantly, the program supports families to nurture happy, confident, curious kids who love to learn,” she said.
“Parents are noticing the difference in their children and the positive effects the program has on the whole family are also being noted by professional people they come into contact with.
“The independent analysis of HIPPY has found it narrows the gap in school readiness for vulnerable children and in the long term it will be an important step towards Closing the Gap on reading, writing and numeracy achievements for Koori children.”

Comments about HIPPY:

“Yesterday I did a Key Age and Stage check on a 3-year-old child.  Mum was very engaging and was asking lots of questions and demonstrating beautiful parenting skills with her little boy…like getting down to his eye level and talking to him, not raising her voice, praising him when he cooperated or tried an activity, and giving him cuddles throughout…I complimented her on these skills and she then told me she has ‘learnt’ all this by being in the HIPPY program.” Robyn Smythe – Maternal and Child Health Nurse

“A four-year-old in my group with learning difficulties has made terrific progress since starting HIPPY. It not only improved his reading and writing readiness but also his social skills.” Kindergarten teacher

“My son had struggled at three-year-old kinder and was diagnosed with leaning difficulties, his dad and I were worried that he would not do well at four-year-old kinder. We heard about HIPPY from our health Centre nurse and we enrolled him. In the last year he has learned to sit still when he has to, he plays better with other children, his ability to answer questions has improved so much that the kinder teacher asked me what we were doing at home. The most important thing of all for us was that he started to like doing activities and spending time with us; now learning is fun because it can happen anywhere and time and for our boy that was the key.” Parent

“HIPPY is good because it helps kids do better when they get to school. It makes kids feel confident because it is so positive.” Parent

“HIPPY helps me to do fun things with my daughter and we get all the activities for free.  A tutor who comes to my home and shows me how to teach my girl to get ready for school.” Parent