The Bilingual Support Program from Ethnic Community Services in Marrickville helps inner west kids from CALD and indigenous communities settle into preschool with the help of a trained bilingual early childhood educator. The program has trained over 400 early childhood educators from over 100 cultural backgrounds.

We know early childhood education is vital to a child's wellbeing and brain development, with 90 per cent of a child's brain development occurring within the first 5 years of their life. Services like the Bilingual Support Program ensure kids from CALD and indigenous backgrounds reach their full potential in preschool by providing the resources and tools to create a culturally inclusive learning environment. During the pandemic, virtual story times and singalongs in Japanese, Rohingyan, Ukranian, Nepali and Kurmanji are keeping kids entertained and practicing their native language.

The Bilingual Support program also connects families and kids with kids from their own culture running a number of playgroups for kids from Bosian, Assyrian and Iraqi backgrounds.

Thank you to the wonderful early childhood educators and staff at Ethnic Community Services for supporting little inner westies to feel supported and connected with their culture.