Healthy Early childhood Achievement program
Our service has now achieved the benchmark for the Sun protection priority area under the Healthy Early Childhood Achievement, we also were successful in being re-accredited under the SunSmart Cancer Council program. As part of this process we undertook a comprehensive self assessment, identified improvements to be made and had external advice in reviewing our policies and procedures. Well done to our team!
The next priority area we are focusing on is Physical Activity and Movement, as we work through this priority area we will look at how we currently support and promote active movement and lifestyles to children, families and staff and how we can improve our practices in this area.
Achieving accreditation under this program is one of our goals under our Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) under the National Quality Standards.
Did you know we now have a bike/scooter stand at our kinder? If your child rides to kinder you are very welcome to leave their bike or scooter in the stand at the back door of our larger class. Staff can show you where it is :). We purchased this bike rack as part of our commitment to supporting and promoting active modes of transport to kinder.
Here is some information about physical activity and the positive impacts for mental health and wellbeing, included is the current recommendations of physical activity of preschoolers.
"Pre-schoolers (3-5 years): at least 180 minutes a day of which 60 minutes is energetic play such as running, jumping and kicking and throwing."
https://beyou.edu.au/fact-sheets/wellbeing/physical-activity-and-mental-health
Here is another link with information and ideas about keeping children active.
At kinder we provide opportunities for active play and learning in a variety of ways:
-children have access to a large outdoor space with room to run and challenging equipment for climbing and balancing.
-Access to bikes, scooter boards, hoops, stilts, balls etc for active play.
-Weekly opportunities in the four year old program to engage in PMP in the school gym which supports children to develop a range of gross motor and coordination skills.
-Planned indoor and outdoor music and movement sessions and active group games.
-Skills based programs such as 'Play, move, improve'
-Opportunities for active relaxation such as stretch based exercises and gentle movement.
It is important to note that we encourage children to be active in all but the very worst of weather in recognition of the benefits for children's overall health and development. Dressing appropriately for winter supports children to enjoy being outside in all types of weather so that they can meet their physical activity needs for the day. Active children are happier, they learn better and they feel better about themselves.