July 2017 Newsletter

ILLNESS

We would like to take this opportunity to thank families for supporting us with reducing the spread of infection.

We have noticed many families keeping their children home to rest and recover. This is very much appreciated.

Please remember, if your child has Panadol or Nurofen in their system, they are not to come to Hunny Pots. You are only masking the symptoms and the illness will spread to other children and our educators.

We are able to administer prescribed antibiotics (after your child has been taking it for 24hours); you will need to complete a medication form (near the sign in/out sheets in foyer).

We are unable to administer any over the counter medication at Hunny Pots e.g.: cough mixtures etc.

We are only able to administer Panadol at Hunny Pots if a child has a temperature of 38 degrees or above and with parent consent.

If your child presents any illness symptoms, we will call you to arrange an immediate pick up.

We will also give you a courtesy call if your child is feeling “off” – no immediate pick up is needed.

There is an interesting article from the Raising Children Network website regarding Colds (illness). It’s an informative read and handy to know in Winter. http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/colds.html

 

OUTDOOR PLAY IN WINTER

“Colds are more common in the winter months. Cold weather by itself doesn’t increase the chance of getting a cold, but people are in closer contact with each other because they stay indoors. This means they’re more likely to infect each other”. Quoted from the article link.

This is why we monitor the weather and in suitable conditions, we go outside for our physical play.

There is a quote “There is no such thing as inappropriate weather, just inappropriate clothing”.

Please ensure your child has suitable clothing to wear outside e.g.: jacket, jumper, long pants etc and is able to remove their jacket etc inside.

 

SETTLING IN OF CHILDREN

Even though we are now heading into July, we still have new enrolments starting. All new and existing children are settling in to their rooms beautifully.

Please be aware of how normal it is to have some tears in the first few weeks. We are very understanding of this and provide a lot of comfort to children settling in. If you have any concerns, please let us know.

Settling in can affect their normal sleep times or effect their hunger/eating habits.

Please have faith in us – our educators have many years of experience. They know this is normal and have a lot of patience for this. With consistent messages and your confidence in us, your child will settle quickly.

Please know you are welcome to attend more orientation to help the break between attendance days e.g. Come and say hello on a day your child doesn’t attend for 30 minutes – you will need to stay. This does help in developing relationships, particularly with your child’s educators.

 

GROUP CARE

Our Early Learning Centre is a Long day Care Centre. This means we are open for a longer day and follow the Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011.

Long Day Care Services are a group care environment. This means we follow ratios of:

0-2 year olds – one teacher for every four children

2-3 year olds – one teacher for every five children

3-5 year olds – one teacher for every ten children

These ratios are for the teachers who are actively supervising the children.

Group care means that whilst we plan individually and have small group interactions, our care isn’t one to one.

If you have any questions about group care – please speak to Monique.

 

CHILDREN’S DIETARY REQUIRMENTS

We have many dietary requirements for our cooks. We are catering to our menu, allergies, cultural requirements, anaphylaxis, intolerances and fussy eaters. Please be very specific in what your child’s requirements are so we can best assist them.

Regarding fussy eaters, our first priority is to offer them the centre’s meal. We find 98% of the time they will eat the meal with encouragement and role modeling from their educators. At first this might start with only trying the meal and working up to eating most of the meal. It is a process that we have seen work. If we go straight to offering another option, it does make it difficult for the child to continue trying a variety of nutritious meals.

We understand food preferences and hope to cater to all children being fed well.

Please understand that if we do one thing for one child in the room, we need to do it for all children. Our cooks do an amazing job providing our meals on time for 59 children each day in addition to catering to dietary and medical requirements.

Food from home MUST comply with our nutrition and food handling policies.

–      No sugar cereals, No white bread sandwiches (wholemeal or multigrain)

–      Any leftover heated food from home will be thrown out after meal times.

If you have any further questions, please see Monique or Janelle (cook Mon-Wed)


UPDATING EMERGENCY CONTACTS

Please remember to keep your emergency contacts up to date. Only authorised/nominated people OVER 18 years are able to pick your child up from the centre. For a first time, the nominated person needs to provide identification.

Please ensure your emergency contact has access to a car seat/car restraint.

ALL children attending Hunny Pots should be in a car restraint.

Thank you.

 

CAR PARK

Just a friendly reminder that our car park is for use only on the days your child attends.

Please use the car park for drop off and pick up times of your child attending Hunny Pots.

Due to the cameras, we have noticed many families are picking up their school age child (parking in the car park) and then returning a few hours later to pick up their child from Hunny Pots (parking in the car park) – whilst we would love to provide this service, it is not practical as it is taking up valuable car spaces for families who are picking up their child from Hunny Pots at this time.

You are welcome to park in our car park and drop off/collect your school age child whilst drop off/collecting your Hunny Pots child.

We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

 

WOOLWORTHS EARN AND LEARN IS BACK!

Starting on Wednesday 26th July to the 19th September 2017, for every $10 spent at Woolworths you will earn a sticker.

Please bring in these stickers to Hunny Pots ELC as they help us to ‘buy’ resources!

Thank you in advance.


IMMUNISATION = ENROLMENT

Please ensure that throughout the year if your child receives an immunisation e.g.: 12 months, 18months or 4years, you will need to provide your child’s immunisation status record to us.

Due to Government regulations we are unable to enrol unimmunised children – failure to provide immunisation records = no enrolment.

We appreciate your cooperation.

 

STAFF TRAINING

Miss Jess, Miss Rhiannon, Miss Kim and Miss Kayley attended a weekend Early Childhood conference in Coogee on Friday 23rd June to Sunday 25th June.

Our professional development fund has ceased at the end of the financial year.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS


NAIDOC week – 2nd- 9th July

Holy Cross Catholic School- School readiness talk – Tuesday 25th July at 6pm in Pooh’s Corner.

Coffee and Portfolio afternoon24th – 28TH July 4pm-5pm. Come along to have a cuppa and look through your child’s portfolio.  Staff will be maintaining ratios with the children. All portfolios will be in Pooh’s Corner to view while having a hot drink (no children near hot drinks please)

Pooh’s Corner NSW Health eye test – Wednesday 26th July and Friday 28th July. More information closer to the date.

Hunny Pots school photos – Wednesday 2nd August and Thursday 3rd August. More information closer to the date.

 

ENROLMENTS FOR EARLY LEARNING CENTRE – 2018

We will be asking what your requirements are for 2018 in early August this year.

 

Centre Closure over the Christmas breakWe will be operating up to and including Friday 22nd December 2017 and reopening on Monday 8th January 2018.

Thank you

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *