Director's Report

Welcome to Livingston 2024

It has been lovely to meet lots of our families at Livingston over the past few weeks and finally put faces to names. Most of the children coming into kinder in the morning are happy to leave their parent and join in the kinder program. Some children may find this difficult and your child’s kinder teacher will work with you to support your child with this separation. You are welcome to come into the kindergarten with your child at drop off if you would like, we just ask that you respect our child safe practices and do not go into or near the children's bathrooms. You are also welcome to come and spend time with your child in the session as long as you have a valid working with children check and bring it in with you each time you stay so we can validate it. These are free for volunteers and you can apply here. https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply

Hopefully families are enjoying viewing the photos from their child’s group that are being uploaded to the SchoolStream App. This provides a great opportunity for you to engage in conversation with your child about their day at kindergarten, their friends, what they learnt etc. If you haven’t already- download the app, choose Livingston Kindergarten and we will approve you and assign you to your child’s group. Just to let you know, the photos are deleted from the app at the end of each term.

As part of our practice and our Child safe action plan we run a program in the four-year-old groups called "Body Safety Superstars”. The Body Safety Superstars! program aims to engage educators, children and parents/carers in body safety education as an essential component in primary prevention of childhood child sexual abuse. The children's program consists of two 45-minute sessions, delivered over two weeks to the same group. Children learn about body safety, identifying emotions and help seeking through activities, games, stories, and group discussions. Professionals build capacity in embedding body safety strategies into their practice whilst strengthening their confidence to engage with families and child abuse/neglect intervention services. These programs include all new updates on Child Safe Standards and National Principles for Victoria. Through the parent online session, Parents/carers are provided with facts, risks and myths surrounding childhood sexual abuse. They learn to identify grooming behaviours, how to model body safety strategies at home, and how to work cohesively with educators in keeping children safe.

Specific goals of the program are that children transitioning to school:

have confidence in their assertive communication and social skills
have increased independence and understanding of bodily autonomy,
develop emotional intelligence and help-seeking skills.

The Parent Carer online Workshop is Monday 22nd April from 6:00 - 8:00 PM

This year we were allocated School Readiness funding from the Department of Education for the three and four year old children/groups. The funding initiatives we applied for and were successful in were:

An additional staff member on a Monday and a Wednesday to work in groups as needed.
A PD session for the staff “Using puppets for Social and Emotional Learning" Through this we hope to develop our knowledge relating to emotional and social development and the challenges that some children face. We will learn how to promote the skills, behaviours and knowledge that underpin emotional regulation and healthy social interactions. The knowledge gained on the day can easily be applied to other sessional activities such as book sharing and pretend play.
As part of this funding we will have an Occupational Therapist working with staff offering support, resources, ideas etc. We also hope to provide some online sessions for Livingston families. Last year these included Emotional regulation, Starting school, social development-we will keep you posted.

Striving to be community minded Livingston Kindergarten has a Community pantry. This shelf is a place where families can donate pantry items and also take a pantry item when needed. How it works…….Parents can take food items from the pantry when picking up their children, perhaps an ingredient they’ve run out of that they need for dinner that night, and in return, parents can contribute something left over from their own pantry the next day. The communal pantry includes basic food staples such as pasta, pasta sauce, cans of tuna, breakfast cereals, biscuits and crackers. This helps children make community connections and fosters a sense of belonging to community groups and opens up conversations about helping others, sustainability, recycling and reducing waste. Take what you need….Share what you can.

Finally thank-you to all of the families contributing to and purchasing raffle tickets for the Easter Raffle -it is much appreciated. Good luck!!

Regards, Louise