Kidz Magic Edens Crossing May Newsletter
Thursday, 26th May 2022
Welcome to this month's newsletter and a big welcome to all of our new children and their families who commenced with us the past month.
Dates to remember
26th May – National Sorry Day
27th May – National Reconciliation Day
5th June – World Environment Day
19th June – Father's Day
21st June – World Yoga Day / World Music Day
Extracurricular activities:
This month we were very lucky to have our special Dental2you visitors join us again on the 24th. Dental2you attend the centre for 1 day every 6 months to assess children of all ages. Dental2you is a great service as it allows easy access to a family friendly dentist whilst your child is in their comfortable everyday environment with their fellow peers and educators. All of the children who visited the dentist were very brave and received a sticker and a round of applause for their bravery. Children who were seen by the dentist will have a report of the dentist's results sent to them directly by Dental2you.
It was a very busy month of May as we also had our centre photo's visit on the 10th ,11th and 12th. Each child had their beautiful smiles on display for our amazing photographers. If you have not already placed your order with Shotz Photography you can find them online and request your package.
Discounted Holiday Rate: We would like to remind parents that each child is eligible to discounted holiday rates, subject to certain conditions. These include having an up-to-date account, providing two weeks' notice (there is a specific form for this in the sign in area) and having enough eligible absences to cover the dates requested. The discount is limited to two weeks per calendar year.
Exclusion of ill children – with the cooler weather and the flu season about to hit, we would like to re-affirm our illness and exclusion policy.
The aim of exclusion is to reduce the spread of infectious disease. The less contact there is between people who have an infectious disease and people who are at risk of catching the disease, the less chance the disease has of spreading. Excluding ill children and staff is an effective way to limit the spread of infection in education and care services.
By excluding one ill person, you can protect many other people from becoming ill.
The need for exclusion and the length of time a person is excluded depends on:
The exclusion procedure
To determine when a person should be excluded:
Children who are unwell should stay home from education and care services. Even if they do not have a condition that requires exclusion, the best place for an ill child to rest and recover is with a carer. (parent, grandparent etc).
We display any recent illness by the sign in area so that parents are aware of any symptoms to look out for.
Connecting with the community –Thank you to those who have donated special care packages of school bags filled with clothes, toys, non-perishable foods and toiletry items for our Kinship / Foster Week Collection. Miss Tegan let us know that the foster centre was extremely grateful to receive 11 bags full of items for the foster children. It was a beautiful and proud moment for our community and it was all thanks to our amazing families and staff. Thank you for all your help and support through this fundraiser.
National Reconciliation week
National Reconciliation Week is celebrated every year on the 27th May to the 3rd June. It is a week to celebrate out indigenous Australian's history and culture. It is important as it informs and educates everyone about Australia's history. It is also a great opportunity to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures. The theme this year is "Be Brave, Make Change". It is a call to all Australians from all walks of life to tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation so we can move forward as one cohesive Australian Nation. Educating children at a young age helps themto relate to each other better, have some recognition of the cultural history of this land, develop respect and understanding of our diverse nation.
Mixed Age Grouping
Our centre is very fortunate to have a large playground where our children are able to explore with their peers of all ages from 15 months to 5 years. This particular aspect relates to our centre philosophy if learning through social play and creating amazing developmentally challenging learning experiences related to the children's interests. Our centre likes to follow the saying "it takes a village to raise a child'. We believe that everyone whether you are a child or adult can improve each other's learning to result in a broad overall development for all children. Mixed-age grouping has great potential to support children's social and emotional learning.
The current trend of smaller families, children spending more time in out of home care and family mobility means many children have little contact with children across a range of ages. The model of mixed-age grouping gives children opportunities to be part of a diverse group and, with educator support, become tolerant of others whilst building relationships with their peers and fellow educators. Play is often more complex as older children extend younger children's ideas or younger children follow the ideas suggested and contribute to the play.
Mixed-age grouping allows children of all ages and confidences to blend together and create learning experiences based on each of the children's developmental needs no matter the age. Some of the older children use methods such as 'role play' or 'acting out the instructions' to the younger children and increase their leadership and confidence skills. Younger children have the ability to comprehend the play experiences and follow along with their elder peers whilst learning to adapt to their language, emotions and actions. This also reduces stressful learning experiences as children are more aware of other's developmental capabilities and react in a more understanding manner with patience and guidance towards their peers.
Educators adapt the curriculum and their teaching strategies to support children's development and maximise the educational benefits for the group.
As educators we are aware that not everyone shares our thinking and ways of working. Many see risks and these include fears that older children may overwhelm younger children, older children may be under stimulated as the range of experiences is limited and younger children inhibit their plans, or younger children may be influenced by older children and grow up too quickly. We have found these fears are no different to other ways that children are grouped, as even in children who are grouped by age there is a wide range of skill level, maturity level and experiences that impact on how and where children play and how they interact and get along with others.
Mixed-age grouping - why we love it! - The Spoke – Early Childhood Australia's Blog