Acknowledgment to country
We see you Dharug people
We hear you Dharug people
We thank you Dharug people
Hear is the land, here is the sky, here are my friends and here am I. We thank you Dharug people for the land on which we learn and play. Hands up, hands down we are on Dharug ground
PRE SCHOOL PROGRAM
In Tigger’s Place; Each child’s learning will be based on their interests, strengths and guided by the educators through intentional teaching. Our preschool program helps the children to develop a range of skills. We will be focussing on their Social, Self- help, Literacy, Numeracy, cutting and Physical skills. Pre-school learning is embedded in our daily program and routines. Holistic learning happens every day within the routine.
Last year, we were part of the Start Strong 3 yr old trial for pre-school and Start Strong school readiness programs, where we get NSW Government funding for new resources to support the Pre- School program and educator professional development for example webinars or research.
This year, we are very fortunate to again pass on Start Strong funding to 3 yrs olds and 4-5 yr olds. We are also eligible for the 3 yr old trial pre-school funding as it has been extended to December 2026.
Our preschool structured program starts Monday 2nd March – an email was sent to families in February providing information on our preschool learning.
How does the Tiggers Place pre-school program work?
The children will be broken into 2 groups where they will rotate between the 2 different experiences provided. An educator will be with each group to guide and support the children to learn new skills. These skills are based on intentional teaching, children’s goals, learning outcomes, parent goals and play based learning/interests.
The children will participate in our pre – school program every second day e.g. One week we will conduct pre-school program on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The following week we will have pre- School program on Tuesday and Thursday. This allows all children to be involved in the program.
Families are to be aware that our individual learning, day to day concepts and learning are embedded into our everyday program. You will be able to read what children participate in by reading our day books.
SCHOOL READINESS PROGRAM
In Poohs Corner we are eligible for 2026 NSW Government funding as a structured school readiness program is implemented. Our school readiness program is called ‘School Train’. It will be starting on Monday 2nd March. An email was sent out in February providing you the information about what happens in our school train program and what days we run the program and information on show and tell. We are very excited to start this program with your children.
We will continue with our connection with our surrounding schools and reflect on other ways to prepare your children for the transition to school. We have already reached out to Holy Cross inviting some students to be a part of veggie month in March by planting veggies and cooking with veggies. We will also organise excursions to Holy Cross and Caddies Creek PS throughout the year. This will be based on their availability and our staffing arrangements.
School readiness skills are implemented every day, all day through our curriculum. These skills are planned from intentional teaching, children’s goals, learning outcomes, parent goals, and play based learning/interests. Our school train program is only a small part of the skills your children learn through our curriculum. Check out our curriculum planners to see all the amazing learning your child is doing to prepare them for that transition to big school.
In our foyer, we will display this week’s letter of the week and next week’s letter. We will post this on our face book page so you can keep track what letter we are learning about and what letter object you need to bring in for show and tell e.g. Aa you could bring in an aeroplane, apple etc. As a family you can make this as easy or complex as you wish – you can challenge your children. Always ensure your children know
Monique will be hosting a school readiness parent information talk on Wednesday 4th march at 6pm. We hope you can make it.
PARENT INVOLVMENT
We are very passionate about involving families in our program. We have an open-door policy. We provide lots of opportunities for families to be involved through our all about me forms, asking families to email us different adventures they have had over the weekend and through our general conversation each day. We will be planning different events throughout the year for families to come in and be involved with their children’s learning. We know that families are busy with work commitments and might find it hard to attend all the events planned. This is why we plan several times throughout the year to provide those opportunities. If families have any ideas of other ways you would like to be involved, please let us know.
CAR PARK
Hunny Pots ELC Car park is for the families for children that attend that day.
If your child doesn’t attend, please don’t park in our car park.
TRANSITIONING FROM ONE ROOM TO THE NEXT
If your child turns 3 years old before the 31st July, we will endeavor to move them from Eeyore’s room to Tigger’s room. This is based on there being a position available – we will do our best to hold positions; however, we can only keep a position open for a short period of time.
When children move to the next room they participate in orientation, this is to assist with a smooth transition to their new room. They have the opportunity to become familiar with their new teachers and children in the room. The previous teacher will pass information and observation records of the child to the next teacher to ensure consistency and continuity. Please have a conversation with the new room teachers to discuss future goals, any concerns and confirm any allergies.
Children are encouraged to be toilet trained before they go into Tigger’s Place, as there are no nappy changing facilities in this room. – (please refer to toilet training).
Transitioning from Eeyore’s to Tigger’s is the only room we transition from mid year. Tigger’s placements are for the year.
CHILD SAFE STANDARDS
We have recently created a new policy called child safe reporting. This has been sent to families for everyone to be aware of our responsibilities with reporting. All our educators are mandatory reporters. Our educators get training each year to refresh their knowledge. In the foyer, we have a folder which includes our child safe reporting policy, complaints and allegations template, and other information about child reporting. It’s also important that children know who to report to. This is something that we discuss with the children daily. The children’s educators have been busy working alongside the children to create posters and a book, so children know their safe people they can report anything to. It’s so important to make children empowered to speak up; this is something we are very passionate about. Ask the educators to see the booklet.
Our child safe officers for reporting are: Monique and Allison
RAP
To strengthen our commitment to reconciliation this year, we are focusing on goals and deliverables that nurture a genuine sense of belonging for all children, families, and community members. A key part of this work involves engaging with reflective questions that help us consider how we build strong, secure, and respectful relationships. By examining our daily practices, communication, and decision‑making, we aim to ensure that every interaction reflects cultural humility, active listening, and a deep respect for the diverse identities within our community. This reflective approach supports us in creating learning environments where children feel safe, valued, and connected, and where families experience authentic partnership and trust.
Aligned with our Reconciliation Action Plan, we are also strengthening our connections with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. This includes seeking guidance from Elders, collaborating with local organisations, and embedding First Nations perspectives meaningfully across our curriculum not as one‑off experiences, but as an ongoing, integrated part of children’s learning. We are committed to incorporating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures, and ways of knowing, being, and doing through storytelling, language, art, connection to Country, and community‑led experiences. By doing so, we honour the world’s oldest continuous cultures and support children in developing cultural understanding, respect, and pride.
LEARNING THROUGH THE DAY
At Hunny Pots ELC, the children are learning so much on a day-to-day basis. We plan experiences based on children’s interests, projects that are occurring at the moment, and goals we are working on with your child. A daybook is sent out daily which is only a small snippet of the day. Each room also has a curriculum planner which you can view upon drop off and pick up to see all the other experiences that have occurred during the day and what experiences your child has explored. We are always busy exploring and learning, so make sure you check out our curriculum planners. If you have any questions, please come and see our educators.
OUR ADVOCACY PROJECT – PLAY BASED LEARNING
This year our team will be focusing on advocating for play based learning. Play-based learning is crucial in your child’s development. It is through our amazing educators being intentional and listening and observing children that they are learning through their play. You will be seeing this terminology a lot throughout the year. We want to educate our families and the community on the importance of play. Play-based learning will be a long-term goal this year. Our teams have brainstormed different short-term goals based on this long-term goal which they will be working on throughout the year. To find out what the short-term goals are check out the room’s curriculum planners.
PHOTOS
We have been reflecting on photos that we take on a daily basis of your children in their play. We have been reading articles and having robust conversions with our team to see everyone’s ideas and thoughts. Don’t be alarmed we will still be taking photos, but our priority will always be being in the moment with the children sometimes we might not have the opportunity to take a photo as we don’t want to interrupt our engagement and the amazing learning the children are doing. You will also see a change in the photos on our Facebook page with everything we are reading now about child safety and the changes we have made to our policies. We will be more mindful of how we are taking photos e.g. You might not see the children’s faces, but you can see the engagement, you will see lots more of our set ups in our environments.
STAFF TRAINING
All educators have completed refreshers on child protection, safe sleep and safe food handling. We are very passionate about always strengthening our knowledge to always strive for continuous improvement. Our educators also completed their annual CPR refresher at the centre after hours.
From 27 February 2026, new mandatory national child safety training will be released. The training is being developed by the Australian Centre for Child Protection (ACCP) in partnership with the Queensland Government, on behalf of all Australian states and territories and the Australian Government. Child Care Subsidy approved providers may close services early to support staff to complete the training. We will keep families updated.
STAFF NEWS
Miss Katelyn has resigned from her position to pursue her music and continue studying for her ECT. We wish her all the best in her endeavors. Her last day was on Tuesday 24th February.
Miss Sophie, Miss Emily and Miss Jemma begin their University commitments for 2026; this changes their availability. You will see the changes to their roster throughout the week.
We thank families for welcoming Piper and Erin to Hunny Pots ELC. Our trainees are in a learning capacity, and we thank you for your consideration as we nuture their development.
CHILD CARE SUBSIDY
Each child has 42 allowable absences each financial year, to claim child care subsidy for an absence – holidays, day off, illness etc.
Your absences can be seen on your invoice that you receive each fortnight, and on your statements that we send every 6 months.
Number of children in care assists your child care subsidy – please click on the link for more information. https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/your-number-children-care-can-affect-your-higher-child-care-subsidy?context=41186
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 withdrawal 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 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 childcare 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. For child care subsidy reasons – Please attend the last day
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.
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.
FRUIT FOR TIGGER’S AND POOH’S CORNER
Please remember to bring in a piece of fruit each day your child attends and place in the baskets in the foyer (otherwise bring in a bigger piece of fruit e.g.: watermelon, pineapple, rockmelon for the week)
AFTERNOON PICK UP
The afternoons can get busy when multiple parents are picking up at the same time. We do cater for additional staffing in the afternoons; however, this is absorbed at times with peak pick up times from families. Our peak pick-up time is 5pm-6pm. In the afternoon our staff are there to maintain our ratios with the children. In the afternoon, we take pride in informing you about your child’s day. However, educators aren’t able to have long detailed conversations with you due to us maintaining quality interactions, supervision, and our ratios. If you want to have more of a detailed conversation with your child’s educator, please feel free to arrange a time when we can organise to have an educator off the floor to talk to you.
Supervision and interactions are our priority.
UPCOMING EVENTS
MARCH
Lantern Festival à 3rd march Tuesday – final day of lunar new year
CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY – MONDAY 2nd MARCH – What will you do to clean up our community? Let us know what you will do through email.
VEGIE MONTH 2nd MARCH – 27th March – during this month the children will be learning all about how important vegetables are to our health through discussions, fun games, experiments, stories and craft.
I CAN EAT A RAINBOW (VEGE MONTH) SHOW WEDNESDAY 4th March
10am – Poohs and Tiggers
HOLI – WEDNESDAY 4TH MARCH – come dressed in colours for a fun filled day.
INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY MONDAY 9th MARCH
HOLY CROSS STUDENTS COMING FOR VEGGIE MONTH 9TH MARCH –a group of students from holy cross will get the opportunity to participate in some cooking and gardening experiences with our children focusing on veggie month.
WORLD STORYTELLING DAY – FRIDAY 20TH MARCH – bring in your favourite story. Would any parents/ families like to come in to read a story?
CLOSE THE GAP – Thursday 19TH March.
HARMONY WEEK – 16TH – 22ND MARCH
HARMONY DAY FRIDAY 2OTH MARCH – To show their support for cultural diversity and an inclusive Australia, we ask that children/educators wear orange clothing and/or accessory (e.g., orange ribbon, socks, hair clips etc.) as orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week.
EID – 19TH – 20TH MARCH
BIG VEGGIE CRUNCH THURSDAY 26TH MARCH – come dressed in your favouirte colour vegetable.
EASTER HAT PARADE-
TUESDAY 31st MARCH– Easter Hat Parade 2.15pm-3.30pm for all children
Please bring your child’s hat made from home in the morning. The parade will commence promptly at 2.15pm, followed by afternoon tea and conclude at 3.30pm. This is for all children – if your child doesn’t attend on a Tuesday and you would like to come along; we would love you to join us! Come and meet the teachers 😊
An Invitation will be sent out soon.
Please be aware of car parking during this school pick up time.
APRIL
WEAR BLUE FOR AUTISM – Thursday 2nd April – come dressed in blue.
Easter – Public Holiday Good Friday 3rd April and Easter Monday 6th April.
NATURE PLAY WEEK 11th – 22nd April – the aim to is to encourage children to connect with nature through outdoor play. It aims to promote the benefits of nature-based activities such as fostering creativity and problem-solving skills.
SINHALA and TAMIL NEW YEAR – Tuesday 14th April
ANZAC DAY – (day 25/4/23) recognised at Hunny Pots ELC on FRIDAY 24th April. (Public Holiday Monday 27th April)
ALLERGY WEEK – 23RD-29TH APRIL
EARTH DAY – WEDNESDAY 22nd April – theme is planet vs plastics. Focus on ending plastic pollution. Raise awareness about environmental issues and promote conservation efforts
Deadly cultural show with Jody – Wednesday 29th April
CLOSURE – This year’s closures dates are:
Last day Wednesday 23rd December 2026 – reopening Wednesday 6th January 2027.