Inclusion
Specialist Early Education and Development (SEED)

Specialist Early Education and Development (SEED).

Providing inclusive resources for kindergartens to support all children to thrive.

Uniting Cooke Court

What is Specialist Early Education and Development (SEED)?

The Specialist Early Education and Development (SEED) program at Cooke Court is an intensive early childhood education and care model trial operating in partnership between Uniting and the Australian and Victorian Departments of Education, Parkville Institute and the University of Melbourne.

Eligibility criteria

To attend the program, children must be:

Once referred, Uniting Vic.Tas or the University of Melbourne researcher will contact the referrer to provide information about processes and respond to any questions.

About the program

Our program offers intensive early childhood education and care to babies and toddlers who are experiencing complex trauma, significant family stress or social disadvantage, for five days per week, 9:30am – 2:30pm, for up to three years at no cost to families. 

The program is based on key learnings from trauma and attachment theory and offers educational and relational interventions to reduce the impacts on children of living with toxic stress, as particularised in the third report authored by Dr Anne Kennedy and Associate Professor Brigid Jordan published in May 2019 by the University of Melbourne titled, ‘Changing the Life Trajectories of Australia’s Most Vulnerable Children – Report No. 3 – The Early Years Education Program (EYEP) Model’.

Key details

The research

We’re working with Parkville Institute to conduct a replication of the Early Years Education Program (EYEP). EYEP was initiated by Kids First, previously the Children’s Protection Society (CPS), an independent not-for-profit child and family services organisation based in the north-east of Melbourne which was founded in 1896. The program was designed and implemented by CPS in collaboration with Associate Professor Brigid Jordan and Dr Anne Kennedy.

The Victorian government’s Safe Haven initiative is supporting the implementation of the EYEP model at SEED, Cooke Court Richmond.

The evaluation of the outcomes for the children and families who participate in the replication research project is being conducted by Melbourne Institute, University of Melbourne.

To be eligible to attend SEED Cooke Court, children must be referred into the program by a support services agency working with the child and family.

About the team

Alongside Early Childhood Teachers and Diploma Qualified Educators in each room, SEED Cooke Court is led by a multidisciplinary senior leadership team, including:

Contact us

For program information or questions about referrals, eligibility and the research process, please email [email protected].

In partnership with