January in review

January has flown by and all the children and staff have now settled into their rooms. The children have spent the month getting to know their new Educators, new routines and meeting new friends. Last month we celebrated the beautiful country that we live in, as we celebrated Australia week.

We also had a JB dance come in and provide some dance sessions to our preschoolers which was greatly received and much fun! In addition, our preschoolers also enjoyed another special event which involved teaching our preschoolers how to be safe around dogs.

Some exciting new improvements have been occurring within the centre grounds, next to the Gumnuts yard we have an enclosed veggie patch. Over the next few weeks the children will be assisting our resident horticulturist Mr Matt to plant a variety of plants that the children can tend & care for. This will be a space which is available for all of the children to utilise & explore.

In the Snugglepot room we have expanded the yard to increase space for our Snugglepots to play, explore and learn. We have also added some beautiful 50-year-old olive trees added to the snugglepots outdoor environment. We will learn how to care and nurture for these beautiful trees as they grow and provide beautiful shade as well as learn some new skills including picking and harvesting some beautiful olives with our resident horticulturist Mr Matt. Along with the expansion of our Snugglepots yard have also expanded our outdoor undercover area which has been fully replaced with new flooring & a high pitched roof allowing for better airflow & cooler space for our Snugglepots to enjoy.

a note from our approved provider

A busy month of January has already flown past at Erina kindergarten with lots of improvements to our Gumnuts and Snugglepots yards and replacement of furniture to the our Snugglepots, Bushbabies and Gumnuts rooms.

Our next outdoor area for improvement will be our bushbabies yard which we will be commencing over the next couple of weeks.

We will also be looking to upgrade the furnishings in our preschool rooms over the coming months to allow for providing a safe, responsive and nurturing environment to support the learning and development of our preschoolers at Erina kindergarten.

I would also like to take the time to thank our families for your patience with the change of providership for Erina kindergarten, your understanding & assistance is greatly appreciated. Most of our families have now confirmed their CCS enrolment if you have not done this please contact Alycia or Emma in our administration office between 8am-4pm urgently to avoid being billed at full fees.

We would also like to assure families that the change of Providership was merely a formality and this has not impacted out day to operations as I remain dedicated to the Approved Providership of Erina kindergarten & Ashlea O’Rourke will remain the Director. We are also very excited to welcome a new Deputy Director Kylie Lenthall to Erina kindergarten on Monday 18^th February. Kylie will be working permanently in the Snugglepots room on a Monday in the team leader role to assist Mel English in this busy room and will be assisting Ashlea on the other days in the daily busy duties if the Centre. Kylie is a qualified teacher and will be at the centre 4 days per week and comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience in childcare and leadership compliance management. We look forward to working with Kylie to continue to strive in excellence in exceeding the standards in childcare on the Central Coast.

Family input and communication

Family input is a vital part of the Early Years learning Framework. As educators we encourage families to share their interests, skills and culture with the service allowing educators to include cultural learning activities, learning activities that extend on individual children’s interests and strengths and activities and life outside the service that children are linked to. This input ensures that children feel like they belong, have a positive self identity and they understand their place in the world.

Family input can be in the form of an email to the Centre, completing a family weekend sheet (this can be located next to your child’s roll) or through discussion with your child’s educators.

Arrival and departure of children to and from Erina kindergarten

A reminder to all families that all children must be signed in by their parent or person who delivers the child to our service. All children must also be signed out by their parent or person who collects the child from our service. If you are experiencing any problems with signing in/out of the IPAD in the room please see the room leader or contact speak to reception during office hours 8am-4pm. This is for the safety of all our children at the service.

Car park speed limit

SAFETY_SIGNS_-_SPEED_LIMIT_5KM_-_MANDATORY

Please be reminded that the speed limit in the car park is 5km/ph. We have observed a number of cars doing well over the speed limit in the car park recently and it is extremely dangerous with young children getting in and out of cars and walking into the Preschool. As the car park is very busy please ensure you are supervising your children at all times. Please be aware we are also adding an extra speed hump at the start of our car park to remind our busy parents about our speed limit.

Educator of the month

Our Educator of the Month is Miss Nichol from the Joeys room for providing an engaging curriculum & learning environment. Miss Nichol is an exceptional teacher who prides herself in providing an exceptional school readiness program for all the children in her care.

Policy Updates

Please see attached to this email the following updated policies for 2019: Administration of authorised medications, Animal & pet policy, Fee Structure & updated Fee policy- The updated Fee policy gives details about the discounts we have available to our families. Please ensure you review the terms & conditions so you can fully take advantage of these great discounts.

We aim to have all of our policies available to our families & will continue to attach policies to each newsletter. Policies will be available on our website and available in hard copy at reception. If you have any questions or feedback in regards to our policies please do not hesitate to contact us or email us at info@erinakindergarten.com.au

Hats

Please ensure your child is arriving at Kindy each day with a hat, and you are taking their hat home with them each day. We do stress the need to bring a hat daily with your child & it will be stored in their individual locker promoting responsibility & ownership of the children for their belonging & improve the hygienic storage of hats. Children will be asked to wear hats for outdoor play. Children who do not have a hat, must play in sheltered areas or stay inside.

Annual School Reunion

Our annual school reunion will be held on Friday the 8^th of March at 3:30pm in the field. We invite all of our children who have started their primary school journey in 2019 to come back in their uniform & catch up with their educators & friends.

Have you liked us on Facebook?

We have found that facebook has been a fantastic and easy way to communicate with families about what is happening at Erina Kindergarten and what events are coming up. We would love and so much appreciate you to head over to our page and provide us with some feedback and a rating of our centre.

Events Planner 2019

Our Event Planner for 2018 is now live online. We will email you a copy or visit the planner by using the link. We look forward to seeing you at our many exciting events.

NEWSLETTER