HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
Wishing all our Mother’s and significant ladies in our lives a very Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday 8th May.
We sincerely apologise being unable to host a Mother’s Day afternoon Tea this year – but we feel with COVID etc it is in the best interests of our children, team, families and community.
We hope you enjoy your special gifts and feel extremely loved.
COVID POLICY UPDATE
We have sent out our COVID policy update to all families via email.
We sincerely thank our families for their support and cooperation with our strict COVID procedures. This is to protect our children, educators, families and community.
Our educator team have been so proactive in our development of policies, implementation and consistency.
Let’s continue to support each other through these tricky times.
STAFFING
We are incredibly fortunate to have our amazing team of educators.
We have managed to get through COVID, difficult and fun times with our team by our side.
This team of educators you see at Hunny Pots ELC are very passionate, caring and nurturing to your children and each other. When we say it’s an extension of our family, it truly is.
We have educators that have been with Hunny Pots ELC for the past 19years (Miss Kim), 18 years (Miss Janelle) 17 years (Miss Jo, Miss Rhiannon) 16 years (Miss Rupinder) 14 years (Miss Monique) 12 years (Mr Simon) 11 years (Miss Kayley) 9 years (Miss Jess) 7 years (Miss Allison) 6 years (Miss Amanda) 4 years (Miss Emma) and in the past 2 years – Miss Rokaya, Miss Maisie, Miss Katelyn, Miss Chloe, Miss Emily, Miss Kim (cook) Miss Shubhi and Miss Jess M, Miss Jemma.
WITHDRAWAL OF YOUR CHILD/REDUCING DAYS
Parents must give at least three weeks written notice to the Director before withdrawing their child from Hunny Pots. If the child does not attend the Centre during this period, fees are still payable (please see the below section: A child who has not yet received care or who has ceased receiving care) If the child is withdrawn without notice, three weeks full fees must be paid regardless.
Parents may reduce their child’s days of attendance by giving three weeks’ notice to the Director.
No notice period accepted in December and January for withdrawing or reducing days.
A child who has not yet received care or who has ceased receiving care
Below is from the Child Care Handbook Australian Government Department of Education and Training:
Child Care Subsidy will not be paid for absences where a provider charges a family to reserve a place for a child who has not yet physically started care.
If a child is booked in to start at a service on a particular date, and does not start on that day, no Child Care Subsidy will be paid until the child physically attends a session of care.
Similarly, a child care service is taken to have permanently ceased providing care for a child on the day the child last physically attends a session of care. This means that Child Care Subsidy will not be paid for absences submitted after a child last physically attends a session of care.
If a family has confirmed their child’s last day at a service, but that child does not attend their last booked sessions of care, no Child Care Subsidy will be paid for any days after the child’s last physical attendance at the service.
If a provider continues to charge fees for sessions on days after a child has left the service because the family did not give the agreed period of notice, Child Care Subsidy will not be payable for these sessions of care. If absences are reported in the above circumstances and Child Care Subsidy is incorrectly paid, these amounts will be recovered from the service.
STAFF TRAINING
We will be participating in the Department of Education; Early Childhood Education virtual consultations and Professional development in May.
Medical management plans, communicating with families, sector development policies, driving quality practice in Quality area one, improving participation and outcomes for children, Compliance; closing the loop, preparing for winter.
ILLNESS
A timely reminder to ensure all children with any illness to stay at home to rest and recover.
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/ once and arrange for pick up.
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.
LATE FEE
It is not acceptable that children are picked up late from the centre. The centre is able to open for specific periods as per our license from the State Government and approval from the Local Councils. Staff are employed to work those hours and have a right to finish work at the agreed time. Late shift staff delayed from finishing on time may suffer public transport delays etc and may have their own family commitments that need to be met.
Late fee: $20 after 6pm (any period of time 6pm to 6.15pm e.g.: you come at 6.05pm it will be $20) after 6.15pm it is $30 from 6.15pm-6.30pm and $2 per minute after 6.30pm. E.g.: if you come at 6.20pm it will be a $50 late fee.
*** It is best to have nearby emergency contacts that can help you pick up your child if you are going to be late.
You must leave the centre prior to normal closing time (not arrive at the centre prior to normal closing time). If you are delayed beyond your normal booking you must ring the centre to notify staff so we can organise appropriate staffing to cope with the change.
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 enroll unimmunised children – failure to provide immunisation records = no enrolment.
You are required to keep your child at home for 24hours to monitor any side effects after immunisation/flu shot etc. (please see policy).
We appreciate your cooperation.
These practices are in place to protect all children, families and our educators from the spread of illness.
We thank you in advance for your cooperation.
EMBEDDING PRACTICES
Through our daily curriculum, we have practices that are embedded into the routine and learning. This allows for consistency and confidence in teaching. We have educator officers that cover Sustainability, Munch and Move, Reconciliation, Self-Assessment, Educational leaders, Culture and Risk Assessment. These officers ensure that we are documenting our embedded practices, they have time to research new ideas to implement and reflect on our centre practices.
Our Room leaders oversee our curriculum to ensure all components are met and we critically reflect on our practices and policies regularly.
We appreciate families assisting with our critical reflection process. If you are interested, please see Monique, Allison or Jo.
PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITIES
Have you visited Evan’s Garden Library and community kindness projects located 331 Glenwood Park Drive, Glenwood ?
Or Caleb’s Community Kindness Cupboard located 279 Glenwood Park Drive, Glenwood?
These are fantastic local initiatives for our community.
Find them on Facebook for updates.
RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN
Miss Jo has been working very hard in consultation with our team on our Reconciliation Action plan. She has been actively seeking advice and support our Aboriginal /Torres Strait Islander communities to support our practices.
CULTURAL OFFICER – EEYORES
Miss Emma is the cultural officer in Eeyores room this year. Miss Emma overlooks the curriculum to ensure we embed Culture every day, including parents input as well as having a sprinkle of culture throughout other learning experiences. For example; table cloths or community and cultural photos.
Miss Emma is allocated time every week to research, forward plan, do curriculum planner checks, setting questions relating to culture for the educators to answer and brainstorming ways we can improve in all areas of culture through collaboration with the other cultural officers Miss Kim and Miss Maisie.
Eeyores children have been showing a large interest in doing the acknowledgement to country every morning as well as different countries language to say good morning / hello. Miss Shubhi has been educating the Eeyores staff on the various types of ways to say hello in the Eeyores children’s cultural languages, getting this information from their ‘All about me forms’. Eeyores also enjoy singing Taba Naba, Inanay and Lamborghini songs through music and movement.
EVENTS
Shine a light on road safety 1st May (at Hunny Pots ELC Monday 2nd May)
Eid-ul-fitr – 2nd May
Odd sock day! – wear colourful, funny, odd socks to Hunny Pots ELC – Tuesday 10th May
National families week 15th-21st May – stay tuned on how we can still connect with you during National families week.
Wednesday 18th May 10am – Incursion “Responsible Pet Ownership Education program” Poohs Corner. Please let us know if your child has a fear of dogs.
National simultaneous story time Wednesday 25th May
National sorry day Thursday 26th May
Pyjama day – Friday 27th May – wear comfortable Pyjamas to Hunny Pots ELC for a relaxed cozy day
National reconciliation week 27th May to 3rd June