HEART in Action: Children shaping the language of positive behaviour in Early Years

Representing Kids First Australia, Vineta Rickovski, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Lead, and Gabbie Mantini, Early Years Area Lead, presented the organisation’s inquiry at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre in Melbourne, sharing how a workplace safety question focused on the safety of educators at Korin Korin Kindergarten evolved into a child co-designed approach now set to be implemented across Kids First’s 17 kindergartens.

 

At Korin Korin Kindergarten, the inquiry began with a practical question:

How can consultative representation reduce the risk for staff supporting children displaying challenging behaviour?

 

Through reflection and consultation, the team identified several practical opportunities emerging from the project. Like many Early Years environments, educators were already using a range of approaches to support emotional regulation, respectful interactions, kindness, feelings and communication. The team identified an opportunity to create greater consistency in how these behaviours were reinforced across Kids First’s kindergarten services.

 

What started as a workplace safety enquiry project uncovered something deeper. While the project began with improving safety for educators, it evolved into exploring how children understood safety, belonging, kindness, respect and connection in their everyday learning environments, and what “trying their best” looked like in their world. Rather than introducing a top-down behaviour framework, educators at Korin Korin began engaging directly with children through conversation, drawing, classroom activities and shared reflection. Through this process, a shared child-centred language began to emerge. Built from Kids First Australia’s organisational HEART values of Hope, Empowerment, Accountability, Respect and Trust, the kindergarten team worked alongside children to translate those values into everyday practice:

Helpful
Everyone matters
Always kind
Respectful
Try your best

 

Through the sharing of a Superhero Heart image, the children created their own artwork and described what it means to them. What emerged was not a behaviour management tool, but a child co-designed approach to positive behaviour reinforcement grounded in emotional safety, belonging and connection.

 

One child, Xavier, captured its meaning as “SuperHEART makes us happy.”

 

That simple reflection became one of the project’s most powerful insights. It demonstrated that workplace safety and child wellbeing are deeply connected. When children feel safe, seen and understood, educators are better supported too.

 

What began at Korin Korin as a local workplace safety inquiry has now evolved into something much bigger. The learnings from the project will now be implemented across Kids First Australia’s 17 kindergarten services, creating greater consistency in positive behaviour language, emotional literacy and child participation across Early Years environments.

 

For Kids First Australia, this work represents more than a response to risk. It shows how organisational values can be brought to life through children’s voices, shaping safer, kinder and more connected learning environments for everyone.