Senior Advisor Early Years, Our Place, VIC

With 35 years of experience in the education and care sector across three states of Australia, Julia Cornelius has held roles in both government and non-government school sectors as well as the early years sector.

She served as the Educational Leader for the 0-3 years old program at Doveton College Early Learning Centre, the Light House site (first) Our Place site from 2014 for five years, mentoring a diverse team of educators in a disadvantaged community.

During 2017/18, Julia piloted the first version of Baby College at Doveton College in partnership with Our Place and the Queen Elizabeth Centre (QEC), aiming to improve the educational outcomes for infants from families experiencing disadvantage by engaging and supporting vulnerable families from the prenatal period. In 2019, Julia joined Our Place as their Senior Advisor Early Years, focusing on supporting the implementation of high-quality early education across ten early learning centres.

Julia has over 10 years of experience in collecting child data and undertaking environmental scans within Early Years services, translating research into practice and supporting educators in utilizing data to improve outcomes for children. In 2022/23, in partnership with Monash University Health and Social Care Unit, Julia undertook a 'Voice of Children Project,' capturing 100 children's voices from their sites' Early Learning Service.

“I strongly believe that learning is a lifelong journey that never stops and that you can make a difference to children and families by working with them and supporting them to achieve their aspirations.”