Noah's Ark Annual Report 2025

President’s Report

Leadership in Early Intervention, inclusive practice, and family-centred support remain central to Noah’s Ark’s identity.

Our organisation continues to make a significant impact supporting the lives of children with disabilities and additional needs, their families, and the communities in which we all live and learn.

The past year has brought opportunities and challenges.

The operating environment remains complex, with uncertainty around Foundational Supports and ongoing changes in NDIS policy and funding.

Despite these pressures and complexities, Noah’s Ark’s response has been one of agility, innovation and integrity. All the while we remain focused on our mission.

Our ongoing advocacy for the introduction of targeted Foundational Supports, as recommended in the NDIS Review, includes the following key messages:

• These supports must recognise the role of the whole family and support inclusion in community settings; and
• A return to a more family and community-oriented model of service is essential.

We remain active in consultations about future services and believe any new approach must incorporate the Key Worker model, which Noah’s Ark pioneered.

This year we were honoured to participate in the Victorian Department of Education’s Disability Inclusion Research initiative alongside Deloitte and the Australian Council for Educational Research. This has reaffirmed our commitment to inclusive children’s services and highlighted the expertise within our organisation.

We are also continuing our commitment to bridging the gap between policy, research and practice through introducing the Embedded Learning Support approach to Australia, which is an evidence-based model that supports children with disabilities in early learning settings.

Our rural and regional teams continue to strengthen local partnerships through their work with schools and preschools. This enhances our impact alongside programs such as Strengthening Parent Support, as well as Communities for Children.

As a Board we remain focused on effective governance and strategic oversight.

I acknowledge our Chief Executive Officer John Forster for his visionary leadership across 25 years and thank our new Chief Operating Officer Penny Callaghan and the Corporate Services Team for their growing contributions.

To all Noah’s Ark staff—thank you. Your professionalism, empathy and dedication are the foundation of our work.

We look to the future with optimism and a renewed commitment to building a more inclusive society where every child can thrive. Thank you for your support.

Vikki Morris
Noah’s Ark President

CEO’s Report

Our purpose is clear: to shape a future in which every child can belong and learn, and every family feels supported to raise a child.

As we navigate change, and proudly continue our legacy, we do so with our purpose in mind.

We remain a key contributor to the development of services for children with disabilities and developmental delays across Victoria, NSW and the ACT.

Since our founding in 1971 as a toy library for children with disabilities, we have grown to provide a comprehensive approach to support children and families, employing over 300 skilled staff working with more than 3,900 clients annually.

At the heart of our work is the Key Worker model, where our team of Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Teachers and Psychologists deliver family-centred and routines-based therapy.

By embedding therapeutic goals into everyday home and community activities we empower families to naturally integrate developmental learning and achieve meaningful outcomes.

We use tools including the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure and annual surveys to ensure continuous improvement and regularly receive very positive feedback.

Inclusion remains central to our mission.

Alongside the Key Worker model, which includes working in Early Childhood Education and Care, our Preschool Field Officers enable children with complex needs to engage alongside peers in mainstream kindergartens. Our Inclusion Coaching and Meaningful Inclusion professional development series provide evidence-based strategies to embed inclusive practice.

Innovation continues with the Embedded Learning Support pilot developed with Massey University and the University of Florida, alongside resources such as the Child Agency Toolkit and My Child’s Choices workshops, which place children at the centre of decisions and support the development of independence. These initiatives reinforce our leadership in shaping inclusive approaches at state and national levels.

We have continued engagement with First Nations communities and support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

The 2024–25 year has been one of continued investment in our people, systems, and structures.

We prioritised both workforce development through our biennial Staff Forum and staff wellbeing by introducing a broad range of benefits and a new Enterprise Agreement to ensure a skilled, engaged workforce.

Our contribution to the design of Foundational Supports demonstrate our commitment to inclusion, family capability and community partnership.

We remain a strong advocate for families and high-quality services for all children, evidenced by contributing to consultations on the changes to the NDIS, as well as the development of Foundational Supports and inclusive educational programs and policy.

I extend my deepest gratitude to our dedicated staff, families and partners who make this possible and I thank the Board for its leadership and support at this important time.

John Forster
Noah’s Ark Chief Executive Officer

Championing Children’s Rights & Agency

Noah’s Ark continues to lead the way in promoting children’s rights and agency. Over the past year, we’ve built on this work through new partnerships, sector engagement and resource development.

In November 2024, we presented a webinar with PRECI, sharing our insights into child agency in early childhood intervention. In June 2025, we spoke at the OT Australia Conference about what children want from therapy and how well we’re listening. The strong interest in both events shows growing recognition across the sector that children’s voices matter.

We also supported PRECI’s resource development, offering feedback as part of an advisory group alongside Curtin University students. This collaboration helped shape tools that reflect real experiences and practical needs.

A major milestone was securing a $237,826 grant from the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. This funding is helping us adapt our Child Agency Toolkit training for external audiences, with 32 fully funded courses available to NDIS providers in 2025 and 2026.

The grant also supports new resources for families and young people. We’re developing a parent workbook and workshop series, with 40 sessions planned for delivery across 2025–26. A suite of online tools will be available on our website to help children and young people (aged 0–18) understand their rights and take part in decisions about their therapy and supports.

One of the most rewarding parts of this work has been co-designing resources with children and families. Their input has shaped what we create and how we deliver it, ensuring the content is clear, engaging and genuinely useful.

We’re proud to keep learning from children and families and to keep advocating for their voices to be heard.

To read more of our impact over the past year and view the annual financials, download the full 2025 Annual Report (PDF 3MB).

If you would like a hard copy of the report, you are welcome to email our Client Relations team: [email protected].