2025 Grow Together Conference

Hear how Bush Kinder:

• offers a powerful context for children to wonder, explore, and build a relationship with the natural world
• is a space where relationships deepen, and children connect meaningfully with the land.

We will share:

• practical ideas for starting your own, whether in expansive reserves or the patch of nature just beyond your gate
• tips on managing risk, embracing the unpredictable rhythm of nature and making most of the environment right next to you
• stories of practice, reflecting on how nature becomes a co-teacher, and how everyday moments outdoors can be transformed into rich learning opportunities. 

We’ll explore how:

• early childhood professionals can use Reconciliation Australia's Narragunnawali program and platform to support your service to understand the concept and context of reconciliation in Australia
• the significant role the early childhood sector plays in fostering and strengthening relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.  
• you can use the teaching and learning resources, curriculum planning tools and Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) to guide and support you and your teams to meaningfully embed reconciliation in your everyday pedagogy, practice, relationships and learning environments.  

Whether you’re leading a team or taking your first steps into leadership, this workshop offers:

• invaluable insights tailored to your journey
• practical strategies to strengthen your leadership style,
• tips to foster meaningful team connections and create a positive, collaborative environment.

Walk away feeling empowered and equipped to make a lasting impact on your team and the children you care for.

Presented by Parkdale Family and Children’s Centre
This session invites participants to:

• reflect on their concept of an "ideal child" and how this perception (often unconscious) shapes teaching practices and philosophy
• explore how we can shift our beliefs and then our teaching practices to honour the individuality of each child.

Leave this session with:

• a deeper understanding of how our perceptions and image of children shapes our teaching practices
• practical strategies on adopting an approach that focusses on laying the foundations for learning, that allows all children to thrive in their education and care, all future learning and in life.

Presented by Louise Dorrat 
Learn how an effective team promotes a positive organizational culture and encourages a lively culture of professional enquiry.

This can be difficult when there are increasing demands placed on our sector.

In a collaborative environment, all staff are encouraged to respect and value the diverse contributions and viewpoints of their colleagues (NQS, 4.2.1).

This can be difficult when ‘we’re all friends’ and want to be liked. Teams are made up of different personalities, cultures, religions, views and some educators are resistant to change.

We’ll examine:

• how to get along when the team is so different and “we have always done it that way.”
• how to have those difficult conversations without going weak at the knees
• listen to a 10-step play to get your mojo back
• how do guide, influence and inspire others in a respectful manner.

Teamwork: it begins with you!

Presented by Melanie Marton – Inclusive Practice Coordinator Family and Children’s Centres City of Kingston

We will provide information about:

• how to support children to feel safe, secure and attached as a basis for them to learn self-regulation
• what self-regulation looks different at all ages
• the concepts of Connection and Co-regulation with strategies that can be used with children from birth to school age
• ·new concepts and information on how connection affects brain development
• practical strategies to use straight away in your work with children in long day care and kindergarten programs.

This presentation will explore this through real life examples.

Dr Red Ruby Scarlet will present:

• a beautiful piece that brings together anti-bias approaches within the EYLF through creativity, curiosity and confidence.

Dr Red Ruby Scarlet is an activist, early childhood teacher-researcher, consultant, artist and academic.  Red is a highly sought leader and mentor in early childhood and is committed to inclusive and innovative pedagogical approaches to curriculum. 

Presented by Phoenix Support for Educators 
We will:

• learn what happens when a child’s internal stress system is constantly activated and what this means for their educators
• unpack the neuroscience of trauma and its impact on young children’s behaviour
• ·offer a fresh, compassionate approach through the Phoenix Cups® Framework
• explore (using current neuroscientific research) how chronic stress or trauma alters a child’s ability to regulate emotions, process social cues, and respond to everyday situations
•  deepen your understanding of how overactive or underactive neural circuitry can manifest as behaviours – from withdrawal and hypervigilance to aggression or dysregulation.

Instead of pathologising these behaviours, we reframe them as adaptive responses to unmet needs. Through the lens of the Phoenix Cups®, we focus on how an empty Safety Cup® and Connection Cup® can create the “perfect storm” of behaviour, not as a call for control, but a cue for connection, consistency, and support.

Walk away with:

• a practical understanding of the neuroscience of trauma and stress on children's development
• insight into how trauma influences behaviour through unmet psychological needs
• relationship-based strategies to help restore a child’s sense of safety, trust, and connectedness.

This presentation affirms that when we understand the brain, we can understand the child. When we meet their needs, we can support their healing.

Presented by Carrum and Edithvale Family and Children’s Centres

This engaging session explores:

• the critical role sensory play has in supporting young children’s development
• how sensory experiences promote cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth
• how activities involving touch, sound, sight, taste, and movement foster neural connections, enhance problem-solving skills, and encourage creativity.
• how to create sensory-rich environments that cater to diverse needs and developmental stages.

Attendees will leave equipped with actionable ideas to implement sensory play effectively, making learning both fun and impactful for young children.

Written and performed by: Dr Red Ruby Scarlet and Louise Dorrat.

Capturing the experience of early childhood educators in everyday practice, the two characters - Red (Educational Leader) and Lou (Coordinator) take the audience through the professional and emotional experience of daily life in an early childhood setting. 

The key events of the four acts are underpinned by the EYLF (V.2.2022) and include:

• Notice of Assessment
• Reflective Practice
• Assessment and Rating
• Social Justice and the Arts

Look forward to witty dialogue, music and dance!

These experiences are enacted in order to acknowledge the complexity of the profession as well as reassure educators that they can engage confidently in their everyday practices. 

NQF The musical performed in every State and Territory in 2022 to 6.650 educators. The way in which the musical has been received by the profession was beyond the wildest imaginings of the creators.