NEWSLETTER FROM THE OFFICE (Jan - Mar 2018)
Danielle is excited to announce my appointment of the position as Assistant Director. "I am lucky to work with a fantastic, supportive team that is so dedicated to their positions and your children." This year, we also welcome Carren and Ana to the team. We are excited to have Jackie working in both her Chef’s position and educator position.
You will notice some changes to the playground and classrooms, if you have any ideas for our revamp, please feel free to share.
Danielle's office hours vary depending on my roster shift each day. However, Danielle is currently in the centre 5 days a week, either prior to 9am or after 5pm. So, please feel free to see her for any queries.
Fees
Please be aware that early education is not a free service. Therefore, paying your fees is a requirement each and every week. You are required to pay at least up to the amount due at the end on the current week, as per your weekly statement. Or your child(ren) position a Nestle In may be restricted, until such time as fees are up-to-date. If you are currently having difficulties paying your fees, please come and see me.
Child Care Subsidy (CCS)
You have heard or seen advertising with regards to childcare fee relief changing in the media. This paragraph will provide you with an overview of the changes as we know them so far.
CCS is the revised childcare package which will take effect 2 July 2018.
Child Care Subsidy (CCS) will replace Childcare Benefit (CCB) and Child Care Rebate (CCR).
There will be 3 factors that will determine your level of CCS:-
- Family Income – combined family income
- Activity Test – activity level of the parent undertaking the least activity
- The higher level of activity = more hours of subsidy per fortnight
- Less than 8 hrs for a family earning up to $65,710 = 24 hrs
- 8-16 hrs = 36 hours
- 16-48 hrs = 72 hours
- More than 48 hrs = 100 hours
- Service Type – type of childcare service (so for us it will be long daycare (LDC))
- $11.55 hourly cap rate (indexed to CPI annually)
What families need to do….
Look out for Centrelink letter (early April)
Log into your myGov (April-May)
- Access Centrelink online account
- Confirm current details and provide new information:-
- Family income estimate
- Activity test
- Childcare details
- Confirm enrolments
We will provide further information to you with regards to CCS as soon as it becomes available, however if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to chat to me.
Sign In & Out
It is a legal requirement to sign your child in and out of the service every day. This includes days they are absent and public holidays, on these day please write the word absent and sign your name. If you child is not signed in and out daily your child care benefits may be affected.
The centre will soon be transferring over to an electronic sign in & out system via an electronic IPad. To assist with this transition there will be changes to the centres entry and exits. As of the 23rd April 2018, the gate in to the playground will be EXIT ONLY and the only ENTRY will be via the main wooden door near the office. Please also note that sign in & out folders will also be located on the bench outside the office door. Thank you for your corporation in this change.
From the Tadpole Room –
The children have settled in getting back into routines and learning new ones. We’ve had lots of development and new skills, with children progressing with physical, social and verbal development. This will be, out focus for programming in the upcoming weeks (months), as we involve children in lots of language experiences, using familiar songs and rhymes. While, introducing new songs to extend on children’s vocabulary. Particularly, animal songs and stories, puppets and flash cards.
The children have a strong interest in vehicles and balls, we use this items to extend on the babies’ hand/ eye coordination, with the introduction of large balls and add other sized balls as we go along. The children are also enjoying sensory exploration with play dough and art activities with lots of opportunities for fine motor development and creative expression, with different tools and materials. We look forward to collaborating with families as we travel together on yours babies learning journey.
From the team, Mel and Amber.


From the Starfish Room –
Welcome back to the Starfish Room, children have now all settled in. As the weather continues to be warm, we are really focusing on our toileting. As we all know with toileting comes accidents, so please ensure that you are sending your child with lots of nappies, undies and shorts.
In the Starfish room we have be really exploring our Nursery Rhymes. This has included using lots of visuals and make our own visuals to display in the rooms. The Nursery Rhymes that we have focused on so far are; ABC, Humpty Dumpty, 5 Cheeky Monkeys and we are starting Wheels on the Bus next week. The children love pointing to the visuals during group time, as we sing the songs.
Please make sure that you are having a look at your child’s journal, our most recent developmental summaries have just been completed. Thanks from Linda and Lizzy.

From the Turtles Room –
The turtles have welcomed a new educator Carren to our room 3 days a week. The children have formed nice friendships with Carren and Carren is settling in quickly.
The children have shown a lot of interest in animals. To follow on this interest we have made an animal table in our room for the children to explore and have been incorporating animals into our group time with counting and colour recognition.
The children have shown an interest in sensory exploration, we have been exploring Slime, Jelly, rice and ice play. The children enjoyed exploring these activities and we will continue to extend on this interest.
We are currently trialling an indoor/outdoor program (weather permitting) so the children can explore both fine and gross motor activities. This has been working well so far.
As we are programming based on your child’s interests, please let educator know if you child has any special interests they would like to share and we could incorporate into our play environment.
We have just completed your child’s developmental Summary which is now in their Journals for you to view. Please feel free to talk to educators should you have and queries or concerns.
Thank you from the educators Kahla and Carren.

From the Whales Room –
Welcome back families and Whale children!!
This is an important year for our Whale friends before the transition to primary school education.
Throughout this year the Whales will undergo the school readiness program within the Whale room. This program focuses on various school readiness content and also the individual development and needs of each child. This is to ensure that they are emotionally, socially and mentally ready for school next year.
Already this year we have looked at the interest area of self-identity. This is where the children looked at ways to visually represent themselves. We have just finish exploring multinational countries with the Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games. The children have enjoyed watching some of the highlights of the games, experimenting with artwork and having meaningful discussions, in relation to the countries involved, the locations of the games and sports that the athletes participate in.
I would like to take this opportunity to encourage any family input to the program. As I am, always interested in what you as parents would like to see in the program and any input is greatly appreciated. Looking forward to a big year ahead of our Whales.
Thanks from Kas the Whales teacher.
