Yesterday, Children First Cranbrook proudly hosted the official launch of Queensland’s new Healthy Kindy Kids Program, an exciting initiative introduced by the Queensland Government, focussing on supporting the health, wellbeing, and development of children in their early years.
The event was attended by Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, the Minister for Health, members of the Queensland Police Service, alongside local media outlets who came to capture this milestone moment for early childhood education and health in the state.
The official press conference took place at the front of the centre, where the Premier spoke about the government’s commitment to improving access to health checks and wellbeing support for Queensland children before they begin school.
The Healthy Kindy Kids Program is a new Queensland Government initiative designed to integrate regular health checks (speech, language, vision, and hearing) and early developmental support into Kindergarten settings. Delivered in partnership with health professionals, the program focuses on early identification of health needs and empowering families with the tools and information to support their child’s growth and wellbeing.
Inside the centre, the Programming Room was transformed into a special “mock health clinic,” where children participated in playful, interactive health check demonstrations with nurses and the Premier. This hands-on experience allowed the children to explore what a real health check involves, helping to make health and wellbeing approachable, familiar, and fun.
Afterwards, the Premier joined Educators and children in the playground and vegetable garden, chatting with the Kindergarten Team about the importance of healthy habits, nutrition, and outdoor play in early childhood education.
How the Screenings Work
The Healthy Kindy Kids Program will be rolled out across Queensland Kindergartens, providing families with greater access to health support through regular checks and early interventions to ensure every child is thriving, learning, and ready for school.
It's a quick and engaging way to check children’s vision and hearing as well as speech and language development, but it won't give a detailed assessment or diagnosis. If a child receives a “refer” result, health professionals will advise parents on how to access local services for more detailed checks. A refer result doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem, it simply means more information may be helpful.
Vision screening
Health professionals take a picture of the child’s eye using a camera-like device that measures for anything outside the normal range for their age.
Hearing screening
Children will do the hearing screening on a digital tablet while wearing headphones. It's a fun game that checks their hearing in each ear.
Language screening
The language screening is done on a digital tablet and is designed to see how well each child understands and uses words, sentences and instructions.
Receiving the results
Each parent receives a report of their child's results following the checks. If there's anything the health professionals are concerned about, they will call the family before sending the report.
The team can discuss:
- further checks or screening
- support from a GP or other community health professionals
- referrals to specialist services.
It’s important to remember that screening checks are a helpful snapshot in time, but not always 100% accurate. They can occasionally miss an issue or raise a false alarm, and results may change as a child grows.
Hosting this significant event was a true honour for our team at Children First Cranbrook, reflecting our shared commitment to giving children the best possible start in life with a healthy, happy, and confident learning journey ahead.
Healthy Kindy Kids will be rolled out gradually across Queensland and will be offered to every Kindergarten child by the end of 2027.
Follow us on Facebook to stay up to date as the Healthy Kindy Kids Program launches across our other Children First Queensland centres:
- Children First Walkervale
- Children First Berserker
- Children First Cranbrook
- Children First Fairfield
- Children First Gympie
- Children First Gaythorne
- Children First Keperra
- Children First Underwood
