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LIFELONG LEARNING: THE JOURNEY BEGINS‌ It can be said with certainty that the Lifelong Learning School Readiness Program is in full swing! January saw the opportunity for educational leaders and ECTs to connect with each other and the education and marketing teams during the training phase in each state. While the dynamics of the groups and location of each session were different, the engagement, commitment and enthusiasm of all participants was inspiring. The feedback received demonstrated that there are some extremely passionate and motivated educators in all corners of the country and the future of the program is in great hands with leaders such as those present.
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Lifelong Learning - Affinity Education Group
The Lifelong Learning School Readiness Program is a framework that aims to support children to develop positive dispositions to ongoing learning. It fosters the evolving skill sets necessary to prepare children not only for school but for a lifetime and to embrace relationships with families and connectedness to communities in ways that are meaningful and genuine. The program aligns perfectly with the approved learning frameworks throughout Australia, therefore most elements of current programs fit within the Lifelong Learning framework. You would now be familiar with the resources that support the program, including the educator’s handbook, the family handbook and the centre working board. These resources can be used to
communicate the intentions of the program and to articulate the connections between what children are learning and engaging in and the relevance to the development and skills required for school and beyond. One passionate Early Childhood Teacher from a trial centre explained the implementation of the Lifelong Learning program:
‘My conversations with children and families changed as I was supported by the resources. It made a clearer picture for families to see the value of how I was planning, and the way and what their children were learning. The Lifelong Learning School Readiness Program is like a frame that borders my pedagogical documentation and practice.’
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ONGOING SUPPORT AND RESOURCES
With anything unfamiliar, people can often feel unsure or overwhelmed. We have made sure that there are plenty of avenues to obtain support when you feel you may need it.
THE LEARNING HUB http://affinityeducation.e3learning.com.au The Learning Hub is an online platform that houses professional development modules, supporting documentation, interesting and relevant articles and policy updates. Under the resources tab, you will find a dedicated Lifelong Learning School Readiness folder. This folder contains:
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Lifelong Learning - Affinity Education Group
●● PDF copies of the resources including the educator’s
handbook, parent’s handbook and the in centre working board. These can be used to copy and paste pictures into centre newsletters or quality profiles.
●● Approved learning frameworks. These are here as a
reference point to ensure your programs align with them.
●● Transition statement. This is branded with the
Lifelong Learning School Readiness program and has been adapted from all state and territory education department templates to include all essential sections. It is recommended that you become familiar with these at the beginning of the year so they are not unfamiliar to you when you are completing them with families during the last quarter of the year.
●● Family contribution form. This has be created for
families to share their knowledge and expectations early in your professional relationship. It can be used to revisit shared expectations and assess achievements and goals.
●● Facilitator’s guide and PowerPoint presentation. This
is the presentation used during the sessions so those who attended can share their knowledge with their teams.
●● Participants guide. This is the work book provided
during the session and contains the Lifelong Learning School Readiness commitment and brief explanation of the PowerPoint slides.
●● Links to EYLF outcomes and National Quality
Standards. This document identifies the Learning Outcomes and that align with the intentions in the Lifelong Learning School Readiness program. It also contains definitions as attached to the learning tags on Storypark. Also included are links between the intentions and elements of the National Quality Standards.
●● Provocations for the Intentions. This is a document
compiled of opportunities, conversations and provocations that fall within the six intentions: 4 for children and the family and community intentions. This list is by no means complete but gives you a starting point. To give you a set list of experiences to implement would not be relevant to your children or to your context but these are simply some ideas of how experiences and opportunities can link with the intentions.
●● State and territory specific resources. Resources
provided by state and territory education departments are included in these folders. They are stored in the folders as to who created the resource, although they also contain general information that is relevant to each state and territory so have a browse, you may find them useful and interesting.
●● Other interesting articles. These will be sourced and
uploaded as they are discovered to share ideas of best practice and reflection. If you come across an interesting article you’d like to share, please forward it to quality@affinityeducation.com.au
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INCLUDESUDES Affinity Network groups Those who attended a session will have completed a page in their workbooks of the details of fellow attendees in their state. These contacts can be used to touch base regularly, offer support, ask questions or share experiences. Connecting with like-minded people is a great way to stay motivated and reflect on practice.
Education Team Michellena or Fiona at quality@affinityeducation.com.au if you have any questions, concerns, ideas to share or any other feedback.
Marketing Team Michael or Brittany can be contacted at marketing@affinityeducation.com.au and can support you in ordering or replacing any resources.
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RESOURCES
Those whom attended the sessions took away some special goodies that we hope will continue to inspire and support professional practice and ongoing learning. The ECA 2016 Early Years Daily Planner is a
popular diary for early childhood educators and teachers in the early years. It has a practical layout that includes ample writing space for recording reflections, notes, meetings, focuses, interactions and learning experiences. This planner also features daily tips and reflections written by Early Childhood Australia (ECA) and features over 250 early years learning tips linked to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and National Quality Standard (NQS), which are aimed at supporting educators in their profession.
Your Child’s First Year at School: Getting off to
a good start is written by experienced parenting experts Jenni Connor and Pam Linke, and is endorsed by the Australian Primary Principals Association. This top-selling book is for parents with children starting school. It not only provides a wealth of practical ideas, but also deeper information based on research into young children’s learning. It explains what children will be learning and why, and how parents can help. Parents are the safe base from which children can move out to explore the world, to learn and grow and become socially confident, responsible young people. Families always have so many questions when their children are starting school. This book offers practical and useful everyday advice to help parents and new students handle a year of changes and challenges. This resource supports the information provided to families within the family handbook.
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Lifelong Learning - Affinity Education Group
In addition to these, we wanted to provide you with additional resources to add to your centre educators library. Having great quality text books that provide current research in practice is important to ensure your education teams are able to source the best information and tools that can assist in continuous improvement. The following titles will be arriving shortly! Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments (2nd ed) by Deb Curtis and Margie Carter Designs for living and learning has been a favorite resource among educators and caregivers for more than a decade, and this new edition is packed with even more ideas that can be used as you create captivating environments that nurture children, families, and staff while supporting children’s learning.
Inspiring ideas to support children’s interest by Susie Rosback, Natalie Coulson and Lease Cowen Children under five years of age share many common interests. This book takes 10 areas of interest that most early childhood services would cover in their programming and explores them in detail.
Inspiring Spaces for Young Children by Jessica DeViney, Sandra Duncan, Sara Harris, Mary Ann Rody, Lois Rosenberry Enhance environments in a beautiful way by emphasizing aesthetic environmental qualities such as nature, colour, furnishings, textures, displays, lighting, and focal points. This book will guide you through the process of transforming classrooms into creative, beautiful learning spaces.
Sustainability and the Early Years Learning Framework by Sue Elliott As momentum around early childhood education for sustainability has built over the last decade, it is evident that starting sustainably in early childhood is not only possible, but also necessary. For children, families and educators to collaboratively construct sustainable early child communities is the goal and this can be facilitated by implementing the EYLF through a lens of sustainability.
Learning pathways: A framework for activity based learning by Claire Warden This book explores the methodology of the active learning approach. Full colour throughout it uses photographs to enable staff to ‘visualise’ effective organisation and quality provision required to enable active learning.
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SO, WHERE FROM HERE? Have you; Looked through the Lifelong Learning School Readiness Learning Tags on Storypark? Held an information share session with the educators at your centre to inform of them of the implementation and intentions around the Lifelong Learning School Readiness program? Initiated conversations with your families using the resources to support these discussions? Connected with at least one person on your networking page? Browsed the supporting resources in the Lifelong Learning folder on the Learning Hub?
VOICES FROM THE FIELD – WHAT DID YOU SAY? Listening to you on Friday was the first time I have heard someone speak about the value of our role as educators and share a passion for keeping these little people our focus. It encourages me to know there are people like you in the company and the conversations are also about quality not just marketing and selling. I see you have a good balance there. So thank you. Veronica Ramsden, Lead Educator, Tadpoles Brisbane Airport, QLD
As a result from the “lifelong learning session” I am truly excited with what lies ahead for our centre, myself, the families and the children. To be honest I went to the seminar a little bit apprehensive on what to expect. I have a passion for early childhood education and hold my personal philosophy (socio-cultural basedVygotsky, Bronfenbrenner, Malaguzzi) very close to my heart. I was concerned that I may be forced to practice a school readiness program that does not mould into my philosophy… …I was refreshed to see that Affinity accepts this view and does not try and change the individual teachers within its company. My other concern was that we were going to be asked to program a certain way. I am of the belief that teachers are professionals and individuals. Through regular reflection, teachers and educators should be able to create their own program promoting ownership over what they do and how they plan and a deeper understanding as to why they do this. I again was pleasantly surprised. I thank you all for this. I found a focus on the children and the families within our centres - a focus on quality of what we deliver and looking at something unique to assist the teachers, families and children with that important transition to school. I found this was not dictated through a curriculum by Affinity, however supported through the lifelong learning program. This is what spoke to me personally – the lifelong program being a program based on holistic learning but open ended and not a dictated program.
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The lifelong learning program spoke to me. It lifted my passion for the industry and cemented the decision that yes, I am a teacher and this is where I should be. I am ready for the challenge. But I am not ready to give up the centre manager job so, with a great admin assistant, I am ready to do both. I love a challenge. The lifelong learning program reminded me about what I believe child care is about. Children, families and providing the best quality care available inclusive of building children to be successful learners and members of the community. That is what we, here at Village Kids Gulliver, are all about. I would also like to add, that it was wonderful to see Affinity Education invest time and resources into this program… … And seeing this program really makes me a proud member of Affinity Education Group – who do value quality care and value educational programs provided by its centres. Jacqui Watkins, Centre Manager, Village Kids Gulliver, QLD
I felt I have gained a lot of confidence as a leader from this session in many ways. The main thing being the better reflection on my own emotions and how to better my coaching discussions with others. I personally really enjoyed many parts of the session, particularly being able to network with other ECT, 2IC and educational leaders. I feel as an ECT this could be very useful to have other ECT to talk to with any new changes that come into education. Lifelong Learning for me is like a dream come true in that it’s a program to explain to families what we really do in Kindergarten. Natalya Bryan, Kindergarten Teacher/2IC, Early Learning Centre Norman Gardens, QLD
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VOICES FROM THE FIELD – WHAT DID YOU SAY? I have attended a lot of launching of new programs throughout my years in the Education sector and there has always been this mountain of paperwork that has been included with this process and I think it has always been this that has been the greatest barrier to change. I honestly feel with this new Readiness Program, there is a lot we are already doing and basically I feel it is a super way to communicate with children, families and the community. There is nothing to fear in this I feel only to embrace it. We definitely need to create stronger relationships with all of our stakeholders, and that is exactly what I feel this will accomplish. Claudette Snell, Centre Manager, A Step Ahead Jindalee, WA
Honestly I got home from the training yesterday and was absolutely buzzing!! I had 1000 awesome ideas and new ways of thinking all buzzing through my head… In regards to the school readiness program I am more than very excited to start implementing this at my centre. It is, as discussed at the PD, all what we are already implementing and therefore no extra work for staff but it is presented in a way that is easy to understand and relatable for parents. It is really relative to the parts of education and care that I am passionate about so I am excited to get my team on board too! Phoenix Hogg, Centre Manager/Educational Leader, A Step Ahead Bassendean, WA
I absolutely loved the session and learnt so much from it. The school readiness session was very informative and I am so excited to take it back to my centre and tell the staff and later the parents. I hope the program will answer a lot of questions for parents and help educators to not only explain it to parents but to be a lot more motivated. Jennifer Limb, Lead educator, Imaginations Early Learning Centre, NSW
I really liked the Life Long Learning School Readiness Program. I think it is very timely and that it affirms what I believe as an educator, that we are helping build a good foundation for each child. In the end, we want them to be active citizens of the world… … As educators, we are preparing them to be confident, openminded, problem-solvers of issues that we don’t even know yet. Monica Receunco, ECT, Shiny Star South Strathfield
It was so inspiring to be a part of yesterday’s training. The calibre of trainers and relevance in the training in relation to the early childhood sector is of real added value to our company. I am very proud and very grateful to be a part of the initiatives and benefits of working for AEG. I would like to sincerely thank you for you the opportunities available for professional development and look forward to implementing these in the work place. Theresa Pulu, Centre Manager, Early Learning Centre Coomera, QLD
I had some great positive feedback about today’s training, the few Educator’s that I spoke to were really excited about being included. I think the networking in particular was really good for them, there were lots of positive comments. The other feedback was that they loved the concept of lifelong learning and they were really excited that it could be integrated in their programs, rather than having to learn a whole new curriculum. Nikki Reeves, Area Manager - Area 16 and Centre Manager, The Learning Tree Corio, VIC
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I found yesterday’s session thoroughly enjoyable and relished the opportunity to meet, network and learn from the passionate people behind Affinity! Putting names to faces is always nice! I am new to the management role, previously a Pre Kinder room leader, so find all the information provided exciting and innovative and I am so glad that this is here for us to utilise! I loved it and thank you. I appreciate any opportunity to learn more and grow in my role. I can see where Affinity is going and I hope to become a valuable member of the Affinity community, using tools and resources just like this life-long learning program. Madeline Clarke, Centre Manager, A Step Ahead, St Kilda East, VIC
I think this will impact how we communicate with our parents in a positive and meaningful way. It is a winwin situation for all those involved. Rita Muller, ECT, TLC Childcare Keperra, QLD
OMG, I had such a good time, I met a lot of great ladies, I got so much out of this training, I couldn’t wait to get back to my home town of beautiful Lakes Entrance and tell all my team members about this amazing opportunity. Sue Demarco, Educational Leader, Early Learning Centre Lakes entrance, VIC
Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to meet some wonderful people and be inspired with the new program. It was so great, I’ve already started sharing with our staff and they seem just as excited. Kellie Russell, Educational Leader, Early Learning Centre Stawell, VIC
Level 14, 100 Creek Street BRISBANE QLD 4000 GPO Box 440 BRISBANE QLD 4000 Telephone: 07 3513 7700 www.affinityeducation.com.au
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