August 2016
Staffing and Training
Sadly Unley Community Childcare Centre would like to farewell Trish our book keeper who resigned from her position as bookkeeper on June 28th, 2016. We would like to thank Trish for all of her dedication and hard work over the last 2 ½ years and wish her well in her future endeavours.
We would like to congratulate Sylvia (Nursery Educator) and Ben who are due to have a baby boy in late October.
Sylvia moved into the toddler room as the third educator from Monday 25th July and Nica and Ally are job sharing the Team Leader role in the Nursery in the short term. Alice will continue working as a permanent educator in the baby room.
We would like to welcome Bahareh and Kylie,two new casual employees who have joined the Unley Community family.
Nica and Lauren will be attending the Australian Childcare Alliance VIC conference on Friday August 19th and Saturday August 20th. It will be a wonderful experience and they hope to bring back lots of exciting information and ideas to share with other educators and families.
Alice will be attending training at Gowrie SA in the afternoon on August 3rd on ‘outdoor nature play’.
Tiarna will be attending training at GowrieSA on the 24th August on ‘emergent curriculum’.
Lauren is excited about attending a workshop on ‘how to survive assessment and rating’ on Friday October 14th at the Convention Centre.
Fee Increase
From July 1st2016 our daily fee increased to $99 per day.
Please ensure any automatic direct deposits are changed to reflect the fee increase.
We are also in the process of changing banks to help reduce bank fees and charges. Families will be notified of the new direct debit information as soon as possible. Families will be given 8 weeks to transfer their existing direct debits over to the new account
Christmas closure 2016
The centres Christmas closurewill be from 6pm Friday December 16th2016 and we will re-open on Tuesday January 3rd 2017 at 7.30am.
AGM
Every year the centre holds an annual general meeting to elect a new committee. This year’s meeting will be held on
Monday 12th of September from 6pm - 8pm
We will be having a guestRichard Palmerwho will present a FREE workshop on‘supporting behaviour- an opportunity for learning’.
We encourage all families to attend the evening as it is a wonderful opportunity to hear what has been happening at Unley Community Child Care Centre and network with other families.
We will have positions on our management committee become available. We would encourage anyone who would like to voluntarily share their skills and knowledge to support the management and strategic direction of their child’s home away from home.
News from the baby room
Sadly we would like to farewell Arlo and Violet who have begun their adventure in the toddler room and welcome Angus, Beauand Penny to the baby room.
The babies have been engaging in lots of dramatic and imaginative play over the last few weeks using dolls, key boards, blankets etc.. To help us out if you have any small hand bags or hats at home that you are no longer using we would love to play with them at child care.
Many of the younger children have been practising their standing and walking skills using furniture to pull themselves up and cruise around the room.
We are focusing on the topic winter this month and still really like to get outdoors when it’s cold so if you can remember to pack several changes of clothes, beanies, jumpers and jackets for your child.
News from the toddler room
Sadly we would like to farewell Sebastian, Tobias Sienna and Jack and wish them well on their new adventures in the kindy room. We would like to welcome Arlo and Violet to the toddler room.
We have been focusing on colours and numbers in the toddler room and developing routines and settling techniques for the new children in our room.
We would like to ask families to remember to pack warm jumpers and jackets for outside play and encourage you not to send in toys from home with your child unless they are used for sleep or rest time as a comforter.
News from the kindy room
The kindy children have been continuing with discussions around the human body and the environment. They have been particularly interested and have been investigating living objects and discussing life cycles. The kindy children thoroughly enjoyed their excursion to Bunnings, Mile End where they were able to plant their own herbs. We talked about what the herbs require in order to grow.
Over the next week our goldfish will be moving homes…..he will be moving to the kindy room so the kindy children can be involved in discussions about and care for the fish.
From the kitchen…
Please remember to update any dietary requirements as required so we can ensure the safety of all children.
Sweet potato and chickpea curry
Ingredients
- 3 sweet potatoes peeled and diced
- 2 red onions finely diced
- 2 tbsp. ginger
- 4 tomatoes diced
- 1 tin coconut milk
- 3 tbsp. tomato paste
- 1 tin chickpeas
- 1 tbsp. ground coriander
- 1 tbsp. ground cumin
- 1 tbsp. turmeric
- 1 tbsp. paprika
- 4 tbsp. chopped coriander
- Jasmine rice to serve
Method
- Heat oil in a pan and sauté onion until soft and golden
- Add spices and stir through for 1 minute
- Add tomato paste, sweet potato and tomatoes add water to cover.
- Add coriander and cook for 20 minutes
- Add coconut cream and chickpeas stir through to combine cook further 10 minutes
- Serve with rice
A bit about me…….
Educator:Natascha(Tash) Herr
What is your Favourite Foods: Cold meats and cheese, bread and butter
What are your favourite colours? Red and yellow
What do you like to do when you’re not at UCCC? I like going for walks, catching up with friends at coffee shops, eating cheese and drinking wine.
What made you chose children’s services as a career?….definitely not the money! I have always loved children and have always loved looking after the smaller children when I was in kindergarten. I sometimes feel like a child in an adult body, no better way to let out your inner child, than working in childcare.
It is very special seeing the children grow up and build such close relationships with them. This is what I love particularly about working at UCCC.
It is very interesting and fascinating the way children learn and progress. I know how important my role is for the little people and it is such a beautiful thing to be able to support the children while they are growing up!
ADMIN MATTERS
Unley Community Child Care Centre welcomes Sue Pens to the Team. Sue has many years experience as an office manager and was the Co-Director here at Unley when we were amalgamated with Parkside many moons ago.
You will see her around the place on a Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, so please feel free to pop into the office and say ‘hi’.
Please remember to sign in and out each day. If your child has not attended due to holidays or illness, you will need to sign that your child was absent to be able to claim your CCR or CCB. If you forget, we will put a reminder on the sign in sheets and highlight the date for you to sign.
Please remember to check your pigeon holes regularly in the hallway. Your pigeon holes will be used for notices, newsletters and information.
Thanks to all the parents who keep their accounts up to date. Our payment terms are weekly or fortnight, unless discussed with the Director. If you are experiencing any problems with payments, please see Lauren and Nica and see how we can help you out.
Thank You
Lauren, Nica and Sue
Our community noticeboard is up and running on the left of the front door to the centre.
If you have a business that you would like to advertise to the UCCC community, please pop in and see Lauren or Nica or drop us an email and we can discuss this further with you.
How are sustainable practices and thinking embedded into everyday life at UCCC?
Today’s little people represent the first of the future generations, and this makes it important for us as educators, to help them realise the significance of caring for and protecting their environment.
UCCC have a strong commitment to sustainability. Sustainable practices are incorporated into our everyday routines and programmes.
When planning art and craft experiences, we try our best to use natural and recycled materials. This means using recycled paper to draw, paint and print on, pinecones, sticks, leaves to create and recycled boxes, pallets, pots and pans to play with.
Educators role model sustainable practices by turning the lights, heating and cooling off when not necessary.
We have recently labelled the toilet cisterns with half and full flush buttons and educators have been actively reminding children to use half flush to save water.
UCCC has purchased paper recycle bins in the toddler and kindy rooms.
Our rain water tank is connected to a tap which is used for water play in the sandpit. We also use recycled water from our water jugs and cups on our vegetable garden.
We would love to hear what your family does and what discussions you have with your children about creating a sustainable future!
WHAT THE LITTLE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN UP TO!