QIP examples

Approved learning framework

Curriculum decision-making contributes to each child’s learning and development outcomes in relation to their identity, connection with community, wellbeing, confidence as learners and effectiveness as communicators

This year we have discovered that we have families who spend their days working with the animals at Dubbo Zoo. Elijah’s Mum and Dad both work closely with the elephants and tigers.

Haley has recently noticed the children’s developing interest with the few animals we have floating around the room and found a story to relate to promoting a sense of community within the early childhood setting.
During a quiet time throughout our busy day, Haley invited Elijah and our new friend Leo over to the mat for a story. This particular story was about a boy who writes letters to the Zoo, asking for a pet. The Zoo sends all kinds of animals to the boy in ‘flip the flap’ cages which Haley sees as a way to test the children’s skills and abilities in participating in a group game. On each page, there was a new cage to open. Haley encouraged Elijah and Leo to open the cages, taking turns to reveal the new ‘pet’. Elijah and Leo revealed the animals with surprise as Haley explained the names of the animals, what they eat and where they live.
Perhaps at a later date we could reflect back on this and use a world map to explore where the animals of the world live.
As we continued to read the story, Elijah found the Lion before displaying a smile and letting out a quiet “rah” to indicate his knowledge of the lion’s roar. “That’s right Elijah, the lion does roar.” “Does Daddy hear the lions roar at work?” asked Haley.
It wasn’t long after that Leo discovered the Giraffe and then the Elephant. “Ooo what about the elephants’ sound?” “Elijah’s Mum sees all the elephants at the Zoo. Maybe we could get some photos of some elephants and research the noise they make” explained Haley.
This was a great opportunity for the children to broaden their understandings of the world they live in and is something we could build on from here as the opportunities are endless.
Learning outcome: 2.1

Child-centred

Each child’s current knowledge, strengths, ideas, culture, abilities and interests are the foundation of the program.

We have assessed ourselves against the outcomes and are confident all educators deliver a child- centred program. For example, preschool educator Eliza begins each day with a group time where she asks all children what activities they wish to do for the day. This valuable knowledge is combined with what parents want their child to learn and it is written on the whiteboard and implemented during the day (embedded practices and engagement with families). For example, on the (13.2.19) Stella mentioned she would enjoy dancing, Aria wanted to play with playdough and Alex wanted to draw. Ella’s Mum mentioned Ella had been practicing her name writing at home, to begin getting ready for school. Miss Eliza set the program for the day to include all children extending and working on their writing skills.

This daily practice was developed after Eliza reflected on what she called a great day and wondered what made it great. (Critical reflection See reflection 13.2.19) She noticed these great days included large amounts of time where the children had decided what they wanted to do, which in turn saw the children engaged for longer. Children would often ask to return to an experience so they could practice.

Program learning opportunities

All aspects of the program, including routines, are organised in ways that maximise opportunities for each child’s learning.

Today Miss Natasha gathered the children on the mat for group time and asked the children “What would we like to learn about today?” “I would like to learn about germs” said Xavier. “That’s a great idea Xavier. Why would you like to learn more about germs?” asked Miss Natasha “To make sure we all stay healthy” replied Xavier. Miss Natasha built upon and extended on Xavier’s ideas (LO 3.1) by asking the children “what are germs?” “Germs make you sick Miss Tash” replied Xavier. “They are yucky, and they live on your hands” answered Izzy. “Germs can give you a cold,” said Ruby. “Where do germs come from?” “They are in your saliva” added Heath. “They even live on your teeth,” said Brandon. “What do germs do to your body?” “They make you feel sick” replied Lucy. “They make your teeth feel funny” said Brandon. “They make our hands and skin feel dirty” said Ruby and Heath. Miss Natasha provided the children with an educational video reflecting current recognised guidelines on what germs are and infection control,  and once the children had finished watching the video, Miss Natasha asked “Who remembers how we stop germs from spreading?” “Always wash your hands” answered Brandon. “When you cough you cover your mouth and then you wash your hands” said Jake and Heath. “You sneeze in your arm not in the air” added Xavier. “We drink out of our own drink bottles,” said Lucy and Olivia. The children showed they are enthusiastic learners (LO4.1) by answering the questions. “Can anyone remember what surfaces germs can live on?” “They are on your hands” said Izzy, Ruby and Olivia. “They are also on your phone,” said Jake. “They even live on your animals” replied Heath and Jake. “They are also on our cupboards and door handles” answered Xavier and Izzy. Miss Natasha displayed delight, encouragement and enthusiasm for the children’s attempts. Reflecting on ways to enhance children’s learning, Miss Natasha then created a list with the children to identify all the ways we can improve our hygiene through our routines in the preschool. The list identified all the great ideas for personal hygiene, room cleaning and preparation before mealtime. The children extended the learning further by drawing their representations of germs and how to stop them spreading in our room.

Intentional teaching

Educators are deliberate, purposeful, and thoughtful in their decisions and actions.

Continuing to learn how to manage our emotions, Chelsea decided to extend the tigers group learning and established a partnership with local community member Pamma, a Buddhist Monk. Chelsea discussed with Pamma the need to teach the children meditation techniques to assist with self-regulation. Pamma explained to the children” all monks meditate, sometimes it’s to make negative feelings go away and sometimes to keep the happy feelings inside.” Pamma then showed everyone a special feelings jar made up of glycerine, oil, water, dishwashing detergent and glitter. “When we are sad or angry or frustrated or scared, we can have lots of things spinning around inside our heads like this jar. And when that happens there are things you can do to help you feel better.”  Next, we read a book called ‘Moody Cow Meditates’ by Kerry Lee Maclean. It was about a cow named Peter who was having a really bad day. Having started his day missing the bus, wiping out his bike, losing his temper and getting into trouble, his school friends started calling him a moody cow. His day got worse until his grandad came over to his house and showed him the magic jar and then all his bad feelings went away. Ella, reflecting on her emotions LO 3.1 said, “I feel happy, ”Aria and Maddy said “I feel excited, ”Torah said “I feel ok, ”Landon said “cranky,” Xavier said “I feel bored.” Using this information Pamma taught the first meditation technique. “Can we all pretend we are holding a cup of hot chocolate? Now, when you’re feeling unhappy breathe into your pretend cup like your cooling it down to drink. Can everyone do that?” Now does everyone feel better?” asked Pamma. Everyone said yes. The next technique learnt was a bubble technique. “Can everyone pretend they are holding bubbles and are trying to make the biggest bubble they can” asked Pamma. “Now, blow that bubble as hard as you can and that will help you to feel happy.” The last technique was listening to the sound of a bell. Chelsea gave Pamma a big bell. Pamma hit the bell and said “now can you all hear the bell? Close your eyes and listen to the bell as the sound fades away. This is like when we watch the magic jar and see the glitter settle, our feelings settle as the bell stops.” “That is so cool” said Lewi. We thanked Pamma for her visit and will use these techniques as part of the program to enable all the children to self-regulate their emotions. See learning story and photos 12_5­_19

Responsive teaching and scaffolding

Educators respond to children’s ideas and play and extend children’s learning through open-ended questions, interactions and feedback.

Ruby arrived in the cub’s room this morning with the request to do show and tell to show off her ballerina costume. Chelsea began reflecting on her educational practice approach to facilitating and extending children’s learning and development. So as Ruby asked if she could wear her outfit, Chelsea acknowledged Ruby’s uniqueness in a positive way LO 1.1 “Ruby you look so awesome! Would you like to learn about ballet and then do some ballet dancing with your friends?” and Ruby happily replied “yes please”. Chelsea decided to take the opportunity to extend the children’s learning through interactions and the provision of resources. Chelsea encouraged collaborative learning through technology between Children and Educators LO 5.5 using a video to provide background information on the origins of ballet. Chelsea actively sought Ruby’s views throughout the day, and drew on this input to facilitate and extend children’s learning and development. Chelsea asked Ruby “What is ballet Rubes? and Ruby replied “it’s dancing I do that.”From the video we learnt that ballet originated from the word balleto meaning little dance and came from Italy during the Renaissance. It was a social choreographed dance that was mostly performed at aristocratic functions. Ella “asked what does aristocratic mean?” and Chelsea replied “aristocratic means high society like really important people.”We continued with the video and discovered that ballet was used in court settings as a way to control people that were in trouble, for example how they sat, bowed, walked and held out their hands. In the sixteenth century we learnt that ballet progressed to France from Italy by a lady named Catherine de “Medici who was Henry II of France’s second wife. It was during this time that ballet began to be performed on stages with special curtains. Ruby shared, “I want to dance on stage because I like dancing” and Chelsea said “that’s awesome Ruby. I am going to give you the opportunity to dance here in a few minutes” and Ruby laughed. In the seventeenth century we discovered that Louis fourteenth founded the first ballet academy. Louis wore a gold costume and it provided the trend for the costumes the ballerinas wear today. Once the video finished Ruby and some friends danced to Frozen, Swan Lake and the Nutcracker

Child directed learning

Each child’s agency is promoted, enabling them to make choices and decisions that influence events and their world.

Miss Tehanna conducts daily mini meeting with the children to discover what the children would like to do and how to plan and implement their ideas. This valuable information which supports each child to make a range of choices and decisions to influence events and their world is written on a whiteboard. Mini meetings are conducted many times a day to seek out the voices, perspectives, and views of children throughout the day.

For example, Miss Tehanna consistently considered and promoted the agency of each child through asking the children “what would we like to do today?” Alexis L answered, “learn about my lasso.” Torah added “learn about horses.” To facilitate and extend children’s learning Miss Tehanna asked Alexis L to come up the front of the class and show the class what a lasso looks like. All the children were excited as Alexis did this. Miss Tehanna turned on the smartboard. She continued her daily practice of extending children’s learning and development while looking for information about lassos. The children and Miss Tehanna learnt the lasso has several proper names. Nearly all cowboys simply call it a “rope,” and the use of lassos “roping.” Sophia answered, “they are used for throwing.” Lila replied, “the rope is meant to tighten when pulled.” Connecting the use of a lasso and horses, Alice replied, “to catch calves you have to tie the rope to the saddle on the horse.” Aseri said, “it’s used in rodeos and it’s easier to manage animals.” The children’s voices, perspectives, and views were confidently shared when learning about the lasso.  Miss Tehanna extended children’s learning by asked the children “who knows what a rodeo is?” Alexis L said “my dad rides in rodeos all over in different towns on the weekends.” Miss Tehanna said, “great job guys. Would we like to go outside and see if we can throw it?” All the children replied, “Yes!!” and found the perfect spot to use the lasso but first we had to practice. Georgia and Aseri retrieved a bike from the shed and asked, “could we use this as our fake cow?” Alexis L and Lilliana replied, “Yes!” Miss Tehanna encouraged each child as they were throwing the lasso. All the children were able to hook the bike. This experience welcomed and respected the priorities and strengths of the children and families at the service.

Assessment and planning cycle

Each child’s learning and development is assessed or evaluated as part of an ongoing cycle of observation, analysing learning, documentation, planning, implementation and reflection.

Today Miss Natasha gathered the children on the mat for group and supported children to participate in assessing and planning their own learning and development by asking “what would we like to learn about today?” “Can we learn about the rain Miss Tash” replied Brandon. Miss Natasha built upon and extended on Brandon ideas and asked the children “does anyone know what rain is?” “It’s little drops of water” said Aria and Hunter.  “Raindrops happen before the thunder comes” answered Brandon. “Why does it rain? asked Miss Natasha.” “Because it has to” said Hunter. “It waters our food” said Aria. “Because the clouds get heavy” replied Ruby and Izzy. “It rains when it is cold” said Xavier.

“Does anyone know how it rains?” asked Miss Natasha. “It rains when it thunders” answered Hunter. “It’s because of the sun and clouds Miss Tash” said Xavier. Miss Natasha provided the children with an educational video (LO5.5) on rain. After the video Miss Natasha asked the children “why do we need rain?” “It helps our flowers to grow” answered Izzy and Aria. “Makes our lawns nice and green” replied Heath. “We need rain for the plants and trees to grow” replied Brandon.

“What does rain do to our environment?” “It gives the animals water and food said Lucy, Maddi and Hunter. “It helps our farmers to grow food so we don’t go hungry” answered Ruby, Jake and Rayyan. “It makes everything nice and green” replied Izzy, Nicholas and Lucy. “It gives us water” replied Harrison.

We haven’t had much rain lately and are in drought, and our town has been placed under water restrictions” said Miss Natasha. Reflecting our unique geographical, cultural and community context Miss Natasha planned to work collaboratively to assess children’s learning, getting the families involved with the learning by creating a list of questions the children and families could discover the answers for. They included:

1. What is the role of the sun in creating rain?
2. How are clouds formed?
3. How do water restrictions affect the way you use water in your home?

This practice shows how Miss Natasha consistently engages with families and the community to ensure that children’s learning and development outside of the service is incorporated into the assessment and planning cycle. Future planning demonstrated a strong commitment to the principles and practices by using family knowledge and current community issues to enhance the children’s learning.

Critical reflection

Critical reflection on children’s learning and development, both as individuals and in groups, drives program planning and implementation.

We have assessed ourselves against the outcomes and can see how we regularly change practice after reflecting critically. For example, Josh in our Kangaroos room sometimes has a lot of trouble regulating his behaviour. Recently he picked up a chair and threw it against a glass sliding door which now has several cracks (see incident record and photos 20.1.19 Josh’s file). All educators in the room said they felt a mixture of anger at this behaviour and guilt that somehow they couldn’t do their job properly. The Educational Leader Miss Georgie helped them reflect on the situation from a different perspective – that of the child (embedded practice, critical reflection and engagement with families.) They started to think more about why the child might be behaving this way. The more they found out about Josh’s home life, the more they understood he might be looking for love and affection, and trying to express his emotional distress in the only way he knew how.

Educators decided not to tell Josh’s mother about the incident with the sliding door because they felt this would only make Josh’s home life worse. The educators started giving Josh big hugs in the morning when he arrived, and regularly during the day when he went outside or came inside. There has been a gradual change in Josh’s behaviour. At first Josh tried pull away when educators gave him a hug, but now he often comes up to educators looking for a cuddle. After reflecting again as a team educators plan to include more learning about our different emotions, and what we can do for example, if we’re feeling frustrated.

Information for families

Families are informed about the program and their child’s progress.

Today Miss Kerrie provided learning environments that were flexible and open-ended (LO 4:1) by placing saucepans, spoons, lids and bowls onto a mat. Miss Kerrie provided this equipment for the children to revisit their ideas and to extend their thinking (LO 4:1) about music, sound and how to ‘start’ learning about rhythm. Leo and Hamish were enthusiastic learners (LO 4:1) when they discovered the wooden spoon and started to hit the tin with it. Miss Kerrie listened for a while before modelling curiosity and to try new ideas (LO 4:1) by asking Hamish ”What sort of sounds would you make if you banged the tin and then the pan? Would you be able to make a tune?” Hamish showed that he was actively listening and understanding what Miss Kerrie had asked (LO 5:1) by banging the tin and then the pan. Hamish looked at Miss Kerrie and smiled. Miss Kerrie engaged in enjoyable interactions with the children as they made and played with sounds (LO 5:1) by remarking “This is great. Would you and Leo like to sing ‘twinkle, twinkle while you play the music?” Leo and Hamish then joined Miss Kerrie to sing, with Leo doing the actions. Hamish then handed the spoon to Leo. Leo copied Hamish’s actions and we started the song again. Leo concentrated on the sounds of the words (LO 5:2) as he attempted to ‘play’ his instruments in tune to the song. Miss Kerrie acknowledged and affirmed both Leo and Hamish’s effort and growth (LO 3:1) by responding “ Wow….. Miss Kerrie is so impressed with your learning. Leo you were really concentrating on beating the music in tune with the words. You are learning things very quickly.”

Miss Kerrie recognised Matilda’s, Sophie’s and Savanna’s individual achievements (LO 3:1) when the girls had a turn at making sounds on the drums by responding, “ You girls are beating the drum very, very fast and then very, ve….ry slow.” That’s a really nice sound.” Matilda was able to work independently (LO 3:1) with Miss Fatema showing affection and respect for Matilda (LO 3:1) while she gently looked at her for reassurance. Miss Fatema promoted Matilda’s sense of belonging, connectedness and wellbeing ( LO 1:1) by taking up the second drum stick and quietly showing Matilda how to beat the sticks individually to make a sound. Matilda acknowledged Miss Fatema with a smile.

Both Sophie and Savanna celebrated their achievements (LO 1:2) with each other when they giggled as they both stood on the pans and made a sound by tapping their feet onto them. Sophie and Savanna explored their imagination through play (LO – 4:4) by Sophie tapping one foot and Savanna tapping her foot after. The sounds they were making made Miss Kerrie giggle. Miss Kerrie sung and hummed the jingle (LO 5:2) the children were playing and both Sophie and Savanna actively responded to both their peers and educators (LO 1:1) by using verbal communication of giggling.

We had lots of positive comments from parents in our Facebook group after we engaged meaningfully with families  by posting photo/videos and explained how the children’s learning was tied to the EYLF learning outcomes. We could see from the comments that our communication with families about the education program and children’s participation, learning and development was easy to understand and engaging. Our parents have indicated how much they love our Facebook group because they can access information in a fun environment at a time that suits them, showing how we’ve tailored our communication to individual families’ circumstances and ways of connecting.

Wellbeing and comfort

Each child’s wellbeing and comfort is provided for, including appropriate opportunities to meet each child’s need for sleep, rest and relaxation.

To continue with our sewing and making our own juggling bean bags Miss Tamara set up a planned physical exercise activity. The children needed to balance on the beam while holding their juggling bean bags. The activity progressively became harder with the final move including hopping over the beam with the juggling bean bag on the child’s head.

This is where Miss Tamara became concerned about Harry. Normally he wouldn’t have a problem completing this activity. He stopped doing it and said he didn’t feel good and his tummy hurt. Miss Tamara responded to this event as it impacted on Harry’s health and activity needs. She contacted Harry’s mum again and described the situation and held a meeting later that day. Harry was taken to the doctor and it was discovered he was constipated and had faecal impaction of the colon. He was prescribed a laxative.

The following day there was still no movement and educators systematically reflected on this situation to try and enhance Harry’s health outcomes. They started a reflective discussion with other educators (confidentially of course). Mary, an experienced educator asked, what did Harry take the laxative with? Miss Tamara said fruit juice because of the taste and Mary said that could be a problem because the laxative packaging said it should only be taken with water. When it was time to administer another dose the other children were taken outside for the delivery of the educational program so he could have some privacy while using the toilet. Mary suggested they give Harry a balloon to blow up while sitting on the toilet.  Soon there was success. Working directly with Harry’s family, Mary passed her knowledge and technique on to the parent later that day and Harry started to feel better immediately.

Health practices and procedures

Effective illness and injury management and hygiene practices are promoted and implemented.

The educators became attuned to and responded to children’s changing health requirements throughout the day as they started to notice children becoming unwell. Educator Eliza checked Staying Healthy 5^th edition in line with established best practice. As part of managing the situation some families were called to collect their child. Then Miss Eliza and Miss Tamara responded confidently and promoted hygiene practices by sharing ownership of the cleaning with the children (L.O 3.2). Miss Eliza retrieved a bucket and added warm soapy water and some cloths for the children to wipe the shelves. The children showed independence with these hygiene practices (L.O 3.2) as they decided that they were going to scrub the tables as well as the shelves. After they cleaned the shelves and tables, they folded all the sheets up and stacked them nicely on the shelves. Then the children cleaned all the equipment that was exposed to the sick children and placed it in the sun light to further disinfect it.

Upon reflection between educators, nominated supervisor and parents about the illness outbreaks it was decided parents need to know more information regarding infectious illness that can enter the centre and especially the exclusion periods and how to stop the spread of disease with good cleaning and exclusion practices.

Healthy lifestyle

Healthy eating and physical activity are promoted and appropriate for each child.

On Tuesday (10.4.19), Torah opened a conversation with Chelsea LO 1.1 sharing “I really like chicken. When we cook in our room can we cook some chicken?” Recognising Torah’s interest and actively responding to Torah’s question LO 1.1 Chelsea said “I think we can do that. I will have a think and see what I can come up with to cook on Thursday.” After some discussion with the children the decision was made to make Smokey BBQ kebabs and salad from scratch in order to actively promote healthy eating! Using 1kg of skinless chicken breast, smokey BBQ marinade sauce, onions, yellow, red and green capsicum, cherry tomatoes and zucchini, we set to work using our master chef skills, as we began the process of dicing up the chicken. Heath, Ella, Lucy, Jake and Zoe all co-operated and collaboratively worked together LO 1.2 as they took turns using the large knife to dice up the chicken. Next, using a separate chopping board, we cut up the capsicum, onion, tomatoes and zucchini into quarters. Chelsea used mathematical terminology to encourage learning in ways that are relevant to each child LO 4.2 by explaining that four quarters of something makes a whole piece. Jake applied the mathematical knowledge as he cut a whole tomato into four equal quarters LO 4.2 and said, “look I made these into quarters, didn’t I?” Once everything was cut up each child had a turn threading the food onto the skewers using trial and error methods to overcome problems LO 4.2. When lunch was cooked everyone sat eagerly waiting for their turn and used their life skills to serve themselves the kebabs and salad consisting of tomato, cucumber and iceberg lettuce. “It was scrumptious” said Xavier, “yummy” said Patrick and “Can we have it again?” asked Lewi. “I’m going to ask mum if we can make this at home” said Ella. “Great idea” said Chelsea. “I’ll put the recipe on our Facebook page.”

Supervision

At all times, reasonable precautions and adequate supervision ensure children are protected from harm and hazard.

We have assessed ourselves against the outcomes and can see how we always take steps to supervise children and reduce their exposure to hazards. Throughout the month of September, Miss Cherie provided an experience for the children while they helped build the tepee. This experience required the preschool children to use a saw to cut the timber (September 2018 Curriculums).  To resource the materials for this project, Miss Cherie involved the families and community to donate the timber, tools, PPE and building knowledge. Once the materials had been collected Miss Cherie and Miss Eliza had to sit down and critically reflected on how they could ensure this experience was adequately supervised to ensure everyone’s safety. To follow the centre policies and procedures, there was a risk assessment completed beforehand (embedded practice).

After reflecting again we can see how this experience increased the educators confidence in providing risky activities (critical reflection). Tools are now being used more frequently during children’s experiences. (Check curriculum records)

Incident and emergency management

Plans to effectively manage incidents and emergencies are developed in consultation with relevant authorities, practised and implemented.

Educators have systematically reflected recently individually and as a team, against the element 2.2.2 Incident and Emergency Management and decided the emergency rehearsal needed to be more specific to the centre and to the new children, families and educators they have recently gained to strengthen emergency risk management.

The centre brainstormed things that could be considered a risk that required a rehearsal for their services and their context. These included a lockdown for snakes as a neighbour had recently sighted a snake, and a lockdown for a dust storm as the area had recently experienced dust storms due to the drought. This lockdown was enhanced with a simulation of a child having an asthma attack. Each time the rehearsal was conducted a different child was selected to have the asthma attack, some with asthma plans and some without.

Another potential emergency related to a mother’s car which had moved in the car park while nobody was in it. Thankfully nobody was in the carpark and nobody was injured, but it was a good stimulus to think about a rehearsal and what would happen if a child or children were to witness a death of a person in the car park.

The final new emergency involved a new building under construction next door using a very large crane.  Therefore an emergency rehearsal was conducted for the situation where the crane crashed into the back play area.

For all scenarios, further information was obtained from real situations that were similar. For example NSW Health Fact Sheet – Dust Storms was used to identify the rehearsal strategies of asthma, hives, breathing difficulties, lightning strikes etc. The crane story was enhanced from a newspaper story about a crane falling onto a property to give examples of things to consider.

Child protection

Management, educators and staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities to identify and respond to every child at risk of abuse or neglect.

Miss Rosa was concerned a five-year-old girl consistently had an itchy bottom and often had an unpleasant smell. The girl said she didn’t have a bath at home because there was rubbish in it and she didn’t have showers either. Miss Rosa also suspected her clothes weren’t being washed and asked herself, ‘what is the effect of the abuse on the child?’ She then worked through our child protection reporting guidelines which are based on current recognised guidance. Miss Rosa spoke with the Nominated Supervisor and then decided to actively raise awareness of the hygiene issues with the parents, stating that they may need to take the child to the doctor if her bottom worsened, and that it may be necessary to supervise the girl while she washed, which of course was necessary every day, to ensure adequate hygiene was being maintained.

Actively engaging with the family about their priorities for the child’s wellbeing, the Nominated Supervisor and Room Leader asked if there was anything they could do to assist the parents. The service then monitored the situation which thankfully improved. The parents’ working arrangements had impacted on the situation at home but improved when Mum changed jobs.

Fit for purpose

Outdoor and indoor spaces, buildings, fixtures and fittings are suitable for their purpose, including supporting the access of every child.

After reflecting and documenting individually and together on the changes we could make to the outdoor environment to ensure our outdoor environment is stimulating, engaging and enhances children’s learning and participation, we got to work with getting the supplies and organising parent and child support to help with the construction process of our new climbing pyramid for the yard. This piece of equipment recognises the importance of risky play which allows children to test limits, explore boundaries, and learn about risk. Our pyramid encourages children to do this in the context of ‘height’ in a safe and supported environment.

To ensure indoor fixtures are safe, clean and well-maintained, Miss Bek introduced appropriate tools, technologies and provided the skills and knowledge to enhance children’s learning (LO 4.4) as she brought out the electric sander and demonstrated it to the children while consistently aligning with safety practices. Anabel, Ella Mc, Finley, Tilly, Bella, Connor and Alaina explored and safely experimented with various technologies and tools (LO 4.4) when Miss Bek encouraged the children to use the electric sander. After each of the children had a turn, Miss Bek modelled language and encouraged children to express themselves through verbal communication (LO 5.1) Miss Bek would ask “did that feel funny?” Anabel, Ella Mc, Finley, Tilly, Bella, Connor and Alaina were confident in responding with verbal and non-verbal communication (LO5.1). Throughout the experience the children responded with a range of communication skills. “That funny” Anabel replied. Ella Mc nodded her head. Finley shook her hand and replied “like this.” Tilly and Bella replied “yeah.” Connor replied “I did.” Alaina smiled. Bek demonstrated a strong commitment to the principle High expectations and equity of the EYLF by ensuring her young toddlers were using tools that they see and use with their families.

After the children had finished sanding Miss Bek touched the bookcase and encouraged the children to touch their work. “It’s so smooth” Miss Bek said. Ella Mu lifted her hand out to Miss Bek and showed the white powder that was leftover from sanding. Miss Bek explained, “that’s from sanding. We will need to wash our hands.” Ella Mu went and washed her hands.

Upkeep

Premises, furniture and equipment are safe, clean and well maintained.

Inclusive environment

Outdoor and indoor spaces are organised and adapted to support every child’s participation and to engage every child in quality experiences in both built and natural environments.

We have assessed ourselves against the outcomes and know we engage children engage in quality, inclusive experiences. For example, Junior Preschool room educator Eliza has expanded the concept of indoor and outdoor space to include the local community (embedded practices and community engagement).  She does this by planning weekly excursions like the regular walking excursion to Anytime Fitness to meet up with Lilliana’s Mum who is a professional power lifter (family engagement). Lilliana often goes with Mum to train and discusses her love for exercise and healthy eating. The children learnt how to keep their bodies healthy after a detailed talk with Instructor Jack (see March 1, 2019 Learning Story). After the first excursion, the educators continued teaching the children about staying healthy. A few weeks later, on 14 March, the children extended on what they learnt at Anytime Fitness and returned with a new set of exercises to practice. Thanks Jack! Eliza reflected and believes these excursions provide the children with opportunities to enhance their learning and participation in the wider community. This is particularly the case where their family experiences and everyday lives are integrated into the excursions. (Critical reflection see reflection sheets week 11 to 14 March). Other weekly excursions into the community can be found in the learning documentation folder.

Resources support play-based learning

Resources, materials and equipment allow for multiple uses, are sufficient in number, and enable every child to engage in play-based learning.

We have assessed ourselves against the outcomes and we have incorporated resources, materials and equipment that has multiple uses to ensure we maximise the opportunities for play based learning. This material was sourced with the help of our families and local community (exceeding theme 3 families and community). Please see request letters, emails and Facebook pages for request to families (25/3/19).  For example, Miss Eliza and Miss Cherie split all the donations between both outdoor play environments. They were not sure how the open-ended material would work, so they used the EYLF to explore how the word play was used in the document as well as learning more about Simon Nicholson, the person who came up with the term ‘Loose Parts Play’. Miss Eliza and Miss Cherie started small by adding only small amounts to the environment then reflected upon how the children played and implemented it (exceeding theme 2 critical reflection.) The loose parts open ended material led to a change in the children’s behaviour. They were calmer, more engaged and were really excited to incorporate the material into their play, especially our energetic hands on boys. Since they incorporated this new idea the entire room feels calmer, more relaxed and more enjoyable for all. This then encouraged the whole centre to incorporate open-ended resources (exceeding theme 1 embedded practice).

Environmentally responsible

The service cares for the environment and supports children to become environmentally responsible.

Chelsea arranged a visit to the ICaN Indigenous nursery today to extend our knowledge of Aboriginal culture, continue embedding sustainable practices, and engage in excursions that utilize community environments, support child-directed exploration and discovery LO 1.3 and reflect the unique geographical, cultural and community context of the service. We were met by Damien, the nursery manager. He and Chelsea had discussed what he was going to teach over the phone. He promoted respect for diversity and valuing the local environment as he introduced himself and began explaining some bush tucker plants, starting with a saltbush.

Damien explained “the Aboriginal people use saltbush seeds in cooking, in particular stir-fries, but saltbush is also used to help treat burns, sores and rashes. Damien then asked “would anyone like to try some?” and Patrick, Marlee and Jake tasted a small amount. There were mixed reviews with Marlee pulling some wonderful faces in disgust as she shared “yuck that’s really salty.”

Next Damien taught us about the Old Emu bush. “This bush can be eaten but it’s not very nice. We mostly use it for medicine. It can help with coughs and colds and stomach aches, and its smoke is used for making a healing environment.” Again, we taste tested the bush but this time it was well received by everyone that tried it.

The last bush tucker plant we learnt about was Pigface. Damien said, “this bush grows low to the ground and comes in different colours like orange, yellow and purple.” He said “you can eat every part of the plant and its inside is good for treating burns and stings.” Damien passed the Pigface around to the children who nearly all sampled the plant. Nate asked “can I take some home?” and Chelsea said “we are taking some back to the centre to grow.” Landon and Casey held the plant. They didn’t want to eat it but were happy to learn all about it. Patrick asked “where is the water in them?” and Damien said “the water is inside the plant because they are a succulent which is why you don’t need to water them very much.”

Chelsea then asked “how did you come to run and work here at the nursery?” and Damien explained “Robert Riley my boss created this place to help the less fortunate in our community. People that haven’t had a job in twenty years can come here and learn skills to take somewhere else. I started here because I didn’t have a job and I was on the work for the dole program and now I have a full time job.” That’s awesome” said Chelsea. “Are there any qualifications needed to work with plants or do you learn on the job?” Damien said “No, it’s pretty much on the job. People can get qualifications to do this sort of work but even when they do, they don’t always know how to look after the plants.”

We then selected some bush tucker plants to take back to the centre to put in both yards and use in our cooking where children will be actively engaged in learning experiences that demonstrate environmental awareness and responsibility. We also made contact with Nathen, Robert’s son, who is willing to come to our Service and teach us about the medicinal side of using plants to heal ourselves when we are sick. Damien also invited us back with the children to help pot the plants.

Organisation of educators

The organisation of educators across the service supports children’s learning and development.

As it comes up to the start of a new year, we’re already thinking about how to allocate our staff for next year. Part of our consideration is to ensure we use the strengths and interests of our educators the best way we possibly can. We have gained insight into these strengths and interests through things like performance appraisals, feedback from Room leaders and the Educational Leader and regular one on one meetings between individual staff members and the Director.  At a recent staff meeting the Director suggested we should also try and get feedback from our families about the way educators were organised. There was debate, discussion and opportunities for input by all educators.  Most educators said they were unsure how to do this, and the Educational Leader suggested we post a few questions through our closed Facebook groups. eg “How could we organise our educators to help your child feel more secure or more inclined to participate in centre activities?” Are there any particular educators that you feel have special skills or talents? Many parents responded positively and we learnt a few things we didn’t know about educators’  hobbies outside the centre. We’re also considering a parent’s request that we have at least 2 educators present with children remaining at the end of the day, even where this is not required to meet ratios. Further discussion will occur at the nest staff meeting to ensure any changes are understood by all.

Continuity of staff

Every effort is made for children to experience continuity of educators at the service.

Eleanor left our service in June 2018 and gave us 12 months’ notice before leaving. The Nominated Supervisor Mel worked with her to identify why she was leaving and what she wanted to achieve by leaving. Eleanor needed to leave to as her partner’s contract was ending in 12 months and he was to be moved to a new city in Queensland. However she also indicated she wanted to be placed in a leadership position. Eleanor reminded us nearly every month as a countdown that she was leaving on the set date.

Discovering Eleanor’s ambitions led to her being placed in a shared room leaders’ role in the preschool room to assist with her CV and job prospects. She was also encouraged to start her ECT degree which she did as Queensland regulations requiring an extra ECT were coming in 2020 and this would improve her prospects of getting a job. Of course her ECT training also contributed to a high quality learning environment for children. When the time finally came to leave, the centre organised a weeklong celebration with a different event each day to celebrate her leaving. Please see the week of learning documentation and celebration for the leaving party. Eleanor used centre staff as referees and we were contacted by her new employer.

Professional collaboration

Management, educators and staff work with mutual respect and collaboratively, and challenge and learn from each other, recognising each other’s strengths and skills

By creating a goal wall in our staff room to find out more interests and strengths of our educators, we discovered one of our educators has a love for all things science. Emma now works collaboratively to share her existing strength with the children and educators while continuing to develop her skills. She conducts daily science experiments with her children and shines as an educator! Through our wall our educators have begun consistently demonstrating a high level of collaboration, affirming, challenging, supporting and learning from each other.

Chemical Reactions! (Emma’s strength is conducting science experiments)
This afternoon Emma provided Eli, Olivia, Aria, Lucy, Brandon,  Heath, Hunter, and Natasha with resources that offered  challenge, intrigue and surprise, supported their investigation and enabled them to share their enjoyment while participating in a science experiment (L.O:4.2). As Emma engaged the children in the experiment, she explained to each child step by step how the experiment will work. Firstly, Emma encouraged the children to place four cups on the table and she placed some dry ingredients into the cups: salt, sugar, bicarbonate soda and baking powder. She labelled them and explained to each child that they then had to place some liquid into the ice cube container: lemon juice, vinegar and water. She then explained, “I’m going to give you each a cup. You can choose one liquid and dry ingredient each and place them into your cup. We’ll see if it makes a chemical reaction.” Eli was the first to try the experiment. “Can I have this one?” asked Eli pointing to the sugar and lemon juice. “The salt has gone” said Olivia. Emma explained to Olivia and the others that the salt has dissolved into the water. “My turn please Emma” said Aria. As they were picking out their ingredients to place into the cups, Brandon, Nicholas and Natasha all used bicarbonate soda and vinegar and found out that it made bubbles. “Look bubbles” said Nicholas. “It’s making funny sounds “said Brandon. “It’s fizzing” said Natasha. Xavier and Hunter used the equipment with increasing confidence and skills (L.O:3.2) when using the spoons to place the liquid into the dry ingredients. “LOOK I did it” replied Hunter. “Can I try?” asked Xavier as he used the spoon to try and pick up the water.

Professional standards

Professional standards guide practice, interactions and relationships

The team of educators have a child who can become a little difficult to manage and has caused a lot of stress in the room. The educators started the reflective process because they were aware the ethical and professional standards underpinning their own practice were coming under pressure and were not sure they could remain composed and treat the child with respect. This led to a discussion about the feeling they felt within the room dealing with the child. With assistance from the Nominated Supervisor they were guided by their Code of Conduct and worked out ways to support each other. This included taking turns when dealing with the child, asking if they needed help and even directing each other to leave the room for a break if one saw the other become too stressed. These new processes created the need to hold further discussions and reflection for improvement. For example, educators built relationships with families and members of the community including the religious institute they practice at to include and exchange ideas and best practice as the child came from a different cultural background and the educators needed to better understand their situation.

After the meeting with the religious leader and family members the educators felt they had a different level of respect from the family as they now had support from people the family trusted in the community. Educators had never thought about getting this level of community support before, but this was achieved by reading their Code of Conduct that pointed them in a new direction and gave new insights and culturally sensitive ways to communicate, support and engage with families and the community they lived in.

Positive educator to child interactions

Responsive and meaningful interactions build trusting relationships which engage and support each child to feel secure, confident and included.

We have assessed ourselves against the outcomes and always engage in positive interactions with children. For example, this morning 25.3.19 at drop off, Hadley (2 years) freely expressed her emotions, showing she was upset and needing some attention. Miss Tamara in the toddler room recognised that Hadley’s feelings of distress and discomfort would take some time to resolve and so took her for a wander outside (embedded practice). After seeing the ducks over the fence, Tamara questioned Hadley on what she would like to do next. “Book?” Hadley questioned. Tamara took Hadley to the babies’ room to find her favourite books“When I’m feeling..” Tamara laid them out in front of Hadley and gave her the option of which book to read. Hadley chose “when I’m feeling sad.”Tamara read and shared the book with Hadley, asking Hadley to verbalise her feelings when she felt like it. Hadley was able to confidently construct meaning through verbal communication, stating she was upset because Dad left. Tamara assured Hadley that Dad would come back after work, and offered her a cuddle before she was confident to go off on her own to play.

On reflection, Tamara felt that Hadley may not have always been included due to her older sister’s behaviour (critical reflection).  She is working will all other educators to implement positive interactions with Hadley.

Dignity and rights of the child

The dignity and rights of every child are maintained.

A child’s parents recently separated, and as a result she now lives between two houses. This child has had a change in behaviour. She is quieter, appears more insecure and anxious. She has voiced her concern about having two houses. Miss Eliza felt she needed to help and worked with the Educational Leader, Georgie, who suggested that they have a meeting with the parents one at a time to work together to create strategies, and how best to interact and what answers they should give if the child asks difficult questions.  Eliza and Mel the Nominated Supervisor had the meeting and it was decided to create a shared book with ‘Scenarios and Strategies.’ For example, preparing to stay at the other parent’s, preparing a timeframe to allow the child to think through the emotions that are about to come. This became a part of the curriculum and Eliza created teaching strategies/actions with the book by creating stories to prepare the child. Together they started reading the book days before the child visits the other parent on the weekend. They included things that might happen during the visit along with a time frame – “In three days I’m going to stay with Dad. I wonder what we’re going to do on the weekend. I know – I’ll give him a call and ask, just in case I have to pack something special like my swimmers. I mustn’t forget to pack my bear because I can’t go to sleep without him.”

A conversation started with a group of children about who has two homes and who doesn’t. Reflecting upon their interactions, Miss Eliza and the other educators decided they need to continue this learning about respect and equality when creating their curriculum and ensuring it has meaning to their local families and community. She did this by teaching the children about different families, which encouraged all the children to discuss their different situations. This seemed to be comforting the child and made her feel less upset about her situation as she wasn’t the only one with two houses.

Collaborative learning

Children are supported to collaborate, learn from and help each other.

Jayden’s mother shared information and practices from their home culture by explaining that there had been a Corroboree last night in Dubbo as a part of an Aboriginal Men’s Health conference.  Today Jayden was excited to tell everyone about going to dancing. Jayden told all his friends “last night I went to dancing. There is a fire and all the big kids dance around the fire.” We watched a video from the Thikkabilla Vibrations website which showed and explained about the Thikkabilla group. To extend on Jayden’s cultural input we painted our skin and used red material to make traditional dance clothing. We then sat in a circle around the ‘fire’ and Jayden explained what we do. “You kick the dirt and pick it up and throw it.” Jayden demonstrated this and then showed us some dance moves, one of which was the kangaroo. Jayden shared the stories and symbols of his own culture and re-enacted well known stories. He showed us how to do kangaroo ears, jump and crouch down to fossick for food, then hold it to our mouths to eat. Jayden led his friends and teachers around the fire in dance while we listened to traditional aboriginal music.

What a day, what incredible learning. How amazing is it to have such a vibrant culture here in Dubbo. I didn’t know how great it was, and we need to explore this more. Dear parents, don’t forget to tell us about the important events you attend in the community so we can extend and further your child’s and our own learning.

Self-regulation

Each child is supported to regulate their own behaviour, respond appropriately to the behaviour of others and communicate effectively to resolve conflicts.

Miss Cherie decided it was time to involve the family for support. She organised a meeting with Cooper’s mum and discussed the situation to draw on her knowledge of the family’s strengths and priorities, including behaviour guidance approaches in the home environment, to support Cooper to build and maintain sensitive and responsive relationships. She asked if he was like this at home. The mother explained how she and his dad work long hours so he spent a lot of time with his Pop (which educators had already noticed) out at the farm reflecting the unique geographical, cultural and community context of the service. His mum knew that he had been disruptive at the centre for a while now and didn’t know what to do.

Miss Cherie discussed a referral service, and how Copper might need a hearing test and an eyesight test. During the meeting Miss Cherie told Cooper’s mum she was more than happy to contact the family referral service herself to follow up this suggestion, tailoring her approach to supporting Cooper to build and maintain sensitive and responsive relationships in response to input from his mother and reflecting and drawing on the voice, priorities and strengths of Cooper and his mum.

After the hearing test Cooper was booked in for grommets. There was a noticeable change in his behaviour after they were installed. Sometimes Cooper still struggles to regulate his behaviour, but educators continued working with his family to find a way to help. Reflecting and drawing on Cooper’s priorities and strengths, educators discovered the best solution was to get Cooper to teach his knowledge about farm machinery to the class and be a helper, as he needed to stay busy and feel important.

Engagement with the service.

Families are supported from enrolment to be involved in the service and contribute to service decisions.

We have assessed ourselves against the NSQ element and have identified many exceeding practices.
Parent Tours
Jenny (Administration Manager) provides families with a complete and comprehensive tour of the centre, showing them every room in detail and providing advice on how to prepare for their child’s first day in care. Jenny asks every family for their top three priorities when deciding on a centre for their child, ensuring that families know how important their needs are to us. On each tour, Jenny shows families our curriculum to help answer parents’ questions about our learning. She also takes families to our outdoor environment and explains that it was designed to help children work collaboratively and develop friendships, which is a top priority for many parents. Jenny assists parents with accessing government subsidies for childcare, and ensures parents are aware of what information they need to provide to both Centrelink and the centre.  Jenny advises parents that they can come for visits to the centre with their child before they start and encourages families to take advantage of our “home visit program”. Parents know they can rely on Jenny during and after the enrolment process to continue supporting them (exceeding themes embedded practice and engagement with families).

We visit our children’s home before they start at our centre to ensure the child has the best transition.
Our Centre offers a “home visit program” so that children can meet and spend time with educators in their own home. Children benefit from meeting educators in their home environment as it is where they feel most safe and secure. They recognise that their parents have let these people into their home, so they can be trusted. When children start at the centre, they have a familiar person to reach out for, which helps with their transition, especially in those first few days and weeks (exceeding theme critical reflection children’s perspective).

It also helps to form a relationship between parents, educators and children before children even start their first day in care. Educators chat and have a coffee with mum and/or dad on home visits, learn what children’s interests and favourite toys are, look at family photos and meet family pets. This helps educators to feel more comfortable with parents. Educators benefit, as the home visits give them something to talk to children about to help strengthen the link between home and the centre (exceeding theme critical reflection educators’ perspective).

Parents realise that they, along with their child are special and important to us, as we have gone to the effort to come to them, and it gives them the time and opportunity to talk on a more involved level with educators. Parents also benefit from home visits as they have someone familiar to leave their child with on their first day – not a complete stranger. As educators and parents have already met, it helps to create a bond from the very first day – paving the way for strong relationships to develop, which encourages parents to be involved in and contribute to service decisions – because they know how valued they are to us (exceeding theme critical reflection family perspective). Mel (Nursery 2 educator/Nominated Supervisor) has been on several home visits, as both an educator and Nominated Supervisor and enjoys meeting children and families in their own environment, and has found that parents seem much more at ease on the first day when they have had a home visit. As Nominated Supervisor, Mel also knows that we are demonstrating our commitment to Learning Outcome 1 of the EYLF (Children have a strong sense of identity) by building secure attachments, and establishing trusting relationships through the implementation of our home visit program.

Educators’ notes about family visits are located in each child’s file. See for example Darcy, Liam and Emma P.

Parent views are respected

The expertise, culture, values and beliefs of families are respected and families share in decision-making about their child’s learning and wellbeing.

We have assessed ourselves against the outcomes and know that we regularly use feedback from families to plan our learning experiences. For example, feedback was received from some Middle Eastern families ‘No sandpit, no like, very bad, sand in hair.’ Educators Lizzie and Zahra discussed the importance of sensory play and educational concepts with the families and invited them to curriculum meetings to help them appreciate why sand is used for learning (embedded practices). After the meeting the parents agreed to provide the children with the opportunity to play with sand at a table or trough (critical reflection)to support their family’s ideas and solve the problem of sand in their child’s hair (engagement with families and communities). See photos of meeting and meeting notes in curriculum folder Frogs room.

After reflecting again, we plan to hold regular curriculum meetings with families as this has proven to be a successful way for families to share in decision-making.

Families are supported

Current information is available to families about the service and relevant community services and resources to support parenting and family wellbeing.

Shania’s mum Jackie said the family had been awake a lot in the night because their 6 month old was very unsettled. They were all getting very sleep deprived and she hoped baby Isaac soon got over whatever was troubling him.  Educator Shauna took Jackie over to the parent library and gave her a brochure with comprehensive, current and accessible information based on guidance from Better Health Channel on sleep settling techniques to support parenting and family wellbeing and contact details for a local baby sleep clinic. She also suggested a visit to the doctor in case Isaac had something physically wrong eg an ear infection. Jackie collected Shania the next day and said she’d taken Isaac to the GP who found a couple of ulcers in Isaac’s mouth. This would be causing him pain and also affecting his feeding. Doctor prescribed some anaesthetic mouth gel for the ulcers.  In the next couple of days Jackie could see how this interaction contributed to building a strong supportive relationship with Shania’s family, and made it much easier to exchange information about Shania’s progress towards learning outcomes.

Transitions

Continuity of learning and transitions for each child are supported by sharing information and clarifying responsibilities.

Emily left our service last year in June and gave us 12 months’ notice before leaving. The Nominated Supervisor Mel worked with the educator to identify why they were leaving and what they wanted to achieve by leaving. They wanted to leave their country town for the big city. Emily reminded us nearly every month as a countdown that she was leaving on the set date. Discovering what Emily wanted to achieve led to her being placed in a shared room leaders’ role with Tara in the preschool room to assist with her CV and job prospects in the big city. Emily was encouraged by the Nominated Supervisor to start her ECT degree which she did as Matt knew Queensland regulations requiring an extra ECT were coming and this would improve her prospects of getting a job. When the time finally came to leave, the centre organised a weeklong celebration with a different event each day to celebrate Emily’s leaving. This ensured they were promoting continuity of transitions for the children by sharing these changes and clarifying the new responsibilities.

Access and participation

Effective partnerships support children’s access, inclusion and participation in the program

Lucas joined our service at age two as his mother Jane needed to return to work. Jane had planned a family without a partner and has three children which keeps her busy. Lucas’ grandparents play an important care role and they often collect him. At the time of enrolment Lucas was not diagnosed with autism, but Jane and grandparents shared their concerns. Room leader Kim made a list of the indicators from the EYLF Learning Outcomes and worked with Jane and the grandparents to identify the learning outcome indicators they see at home while she did the same at the service. What was identified and not identified assisted with a diagnosis. The room leader attended the meetings with the paediatrician to assist contextualising behaviours and their observations.

Educators were guided by the EYLF/MTOP’s assessment description, “what do children know, can do and understand.” The educators worked with Lucas to discover what he liked which was to be hugged and firmly held on his body. A plan was developed which included lying him down with four classmates to ensure it was inclusive. A rubber ball with spikes was rolled all over his body and the other children’s bodies. He liked it and smiled and when we stopped, he requested more using body language and reaching for the ball.  Educators slowly introduced Lucas to the things he didn’t like which was his hands being touched. Slowly he let educators roll the ball further down his extended arms eventually reaching his hands. At first, he pulled away, but after many times he began to accept the feeling of the ball on his hands. After forty minutes of ball rolling fun, we introduced Lucas to the sand table with a group of five children. Starting slowly, educators demonstrated how to rub the sand across the table. Eventually Lucas wiped the sand when it was his turn and continued watching the other children and educators use and draw in the sand. When it was his turn he joined in. Within ten minutes of rubbing the sand across the table Lucas let Molly the educator hold his hands and squeeze them. That day was a break through. After these events he used soap and washed his hands for the first time.

Lucas continues to request the ball and he will bring it to the educators to roll on him. Every time he does this they include the other children and they have developed plans to introduce something he finds difficult, like language. The educators stop rolling, sit him up and say “more.” They wait until he attempts to say more. When he does, they celebrate with lots of clapping and continue rolling it on him. The love of the ball gives the educators opportunities to introduce new things and teach new skills.

Educators did not wait for early invention support. They trusted their professional judgement, trying and attempting new and different ways to work with Lucas.

Lucas’s mother mentioned they have a wedding to attend and he needs to wear a vest as he will be page boy. He didn’t like the vest at first, but the educators purchased many vests and encouraged other children to wear the vest in the room around Lucas. Educators used his love of the ball and laid him down with the other children wearing vests. They rolled the ball on him, and slowly introduced the vest, laying it on top of him then rolling the ball on top of the vest. Within a week Lucas was wearing the vest. In preparation for the weeding, the room was set up and many weddings were conducted, again all for Lucas to achieve his role as page boy.

Service philosophy and purpose

A statement of philosophy guides all aspects of the service’s operations.

We have assessed ourselves and can see how our philosophy of meeting families’ needs is met in daily practice. For example, Katy in the Junior preschool room has additional needs and the family needed to purchase an expensive piece of equipment to assist her to walk, but they struggled to obtain the money.  All educators in the Centre reflected and brainstormed ideas on how to support this family, who were distressed about the cost of the machine. To meet the family’s needs, the educators and other Centre families organised a ‘sausage sizzle’ fundraiser (engagement with families and community). Educators and families worked collaboratively to raise the funds, donating their time, their BBQ and organising donations of food from the local Woolworths store.

Educators began promoting the sausage sizzle fundraiser to the local public via posters and social media without informing the family as they wanted it to be a surprise (see copies of poster in Katy’s file). Katy’s father noticed one of the posters on his way into the Centre and questioned educators who the fundraiser was for. Educators informed the father that the Centre planned this fundraiser for his daughter and their needs. The father cried as he proceeded to tell educators how grateful he and his family were. He stated that he could not believe the Centre had put in so much thought and effort to support his family and their child. This Centre raised over $1000 for this family which went a long way in purchasing the equipment (see financial records in Katy’s file) (embedded practices).

We reflected again as a team and could see what a difference our daily actions can make to families’ lives and our actions align with our philosophy (critical reflection).

Management systems

Systems are in place to manage risk and enable the effective management and operation of a quality service.

The Nominated Supervisor recently investigated an educator’s complaint there was a lack of effective communication from the Administration Manager/Nominated Supervisor about children’s attendance days, room movements, new enrolments and casual bookings, and this was adversely affecting her ability to meet job requirements and deadlines. Using our documented Complaints Procedure ensured the investigation aligned with our systems, documented policies, procedures and records. Outcomes recognised that some communication strategies were detracting from a culture of inclusiveness and a sense of belonging at the service, and included ensuring all affected educators sign off on written communication from the Administration Manager about children changing attendance days, children leaving the room/centre and new children. Children booked in for casual days are now communicated via main staff communication diary in office and also on the room sign in sheet for the day. We have also included a static agenda item for all staff meetings giving staff opportunities to provide feedback on opportunities to strengthen governance and administrative systems in our quest for continuous quality improvement.

Roles and responsibilities

Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, and understood, and support effective decision-making and operation of the service

After discussing educators’ understanding of their roles and responsibilities, we handed out copies of educators’ job descriptions to refresh each educator’s mind on their roles within the centre and their room. This was to ensure all members of the team, including relief staff, were able to understand their roles and responsibilities.

After reflecting critically as a team, we then decided to take this one step further and create a run sheet for the room/group to ensure all educators were involved throughout the day, knew what they were to be doing at all times, and nothing got missed. The run sheet had a brief outline of what was required during the day, the time it needed to take place and the educator who would complete each task.

We also posted the run sheet in our closed Facebook group so our families could understand some of our educators’ responsibilities.  This also gave families a chance to provide feedback on our routine and we ended up adjusting our snack time after considering some parents’ views that there was too long a gap between lunch and afternoon tea.

Continuous improvement

There is an effective self-assessment and quality improvement process in place.

We have assessed ourselves against the outcomes and can see that educators regularly self-assess their practices and use feedback from families to improve practices. In the Nursery room educators Karen and Haley used a self-assessment process to identify what real life skills and agency they were allowing or not allowing with children. Firstly, Karen and Haley started by listing what educators were doing for children that they could do themselves. Then they implemented a plan to help the children do these things themselves.  Handwashing was identified as an area for improvement. Educators were using wipes or washing the babies’ hands after a nappy change because this is what they have always done and they thought young babies weren’t ready to wash their own hands. During nappy change (7/1/19) this morning Karen implemented the handwashing routine to promote children’s personal health and hygiene and improve practice. Karen showed Hadley and Sarah the routine of handwashing after their nappies were changed. “Let’s wash our hands Hadley” Karen said as she walked to the sink. Hadley climbed onto the step near the sink and waited for Karen to turn the tap on. Karen demonstrated the procedure of rubbing the soap onto her hands then washing it off. Hadley rubbed the soap onto her hands then washed it off as she smiled at Karen. Karen then passed a piece of paper towel to Hadley. She slowly wiped her hands as she gave Karen a big smile. Sarah was very confident as she put her hands under the water then held her hand under the soap container as she waited for Karen to press it. Sarah rubbed her hands together then placed her hands under the water to wash soap off. Karen then passed Sarah a piece of paper towel. Sarah and Hadley showed independence during this hygiene practice which has made Karen and Haley think more about what children can do themselves. We reflected again as a team to identify what children can do for themselves. Now the children also assemble their own lunches, then take them back to the kitchen to be cooked.

Educational leadership

The educational leader is supported and leads the development and implementation of the educational program and assessment and planning cycle.

All educators work collaboratively with the Educational Leader to consistently make curriculum decisions. Our Educational Leader is employed two fulltime days per week as the Educational Leader, during which she allocates time to spend in all rooms with educators based upon a) new staff and their requirements for learning the way we create curriculum using the EYLF, b) knowledge or practice requirements for educators to improve upon their curriculum as identified through room leaders either at their weekly room leaders’ meeting or their Friday report that identifies educator training required. When Georgina starts her week, she has mini meetings with the room leaders to identify the individual needs of educators or the rooms as a whole, and allocates her time and support accordingly.

Georgina is allocated time in the rooms so she can observe and assess educators’ knowledge, practice and understanding. She then creates a demonstration practice and shows the educators how to implement it. These include how daily routines can be organised to maximise learning and development outcomes for every child.

Georgina works one on one with educators going through their curriculum and identifying possibilities and teaching practices based upon the EYLF indicators to ensure all educators are planning and documenting how they are promoting the following learning outcomes: identity, connection with community, wellbeing, confidence as learners and effectiveness as communicators.

Development of professionals

Educators, co-ordinators and staff members’ performance is regularly evaluated and individual plans are in place to support learning and development.

Educators were regularly reflecting on their own learning and professional development goals and opportunities to strengthen their performance and practice, and it was identified that educators were struggling with their emotions when it came to dealing with certain children. In turn it was becoming difficult for some educators to support trusting relationships with children. As a group in the staff meeting the educators shared their insights through informal performance discussions and sort support to assist them to align to the expectations and goals of the service and the National Quality Standard, especially quality area 5.

The ‘Hope Project’, a local community support organisation was engaged to run monthly after work meeting with the educators to work through the issues identified and teach strategies to the educators to assist with this emotional turmoil that was reflected upon when working with children.

All educators used the skills and techniques taught to them by the ‘Hope Project’. Educators are able to explain how the service’s performance evaluation process supports their learning and development goals and growth as professionals, including how a tailored professional development plan provides a focus for continuous performance improvement. See the Hope Project monthly meeting and goals.  The Nominated Supervisor is constantly looking outside the service and into the community to consistently promote a positive organisational culture and professional learning community that supports all members of the service team to develop as professionals.