Little Stars Foundation

Children living in out-of-home care often struggle with developmental, social and emotional challenges caused by childhood trauma that impact their ability to learn and engage in school. Our Little Stars Learners Program aims to break the cycle of disadvantage by offering early intervention and tailored support. We are thrilled to share this 16-minute webinar featuring Mark Galvin and Dr Melissa Kaltner from Lumenia which provides some incredible insights into their independent Social Return on Investment Evaluation of our Little Stars Learners Program. Their analysis revealed that for every $1 invested in the program, $5.60 of social and economic value is created, benefiting children and young people, carers, the education system, and the community at large. Lumenia PeakCare Queensland David Crisafulli MP Amanda Camm #LearningSupport #ConnectLearnThrive #SocialReturn https://lnkd.in/dyPFggWV

It was wonderful to catch up with Director, Brendan Balasekeran and Company Secretary, Luke Shepherd from the Kela Foundation.   We valued the opportunity to discuss the work of Little Stars Foundation and how the Kela Foundation is benefiting the lives of our most disadvantaged cohort of children in our school system - children who have experienced abuse and neglect and are living in out-of-home care.    The ongoing partnership with the Kela Foundation is instrumental in enabling us to support more children in care. In 2024, the Kela Foundation supported 20 full scholarships for children and young people in our Little Stars Learners Program.   Thank you, Kela Foundation! Mark Morton and Teresa Grieve .. we missed you! We are currently seeking corporate sponsors to sponsor a child for our 2025 Learning Support Program. Please get in touch if you would like to help.   #KelaFoundation #LittleStarsFoundation #LittleStarsLearners #TraumaInformed #ConnectLearnThrive #FunLaughterHope   Pictured from left: from Kela Foundation - Brendan Balasekeran, Director and Luke Shepherd Company Secretary; and from Little Stars Foundation - Lisa H., Executive Director, Jessica-Lea Chapple, Program Manager and Julie Baz, BD and Partnerships Manager

It was a pleasure to catch up with CEO and Director, Mark Morton, Finance and HR Manager, Teresa Grieve and the teams from one of our major sponsors, Asia Pacific Aerospace Pty Ltd this week. Myself and our Little Stars Foundation Partnerships Manager, Julie Baz appreciated the opportunity to discuss the work of Little Stars Foundation and how Asia Pacific Aerospace’s support has been contributing to making a difference to the lives of our most disadvantaged cohort of children in our school system - children who have experienced abuse and neglect who are living in out-of-home care. In 2024 Asia Pacific Aerospace provided donations to us to enable us to support 25 children and young people in our Little Stars Learners Program and helped us to deliver 101 cuddle cases to children in out of home care and helped provide 40 of our lucky carers and children with a trip to see Wicked. With no centralised government funding at this time, we rely on the support of sponsors and donors like Asia Pacific Aerospace Pty Ltd to help us support these amazing children living in out of home care and subsidise the costs of our program and also to provide equity to children and young people who are unable to be funded through the CSNA/HSNA, Child Related costs of through foster agency funding. Pictured: Julie Baz with some of tbe amazing mechanics who are part of the APA team who work hard at enabling this support to occur. #AsiaPacificAerospace #LittleStarsFoundation #LittleStarsLearners #TraumaInformed #ConnectLearnThrive #FunLaughterHope

Thank you Key Assets (Australia) for collaborating with us to help so many children living in care. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to share our work and our independent and Social Return on Investment Evaluation completed by Lumenia. #KeyAssets #LittleStarsLearners

We're #hiring a Program Administrator for an immediate start. Are you passionate about making a positive impact on the lives of young people? If you have a positive strong administrative background and great communication and organisational skills, we would love to hear from you! Apply now: https://lnkd.in/ghqw4fae #LittleStarsFoundation #LittleStarsLearners #TraumaInformed #ConnectLearnThrive #FunLaughterHope

It was a pleasure to catch up with CEO and Director, Mark Morton, and Finance and HR Manager, Teresa Grieve from one of our major sponsor, Asia Pacific Aerospace Pty Ltd.   Little Stars Foundation Executive Director, Lisa H. and Business Development and Partnerships Manager, Julie Baz appreciated the opportunity to discuss the work of Little Stars Foundation and how Asia Pacific Aerospace’s support has been contributing to making a difference to the lives of our most disadvantaged cohort of children in our school system - children who have experienced abuse and neglect who are living in out-of-home care.    The support and partnership with Asia Pacific Aerospace has been instrumental in allowing us to support more children in care. In 2024 Asia Pacific Aerospace supported 25 children and young people in our Little Stars Learners Program and helped us to deliver 101 cuddle cases to children in out of home care and helped provide 40 of our lucky carers and children with a trip to see Wicked. Thankyou!   #AsiaPacificAerospace #LittleStarsFoundation #LittleStarsLearners #TraumaInformed #ConnectLearnThrive #FunLaughterHope   Pictured from left: Teresa Grieve, Finance and HR Manager, Asia Pacific Aerospace Pty Ltd, Julie Baz, BD and Partnerships Manager, Little Stars Foundation, and Mark Morton, CEO and Director, Asia Pacific Aerospace Pty Ltd

We caught up with our wonderful Little Stars Foundation ambassador, Nicky Charman and her team at CALEXICO a few days ago. Nicky is passionate about supporting us in our mission to create brighter futures and provide trauma-informed learning support for children and young people living in out-of-home care. Thanks to Nicky, CALEXICO, and partner sponsor Charman Property Co. Buyers Agency, more children will benefit from our Little Stars Learners program which helps children living in out-of-home care to connect with learning, build their confidence, and catch up to the curriculum. #FashionAmbassadorStars #LittleStarsLearners #TraumaInformed #ConnectLearnThrive #FunLaughterHope Pictured left is Nicky Charman, Founder and Director of CALEXICO with her team, and second from right is Julie Baz, BD and Partnerships Manager, Little Stars Foundation

Our Executive Director, Lisa Honeychurch, was privileged to attend Peakcare’s Sector Voices day this week with Julie Baz, our Partnerships manager. It was wonderful to be involved in passionate discussions about how we can improve the current child safety system to provide better outcomes for children living in foster, residential and kinship care. Pictured from left: Tom Allsop, CEO Peakcare, Kym Langill, Chair of Peakcare and Director of Little Stars Foundation, Lisa H. Executive Director, Little Stars Foundation.

Thank you so much for having us Andreea Grigoruta and Churches of Christ in Queensland. #listenlearnthrive #funlaughterhope #littlestarslearners #traumainformed #learningsupport

Children who have experienced complex childhood trauma often do not experience a sense of "felt safety" despite being in what appears to be a "safe environment". Their bodies are wired for fight or flight, constantly scanning for danger. In this state it is impossible to learn. Many children and young people are in survival mode in the classroom and are overwhelmed by triggers to their already heightened nervous systems. Learning is not possible. That's why at Little Stars we focus on building relationship, connection and a sense of felt safety through consistency and play. When children and young people are having fun and connecting, their nervous system becomes regulated, and learning is possible. #polyvagaltheory #fun #Laughter #hope #connect #learn #thrive #littlestarslearners #littlestarsfoundation