OSHC News

What beautiful weather to start the fourth week of the term. Last week we experienced heat, humidity and floods. It certainly provided a bit of unwanted excitement to the end of our week. Thank you Simon for trying to fix our drain in the peak of the flooding. I appreciate you getting wet to try to fix our problem.

Tonight will be the first official night of our clubs. We have a timetable that is fairly set and we are going to try and run a couple of the clubs on the same night to give the children more choice. At this stage the activities will be run on the following nights:

Monday:  Games and Chess

Tuesday:  Auslan and Sport

Wednesday:  Perfoming Arts and Games

Thursday:  Performing Arts and Auslan

Friday:  Games and Cooking

As only a handful of children have signed up for the chess club, chess will be available any night those children are in attendance. However, we have also allocated Monday nights. Homework club will commence in March and run from Monday to Thursday. It will take a few weeks for these clubs to settle into a routine. We are happy for children to pop in and try each club this term. As we assess the success of each club at the end of the term our aim for next term would be more of a committment to the child's selected club/clubs. For example, this term has a more of a "come and try" focus, whereas next term we are aiming for more of a term's committment. This will allow more tailored planning to the needs and interests of the children in the particular club and will allow for skills to be gained and extended. It will also give the clubs who are working towards a performance such as performing arts and Auslan to learn their items with the same group of children each week. The children are really keen to start these clubs and we hope they will be lots of fun. Please note, these clubs are not compulsory and the usual range of activities will still be provided every night. The clubs just give the children another option to explore an area of interest to them.

Our next curriculum day is Tuesday March 10th. It follows the public holiday on Monday 9th of March. We will be running an incursion day that operates from 7.00am until 6.00pm. I have booked a giant inflatable, the robot cars that are driven via the ipad and possibly mini golf. I am just waiting to hear if the mini golf is available. If it's not, laser tag or another substitute will be provided. Children will need to bring all their own food and snacks for the day. We will also be making honey joys and milkshakes. Please see me (Deb), if your child needs a substitute for cow's milk or is allergic to any ingredients used in the honey joys. Booking forms will be out next week. The incursion activities run from 10.00am until 4.00pm. All the usual OSHC activities including craft will be available in addition to the incursion on curriculum day.

Our prep and new children attending the service are settling in well. Our program is very busy this year. We try to ensure that each child is confident and happy in our program. However, it is only the start of the year and with so many new children it may be possible that your child is still feeling a bit anxious. If you believe your child is not yet settled, please bring it to our attention so we can help your child build new friendships and settle in. We are here to help and want OSHC to be a fun and happy place where the children love to come.

Finally, please check your statements to ensure you are receiving CCS (Child Care Subsidy). If you are not, you may need to log onto MyGov and go to the Centrelink box and confirm your bookings. If you are unsure, give me a call or send me an email and I will clarify what you need to do to get your CCS.

Have a lovely week,

Deb and the OSHC Team