Celebrating Ouyen Preschool’s Achievement Program Success

Ouyen Preschool has accomplished a monumental milestone in improving the health and wellbeing of their children, families and staff by completing all six Health Priority Areas of the Achievement Program.

Supported by the Victorian Government and delivered by Cancer Council Victoria, the Achievement Program is an evidence-based health and wellbeing framework that helps workplaces, schools and early childhood services create healthier environments.

Since registering in 2013, Ouyen Preschool has been recognised by the Victorian Government for completing all six health areas including Healthy Eating and Oral Health, Sun Protection, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Physical Activity and Movement, Safe Environments, and most recently Smoking, Vaping, Alcohol and Other Drugs.

With the support of Health Promotion Officer Emily Baker from Sunraysia Community Health Services, the preschool has developed new policies and implemented a variety of initiatives since commencing their Achievement Program journey.

“Ouyen Preschool has shown an outstanding commitment to the Achievement Program over the last 11 years. The passion and dedication of the educators to embed all aspects of the Achievement Program into the service culture has been outstanding,” Miss Baker said.

Early Childhood Teacher, Louise Fitzpatrick Leach, said that the preschool initially registered for the Achievement Program as they needed a framework to structure their efforts to create a healthy environment for the entire preschool community. 

“The Achievement Program has helped us widen the lens of our thinking about what it means to support the health of our children as part of a service, a family and a community. Considering and involving all groups within the preschool community was quite a different approach back in 2013 and has enabled us to take a more coherent and holistic approach to health education and support at the preschool,” Ms Fitzpatrick Leach said.

Over the years, Ouyen Preschool has participated annually in the Smiles 4 Miles program, maintained their SunSmart membership, joined the Beyond Blue BeYou initiative, established a bush kinder program, created new policies for the Smoking, Vaping, Alcohol and Other Drugs Health Priority Area while also reflecting on their teaching practices, responsiveness to children and partnerships with families.

“These changes have all contributed to making us a stronger, more reflective and a more actively involved early childhood service. It’s great to be able to draw upon the Achievement Program as an evidence-based program with all its resources and research to support us. Staff have grown; we’ve improved the quality of our service, and we’ve become more confident in what we do,” Ms Fitzpatrick Leach said.

Ouyen Preschool remains committed to evolving its health and wellbeing initiatives and will continue to draw on the Achievement Program’s resources and the local support from Sunraysia Community Health Services.