Dear families,

I would like to welcome all our new pips, sprouts, buds, blossoms and poppies into our Piptree Early Learning journey. All together, we will strive to create the environment that will see them all blossom and grow as we would like to say from Pip to Tree.

Family Involvement

​ Our mission is to understand our children's families and therefore I would like to encourage all our families to provide ideas to our programs. We are interested in photos, short stories of family's trips away, birthday parties and other family celebrations. Also, if any of your family members have any skill you would like to share with us, please send us an email or speak to your child's lead educator or myself, so we can organise the time for learning. Being a part of your child's day here at Piptree is precious as the child feels special and valued  as they learn new things. If you can spare some time, our doors are always open. We are looking forward to your participation.

Mother's Day

Mothers Day afternoon tea will be on Friday, 12.5.17 at 3pm. Please feel free to join us and spend sometime with your child and let them make you feel special.

Photo Days

On Tuesday, 23rd of May and Wednesday, 24.th of May we will have Darcy Pffor Photography coming to take children's group photos. You will find an envelope in your Child's pocket so please make sure you complete the details and return the envelope prior to photo days.

National Sorry Day

The Cultural show is a fun interactive show where the children learn about Indigenous music culture. Focusing on National Sorry Day, and meeting Australian Curriculum standards for Indigenous Culture we will introduce a handmade Didgeridoo and a talk on Indigenous Culture to the show presented by Jeff on Thursday, 25.5.17 at 10.30am. The show will include a discussion on the Didgeridoo origin, how it's made and a demonstration on how to play it.

Learning French at Kindergarten

 ELLA, an abbreviation for Early Learning Languages Australia is a digital language program targeted for preschool children. It is developed in Australia for Australians by Australians. Currently over 60 000 children are using this program. During a staff meeting teachers decided after discussions to choose French to broaden the children's perception and understanding of the world and cultures. Eight tablets were purchased to facilitate this incentive with the children. 

On Wednesday, 26 April 2017 our ECT Ms Tertia attended an ELLA workshop with about 300 teachers from different parts of the state including NSW in the City.Piptree Sunnybank Hills is amongst many others that is starting this digital journey this year. Here is more information shared at the workshop which I would like to share with you: All of the learning experiences with the seven apps (languages) is linked to the Early Years Learning Framework learning outcomes. The ELLA apps have been carefully designed to provide opportunities for children to successfully engage with languages and cultures. The apps are child-led and self-paced, allowing repetition as needed/wanted. It is also play-based, enabling individual and small group involvement. The program caters for and values children's different capacities and abilities. ELLA sets children up for success. The apps are easy to navigate, engage and fun. Children have opportunities for a range of learning, including visual and verbal language development, cultural provocations and engaging with technology.

The benefits experienced at preschool will:

  • Instil an interest in language learning that might be extended by families or other means if no language program is offered at school
  • Encourage families to request that schools offer language programs to ensure the ELLA experiences are extended
  • Build language learning skills that can be applied to the learning of a new language at school
  • Provide a foundation for continued learning in the same language at school long term.

Why learn other languages earlier in life?

  • Denser grey matter in brain
  • More confidence in a second language
  • Academic benefits
  • Career benefits in life

Some benefits of being bilingual:

  • Higher IQ
  • Improved language skills
  • Larger vocabulary
  • Cognitive flexibility 
  • Cognitive boost 
  • Better language learning
  • More university opportunities
  • More job opportunities
  • Improved travel experiences

Learning for success

Professional development for our educators is the way to sustain and deliver a high standard and quality of learning, and to improve them. Our staff have undergone professional development constantly. The most recent of which was completed on Saturday, 29th of April with Alisa Hough on the topic of Cycle of Planning and Ways to Document Children's Learning.

Our next cycle of sessions on topics such as Creating play and learning possibilities, Practical ways to enhance Children's Learning will be delivered by Caroline Fewster during the month of May.

Keep smiling :),

Natasa