DIVERSITY
Welcome
to the
KU family
For over 30 years KU has proudly provided
childcare under the Australian Government
funded Adult Migrant English Program
(AMEP) to assist parents to complete their
English classes, while children have the
opportunity to engage with peers in play
based learning environments.
Our AMEP centres hold a special place in
the KU family. For families newly arrived
in Australia this is often the family’s
first experience of childcare. Families
find centres which are welcoming to all
families and embrace cultural diversity.
The educators who work in KU AMEP
services often started as a parent whose
child was attending the centre while
they attended English classes. They have
firsthand knowledge and experience of
being a migrant in Australia with a young
family. Some of our educators have had
personal experience of life as a refugee
and the difficult journey that refugee
families face before coming to Australia.
They understand the settlement issues
families’ face, and are therefore uniquely
equipped to support both children and their
parents, accessing childcare for the first time.
Our educators come from all over the
world, are at least bilingual and often
multi-lingual and have, after learning
English, gone on to gain qualifications
to work with children and their families in
our AMEP centres.
Bengali
But it is their passion and commitment to
their AMEP role which shines brightly in
their day to day engagement with families.
KU AMEP educators are fully aware of
the benefits for children of attending
an AMEP centre. This means that not
only do families have access to a quality
educational program, but their family is
included in a service that understands
their migrant experience. For instance,
educators help families to understand
that while parents are currently focusing
on learning English, for children the
promotion and maintenance of a child’s
Dutch
Assyrian
home language greatly assists them in
learning a second language, as well as
having significant cognitive, social and
emotional benefits.
Attendance at an AMEP child care service
is only on a short term basis, but this
positive childcare experience provides a
springboard for families to take the next
steps into participating and engaging in
the broader Australian community.
Turkish
Hindi
Farsi
Thai
Greek
Spanish
Dinka
Indonesian
Dari
French
German
Japanese
Arabic
Swahili
Nuba
Tagalog
Macedonian
Open, respectful and meaningful
connections with families are
enhanced when the linguistic
diversity in the community is
reflected in the languages spoken by
the educators. Here is just a sample
of the languages spoken by KU staff.
119th Annual Report 2014
Polish
Karen
Khmer
Kirundi
Russian
Serbian
Marathi
Tamil
Vietnamese
Sinhalese
Ukrainian
Italian
Korean
Cantonese
Samoan
Mandarin
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