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Jockey Club supports growth and long-term development of young children from disadvantaged backgrounds
26/01/2019

All children have their own personality, ability, interest and development pace, and many studies have shown that the key stages of a child’s brain development occur between 0 and 5 years old. It is therefore important to identify their needs and provide appropriate support as early as possible.

Factors favourable to the positive growth and long-term development of children include family, physical and mental health support, as well as all-round education. However, resource limitations can have an impact on the development of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In view of this, the Club’s Charities Trust has joined hands with The University of Kong Hong (HKU), The Boys' & Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong (BGCA) and Hong Kong Christian Service (HKCS) to create the KeySteps@JC project. With funding of HK$225 million from the Trust, this five-year initiative integrates support from the medical, education and welfare sectors to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds build stronger foundations.

On 26 January, over 300 teachers and professionals attended its first Teacher’s Professional Development Conference, at which the project team shared with delegates some preliminary data from their baseline study on the family, health and education conditions of the disadvantaged students participating in the project. 

The study revealed that parents in such families tended to suffer from greater pressure when taking care of their young children, while the mental health of the grandparents could also be affected. Some 13% of the surveyed children were overweight, while their muscle development and co-ordination skills were all below average. Their oral hygiene and tooth decay problems were of particular concern.

The KeySteps@JC project is now running in 32 local kindergartens in Tin Shui Wai and Sham Shui Po in an effort to address these problems. A cross-disciplinary expert team comprising educational psychologists, social workers, speech therapists and health care professionals provides comprehensive support for about 6,000 young children and their families, so as to better prepare for the children’s long-term development.

Parenting skills workshops and talks on different health topics will also be organised, and professional training will be provided for some 190 teachers in participating schools. This will include a series of workshops for teachers on different stages of young children’s development, so as to enrich their teaching skills.

In addition, the expert teams will provide advice and resource support for the schools to improve their learning environment, and set up booths in the community to offer a diverse range of support.

Making use of big data technology, a database of the children will be set up, providing objective benchmarks for policymakers’ reference.