THE TIMES

TH

EY ARE A-CHANGIN’

OOSH RETREAT 2017

CHANGING TIMES - WORKING WITH CHILDREN & FAMILES IN TODAY’S WORLD17 - 19 NOVEMBER SAGE HOTEL, WOLLONGONG

The Sage Wollongong (60 - 62 Harbour Street) is a 1.5 hour drive from Sydney, situated on Wollongong’s foreshore, adjacent to WIN Sports and Entertainment Centre. It is a short walk to Wollongong City Beach, vibrant restaurants and cafes plus fabulous shopping at Wollongong Centre and Crown Street Mall.

The hotel features comfortable guest rooms and suites featuring free high speed Wi-Fi internet access in all rooms, in-room safe, 40 inch flat screen TV with remote audio and free to air digital TV, high definition movies, sports and news. Other hotel facilities include 24 hour reception, mezzanine business lounge, heated 20 metre

lap pool, gymnasium, secure onsite parking and jogging/cycling track on the foreshore opposite.

When not attending a workshop or speaker session over the weekend, take the opportunity to relax by the pool, use the gym or just relax with a coffee in The Lobby Lounge.

Each morning you be able to enjoy a full buffet breakfast in The Five Island Room and Terrace Restaurant.

With such a great venue, this will be a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends or take time to network with staff from other OOSH services from around NSW & ACT.

Venue

Dr Wendy Ru s s e l l ’ s Th ink ing D i f f e rent l y about P lay Nat i ona l Tour 2017 i s Spon sored by The Cre sw i ck Foundat ion

Mind-Opening Speakers

Friday LunchKEEPING KIDS SAFE ONLINE

The Cyber Safety Lady – Leonie Smith

This presentation will help educators to get up to speed with what children in their care are doing online. Whilst some of Leonie’s tips are technical, her down to earth approach to raising digital native children and making sure they are safe.

You will take away from the session lots of practical ideas and resources that you can use in your service to improve everyone’s experiences with digital technology, update polices and procedures, and also share with parents what can be implemented at home.

Friday Afternoon SessionINSPIRING EDUCATORS – REUSE FOR CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION AND

SUSTAINABILITY

Dare Kavanagh, CEO of Reverse Garbage

Put down the catalogue and create your own resources!

In this session participants will be introduced to industrial creative reuse materials, explore how they can enhance sustainability and creative play outcomes;

and consider how creative reuse and loose parts relate to the My Time Our Place Framework for school aged care.

We will meet the creative challenge and learn or make 3 new resources in an hour!

Reverse Garbage is a creative reuse centre making a difference in the world by reducing waste and creating change in the way we look at resources!

Reverse Garbage was established in 1975 by educators and community workers determined to help the environment by diverting industrial discards from landfill and by reusing these materials in their classrooms.

Over the decades, Reverse Garbage has continued to be a beacon for industrial reuse. Many educators include these materials easily in their services and programming. Others look at it, see a pile of rubbish and shrug!

Whichever you are this workshop is for you! Together we will investigate the creative, learning and play opportunities that industrial reuse items can provide.

Participants will make resources and try out ideas that they can use in their centres right away.

Saturday KeynoteTHINKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT PLAY: WHAT IF AND WHAT MORE?

Dr Wendy Russell from the UK

An opportunity to reconfigure the ways we think about the relationship between play, space, childhood and adulthood by inviting questions of what might constitute a ‘just’ environment. A range of approaches and practices will be introduced to foster adult ‘response-ability’, a term that expresses the requirement of adults to develop an ability to be responsive to ways in which children move through their everyday environment and keep these environments open to the possibility of the production of playful moments.

Saturday AfternoonMY WORK WITH ABORIGINAL PEOPLE...REFLECTIONS FROM THE BACK OF A TROOPY

Helen Fitzgerald

In this presentation, Helen hopes to transport you to the heart and soul of our country as she takes you on a journey of the senses, reflecting on her experiences travelling the bumpy road to personal and professional reconciliation.

Sunday Lunch

THINKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT PLAY: WHAT IF AND WHAT MORE?

Dr Wendy Russell from the UK

The conversation continues....questioning beliefs, attitudes, habits and actions about play and associated understandings of childhood and adulthood to scrutinize how they might make environments more or less open to the emergence of playful moments.

Groovy 3 Day Program

Friday 17th November10.00am Registration opens

11.45am Lunchtime Presentation in Waters Edge Room

WELCOME

SPEAKER - Leonie Smith, The Cyber Safety Lady Keeping Kids Safe Online

2.00pm Lunch finishes

2:30pm Afternoon Session

IN SP IR ING EDUCATORS Reuse for creativity, collaboration and sustainability: Put down the catalogue and create your own resources!

- Dare Kavanagh, CEO Reverse Garbage

4:30pm Chill Out Time

6.30pm Welcome Function in Waters Edge Room

Saturday 18th November7.00am Full Buffet Breakfast

Served in The Five Islands Room & Terrace Restaurant

8.00am Registration opens

9.00am Morning Session

WELCOME

KEYNOTE SPEAKER - Dr Wendy Russell Senior Lecturer in Play and Playwork

“Thinking Differently about Play: What If and What More?”

10.30am Morning Tea in the Grand Pacific Foyer

11:00am Workshop Session A 12.30pm Lunch in Waters Edge Room 1.30pm Workshop Session B 3:00pm Afternoon tea in Grand Pacific Foyer

3:15pm Showcasing OOSH

4:00pm Afternoon Session

SPEAKER: Helen Fitzgerald

“My work with Aboriginal People…. Reflections from the Back of a Troopy” 5.00pm Chill Out Time

7.15pm Pre-dinner drinks in the Grand Pacific Foyer

7.30pm Theme Dinner “OOSHSTOCK”

Our popular fancy dress dinner is on again and you are invited to join us for an evening of Karaoke, entertainment and enjoyment.

Sunday 19th November7.00am Full Buffet Breakfast

Served in The Five Islands Room & Terrace Restaurant

8.00am Registration Opens

9.00am Morning Session

What is happening in the Sector?

- Robyn Monro Miller, CEO Network

10.15am Morning Tea

10.30am Workshop Session C

12.15pm Sunday Lunch

with Dr Wendy Russell

“Thinking Differently about Play: What If and What More? The Conversation Continues...”

1.45pm Wrapping up

the 2017 OOSH Retreat

3 days of peace, learning &inspiration

Funky Workshops

1: BAD NEWS - TALKING WITH CHILDREN ABOUT TERRORISM AND OTHER TRAGEDIES

– Robyn Monro MillerIt’s hard not to be upset by the rolling media coverage of an unfolding tragedy, with its graphic footage and heartbreaking interviews of those directly affected. And for children, such news can be difficult to understand and have profound effects on their sense of wellbeing.

Talking with children about terrorism and tragic events can be challenging for educators. This workshop will provide educators with the latest advice and resources for supporting children and their families confronted by a world that appears less certain and more violent than we have known in our lifetimes.

2: ARE YOU A PLAY ADVOCATE?

– Pauline O’KaneChildren’s Play is seriously on the decline even though play is known to be critical the healthy development of children. Many experts are defining it as a crisis situation including Professor Peter Gray who believes today’s children are much more likely to be clinically depressed, anxious, with feelings of helplessness. He largely attributes the increase in these conditions to the decline to loss of children’s freedom and opportunities to play.

This workshop will explore practical ways in how you can take up the advocates challenge and be the much-needed voice for children’s play. Three ideas will be examined on how you can get the play message out there & join forces with a growing number of OOSHies who are already passionate advocates and who want to promote, encourage, and champion play. Together we can ensure this precious and important part of childhood is given the attention it deserves… Your role as play advocate is more critical than ever before! Join the Play challenge today!

3: LOOKING BACK, MOVING FORWARD

– Cathy NorthamThis workshop will be a session of reflection (so bring your memory) which will allow time to think about our own values and how they influence the way we create a sense of place and space for the children who come to our services.

How can we make space for new understandings, not just for children but for those of us who work alongside them?

4: CONSIDERATION, RESPECT & HONESTY

– Emily HamiltonThe idea of etiquette might seem a little outdated, unless you happen to be reading Wuthering Heights, but it can be a useful tool in the workplace. Have you read an email that made you want to fire back at the sender? Have you received a backhanded complement that left you feeling stung? Do you find yourself committing to things you’d rather not do?

We all have plenty of interactions that leaving us fumbling for what we could have said or done.

It is possible to be honest about how we feel in a way that respects the other person and shows consideration. Remembering the idiom “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” can help us interact more generously with our colleagues and customers (parents & children).

In this workshop we’ll navigate the trickiness of everyday life with a bit of good humour and honesty.

Saturday 11:00am WORKSHOP SE S S ION A

Saturday 1:30pm WORKSHOP SE S S ION B

Sunday 10:30am WORKSHOP SE S S ION C

C1: THE KINDNESS PROJECT: A JOURNEY INTO RAKTIVISM

– Robyn Monro Miller

Did you know that kindness changes the brain?

The practice of kindness towards strangers translates to immense immune and healing benefits. Kindness is a natural anti depressant because it causes a release of serotonin in our brain. Serotonin plays an important part in learning, memory, mood, sleep, health and digestion. In addition practising kindness rewards you with an increased sense of self-worth, greater happiness, and optimism, as well as a decrease in feelings of helplessness and depression.

Neuroscientists agree that children and adolescents do not learn kindness by only thinking about it and talking about it. Kindness is best learned by feeling it so that they can reproduce it.

Join us for this engaging and interactive exploration into the impact of practicing kindness on the human body and soul that has long lasting benefits for a child’s development and behaviour. Learn practical strategies for use in your service that will empower you and reap benefits for everyone.

C2: STILL WATERS RUN DEEP: DOLL MAKING TO HEAL THE HEART

– Helen Fitzgerald

In this workshop Helen will draw on her experiences working as an Inclusion Facilitator.

She will give a brief overview about the importance of presenting children with the means to express their deeper emotions.

Then you’ll be encouraged to fully immerse yourself in a sea of materials to create small and simple dolls for your OOSH program.

Key Presenters

Leonie Smith, The Cyber Safety LadyIn 2011 Leonie started advising her social media clients on privacy and safety online. She also started giving presentations on safe use of social media and the internet. This developed into a major part of her social media business. Leonie closed her social media marketing business in 2013 due to overwhelming demand for her Cyber Safety

services. She is now one of Australia’s most sought after cyber safety consultants and educators, working all over Australia.

Her “How-To” practical approach to cyber safety for students, parents, business and community groups is now in high demand. As a mum of 4 she’s been raising her own digital natives since the mid 90’s on computers and digital devices. She understands full well the challenges parents face in today digital world.

Dare Kavanagh, CEO of Reverse Garbage“Contributing to social change and a better world is the key theme in my work and life. Creativity and fun are my most effective tools.”

Since taking up the role at Reverse Garbage, Dare has refocused the organisation towards achieving the core objectives of supporting educators, reducing waste and creating change.

Dare is an experienced community development and engagement professional who has held leadership roles in projects in Canada, Sweden, the UK and Australia. Dare has worked for Government and not for profits in a variety of sectors. Dare is an experienced educator and holds a Masters in Primary Healthcare specialising in the social determinants of health.

Dr Wendy Russell Wendy is a Senior Lecturer in Play and Playwork/Professional Studies in Children’s Play at University of Gloucestershire (UK) and a consultant on children’s play and playwork. She has worked in the play and playwork sector for over 35 years, initially on adventure playgrounds and then in development work, research, education and training. She has

worked with local authorities, the private sector and local, national and international voluntary organisations.

Her research interests include children’s play, playwork, the politics of space, social policy and ethics. She is a member of Editorial Board for International Journal of Play.

After a successful and thought-provoking visit in 2015 with Dr Stuart Lester, Network of Community Activities has partnered with 3 other leading Australian advocacy organisations, supported by the Creswick Foundation to present a unique opportunity for you again to hear from one of the world’s leading play reseacher.

Helen FitzgeraldHelen Fitzgerald began her career as an Early Childhood Educator over 40 years ago working initially in a range of EC services. After moving into an inclusion role she worked for 10 years with all Commonwealth children’s services including OOSH to provide support, resourcing and training to practioners in the field. Her current work places the child at the centre of their family and community.

Her teaching philosophy developed out of her own experience living a free range childhood within an extended family and supportive rural community. Through her workshops, Helen advocates for Educators to provide a child-friendly setting, grounded in nature and the imaginative world. She encourages participants to trust their instincts and draw on the wealth of their own experiences and inner knowing. In recent years she has been enriched by her work in the desert country of Central and Western Australia with the women and children living in remote Australia. Helen comes to us from Alice Springs.

Workshop Presenters

Robyn Monro Miller Robyn is CEO of Network of Community Activities. Robyn has 25 years experience working with children and families across education, the community sector, and local government.

With qualifications in education, children’s services, community

management, and training and workplace assessment, she is a frequent guest speaker at conferences and seminars across Australia and internationally as well as a spokesperson on children’s issues in the National media. As Editor of the quarterly newspaper “Network News” her advocacy work extends to the written word and she is a regular contributor in the media on the topic of middle childhood, children’s services, leadership, and the importance of play.

Robyn has represented the School Age Care Sector at a State and National level for the past 20 years as Chair of the National Out of School Hours Services Association (NOSHSA) and is current President of the International Play Association.

Cathy Northam For the past 30 years Cathy has worked with children in many different roles, most recently as a Coordinator in the Riverina. Contrary to the fact she never actually liked school, she holds a Bachelor of Teaching and an Advanced Diploma in Management.

Cathy has a background in local government and her work in OSHC service delivery includes leading a team through the NQF gaining an “Excellent” rating. Cathy has served on the Board of Network and she has been recognised with awards for Community Service and leadership. Cathy is passionate about inclusion, play and quality practice in school age care.

Pauline O’Kane

Pauline joined Network of Community Activities in 1993 after migrating to Australia from the UK. She has held a variety of roles within the organisation; Conference Co-ordinator, Trainer, Consultant and her current role as Director of Resource and Support.

Over the past three decades she has been lucky enough to have carried out a diverse range

of roles including consultant, manager, and practitioner working with a broad range of government & community based organisations. She has been delegate & board member for a number of national and regional organisation both in Australia & UK and is currently a board member for the Journal of Playwork Practice

She is a passionate advocate for children’s play and discovered this area of work by accident, firstly working in community centres and quickly moving to work on adventure playgrounds in the UK. Her career to date has always involved working with or for children in middle childhood and their time out of school. Pauline is interested in making the OOSH environment the best place for children’s free play to occur.

She has extensive knowledge in Children’s Play, Community sector management, HR, publication development, journal writing. She is a highly skilled facilitator and facilitated numerous workshops. Her unique style of working with community-based committees has resulted in positive organisational change and outcomes.

Emily HamiltonEmily is a Service co-ordinator in the inner west of Sydney with a large service ranked as ‘Exceeding’ under the NQF. Emily has been working in the OSHC sector for 13 years and also works as an Ethics Co-ordinator in her local school.

Emily was a validator with NCAC and has a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma of Children’s Services (OSHC). She has a particular interest in service management and children’s behaviour.

PRICESNetwork Members, Supporters, Associates & NOSHSA Affiliates

SPECIAL RATESFULL RATES

PACKAGE EARLY BIRD(Before 26 October)

FULL RATE(After 26 October) NON MEMBERS

3 DAY SPECIAL• all meals • 2 nights accommodation• Friday night welcome function• Saturday night dinner– inc drinks

$775.00 Twin - per person

$950.00Single

$875.00 Twin - per person

$1050.00Single

$1240.00 Twin - per person

$1390.00Single

2 DAYS/1 NIGHT (Friday night)• all meals Friday & Saturday• 1 night accommodation• Friday night welcome function

$575.00 Twin- per person

$750.00Single

$675.00 Twin - per person

$850.00Single

$1050.00 Twin - per person

$1200.00Single

2 DAYS/1 NIGHT (Sat Night)• all meals Saturday & Sunday• 1 night accommodation• Saturday night dinner– inc drinks

$675.00 Twin - per person

$850.00Single

$775.00 Twin - per person

$950.00Single

$1150.00 Twin - per person

$1300.00Single

DAY ONLY – ALL 3 RETREAT DAYS Friday, Saturday & Sunday• daytime meals for 3 days• NO evening meals or accomm

$550.00 $650.00 $1100.00

DAY ONLY - 2 DAYS OF 3 RETREAT DAYS (any 2 of the 3 days)• daytime meals for 2 days• NO evening meals or accommodation

$475.00 $575.00 $1050.00

FRIDAY ONLY • Lunch & Afternoon Session

$150.00 $150.00 $300.00

SATURDAY ONLY• Daytime meals & Sessions

$315.00 $350.00 $500.00

Registrations are not transferable amongst participants.

All conference registrations include conference pack, workshops and speakers for the days registered.

How much dough, man?

of Community Activities

456B Harris Street Ultimo NSW 2007P (02) 9212 3244 F (02) 9518 8199

E network@networkofcommunityactivities.org.auW www.networkofcommunityactivities.org.au

FOR ALL ENQUIRIES Contact Patricia Gooley - Membership & Events

E: patricia@networkofcommunityactivities.org.au

T: (02) 9212 3244

Dr Wendy Ru s s e l l ’ s Th ink ing D i f f e rent l y about P lay Nat i ona l Tour 2017 i s Spon sored by The Cre sw i ck Foundat ion