Analysis

Carlton saw high community involvement across services and activities in 2024. It had strong playgroup participation in targeted, multicultural and community-wide playgroup sessions. Parents surveyed at Carlton show high levels of confidence with 81% stating they are extremely or very confident to help their children to learn. Carlton’s onsite governance group remains robust with partners strongly agreeing that governance meetings have a clear purpose, and they understand why collaboration is required to address local challenges.

keyboard_return Looking Back

Moving Forward keyboard_return

  • Increased enrolment: School enrolment has increased to 120, up from 100 in 2021. This included a record 31 preps, 16 of which were referred from Gowrie Victoria’s onsite early learning centre, leading to an additional prep class in 2024.
  • Adult learning: Our Place, Gowrie Victoria and the Department of Education collaborated to deliver the Introduction to Working in Early Childhood course. The course was oversubscribed, with 17 parents receiving training onsite with language, cultural and childcare support.
  • Services for families: A relocation of the 0-5 Speech Pathology service to the ground floor consulting rooms led to an increase in attendance rates from 67% to 100%. A new partnership with Drummond Street Services has improved referral pathways for families and children in crisis.​
  • Positive home learning environment: A targeted program to build parents’ skills as First Educators is being attended by 16 children and their carers. ​
  • Exemplar of place-based practice: Federal Social Services Minister the Hon Amanda Rishworth MP and Treasurer the Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP chose the Carlton Learning Precinct as the location to announce funding additional for place-based initiatives around Australia.
  • Adult engagement: The volunteer-run homework club has experienced an increase in volunteers attending, following a new approach between Carlton Primary School, the Church of All Nations and Our Place.
  • New strategic plan: Carlton will begin implementing its new Strategic Plan for 2025-2028 with an enhanced focus on shifting education outcomes and ensuring service access for children and families. The development of the strategic Plan in 2024 has set strong foundations among local partners for an impactful next chapter.
  • Early learning and literacy: Our Place and the Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre will deepen work with the Australian Numeracy and Literacy Foundation to build capacity of local parents and carers to take an active role in their child’s early language and literacy development prior to school.
  • Adult employment pathways: Carlton’s highly successful program of adult education and employment will continue to deepen including opportunities for parents and carers to build careers paths into the Early Years Workforce.
  • Health services access: The establishment of an onsite health hub was disrupted in mid-2024 but local partners are committed to reinstating this work and identifying suitable local health providers to support the community onsite, building on the strong success of existing allied health services.
476 playgroup child attendances in 2024* *Playgroup data: Data not available in some instances.
Parental confidence in 2024
How confident do you feel to help your child learn?
81% Extremely/very confident
19% Somewhat confident
0% Not very/not at all confident
Response rate: 18
Parental confidence levels at each site should be interpreted cautiously and with consideration of the survey sample size. The Parent Voice survey responses reflect the views of the parents engaged by Our Place to complete the survey but may not be representative of the wider school community.
Partnership health in 2023: 5.3/6
Average across all Our Place sites in 2023 is 4.9/6
6 5 4 3 2 1 0
 
 
 
Term 4 2021 Term 4 2022 Term 4 2023