Implementation

Our Place contributes the glue that bonds everything together. Community collaboration helps forge a shared vision and plan for transforming the school into a community hub. Our Place facilitates the collaboration and planning, provides engagement coordinators to deliver action on the ground, identifies and addresses barriers to implementation, and evaluates what is working and where further effort is needed.

Implementation of the evidence-based Elements follows a six-step cycle:

  1. Build relationships and established shared commitment
  2. Understand the community and evidence the need
  3. Develop a shared vision and plan to drive change in the community
  4. Support ‘joined-up’ service implementation
  5. Provide ongoing implementation support
  6. Undertake a detailed review process after three years of implementation

Guiding Principles

Implementation of the evidence-based Elements is underpinned by a set of guiding principles. These principles establish a strong foundation for effective partnerships so that that all partners have a shared understanding of how we work with families at an Our Place site.

Relationships and trust are preconditions for impact. We invest in people whose primary responsibility is building strong, respectful relationships.

Children and families should have seamless access to education and the support they need. We strive for a single, shared entrance, a ‘no wrong door’ policy, and a single storytelling experience with the school at the heart of the community.

Family-centred practice is essential to achieve positive outcomes. We work in partnership with parents around a shared agenda to promote children’s learning health and development.

Good decisions are informed by evidence and the voices of the community. We get to know our communities and implement quality, high-impact interventions that make a lasting difference. Ongoing evaluation enables continuous improvement in our practice.

Sharing evidence of what works will influence policy and systems change. We collect the data, generate the evidence of what works and share it openly to influence policy & system change.

Achieving meaningful and sustainable impact takes time. We don’t accept it can’t be done. Entrenched disadvantage can only be tackled by taking a long-term approach that is underpinned by flexibility and innovation.