Lobethal Community

Kindergarten

Torrens Valley Partnership

Quality

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLAN

2017

Service name Service approval number

LOBETHAL COMMUNITY KINDERGARTEN

SE-00010575

Primary contact at service

LEEANNE (Lee) MUNN

Physical location of service Physical location contact details

Street: 1 Reserve Avenue

Suburb: Lobethal

State/territory: South Australia

Postcode: 5241

Telephone: 8389 6321

Mobile: 0432 582 775

Fax: 83895153

Email: Leeanne.Munn791@schools.sa.edu.au

Approved Provider Nominated Supervisor

Primary contact: Department for Education and Child Development Trish

Strachan, Head, Child Development

Telephone: 8226 0000

Mobile:

Fax

Email:

Name: Lee Munn

Telephone: 8389 6321

Mobile: 0432 582 775

Fax: 8389 5153

Email: Leeanne.Munn791@schools.sa.edu.au

Postal address (if different to physical location of service)

Street

Suburb:

State/territory:

Postcode:

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

PLAN

Operating Hours

Monday :

Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday

Friday (alternate)

Opening time

8.30am

8.30am

8.30am

8.30am

9.00am

Closing time

3.15pm 3.15pm

3.15pm

3.15pm

3.00pm

Provide additional information about your service—parking, school holiday dates, pupil-free days etc.

Parking is located on Reserve Avenue, in front of Rotary Park (next to kindy) or along Reserve Avenue

How are the children grouped at your service?

Frogs group- Monday, Tuesday and Friday full day once per month

Bugs group- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday full day once a month

Write the name and position of person(s) responsible for submitting this Quality Improvement Plan

Nominated Supervisor, Director, Lee Munn

e

Lobethal Community Kindergarten 2017 OVERARCHING GOAL: To provide a Quality Learning Environment that promotes the development of intellectual stretch and learning dispositions for all learners.

Quality Teaching

and Learning QA: 1.1.6, 1.1.4, 1.2.1,

2.2.1, 2.1.2,3.3.2, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 7.2.1

Strong Community

Connectedness

QA: 2.2.1, 3.3.2, 6.2.2, 6.3.4, 7.2.1

Educator Inquiry

See adjacent graphic

1.1.6, 1.1.4, 3.3.2

Quality Physical

Environment

QA: 3.1.1, 3.3.2

Our Image of the child as a capable and competent

learner

TV Partnership Results Plus

Inquiry Numeracy Focus

'Nature Connect'

Bush Kindy program

Every Child, Every Day

Making Learning visible

Exploring AUTHENTIC

CHILD VOICE/Agency

STEM Lead Learning Site/ PD

development

Connections to Country- exporing

Aboriginal perspectives and ways of Learning

Learning Dispositions

Executive Functions

Sustainability in action

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLAN 2017

QUALITY AREA 1: EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AND PRACTICE

STRENGTHS: Individual children’s learning journey books (sent home once per term and always accessible to parents and children), Effective documentation in learning journey books, Positive feedback from parents around the use of LJ books, Strong partnerships with parents- Parents as foremost educators- partnerships with parents is strong through multiple forms of connecting and consultation. Creation of assessment and reporting schedule, Planning cycle, Program board Reflective practices embedded into our program, Every Child, Every day process, daily reflections, term and yearly reflective processes. Effective use of closed Facebook group to share the here and now learning experiences, Lots of parents (and Grandparents) feedback and interest in Facebook group. Use of Floorbook to document children’s thinking and learning. Initial steps to use the floorbook to streamline programming, documenting children’s’ voice and reflective practice. Nature Connect program (bush kindy held once per week in terms two and three) at Bushland Park, Lobethal.

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Clear links between planning cycle and assessment for learning processes. A need to explore authentic child’s voice and agency in our program and to continue our work around making learning visible to our children, families and community.

Standard/ Element

Priority- Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

1.1.6 Each child’s agency is promoted, enabling them to make choices and decisions and to influence events of their world.

H We will:

Staff will engage in educator inquiry around authentic children’s voice. Partnership work will support this as will our STEM lead learning project

Collect daily data on children’s engagement and interactions and use this when planning learning experiences

Use the Floorbook to consistently document child’s voice, ideas and interests

Purchase resources to support this strategy, e.g. go pros, additional video cameras,

Review our current practices in line with child voice principals, using Tfel (Teaching for effective learning) resources

Monitor each child’s involvement in our programme

Evidence of children’s voice in our program and planning processes. Evidence of child’s voice being present in our assessment and reporting processes. We will use the RRR resource to inquire into the effectiveness of our strategies.

Staff Team Commence term 2-Ongoing

1.1.4 To make Learning Visible to all members of our learning community

H We will:

Use our table of learning as platform to highlight learning experiences. Staff to create different forms of documentation that can be used to pull out learning experiences for learning examples put on the table of learning

Floorbook displayed daily for parents to see documentation of learning and a link between planned, spontaneous and intentional teaching and learning experiences

Displays (digital and hard copy) documenting children’s voice, thinking and learning

Program and planning board

Share daily whiteboard, weekly program and table of learning photos on our Facebook page for parents who cannot access the centre.

Table of learning (or bush kindy equivalent) a source of conversation and connection for parents and children at pick up time Parent feedback (verbal and written) Child Feedback Photographic evidence of displays Reflections Facebook Group Community book Program Floorbook and Staff Floorbook 100% of staff contributing to our ‘making learning visible’ initiative.

Staff Team Floorbook: Term 1 2016 Table of Learning: Term 2 2016

1.2.1 Sustainable assessment and reporting schedules are created to clearly link into our planning cycle

We will:

Review current assessment processes and practices and rewrite/publish in line with planning cycle

Agreed assessment practices are established Assessment procedures shared and understood my staff team. Schedules on display and put into induction folder. Document and evidence follows the agreed schedules.

Led by teaching staff End of Term 2

PROGRESS NOTES:

QUALITY AREA 2: CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND SAFETY

STRENGTHS: Children conduct risk assessments along with staff. We have three take home puppets, ‘Crunch Munch the healthy eating crocodile’, ‘Albert the Active Ape’ and Gen the gentle giraffe’ which help to increase awareness of healthy lifestyle practices and enables us to celebrate and share different cultures in our kindy community through documented shared experiences in each puppets book. Day book containing records of cleaning/disinfection practices and communication with parents around illness, injury and infection control. Water trolley used to ensure children access their water filled drink bottles at all eating times. Daily exercise (run, walk, climb and explore the park adjacent) planned into daily timetable. Cooking program integrated into curriculum, sourcing kindy grown harvests (strawberries, tomatoes, peaches, eggs, apples, cucumbers, capsicums, raspberries). Excellent attendance levels to all sessions, consistently throughout the year.

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Continued focus on healthy eating and nutrition, relaxation times needing reconsidering and reviewing to suit the needs of the current groups.

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and

By When?

2.2.1 Healthy eating and physical activity are promoted through our learning experiences

M We will:

Explore nutrition within our curriculum

Introduce the Rainbow of healthy foods

Link nutrition choices with physical expenditure through bush kindy experiences

Communicate with families the need for nutritious snacks, drinks and lunches at kindy via Facebook posts, newsletters, blog posts etc.

Cook and create nutritious meals with our children through our cooking program

Source seasonal foods from our garden or local community for cooking experiences

Floorbook documentation Visual displays Program board Predominately Healthy food in children’s lunchboxes each day Facebook posts, blog posts and other documentation Rainbow of foods display and data

All staff Ongoing

2.1.2

Relaxation practices are effective, and tailored to individual and group needs

H We will:

Reconceptualise relaxation practices through purposefully planning engaging activities in response to individual children’s needs.

Children’s rest and relaxation times tailored to meet individual needs. Rest times/relaxation planned, implemented and reviewed in planning documentation. Children engaging in a range of relaxation activities Observations around relaxation show positive growth.

Teaching staff- end of term 2

PROGRESS NOTES: Term 1: Facebook posts about healthy eating, additions of healthy food ideas in newsletters.

QUALITY AREA 3: PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

STRENGTHS: We have a strong nature pedagogy. Our curriculum is filled with natural experiences; Outdoor kindy, bush, forest and beach kindy. We have moved lots of our resources out of our store room and onto the ‘floor’ and kindy verandah in baskets area for children to access as required. Ample resources available for all children to access. We use the park adjacent to the kindy in the morning for exploration and movement experiences. We purchased new indoor furniture resources for children to be able to access materials and resource their own learning. We created a new mud kitchen area in early 2016 and had it plumbed into our rainwater tank. Strong sustainable practices- chooks, kindy community recycle centre, reusing and recycling materials, composting, kindy vegetable garden, strawberry patch and orchard, links with NRMed, Bush Kindy/Nature Connect program. Timer taps installed on taps, tap handles removed from taps to reduce water waste.

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Nappy Change area non-existent in our bathroom area. This has been an identified issue since 2013 Sustainable Practices need to be consistently promoted in our program as it links with our nature pedagogy

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

3.1.1 To provide a safe nappy change area Upgrade site facilities to make them more user friendly and increase storage

H M

We will:

Continue using current risk assessments and nappy change procedures

Continue ongoing conversations with DECD facilities management

Apply for any relevant grants to help fund building development.

Conduct an audit of current spaces, storage and furniture. Review findings and plan upgrades as required

Convert support room into additional work/office space

Upgrade shedding. Liaise with facilities manager, Cameron Bishop

Risk assessments, Risk Register Progress towards plans being drawn up for nappy change area. More workable space available for staff and support workers to access and use effectively Effective storage systems for indoor and outdoor use.

Lee Ongoing Lee and Janice

3.3.2 Create greener spaces for children to connect with, explore and care for

We will:

Design a vision for a vertical garden on our back wall brace near the digging patch

Contact a consultant to design and install a vertical garden that includes the use of indigenous, bird and butterfly attracting plants

Install water systems that minimise water use and wastage

Evidence of a new garden and vertical wall garden There will be irrigation systems installed

Term 3 Lee and Staff team

PROGRESS NOTES: 9/3/17 Black Lime Designer visit and quote received to be presented to the Governing council for approval

QUALITY AREA 4: STAFFING ARRANGEMENTS

STRENGTHS: Staff rosters ensure that we always have 4 staff at kindy on any given day (1:8 ratio) Staff processes and agreements created to ensure appropriate supervision is provided for children at all times, e.g. staff code of conduct, rosters, clear understanding of shared and individual roles and responsibilities. Staff learning nights and PD sessions are integrated into individual PDP’s. Staff team have presented our nature play story to over 300 educators across the state over the last 2 years. Staff team attended a Reggio nature pedagogy conference in NZ in 2015, and recently presented at the National Nature Pedagogy conference in Victoria in March 2017. Staff work together collaboratively to reflect, review and implement changes in line with findings from our reviews. Teaching staff have taken on a lead role in coordinating and leading our partnership professional learning community, based around play based learning in nature.

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: We have been selected as a STEM lead learning site, so we need to effectively manage our time and resources to integrate this work into our current staffing structure without compromising our relationships with children, our families and our wellbeing.

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

4.2.1 and 4.2.2

To lead and design professional development through our STEM Lead learning site project

H We will:

Attend Torrens Valley PD sessions and PLC

Collaborate with each other to plan STEM expenditure to release staff to plan design and implement PD

Explore the definitions of STEM through our own research

Attendance at PLC and PD sessions Staff PD plans Staff actively engaged in inquiry (feedback sought through PD and staff meetings) Staff Floorbook Staff reflections in daily reflections folder.

All staff: Commence Term 2 2016

PROGRESS NOTES:

QUALITY AREA 5: RELATIONSHIPS WITH CHILDREN

STRENGTHS: Belonging focus Term 1 and throughout the kindy year, Children’s photos displayed, belonging tree, each child greeted each morning by each staff member, Staff responsive to children’s needs, interests and rights. Every Child, Every Day process ensures that each child’s learning, wellbeing, social connections and interactions are discussed. Staff engagement levels are analysed and documented and followed up as required. Parents and caregivers consulted and relationships built upon children’s interests and cultural background and in line with their unique individual personality and needs. Children’s voice leads our curriculum, with children engaging in morning meetings, where children’s ideas, theories and wonderings are shared and explored as a group. Staff facilitate child led learning in a range of ways. Staff have added their own stories into learning journey books, with the aim of building strong relationships with each educator as a person and family member, rather than just being their child’s educator.

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT:

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

PROGRESS NOTES:

QUALITY AREA 6: COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS WITH FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES

STRENGTHS: Nature connect program, support and involvement by Lions Club and Rotary Club, Adelaide Hills Council, friends of bushland park, local primary and secondary schools, families (incredibly high number of parents volunteering at bush kindy every session), exceptional parent feedback about nature connect program- 100% return rate on paper surveys 2015 and 2016. Collaboration and consultation with families around the nature connect program. Staff learning journey book provides evidence of this. Visits to local schools, shops, community groups and centres. Partipation in Community events- SALA, Woollen Mill exhibition, Termly visits to Restvale Retirement home. Established the “Lobethal Hug” group, set up to support families in need. This group organises food, donations, resources and support to local families affected by hardship or tragedy. CAYHS screenings, DECD speech pathology and coordination of external providers to support our children and families. Families support our kindy through daily clean up rosters, participating in busy bees, fundraising events, Governing Council membership (over 50% of parents on GC in 2016) and through sharing their skills and passions in our program. Each year our

kindergarten holds a major fundraiser that is sponsored by local businesses and is attended by a wide range of locals- past and present families. Our 2016 fundraiser raised over $11,000!!!

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Through consultation and feedback from our families, we would like to update our parent borrowing library and conduct a range of info sessions to help support parents in their role.

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

6.2.2 Update parent borrowing library Hold a range of parent workshops across the year

H We will:

Purchase new resources to update the parent library

Share links on our Facebook page and group to parenting online resources

Our parent survey Facebook activity and comments Borrowing records

Lee, Janice and Nic Term 1 2016

6.3.4 Work with local service and environmental groups (Landcare, trees for life, Friends of bushland park, Adelaide Hills council, local Peramangk connections) to create a program for our children and families to be involved in respecting, rejuvenating and replanting bushland park. This project will be called… “Lobethal Kindy Nature Nurturers”

M We will:

Set up a meeting to liaise with our local service groups and stakeholders to plan rejuvenation and care strategy at Bushland park.

Meetings held, plans made and actions created Implementation of a rejuvenation and care strategy

Lee and staff

PROGRESS NOTES:

QUALITY AREA 7: LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT

STRENGTHS: Strong membership on Governing Council (50% of families represented on GC in 2016), Clear processes established re: Governance- Minutes procedures, roles and responsibilities, Code of conduct, criminal screenings, RAN training for volunteers. Clear induction process through well organised induction folder and meetings for all new employees- permanent and temporary and volunteers. Bush Kindy induction given to ALL parents, helper and staff prior to attending and participating in a session. Staff PLC established and links made to PDP’s. Strong continuous improvement evident through self-review process using improvement cycle. Staff Floorbook, QIP discussion record and daily reflections provide evidence of this. Director is a leadership advisor- coaching two newly appointed directors, previously mentored another director through DECD workforce development.

IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Review and rewrite our Centre Philosophy statement to include current research, pedagogical focus areas and our nature connect program.

Standard/ Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority How Will We Get There? Success Measure Responsible

Element L, M, H Strategies and Actions Our evidence and data persons and By When?

7.2.1 The Centre’s philosophy underpins all aspects of our program

We will:

Create a philosophy booklet for families new, current and future

We will make our philosophy visible to all stakeholders through displays, documentation and newsletters

Families will have an increased awareness of our Philosophy. This will be obtained through parent surveys, conversations and feedback

Nic, Kerry, Nell End of Term 2 2017

PROGRESS NOTES: 11/3/17: Families have been consulted and asked to contribute to our Family Belonging Tree project 2017. Each family was given a leaf and asked to return it with a word, phrase or sentence that encapsulates their hopes, dreams and wishes for their child’s kindy year. These are then displayed at our entry foyer on our Family belonging tree and the words will be added to our 2017 QIP. Each family has also been asked to bring in a photo of their family to be added to the belonging tree.