A Good Start to Life Belconnen 2025 (ACT)

Belconnen in Canberra’s northwest is largely an established area including 26 suburbs. In 2024, 30.1% of Belconnen children were developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains. This is a small improvement from 30.5% in 2021; however, the rate remains higher than both the ACT (28.1%) and national (23.5%) results. The proportion of Belconnen children developmentally vulnerable on 2 or more domains was 15.6%, a small improvement from 16.7% in 2021. The rate also remains above ACT (14.9%) and national (12.5%) results.

The AEDC played a pivotal role in the ‘Good Start in Life for Young Children’ research project (2019-2023) at the Health Research Institute, University of Canberra. Using AEDC data and trends from 2015 to 2018, the project identified 9 suburbs in the Belconnen District where early childhood development risk was highest.

The project delivered 7,273 occasions of service across 13 ECECs, 5 school-based preschools and 12 community locations (e.g., playgroups). This equates to around 1,649 hours of support and services.