The AEDC is an Australian Government Initiative that has been conducted nationally every three years since 2009.  It is a national progress measure of early child development and it involves teachers of children in their first year of full-time school. The Census collects data relating to five key areas of early childhood development. It is important that data is collected from every school.  When all schools participate, information about all children is captured.  This gives a complete picture of how children are tracking in each community, state and territory and as a nation. The teachers will record their observations of students in the 5 key areas: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, communication skills and general knowledge. Individual child results are not published and children can not be identified in any AEDC reports.  Participation in the AEDC is voluntary, and parents/carers can notify schools if they wish to opt out of the census. So, if you would rather your Foundation child not participate then please let me know in writing.