Mount Alexander Shire Council is seeking community feedback on a draft plan to guide middle years service delivery into the future.
The draft Middle Years Plan 2023-2026 aims to support the needs of children from ages 8-12 years and their families.
It will guide Council and the community in working together to improve health and wellbeing, and learning opportunities for children.
The draft plan is themed into three priority areas:
• Happy and included: Middle years children and families are happy, well-informed, included and ready to transition to high school.
• Active and outside: Kids have opportunities to be physically active, to care for the environment and connect with Country.
• Safe and supported: Middle years children and families are safe and can access the support they need.
The draft plan takes into account key items from the last plan, as well as acknowledging that a lot has changed since the previous plan was written, including two years of pandemic, social isolation and remote schooling.
Some of the actions include:
• continued delivering of wellbeing education sessions for children and families, this is through the Making Friends with Worry and Parenting in the Modern World programs
• supporting children in their transition to high school
• increasing opportunities for children to engage in climate change action
• exploring ways to increase skate, scoot and cycling opportunities.
Mount Alexander Shire Council’s Mayor, Cr Rosie Annear, said that the draft plan was informed by feedback from children, families, carers and other members of the community.
“Throughout January and February we received over 300 contributions from the community who told us how they want Council to support children aged 8-12,” said Mayor Annear.
“Importantly, 225 of these submissions were from middle years children, themselves.
“In March, we also held a workshop in the Council chamber with 38 middle year students, representing nine of our local primary schools and our homeschooling community, who helped us further develop the plan’s actions and priorities.
“It was particularly valuable to hear directly from the kids and understand more about what it means to be a kid today, what’s important to them, their peers, and their families, and what worries they have.
“After a lot of consultation, we’re now ready to bring the draft plan back to our community for review, to make sure we heard everything and didn’t miss anything.
“The more input we can get from the community, particularly our middle years kids and their families, the stronger this plan will be, so I encourage everyone to hop on Shape and take a look.”
Community members are encouraged to view the draft Middle Years Plan 2023-2026 and summary report.
Provide feedback on the draft plan
• Visit www.shape.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/lets-talk-about-what-kids-aged-8-12-need and complete the quick survey.
• Email your feedback to youth@mountalexander.vic.gov.au.
• Give you feedback to a member of Council staff over the phone by calling 5471 1700.
• Send feedback in writing to Att: Middle Years Plan, Mount Alexander Shire Council, PO Box 185, Castlemaine VIC 3450.
• Pop into the Castlemaine Civic Centre and provide feedback in-person.
Submissions close on Sunday 28 May.
Council will finalise the Middle Years Plan in June, with the plan scheduled to go to Councillors for consideration in September.
For more information, contact Council’s Youth Development team on 5471 1700 or email youth@mountalexander.vic.gov.au.