Building brighter beginnings for Tenterfeld pre-schoolers

Triumph over Tragedy

Title: Left for Dead

Author: Laurence Barlow, Samantha Barlow and Sue Williams

Price: $27.99

Publisher: Penguin By Samantha Elley e rst she knew of her attacker was when she received a massive blow on the back of her

Since she could remember, Samantha Barlow wanted to be a police o cer.

Eventually that dream comes true and she was the youngest recruit in her year.

With her enthusiasm and personality, she raced through the ranks and was even tipped to be heading to the top as one of the country’s rst female police commissioners.

It was on the way to work one morning in the early hours, that her life took a sudden and dramatic change.

Preschoolers in Tenterfeld, in the New England region, are set for an easier transition into primary school thanks to free health and development checks which are now being delivered through early childhood education and care services.

Clinicians from Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD) provided the health checks in Tenterfeld, as part of the NSW Government’s Brighter Beginnings program.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Education Prue Car said the program is a joint initiative of the NSW Department of Education and NSW Health, which is making free health checks accessible to all four-year-olds attending participating ECEC services, including public preschools, community preschools and long day care centres.

“Starting school is an head.

It was delivered so hard by the King’s Cross junkie wanting money, that it dented her skull. e popular, young up-and-coming cop was le for dead, but she managed to drag herself to a bus stop and signal for help.

Sam was keeping herself alive for her children.

When police arrived on the scene, they didn’t recognise their colleague.

Her husband, Inspector Laurence Barlow, could only watch on helplessly as his wife’s life teetered on the edge. is is a book of triumph over adversity and if you are looking for an inspirational read, this is the one to get your hands on.

Sam doesn’t allow the results of her attack stop her from undergoing rehab and her resilience and strong spirit see her return to work a couple of years later.

You can order your copy through amazon. com.au exciting time, but with two in fve children developmentally at risk or vulnerable before they start school, we need to do more to support young children and their families,” Ms Car said.

“Providing health and development checks in early childhood centres makes it more convenient for parents to get these checks done before their children start ‘big school’.”

Minister for Regional Health, Ryan Park said the program is currently being rolled out across all local health districts in NSW and is expected to be available statewide by the end of 2024.

“Our local health districts are working with ECEC services across NSW to implement the program, taking into consideration local community and cultural needs.

“By offering outreach services, we’re ensuring children from every corner of NSW have the opportunity to thrive, and that parents have access to assistance if their child requires it,” Mr Park said.

Member for Lismore, Janelle Saffn says the program’s diversity of care will greatly improve the accessibility and delivery of paediatric treatment across the region.

“These free checks for 4-year-old children cover a wide range of developmental areas, including language, social, and motor skills, as well as cognitive abilities. They also include assessments of physical growth, dental health, and hearing.” Ms Saffn said.

Dr Paul Craven, Executive Director of Children, Young People, and Families HNELHD, said the District’s multidisciplinary team travel to different regional towns throughout the year.

“Our team of speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and child and family health nurses visit these communities to assess a child’s development and feed that information back to parents to ensure they can help fnd the support they need, if they need it,” said Dr Craven.

Early childhood education and care providers can apply for a one-off grant to help support services be able to opt into this program in 2024. Applications are open now and close on 31 March 2024. To fnd out more information and apply, visit the Department of Education’s website.

The NSW Government has committed $111.2 million over four years to the program.

For more information about the health and development checks in early childhood education services, visit: https://www.health.nsw. gov.au/ececchecks

Council adopts referendum question on popularly elected mayor

Kyogle Council electors will be asked in a referendum whether or not they want a popularly elected mayor.

The referendum will be held in conjunction with State-wide Local Government elections on Saturday, 14 September.

A popularly elected mayor is elected by voters and serves a fouryear term. Currently, Kyogle Councillors elect the mayor from amongst themselves and the mayor serves a two-year term.

Council resolved in April 2022 to conduct a referendum on having a popularly elected mayor, with Councillors indicating at the time they wanted to maintain a system of wards and the current number of Councillors (nine).

With the local government election to be held this year, the Council at its 11 March 2024 meeting decided the question voters will be asked at the referendum. It will be:

Do you favour the election of the Mayor by electors for a four-year term with the number of wards reduced from three to two, each ward comprising of four councillors, plus a popularly elected Mayor?

Currently, Council has three wards, with three Councillors in each ward and the mayor elected by Councillors from among themselves -- making a total of nine councillors.

However, if the council is to have a popularly elected mayor and still have a total of nine councillors, voters will have to elect a mayor and eight councillors (making a total of nine).

As there must be an even representation of Councillors in each ward, Council is proposing to reduce the number of wards to two and have four councillors elected from each ward.

As well as deciding on the referendum question, the Council at the March meeting endorsed an information pamphlet to be made available to voters which outlines the pros and cons of a popularly elected Mayor.

The information pamphlet is available on Council’s website or from Council’s administration centre.