BANYAN PARK NEWS - FEBRUARY 2018

Welcome to the first edition of Banyan Park News for 2018!
We hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful Christmas/ new year holiday - they seem very far away now! 
We have had a very busy first 5 weeks and have already had lots of fun. We have also welcomed lots of new children to Banyan Park - hello to RC, Leba, Harlow, Chase, Sophia Grace, James, Khloe, Baye, Tiberius and your families. We are sure you will have lots of fun and enjoy making new friends!

The returning children are enjoying being the ‘big kids’ and helping the new ones with the routine.
As you would have heard, I will be leaving Banyan Park. However, I  want to assure everyone that I am committed to staying and continuing to provide quality care and early learning teaching until a replacement Director can be appointed. As soon as I know when I am finishing I will let parents know.

STAFF NEWS
Our staff have been keeping busy recently with Ellie taking leave in February and Alex filling in for her while she was away. At the same time, we welcomed Hayley Martin, who has her Diploma in Early Childhood Education, to the Banyan Park relief pool.
 
Emily recently spent a week in Sydney completing work placement hours at a service with Waverley Council. She had an amazing time and has come back with lots of ideas to implement at Banyan. Ellie and Vinnie will also be spending a week each at services in the same area, later this term. This work placement opportunity forms part of the studies in Certificate 111 in Early Childhood Education that Emily, Ellie and Vinnie are working towards this year. This professional development was achievable by the success in the Community Grants submission. We wish to thank NIRC for supporting Banyan Park.

AGM
The Banyan Park AGM will be held on Thursday the 15th March at 6.30pm at Banyan Park.  All current positions will be vacated at the meeting, and we encourage all parents who would like to work collaboratively with the Director, staff and community of Banyan Park – and play an integral role in Banyan’s future – to please consider volunteering as a committee member. If you have questions about what each role entails please contact the committee at: committee@banyanparkni.com
TERM dates for 2018 (incl. Public Holidays)
Good Friday                  30 March
Easter Monday             2 April
Term 1 holidays           16-27 April
Banyan returns            30 April
Bounty Day                    8 June
Queen’s Birthday         11 June
Term 2 holidays            7-22 July
Term 3 Holidays           29 Sept- 14 Oct
Thanksgiving                 28 November
Last day of term           14 December

Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials. This is evident when children manipulate resources to investigate, take apart, assemble, invent and construct. (Learning Outcome 4, EYLF)

PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT
There will be a parent information night on Wednesday 21st  March from 6.30pm to 7.30pm.
It will be held at Banyan Park and all parents/grandparents are invited to see what we have planned for your children in 2018 and why we plan what we do!

TINKER TABLE
A few weeks ago the children had the opportunity to pull apart an old tape recorder. They put on their safety goggles and used kid-friendly screwdrivers to unscrew lots of little screws. Us ‘oldies’ had to explain to the children what we used tape recorders for in the olden days.

FOOD
The children are burning lots of energy at Banyan and are finding themselves really hungry at morning tea. Many are wanting to eat their sandwiches then, so an extra sandwich in their lunchbox would be great. Thanks!

EMERGENCY EVACUATION DRILLS
We have been talking about emergency evacuations the last few weeks and in week 5 we practiced basic emergency drills. We  listened for the whistle to blow 3 times and then moved calmly to the door. The teacher then took us to the ‘safe place’ (next to the see-saw). Ask your child where our safe place is and see if they remember!
The kids coped well with the loudness of the whistle and were able to list all the emergencies we might have at Banyan.
Do you have an emergency evacuation plan at your place?

CHANGES TO LIBRARY
Due to timetabling changes at the school, our library day has changed to Monday from 9.40 to 10.30. I have amended the permission forms and I will see you one afternoon this week to get your signature. I will also need a volunteer each week to assist the educator taking the children over to the library, so if you have spare hour on a Monday morning once a month and would like to assist, please let Katherine or one of the other educators know and we will create a roster.
If your child doesn’t come on a Monday but you would like them to be involved in library (it is a great school readiness experience) then please join us at the library from 9.40am to 10.30am.

HEAD LICE
There appears to have been a rise in head lice recently, so please check your children’s hair regularly for the little critters. If you discover your child has lice, please let us know. Once your child has had their hair treated they are allowed to return to Banyan. You can purchase lice shampoo at the chemist and it is easy to use and effective. You can also purchase products that deter lice and I have heard a tea tree oil and water solution sprayed onto hair each morning is also an effective natural deterrent. Don’t forget to treat all family members!

ILLNESS/ACCIDENT/INJURY
If your child becomes unwell or injures themselves enough to require treatment at Banyan Park, educators complete an illness/injury/accident form after treatment has been given. If your child’s injury or illness is significant, we will contact parents immediately (if parents are uncontactable, we will call your emergency contacts).
If the injury is not deemed significant (scratched knee etc) we will complete a form and present it to you to be signed at the end of the day (or, as per policy, within 24 hours if an approved contact other than a parent collects your child).
And just to be on the safe side, to ensure we don’t miss anyone at pick-up time, we will now highlight your child’s name and write a note in the ‘additional comments’ section of the attendance register if we need to speak with you before you go. So if your child’s name is highlighted when you sign them out, please make sure you see an educator before you leave.

THE MARCH OF THE ARMY GRUB
It hasn’t been Wombat Stew but Army Grub Stew on the menu at Banyan Park . The lawn has been crawling with army grubs which created so much excitement for the children as the collected them, examined them (yes - they have green guts), looked at them through magnifying glasses, found out whether they could swim and finally discovered they made delicious army grub stew! We are going to have an insect week next week to build on the children’s interest in army grubs, so if the children go on bug hunts at home, you’ll know why!!

Children are confident and involved learners. Educators promote this learning when they provide learning environments that are flexible and open-ended and listen carefully to children’s ideas and discuss how these ideas might be developed. (Learning Outcome 4, EYLF)

Show and Share
You will find a little note in your message pockets which has your child’s Show and Share day on it. Your child can bring in something special from home to show their friends during Show or Share, or they may have something special to tell us. Show and Share is an important opportunity for children to develop language skills and confidence in front of a small group. We have a special ‘Show and Share Box’ which all the special things go into when you arrive in the morning. This box then stays in Katherine’s office until it is Show and Share time to keep special things safe.

TOYS FROM HOME
If it’s not your child’s Show and Share day we ask that children not bring in toys from home. They inevitably get lost, dirty, broken or taken home in someone else’s bag.
We have at least one distressed child a day who has lost or broken a special toy they have bought in from home. Thanks for your understanding in this matter.

Banyan Park Facebook pages
We have a closed Facebook page just for Banyan Park parents, called “Banyan Park Parents Group”. We look forward to sharing more of our daily activities and photos within this closed group, which is only able to be accessed by current Banyan parents.
The Banyan Park Playcentre Inc page however is a business page and as such is open to everyone. This page will only feature images of our activity, ensuring any children within the pictures are unable to be identified.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE OPEN DAY
On Wednesday 7th March, Banyan Park hosted the Government House open day. Thank you to our small group of dedicated volunteers who helped out on the day, greeting visitors at the door and working as  room ‘sitters’. Thank you also the parents who provided afternoon tea for the volunteers.
The Government House open day is a major annual fundraiser for Banyan Park, and we look forward to allocating the funds raised to a much-needed resource for the children!

NEW ADDITIONS TO ROOMS
Ensuring we continue to provide a quality and safe environment for your children, you may have noticed we have a few new items including a fully stocked and compliant First Aid kit, which sits on the wall  (out of the reach of little hands!) opposite the front door. The new kit contains EpiPens, Ventolin and asthma spacers in the rare case of asthma or anaphylaxis.
New soap and paper towel dispensers have also been installed in the bathroom, supporting healthy handwashing practices.

PARKING
Just a reminder the driveway that leads directly to Banyan’s door must not be used when dropping off or picking up children, as it presents a safety risk to children arriving and leaving. Please park in the carpark only and make sure all children are safe before reversing.

2018 ENROLMENT FORMS
Just a gentle reminder to complete your 2018 enrolment form and return to Banyan along with current immunisation paperwork for photocopying. If you require a hard copy of the form, please come and see the staff 😊

Quotes from your kids
“Hey!! Look everyone!! I’ve got an apple!!”
     (All the children at morning tea say: “ooooo and ahhhhh.”)
“Katherine, you are so old”