Child Times April 2012

Child times Volume 1 Issue 13 April 2012

PD Calendar

In-Service Workshops Customised Workshops

Consultancy Visits

NQF Support Packages

PSC Alliance Resources

PSC How to Series Child Early Learning Centre Lockridge

PSC National Quality Framework Professional Development & Support PSC National Quality Framework Professional Development and Support is available to all Australian Government Approved Child Care Services (AGACCS) in WA and NT. Child Australia has developed a variety of Professional Development and Support options available to services and educators in 2012.

PSC’s nationally have developed strategies to ensure consistent messages are delivered. Through collaboration we have developed Professional Development and Support that meets all levels of engagement with the NQF. Professional Development - All Professional Development offered by

PSC is built around the National Quality Framework including the Early Years Learning Framework or the Framework for School Age Care. Our facilitators have thorough knowledge of the NQF and can assist services and educators to interpret and adapt practices to meet the National Quality Standard and approved frameworks. Below are the different types of PD offered to services.

• PD calendar - Each 6 months PSC produces a calendar with scheduled workshops based on a selection of topics to be held at locations across Western Australia and Northern Territory. The topics and locations are based on feedback gathered in a variety of methods from the sector over the previous six months.

• In-service - In-Service workshops have not been adapted in any way from regular calendar workshops but are delivered to your team in your service at a time that suits you (subject to availability of facilitators).

• Customised - Customised workshops have been designed or adapted to meet the specific needs of your service. PSC can arrange for a facilitator to present a customised professional development session at your service on a needs basis.

Customised sessions typically: • address specific needs of the service that can’t be met through scheduled calendar workshops; • require adaptions or development of workshop materials following discussions between the facilitator, PSC and service management; and • are held in your service at a time that meets your needs subject to facilitator availability.

Australia

PSC National Quality Framework Professional Development & Support An NQF consultant will provide support through a variety of means depending upon your needs and your budget. PSC understand that all educators within your service are probably at different levels of understanding and therefore managing change within the service to implement the NQF can be challenging. So, let PSC help your service be on the same page to continual improvement. It is a journey and we are here to help.

Please see below for the three different packages that are currently being offered to assist you in your journey to understanding and implementing the NQF.

These come in a variety of delivery modes:

• visiting your service at a suitable time for a maximum of 2 hours; • observing your care environment and practices; • advising on practical strategies to assist educators in their role; and • supporting the development of documentation and quality practices.

• Online sessions and webinars.

• NQF newsletters and factsheets: – all of which can be found on the PSC Alliance website.

These sessions include: • National Quality Framework Introductory Information Session; • Early Years Learning Framework Introductory Information Session;

• attending your service following a workshop; • assisting your educators to embed the learning from the workshop into practice; and • extending the concepts explored in relation to your earning environment and practices.

• Change Management, engaging families and educators; • Quality for the NQF; • Leadership for Implementing Learning Frameworks; • Policies for the NQF; • Connecting with Families;

If you do not currently have a hardcopy of the PSC calendar please contact your PSC or visit www.childaustralia.org.au to download a copy.

• Articulation of current curriculum; and • Financial Viability & Budgeting for NQF.

For more information about NQF Professional Development and Support the National PSC Alliance website: www.pscalliance.org.au • NQF Support Packages

Where are you in your journey of unpacking the NQF? If you are feeling that you require some extra support in this area you may want to consider the PSC NQF support packages.

PSC NQF support packages are tailored to meet your services needs and provide cost effective support to assist educators develop the depth of knowledge, skills and understanding to support transition to the NQF. The packages will assist services to develop necessary skills to confidently reflect and develop continuous improvement within your service.

Package 1

• Professional Development:

• Learning into Practice Consultancies consist of the consultant:

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Non Accredited/Newly Registered Services • 10 hours free support – via telephone, in service or via email.

• Access to “Policies to go By” Free.

Free

Accredited Services • PSC Calendar professional development relating to the National Quality Framework for your service.

• Follow up 2 hours face to face consultancy.

• Support in understanding expectations of the Quality Improvement Plan – QIP. $250 • 2 hours face to face support unpacking the National Quality Framework including: • what do the standards look like in practice; • how to engage educators in reflective practice; and • supporting educators using change management strategies.

Package 2

• Customised consultancies consist of the consultant:

• PSC Alliance Resources – These are nationally consistent professional development resources developed by the PSC Alliance that are specifically aimed at building understanding and quality practice to meet the National Quality Standards.

Package 3

• Consultancy – PSC offers consultancy visits in all service environments subject to availability of consultants. There are two types of consultancies offered:

$350

Accredited Services • Staff Meeting Support (with a focus on the Quality Improvement Plan).

• 2 hours face to face support unpacking the National Quality Framework and National Quality Standard – what does this look like in practice.

• 2 hours support in Programming and Documentation.

• 5 hours leadership/mentoring program support.

• Access to “Policies to go By”.

• PSC “How to” Series - The “How to” Series is a 10 part series and has been created to offer services practical support and ideas to implement the requirements of the National Quality Framework in a user friendly, easy to read format. The “How to” Series aims to promote key areas of quality practices linking to the Law/Act, Regulations and National Quality Standards.

• The first part of this series will be launched from April 2012 and will be posted to all services in WA and NT. • PSC NQF Reforms Info Poster – This poster was developed in response to feedback received during consultation visits to services. Educators identified a need for practical information on the NQF Reforms. The poster explores what services need to know, what does the information mean and how it will affect your service. This poster was posted out to all services

in December and is available on the PSC websites. You may also contact your PSC to obtain additional hardcopies.

• PSC ‘Policies to Go By’ - The Policies to Go By resource has been updated to assist services to successfully meet the requirements of the National Quality Framework.

These sample policies offer children’s services approved providers, nominated supervisors, coordinators, and educators with policies to use as a guide to operate within required legal parameters. This valuable resource will soon be available free to Australian Government Approved Child Care Services, and is currently available through a resource centre membership.

• PSC Website NQF Resources These resources, available free on the PSC website, have been designed to assist educators to reflect on current care practices in relation to the NQF and can

be used to continue to engage educators in the reflection and implementation stages.

These resources include: • EYLF Familiarisation PowerPoint • EYLF Team Meeting Packages • EYLF and OSHC Reflective Question Packages • Fact sheets

Please contact your PSC to discuss this support further.

WA: Email on PSCWA@childaustralia.org.au or contact the Helpline on 1800 783 768 NT: Email on PSCNT@childaustralia.org.au or contact the Helpline on 1800 138 662

Celebrating Educators Children’s services award events were held throughout Western Australia in October 2011 in the South West, Broome and Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The events recognised and celebrated the contribution of all working in the education and care industry.

The South West event was the seventh Shining Star Awards, it was held on Friday 7th October, and was coordinated by a working group of industry representatives.

Special guest Hon Robyn McSweeney opened the event and set the scene for a night of celebration. Long Day Care, Outside School Hours Care, Family Day Care and In home Child Care services from across the South West, including Bunbury, Collie, Harvey, Pemberton, Margaret River, Dunsborough, and Busselton attended the presentation of awards.

The Awards were recognition of individuals working in the children’s services industry who demonstrated best practice and outstanding commitment to children’s services across the South West region. There were two types of Awards, the Shining Star Award, for individual services and the Rising Star Award selected from across the South West.

The Broome Educator Excellence awards were held on the 27th October and attended by educators from throughout the sector. The successful nominees were nominated by colleagues, parents and children.

The overall winner was Carol Storer from Broome Out of School Care Children’s Activities. Carol received an overwhelming number of nominations.

The other successful educators included; first runner up Renee Faulks of Mulberry Tree, second runner up Margaret Ryan from Broome Day Care and third runner up Anna DZienis of Kimberley Kids. The night was a great success with dinner and dancing.

The Kalgoorlie-Boulder dinner was coordinated by representatives from each of the children’s services and other key stakeholders in the region. The collaboration to coordinate the dinner proved very successful. There was ample opportunity on the night for networking and for educators from throughout the region to get to know one another.

Everyone’s contribution to the education and care industry was acknowledged with appreciation certificates and special gift bags.

The success of the three events was testament to the dedication of those who tirelessly contribute to education and care.

Richelle Piggott (YMCA Family Resource Centre) Jodie Buck (YMCA In Home Care) Jenni Burgess (Child Australia – South West Inclusion Agency)

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Professional learning, the Early Years Learning Framework and other ideas!

Leanne Gibbs The Early Years Learning Framework ‘describes the principles, practice and outcomes essential to support and enhance young children’s learning from birth to five years of age as well as their transitions to school’ (DEEWR 2011).

As a key component of the National Quality Framework it is essential that educators and staff of early childhood programs feel a confident connection with, and a strong capacity to deliver on, the principles and practices of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). This occurs through a professional learning framework that ensures deep understandings and promotes a passion for knowledge linked not just with the Early Years Learning Framework but indeed the broad ranging content and ideas essential for working within the early childhood sector and a commitment to lifelong learning.

The starting point-listening Lifelong learning begins with the recognition of existing educator understandings, experience and learning styles. Adults have a great deal of valuable experience to draw upon. They may have preconceived ideas about content and new knowledge, firmly established attitudes, and expectations. There will be some situations where people will be internally motivated and others where motivation comes from the outside.

These considerations must all be taken into account when planning for learning (PSCA, 2010). The best learning opportunities are also matched with the needs, interests and learning styles of the educators. Finding out about educator needs can be exciting and stimulating and choosing the right approaches to fulfil those needs is the opportunity to exercise creative thought. It’s the opportunity to get it right for the early childhood program.

The first question to ask is “How will our team of educators and individuals learn?” Analytical questions can be asked during meetings or of individuals, and observations and peer evaluations will also contribute. In depth discussion and appraisals will also guide plans for learning but what is most important is to put people in charge of their own learning.

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Get involved Putting people in charge of their own learning is asking them to be involved and committed to their individual learning goals. Educators who take responsibility for their learning and training will have greater success and more chance of embedding learning within practice.

The next step is to plan and offer a range of learning opportunities that stem from existing knowledge and experience.

Reflective Approaches and Self -Paced Learning provide a great opportunity to promote personal and professional growth of understandings relating to children and the EYLF. Questions that may be appropriate as a starting point for educators could include: What are you currently observing in your teaching that is related to your interests as an educator?

What would you like to know more about or be able to do differently in your professional practice?

My personal theory on how children learn is …

What are you learning about yourself as a learner as you explore the principles of the EYLF? (Adapted, Clarke 2003, P 8)

Self- paced learning may comprise guided reading tasks, individual learning packages that include on screen presentations and questions to check comprehension, online learning and live hosted sessions.

Self -paced learning also allows a deep engagement where in depth reading, extended viewing and analysis combines to advance thinking.

Workshop sessions and learning encounters offer opportunities to deliver key ideas in an innovative way. The challenge is to deliver the right experiences, stories, visual and aural aids to get the message across.

Successful facilitators and trainers see participants absorbing the ideas, and growing and developing in a very short time frame. The short session also has a great capacity to inspire learners to undertake further research and follow up discussions with peers.

Practitioner Inquiry and Action Research according to McNaughton (p 10, 2004) is the cycle of ‘think-dothink’ where thinking informs practice that then informs thinking. She notes that ‘despite the risk involved in action research, many early childhood professionals choose it because they have hopes and dreams to improve the lives of children, parents and colleagues with whom they work (p 6, 2004). This type of research is

Reflec[ve approaches and self paced learning Formal learning-­‐ accredited training and qualifica[ons

Exis[ng understandings, experience and learning styles and new knowledge

Leadership and partnerships

Workshop sessions and learning encounters

Inquiry and research

most often undertaken as a shared experience within a broader group where spaces remain to make assumptions, ask questions and create possibilities.

will occur only when it has become a formality within accredited training and courses within a qualification framework such as a diploma or degree program of a tertiary institution.

rather as a process, an ongoing path that we follow from birth throughout our lives, now more than ever. (Rinaldi (2004, as cited in Moss, 2004) Macquarie University )

Mentoring also offers an opportunity for partnerships in learning. An example of this approach in the trial for the EYLF was the ‘critical friend’ who was available for phone conversations and became a source of guidance and feedback. This was cited by participants in the trial as one of the most useful options for growth.

Slattery (2010,p 3) notes that the aim of any mentoring program is to build the capacity of children’s services staff and to provide collaborative support for changes to practice. He goes on to say

The Thinking Environment

References

‘… the mentor and protégé work together to set goals, driven by the needs of the protégé (Ritchie, 1999).

In meeting goals, the protégé draws on the experience of the mentor. The mentor encourages the protégé to uncover solutions themselves, rather than acting as the expert and simply providing answers (Linney, 1999).’

Formal learning-accredited training and qualifications Strong acceptance and valuing of the Early Years Learning Framework

All learning opportunities must give attention to promoting the right conditions and environment for the greatest outcomes. An excellent approach to developing these conditions is the promotion of the Thinking Environment. Developed by Nancy Kline in 1973, the Thinking Environment identifies 10 behaviours that promote the right environment for learning. In the presence of these ten behaviours people think for themselves with rigour, imagination, courage and grace. Among these behaviours are attention, appreciation, equality, diversity, feelings of ease and encouragement .

Over and above the focus upon learning encounters and opportunities is the important point that professional development involves a lifelong experience that has richness and depth.

Personal and professional development, like education, should not be seen as static or unchangeable qualities, achieved once and for all, but

Clarke, M (2003) Reflection and Journals: A Strategy for Professional Learning Paper presented at the NZARE/AARE Conference Auckland, New Zealand 29th November-3rd December, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (Accessed April 11th 2011) Early Years Learning Framework http://www.deewr.gov.au/ Earlychildhood/Policy_Agenda/Quality/ Pages/EarlyYearsLearningFramework. aspx McNaughton, G & Hughes, P (2004), Doing Action Research in Early Childhood Studies, McGraw Hill Macquarie University (2008) Practice Potentials: Impact of Participation in Professional Development and Support on Quality Outcomes for Children in Child Care Centres A research project funded by the PSC Alliance Available at www.pscalliance.org.au Slattery, C (2010) Mentoring Manual, A Manual for Mentoring in Children’s Services, Children’s Services Central

Exclusive Research Opportunity with Caroline Fewster PSC is pleased to announce two exciting new action research projects with Caroline Fewster running in Western Australia. These projects will be conducted over 3 months commencing in April.

The Social Learning Project: Designing and Creating Early Childhood Environments that Engage and Inspire Children’s Social Learning and Behaviour, is designed for participants to explore many possibilities for implementing social learning opportunities that supports the NQF and EYLF. It investigates how the physical environment

support’s children’s social learning and what ineffective early childhood environments looks like.

The Assessment and Documentation Project explores the many ways to collect, document and interpret the information educators gather to assess children’s learning. It examines current practices which contribute to children’s wellbeing and discovers possibilities and opportunities to enhance future learning experiences. At the end of the project, participants will design a workshop which can be taken back and implemented in services.

The aim of these projects is to gain an overview of the services’ journey from challenges to success and how environments shape children’s behaviours and learning. These aims will be achieved through evaluation, reflection and individual coaching.

There will be one-on-one coaching after each session to help the participants implement what they have learnt into practice and to allow the participants to focus on goal attainment throughout the project.

Social Learning Project

Assessment and Documentation Project

Monday April 16 Monday May 7 Friday June 15

Tuesday April 17 Tuesday May 8 Friday June 22

Venue: Wollaston Conference Centre, Wollaston Road Mt Claremont Time: 9.30am – 4.00pm Cost: $240 (includes registration for each 3 part project & catering) Visit PSCWA website for registrations and more details of the projects.

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PSCA role in supporting NQF All children’s services will be attending closely to the requirements of the National Quality Framework (NQF) now that the system has commenced (from 1st January 2012). Child care services should by now have implemented the new ratios of 1 staff to four babies under two years of age (where this is a new ratio). For all services, measures should now be well underway to develop a service Quality Improvement Plan due to be completed by 30th April 2012.

While many services have been in the processes of preparing for these changes some may need additional support to implement the new requirements. Two key areas have been identified where services will potentially need additional information. These include leadership and managing change. As with any significant change process it can be anticipated that there will be a variety of responses from people within services, and service leaders have a significant role in achieving a positive approach to the changes.

It helps to ensure that all people within a service have an accurate understanding of the rationale for the changes. Simply put, the changes are designed to improve the quality of services so that there are better outcomes for children and families. The National Quality Framework (NQF) sets a new National Quality Standard for all children’s services which depending on the state or territory may include preschool education and child care services, family day care and school age care services. In addition to better outcomes for children, the NQF is designed to achieve: • national consistency, • better integration of education and care, and • raising the status and professionalism of children’s services staff.

It is important to remember that since July 2009, many educators, parents and community members have contributed to the process of developing the national regulations and the new quality system with extensive consultation, opportunities to make submissions and to respond to discussion papers, with regular information also made available through PSC.

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A significant aspect of the NQF is that the changes acknowledge the significance of the early years for children’s development and the important role that educators play in the lives of children and families.

Under the NQF a key requirement is for improved qualification requirements making linkages between formal qualifications for educators and outcomes for children. This requirement will mean that many existing educators will need to participate in programs to achieve the Certificate III or Diploma qualification. Service leaders can use this requirement as an opportunity for renewal, encouraging experienced educators to undertake formal education, which will recognise their practical on-the-job knowledge and experience but provide an opportunity to understand theoretical underpinnings of practice. In the longer term it is expected that improving the qualifications of children’s services educators may contribute to improved career structures and retention rates as well as quality outcomes.

Although the National Quality Standards involves new requirements, it is expected that staff who have participated in the previous accreditation system will identify with the processess involved so that NQF will build on the experience and knowledge of children’s services and the ability of services to participate in continuous improvement processes.

Under the new system educators will be expected to be able to talk about and explain their practice to Authorised Officers (Assessors) further acknowledging the professionalism of educators.

In leading these changes a key consideration for service leaders will be to ensure that educators are fully informed and supported to explore the impact of changes. It is recommended that collaborative leadership approaches, where conversations and discussions shape the implementation of the changes is likely to ensure that changes made within services are sustained and that all stakeholders (educators, children, families and communities) are engaged and committed to the improvements.

Children’s services are able to access a range of materials and information that will support them to implement the NQF through the Professional Support Coordinators (PSC) in each state and

territory. PSCs are contracted by the Australian Government to provide support for services to understand the national initiatives and provide professional development and support for practical assistance in making the necessary changes. The purpose of the national Professional Support Coordinators Alliance (PSCA) is to ensure that the state and territory PSCs work together so that support materials and workshops that are produced are nationally consistent and accurately reflect the Government’s changes.

The PSCA website provides an easy point of access for all materials including workshops, online resources, e-tips, factsheets and newsletters to familiarise services with the requirements of the National Quality Framework, including the National Quality Standards, the National Regulations, the Early Years Learning Framework and the Framework for School Age Care. It is recommended that services check the PSCA website www.pscalliance.org.au for support and current information as it is regularly updated as well as viewing their own state or territory PSC Calendar for details of events.

What NQF support is available in 2012?

A range of new professional development activities and resources have been developed to support leaders and educators with the specific requirements of the NQF. In response to sector feedback a variety of delivery modes with some online options are available. Each of these packages include e-tips and factsheets to support ongoing learning and reflection within staff teams. Check your PSC calendar or talk to PSC Support Officers to find out what’s happening in your state or territory.

New NQF packages include: 1. Financial viability and budgeting for implementing the National Quality Framework. This package explores the critical aspects of preparing your budget for the transition to the NQF. 2. Change management: Working with families and educators to implement NQF changes. This package explores strategies for engaging your whole community in the process of change and to

map out consultation possibilities with families, children and your staff team.

3. Articulation of current curriculum. This package supports educators to build skills and confidence to talk about their practice with assessors including the what, how and why behind their programs and practices.

4. Leadership for implementing Learning Frameworks. This package explores creating a positive team culture where educators are motivated and understanding how the NQF and Learning Frameworks complement each other. It explores the role of the Educational Leader and builds on existing team leadership to work through the NQF changes.

5. Connecting with families and communities: Engaging with the NQF. This package explores our partnerships with families, educators and the wider community and how this supports children’s wellbeing and learning.

6. Quality: Evaluation and Assessing Practice for the NQF. Research shows that ongoing learning and reflection influences our practice and the outcomes for children and families. This package explores assessment, evaluation and reflection strategies to support the requirements of the NQF.

Please contact your PSC to discuss this support further.

7. Policies for the NQF. This package takes you though the NQF policy requirements and will help identify what other policies would be useful for your service.

It covers the necessities for

NT: Email on PSCNT@childaustralia.org.au or contact the Helpline on 1800 138 662

ACECQA Report The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) officially came into existence on 1 January 2012, although years of planning went into its establishment.

Comprising a 13-member national Board and a small office based in Sydney, ACECQA’s vision is for all children to have the best possible start in life for themselves and for the nation.

At the time of writing, ACECQA’s Board had met four times and the office has established a number of national groups to help ensure national consistency in the implementation of the NQF. ACECQA’s responsibilities are outlined in the National Law, which is in place in every state and territory apart from Western Australia, where parliament will consider it soon.

A fundamental difference for services under the new law is the increased regulatory responsibility for their state or territory authority. ACECQA’s responsibilities are different in many ways to the NCAC, which no longer exists.

The areas where ACECQA will be in most direct contact with educators and others in the children’s education and care sector include: • providing approved qualifications for educators and authorised officers; • assessing new and overseas qualifications;

creating, sourcing and referencing policies and where to go for further information.

• setting the Excellent rating criteria and assessing services applying for an Excellent rating; • managing the ‘second tier review’ of appeals about ratings after a service has appealed to its regulatory authority; and • providing advice and resources about the NQF implementation, and responding to questions and concerns about the NQF. Other major tasks for ACECQA are monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the NQF around Australia to the Standing Council of responsible government ministers and, with the regulatory authorities, educating and informing the sector and the wider community. It will run consultations with the sector, such as the survey currently underway about the proposed criteria that would be used to judge the Excellent rating.

Later in 2012 ACECQA expects to take responsibility for the National Quality Agenda IT System, which will provide online business applications. At present, ACECQA’s website is hosting a number of printable forms essential for transactions between services and the regulatory authorities. The IT system is being developed by Fujitsu Australia and Education Services Australia on behalf of the Australian government and the states and territories.

WA: Email on PSCWA@childaustralia.org.au or contact the Helpline on 1800 783 768

The latest news about the NQF from ACECQA Information about the NQF and ACECQA is in high demand.

Acknowledging the valuable information sessions and publications by organisations such as the Professional Support Coordinators in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, ACECQA is also providing newsletter and web-based publications. Around 5000 people subscribed to ACECQA’s e-newsletter in the first three months and the list is growing. As this article was completed, ACECQA had 400 followers on its new Facebook page and had celebrated its first million page views on the website.

In the future ACECQA plans to bring you even more ways to participate in online and face to face discussions about the implementation of the NQF and relevant topics.

These are exciting times for the early childhood education and care sector with the NQF implementation well under way nationally. Having a consistent quality agenda that covers centre-based care and family day care services across Australia for the first time will lead to better education and developmental outcomes for children.

If you have any questions, or would like to offer feedback about ACECQA or the implementation of the NQF, please email enquiries@acecqa.gov.au.

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Combined Support for Kimberley Services In October 2011 Belinda from the Kimberley Inclusion Support Agency (KISA) and Kathy from PSCWA travelled to the Kimberley region together to support services and provide opportunities for further collaboration. Visiting Broome services and meeting with educators and managers provided opportunities for the ISA and PSC to work collaboratively. Together, support strategies for educators were developed to ensure consistent messages and effective strategies were delivered.

During the visits several services identified the need for further support and professional development on the inclusion of Aboriginal children and families within their curriculum.

joint visits together to further discuss the implications of the training and to unpack what cultural competence really means.

The feedback received from educators was that the information provided was useful and met their needs, some examples of educator’s feedback and sharing was: ‘Appreciating the diversity and uniqueness of Broome’ ‘My family is from Bibay and Fitzroy.

They had many traditional ways of doing things and I’d like to bring that into the centre’.

‘Embracing an attitude of curiosityhow they’re sleeping? Eating? I have noticed as I have become more involved and build closer relationships with the parents and families they start to open up more and become more willing to share’.

‘It’s better to ask, than not ask. People will tell you if you’re wrong. You’re not going to know unless you ask’.

‘Staying away from tokenism such as ‘putting up a poster’ ‘I realized I didn’t know a lot about the history of Aboriginal Australia’.

This is a great story of how providers of the Inclusion and Professional Development program can work together with services to meet the needs of a community to ensure the common goals of providing quality outcomes for children and families are met.

Educators expressed the importance of developing further knowledge and understanding of the local Aboriginal community to ensure that their services are respectful in reflecting Aboriginal culture within the Kimberley community.

On arrival back to Perth, Belinda and Kathy continued their collaboration by meeting with Bicultural Inclusion Support Service (BISS) and Yorganop Indigenous Professional Support Unit (YIPSU) to discuss educators needs for Aboriginal cultural information and plan a collaborative session to continue to support educators in Broome to engage with and understand Aboriginal culture.

In January 2012 BISS and YIPSU travelled together to Broome and delivered the workshop, Joining Hands - Understanding Aboriginal Cultures in Child Care’. This workshop was an opportunity for open conversation and sharing to occur, as well as information gathering. They also conducted several

New Child Australia Inclusion Support Facilitator.

Bree Collard is the new Inclusion Support Facilitator with the North Metro ISA. Bree has extensive experience working as a Physiotherapist and she is currently studying early childhood teaching.

We welcome Bree to our team.

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Joining hands: Aboriginal culture in early and middle childhood- professional development and support for educators in WA Yorganop Indigenous Professional Support Unit (IPSU) WA and Child Australia PSCWA are excited to be engaging in a collaborative project called Joining Hands. This professional development series is designed to support educators to further engage and embed the Aboriginal culture within their curriculum.

Services in this project will:

The outcome of this project is to provide information and resources that will help educators at your service to:

• engage in Professional Development together with other selected early childhood services;

• increase their awareness and understanding of the concept of culturally competency and its place in early childhood programs and

• be provided with a loan resource box containing information and materials to enhance the learning gained from the PD session;

• increase educators ability to provide programs for Aboriginal and Islander children and their families that are inclusive, culturally relevant and culturally safe.

• engage in consultancy phone calls with YIPSU that provide the opportunity to ask questions they may have when beginning to engaging with the resources; and

EYLF & FSAC references: • Principles: Respect for Diversity • Practice: Cultural Competency

• be provided with a consultancy visit from YIPSU to provide follow up face to face support which is relevant to the needs and interests of the educators at your service.

We are currently delivering this Professional Development series in the Kalgoorlie region and East Metro region of Perth.

For more information about this project or to express your interest in taking part contact Chris, Jacqui or Shaha at: Yorganop IPSU WA 1800 788 520 admin@yipsuwa.org.au.

Farrar Early Learning Centre in NT: Open and thriving

Farrar Early Learning Centre opened its doors on 30th January and welcomed families from the Palmerston area. The service operates from a new purpose built building that is shaped like a boomerang and has access to all rooms from the large central verandah.

With the hot environment

in the NT and it currently being the wet season, the outdoor environment provides the children with puddles to explore, a warm and lush natural environment for wet play and a large cool verandah for outdoor activities and eating.

The staff, led by Director Ronda Deigan have settled

in well and are exploring ways to use the space with their children whilst building relationships with families and children. In the coming months we are looking forward to reaching full utilisation and engaging with the local community to ensure the service responds to family and community needs.

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Connecting children with nature and sustainable practice As a nation we are becoming aware of the destruction that we as humans are causing to our environment. We are also becoming a lot more aware of the need to do something to stop the destruction and maintain the world that we live in for future generations.

The United Nations has declared 2005 – 2014 to be the decade of Education for Sustainable Development. This initiative promotes learning and understanding of how we can live in greater harmony with our planet. Remember EARTH IS OUR ONLY HOME. With the Introduction of the Early Years Framework (EYLF) into Early Years Education the issues of connecting children with nature and sustainable practice has come to the forefront. Outcome 2 within the EYLF is “Children are connected with and contribute to their world”.

Davis and Elliot (2003) agree that we need to go much further than simply allowing children to play in nature. They believe that we also need to “educate children ABOUT the environment and FOR the environment”.

So after having reflected on some of our own practices, how can we share this learning with the children we work with?

Some simple ideas include: • Involving children in recycling. Educate them about the different types of materials and why they get put into different bins.

We have greater opportunities than most other people to really have an impact on the future of our planet. We have been blessed with the opportunity to educate future generations about the need to have sustainable practices.

• Building on this by experimenting with different materials and why some decompose and some do not. You could bury different items in the soil and dig them back up some time after and look at the differences.

It is up to us as educators to reflect upon our sustainable practices within our services and how we educate the children we care for, to look after our planet.

• Burying your fruit and vegetable scraps in the soil with the children or introduce a worm farm.

There is also mounting evidence to suggest that another key issue within our society is the lack of connections that our children have with nature. Many more of us are living in urban areas with less and less natural spaces for free play.

The evidence suggests that children need this connection for healthy development and to enhance and enrich learning. When was the last time you laid on the lawn, looked up into the sky and talked about the different shapes you could see in the clouds?

Richard Louv has coined the term “Nature Deficit Disorder” and believes that this disorder can have far reaching impacts for individuals, families and communities. He refers to the symptoms as being “physical and emotional illnesses, attention difficulties and a diminished use of the senses”.

Is this what we want for our future generations?

How can we incorporate sustainable practices into our everyday work with children?

First we need to educate ourselves and reflect upon our own practices; • How much water do we use?

• How much do we purchase and consume?

• How much energy do we use?

• How many kilometres do we drive?

• How much meat do we eat?

• How much rubbish do we dispose of?

• How many chemicals do we use?

The following website can help you assess you carbon footprint. Try www.footprint.org 10

We make decisions every day about the items that we purchase, the energy we use and the cars we drive.

Therefore every day we have the ability to make changes.

• Ensuring that there are plants and trees in your environments to talk about, smell, feel and look at. Extend on this by giving the children responsibilities in regards to looking after the plants and trees. A vegetable garden is a fantastic way to involve children in this process and they can eat the end product of their hard work.

• Taking note of the natural environment around you and talking to the children about it. The shape of the clouds, the noise of birds chirping, the smell of rain on hot ground and the feel of grass under your feet. Encourage them to connect with nature and use all of their senses to do so.

This is just a small sample of some simple ways to educate children and involve them in caring for our environment.

There are many more… you just need to have some enthusiasm, do some research and be creative. Most importantly, have fun connecting the children to nature and educating them about sustainability.

Do not forget to take the time yourself to appreciate the simple things in life, such as the sound of children laughing; a pleasure that we can have every day, but do not always take the time to appreciate.

Cultural Connections Kits A place to begin…

Bicultural Inclusion Support Services (BISS) as part of the PSC program has developed a series of Cultural Connection Kits that are being provided to over 1,100 Australia Government Approved Child Care Services (AGACCS) in WA and NT. These kits have been developed with the aim of assisting early and middle childhood educators to embed cultural competency into their everyday practices.

Starting from March, PSC will provide a series of ‘Joining Hands’ workshops in metro, regional and remote areas.

By participating in these network style meetings, Educators will have the opportunity to explore cultural competency within their contextualised environment.

The Cultural Connections Kits include a selection of the following: • • • • • • • • •

Puzzles Story books Puppets Dolls Games Musical Instruments Dress ups Cultural Treasure Chest DVD Resource and Information sheets

Keep a look out for our upcoming promotion of the Joining Hands PD sessions. Below are the regions we will be visiting in collaboration with your Inclusion Support Facilitators.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

East and West Kimberley Pilbara Region Geraldton Carnarvon Kalgoorlie, Leonora and Leinster Great Southern Region South West Region Wheatbelt Region Metro Perth Darwin Alice Springs Katherine

The Joining Hands workshops will explore issues relating to diversity, inclusion and culture in your service in an informal, friendly environment. The

gatherings will facilitate an exchange of ideas about aspects of service provision, with the chance to interact with each other and share resources.

Topics that will be touched on will include: • What is culture and cultural competency?

• Why is it important? How does it relate to the EYLF and FSAC? • What does ‘cultural competency’ look like in practice? And what are some of the things we need to look out for?

Included in the kits is a ‘cultural connections booklet’ which will cover many key areas relating to cultural competency. This booklet will serve as a tool to provoke discussion with staff during team meetings.

Educators and Coordinators will also have the opportunity to discuss their progress towards the EYLF, FSAC and NQS implementation and to express any further areas of interest they may like additional training on.

Some of these areas may include: Refugee and Migrant Issues: engaging and working with CaLD (culturally and linguistically diverse) families and children.

• Contemporary context of diversity in Australia • The refugee experience

• Settlement process & programs- what assistance is available to the families and children in your service?

• New and emerging communities • Key differences and similarities between refugees and migrants.

• African cultures • Islam: what is considered culture and what is religion?

Engaging and working with Aboriginal families and children in Child Care.

• Would you find it useful to learn about ways to communicate and engage with children and families of Aboriginal background?

• Would you like to explore resources and programming ideas that are culturally appropriate from Aboriginal perspectives?

• Another BISS initiative you and your team may be interested in, soon to be available includes: • The ‘Tree of Life’ workshopA creative workshop for child care educators to explore their own connection with Belonging, Being and Becoming and how this can be transferred to children in your services.

For more information, contact BISS: biss@childaustralia.org.au

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Early Years Learning Framework Learning Circles in the NT These Learning Circles sessions have provided opportunities to educators to explore elements of EYLF documentation and consider implications for practice. The sessions are structured to engage educators in professional conversations, through reflection and questioning their practices. This encourages educators to look more critically at their practices to understand why they do what they do and how they can continue to build better practices and stronger, positive relationships.

The sessions were followed by consultation visits to gain hands on and practical support in implementing the EYLF that is unique to their service.

2 services share their experience

Woodroffe Child Care Centre

Howard Springs Early Learning Centre

On our first initial visit, Belinda was taken through the service so she could get an idea of how we were incorporating the EYLF within our service. She was able to observe our relationships with children, view our programs, routines, look at our philosophy and explore our environments. We were given great feedback and encouraging words. On subsequent visits we worked with Belinda to establish ideas towards a program that was more reflective of our practices and that could show a more factual day in our service. Our current program was one that was still quite dictating and not exciting and as a centre we were ready to take on the challenge of change.

We have involved, encouraged and inspired our team members by implementing the activities used through the workshops with our team members, both in the rooms and at staff meetings and by role modelling and demonstrating practical skills we have acquired. We are encouraging each other to ask our peers ‘why?’

So we began our new program, gone was the A4 computer based program and hello was our new A3 bright paper with clouds that outline all of our areas that the children have been interested or involved in. Underneath follows a question that is a starting point for enquiry followed by areas from the EYLF outcomes that we believe reflect upon upon our question and interest area. We have also included goals which are inspired by our service philosophy. The educators recorded all activities during the day and we watched as our new program emerged, each learning experience was captured and it motivated us as educators to scaffold upon each activity and observe where the experiences were taking the children. We also started a “listening to little voices” journal that coincided with the experiences and have seen this journal evolve with photos and stories of daily experiences, the children are really keen to share their journal with their families and they have stopped to read and explore the ideas and are now adding their comments.

We have had such a positive response from all educators in the service and as a service we will continue to implement this fresh approach and we look forward to continuing our aim of providing a quality service that promotes a strong sense of Belonging, Being and Becoming.

Details of the next EYLF Learning Circles: Training Room, Farrar ELC, 3 Gurd Street, Palmerston Tuesday 6th Mar 6.30pm-8.30pm Tuesday 10th April 6.30pm-8.30pm Monday 30th April 6.30pm-8.30pm If you would like to participate in the next series of Learning Circle workshops please contact PSCNT

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When planning, we try now not to be limited with A4 paper or what can fit in a folder. Thinking outside the square for example using large sheets of paper to encourage parents to brainstorm for events, eg: Christmas. We draw a large Christmas tree on butchers paper and placed it on the room doors, asking families, how do you celebrate the holiday season and then used these messages to bring home celebrations and culture into the centre to share with others.

We felt the benefits of doing this Learning Circles workshop was the networking with other centres and educators to share ideas and experiences, which we could take back and share with our own team. Some of these ideas include: environments, documentation and team moral. The biggest changes we have made would be within our environment and going more natural, utilising the things in our every day surroundings to be part of our program and planning. We have also learnt its not what is brand new, but what we can recycle and reuse, bringing sustainability into our program. We will continue to encourage children to contribute to their routine and environment and empower and support them to be actively involved and successful learners.

National Inclusion Support Subsidy Provider Update February 2012 Services with a current Inclusion Support Subsidy (ISS) Approval would now be familiar with claiming the ISS through their CCMS approved software. This change makes it easier for services to claim ISS as they can now be made weekly or fortnightly at the same time the service submit their CCB child attendances.

needed in the care environment.

The second step is ensuring the request for a change to your ISS approval is made at least four weeks prior to when the ISS is required.

Following are some examples: (1) Changes in the care environment

As a result of this change to more frequent payments services need to be timely in their requests for ISS, including requests due to changes to care environments and children’s needs which impact on ISS approvals and claims.

The first step in this process is contacting your Inclusion Support Agency (ISA) to notify them if there are any changes to children’s attendances or any aspect of the care environment which may impact on the level of ISS

If there are changes in the care environment, such as child with ongoing high support needs leaves, increases or permanently changes their days of attendance, contact your Inclusion Support Facilitator (ISF) to assist you with requesting a change in your approval.

Requests for ISS increases or for a new care environment must be submitted online a minimum of 4 weeks prior to date the change is required.

(2) Request for a Renewal or Extension of ISS

A request for a renewal or extension of ISS must be submitted to the NISSP a minimum of 4 weeks prior to the funding end date to receive, if approved, a funding start date immediately following the previous funded period.

Contact your ISA at the start of the three month review period to assist you with the review of your Service Support Plan (SSP), development of new SSP and completion of IS Case to request another period of ISS. Remember if you have any queries regarding your approval or ISS in general you can also contact the National ISS Provider on 1800 824 955 or issinfo@ku.com.au

When considering your professional development, think RESOURCES as well as training The Child Australia Western Australian Resource Centre has variety of resources including:

Show Me Tell Me Kits (Augmentative Communication) to help caregivers meet children’s language and social needs.

Professional resources such as books, journals, and audio visual to support professional development of staff in Child Care Services, Inclusion Support Agencies and other organisations.

Aboriginal resources such as children books, dolls, posters, music, puzzles, artefacts.

Multicultural resources such as posters, costumes, artefacts, musical instruments, puzzles, CD’s and books to assist services to provide inclusive programming and play experiences for all children.

To view the library’s catalogue and to join go to www.pscwa.org.au/services.html Kits such as Chatter Boxes, E – Kits (on emotions), Music Kits (selection of instruments with suggested uses) and

Members of Child Australia Resource Centre can request these resources by phoning 9270 6618 or emailing library@childaustralia.org.au 13

The Australian National Quality Standard Conference:

Supporting practice through innovation, reflection and quality improvement The Australian National Quality Standard Conference: Supporting Practice Through Innovation, Reflection and Quality Improvement provides educators from a range of children’s services with some wonderful challenges and opportunities to rethink their approaches to working with children, families and other educators.

This conference brings together Australia’s leading scholars, including practitioners, to share with you their thinking, reflections, practices and journeys relating to the National Quality Standard.

Further, the conference aims to bridge the gap between the standards and practices by providing opportunities for debate and dialogue within the sector as we journey into new terrain.

Conference Themes and Keynote Speakers Include: • Educational program and practice - Kirsty Liljegren (Cornish College Early Learning Centre, Victoria) • The role of the physical environment to support learning Wendy Shepherd (Macquarie University) • Staffing arrangements and the impact on practice Professor Margaret Sims (University of New England) • Relationships with children - Dr Pam Winter (Consultant South Australia) • Collaborative partnerships with families and communities - Louise Cave (Birrelee Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Service) • Leadership and its role in making quality a reality - Leanne Gibbs (Community Child Care NSW)

Registration Cost $300.00 (GST Inclusive)

PERTH brought to you by Semann and Slattery Date: Thursday 17 May 2012 Venue: Novotel Perth Langley, 221 Adelaide Terrace, Perth How to register Semann & Slattery website: www.semannslattery.com

DARWIN brought to you by Semann and Slattery and Child Australia.

ForDate: furtherSaturday information contact: 2 June 2012 PSCNT 1800 662 Venue: to138 be confirmed PSCWA1800 783 768

How to register Step 1: Submit funding request form to pscnt@childaustaralia.org.au Step 2: Receive funding confirmation and passcode from PSCNT Step 3: Phone Semann & Slattery on 02 9557 1460 to register (only 2 participants at subsidised cost will be accepted, further educators from the same service will be charged at full cost)

$100 subsidy per registration offered by the PSC to Australian Government Approved Childcare Services (long day care, outside school hours care, family day care, MACS, and mobile playgroups).

Each AGACC service can access a maximum of 2 places at this subsidised rate by contacting the PSC prior to registering.

For more information about the conference visit: www.semannslattery.com

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Australia

For further information: PSCNT 1800 138 662 PSCWA1800 783 768

WA Showcase Service Little Possums Occasional Care and Pre Kindy Centre WA Showcase Service - Little Possums Occasional Care and Pre Kindy Centre In March 2011, an educator from Little Possums attended a ‘Designing Environments’ workshop. Several weeks later PSCWA engaged this educator in a follow up evaluation to reflect on the effectiveness of the professional development and to further discuss if change had been created as result of having attended the workshop.

From the conversation, PSC learnt of their benefit of attending the PD, and that the service was in the process of a huge undertaking of upgrading their kindy room and outdoor play area.

Hearing the educator’s story of where the service was, to where service staff, families and the community wanted it to be and how they were making it happen was inspirational. We would like to share with you how this journey can be achieved.

Real Estate. The Lotteries Commission also donated a fantastic amount. The rest of the costs were met by fantastic fundraising efforts of our staff and families and Mundaring Sharing Inc. The building was designed to incorporate the existing gardens and outdoor environment. It has large windows and sliding doors that have clear views to the bush settings that surround our centre. The natural bush environment is heavily embedded within our philosophy and teachings. This is what influenced our planning when deciding on the interior design. We have chosen a neutral colour scheme and tried to create a welcoming natural environment.

Voice from Little Possums: The Little Possums Occasional Care Centre in Mundaring started off as a crèche for the Mundaring Sharing Centre and has blossomed into a thriving Occasional Care and Pre Kindy Centre.

In 1995 the new centre was opened and it was quickly discovered that there was a need for a 3 year old based learning program. In the one room there were children for occasional care, crèche as well as the 3yr old Pre-Kindy.

It was a VERY busy centre to say the least. The need for a separate room to run the 3 year program was high on the agenda. It was the brain child of the present director Helen Faulkner and in October 2011 it was finally completed.

The philosophy behind the Pre-Kindy is based on creating a positive and nurturing learning environment that provides the children and families with opportunities to learn and grow together. We encourage families input as well as the immediate community and this is reflected in the planning and development of the new room.

Mundaring Shire in conjunction with the director of Little Possums organised the building from beginning to end.

Fundraising for the building was a huge endeavour. Our building is on Mundaring Shire land but we had to cover all the costs of the building ourselves. We approached a lot of local businesses for support and received generous amounts from Mundaring Bendigo Bank and Earnshaw Mattock

Before the room was completed we had a local football club donate their time and services to upgrade our outdoor environment. We had a larger set of swings installed and a wonderful play quarry created. The quarry incorporates diggers, bobcats, grader and dump trucks and we often hear the children discussing which vehicle their dad drives. The children are making connections with their own life experiences with others and the learning environment at Possums.

We have a large number of families with dad’s that work away. We have also created a vegetable patch that the children had input in deciding what to plant and they planted it all as well. They are also expected to help, care for it by weeding and watering and we are now learning about fertilising it. Recycling is high on our agenda and the children are becoming keen environmentalists. The children will nominate themselves to take home scraps for their chooks!!!

The Mundaring Sharing Centre runs two mosaic class and they designed a fantastic mural to go on the external wall. The children had a small outdoor excursion to see the final touches being put up. It was very exciting to see the project completed and it is a great

example of how our centre is part of a larger community.

In planning the internal space, as to where we would put furniture and how the room would work as a learning space we wanted to ensure the room had flow. The children have easy access to equipment and the educators have ease of supervision.

We really wanted a space where the children can leave equipment and experiences out to return to at a later time. It was important that it is a space where the children can be in control, in the sense of putting things back in their place and getting to know where things belong. This understanding will lead to the children becoming responsible for their space and becoming connected to it with a sense of pride and belonging.

The new room belongs to the children who spend time in it, their families, the educators and the community that helped to create it.

The centre was officially opened on the by the member for the City of Swan Alyssa Hayden at a family day where we invited all the families, present and previous, as well as the many wonderful people who were involved in creating it. It was a great day celebrating the beginning of a new future for the wonderful families who will continue to benefit from our centre.

Leith Blackman – Pre-Kindy Teacher: Little Possums In relation to how the PD benefited Leith, it was discussed that she used the information from the workshop to further plan the new Kindy building. She felt empowered to take the information back to the planning committee who had bright walls and ‘plastic fantastic’ equipment pictured in their heads, and put forward her argument for a natural and welcoming environment.

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New Resources in the NT Northern NT Resource Centre Located at Early Childhood Australia, 71 Coonawarra Road, Winnellie. Open 8.30am4.30pm

A True Person is a moving story which highlights the bond between Mother and Daughter in times of adversity. For Zallah there is light at the end of the tunnel and we celebrate with her as she discovers what it means to be a True Person.

Book 1 From Montessori to Vygotskyeducational theories and approaches made easy Book 2 Theories on children’s literacy, intelligence and linguistics Book 3 Contemporary theorists and thinkers on early years’ education The series: • Explores educational thinking from ancient times to present day • Breaks complex ideas down into understanding ones • Helps educators relate theory to their experience of children • Critiques each theory to help educators determine how it works in practice The EYLF challenges educators to really think about why they do what they do and to develop their own personal philosophy.

Understanding the various theorists helps educators to formulate their own position on how children learn and so informs their practice.

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5 Carson Road Malaga WA 6090 PO Box 2562 Malaga WA 6944 Phone: (08) 9249 4333 Fax: (08) 9249 4366 CA Email: admin@childaustralia.org.au PSC Email: pscwa@childaustralia.org.au NMISA Email: nmisa@childaustralia.org.au KISA Email: kisa@childaustralia.org.au 13 Bishop Street Woolner NT 0820 PO Box: 37645 Winnellie NT 0821 Phone: (08) 8941 4966 Fax: (08) 8941 6433 Email: pscnt@childaustralia.org.au

Vibrating Cushions 6 vibrating cushions with removable/washable covers to support children with sensory needs. The cushions can serve several purposes including calming children down, helping them to concentrate, or simply to remain seated during story time. Available through the specialist equipment pool, these cushions can be remarkably effective.

Albany

The Adventures of an Aluminum Can - Peek into the diary of an aluminium can it goes on a journey from inside a bauxite rock to the manufacturing line to the store shelf to a garbage can and finally to a recycling plant, where is emerges into its new life – as a baseball bat

Dunsborough

Naturalist Community Centre Dunsborough Lakes Drive PO Box 1164, Dunsborough WA 6281 Tel: 08 9755 3711 Fax: 08 9755 3833 Email: swisa@childaustralia.org.au 75 Mitchell Street PO Box 2713, Geraldton WA 6530 Tel: 08 9923 2840 Fax: 08 9923 0277 Email CISA: cisa@childaustralia.org.au Email HIPPY: hippy@childaustralia.org.au

Central/Southern NT Resource Library

Kalgoorlie

Lotteries House Cnr Wilson & McDonald Street PO Box 10381, Kalgoorlie WA 6433 Tel: 08 9270 6620 Fax: 08 9091 6211 Email: cisa@childaustralia.org.au

Little Green Books...Learn about recycling from a new perspective

Mandurah

Connecting: Friendships in the Lives of Young Children and Their Teachers

The Adventures of the Plastic Bottle - Told from the point of view of a free-spirited bottle, kids can share in the daily experiences and inner thoughts of the bottle through his personal journey

The Link Centre Shop 10 5 St Emilie Way PO Box 517, AlbanyWA 6331 Tel: 08 9842 3163 Fax: 08 9841 8496 Email: gsisa@childaustralia.org.au

Geraldton

Located at CSSP, 1st floor Eurilpa House, 25 Todd Mall.

Open 8am-4pm How Children Learn

Head Office – WA

Head Office – NT

A True Person Zallah and her mother have escaped their war torn country and are looking for safety in Australia. Instead of freedom they find themselves in a refugee detention centre.

Zallah struggles with the reason for this punishment.

Child Australia Locations

Connecting looks at friendship as it develops in the context of early childhood programs, where people come together in unlimited combinations of age, experience, sex, culture, and background. This thoughtprovoking collection of articles offers practical tools and ideas for facilitating relationships among children and adults

63 Ormsby Terrace PO Box 3148, Mandurah WA 6210 Tel: 08 9535 1936 Fax: 08 9535 1936 Email: swisa@childaustralia.org.au

South Hedland

Lotteries House Unit 10/2 Leake Street PO Box 2491, South Hedland WA 6722 Tel: 08 9172 1722 Fax: 08 9172 3098 Email PISA: pisa@childaustralia.org.au Email WPMCS: wpmcs@childaustralia.org.au

Child Australia Training & Research Institute 5 Carson Road Malaga WA 6090 PO Box 2562 Malaga WA 6944 Phone: (08) 9249 4333 Fax: (08) 9249 4366 Email: catri@childaustralia.org.au

Bagot Community OSHC

Bagot Indigenous Community, Darwin PO Box: 37645 Winnellie NT 0821 Phone: 0450 460 423 Fax: (08) 8941 6433 Email: bagotoshc@childaustralia.org.au

Child Early Learning Centre Lockridge

36 Diana Crescent Lockridge WA 6054 Phone: (08) 9377 1676 Fax: (08) 9377 1676 Email: lockridgeelc@childaustralia.org.au

Child Lockridge OSHC

34 Diana Crescent Lockridge WA 6054 Phone: (08) 9377 1676 Fax: (08) 9377 1676 Email: lockridgeoshc@childaustralia.org.au

Farrar Early Learning Centre

Don’t throw That Away - Follow an eco-conscious superhero as he teaches kids how to recycle and reuse common household items

3 Gurd St, Farrar NT 0830 Phone: (08) 8932 8472 Email: farrarelc@childaustralia.org.au

Australia