2023 Winter Early Edition

EarlyEdition

Raising the Profile of Early Childhood Educators

Overcoming Your Worst Enemy

Little Scholars Intergenerational Program

Be part of something bigger.

There’s safety in numbers. And with safety comes confidence; the confidence to keep moving forward, especially in your career. At Guild, we’ve dedicated the last 60 years to building a network of professionals to provide the support to help you leap higher.

Through our partnership with ACA QLD, we’ve been able to help grow the network that’s dedicated to protecting you and safeguarding the future of your profession.

Whatever journey you decide to take, and whatever stage of your career you’re at, we’re here so that you don’t have to face your challenges

alone. We may not be front of mind, but we’ve got your back when you need us most. Because when you’re a part of Guild, you’re part of something bigger. Find out more and get a quote today by visiting guildne.ws/early-learning or calling 1800 810 213

ACA Qld Location: 2/10 Welch Street, Underwood Qld 4119

Mailing: PO Box 137, Springwood QLD 4127

Telephone: (07) 3808 2366

Toll Free: 1300 365 325 (outside Brisbane)

Web: www.qld.childcarealliance.org.au

Email: qld@childcarealliance.org.au

Disclaimer: Articles published in this magazine are published as a service to readers and should not be substituted for specific advice in relation to any issue. While advertising in this magazine is encouraged, ACA Qld accepts no responsibility for the contents of the advertisements. Advertisements are accepted in good faith and liability for advertising content, goods or services supplied is the responsibility of the advertiser.

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Executive

President - Majella Fitzsimmons

Vice President - Jae Fraser

Treasurer - Louise Thomas

Executive Secretary - Debra North

ACA Queensland President’s Report

Welcome to the 2023 Winter Early Edition. We hope you have had a wonderful year so far, with plenty to look forward to throughout the remaining months.

On behalf of ACA National, I attended the Grain Growers meeting in Canberra at the beginning of June, with Early Childhood Education & Youth Minister Anne Aly and Shadow Youth Minister Angie Bell. Discussions focused on the urgent need for the agricultural sector to be able to access ongoing, reliable early learning (childcare) services in order to keep working and producing Australia’s fresh produce. I am very grateful to be invited to make such a positive contribution to the discussions on the day and share stories of what is happening in regional, rural and remote Australia with the early childhood workforce.

ACA Qld Vice President, Jae Fraser, Committee Member, Brent Stokes, and I have been busy visiting services across Queensland to support services with the implementation of the Kindy for All funding, as part of the Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland’s partnership with the Queensland Department of Education. It has certainly been a highlight to meet with members and non-members to discuss the roll-out of this funding and address any issues and concerns as they arise. This group meets regularly with the government who take on feedback and make changes where necessary.

More recently, I was invited to attend the 2023-24 State Budget, where Free Kindy was formally announced. With the funding set to commence from 1 January 2024, we have been, and will continue to work with the Department to ensure the implementation of Free Kindy is as seamless as possible for services and families. The application of this funding will allow a projected 50,000 additional children to attend kindy across Queensland for free.

Earlier this month, ACA Qld held our annual National Conference. The ACA Qld 2023 National Conference had over 1,500 attendees, who came together to learn, develop and appreciate what it means to be part of the early learning sector. Being such a large event, everyone involved gets the benefits of networking and forming long-lasting relationships. The Approved Provider Panel Discussion and lunch, sponsored by Childcare Concepts, was once again a great success and an amazing session for all who attended. I’d like to extend thanks to our panel for this session, Nigel Ward (ABLA), Rebecca Storck (Department of Education), and Paul Mondo (ACA National) for their engaging presentations. The Gala Dinner, sponsored by HESTA, was a highlight for me. Once again I could not help but be blown away by the creative costumes! This year’s theme, Garden Party, did not disappoint. Congratulations to those who won best dressed. The night was one to remember, with lots of laughter, dancing and congratulating momentous achievements.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Conference. We are eager to see you again next year. Stay tuned for next year’s conference dates which will be announced shortly. If you are not yet following ACA Qld on social media, now is the time! You can find up to date information in the early learning sector by following and liking us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

I am looking forward to seeing our Members in our upcoming Members’ Meetings, to continue discussions on current issues in our sector. There will be updates on IR, regulatory issues, workforce and so much more as well as an announcement of a new partnership for ACA Qld.

Early Childhood Educators’ Day (6 September) is fast approaching. Early Childhood Educators’ Day originated in Queensland through an initiative of ACA Qld and is now celebrated around the nation, with other countries also now joining in. It is a day of celebration and appreciation. We encourage as many services as they can to add themselves to the map to show that they are part of the celebrations. Have a look at ways services have celebrated in previous years by liking the Early Childhood Educators’ Day page on Facebook.

Please note you are always welcome to contact our ACA Qld office on 07 3808 2366 or qld@childcarealliance.org.au

We thank you for your continued support as we continue to work hard to ensure that all Queensland children receive the #BestStartInLife

Majella Fitzsimmons ACA Qld President

ACA President’s Report

At the national policy level, our major efforts continue to focus on three major issues –the national workforce crisis, the impact of the new industrial relations landscape on our sector, and affordability of early learning for families.

As all three of these policy items are intrinsically linked, with each impacting the other, the policy settings around them require careful consideration to ensure the best outcomes for families and the sector at large.

Our primary focus remains on ensuring that any changes to government policy bring about positive change and do not result in unexpected outcomes such as increased costs to families, or a destabilisation of the sector.

Development of Federal Government’s Early Years Strategy

We recently submitted ACA National’s recommendations on the direction and content in the Australian Government’s draft whole-of-government Early Years Strategy, which is intended to create a new integrated approach to the policy settings around the early years from birth to five years for education, health and other areas that affect a child’s lifelong outcomes along with a clear and practical program of action.

We look forward to seeing the next phase of the government’s consultation process.

Gender Equality

ACA was asked to comment on amendments to the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gap) Bill 2023. These would compel employers to report on the pay differences across genders in their workplace and make this data transparent and available to the public for greater accountability to close the gender pay gap.

In our response we highlighted the impact of access to affordable early learning services to support women returning to work after having a child and the financial considerations that inform parent’s choices around the child’s early childhood education. The outcome of these decisions directly impacts a woman’s long-term earning capacity, career projection and lifelong superannuation accumulation.

We have also recently completed submissions providing our feedback on the draft national vision for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), ECEC Terminology and the ANZSCO Review.

1 July Child Care Subsidy (CCS) increases for most families

The changes to the CCS in the new financial year will bring about greater affordability for most families, with the maximum Child Care Subsidy (CCS) rate lifting to 90% for families earning $80,000 or less. CCS rates will increase for around 96% of families earning under $530,000.

Our concern is that more affordable early learning services are likely to increase demand for places, which will put pressure on those services already struggling with adequate staff numbers.

New industrial relations laws – introduction of multi-employer bargaining

With significant reforms now in place following the Secure Jobs,

Better Pay Act, the architecture of the bargaining system and the bargaining environment is changing dramatically. We have been working closely with our industrial relations legal experts at Australian Business Lawyers and Advisors (ABLA) to ensure that our members understand the implications of the multi-employer bargaining provisions. Our aim is to make sure our members are well prepared for the decisions they will need to make as employers once the new provisions take effect on 6 June.

ACCC Price Inquiry into the market for the supply of childcare services

Following the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)’s major consultation with the early learning sector from January to May, their Interim Report is expected to be provided to the Treasurer by 30 June 2023. This will be followed by further consultation with the sector, which will include ACA’s own submission on behalf of our members. Following their industrylevel consultations, the ACCC’s draft recommendations and/or draft findings are expected to be drawn up in September.

Productivity Commission’s comprehensive review of the sector

We have been diligently preparing the content for our submission to the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into the early learning sector, which includes an exploration of how the Australian Government can implement a universal 90 per cent subsidy for all families (whether via the existing Child Care Subsidy model or some other mechanism). As this inquiry may well result in a shake-up of the existing subsidy framework, it’s extremely important that we provide meaningful insights and recommendations that bring about the best outcomes for our sector.

We have highlighted core issues around workforce, which is a central theme that underpins the principles of equity, access, affordability and quality that feature in our submission.

In order to ensure that our recommendations to the Productivity Commission align with the needs and views of our members, our work on this submission has included running a series of member focus group discussions. We’re very grateful to those of you who kindly volunteered to participate. The key learnings from these discussions will be included in our detailed submission which is due in June.

As we continue to navigate a year of major reform for our sector, we thank you again for your ongoing support as we continue to advocate on behalf of our members and their families to ensure a sustainable, viable early learning sector.

Paul Mondo ACA President

Nature Play Adventures at the Beach

Each week, the beach becomes a magical adventure for our Kindergarteners as they excitedly explore, seek challenges, investigate their surroundings, and embrace the exhilaration of play with precious and innocent curiosity.

We always begin Beach Kindy with our Acknowledgement of Country on the sand, using tapping sticks we find on the beach. After respecting, acknowledging, and thanking the Turrbal people of our beautiful land, our children hastily race off, with excited giggles, in search of nature’s bountiful resources.

With sandy feet and happy hearts, our children splash, jump and run through the cool water with all the joy and simplicity of childhood. They scatter about, discovering fascinating shells, seaweed, sticks and logs, many tiny fish, giant floating seed pods, blobby-looking jellyfish, and lots of little crabs that tickle their hands when they are picked up for inspection. Our children enjoy drawing in the sand and watching the water trickle to the ocean along small trenches they created with sticks. They love to sit in the water and kick their legs, laughing at the big splashes wetting their cheeks. Our children share many conversations and discoveries as they innocently learn about the world around them in this open-ended Beach Kindy adventure.

In addition to facilitating independent exploration and encouraging scientific investigation, playing in water and experimenting with the properties of sand helps children develop imaginative thinking while boosting their motivation to seek and discover as they engage in vast opportunities for problem-solving.

It is always such a joy to watch our children as they happily embrace the magic of nature play at the beach. The smell of the ocean, the sound of the sea, and the feel of the sand between our toes, there is nothing more soothing and calming for our children on our Beach Kindy days, and these amazing little excursions always offer so much for the wellbeing of our precious children, and also our staff at the Prince Charles Hospital Early Education Centre.

Michelle Stanley > Teacher at The Prince Charles Hospital Early Education Centre (QCCS)

With sandy feet and happy hearts...

Raising the Profile of Early Childhood Educators

Amie Coleman > St Michaels College

Raising the professional profile of Early Childhood Educators is something we take very seriously as a service here at St. Michael’s College Early Learning Centre, however it’s also something we’ve really struggled with how to approach in previous years.

We know that what we do matters and we know that the effects of high quality ECEC are far-reaching, but helping others to see and understand this has been on our “todo” list for so long and something we just keep putting off until ‘next week’ because it’s in the too hard basket a little. How do you even approach trying to make someone else see the value in what you do? Where do you begin?

However, after the long-reaching effects of managing COVID both within our sector as a whole and here within our ELC and the impact this has had on the wellbeing of our Educators we decided that this was the year that we finally find a way to achieve this goal – or at least make a start! After reflecting with our team, we identified that many people in the community, including our own families, don’t necessarily understand what’s actually involved in being a highly skilled and dedicated Early Childhood Professional. We decided this was the best place to start – let’s showcase the excellence that exists here in our own ELC and help our families to understand just how blessed we are to have the team that we do. Once our families understand what’s involved and why it’s important, those families can in turn become our allies in the wider community when we are fighting for the recognition we deserve.

So, our “Spotlight on Exceptional Practice” project was born! We wanted this to be a multi-faceted project that not only showcased the amazing work of our Educators but also highlighted the importance of that work and the expectations that are placed upon Educators in order to become the highly skilled and dedicated team that we are lucky enough to have here at SMC ELC. We began by introducing the project to families and sharing some tidbits of information with them in a “Did you Know?” type format to begin introducing them to the idea that there is so much more to being an Educator than meets the eye. We included things like the time that goes in to gaining the required qualifications, the sheer number of hours that go in to planning and programming every week and the extent of the regulations that we are governed by as a sector. This was well-received by our families who expressed their gratitude for the team we have here and the dedication they show.

We followed this up by capturing a variety of valuable moments between our Educators and the children with a specific focus on the importance of these moments and detailing how they make the difference between a ‘good’ Early Childhood Education and Care service and an ‘exceeding’ Early Childhood Education and Care service. This was far less about the learning for the child in these moments and much more focused on the role of the Educator in the moment, capturing and highlighting the importance of their role and the skill with which they do their jobs - often with what appears to be effortless actions but are really so meaningful and integral to every child! So far these have been met with fantastic feedback from our families, who are taking the opportunity to personally thank Educators for the moments and for their dedication.

Pleasingly, this has not only had the impact of building the Professional Profile of our Educators in the eyes of our families, but it’s also resulted in an increased sense of wellbeing for our Educators and made them feel a true sense of being valued, seen and acknowledged for the work that they do each and every day.

While we are still in the early stages of this project, the results so far have been promising and we are very much looking forward to seeing where this takes us over the course of the next 12 months! We strongly encourage other services to take the leap and begin sharing why what you do matters – its uncomfortable to sing our own praises but if we aren’t doing it then who will?

Overcoming Your Worst Enemy

Kari Sutton

As humans, we all talk to ourselves – whether we realise it or not. We all have an inner voice that I like to call the “itty bitty crappy committee”. It’s the voice in our mind that says things we usually do not say out loud. This critical inner dialogue frequently occurs without us even realising it’s happening and runs as a subtle commentary in the background of everything we do.

On average, we have anywhere between 40,000 - 60,000 thoughts per day - of those, approximately 60% are negative, and 85% are repetitive thoughts. Negative self-talk is any inner dialogue that could be limiting your ability to believe in yourself and your own abilities to reach your potential.

Negative self-talk can have some very damaging impacts to your self-confidence and emotional wellbeing. Research has consistently demonstrated that negative selfstatements significantly predict anxiety and depression. Negative self-talk “feeds” a person’s anxiety and depression and can cause an increase in stress levels while lowering levels of self-confidence.

Our negative self-talk and inner critic is part of our innate negativity bias. This negativity bias has been programmed

into our brains for thousands of years in order to keep us safe. We therefore often fear the worst, even when we do not have concrete evidence that this is going to occur. This negativity bias is given a voice by our negative self-talk. It’s the voice that tells you you’re crazy to apply for a new job you want, or start studying something different, and it often has you thinking unkind and negative thoughts about yourself.

Ask yourself if you’d say these types of things to a good friend?

“We have between 40,000 - 60,000 thoughts per day - of those, approximately 60% are negative.”

Here are five ways to transform your negative self-talk.

1. Monitor your self-talk, acknowledge, and catch your negative thoughts.

Listen for what you’re saying to yourself internally. This internal dialogue can be our best supporter or worst enemy. Recognise, acknowledge, and catch these harsh negative thoughts and internal dialogue. You’re not going to stop negative self-talk by ignoring the thoughts. You need to acknowledge the negative self-talk dialogue before you can manage it. Become a detective that recognises the “negative beliefs” that set you up to feel bad. Don’t be too harsh on yourself (we all have negative self-talk) and remember that these thoughts aren’t good or bad they just are and like clouds they can float in and out of our minds at different times.

2. Challenge negative thoughts.

You can identify and challenge negative thoughts that undermine your belief in your skills, abilities, and self-worth. Start by asking yourself – is this true? What evidence proves that this is true? What evidence proves this negative self-talk is false? “What might be a more helpful thought be?”

You can remind yourself that thoughts are not facts by catching the negative self-talk and then saying something like: “I am having this thought that I am not good enough to apply for that job, but I know that is not true”.

3. Acknowledge and celebrate the good.

We frequently pay more attention to the things we do wrong rather than focusing on what we get right or do well. Make an intentional effort to catch and acknowledge the great things you do, the times you get it right, achieve your goal, or have a win. Celebrate these, even if it’s just in a small way as this positive reinforcement will begin to reduce the dominance of your negativity bias. Remember what we consistently say to ourselves becomes our inner voice that will shape the rest of our lives.

4. Reframe the negative self-talk.

You can also manage your negative self-talk by reframing it in the following ways:

a. Give your inner critic a nickname. When the negative self-talk starts up you can then say to yourself “oh that’s just ‘negative Nancy’ again, I don’t choose to listen to her”. When you think of your inner critic this way it’s easier to realise that you don’t have to agree with the thoughts, and easier to see how dominating some of your critical self-talk can be.

b. Ask yourself if you’d say these types of things to a good friend? Would you like it if a good friend said them to you? We are the ones who live with ourselves our entire lives, so we need to be as kind to ourselves as a best friend would be.

5. Treat yourself with compassion.

When things are difficult and your stress levels are high, your inner critic will often kick off in full flight, making it crystal clear why the world is bad, you’re not good enough and everything is going to go wrong for you. It makes intuitive sense that the more stressed you are, the less compassionate you are towards yourself. However, this also works in reverse, the more self-compassion you show yourself, acknowledging and accepting your inner critic and negative self-talk and not beating yourself up about it, because everyone experiences that critical inner dialogue, the less stressed and anxious you’ll feel, and that critical internal dialogue will quieten down. Dr Kristin Neff’s work on self-compassion is a great place to start if you’d like to look into this further.

Life has ample obstacles without you constantly tearing yourself down with negative self-talk. Negative selftalk can do untold damage to your emotional health and wellbeing so it’s crucial to persevere so you can create a positive shift in your mindset and self-talk. If you have tried to change your negative self-talk and challenge your inner critic but feel as though you need more help, please reach out to a mental health professional.

CREATING COURAGEOUS CULTURES OF PLAY

Designed to inspire curiosity and connection, we partner with our clients to create sensory-rich and inclusive outdoor landscapes. Our award-winning playscapes are co-created with a community focus and are crafted from locally sourced materials of the highest quality.

As advocates for play, we want to see children thrive alongside their educators and caretakers, which is why every environment is handed over with enriching workshops and training. Find out more at wearthy.co

The Playful Beginnings of Human Flourishing

Member in the Spotlight: API Childcare Centres Harnessing the Power of Our Community

This year we are celebrating 100 years of API (Qld) Limited, a not-for-profit organisation has consistently had a focus on activities supporting and engaging with communities.

Within the breadth of support across communities over this time, we are proud to have operated in the early years education sector since 1992. Located at Milton in Brisbane, our well-established childcare centres, rated Meeting and Exceeding, offer Government Approved Kindergarten Programs.

We proudly support a range of charitable organisations directly and with support from families. Dig In is a program providing meals for the homeless. API Childcare Centres donate unused fruit each week to contribute to the 350 meals provided across inner city Brisbane on Saturday nights. Prior to the donations from API, the Dig In clients couldn’t access fresh fruit.

API Childcare Centres are supported through local business relationships such as Coles Petrie Terrace, Officeworks Milton and a number of organisations within the Milton Green precinct contributing donations of paper, cardboard, magazines and other materials to enhance our Sustainability Program allowing the concepts of recycling, reuse and repair to be embedded within the curriculum.

Extending on the many years of community assistance API has provided, we are working to embed community connections and support within and from our childcare centres. Our aim is to deliver socially conscious kindergarten graduates with an awareness of and engagement with their local community. To create opportunities for the children to develop this awareness, we work to establish partnerships with local organisations to collaboratively provide support to neighbourhood initiatives and engage in local programs. Our local community connections are progressively growing through our established local business networks, the local Chamber of Commerce and, importantly, our centre families.

Queensland Community Foundation coordinates an annual Christmas gift appeal for women and children, distributing gifts through the Queensland Womens Legal Service and Lady Musgrave Trust. During the 2022 appeal, with the support of our families, API Childcare Centres reached its goal of 100 gift donations for women and 100 gift donations for children. API Childcare Centres will proudly continue this support. Following from the partnership through the Queensland Community Foundation, API have started a direct engagement with Queensland Womens Legal Service to collaborate and assist with service delivery to families in need and also continue direct support of charity events, such as collecting donations for their annual Labels on the Lawn fundraiser. In addition to partnerships with charitable organisations, we have a number of local educational partnerships in place to assist the children’s learning and developmental experiences. This ranges from co-curricular activities with local primary schools, supporting smooth Kindy to Prep transition and engagement with Albert Park Flexible Learning School for co-curricular activities, childcare, and parenting skills to help support their young people between 14 to 25 years of age.

To support local communities, we have commenced a free Playgroup service, registered with Play Matters, at API Childcare Centres. This allows us to further enhance our connections in local neighbourhoods and provide opportunities for social connection and support for families. We will continue to grow our community connections, as we value the contribution that working together in our community contributes to the children’s sense of belonging and development of social skills for their bright futures.

Little Scholars Intergenerational Program

Little Scholars and their Grandfriends prove age is just a number when it comes to friendships.

Since nearly the beginning of the company, Little Scholars School of Early Learning has been proud to have special friendships in the community with people who live in an aged care setting.

The premise of Little Scholars Intergenerational Program, dating back to 2015, is simple. It’s about supporting a connection between the young and the young at heart, and bringing parts of our community together.

“It all began when our leadership team attended an intergenerational forum where we learnt that 16% of people in Australia are over 65, and 45% of these people have reported feelings of loneliness. That’s a huge number and made us want to act,” says Jae Fraser, founder of Little Scholars.

“We also had some feedback from families who had moved here from interstate or internationally, and their children had no physical contact with their grandparents –so this was a wonderful opportunity for us to allow these children to have ‘Grandfriends’.”

Isolation in older people

Isolation and loneliness are a serious threat for older people, because they’re more likely to live alone, lose family members and friends, suffer from chronic illness and hearing loss. Statistically, one in four older (over 65) Australians live alone.* Of those who live alone, according to a 2015 Australian Bureau of Statistics survey, about 12% didn’t receive visitors in a three-month period, and older men were reported to be less likely to have been visited, at 17%.

In a 2020 Royal Commission report, of the Australians who reported knowing someone in aged care facilities, one third never contacted the person, and one in five never visited. Social isolation has also been linked to mental illness, emotional distress, suicide, development of dementia, premature death, physical inactivity, poor sleep, high blood pressure and poorer immune function. Little Scholars aims to fix this.

The Scholars Group

Young and young at heart

With our intergenerational program, the children visit their grandfriends fortnightly. They do crafts, play games, sing songs, share morning teas, and have meaningful chats. For their young-at-heart mates, the visits help alleviate challenges of isolation, and brings joy, feelings of selfworth, developing new friendships, and fun. For the children, the visits have a multitude of benefits, including:

• Become more accepting of differences – especially when it comes to disability.

• Learn about the natural aging process and reduce potential fear of elderly people.

• It allows various generations to share stories and pass on their traditions, giving new perspectives.

• Improved memory.

• Enhanced self-esteem, feeling that they’re helping their grandfriends and making a difference.

• Connection to community.

Our Redland Bay campus started its friendship with a nearby aged care home because a parent worked there. She mentioned how much the residents loved when her own children visited, so staff decided to reach out and begin planning an intergenerational program.

“We started with the kindergarten class, and every time we went down there, we took a different age group with us,” says Jordie, now campus manager of Little Scholars Ormeau. “We went there to share high teas, we created hampers for the residents for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas that were donated by our families.”

Our Deception Bay Little Scholars began its program in 2016, when campus manager Nat arranged for the kindergarten children to visit her grandmother’s aged care home. “We connected with them to be able to give the elderly someone consistent who would come and visit

them, as some of them received no visitors,” Nat says. “I learnt this when I spoke to one of my grandma’s carers and she said so many of the residents just want or need one thing that they can look forward to, to keep them going.”

They started taking the kindergarten children regularly, then extended it down to the younger studios to embed it across their service. “We would always take five or six kindergarten children to allow the connections to continue between the children and their grandfriends. The dementia patients would love our babies, and together we got to create and witness some special moments.”

Little Scholars Ashmore campus started its intergenerational program last year after working with Griffith University’s Dr Jennifer Cartmel and PhD student, Jelisa Tan. Jelisa did her placement at the campus and prepared resources for team members and families. She shared slideshows, floor books and fact sheets with an emphasis on the benefits of the intergenerational program and its progress.

“Little Scholars’ Intergenerational program is a quality example of how thoughtful and holistic approaches and planning with intergenerational practices are linked to the learning outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework,” Dr Cartmel says.

While many of our services have had informal relationships with local aged care residences for many years, we believe the intergenerational program is more important than ever and will be incorporated in all 13 Little Scholars campuses by the end of 2023.

“Celebrating the role older community members play in the development of children is something to be fostered and celebrated. The program is one of the most popular aspects of our services, we’ve found our community loves finding occasions to see the different generations come together and share in a common experience,” Jae says.

*Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2017

*Aged Care Royal Commission 2020

“So many of the residents just want or need one thing that they can look forward to, to keep them going.”

- Natalie Carey, Deception Bay campus manager

Deadly Jarjums Program

At Ipswich Early Education Centre and Preschool, we have built a strong connection and Partnership with our local school, Leichhardt State School. The program that is incorporated weekly is Deadly Jarjums (children), embedding authentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives into our early childhood curriculum, through program, practice and strengthening the children’s sense of belonging and identity.

This program is implemented by the Indigenous Coordinator at Leichhardt State School Aunty Marley.

Aunty Marley has built strong relationships with the children at our service and supports the children in building knowledge around Yuggera, Jaggera and Urunpal people, encouraging respect for the histories of the First Nations peoples and a genuine understanding of the land we live on.

Each week the children are educated on dream time stories, history behind our first nations people and learning the Yuggera Language using words in local Aboriginal languages for greetings, aboriginal names of Australian animals, plants, body parts and other terms children understand, their favourite song to sing in Yuggera Language is head, shoulders, knees and feet.

Aunty Marley implements an Indigenous language program to preserve the local language. The program is highly regarded throughout the school community, where strong connections have been developed and maintained. The children have built a range of Yuggera Language skills with greetings, hello, welcome and numbers 1-5. It gives Aunty Marley a sense of pride in her culture and feeling proud of who she is. Giving the children an understanding of diversity, differences and acceptance of others.

Tamarah Hobbs > Ipswich Early Education Centre and Preschool

Additionally, our incursions and excursions explore topics such as storytelling, music, art or ‘caring for country’ and powerful learning experiences to support a child’s development and understanding. The program extends further into meaningful arts and craft experiences and exploring the schools bush tucker gardens. The children have established a connection with nature through the garden and Leichhardt State School’s outdoor play environments. Helping the children to build a strong connection to their world, developing environmental responsibility, and awareness on how to care for bush tucker plants. The bush tucker plants have been used back at the service in the children’s cooking experiences and incorporated into sensory dough and other intentional teaching experiences.

The service utilises the bush land on the back of school grounds as our Bush Kindy program, where children are immersed in the natural world, learning about the indigenous history of the land they are exploring and all of its wonderful inhabitants. During one of our Bush Kindy excursions the children participated in gathering large branches and stick to build their own Gunyah, which is a temporary shelter, traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people.

At Ipswich Early Education Centre, we value the importance of providing inclusive environments and programs for all children, building a connection between our early childhood setting and the local community. Our children in the kindergarten room also have the opportunity to build awareness and familiarity in the school environment. This will support the children with their transition to school process with the grade 5 children assisting Aunty Marly in the Deadly Jarjums program.

The Deadly Jarjums program and Aunty Marley have made a big impact and positive change into our service practices and programs. Not only sharing knowledge with the children and building cultural awareness, also supporting the Educators to build confidence and how to be culturally competent in embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island perspectives into their day to day program. It is very rewarding to capture those magical moments during the program, the strong connections and relationships that have formed between the children and Aunty Marley and our local community.

“It gives Aunty Marley a sense of pride in her culture and feeling proud of who she is. Giving the children an understanding of diversity, differences and acceptance of others. ”

Thinking differently about everyday practice with babies and toddlers and their families

Caroline Fewster

Thinking differently about everyday practice has become a reflection concept, and is often described as a creative, innovative approach to utilising our imagination and creativity for discovering new ideas. (Galindo, 2009). There are many possibilities to think differently to begin and maintain real connections with children and their families as they join a children’s service.

When families first enrol in a children’s service, we can begin with meaningful connections during the orientation time by introducing family stories. Families are invited to record stories, songs or messages for their children so that each child can listen to the voices of their families during the day in their first language.

It is estimated that more than 60% of babies and toddlers have an attachment to an object such as a blanket or a soft toy, often described as a transitional object. Recent findings suggest that transitional objects can support younger children to manage new experiences. T

hey can be companions that children hold on to, carry around, sleep alongside, and share experiences with each day.

Australia’s celebrated children’s health expert, Professor Frank Oberklaid, explains that “transitional objects provide predictability that younger children require as they separate from their families and begin to gain independence ” (Oberklaid, F, 2020).

A special shelf perhaps shaped like a house can become a safe house. Introducing a safe house may encourage children to see their belongings in a safe place while they play.

At Grandma’s Place Kindergarten and Child Care Centre in Sarina, the babies’ rooms educators have particular routines, a collaborative record for each child’s learning and development at home and in the centre during routine and transition times of the day.

It is likely up to 80% of the day is dedicated to routine and transition times of the day with babies and toddlers. (Malenfant, 2016).

Families and educators collaborate to create meaningful documentation throughout the year

Welcome, this is a place for children. A Llama stands at the front door of Bauer Street Community Children’s Centre. Children’s first words are often the names of objects that they can see and touch in their everyday learning experiences.

Inspired by the words of Ed Sheeran in his wonderful song Photograph, “So you can keep me inside the pocket of your ripped jeans ” Pocket people for children to choose who they would like to carry in their pockets today is a popular start to the day.

Thinking differently about everyday practice with babies and toddlers informed by evidence-based practice can be a process that is informed by the best available research, new knowledge from professional leaders and the voices of children and their families, to identify and influence practices that are designed to achieve positive outcomes for young children and their families.

Thank you to Grandma’s Place and Bauer Street Community Children’s Centre for thinking differently about everyday practices!

Caroline Fewster Early Childhood Education Consultant Adjunct Professor Bond University

ACA Qld 2023 National Conference

What an incredible weekend was had at this year’s National Conference! Thank you to all who attended. We hope you had a wonderful weekend and trust you left feeling inspired by the exciting new learnings and resources demonstrated throughout the conference program.

This year we had an incredible line-up of speakers and presenters featuring Justin Coulson, Kelly Goodsir, Wendy Lee, Toni & Robin Christie, Adrian Pattra-McLean, Anthony Castellaro, Tania Porter, Tim Nelson, Dr Jacinta Buchbach, and Andrew Griffiths. We have been flooded with such positive feedback on all our presenters and would like to say a big thank you for their engaging, informative, and heartwarming presentations throughout the weekend.

We were thrilled to once again hold our very successful Approved Providers Panel Discussion and Lunch sponsored by Childcare Concepts. Our panel of presenters this year featured Nigel Ward (CEO & Director for ABLA), Paul Mondo (ACA National) and Rebecca Storck (Executive Director, Strategy & Policy, Early Childhood).

This year’s conference officially kicked off with the Welcome Event on Friday night sponsored by Kangarootime. An incredible night, with an amazing atmosphere, food, and live music. It was the perfect way to start the weekend filled with networking and learning opportunities.

Our conference once again featured our famous Gala Dinner. This year’s theme was “Garden Party” which did not disappoint! Each year we are amazed at the creativity and effort everyone puts into their costumes. Thanks again to HESTA, for sponsoring such a fun night. The best dressed went to the Goblin King, with a close runner up going to the Mushroom, and our group winners were the Flowerpots and Alice in Wonderland! Congratulations to all who were selected as nominees for best dressed! We were once again honoured to have Super Max and Bryce and Walk With Us charity organisations on board. It was heartwarming to hear the Super Max and Bryce team tell their story and share the love with all attendees as their endless work and efforts are always so inspiring. Thank you to everyone who purchased the socks, scarves, and turtles, raising a total of $17,500 in three hours. Additionally, we were thrilled to support the Walk With Us charity with a large donation of singleuse toiletries. Thank you to everyone who collected and donated their toiletries.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to our amazing sponsors, exhibitors, ACA Qld Committee, and staff for all their support. We give a special mention to Guild Insurance, Child Care Super, Modern Teaching Aids, Xplor Education, Care for Kids, Wearthy, TELUS Health, HESTA, and Kangarootime.

Our sincere thanks also to Tania Porter, Deputy DirectorGeneral of Early Childhood, Caroline Hannigan, Director, Governance and Risk, and Rebecca Storck, Executive Director, Strategy & Policy, Early Childhood who gave their time to meet face-to-face with ACA Qld members. It was great to have the opportunity for an in-depth discussion of the key issues which are impacting the early childhood sector. We look forward to working with these representatives to implement measures and changes to address these issues.

Finally, a big thank you to all our delegates. You are what makes our conference such a success and we can’t wait to see you all again in 2024!

Awards for Excellence

Every year, ACA Qld Supporter Member, HESTA Super Fund offers outstanding students from the College for Australian Early Childhood Educators (CAECE) the opportunity to nominate for the Awards for Excellence program.

The Awards for Excellence promotes commitment to professional development and community spirit. HESTA, Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland (ACA Qld) and CAECE aim to support the advancement of passionate and dedicated early childhood educators who strive for continuous improvement and excellence. Three separate HESTA Awards payments of $2000, $1500 and $1000 were awarded to CAECE students at the ACA Qld 2023 National Conference!

We received a significant number of high caliber nominations, a testament to the quality of students that we have at CAECE and our hard-working trainers and accessors. It was a tough decision to choose three finalists out of the many incredible nominations from inspiring and passionate educators in the early learning sector.

We would like to congratulate Abiol Deng from Redbank Plains Child Care Children’s Centre for placing 3rd, Kate House from Little Scholars School of Early Learning – Redland Bay South for placing 2nd, and Ashley Thompson from Little Corner Early Learning as the 2023 Awards for Excellence winner! Each of these students has exemplified Passion, Dedication and Professionalism – the three pillars of excellence! Congratulations to all our nominees and winners!

The 2024 Awards for Excellence nominations will open later in the year.

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for more information!

Congrats!

Con’grad’ulates

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CAECE is delighted to present recent graduates who have completed their Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care and Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care.

Over the last quarter we have had the opportunity to congratulate CAECE graduates from both our Diploma and Certificate III qualifications. With the ongoing support from our lovely CAECE trainers, students have been guided to achieve their goals in becoming fully qualified educators.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in studying and working towards your qualifications in early childhood education and care, our friendly staff and trainers are willing to guide and support your early learning journey! For more information please contact our team on 07 3299 5784 or email admin@caece.com.au

CAECE would like to congratulate the following graduates and wish them all the best for their future as an early learning educator!

CAECE graduates for the last quarter:

Bree: Cubby Care BeenleighCertificate III (Trainer Pauline)

Cara: Goodstart Early Learning

Douglas - Certificate III (Trainer Lanie)

Charlotte: The Nest - Certificate III (Trainer Sonja)

Debra: Play and Learn Upper Coomera - Certificate III (Trainer Sonja)

Emily Sc: Barefoot Early Childhood - Certificate III (Trainer Lauren)

Emily Se: Goodstart Riverside Gardens - Certificate III (Trainer Lanie)

Henrietta: Little Legends Early Learning Dakabin - Certificate III (Trainer Lauren)

Ida: Brightstart Drewvale - Certificate III (Trainer Pauline)

Jessica H: Kids Bizz Childcare Centre Gympie - Diploma (Trainer Lauren)

Jessica L: Harmony Early Learning Journey Greenslopes - Certificate III (Trainer Arielle)

Jorja: Little Scholars Ormeau 1 - Certificate III (Trainer Hayley)

Kate: Little Scholars Redland Bay South - Certificate III (Trainer Brooke)

Kylie: Little Scholars School of Early Learning Stapylton - Certificate III (Trainer Melissa-Ann)

Leah: Little Scholars Redland Bay - Diploma (Trainer Brooke)

Madison: Little School Highland Park - Certificate III (Trainer Hayley)

Maria: Kindamindi Development

Warana - Diploma (Trainer Lauren)

Nicole: Kindamindi Development and Learning Centre - Certificate III (Trainer Lauren)

Rosalind: Out and About Newspaper Place Maroochydore - Certificate III (Trainer Lauren)

Sarah: Living Faith Early Learning

- Certificate III (Trainer Lauren)

Stefenie: Little Scholars Yatala

- Certificate III (Trainer Melissa-Ann)

Taleah: Educating Kids Domain - Certificate III (Trainer Lanie)

Talitha: Arden Early Learning Ormeau - Certificate III (Trainer Hayley)

Tammy: Enhance Family Day Care Mundingburra - Certificate III (Trainer Lanie)

Toni-Rae: Kindamindi Development and Learning Centre - Certificate III (Trainer Lauren)

IDA JORJA

KYLIE

TALITHA

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