Making the KU Difference
For communities
Keiran Castle & Kerri Robbins
Director and Child Care Worker,
KU Liverpool Preschool
Kieran and Kerri have worked tirelessly at KU Liverpool
Preschool for many years, and unusual circumstances over a
period of 18 months have seen them truly demonstrate the
KU Difference on a daily basis.
When the decision was made to co-locate KU’s new Autism
Centre on the site of the existing KU Liverpool Preschool,
this meant that their much loved but dilapidated preschool
building had to be demolished and rebuilt.
Whilst the new centre would represent a valuable asset
for the local community, the disruption created a time of
tremendous change and challenges for the preschool. Keiran
and Kerri remained consistently positive as they packed up
their equipment, said goodbye to their old building and
arranged to split the equipment, children and staff between
two nearby KU centres whilst their new centre was being built.
Throughout the entire process Keiran and Kerri ensured the
highest quality education and care was provided for children,
and that families and the community were kept informed of
the new centre’s progress.
Once it was complete, together they managed a smooth
transition back into their new preschool home and re-
established their community connections.
This process could have been a difficult time for the children,
families and the Liverpool community, however Keiran and
Kerri made the transitions and adjustments in a selfless,
professional manner, with good humour and patience. It is
not surprising that we received multiple award nominations
for them both.
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KU Children’s Services
Supporting the community
KU Solutions is an initiative which aims to
proactively support other community based,
not-for-profit early childhood education providers
by offering them the opportunity to benefit from
KU’s wealth of experience and expertise
KU Solutions provides them access to the services,
resources and support available to KU centres.
In 2010, KU provided advice and guidance to 21
early childhood services across NSW and Victoria
on a consultancy basis.
Beyond KU
KU delivers support to early childhood education and
care services right across Australia, through a variety of
Commonwealth and NSW Government funded
programs designed to promote the inclusion of children
with ongoing high support needs, and those from
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and
Indigenous children.
As the National Inclusion Support Subsidy (ISS)
Provider, KU distributed $52m in funding nationally,
assessed 14,532 applications and paid 33,832 claims.
KU’s seven Inclusion Support Agency regions, KU
assisted more than 2,200 services develop 3,146 Service
Support Plans and complete 2,085 ISS applications.
Through the Supporting Children with Additional
Needs (SCAN) program, KU supported the inclusion of
304 children with additional needs in 76 preschool in
the Northern Sydney Region.