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Nash Street Child Care

Hello and welcome again to another newsletter. The past few months have been very busy with Centre

happenings and it is getting closer to the end of year celebrations.

Our first step into the Premier’s Reading Challenge was a great success with all rooms recording more than

150 literacy activities within the week. The highlight of the week was Nash Street version of “The Very Hungry

Caterpillar’. This grew from an idea from Barbara, which saw all the rooms participate. Thanks Barb. All

children participating in the challenge will receive certificates in November.

Thank you to the fathers and granddads who took time out of their very busy day to spend morning tea with

their special ones. I know that all the children enjoyed their day with you and were just a little upset when you

had to leave. Our stall was a huge success once again and was a sell out. The raffle was won by Charles in the

Koala Room.

The children were fascinated by the talking drums and stories from Africa when Sam visited us in September.

’Talk Like a Pirate’ day again proved popular. Following treasure maps to find hidden bounty and saying ‘Arrgh’

was enjoyed by all.

Our fundraising efforts for all who participated in our fun days and donated a coin to worthy

causes. We raised $31 for Daffodil Day and $50 for Childhood Cancer on Pirate Day.

2016 re-enrolments are now closed. Again this year we have received very high volume of enrolments for all

the groups , I have endeavoured to cater for all needs but with the new ratios ,which lower the number of

children within the Koala and Kangaroo groups, this may not be available to all in January. Centrelink’s priority

of access will apply for some families; that is that working families will have preference over

non working families.

We have a number of Prep children wanting care for the weeks leading to the school year– if

you are in the Kangaroo group and able to delay starting until school returning in 2016,

please let Elizabeth or I know. You will not be charged fees during this time.

Please note the date open for care in 2016 has changed it is now -

WEDNESDAY 13th January 2016 at 6.30am

Staff Moments

It is with sadness that we farewell Karin. Her last day at Nash Street will be Friday 9th October 2015. We wish

her all the best in her future adventures.

Hello and welcome to Elizabeth in the Office looking after your accounts. Congratulations to Donna who

achieved 20 years cooking for the children at Nash Street. When past children and families visit they are

always comment on the food that they ate here. I know that Donna is proud of her cooking and it shows.

Playground update, plans are out for tender and hopefully we will start refurbishing in December. Next year is

the 60th anniversary for the Association at Nash Street, this would be a great start to our year. I will be taking

annual leave from the 12th October for 2 weeks , Rachel will be the person responsible for the centre.

Bye for now Lyn

106 Nash Street. Sandgate

P: 3269 7895

E: nashstkids@bigpond.com

W: www.sandgatekids.com.au

October/ November 2015

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P A GE 2

Hello from the Bilby Room!Hello from the Bilby Room! some stories that were about Australian

animals that they enjoyed listening to

and looking at the pictures.

Mirror play is still popular with the

younger babies and the older ones are

beginning to recognise the image as

belonging to them and love to dance in

front of the mirror. This helps them

explore their self-identity and social

skills. They all love joining in with action

songs and quite a few of them are

starting to sing some of the words. They

have their favourites which are: ‘incy

wincy spider’, ‘this old man’, ‘five cheeky

monkeys’ and ‘row, row, row your boat’.

Experimenting with cause and effect and

sorting things into groups is an area that

they are showing an interest in.

There has been a few occasions

when I have been observing their

play especially when they are

playing by themselves and noticed

this type of play occurring.

Hi from the Bilby room,

We would like to welcome Riley and

Sophie to our room along with their

families. Both are settling in well and

are developing friendships with the

other babies in

the room.

Over the past

few months

we have been looking at shapes and

colours. We have done this by

extending on play with the shape sorter

and using the shapes to paint with and

to press into play dough. Sitting on the

floor together and playing with cards

with shapes on has been another

learning experience to help with our

development in this area. As they

enjoyed playing with the cards with

shapes I have also added a set of

alphabet cards. The older children are

really enjoying playing with the cards

and looking at the pictures and letters.

These types of learning experiences are

helping develop mathematical concepts

and language as well as literacy skills.

We also continued on with their interest

in looking at birds and animals by

having some picture books with ani-

mals and birds in them and we read

News from the desk......

Its been a month now since I joined the team here at Nash St. And I would like to thank

the staff and parents for making me welcome and for being so patient and considerate

while I settle into my new position. If I can be of assistance to you ,please do not

hesitate asking, I am in the office from 6.30am to 10.30am Monday - Friday. I look

forward to getting to know you all. Regards Elizabeth

NOTE:

Sign in sheets– it is a legal requirement that you sign your children in and out each day they attend. If they are

absent on any care day, these days also require your signature to acknowledge this.

Family Accounts –

Please ensure that you regularly check your statements to ensure that you are paying the correct amount of fees.

If you have picked up extra days ensure that your payments cover the extra costs.

It can be them collecting the same

colour blocks or pushing a train down a

ramp or banging to objects together and

making a sound, pouring sand into

containers or experimenting with

different ways of sliding down the slide.

Some of these observations I have

written learning stories on which you will

find in your child’s portfolio. They are all

doing really well with spatial awareness

and balance and are developing this by

climbing on the climbing frame and

beams. At first they all required

assistance but now they have worked

out how climb up and over the A-frame

and the metal ladder.

Over the next few months we will be

working towards Christmas and continu-

ing on with shapes and colours.

Bye for now

Sonja

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P A GE 3

Possum RoomPossum Room

With Barb and Sarah

“The children are our future, Teach them well and let them lead the way, Show them all the beauty they possess inside…”

Whitney Houston

The Possum children continue to grow, laugh, love and learn. This outstanding group of children are intelligent, caring, inter-

ested and curious. The discovery of the parrots in the tree inspired some great learning for the children. We made books con-

taining photos of Australian birds, magnetic bird cards, birds created with feathers and seedpods to hang up, learnt new songs

and read lots of books related to this topic. The children particularly enjoyed the Indian song about a Mummy Parrot and a baby

parrot that we learnt by watching a video on the computer.

This learning experience inspired the plant project, where we collected and recycled used baby formula tins decorating them

with bright, bold colours to pot some indoor plants. We had a handy man install some new hooks in the room so we can hang

them up. The children enjoyed filling the tins with dirt and planting the small plants. We hope they will grow into lovely cascading

ferns to keep us healthy and connected to our earth.

We have gathered around the white board for some interactive learning and the children excitedly join in with this experience.

We ask the children “What will we learn about? And what story do you want on the white board?” The children confidently and

enthusiastically contribute with their ideas. As we prepared for the Book week celebrations we learnt the story of The Hungry

Caterpillar. It is a long story, but the children watched with eager anticipation as the next part of the story was drawn on the

board, sometimes unable to wait as they chimed in with what was next! These moments show the children’s imagination, ability

to recall the sequence of the story, their amazing language development and comprehension skills. These experiences support

Outcome 4 of the Early Years Learning Framework as the children grow in confidence and become involved in their learning.

Many familiar stories were shared from this experience and some spontaneous stories too!

An all-time favourite book by Mem Fox “Cheeky and Chee” was requested by the children, we talked about animals that live in

the trees. The children almost know this one off by heart; I know, I do! As the children were interested in this topic I borrowed a

Brush tail Possum from the Queensland Museum. The children were curious about the Possum and expressed their wonderings

with us and family members. The bird kit was truly enjoyed also, with the children falling in love with the snowy owl puppet that

flew around the classroom and landed on their shoulders, oh the joy and delight on the children’s faces!

We will be looking at the life cycle of a plant and more projects involving the recycling of resources aimed at sustainable prac-

tices. We will as always be supporting and responding to the children’s interests while providing a flexible and open ended learn-

ing environment both indoors and out.

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Koala NewsKoala News

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It has been a busy couple of weeks at Nash Street. We have had the book week play, which was lots of fun and it was great to see

everyone dressed up. Thanks to all the Dad’s and Grandad’s that came in for the Father’s day morning tea.

We have also had white balloon day and talk like a pirate day, so thank you to everyone who supported these days

We have been showing a lot of interest in sustainability meaning what happens to our rubbish, where does the food come from. So we have been reading lots of books and had group discussions on this. As a group we have all taken the rubbish out together and

split it into general rubbish, recycling and compost. We have also gotten back into gardening and the worms. We are going to con-

tinue to do this and extend on this interest by adding it into our everyday routine.

The Koalas are going on an excursion to the duck pond on Tuesday the 29th, we are walking from Nash Street down to the pond.

There we are going to have a picnic and explore our local surroundings. We have been talking about this and what we might see, most of the children already have a good understanding of what we will see and knowledge of the area. We are all really looking

forward to the excursion.

We have welcomed Caelan into the Koala room on a Monday and Friday, he is settling really well. We have a few children toilet

training and they are all doing extremely well, which is great to see.

Just a quick reminder as the weather is getting hotter please don’t forget to pack shirts with sleeves that cover the shoulders, hats

and water bottles.

If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to ask.

Chow for now

Rachel, Jo and the Koalas.

What’s Happening at Nash Street .........

October

5th. World Teachers Day.

5th. Labour Day — Centre Closed

6th. School Term begins

16th. World Food Day

19th. Scholastic Book Fair– Books available to purchase in

Foyer.

20th. Association Committee Meeting 7pm

22nd. Grandparent Day—Join us for morning activities

25th Apex Train Park—Sausage Sizzle Fundraiser

9.30am to 3pm

30th. Day for Daniel—Wear Red

November 10th Jeff Carter Music Man Show 9.30am

$3.50 per child 11th Remembrance Day 13th world Kindness Day

20th Universal Children’s Day–

Crazy Hair Day 17th Association Committee Meeting

December

2nd Kindergarten Graduation 6.15pm

4th Children’s Christmas Party 5.30pm start

11th School Term Finishes

25th December to 13th January

Centre Closed for Care

YOUR SUGGESTIONS

We are beginning to plan our calendar for

2016 If there is anything you would like to see

happen within the Centre

Shows Fundraising causes

Fun days Excursions

craft days Pet day

Just inform your child’s Educator, Liz or Lyn

know

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Kangaroo Room Hello from the Kangaroo Room!

We have been construction engineers for weeks – an idea carried on from the children’s interest in playing in the sandpit outside. We measured

the furniture, the roads that we built for the trucks, each other and the teachers! It was a great set-up with tyres, sand, little rocks and shovels

and new small trucks. There was a lot of learning happening: numbers – all the way to 100 and beyond and recognising the

numbers on the measuring tapes. (Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guidelines:

Children explore and engage with numeracy in personally meaningful ways). We checked

hat safety rules were followed: we had to wear closed-in shoes, hard hats and safety

jackets. There were safety signs everywhere, just like a real building site. We learned to take turns,

because the work site was for ‘authorised personnel’, so only three people could play at a time.

We read stories about building houses and making roads. Fun!

In our yarning circle one day we decided that we could make a space station

instead of the construction site. This is our current project and right now we have a great space rocket and the space

station with computers, telephones and space photos. We have made funny aliens that are looking down at the space

station and our next idea is to make all the planets. We have watched videos about space stations that are way out in

space and how the astronauts can go for space walks. There is so much more to learn about space and we check on the

internet for more ideas of what we can do (Early Years Learning Framework: Children use information and

communication technologies to access information).

During Book Week we went on an excursion to the library where the librarian read stories to us

and each child borrowed a book to take back to Nash Street Childcare. The problem with library books is that

they have to go back to the library after a few weeks, but Anna promised to borrow other books for us when she

brings the books back.

We walked all the way there and back and remembered to cross the roads at the zebra crossings and to hold

hands and stay together. It was a very enjoyable outing where lots of mums and dads helped us – Thank You so

much for coming with us! Another day during Book Week we had dress up day. The educators had all dressed up and

made a play about the Very Hungry Caterpillar. The children were Super Heroes, Ninja Turtles, Elsa and Anna prin-

cesses and fairies. It was a great day! During Book Week we also started a great project making our very own books

where each child has drawn pictures in their very own book and Anna wrote down the words about the pictures.

There are some great budding authors and book illustrators among the Kangaroo Room children. The books are in a

basket for everyone to read – just come and get your child to find his or her story for you.

Feel free to come and visit us and see all the learning that is happening while playing!

Until next time: Goodbye from the Kangaroo Room children, Danielle, Michelle and Anna

Nash Street has copies of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation “Keeping Kids Safe” kits available for parents. These kits are invaluable resources

for educating children about child safety. If you wish to borrow or look at the resources please see the office. These kits as well as other

resources are free to order or download at www.danielmorcombe.com.au

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News from the kitchenNews from the kitchen Hi everyone

Thank you for all your kind words on my 20 year poster, thank you to the girls who made my day feel very special and to the

committee for recognising my service to Nash Street. I have seen a lot of children come and go over the years and I have run into a

few (all grown up) and they still remember “WOMBAT STEW” as they call it. It has been a pleasure cooking for them all.

Thank you all

Donna.

Kristina

In season this spring

Fruit: Avocado, banana, grapefruit, mandarin, mango, papaya, passionfruit

Vegetables: asian green, asparagus, beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum

Cauliflower, cucumber leek, lettuce, onions, pumpkin, rhubarb, spinach, tomato and zucchini

Herbs: Garlic, parsley

Zucchini Slice

2 medium zucchini, coarsely grated

Onion, chopped 150g (3 slices) lean ham, chopped

1 cup grated cheese 1 cup self raising flour

6 beaten eggs

Mix all ingredients together well Pour into greased flan dish

Bake in a moderate over (180 C) for 30-40 minutes

Other protein and or vegetables can be added or used

Donna

Kristina In November I will be travelling to Ireland after qualifying for Team Australia in The World Kettlebell

Championships. There is no government funding to support our team therefore each of us will have to pay our own way, this includes airfares, accommodation, meals and of course uniforms. We are fundraising for

this event and have organised an open day and raffle. It would be great if you could help, the information for this is located near the sign in sheets. For more information please ask any of our staff. Thanks again

for your support.

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ACTIVE OUTDOOR PROGRAM

P A GE 7

I have started bringing some climbing equipment from the big playground for the Possum children to try, as the Bilby’s are getting bigger

they are also joining in the activities. This gets them familiar with the new equipment as well as challenging them physically. They enjoy

helping me set up the course as well as sometimes taking over, I love to see their creativity as they think of different ways of designing.

They also co-operate with each other, working together to help lift the climbing equipment. This activity in itself is great for large muscle

development, as they use their whole bodies to move things. This is functional movement where the activity they do serves a purpose.

You would hear a lot about functional fitness, which essentially means doing an activity to serve the purpose it was intended for, i.e., to

train for a marathon you would do endurance running drills. The children are also learning how to cope when something doesn’t work

and have to think of different ways to try. They develop self-confidence are able to share and takes turns and consider other ideas.

The Koalas have been developing their turn taking and group games as we work together to make different waves with the parachute.

We have also challenged our balancing skills, both static and dynamic moving through various obstacles, jumping, crawling and climbing

to get through. These activities also help children cope with unexpected challenges they may face, not only in their childhood but

through to adulthood and help develop strategies to deal with it

Yoga is still very popular with the Kangaroos and they are very good at being able to calm themselves down after some very active play

through breathing techniques. As we sit in a comfortable pose we close our eyes and focus on our breathing using our hands in an in,

out, up, down motion to coincide with the breathes. Yoga is a very good technique to help when children are feeling overwhelmed, upset,

excitable and frustrated or angry, by encouraging them to shift the focus to within they take control of their feelings. This is a great strat-

egy to carry on into adult life.

Sustainability We are currently reviewing the Sustainability Policy within our service.

How could we improve? Do you have any ideas? Consider energy, waste, toxins, nature and education. Do you have any concerns?

Here are some initiatives we are undertaking :- repositioning the vegetable gardens so they are easily assessable to children this

will occur during the playground renovation and fly screens will be installed over the coming weeks

Today we ask for your input in the area of Environmental Sustainability. How could we enhance environmental sustainability at the

centre and increase children’s connectedness to nature?

Please Email your input, suggestions or concerns or speak to any of the staff.

A copy of the Sustainability Policy will be positioned at the sign in desk, feel free to contribute with your ideas on the form provided.

Barb Cook

Educator – Possum Room and Sustainability Officer

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This is an extract from our ‘Child Protection Policy’ if you wish to read the full policy or view our Centre Association's Policies, they are

available in the foyer for your perusal. We welcome any feedback or suggestions, you can write this on the communication book outside the

office, Lyn or your child’s Educator

Our services fundamentally believe that all children have the right to a life that is free from harm. Our services aim to provide an

environment that is free from any type of abuse and foster a child’s growth and development as per the individual requirements of

each child.

Information for Families Our Child Protection Risk Management Strategy

Creating safe and supportive service environments for children is everyone‘s business. Our service is committed to ensuring chil-

dren are kept safe from harm. We will initiate and maintain ongoing planning and commitment to a safe and supportive environ-

ment so children:

feel safe and protected from harm

help plan activities and make decisions

are consulted and respected

have their best interests considered and upheld.

We have a written child protection risk management strategy to protect the children in our service from harm, and to ensure we

have a safe and supportive environment for children by identifying and minimising risks.

The child protection risk management strategy consists of:

a code of conduct for interacting with children.

procedures for recruiting, selecting, training and managing paid employees and volunteers, including screening

procedures through working with children checks.

procedures for handling disclosures or suspicions of harm, including reporting guidelines

procedures for managing breaches of the strategy

risk management plans for high-risk activities and special events

strategies for communication and support.

As a parent/carer it is important for you to understand the policies and procedures that form the child protection risk management

strategy.

Educating Children about Protective Behaviour We aim to teach children:

about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and appropriate and inappropriate contact in a manner suitable to their age

and level of understanding

that they have a right to feel safe at all times.

to say ‘no‘ to anything that makes them feel unsafe

the difference between ‘fun’ scared that is appropriate risk taking and dangerous scared that is not ok.

to use their own skills to feel safe.

to recognise signs that they do not feel safe and need to be alert and think clearly.

that there is no secret too awful, no story too terrible, that they can‘t share with someone they trust .

that educators are available for them if they have any concerns.

to tell educators of any suspicious activities or people.

to recognise and express their feelings verbally and non-verbally.

that they can choose to change the way they are feeling.

Beliefs

Our service believes that:

children are capable of the same range of emotions as adults.

children’s emotions are real and need to be accepted by adults.

a response given to a child from an adult in a child’s early stages of emotional development can be hugely positive or detri

mental depending on the adult’s reaction.

children are very in touch with their bodies’ reactions to their emotions.

children who retain, enhance and better understand their body’s response to an emotion are more able to foresee the outcome of

a situation and avoid them or ask for help.

This month policy review is ‘Child Protection Policy. ’