Strategic Plan2015-17

jesmondcommunitypreschool

Jesmond Community Preschool Our new Strategic Plan will provide a framework for continuous improvement at our service.Jesmond Community Preschool is a small, not-for-profit centre that caters for the local community. We welcome forty children aged 3-6 each day.Our programs are play-based, giving children the opportunity to freely engage with the world around them, pursuing their own passions and curiosities in a stimulating environment and making friends along the way.

Haylee DavisDIRECTOR

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Our philosophyCommunity We believe in the importance of teaching children to value, respect and accept each other as well as recognise and celebrate diversity. Through valuing and sharing culture, strengths & differences we will aim to develop honest and respectful partnerships within our community.Unique Every child has the right to be valued and respected as capable, competent, unique and successful. The child’s best interest will be at the heart of everything we do. The journey of childhood will be respected and celebrated, allowing children the opportunities to “be”, to play, to explore, to investigate, to discover, to imagine.Learning Learning will be meaningful and relevant when it emerges from the voices of all our children and we all listen. Our curriculum will acknowledge the holistic child by supporting the development of an intrinsic love for learning. This is evident throughout our program, the children’s individual portfolios and routine and interactions with children.

Thoughtfulness Together our team of educators strive towards continual learning from the children, their families and the unique cultures and characteristics children bring with them to our service. Through our strong relationships with our families and children our educators are able to connect and learn. As professionals we will endeavour to continue to reflect, research and be guided by others within the early childhood field.Unity Unity brings harmony. When we practice unity we value what each person brings to our preschool. We welcome and embrace all to our preschool family.Right to Play We believe that children should have uninterrupted time to swing in the hammock, play under the sprinklers, dig in the sandpit, paint with their hands, daydream, hunt for bugs, splash in puddles, explore with their hands, make discoveries, create gardens for fairies, build a cubby, make mud and quite simply PLAY. To have fun and learn through play.Environment We believe that the physical environment has a crucial a role to play in children’s development. We aim to create an environment that is welcoming, comfortable & stable yet changes to meet the needs and interests of the children.

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1Adopt Strong Business Disciplines

• Continue to network and attend meetings that support the director and educational leader role

• Produce a procedure book on how to do everything – step by step guide anyone could use

• Put in place an easy to follow and understand policies and procedure review system

• Create a new office area to enhance WHS and allow monitoring of who is entering and exiting the preschool and also to provide the director with a private meeting area where families or staff can discuss issues. Enhance our indoor storage and implement a new shelving system so that items are stored correctly and safely

• Director to have at least three hours a day in the office

• Have office opened for families 5 days a week 9am-10am and 2pm-3.30pm

• Director to enhance knowledge and skills in MYOB, budgeting, Quick Kids and also Human Resources Management

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QUALITY AREA 3.1, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

1 2Inspire Our People

• Educators could bring inspiring items from home to share

• Special shared lunch time meals for staff e.g. pizza once a month

• More opportunities for educators to visit other centres

• Time to research new ideas and go forth in sharing them

• Having more in services as a team

• Third staff member in every room to increase the time available for staff to spend with the children

• Time available to spend as a room – all educators together to discuss ideas

• All staff on a similar shift e.g. centre running from 8am-4pm, staff use afternoons for programming and or staff meetings could start earlier

• Comments box – to be used for staff to give each other positive feedback

• Flexibility

• Educators given one hour a term to research professional development/review polices/research new ideas

• Access to a massage therapist

• More social activities outside of work

• Team building activities

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QUALITY AREA 1.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2

3Work in Partnership with our Community

• Get out into our community more often

• Encourage partnerships with the High School to support the outdoor environment

• Encourage more participation with Heaton Primary School – be a part of their program/go into their rooms/participate in incursions/cake stalls etc.

• Invite sporting clubs to come into the centre and share their skills

• Exploring Jesmond Shopping Centre – to get our name out there

• Build a relationship with other local preschools/long day care centres and to visit with children

• Continue to use local families businesses (support our families)

• Use local business for products such as butchers etc.

• Utilise the skills of family members more so that they can be a part of the program and or the preschool

• Build a relationship with the Men’s Shed

• Build a relationship with the local nursing homes

• Provide local fresh produce and offer to children through the week for free as a snack and opportunity to be able to try new fruit and vegetables.

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QUALITY AREA 6.1, 6.3, 7.1

3 4Create a Sustainable Physical Environment• Package free lunchboxes

• Reduce the amount of paper the preschool uses

• Reduce the amount of printing the preschool does

• Use more recyclable resources for the children

• Focus on educating our staff and the children about what a sustainable environment is and how it can be achieved. From here educate our families and the community.

• Utilise and encourage our families to donate more recyclable resources e.g old paper, pipes etc.

• Researching what activities we can do with the children that uses recycled materials.

• Set up and encourage the children to use recycled materials throughout their creative or constructive play

• Have maintained and ongoing worm farm

• Incorporate real recycling bins in the environment for the children to use including a green waste bin

• Education on how the centre can be more water wise

• Another water tank to have access within our vegie garden.

• Have a well-developed and maintained vegetable garden.

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QUALITY AREA 1.1, 1.2, 2.2 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 6.3

5Integrate Technology into our practice

• Educators gaining training on how to use and what to do with new devices

• Training in how we could use technology to better support and include children with an additional need and or with English as a second language.

• Work with outside agencies to provide training and advice - such as Samaritans (Could do training at one staff meeting)

• Having more technology devices available and different devices also such as cameras for the children to use etc.

• More technology would allow our staff to have quicker access to resources to respond to children interests

• Improve the internet connection within the rooms so we could Skype

• Technology can support children with language delays or issues

• Integrating technology and more devices would enable our educators to be more knowledgeable and up to date than other centres

• Technology is a part of the current education system so our preschool needs to be in line with what primary schools are providing and using so that our children are well prepared

• Technology is a part of society, home life and school so our preschool needs to be showing that we are also keeping up with our community and providing a high quality and inclusive preschool program

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QUALITY AREA 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2

5 6Reach out, include and support vulnerable children

• Books about different countries that the children come from so we can celebrate their traditions and culture. It would also make the children feel more valuable and inclusive

• Books about our community ‘Newcastle’ that include images, history and general information

• Doing more training about how to better support and include vulnerable children

• Training on how to support families with vulnerable children

• Working closer with social

workers to learn how they process the information they receive and also how we can better communicate with them

• Offering services at the preschool for free where children can access an OT and or speech therapy. Including the assessments as many families don’t have time to access them

• Having a translator available to help with children with English as a second language

• Having a language book where children can learn sign language and also read/listen to basic other language’s

• Having resources like books available in other languages that children can read

• Having a list of services/places/bulk billing options available in the rooms that we can use to refer families to

• We need to work on acknowledging and incorporating more the beliefs of the varies cultures we have and celebrating/sharing their traditional days

• Games in other language’s/Auslan

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QUALITY AREA 1.1, 1.2, 2.2, 2.3, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2

7Deliver high quality child focused care

• Having an indoor and outdoor program available so children can chose where they would like to explore throughout the day

• Providing opportunities to have smaller groups available to give greater quality language/ literacy and music and movement group times.

• Working on refining the skills we already have but just incorporating them more efficiently

• Being mindful of training courses we want to do and having a justification to why we want to do it and how it could improve on our teaching abilities

• Having more flexible routines

• Creating more spaces indoors for children to explore

• Creating learning environments within the outdoor environment that reflect the interests children have e.g insects

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QUALITY AREA : 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2

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Jesmond Community Preschool Monday–Friday 9am–3pmExtended hours program operates 8am-9am and 3pm-5pm for an additional fee. We are closed Publ ic Holidays and NSW publ ic school hol idays.Janet St, Jesmond NSW 2299 Enter via Cal laghan Col legePO Box 139, Jesmond NSW 2299Phone: 02 4952 5652Fax: 02 4952 2071admin@jesmondcommunitypreschool .com.au

Callaghan College

Heaton Public School

Jesmond Community Preschool

Janet StreetEntrance

University Drive

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Newcastle Link Road

Inne

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www.jesmondcommunitypreschool.com.au