ANNUAL STAKEHOLDER REPORT 2015 CULTIVATING OUR FUTURE

cultivate | ‘k^ltIveIt | verb to promote and foster growth or development

TABLE OF CONTENTS Cultivating our future »» Message from the Directorship Team »» CEO Message

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Embedding our values »» Batman enjoys his new ‘school’ »» Mutual respect leads to positive relationships

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Partnerships: key to future success »» FDC, OSHC and BBF »» Kensington Neighbourhood House »» Melbourne Museum »» Moonee Valley City Council and the Brotherhood of St Laurence »» PNH Learning Centre »» Working with Government

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Our evolving practice »» Carlton North Art Project »» Community Connections Program »» Customised professional learning and support »» Early ABLES Project »» Focus on Health

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Income statement and balance sheet

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Our leaders

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Acknowledgements 22 Contact us

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MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTORSHIP TEAM Dear Friends of Gowrie Victoria, On behalf of the Gowrie Victoria Directorship Team, I’d like to thank you for your continued support. Together we will make sure the focus on good early childhood education and care is not lost for Victoria’s children. Talking with the CEO about the theme for this year’s report, the word cultivation emerged. In agriculture to cultivate is defined as “to promote and foster growth or development.” What a great description of what Gowrie Victoria does. Made tangible every day through our services and programs. And an unyielding commitment to our purpose. This past year, the Board of Directors and Executive Leadership have made enormous strides to bring that purpose to every aspect of Gowrie Victoria. Some of the key initiatives we’ve been working together on are … ›› Finalise and begin the work of embedding the new business strategy and continuing to explore the pillars for its success. With the CEO and Executive Team working with Board member Jen Fleming. ›› Continue to move forward towards the eventual redevelopment of Carlton North site. With the CEO and Head of Children’s Services working with Board members Jo Smyth and Josh Funder. ›› Build ongoing discipline and focus to support our financial stability. With the CEO and Head of Finance working with Board members Cathy McCormack and Mark Kent. ›› Provide help to the study area so the organisation understands our student’s experience and how to make it better. With the Head of RTO and RTO team working with Board members Cyrus Allen and Michel Hogan.

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›› Partner with local communities around Canadian educator Charles Pascal’s visit, bringing an international perspective on early childhood education to regional Victoria. With the CEO and Head of Children’s Services working with Board member Tricia Currie. This past year saw the retirement from the Board of our treasurer Leesa Miller. Her tireless contribution to Gowrie Victoria over the years cannot be overstated. It was a pleasure to work with and learn from her. We also welcome Catherine McCormack to the Board as our new treasurer. And although not specifically within the last financial year, I’d like to extend special congratulations to our Life Member, Heather Barnes. Heather was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the recent Queen’s Birthday honours list for service to early childhood education. A well-earned honour and we are very proud to have her as part of our Gowrie Victoria community. I’m signing off this letter in my last year as Chair and I will retire from the Directorship Team at the end of 2015. I leave knowing the organisation is in very good hands. And with the exciting opportunities emerging, confident that Gowrie Victoria will still be going strong in another 75 years. It’s been an honour to be a small part of that legacy and a privilege to work alongside one of the very best teams I’ve ever been part of. Thank you all. And now please turn the page for Andrew’s story of the year that was. Sincerely, Michel Hogan Chair

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Cultivating our future underpins our focus of continual development, improvement and growth in the contribution we make to championing good early childhood education.

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CEO MESSAGE Dear Friends of Gowrie Victoria, Cultivating our future is more than just a theme for this report. It underpins our focus of continual development, improvement and growth in the contribution we make to championing good early childhood education. I’m proud of the effort everyone has made and the resulting achievements will be fertile ground for new opportunities in the year to come. Both our Children’s Centres received Assessment and Rating results of ‘exceeding’ in all Quality Areas and Standards. It is a wonderful validation of the team’s work together with our families and the broader community. Our Adult Learning divisions continued to provide quality training and professional development in an increasingly challenging external environment. We connected with almost 6000 educators and over 1400 services, with 96% of survey participants likely to implement what they have learned in their service. In recognition of the inextricable link between children’s outcomes, pedagogy and leadership, we added the Advanced Diploma of Community Sector Management to the qualifications offered for study. Many people have noted the less than ideal financial result last year. So I’m happy to say this year we have achieved a solid surplus of $319,000. A turnaround made more noteworthy because it was achieved alongside investing in our culture, and not compromising on what’s best for children as the driver of our decision-making. We increased investment in areas that matter most for learning outcomes and remain committed to operating above minimum requirements in our Children’s Centres and Adult Learning, because minimum standards are just that – minimum not optimum. No person or organisation achieves anything significant on their own and Gowrie Victoria is no exception. We continue to value and grow our relationships with governments, research and education institutions and others working in

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early childhood education and care (ECEC), and within the broader community services sector. Each year we are proud to co-host the ‘Together We Grow’ conference with Early Learning Association of Australia. This year was another successful year with a record number of attendees. We are also privileged to have been selected as the ECEC representative for the Western Melbourne Children and Youth Area Partnership Steering Group. Additionally, it was a great honour for our Children’s Centres to have been chosen as demonstration sites for international visitors and conferences such as the Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange conference. 2014/15 has been a very active year on the political and policy front with multiple inquiries into the Early Childhood and Vocational Education and Training (VET) sectors. Our advocacy focused on the recognition that access to affordable ECEC is a right for all children and that ongoing support of professional capability building is vital. We voiced continued support for implementing the National Quality Framework and recognising that good quality costs money, it is some of the best money society can invest. We have also strengthened our partnerships with Gowrie organisations around the country, the Professional Support Coordinator Alliance, and a coalition of Victorian peak bodies, providers, research institutes and community sector organisations. Thank you to everyone who has worked with us to help make our contribution to children’s outcomes over the last year. We are a learning organisation and look forward to your support and challenge in the years ahead. A personal thank you to our Board for their trust, guidance and willingness to roll up their sleeves when needed. A special thank you to all our staff for always looking for what’s next, what we can learn and for championing good early childhood education every day in everything they do. Andrew Hume Chief Executive Officer

EMBEDDING OUR VALUES Gowrie Victoria’s purpose and strategy is underpinned by our values which guide us in our daily decision-making and actions. Our values were agreed by our team through discovery workshops, deciding on four areas that were core to the way we wanted to work with each other, children, families, the sector and the broader community: ›› Demonstrating the flexibility to learn and grow ›› Investing time in building relationships ›› Consistently pursuing higher standards ›› Cultivating a friendly and supportive environment To embed our values and establish a strong organisational culture, we have revised the way we work and interact with our stakeholders. We see embedding our values as an ongoing process, constantly reviewing and revisiting our decisions and actions to ensure that they align with our values. The following reflections by a parent from our Docklands Children’s Program and a staff member from our Carlton North centre clearly illustrate our progress.

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Batman enjoys his new ‘school’ “Selecting a childcare fit for your little champion can be a challenging task – transitioning them from a centre where they are established to another can be toying with danger. Countless hours are spent assessing the quality of delivery of early learning programs, carer to child ratios, values and principles and the highly important ‘what’s the vibe?’ factor. In deciding to transition our son, aka Batman/Ironman/Superman, from a centre close to home to Gowrie Docklands, we needed to ensure that the new environment was worth the extended travel. It completely has been. In our time at Gowrie, we’ve found that Batman’s happiness at ‘school’, growing curiosity and individuality has been nurtured and encouraged. In addition to a structured framework, experience-based learning has contributed to his development – there are not many centres where three year olds read about and then attend excursions to the Melbourne Zoo (“We saw a massive bear and the lion was yawning because he was very sleepy”), touch a carpet python (Artemis the ‘pipon’ as he calls it), or gain an appreciation of Indigenous culture (just loves replicating the didgeridoo for hours – thanks!). Gowrie’s greatest asset is the diversity of educators and their focus on improvement – all bring different attributes and skills and it’s incredibly exciting to watch your child grow and develop bonds with children and adults alike. Our son is particularly fond of sport and after attending a cricket match on a Friday, returned to ‘school’ the following Monday extremely excited to tell everyone that he went to India on the weekend and watched cricket at the MCG (never let the facts get in the way of a good story). Rather than laugh off the conversation, it was particularly heartening to watch the educator take a real interest in the detail and involve the other children. Our transition to and experience with Gowrie has been smooth and reassuring. The Gowrie Docklands experience is unique; a team consistently receptive to feedback and keen to truly understand our child’s needs, an extremely well-managed administration, a balance between classroom and experiential learning as well as a clear focus on professional development of staff. Manish and Akshi Sharma Gowrie Docklands parents

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Mutual respect leads to positive relationships I had never worked in a kitchen before I came to Gowrie – three years later I am now head of kitchen. I have learned an enormous amount about working in a kitchen, cooking, menu planning, ordering, catering for food allergies, communicating with the rooms, keeping the kitchen cleanliness and practices up to A1 standard – the list goes on … Gowrie is a centre for learning for everyone there, not just the students and the children – all of us. I believe that this is firstly attained through having that as our conscious commitment and philosophy. Professional development is always encouraged and facilitated. There is a high level of workmanship set here at Gowrie. This can sometimes come across as expecting too much, but usually after I feel that too much has been expected, I stretch myself to learn more or take more responsibility for myself. Either way, I benefit and Gowrie benefits. It is understood that mistakes and failures are part of the learning process. The reflective practice has us learn from our mistakes, hopefully. I have never been afraid to try something new at Gowrie – everything I have

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learned here has come from trying something new! When I have made mistakes, someone just showed the correct way of doing it and pointed out the benefit. There is always an intrinsic underlying respect in all of my relationships and encounters here at Gowrie. Even if we need to work through some issues, there is always that underlying respect and willingness to work it out together. The combination of the bar being set at a high level, permission to fail, being called to keep stepping up and intrinsic underlying collective respect (this would include self-respect), seems to foster a safe environment in which to learn. I think that these attributes contribute to the special something that we have here at Gowrie. We all genuinely love the children, foster positive relationships with the parents and each other, and take great pride in our work here at Gowrie – and support each other in doing great things together. This is why I think Gowrie is a fantastic place to work, and encourage spreading Gowrie culture, philosophies and practices far and wide. We live our values and we are a team – it’s awesome! Pradeepa Timmermans Kitchen Supervisor, Carlton North

PARTNERSHIPS: KEY TO FUTURE SUCCESS Building relationships with existing and new partners is key to our future success and this year, new relationships were formed and others strengthened.

OSHC, FDC and BBF services Building on Gowrie Victoria Professional Learning’s well-established history of engagement with Long Day Care and Kindergarten services, we put the theory of collaborative partnerships into practice and successfully increased our reach and engagement with Victorian Outside School Hours Care (OSHC), Family Day Care (FDC) and Budget Based Funded (BBF) services this year.

by local government, local services or Inclusion Support Facilitators. When facilitating Networks, the scheduling and agreed focus (agenda) is determined collaboratively by the members of each Network. Similarly to the FDC Forums, Networks allow members to meet on a regular basis to build a support network, to learn, innovate and trouble-shoot in a collaboration with their peers and the wider community.

We partnered with Family Day Care Australia to provide 104 FDC Service Provider Forums across the state. The Forums, designed for FDC Coordinators, Field Workers and Educational Leaders, provide ongoing opportunities for participants to discuss a range of identified service needs, gain up-to-date sector information, and reflect on practice and share learning. With many changes to legislation facing FDC services, these forums have proven to be a valuable support. Building on their success, we also introduced Forums for FDC Educators across the state.

Our engagement with BBF Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Services (MACS) also continued. Consultants supported service coordinators on an individual level to develop Quality Improvement Plans that demonstrate the unique context, attributes and strengths of the service while developing realistic strategies to address areas identified by the team for improvement. ‘Sharing days’ evolved from our previous professional development initiatives with MACS, better reflecting the needs of the individual learners. ‘Sharing days’ combined MACS from similar regions and supported teams to identify existing practice relating to a particular Quality Area, with the consultant facilitating a reflective conversation and providing access to resources and quality strategies.

Term-based OSHC Networks and Educational Leader Networks continued in a range of metropolitan and regional locations. Some Networks were facilitated by Gowrie Victoria, while others were facilitated

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING ENGAGEMENT IN THE SECTOR Gowrie Victoria receives funding from the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, under the Inclusion and Professional Support Program to fulfil the role of Professional Support Coordinator (PSC). As the PSC for Victoria, Gowrie Victoria facilitates professional

learning and support to eligible early childhood education and care services. Gowrie Victoria is also funded by the Victorian Government Department of Education and Training (DET) to provide professional learning and support to state-funded services.

Gowrie Victoria also offers comprehensive professional learning programs, events and customised programs to the sector on a fee for service basis. This infographic provides a snapshot summary of the engagement with the sector in the 2014/15 financial year.

We conducted 635 professional learning and support sessions to 6446 participants

We answered/made 4406 phone calls and emails

We supported 323 services that have not met National Quality Standard to access professional learning and support

196 services accessed Bicultural Support and 126 services accessed Specialist Equipment

We ran 128 Customised Professional Development Sessions

1697 services accessed professional learning and support, including 706 LDC, 463 OSHC, 235 FDC, and 274 Kindergarten services The Inclusion and Professional Support Program is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training.

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Kensington Neighbourhood House This year, we strengthened our partnership with Kensington Neighbourhood House and now run regular Certificate III in Early Childhood and Education and Care courses at this venue. Responding to the needs of our learners, Kensington Neighbourhood House offers an English for Childcare course to strengthen the language and literacy skills of learners from low literacy and non-English speaking backgrounds. Kensington Neighbourhood House also developed a Job Readiness course that assisted graduates to find employment in the sector through support with interview technique and resume writing.

Melbourne Museum Over the past two years, our relationship with the Melbourne Museum has continued to grow. Children from the Gowrie Victoria Docklands program have been sharing their ideas for the redesign of the new Children’s Gallery. Families and educators have also been involved, ensuring all stakeholders’ voices are heard. The Polyglot Theatre Company and Museum staff visited the Docklands Children’s Program, setting up hands-on, tactile experiences that were translated from the children’s ideas. This event was filmed and evaluated, taking note of how the children physically explored the materials and the learning that was occurring. Recognising the value of observing children and allowing them to make their own self-discoveries and consolidating their learning through play are key elements of the Gowrie Victoria Children’s Program philosophy. We are excited about the influence our children and families will have on the final design of the new Children’s Gallery and look forward to the re-opening scheduled for December 2016.

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Moonee Valley City Council and the Brotherhood of St Laurence Gowrie Victoria was approached by the Brotherhood of St Laurence to assist with improving the skills of learners who had received Early Childhood and Education and Care qualifications from other providers but were unable to obtain employment. In a three-way partnership with Moonee Valley City Council, Gowrie Victoria and the Brotherhood of St Laurence, we worked with the learners to provide a bridging program to build key competencies in ECEC. ‘Closing the Gap’ was a challenging program and the transformation and confidence that grew in the learners that participated was rewarding.

Preston Neighbourhood House Learning Centre Identifying the strong bond Neighbourhood Houses have with their local communities and the convenience for learners to study close to their homes, we approached Preston Neighbourhood House as a potential partner. A division of Preston Neighbourhood House is the PNH Learning Centre which is a Learn Local provider of pre-accredited training. Working collaboratively, Gowrie Victoria and PNH Learning Centre developed a three day introductory course designed for people trying to decide whether a career working with children is right for them. The ACFE funded ‘So you think you want to work with children’ course will provide learners with information about career pathways, roles and responsibilities, salary and the study requirements to obtain a qualification necessary to enter the sector. PNH Learning Centre is no longer an RTO and is now referring potential learners to Gowrie Victoria for Certificate III and Diploma courses. Gowrie Victoria also hopes to deliver Certificate III courses at PNH Learning in the future.

Working with Government In collaboration with the then Department of Early Childhood Education and Care, we delivered the Reflect, Respect, Relate Professional Learning Program. The two-stage program included a two-day ‘Train-the-Trainer’ program followed by the state-wide delivery of 16, two-day professional learning programs to support experienced educators to use the Reflect, Respect, Relate Observation Scales in their service. The response was overwhelmingly positive; over 680 applications were received for the educators’ professional learning program, with a total of 250 participants successfully completing the program in four metropolitan and 12 regional locations. We also co-delivered a series of National Workshops focused on Quality Area 1 – Educational program and practice, in collaboration with ACECQA’s National Education Leader, Rhonda Livingstone, and the Victorian Government Department of Education and Training. The success of both partnerships has resulted in additional opportunities. We are currently working with the Victorian Government Department of Education and Training on a followup project to assess the ongoing use of Reflect, Respect, Relate Observation Scales in the participants’ services. We are also working with Rhonda Livingstone to roll out the next series of ACECQA National Workshops.

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We acknowledge the critical importance of children, parents and educators as partners in a learning community that promotes the wellbeing, education and development of all children. 15

OUR EVOLVING PRACTICE Gowrie Victoria educators and staff participate in many exciting projects to create innovative learning opportunities, leading to successful outcomes for children and adult learners. Some of the highlights for the 2014/2015 financial year include:

Carlton North Art Project Earlier in the year, children from Carlton North visited the National Gallery of Victoria. With drawing materials and clipboards in hand, children viewed art and expressed what they felt and experimented with re-creating what they saw. On their first visit, there was a great fascination with a video artwork by Briony Galligan and Rafaella McDonald called ‘Movement Behind the Backdrop’. Children voiced that this piece was one of their favourite and affectionately named it ‘Mr Painting’. Educators contacted the artists and this led to Briony and Rafaella visiting Carlton North to conduct some movement workshops and supporting an application to Yarra Council for a grant to make our own video installation and work in response to the ‘Movement Behind the Backdrop’ piece. The artists have engaged with the children through sharing video and drawing works. The artists also supported children with the development of children’s own backdrops, experimenting with colour, light and shapes. One outcome will be that images from the video works will be shared with our local library to broaden community access to the children’s artwork. We are always keen to hear children’s voices, whether they are spoken, drawn or expressed in other ways and we seek ways to show our community children’s capabilities and their understanding of the world around them.

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Community Connections Program The Community Connections Program was introduced at Gowrie Victoria Docklands in 2012 to encourage children in the program to be active and visible members of their community. The program has grown each year to over 500 excursions in 2014/2015 and the program has made a significant impact on the local and broader community. Excursions are based on, or expand on the children’s interests and have often lead to ongoing further project work. Projects undertaken this financial year include environmental action around the Docklands waterways, program development of the new Children’s Gallery at the Melbourne Museum (see page 13), intergenerational relationship building through regular meeting with local senior citizens and raising funds to support charities and animal welfare. The children are learning the value of supporting and caring for others and have become confident that they have the capacity to enable change. Gowrie Victoria is committed to equipping children with skills and experience that will lead to them becoming responsible, global citizens of the future.

Customised professional learning and support In addition to the scheduled program of professional learning events, Gowrie Victoria customises professional learning programs to meet the needs of individual early childhood education and care services. Linked to the National Quality Standard, we support participants to apply what they have learned to support their work with children and families. Professional learning may be developed for a whole team with varying roles, or tailored to specific position types, such as Educational Leaders and Managers. When developing a customised session, Professional Learning Consultants work with the service to ensure the content is designed to meet the level of competency of the participants as well as the agreed learning outcomes. This type of individualised professional learning builds the quality and capability of services by increasing knowledge and reflective practices of individual participants and teams. The sector response to our customised professional learning has more than doubled, from 62 sessions delivered in the previous financial year to 128 this year.

Early ABLES Project Gowrie Victoria participated in the ‘Abilities Based Learning and Education Support for Young Children with Diverse Learning Needs’ (Early ABLES) project auspiced by the Department of Education and Training, in partnership with the Melbourne Graduate School (University of Melbourne) and the Assessment Research Centre. The project involved Gowrie Victoria educators attending a series of workshops and completing comprehensive assessments with some of our children aged 2- 5 years. Children develop and learn in different ways. For many young children, additional support is needed to help them develop foundational skills and start a pathway of positive learning. The aim of the project is to create materials for early childhood educators that will help them to observe and support the developing skills and understanding of the children in their care. As a consequence it is hoped that the learning outcomes of all young children will be enhanced.

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Focus on Health The Healthy Together Victoria Achievement Program (HTVAP) examines all aspects of health and well-being for all parties, including children, families, staff and community members; advocating from a holistic view of health and wellbeing. HTVAP was implemented at our Docklands Children’s Program in late 2013 and has been embedded across both Children’s Programs, with Carlton North recently engaging their family, child and educator group in a similar vein to the Docklands program. Both sites meet on a monthly basis and encourage members to work together to reflect on current practice and follow the HTVP ongoing cycle of ‘coordinate, create and celebrate’, as they address the different areas of health and wellbeing. Many aspects of the Docklands model have been taken on board by Healthy Together Victoria, including the role of the children’s champion, which was pioneered at the Docklands, as was the family champion role. Members of Docklands team have shared the program with other early childhood professionals through articles, workshops and networking. The Carlton North team are working on mental health and focusing on building a mentally strong, resilient and robust community – one that will ‘bounce’. Docklands have recently shifted their focus from mental health and physical health (areas which they have been working on for 13 months) to address sun safety and safe environments. Over the past 13 months, Docklands have held many events including; mental health fortnight, 30 day sugar challenge, fitness fortnight, The Happiness Project, Healthy Together lunch groups and Mindfulness programs, all of which have created opportunities to highlight the program. These events help to celebrate the work, however, the heart of the HTV program lies in everyday practice; how the two sites use this as a lens to view their current practice and build on their achievements, whilst drawing attention to the significance of health and wellbeing for us all. As an offshoot of HTVAP, the Healthy Eating Advisory Service (HEAS) has developed an educational video to inspire early childhood educators to promote healthy eating to children in their care. This video is now on the HEAS website for public viewing and used in training presentations. Gowrie Victoria (Carlton North) was selected as the ideal setting to capture early childhood educators displaying best practice in health promotion. On 16 June, videographers captured a ‘real life example’ of educators interacting and promoting healthy eating with the children during morning tea and lunch. Educators and children shared different experiences of food together, while children served themselves in a supported and relaxed environment.  Children were very competent in knowing the routine of washing their hands, getting their plate and cup from the cupboard, serving themselves and scraping their plates afterwards.  Children were engaged in a ‘drawing of fruit’ experience where there was lots of fruit set up in the middle of the table as inspiration to share with each other what they liked and disliked while drawing. We look forward to seeing the educational video to be used as a learning tool in the early childhood sector.

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INCOME STATEMENT & BALANCE SHEET FINANCIALS INCOME STATEMENT

30 June 2015

30 June 2014

Revenues

$11,560,757

$11,427,932

(53) (61,659) (7,457,709) (902,174) (191,413) (44,987) (224,022) (2,223,170) (37,821) (98,877)

(77,500) (67,791) (7,234,338) (877,819) (199,723) (67,849) (264,491) (2,623,014) (42,475) (195,286)

Surplus/(loss) Other comprehensive income

318,872 —

(222,354) —

TOTAL INCOME/(LOSS)

318,872

(222,354)

30 June 2015

30 June 2014

3,827,193 63,682 2,380 111,777 4,005,032

3,257,499 74,288 2,380 132,744 3,466,911

677,384 677,384

712,157 712,157

TOTAL ASSETS

4,682,416

4,179,068

Liabilities – current Payables Provisions Other liabilities Total current liabilities

807,060 571,378 1,182,014 2,560,452

1,088,715 384,201 913,903 2,386,819

101,441 101,441

90,598 90,598

TOTAL LIABILITIES

2,661,893

2,477,417

Net Assets

2,020,523

1,701,651

Member Funds Accumulated surplus

2,020,523

1,701,651

TOTAL EQUITY

2,020,523 1,701,651

Expenses Cost of sale of goods Depreciation and amortisation Employee benefits Occupancy expenses Advertising expenses Finance costs Administration expenses Operational expenses Organisational expenses IT expenses

BALANCE SHEET Assets – current Cash & cash equivalents Receivables Inventories Other assets Total current assets Assets – noncurrent Property, plant, and equipment Total noncurrent assets

Liabilities – noncurrent Provisions Total noncurrent liabilities

The above Income Statement & Balance Sheet was extracted from the audited financial statements.

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OUR LEADERS Board of Directors

Executive Team

Michel Hogan, Chair

Andrew Hume, Chief Executive Officer

Jo Smyth, Vice Chair

Clare Savage, Executive Assistant

Leesa Miller, Treasurer (July 2014 – November 2014)

Jodie Knox, Manager Early Learning

Catherine Mc Cormack, Treasurer (December 2014 – June 2015) Cyrus Allan, Secretary Tricia Currie, Board Member

Michele Haywood, Manager Registered Training Organisation David Solomon, Manager Finance Linda Smart, Manager Professional Learning Nattalie Smoothy, Manager People and Culture

Joshua Funder, Board Member Mark Kent, Board Member

Life Members

Jennifer Fleming, Board Member

Jenny Acton Joan Waters John Emerson Maureen Savage Sue Harper Gilda Howard Heather Barnes

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We view children as capable, competent co-contributors and acknowledge them as active participants in their own learning.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To be true to our purpose and to champion good early childhood education and care, we rely on the help of others. We are fortunate here at Gowrie Victoria to have a plethora of organisations and individuals who generously contribute their skills, wisdom and time (quite often without financial reward), to help us succeed. As a not-for-profit organisation, operating in a tough fiscal environment, we are always trying to do more with less. Whilst every contribution is important and valued, we would like to draw attention to the contribution of a particular individual. Ivan Webster is the husband of one of our staff and is fondly referred to as the ‘Hunter and Gatherer’. Ivan fossicks for pieces of wood in parks and forests and has developed relationships with local businesses and builders to collect timber off cuts. Ivan then lovingly transforms these materials into beautiful toys for the children in our centres, resources for staff, trainers and educators and gifts for our staff and partners. Recycling, re-using and working with natural materials are key drivers of the Gowrie Victoria philosophy. Ivan’s craftsmanship is exemplary and he completes every request with efficient professionalism and will not accept any payment. Thank you Ivan, Gowrie Victoria is indeed fortunate to enjoy the fruits of your labour. We value and appreciate the efforts of all partners and volunteers who work tirelessly to assist the efforts of Gowrie Victoria. Your passion, commitment and focus in this past year has been outstanding.

Thanks for your help: Anne Stonehouse

Gowrie Australia

Andrew Webster

Heather Barnes

Ballarat Health Services

Herbert Smith Freehills

The Brotherhood of St Laurence

Karl Hessian

Catharine Hydon

Kensington Neighbourhood House

City of Melbourne

Koorie Heritage Trust

City of Yarra

Maternal & Child Health – City of Melbourne

Community Child Care Association Victoria

Melbourne Museum

The Creswick Foundation

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

Darryn Webster Department of Social Services Department of Education and Training Early Learning Association Australia Early Childhood Australia Family Day Care Australia Fish & Nankivell FKA Children’s Services

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The University of Melbourne Preston Neighbourhood House Professor Charles Pascal Shane Hapimiraki Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI) Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Limited (VACSAL)

CONTACT US

CONNECT WITH US

Carlton North

Pinterest pinterest.com/gowrievictoria

Gowrie Victoria 36 Newry Street Carlton North, VIC 3054

Telephone (03) 9347 6388 Facsimile (03) 9347 7567 Email [email protected] Web Site www.gowrievictoria.org.au

Docklands 

The Harbour Family & Children’s Centre 1 Seafarer Lane, Victoria Harbour Docklands, VIC 3008

Telephone (03) 8624 1000 Facsimile (03) 8624 1050 Email [email protected]

North Melbourne Registered Training Organisation 3900 15 – 20 Howard Street North Melbourne, VIC 3051 Telephone (03) 9349 2890 Email [email protected]

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We encourage each child to develop resilience, self-confidence, a positive self-esteem and positive self-worth.