Our Journey

Our philosophy

The greatest challenge the world faces is not global warming itself, rather it is raising children who will have the intellectual and creative capacity to deal with the changes as they occur.

Evidence from neural science research shows that the foundations for this capacity are laid down in the first six years of life.  We believe it is the responsibility of early childhood professionals to work together with families to ensure that the children born today have have the ability, imagination and capacity to thrive in the face of all the challenges to come.

The seeds of success are sown in the first six years of life and we need to pay attention NOW!

Our goal

To provide parents and caregivers with a simple to use tool that will help them make the most of developmental opportunities as they arise in the first six years of life, both at home and in children's service settings.

How it began

With over a century of experience in the early years education sector, our group is passionate about raising the status of the early chldhood profession in the eyes of the community in general and the education field in particular.

Over the course of many discussions relating to the problems in early childhood care and education services, our group identified an incredible opportunity arising from the neural science research that shows the critical importance of getting the first six years RIGHT.

We were mystified as to why, after a decade of workshops, lectures and representations to government from illustrious academics and researchers from around the world, there had been very little change in the practices in services and a very small rise in awareness of parents and educators alike.

After some analysis we realised that in order to understand the implications of the research there needed to be a broader education of both staff and community about child development in all of its aspects which, in reality, would mean a 4 year university degree course!

In an environment where everyone is increasingly time poor and where it is important to make changes immediately so that we do not have a generation of children who miss out on this important foundation, Critical Years™ Early Achievement System was devised to educate all those who care for children on a 'just in time' basis and in the context of the child's culture and context whether at home or in a professional early childhood setting.