About Early Start

Early Start is a unique combination of research, community outreach and education initiatives, brought together under one roof with the aim of helping children ourish and realise their potential.

Early Start achieves this by; improving understanding of child development, health and learning; supporting and enhancing the ways in which people care for and work with children and; engaging with parents, caregivers and communities to support the environments in which children grow.

At Early Start four core elements are closely woven in a deliberate effort to capitalise on our concentration of expertise and drive innovation. These are:

• Early Start’s research – world-leading researchers investigating real life challenges, that will have a transformational impact on the lives of children and those who work with and care for them.
• The Early Start Engagement Centres – a partnership with 41 early childhood care and education centres in regional and remote communities, allowing academics to understand first-hand the challenges of growing up in disadvantage and for innovation to be pioneered where it is needed most.
• The Early Start Discovery Space – a purpose-built, hands-on learning space that allows all children, carers and educators to explore, create and play together alongside state-of-the-art research and teaching facilities.
• The Innovative Teaching Programs – the next generation of people that care for and work with children are being trained at UOW, with cutting-edge academic programs in influenced by world-leading researchers and offering unique opportunities for students to gain real world experience.