The parents of more than 15,000 children between the ages of three and five years have been provided Australia-first access to data showing early indicators of success at Primary School and beyond.
In the third year of a partnership between Affinity Education Group and the University of Wollongong, the Early Years Toolbox is already mid-way through Semester 1 testing at more than 250 early education centres owned and operated by Affinity.
Head of Education Jola Sung says early indications are even more positive than 2024 results, shown by the results from over 7300 children who are in the EYT program for 2025.
“Affinity's Early Childhood Teachers have really embraced this opportunity to incorporate the Early Years Toolbox as one of many meaningful ways we use to assess children’s learning, in areas that are shown to be predictive of later academic, social, emotional, cognitive and life outcomes,” Jola said.
All centres owned and operated by Affinity Education Group have been provided with technology, training and fully funded access to the EYT, which offers children guided access to digital games that capture meaningful, developmentally sensitive data based on children’s engagement, and then tracks their improvement in key areas as they continue to play.
“The benefits our teachers see is that the EYT is aligned with international frameworks and curricula, and has now become recognised as part of our Lifelong Learning Curriculum which we believe is Australia’s most advanced approach to early years education,” Jola explained.
Sunshine Coast Early Childhood Teacher Riley O’Neill commenced using the EYT with Kindergarten students in 2024, and has picked back up again in 2025.
“Engaging the children is not a big challenge as the games are designed specifically to attract their curiosity. We only use each game for between 5-8 minutes per child, and that is plenty of time to capture data around their current skills and abilities,” he explained.
“Our families have absolutely embraced the chance to see a snapshot of their child’s abilities and skills in key areas. It is such a valuable addition to our Kindergarten offering,” he said.
Professor Steven Howard, from the School of Education at the University of Wollongong, said data collected between 2023-2024 showed children attending Affinity centres are achieving higher results in phonological working memory, expressive vocabulary and early numeracy than peers their age who also completed the EYT assessments.
“We’re so pleased to see the EYT being made available to so many thousands of Australian children through Affinity,” he said.
“Working memory and impulse control are two particularly areas critical for children to develop before they start school, and we will be keeping a close eye on improvements in those areas for children in 2025,” Prof Howard said.
Early Years Toolbox assessments are provided free of charge as part of the Lifelong Learning Curriculum School Readiness program, for enrolled children aged 3-5 years at Affinity Education Group centres around Australia.
To enquire or find a centre near you, click here.