Glen Education Sacred Heart
Building a strong sense of community and strong relationships with children and families
By Steph Moroney and Noor Moaied
As we come to the end of the year, we look back on our service goals we set in term 1 and reflect on how we have met them throughout the year. One service goal of ours is to continue building a strong sense of community and strong relationships with children and families.
To build a strong sense of community, it was important to us to strengthen our relationship with Sacred Heart Primary School and hold excursions in our local community. We have enjoyed many visits to the school this year which include Shrove Tuesday, where the children were served pancakes for morning tea, and many sausage sizzles! During book week the children were invited to the school library for story time and were also invited to take part in the costume parade during assembly. The children were so brave walking in front of the whole school, and it was lovely to see all the school children cheering us on!
Another highlight was being invited to take part in the school art show. Our entry for the art show was based on a children’s book called The Dot, which is all about giving something a go, even when you think you can’t, exploring an idea in many ways and sharing our gifts with others. Our children collaborated on our entry, starting with a dot and giving it a go! Our kinder’s then got to visit the art show and see their entry displayed. We also hosted many visits from the preps and grade 4’s to our kinder where our children enjoyed forming relationships with the older children. These visits have strongly supported our relationship with the school. It promotes social skills for our children like cooperation and communication, develops a positive attitude towards learning and supports their transition to formal schooling.
We have also enjoyed hosting many parents this year during group time. We have thoroughly enjoyed our parents sharing their knowledge, skills and achievements and are incredibly grateful to our parents who have taken time out of their day to participate.
Strong connections to our local community and families expand our children’s real-world understanding through hands-on, experiential learning and builds an appreciation for community roles.
Exploring Our Local Oakleigh Library
This year at Glen Sacred Heart Kindergarten, one of our key service goals has been building a strong sense of community and relationships. A highlight in achieving this goal has been our excursion to the local library, where the children had the opportunity to explore, discover, and connect through a shared love of stories.
We walked together from the kindergarten to the library, enjoying the fresh air and chatting excitedly along the way. When we arrived, the children were warmly welcomed by the librarian and seated together as a big group. The librarian read engaging storybooks and sang songs with the children, creating a joyful and interactive experience that everyone loved. She also showed the children a library card and explained how they could come back with a parent or adult to make their very own card. The children were fascinated to learn that the library has books in many different languages, making it a place for everyone in our community.
Before we left, the librarian kindly gave us a book to bring back to kindergarten, which we have enjoyed reading and sharing together.
This experience strongly reflected our commitment to building a sense of community and connection. It allowed the children to engage with a familiar local space, form new relationships, and feel a sense of belonging within their neighbourhood. The visit also supported children’s learning by encouraging language and literacy development, fostering curiosity, and inspiring a lifelong love of reading.
Our library visits beautifully showcased how community experiences can strengthen relationships and enrich children’s learning in meaningful ways.
