Salisbury Summer Snippets 2012

SUMMER SNIPPETS ISSUE 2, 3 & 4 | SUMMER 2012

salisbury child care

inside this issue centre happenings office news toys and fundraising catalgogue national child carers appreciation day christmas closure outstanding child care fee staff allocations for 2013s

news from the kitchen what’s cooking with monica

general news update on asoka staff news

upcoming events inc recent events busy bee wine & cheese night

meet our team lisa chevon emma

room news bumblebees dragonflies lady bugs

office news Welcome to the final edition of our

Salisbury Snippets for 2012. Another year nearly over and it has been a very successful one. Who can believe that Christmas is upon us once again? It is a busy and expensive time of year, but what a wonderful time of year for the children!!

All the Educators have worked extremely hard in the rooms and I am very proud of the team and all that they have achieved not only each day but throughout the whole year. I am sure you will all agree with me when talking about the lovely transformation we have seen in all the rooms throughout the year. Lots of time and effort go into making the rooms warm and inviting for all.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Educators who always do fantastic job in caring for your most prized possessions. If it wasn’t for their hard work and dedication, the centre would not be operating at full capacity. I am very lucky to have a wonderful team who work above and beyond to create our wonderful environment not only for the children but to work in also.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents from our Parent Advisory Committee for all their hard work and dedication. We are extremely lucky to have such enthusiastic parents who are always looking for ways to improve our centre.

We look forward to a happy and successful 2013.

Finally we would like to extend a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year all our parents, children and staff. We hope you all have a safe time over the holiday period.

See you all in January 2013.

Warm regards

Lisa and Ewa

toys and more fundraising catalogue A BIG thank you to everyone who placed toy orders through the annual fundraising catalogue.

With all your orders we received a voucher to the value of $263.82.

We will spend this voucher on new educational equipment for your children to enjoy.

national child carers appreciation day On Thursday the 25th October the centre celebrated National Child Carers Appreciation Day. We recognised the hard and dedicated work all the Educators do on a daily basis. Our staffs work very hard to provide high quality care to all the children. They work above and

christmas closure

beyond the call of duty to ensure

A friendly reminder

that the children are in a happy,

for all parents that the

safe and secure environment at

centre will be closed

all times. The centre provided a

from 6pm on Friday

special morning tea for all Educators

the 21st December

to enjoy and they also received a

2012 and we will re-

certificate, chocolates and a $40

open at 7.30am on

Coles/Myer gift card from our Parent

Monday the 7th Janu-

Advisory Committee. We would

ary 2013. No fees will

like to thank each and every staff

be charged during this

member for all their hard work and

closure period.

commitment towards the children, parents and our organisation.

ill the centre w be CLOSED 21st 6pm Friday o December t January h t 7 y a d n o M 2013

update on Asoka We have been in contact with Asoka and her family and unfortunately the cancer has spread further throughout her body. At this stage she is undergoing some treatment to try and shrink the tumours and she is resting at home in-between her treatment. We pass on all your well wishes and thoughts to Asoka when we do speak to her and she is very grateful that you are all thinking of her. Our thoughts and prayers are always with Asoka and her family especially over this festive season.

outstanding child care fees The end of year is fast approaching; therefore, we would like to have all outstanding child care fees paid up to date prior to Monday the 17th December 2012. This will assist us in preparing accurate end of year reports for accounting purposes for the City of Bayswater Child Care Association.

If your child/ren is leaving the centre please ensure all fees are paid up in full prior to your final day at the centre. If you are unsure of your final payments please see Lisa in the office and she can help you with your enquiry.

educational relationships Currently at the service our Educators create learning environments that create a positive impact on enhancing children’s learning on a daily basis. Each Child’s learning is assessed and documented in a series of different recordings which is available for parents to comment, contribute and give further insight in what their children’s interests currently are.

Each learning journey that the children experience is kept in individual portfolios that are in each room, located in the red filing cabinets. You may look at these at any time and ask questions about your child’s development and contribute to their learning by adding ideas so the Educators can further extend your child’s interest and learning.

Please look out for the ‘Parent’s and Children’s Contribution to the Curriculum’ section in our curriculum journals for family input so please do not hesitate to write any suggestions and ideas down as your input is extremely valuable to us.

extra days available chart I am sure most of you have seen the ‘Extra Days Available’chart on my office window. Ithought I would give you a quick rundown on how this works.

When families are going to be away from the centre we have a system where you are able to advertise your days for sale to other families in your child’s room. these days are advertised on my office window for other faileis to buy as a one off extra day’s for that week. I fyour day’s sells to anothe rfamily I will credit your account and the other family will pay for the extra day they have bought.

The extra day’s available chart is updated weekly and is displayed for the current week we are in. If you have any further queries just let me know.

staff allocations for 2013 Here are the educators that will be in each of the rooms for 2013: Bumblebees Qualified Room Leader

Silvana

Qualified Senior Assistant

Brooke

Senior Assistant

Rachel

Senior Assistant

Sheila

Silvana will be having Monday’s off and Sheila will be covering her on the Monday’s Ladybugs Qualified Room Leader

Emma

Qualified Senior Assistant

Lisa.K.

Senior Assistant

DIsa

Lisa.K. will be having Friday’s off and Sheila will be covering her on the Friday’s

of February. When Lisa finishes up Loretta will be tak-

Dragonflies

ing over from her. Lisa was initially employed to cover

Qualified Room Leader

Chevon

Heather’s maternity leave position so Loretta will

Qualified Assistant

Diana

continue on at the centre until Heather returns from

Senior Assistant

Marie

maternity leave to the centre.

Inclusion Support

Blair

We would like to extend a nice warm welcome Disa

Floating Staff

Amy and Marilyn

who is now a permanent Salisbury employee. Disa

Kitchen Monica

completed her certificate III traineeship with us in

Office - Lisa

2011 and has been working on Monday and Friday’s

this year in the Bumblebees room to cover Silvana and

staff news

Lisa’s days off. From the 7th January 2013 Disa will be

We would like to say BIG congratulations to

here fulltime in the Ladybugs room. Welcome to the

Brooke from the Ladybugs room that has success-

team Disa 

fully completed her Diploma in Children’s Services

Amy will also be returning to fulltime work from Janu-

and is now a fully qualified member of our Salis-

ary 2013. She will be working from 10am – 3pm daily

bury team.

and will float between the Ladybugs and Bumblebees

Well done Brooke 

rooms.

As some of you already know Lisa.K. From the Bumblebees room and her husband are expecting a little bundle of joy in April 2013. Lisa will be finishing at the centre around the middle to end

kitchen news I would like to say a big thank you to all the families for making me feel so welcome since I started here.

It’s lovely to see all your smiling faces every morning when you drop your children off. It has made my transition into the centre very smooth and I’ve had a great year cooking for your all. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a safe new year. I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year and cooking up some new foods for all your children to try.

I wanted to share a recipe with you so you can enjoy a special holiday treat… Enjoy 

Monica

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES 150g Dark chocolate 125g Butter at room temperature 75g white chocolate 75g Milk chocolate 3 Eggs 200g Caster sugar 150g self raising flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1. Set oven to 180c. Cut a piece of non stick baking paper a little larger than the tin, then snip it into the corners the corners and press the paper into the tin 2. Half fill the saucepan with water, bring it just to the boil then turn off the heat and place the large bowl on top.

3. Break dark chocolate into pieces and cut the butter into pieces on the plate, then add both to the large bowl. Leave for 5 minutes or until melted 4. Put the white chocolate in the plastic bag and hit it with a rolling pin until broken into small pieces. Whisk the eggs and sugar in the second bowl for 5 minutes using the electric whisk until thick and very frothy.

5. Pour the melted chocolate and butter over the mixture and mix in very gently using the metal spoon. Sift the flour and baking powder over the top then carefully fold in.

6. Pour the mixture into the lined tin. Sprinkle the white and milk chocolate pieces over the top. Bake the cake for 20 – 25 minutes until the top is crusty and centre still wobbles slightly. Leave to cool and harden in the tin.

recent events 25th October

Child Carer’s Appreciation Day

23rd October

Children’s Week Excursion to Keith Maine centre

at Whiteman’s Park 22nd October

Radical Reptiles Incursion

19th October

Annual Family Evening

28th September

Rock N Toddle Incursion

25th September

Kindy Excursion to the Inglewood Library

14th September

Dress up day for our little Charlie-Bear

5th September

Kindy excursion to Scitech

28th & 29th August Centre’s Photo Days 10th July

Farm Yard on Wheels Incursion

6th July

Parents Wine and Cheese, Meet and Greet Night

26th June

Pyjama Day

20th May

Centre’s Busy Bee Morning

11th May

Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea

pac corner We would like to extend a big thank you to our 2011/2012 Parent Advisory Committee members: Chair Person

Lisa Bevan

Vice Chair Person

Tim Priest (Outgoing)

Treasurer

Tanya Dobbie (Outgoing)

Secretary

Liz Perkins

Newsletter

Kelly Matusik

General Members

Lisa Foote (Outgoing)

Danielle Darragh (Outgoing)

Anne Appel Virginia Prescott

Neshka Turner (Outgoing)

Damian Lailey (outgoing)

Carmen Maughan Caroline Seubert Nicola Messervy Thanks to this PAC we have achieved lots of great things for our centre. We will be sad to see our outgoing parents leave, but thanks for all your years of contributing.

nominations for our 2012/2013 parent advisory committee are: Chair Person

Lisa Bevan

Vice Chair Person

Rachel Masters

Treasurer

Jody Smith

Secretary

Liz Perkins

Newsletter

Kelly Matusik

Social Coordinators Shana O’Shea and Renae Flegg General Members

Caroline Seubert

Kylie & John Caporn

Asha Clucas Kylie Burath Nicola Messervy Christina Chan-Byrne Ros Green Betti Radford Carmen Maughan Lynnette Askin Anne Appel Congratulations to you all on being a part of our PAC. We are very excited for our year ahead especially after our first meeting that was held in November and hearing all the great ideas of possible events for 2013!!

pac corner continued The centre’s annual Busy Bee was held on Sunday 20th May. We had lots ofjobs for the parents to do that included distributing new sand to the sandpits, painting the bike track and wooden poles in the Todds/ Kinds play area, a general garden tidy up and a clear out of two garden beds. As wwe had such a great turn out of parents, the morning was over and done with quite quickly!

We would like to send out a BIG thank you to all the parents who turned up on the day and to also thank the parents who donated materials and provided mornign tea for all the tropps to ge through the morning.

On Friday the 6th July we held our first ever Wine and Cheese, Meet and Greet Night for the parents.

Thanks to all the parents who attended the evening and were able to enjoy all the lovely wine, champagne and beer supplied by De Vine cellars along with the yummy cheeses and warm food. It was great to see all the parents getting along so well and chatting to each other. Thanks again to everyone who attended.

annual family christmas picnic 2012 On Sunday the 25th of November we celebrated our annual family Christmas picnic at Macaulay Park in Inglewood. We had lots of families attend with a lovely park, bouncy castles and fire engine rides to keep the kiddies entertained a great time was had by all. Santa made a grand arrival as always on the fire truck and gave out lots of lovely gifts to all the children. The only downside to the day was when Mr Whippy arrived at 9am to inform us that he had double booked us and that he would be back at 4pm with icecream for the kiddies  unfortunately our day was over by 12pm so we all missed out! On the upside, the weather was very kind to us considering there was a storm on the night before and we managed to enjoy the gorgeous sunshine with a cool breeze in the background.

Thanks to everyone who came along 

annual family evening Our Annual Family Evening and AGM to put it simply was a HUGE SUCCESS! We had another great turnout with nearly 200 parents and children in attendance. This event seems to just keep getting bigger and better each year. As always the face painters were a huge hit with the children and there were lots of different faces running around. The lovely weather allowed families to mingle around outdoors and catch up with familiar faces while the children played. The highlight of the night was the children’s concert and they all performed so well. All in all a great night was had by A BIG thank you for everyone who helped out on the night, if it wasn’t for you

all. it

wouldn’t have been such a great evening. We had lots of raffle prizes to give away which were all donated to the centre from individual families. Congratulations to all the prize winners  With your generosity we managed to raise over $900 on the night from the selling of the raffle tickets and the gold coin donation for the sausage sizzle and drinks. This money will put towards providing your children with some exciting new equipment!

fundraising levy Due to the professionalism and dedication that staff put into programming and supporting the needs of our children that $500 has been allocated to each room for new resources.

A BIG thank you goes out to all parents who have paid their voluntary contribution to the centre. Being a part of the PAC we feel it is our role to provide representation so that staff have the resources and tools they require to ensure these quality practices can continue long into the future.

Each room has been given $500 twice this year in February and september to purchase resources and furniture for the rooms.

mo

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a f te r n o y a d s on r e h t t

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FARM yard on wheels

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busy bee

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PYJAMA DAY

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Wine & Cheese Night

family christmas picnic

annual family evening

dragonflies I can’t believe that we are half way

or holiday photo’s to display with

The children loved The new sand pit

through another year.

our map.

and are treating it like a “Swimming

We have been very busy in the drag-

This display will be on the large

pool” so if you find heaps of sand in

onfly’s room we had a really nice

pin board on the other side of the

pockets and shoes that’s the reason

display about ANZAC day and we

room Please take time to have a

why.

endeavoured to explain a little about

look at it.

Thanks again everyone.

the Digger’s in the war and why they

If there is anything you would like

Diana and Chevon

fought and why we celebrate ANZAC

to see included in the programme

day. We had photos and made poppy

please let us know.

wreaths and we stood near the dis-

The programme is on the large pin

play and listened to The Last Post on

board as you come into the room

an I phone.

please take a look at what we do in

Then we had mother’s day and we

a day.

had the children making cards and

There is a book about what we are

decorating calico bags.

up to also on the signing in and

We hope every “Mum” enjoyed their

out table please feel to have a look.

Day and will continue to use their

While we are on the subject of

“Gift” for many years to come.

signing in and out PLEASE PLEASE

The weather has been very kind to

take the time to sign in and out

us until June and we were able to go

each day as This document is im-

outside to play most days.

portant for your childcare fees.

Now the winter is upon us we will be

Now that winter is here please

spending more time inside and so we

make sure your child has warm

will be doing lots of inside activities.

clothing in case we go outside to

We do have a T.V in our room but we

play.We would like to say a big

try very hard not to use it very often.

thank you to all the parents that

In the room we have created a dis-

helped in our

play with a map of the world and we

Working bee and made our play-

would like you to bring postcards and

ground look great.

bumblebees A big HELLO to all our families

been very artistic and expres-

of the Bumblebee Room.

sive, they have designed some

Over the last couple of months

wonderful masterpieces using

we have welcomed some new

paints, glue and collage materi-

friends and families to the room

als. I think we have some Picas-

and have farewelled our friends

sos in the making!

who have recently graduated to

A big Thankyou to our families

the Toddlers Room. We miss you

who have contributed a fam-

all very much but we really en-

ily photo for our family tree, it

joy your visits when you come

is looking great! And a friendly

in to say Hello.

reminder goes out to those who

As winter has come, we have

have yet to bring one in. The

been limited on our outdoor

children really enjoy looking at

play, so we have been making

the photos and identifying their

most of our undercover veranda

favourite family members.

spaces and bringing equipment

We would like to extend an

indoors. The children have been

invitation to all our families to

very busy actively exploring the

come in and view our learning

environment using their senses,

curriculum and welcome your

a big favourite this month has

valuable input and feedback.

been the tactile basket, the chil-

That’s all for now Love Lisa,

dren spend a lot of time investi-

Rachel, Silvana and Disa

gating and experimenting with all the different textures.

Your creative children have also

ladybugs The ladybugs room have enjoyed

those who supported this very im-

children don’t always remember

some wonderful events this term.

portant cause and encourage every-

either. We also require each child

We discovered some exciting insects

one to please donate.

to still wear a hat outside and do

when we had a Spineless creatures

We would like to thank all the par-

request that they have one that is

incursion. We thoroughly enjoyed

ents and families who helped on

left at the centre.

putting our cooking skills to prac-

the busy bee. We were very excited

We have had some great success

tice, being hard at work to make

to see the new, bright and colourful

with toilet training and congratu-

cupcakes for our very special mums.

playground. While we haven’t been

late the children who have just

We were all very excited when we

able to enjoy it so much lately, with

recently mastered it. With a lot of

saw the wonderful turnout for our

the bad weather, we have enjoyed

family’s jet setting lately, we have

mother’s day high tea. We were all

and were very interested in watch-

been looking at countries togeth-

so happy to see you and celebrate

ing our new sandpit being built.

er and discussing their cultures.

your special day. The afternoon was

Unfortunately with the cold weather

Monika our lovely cook has also

a great success and we loved seeing

comes a lot of colds and runny nos-

been kind enough to introduce

the children’s pride when presenting

es. Whilst we keep warm and cosy

some wonderful traditional meals

their creations to their loved ones.

inside, we also like to get some fresh

into the menus for the weeks to

We had a pyjama day and would like

air outside, when the weather allows

come. If any of our families would

to thank all the children who partici-

us. So we ask that the children have

also like to be involved, we would

pated. We all had so much fun and

some extra clothing for outdoors, a

love you to share your skills in

thought it quite funny and strange

nice warm jumper/jacket and shoes

cooking some multicultural dishes

seeing all our teachers in their

and socks. Please ensure all items are

or playing some traditional music.

pyjamas too. We also celebrated red

labelled with their name as it some-

We also love hearing about your

nose day, and enjoyed painting our

times gets hard to remember what

wonderful experiences away.

noses red like Rudolf. We thank all

item belongs to who, at this age the

To encourage more discussion

with the children and to develop empathy and memory recognition, we have introduced a new class pet- Lottie the lamb. (Please don’t be alarmed she’s a toy) The children will take turns to take her home for a sleepover and are encouraged to look after her. When they bring her back they can share all of the things they got up to together.

Our curriculums are all about the children’s interest and families sharing experiences, bringing the children home experiences and routines, into daycare experiences and routines. We love and need your feedback on our curriculums in order for us to make improvements and ensure we are of a high quality.

Please feel free to write comments in the curriculum journal (large book).

Love Emma, Brooke, Sheila & Marie

staff profiles

?? ? ?

Recently we asked our staff to partake in the giving forth of information .. possibly with items that you don’t know about the carers who take loving care of your prescious ones.

•

How long have you worked at the centre for?

•

What’s your favourite meal that Asoka & Monica make?

•

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

•

What hobbies do you enjoy?

•

What’s your favourite TV show?

•

What’s your favourite movie?

•

What’s the funniest thing a child has said to you?

Turn over to view their answers.

Introducing emma • 5 years • pumpkin scones & Monika’s pizza • Watching the children grow & experience new things. And all the cuddles!

• Dancing, shopping, going to movies, catching up with friends.

• Revenge, Packed to the Rafters • Harry Potter • “Do you have a horse at home” ... “In mummy’s tummy!” child responds

Introducing Lisa • 6 years • Asoka’s chicken & sweet corn soup & Monica’s home made pizza’s • Watching the children grow and develop over time and seeing their smiling faces every morning.

• Playing hockey, boxing and spending time with friends and family • Packed to the Rafters, Winners & Losers, Teh Real housweives of Beverley Hills & OC, Keeping up with the Kardashians.

• Dirty Dancing & Ghost

Introducing Chevon • 4 years • chicken and sweetcorn soup, blueberry & blueberry cupcakes • Being able to support children to reach developmental milestones & the sound of children’s laughter • Reading, travelling going to concerts • Winners & Losers, My Kitchen Rules ,Packed to the Rafters, Revenge • Recently a child told me that her newborn sister looked like a roast chicken • Saw series