Dear Choklits Families,
February has come and gone as has summer. Autumn is a lovely time of year, with warm days, leaves falling and still the opportunity to enjoy indoor/outdoor activities in all the rooms. This month all of our incursions for 2018 are now back!
Ready Steady Go sessions on Monday afternoons, Rhythm & Moves music sessions on Wednesday mornings and yoga sessions on Friday mornings. Our library visits to the Salvation Army complex for this year are now alternating between Monday mornings and Thursday mornings weekly.
Our educators are implementing many stimulating experiences to our learning environment for children to gain knowledge from our interesting topics. The children celebrated Chinese New Year, Holi the Indian colour festival, they talked about the Winter Olympics, and washed tables and chairs and picked up rubbish for Clean Up Australia Day.
Jodi, our educational leader, has been busy this month, providing support, direction, mentoring and support all the educators with our curriculum to ensure each child is supported to achieve the outcomes of the approved learning framework. As a team, we will be focusing on our strengths and working on our weaknesses while working towards the goals we have set.
Changes to the National Quality Framework
Changes to the National Quality Standard (NQS) started from the 1st of February, 2018. These are aimed at continuing promotion of quality education and care at child care centres Australia wide.
The changes relate to the seven quality areas under the NQS that child cares are assessed against-
- Educational program and practice
- Children’s health and safety
- Physical environment
- Staffing arrangements
- 5. Relationships with children
- Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
- Governance and leadership
We will be reviewing our QIP (Quality Improvement Plan) over the next few months and are always looking for feedback and suggestions, please email us with input you have.
No Jab No Play- Government Update
From February the governments ‘No Jab No Play’ means no child can start in child care without an up to date immunisation history.
2017 Woolworths Earn and Learn Rewards
Last year Choklits participated in the ‘Earn and Learn’ program with Woolworths and Modern Teaching Aids. We collected over $6,000 worth of stickers, which enabled us to purchase some new equipment for the centre. We thank all those families who helped collect the stickers.
SunSmart Reminders
A reminder we are a SunSmart centre right up until the start of April. We apply sunscreen regularly during the day and all wear our hats when outside. Please dress your children appropriately, ensuring shoulders and the tops of arms covered.
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter! Our door is always open and we value family participation across all aspects of our program.
Until next time,
Sue
Recycling and Sustainability Update
In March we will be receiving our new recycling bin. At Choklits, we are committed to lowering our carbon footprint and doing our part in helping the environment. You will see new bins in all the rooms for the separation of rubbish and there will be a lot of dialogue with the children around recycling.
In addition to our sustainability and social responsibility plan, we have changed our staff toilet paper and tissue products to the brand called “Who Gives A Crap”. This company is determined to prove that toilet paper is about more than just wiping bums. They make all of their products with environmentally friendly materials, and donate 50% of their profits to help build toilets for those in need. To date, they’ve donated over $1,250,000 and saved a heck of a lot of trees, water and energy.
For more information and to get to know the founder of this organisation, please listen to this podcast –
Links to listen to the podcast via iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud can be found here. We will be swapping the children over to Who Gives A Crap products in the coming months.
During March, we will be planting out our sustainability garden. Thank you to everyone who helped us out with suggestions and tips. We have tracked down The Sage Garden who are coming out to Choklits to help guide us through planting our first crops! As always, we’ll keep you posted, there’ll be plenty of updates on our Choklits Facebook Page too.
Here’s how we built the garden, in less than 1 minute-
Stay tuned for other sustainability updates throughout the year including the installation of our new water tank. If you have any recycling or sustainability tips please let us know by email.
Whats happening at Choklits in March
Sage Garden Incursion to help get our sustainability garden planted
Lots of Easter activities, including our famous Easter Egg Hunt.
Important Changes to Child Care Subsidy 2018
The Australian government is introducing a new child care package from July 2nd, 2018. The existing Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate will be replaced by a new Child Care Subsidy. Under the new package, the amount of subsidy paid by the government to help cover a family’s child care fees will change for many people. It is important to know about the changes now, so you can make informed decisions about your future. The easiest way to work out how much subsidy you are eligible for is through the “Family Child Care Subsidy Estimator” located at education.gov.au/childcare. It’s easy to use and only takes a few minutes to fill out.Staff Member Acknowledgement
This month we would like to acknowledge both Sue Brewer and Tracey Perkins for helping manage access to the centre through the back gate in both the mornings and afternoons. They ensured everyone was safe and even gave out umbrellas to those who needed them on rainy days. Sue and Tracey are very valued and hardworking team members at Choklits, thank you both!
Storypark Update
We have had an overwhelming response to the platform so far, if you haven’t already signed up or would like more information please, speak to the educators in your room or head to the Storypark website
What do you need to do now? We have created and invite you to your child’s Storypark community. All you need to do is accept the invite and participate.
We welcome your feedback and look forward to providing an even more responsive, innovative and valuable experience for you and your child.
Cooking with Choklits
Have you seen our new menu? Please visit our Choklits blog for all recipes and menus. If you have any delicious recipes you would like us to know about please email them to us.
Policy Review and Staff Training
We review different policies and procedures at Choklits every month. All of our policies and procedures are available for your review in the foyer of the centre and our educators are here to help with any questions. This month we have been reviewing our Health and Volunteering Policy, for more information or if you would like to have input into any of our policies please email Sue.
Keep Up-to-Date
Please give our Facebook Page a like. It’s a great way to keep up to date with all the latest happenings at Choklits including events, recipes and special incursions.
Parent Feedback and Input
We welcome any feedback from our families, if you would like to have a chat please come and see us in the office or send any questions or concerns to us via email.
Our Centres
(03) 9879 5888