Front of house

Farewell Term Three and Welcome Term Four,

It has certainly been a disruptive term, and we certainly need to acknowledge those who have been at home for the past 6 weeks. We thank each of you for all helping us keep our community safe. We look forward to opening the doors to each of you from the 5th of November. We will then be back together as normal, but still following our COVID Safe Plan.  This is available at reception should you wish to view.

I would like to thank all my team who have continued to work exceptionally hard to ensure that each of the children are able to continue learning. We have had less of us working together, but unlike our lockdown last year, this lockdown, we have been able to share the load, allowing many of us to take much needed respite.  This has allowed us to focus on training, our Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) and Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

So, what are we hoping for Term Four?  This Term is all about preparing for transition.  Our Babies will become Toddlers, our Toddlers will become Pre-Kindergarten Children and then our Pre-Kindergarten Children will move into our Funded Kindergarten Program, run by Caila Hunt in our Field Room.  We have so much planned for the term and can’t wait to share it all with you.

Opening of our state we are faced with many restrictions, as we follow the roadmap.  As these slowly change, we will review if we can host our annual Family Christmas Party in December. We will keep you all posted.  As you know we normally hold our party at Arcadia Reserve each year and have a BBQ/Picnic in the park. 

Each family would have received a letter for re-enrolment next year.  This allows you access to information about your child’s days of attendance and Classroom.  Over the next two months, we will announce to you all our room class teams for 2022.  We will commence transitions in January 2022, once everyone is back and resettled from Christmas leave.  To those families who have not been through this process before, we aim to work transitions, like orientations when your child first commenced. This allows them time to settle into their new environment along with new peers, and new educators.  We do however try to move one of their educators with them to help support this transition furthermore. 

We are excited to announce that from Term One 2022, our Field classroom will operate as a standalone Funded Kindergarten Program. We have been delighted with the numbers that have signed up to our program and are now in the process of 2nd round offers to families on our waitlist.  I have included some information for you all to read on page 8.

Storypark Manage is here! What an exciting but challenging time.  The setting up process has been testing our patience, as we are trained to manoeuvre our way around a new platform. SPM allows a real time view of your account information.  It will automatically send email reminders requesting updated information when documents have expired. You can upload any information directly to your account. View statements, add nominee contact information, change your direct debit information.  You can mark your child absent, and attach a medical certificate, request to change your child’s days of attendance, or book your child in for a casual booking if it’s the day before.  As we move through learning more, we will share it all with you. 

Storypark is a great way to share information.  The team spend much time putting together information on their daily community page, whilst also share observations and learning stories surrounding your child’s growth and development.  These are then posted personally to your child’s account to view.  I love reading over them and seeing how each of them is growing.  Please share your feedback on the comments tab below.  We can see that you are viewing them, but we would love to know your thoughts surrounding your child learning.  Perhaps you would like to know more or have noticed this at home.  These comments really allow you to connect with the educator, who is really getting to know your child, and supporting them through their early years.

Christmas holidays will come around in no time.  As your aware your entitled to 4 weeks pro rata annually. This goes from January to December, and once we have supplied a months’ notice, we will apply a 50% discount to your account.  If you can please let us know as soon as you can.  We like to start rostering for Christmas, to allow as many of the team to have a good break as possible.  We will close for the following dates. 

Monday 27th December in Lieu of Christmas Day 25th December

Tuesday 28th December in lieu of Boxing Day 26th December

Monday 3rd January in lieu of New Year’s Day 1st January

I have attached of events that will be coming up throughout term 4. 

Thanks for all your ongoing support to our Haven community.  We look forward to the months ahead.