salisbury child care
AUTUMN SNIPPETS ISSUE 1/4 | AUTUMN 2012
inside this issue | 01/4 | AUTUMN 2012
news from the office
upcoming & recent events
on our bookshelf staff news a warm welcome from your pac
save the date
news from the kitchen
meet our team
cooking with Monica
meet Brooke meet Lisa & meet Diana
general news
room news
staff room placements
bumblebees dragonflies lady bugs
news from the office For those families new to our Centre, we have this newsletter which we publish every quarter to keep all parents up to date with Centre news, developments and changes. If parents have anything they would like to contribute to future newsletters, please do not hesitate to speak with Lisa or Ewa. We also offer free advertising of family businesses in this newsletter. If you or a family member has a business or hobby they would like to advertise – please see Lisa or Ewa and provide us with business card. We will then scan this into the Snippets and your business will be advertised to all our parents and their friends. All Educators are working extremely hard in the rooms to implement the new Early Years Framework that was introduced nationally as of the 1.1.2012. I am very proud of the team and all that they achieve each day and I’m confident that all parents have seen the changes to the style of programming, observations and the our new approach in extending the knowledge of our young learners. All Educators are undertaking specialized training courses to extend their knowledge of the new Curriculum that is being implemented. In W.A we are waiting for the State Government to pass the New National Child Care Regulations and the New National Law Act and we keep parents up to date when this occurs. We are in the process of completing our Quality Improvement Plan for the Centre. All elements in the New Quality Standards are reviewed and a self-assessment living document is updated when the goals we set are achieved and completed, the QIP is an ongoing process as there are always opportunities to improve procedures. This is available for parents to view once it is finished. If parents have any feedback that they would like to see within the service you are welcome to write down suggestions and let the office staff know your ideas. If you have any questions or would like some more information about the National Early Years Framework please don’t hesitate to ask. Warm regards
Lisa Ewa &
on our bookshelf You may have noticed the books that are for sale in the foyer on the shelf? These books are for sale to all families. Why not take advantage of the discounted offers that are provided to us by the bookclubs that kindly leave their books there for us to look at monthly. If you would like to order any of these books you will need to write your name on the order form and mark which book/s you would like to purchase. Then next to the EFTPOS machine there are book club slips, fill it out accordingly and place the money and the slip into the plastic money bag and pop it in the fees slot. All money must be paid before the books are delivered or you will miss out. The books are delivered to Lisa in the office and she will then distribute them to you. If you have any further queries see Lisa and she will be able to help you!
staffing allocations
Just a friendly reminder to parents once again who their staff are in their rooms for 2012. Bumblebees Silvana Room Leader, Qualified Educator Lisa Qualified Educator Rachel Assistant Educator Disa (Mon&Fri) Assistant Educator Ladybugs Emma Room Leader, Qualified Educator Brooke Assistant Educator Sheila Assistant Educator Marie Assistant Educator Dragonflies Chevon Room Leader, Qualified Educator Diana Qualified Educator Support Staff in Dragonflies Blair
Qualified Educator
Float Staff Disa Assistant Educator Amy Assistant Educator Vicki, Monika, Ros Qualified Educator Tina Assistant Educator Kitchen
Asoka and Monica
Office Lisa and Ewa
staff news returning
Amy has returned from maternity leave and is now working 3 days per week, on a Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Amy will be floating around the centre to where ever she is needed. It’s great to have Amy back in the centre!
leaving We are sad to report that Julie finished working here on the 13th of March. Julie has been a part of the City of Bayswater Child Care organisation for over 23 years and for the past 4 years has been based at Salisbury as our Inclusion Support Worker. We wish you the best of luck Julie with your new adventure and we will miss you too!
illness As you all know Asoka is away on leave indefinitely. We have nothing new to report from Asoka but we will keep you posted as to when she has more of an idea of what is going on. We miss you Asoka.
new faces You may have noticed a new face around the centre. We wish to welcome our new trainee, Marilyn. She has come on board for the next 12 months to complete her certificate III traineeship. Marilyn will be floating between the rooms and taking over from some of the staff when they are on leave. She has fitted into the Salisbury just nicely!”
what’s cooking ... with monica Monica has been working very hard devising new menus
with delicious meals and snacks for the coming months. If parents would like to contribute any ideas or bring along ‘ favourite’ recipes for us to try, please see Monica. Any contri butions are greatly appreciated. Monica would like to share one of the children’s favourite recipes so you can try it home.
cheese muffins. Ingredients1 cup of grated cheese 1 cup of self raising flour Pinch of salt Half a teaspoon of sugar Dash of paprika 1 egg 1 cup of milk Method1. Mix cheese, self raising flour, salt, sugar and paprika in a bowl and mix lightly 2. In a small bowl beat eggs and milk until combined. Pour liquid into dry ingredients then fold the two mixtures together, taking care not to over mix. 3. Spoon mixture into muffin trays, cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown 4. Sprinkle a little extra cheese on top when they are finished (optional) 5. Enjoy! Please remember to provide your child with a piece of fruit on the days they attend.
a warm welcome to 2012 from the parent committee On behalf of the PAC I welcome you all to the first newsletter for 2012. Each year the PAC like to take this opportunity to let you know who we are and what we do. Many of you will know the members of our committee as parents in your child’s room. We are: •
Lisa Bevan , President
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Tim Priest, Vice President
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Tanya Dobbie, Treasurer
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Liz Perkins, Secretary
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Kelly Matusik, Newsletter Coordinator
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Anne Appel, General Committee Member
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Virginia Prescott, General Committee Member
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Lisa Foote, General Committee Member
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Danielle Darragh, General Committee Member
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Damian Lailey, General Committee Member
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Nicola Messervy, General Committee Member
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Neshka Turner, General Committee Member
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Carmen Maughan, General Committee Member
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Caroline Seubert, General Committee Member
Why have a parent committee? Due to the high skill level of Ewa, Lisa and the rest of the team I have to say that we are not required to do a great deal. Our main function is as follows: •
We raise issues that are communicated to us by parents of the centre and seek or direct them towards the appropriate resolution.
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We manage fundraising levys and fund allocation to ensure the purchase of equipment and resources. On average this equates to around $3,000.
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We allocate funds to key areas that have been identified by Ewa and Lisa. At present we moving over to a new National curriculum and regulatory system so we will be ensuring that educators have the resources and facilities required to allow a smooth transition.
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Part of my role as PAC president is to represent our centre at the City of Bayswater Child Care Centre Management Committee as required. At present we are reviewing direct debit facilities as Lisa has received overwhelming requests for this payment arrangement from parents.
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With staff feedback we also provide an advisory role on facility upgrades to ensure that we achieve best possible outcomes for the children.
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We are also research grant opportunities to assist us in the purchase of new equipment and upgrades to the centre.
We always welcome new members to our committee. Meetings are held every second month at the centre. If you are interested we invite you to come and see what we do and share a cuppa and a sweet treat in an informal environment. Alternatively, please see Lisa or Ewa for more information. Salisbury Child Care Centre has a reputation for being one of the best child care centres in WA which is due to the professionalism and dedication staff put into programming and supporting the needs our children. As parents on the PAC we feel it is our role to provide representation so that staff have the resources and tools they require to ensure these quality practices can continue long into the future. On behalf of the PAC Committee, I would like to welcome all new families to the Salisbury community and enjoy the continued support of our returning families. I look forward to seeing you all soon at one of the family networking opportunities that we have planned in the upcoming months. Warm regards, Lisa Bevan
upcoming meeting dates •
Monday 16th July
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Friday 19th October - AGM
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Monday 5th November
All meetings are held here at the centre and start at 6pm where we hope to see you there!
fundraising vs fundraising levy We would like to give the new families to Salisbury some background information regarding the fundraising levy. all of our families are very busy and do not always have the time to contribute to fundraising events. The centre still needs to raise much needed money to purchase toys and equipment not included in the general budget. Over the past years we have introduced the Fundraising Levy which is a voluntary contribution of a once off annual payment of $50.00 (this is less that a $1.00 per week over the year). This was very successful in past years, so it was decided that we will continue the levy into 2012. The invoices for the levy are distributed to all families. Please support us in our fundraising efforts. This money is only sued to purchase equipment for your children to play with. Thank you everyone for all your contributions to date!
fundraising achievements for the centre
Show the photos of the Ikea purchases. $500 was given to each room to shop at Ikea.
recent events Baby Liam had a bath on Wednesday 29th February
Crazy Hair Day on Friday 16th March
Cooking pizza’s and learning Italian words on Harmony Day with Ash’s Mum and Nonna on Wednesday 21st March
Baby Chance comes for a visit on Tuesday 3rd April
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Easter Egg Hunt on Thursday 5th April
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Jungle Party ‘The Celebration of Difference’ Thursday 26th April
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Spineless Wonders (Insect Incursion) Friday 11th May
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Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea on Friday 11th May
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Happy Feet Multicultural Incursion on Monday 14th May
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Centre’s Busy Bee on Sunday 20th May
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National Simultaneous Story Time ‘The Very Cranky Bear’ on Wednesday 23rd May
upcoming events (save the date) friday 6th july
Wine and Cheese Night (look out for the invite!)
wednesday 11th july Farm Yard on Wheels incursion
tuesday 26th June Pyjama Day
wednesday 28th & thursday 29th august Centres Photo Day for the children
tuesday 23rd October Children’s Week Excursion to the Keith Maine Centre, Whiteman’s Park (Kindy Children only)
friday 19th October Centre’s Annual Family Night and AGM
immunisation Just a reminder to all parents, that if your child has had any recent updates to their immunisation, please remember to bring them into the centre, so we can copy them and update our records.
if your child is ill (centre exclusion policy) A reminder to all families about the centre’s exclusion policy. This is provided within the parent handbook (pages 14-15) and within the health policy. Children with infectious diseases will be excluded from care in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines and the Children and Communities (Child Care) Regulations – Regulation 96 (3, 4, 5, 6). If your child/ren displays any of the following symptoms in the 12 hours prior to attending day care please do not bring the child/ren in as staff cannot accept them into the centre, and will suggest you take them to the doctor:
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Ear discharge or Conjunctivitis – Sticky eyes with yellow/white discharge
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Diarrhoea and vomiting (24 hours in these cases)
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Unexplained rashes
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Infectious sore
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Any obvious signs of infectious diseases.
A medical certificate / clearance are required after contracting an infectious disease or having an operation such as a tonsillectomy, before a child can be accepted back into the centre. If in doubt about a medical clearance – ASK FOR ONE!
important things to remember Each family needs to provide the following items twice per year to help keep costs down. Thank you for any help you can give: Each family needs to provide the following items twice per year to help keep costs down. Thank you for any help you can give: 1. 1 box of tissues 2. 1 x 4 pack of Toilet Tissue 3. 1 packet of wet wipes We hope all the new families settle into our centre and become a part of our ‘BIG’ family. We look forward to lots of smiley faces. Thank you once again.
collection for asoka Lots of parents have been asking if there is anything that they can do for Asoka at this time. This was raised at our last Parent Advisory Committee meeting in March. The PAC decided that they will do a collection for Asoka. We will be putting a tin on Lisa’s desk in the office for parent’s to make any donation that you feel fit. Once all the money has been collected we will put it towards something like a shopping voucher, to fund a cleaner for her house or something along those lines. Any donations will be greatly appreciated as we want to show Asoka and her family our support at this time. Flowers have been sent to her on behalf of the staff, parents and families also.
bumblebees Hello from the Bumblebees Room. Well we have had a great start to the year and we would like to welcome all the new families to the Bumblebees room. We can’t believe how well you have all settled in your new environment. Although it was a little difficult for some of you, (including Mum and Dad) you have all adjusted to these changes. We look forward to getting to know you all and your little personalities and please feel free to ring anytime throughout the day if you would like to know how your child is doing. We said goodbye to the older Bumblebees who recently graduated to the Lady Bugs room. We can see you are all having lots of fun in your new room. We miss you all but you are only a few steps away and we just love it when you come and visit us. We would like to say a big thankyou to all you wonderful families that have donated toys to our room. They all come to good use and the children just love it when we bring out something new for them to play with. We would also like to say a HUGE THANKYOU to the PAC for the money you have given us to buy new resources for our room. We had so much fun shopping, buying new things and we just loved decorating the room. We invite you all to come in and browse around the room to see all the exciting new things we bought. THANKYOU VERY MUCH! We value parent input to the curriculum, it is a very important part of your child’s learning and development. Please remember to fill out your child’s “my child form” when given so we could extend on your child’s interests. Well that is it for now, we look forward to the year ahead watching you Children grow and learn. Love Silvana, Lisa and Rachel
dragon flies Hi everyone Well another Year has begun and we are all working very hard together to make this a really good Year. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome new families to our day-care and welcome back to the families that were here last year and before. The dragon fly room is a very busy place to be with lots of activity and plenty of fun to be had. We have been learning about the artic and the animals that live there and we have been having little exhibits in ice to show the children how COLD it really is in the artic. The children did some lovely Collage of animals from the artic and they have been displayed on the walls. From that we went to the Weather here in Perth and we have our calendar that we ask the children what Month, day, and date is every day at morning mat session. Then the children tell us what the weather is like and we put a symbol on the calendar next to the date. There are a lot of ‘Suns� and no rain symbols yet but we are all hoping to see some of the rain symbols soon. We also check the outside temperature on the thermometer gauge. We then made a Weather indicator and the children enjoyed painting and gluing for this project. We are going to be learning about the seasons soon. We have started to talk about Shapes and how shapes are found everywhere in the room and outside and the children are keen to find the shapes. We have been dancing and playing games (circle) games and music games. We have played Parachute games and of course outside play when it’s not too hot. On that note PLEASE can you make sure that your child has a suitable hat (NAMED) and also appropriate clothes eg no shoestring straps or tank tops, Cute as they are they are not enough protection from the suns harmful rays. We would like to start a photo gallery on our wall so please could you provide a photo of your child with the family so that we can make this gallery happen. We will look forward To seeing all our families and talking about them to the children.
On several occasions throughout the year you will be asked to fill a small form out that asks what your child and their family did through the week or over the weekend. Please jot a couple of things down and give it to one of the staff............... From this we will provide an activity that relates to your child’s experience to bring the home life to day-care. When this is completed we will leave it near the signing in book and we would Like you to read through it and Sign it (comments are welcomed). You will get a copy eventually but this one must stay on the table for our records so PLEASE do NOT take it home. The signing in and Out form is VERY important and we ask that you PLEASE remember to sign in and Out each time you come to day-care If there is anything you are not sure about or that you would like to discuss with us please come and a see us. If you feel that you can contribute to the programme by word or deed come and see us. The Programme is always displayed on the Wall and also any learning web that we are doing. Please feel free to look at it and comment if you wish to. We look forward to a happy and exciting year in the Dragonfly room. Warm regards Chevon and Diana
lady bugs A big welcome to all our new and old Ladybugs, We hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and new year! And can you believe it, Easters closer than ever! We are happy to say that all our new ladybugs are settling in happily, along with our graduates who have moved up to the dragonflies room. We have had a busy beginning to the year where we have enjoyed celebrating Australia Day, Harmony Day, St Patricks and we even had a crazy hair day where we contributed to the Leukemia Foundations Worlds greatest Shave Day. We all had so much fun doing our hair in some wonderful and wacky hair do’s. We are happy to report that our vedgie garden is going very well, we have had a number of cucumbers and more recently some curly carrots. Our herbs are growing well and we are all taking very good care to water them every day and loving watching them grow. Some of our favourite things to do at daycare are to use our imaginations, in the dramatic play corners. We have so much fun dressing up and having tea parties. With the hot days we have also really enjoyed lots of water play A big Happy Birthday to our ladybugs that have turned the big 2 over the past few months. Isabelle, Lauren Josh, Verity, Meike, Eva, Owen, Sebastian and Juno xxx We hope you all have a safe and wonderful easter! From all the Ladybugs Emma, Brooke, Sheila and Marie Also you may have noticed a large A3 scrapbook in the room. This book contains the week’s previous curriculums, observations and events and games we have been up to. Please feel free to look through and express any feedback to the girls. You are welcome to write in it and /or write on the week’s curriculum which is located on the wall. We appreciate all feedback, and any input you would like to share into the curriculum.
staff profiles
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Recently we asked our staff to partake in the giving forth of information .. possibly with items that you don’t know about the carers who take loving care of your prescious ones. •
How long have you worked at the centre for?
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What’s your favourite meal that Asoka makes?
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What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
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What hobbies do you enjoy?
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What’s your favourite TV show?
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What’s the funniest thing a child has said to you?
Turn over to view their answers.
Introducing Brooke •
3 years
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Spaghetti bolognese, apple & custard
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Seeing the children grow and develop day by day
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Playing basketball, going to the gym
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Packed to the Rafters & My Kitchen Rules
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I called a child by the wrong name then was promptly approached by another child who came up to tell me “that’s not his name!”
Introducing Lisa •
A year come June
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Love, love, love her custard and her yummy curry mince
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Seeing all the welcoming smiling faces in the morning and cuddle time. (A big warm hug can solve many a problem)
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Road trips, going for walks and enjoying the sunshine
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I’m a sucker for reality TV shows, enjoyed the latest MKR and love the aussie drama series Packed to the Rafters
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Probably when my 17yr old son asked if he could borrow my car ha ha ha
Introducing Diana • 20 years • Vegetable curry • Watching children grow and learn new things each day • Socializing with friends, eating out, entertaining • Too many to name • You look like a dog!! (I have vitiligo a skin condition)