February 2012 News
Country Kids
Early Learning Stanthorpe
February 2012
Welcome everyone, thanks for taking the time to read our monthly newsletter. We hope everyone has settled back into their normal routine. It’s lovely to see many of our ex-Kindy children around town dressed up in their Prep school uniform.
2012 brings the start of a new era in childcare education, with new childcare regulations and a new way to look at the way children learn and play. We have lots of exciting plans in store for 2012.
A warm welcome is extended to our new children:
· Nate, Fian and Archie in Nursery
· Levi and Noah in Junior Kindy
· Maddison in Senior Kindy
· Kokoda, Sienna and Harley in Pre-School
Changes to our Centre:
1. Firstly, we have developed vegetable gardens for the children, and also now have a worm farm and rainwater tank. These will be used as part of our investigative garden, where children will learn to recyle food scraps and how to make compost to help our garden grow delicious fresh foods for us to eat and in turn caring for the environment.
2. Play will become more ‘natural’, using recycled items and ‘getting back to nature’.
3. The children will have more freedom in play choices with indoor/outdoor play more integrated.
4. Our weekly room programs now have more child contribution, and less ‘pre-set’ activities. We will go with what the children are showing an interest in at the time, and extend on these natural interests.
5. In keeping with our new child interest based programs, we will be asking parents for your ideas – what your child likes, what you do at home, can you come in and participate in some way? We encourage parents to share your home life with us, bring us in photos, send us an email, chat, come and spend time with us. The children will love it!
Public Holiday this Friday
Please remember that this Friday is a public holiday for the Stanthorpe Show. Keep an eye out for the children’s brilliant artwork!
EXTRA DAYS
We have vacancies in some rooms, so please let us know if you would like any additional days for your child.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Please ensure that you see a staff member when you drop off your child to their rooms in the mornings. Children must not be left in rooms by themselves (when children and staff are outside playing). Also, when collecting your child in the afternoon, please just quickly let someone know that you have taken your child.
BATHROOM/TOILETING AREAS
We request that parents do not walk through the bathrooms in the childrens rooms. This is for the personal safety and privacy of your child.
FEBRUARY EVENTS
Music lessons with Penny will continue from next week. Music is essential for children’s communication skills and speech, and it is important to nurture children’s musical development from a young age. Playing instruments will help with creative development and fine motor skills.
February 9th is Crazy Hair Day. Go wild and give your child a crazy hair do, it’ll be great fun!
13th to 17th February is Spanish Week. During this week, we’ll do lots of different activities with the children to show them the Spanish culture.
28th February – an old favourite - Pirate Dress Up Day. Last year we had an incredible turnout of pirates – it’s a fantastic fun filled day which includes a treasure hunt.
CHILD CARE REBATE – WOULD YOU LIKE LOWER CHILDCARE FEES? Remember that you can now elect to have your childcare rebate that you receive from Centrelink paid directly to us. What this means for you is that your gap fees will be considerably lower. You should have received information from Centrelink about this, if not please contact them to arrange this.
ATTENTION : HEALTH CARE CARD HOLDERS
The Government has announced a discount in gap fees of up to $1042 per child for parents who have a child enrolled in the Queensland Government Approved Kindergarten Program, if they hold a Health Care Card. Please see us if you would like to take advantage of this offer. Note it is only for children in our Platypus Pre-School room, who are enrolled in our Qld Government Approved Kindergarten.
Health Care Card payments will only be paid if your account is up to date.
SIGNATURES REQUIRED FOR ALL CHILD ABSENCES
Please remember that we require parents signatures on all your child’s absent days, in the sign in books. Thank you.
POLICIES
Any parent input/suggestions into the review of our policies would be welcome, and greatly appreciated. Policies are displayed on the notice board in the hallway – please take a moment to read them.
PARENTS WELCOME AT OUR STAFF MEETINGS
Parents, we hold bi-monthly staff meetings where we discuss many different topics in relation to our children and Centre. You are always welcome and encouraged to attend and join in discussions or make suggestions. Meetings usually begin at 6.00pm. Please see us if you would like to attend.
Immunisations If your child has had an immunisation lately, could you please give a copy of this immunization to us, as we need to ensure that all immunisations are up to date. Thank you for your co-operation.
Thank you once again for giving us the privilege of caring and educating your beautiful children.
From Mel, Brian & the team at Country Kids
