Good Beginnings Educare Centre JULY 2015 NEWSLETTER

Winter Weather Due to the cooler wet weather could you please ensure your child has warm clothing to wear outside and a change of warm clothing should they get wet. Gum boots are also a great alternative to shoes with all of those irresistible puddles about.  

Sign in sheet It is very important that you remember to sign your children in and out on the sign out sheet. If there is an emergency for example; Fire or earthquake, this is the role that we use to ensure everyone child is accounted for as well as being a ministry requirment.  

Policy Review Thank you to all the parents and whanau who took the time to read and review our infectious disease/accident policy. We will continue to use old accident forms until they run out. Due to regulations we have to ensure we record any accident that has required ‘first aid treatment’ & have you sign to say you have been informed.  

Spaces At present we have a full roll. Unfortunately this means that if you require extra hours for your child to attend this is not always possible and there is now a waiting list for extended hours. When your child turns three they are eligible for up to 20 free ECE hours however this does not mean we necessarily have the space available to accommodate those extra hours.  

Infectious illnesses Lately there have been many illnesses circulating in the wider community. The Ministry of health recommends that if your child has had vomiting and or diarrhoea that they be excluded from the Centre for 48 hours after the last bout of sickness. This includes siblings, if they have an infectious illness please do not bring them into the Centre. We are happy to meet you at the door to collect your child and their belongings with the sign in sheet. We ask that if your child is unwell please keep them at home. The Centre takes all reasonable steps to prevent the circulation of illnesses but we need your support to do this more effectively.  

Lost Property and News bucket Just a reminder please collect your child’s belongings from the lost property and news bucket and where possible please name clothing and news.  

New Reliever Welcome Andrea to our pool of relievers. Andrea trained as an Early Childhood teacher in Germany. Andrea is returning to Germany, but will be back early August.  

Professional Development Nicola has recently attended a 6 week programme on local waiata and has also completed professional development on Mentoring and staff appraisals. Falene also attended the Mentoring workshops. Barbara has been attending a series of workshops on Leadership. Paige and Barbara have been attending the transition to school meetings to ensure we continue to know what is expected of new entrant children. Tina & Teresa attended a workshop on why nature rich education is important for today’s children. Nolla has started her training towards a degree in early childhood education.

Contact details Please ensure we have your current contact details. Email, Home, work and cell phone numbers.

ERO – Education Review Office Congratulations to the teaching team for obtaining an excellent review. ERO found Good Beginnings is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children. The full ERO report is displayed on the parent notice board or can be found at www.ero.govt.nz

The teaching team J

“Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” Chinese proverb

Programme Matariki – A big thank you to Tina for leading our Matariki celebration within the Centre. Throughout last month the tamariki have had the opportunity to experience many cultural activities related to the Maori New Year. Some of these are; weaving, making whetu biscuits, waiata, puka puka about matariki, natural stories, movies about the Maori Creation story and Matariki, and growing kumara. To end the Celebration of Matariki we finished it off with a hangi on Friday the 3rd of July.

Dramatic, Socio dramatic and Fantasy play – There continues to be a large group interest in dramatic and fantasy play. Paw Patrol seems to be the flavour of the month with boys and girls both joining together in large groups, getting into character to explore and act out the many roles of the rescue crew. The children have also been spending a lot of time exploring their own working theories about the wider world of work and family structures through their dramatic play with the family play resources, babies, hairdressers, doctors and construction workers.

Science – Teresa has been leading many science experiments, hopping corn, snow storms in a jar, and tornado in a jar to name a few, see the display in the front room for more info. Maths - There is a large interest in mathematical thinking and understanding at the moment with lots of children exploring these concepts through their play; sorting, matching, ordering, positioning, making patterns, counting, adding and subtracting. This is often noticed within their work with the sorting of animals, dinosaurs, counting fruit, puzzles, frozen cards, maths games, IPAD maths games and construction blocks. Literacy – The focus on literacy is ongoing and children lead their own learning in this area, including literacy within their play and setting their own goals of making lists, writing their name and names of others. The tamariki also continue to act out their favourite stories and books, such as, The Billy goats gruff and The Bear Hunt – Emerging literacy.

We are extremely proud and excited to announce that we have received a whanau Healthy Heart Award from the Heart Foundation for the amazing things we do to promote healthy food and physical activity. We are helping our tamariki to have healthy habits and healthy hearts for life. Thank you to Teresa and Barbara for taking leadership of this. We are now working towards the pa-harakeke (gold) award.

Team Leader Due to Nicola spending more time at the Infants & Toddlers centre Falene has been appointed as the Centre team leader. In Nicola’s absence please see Falene if you have any queries or WINZ forms to be signed. Thanks Falene for taking on this responsibility.

Fees Due to the continuing rise of costs in operating the centre and no increase of funding from the Government in this years budget we have had to review the centre’s fees. As from the 1st of November 2015 the hourly rate for 3 & 4 year olds will be $5.50. For any new child starting at the Infants & Toddlers the hourly rate will also be $5.50. We try to keep our fees to a minimum, but by the time you take inflation into account our funding is down 9% from 2010. The good news is child care subsidies through WINZ will increase in April 2016. Please see Nicola or email her on gbec@xtra.co.nz if you would like to discuss this further.