November 2024

NOVEMBER 2024

 

We’ve loved reconnecting with so many of you at our recent year-end gatherings – thank you to all who joined us! As we approach the holiday sea

son and prepare for the new year, this newsletter is filled with useful resources, updates, and a special spotlight on our Educator of the month! Grab a cup of tea (or something bubbly!) and enjoy the read.

Year End Gatherings

We have had a wonderful time catching up with Educators over the last few weeks.  It was such a treat to sit down, share stories, and unwind together!  Thank you to all the Educators who attended, and we hope you enjoyed them as much as we did.  We look forward to spending more quality time with you in 2025.

Resources to Support Children with Autism

It is so important to have access to websites and online resources if you are supporting children with Autism.  These provide up-to-date information on best practices, tools and strategies tailored to diverse needs.  Access to these resources ultimately empowers you to better understand, engage, and support each child’s unique strengths and challenges.  Thank you to Simone for sharing the following articles from the Autism Parenting Magazine with us.

Attention Seeking Behavior in Autism: All you should know

Will my Autistic child be independent? 12 Ways to prepare them

Strategies for visual learners: The Ultimate guide

6 Creative Autism Fine Motor Skills activities

New Year Enrolments

No doubt Educators are beginning to get a large volume of enquiries for care next year and have Kindy kids moving into compulsory schooling. With the change comes a reminder that from the 1st of January children that are of school age in 2025 are now counted in your school age ratios😊.  Feel free to start sending in new enrolments for 2025!! Admin will go through the enrolments as they arrive and check all the information is ready to process or request updates.  The earlier we get them, the less stress there will be to enter them into the system.

Declined Payments and Debt Recovery

This process is now managed by the admin team Mandy and Sandra. While liaising with families about fee payments admin will endeavor to keep Educators in the loop with communications so if you feel a family does have exceptional circumstances that require more tailored recovery plans reach out to us to discuss so we can support families.

Better Health Coaching

The Better Health Coaching Service is a FREE telephone-based health program designed to help adults in WA prevent or manage chronic health conditions.  If you are looking for support to make healthier food choices, be more active, manage stress better, improve your sleep routine, drink less alcohol, build social connections or manage health conditions like diabetes, heart disease or cancer then reach out to them!

Food Safety Requirements

With the new Food Safety requirements now in place, it’s essential to have a food-grade sanitiser among your resources.  While many cleaning products claim to kill 99.9% of germs, they must be specifically labeled as food-grade to meet these standards.  Below are some links to products that meet the requirements.  Alternatively, you may want to consult your local cleaning products distributor about purchasing in bulk.  For example, Wendy in Albany is using a Jasol product called BC2 Cleaner Sanitiser, designed for food processing areas.  Wendy noted that you only need 3ml per 750ml of water, making it very economical.

Thank you, Wendy, for sharing this information!

NatraKleen Australia and EcoDev

Educator Leave

With the festive season fast approaching don’t forget to enter your holiday leave into Harmony. This triggers a notification to the admin team which allows us to record the leave in our diaries and on FDSee so your ESO doesn’t show up for a support visit while you are busy sunbaking and drinking margaritas. This also automatically cancels those sessions of care for the period of time you are away.

Reflecting on Sleep & Rest Practices in FDC

It’s been a year since we introduced the Sleep and Rest Risk Assessments, and many of you will be coming up for review soon. This is a valuable opportunity to reflect on your current practices and assess if they still align with your approach. Consider any changes you might make, especially as you welcome new children into care in 2025. Perhaps you’re now working with younger age groups or have adjusted sleep routines. Your ESO is available to support you in reviewing and enhancing your practices.

Resource Spotlight: Place Community

A big thank you to Jenni Costa for sharing this valuable resource! Place Community offers Family Day Care Educators and staff a hub of support, guidance, and resources. The community provides both free and paid learning opportunities, shared resources, and a professional network where you can learn, grow, develop, explore and connect. Thank you, Jenni, for bringing this resource to our attention! We encourage you to sign up, explore, and make the most of these offerings. We’d love to hear your feedback—happy exploring.

Get Water Wise This Summer!

As we head into summer, it’s the perfect time to focus on sustainability and make water-wise choices. Waterwise offers a range of rebates and incentives across Perth Metro and regional WA to help you save water at home and in the garden. These offers include rebates for water-efficient showerheads, rainwater tanks, and free irrigation and plumbing services. Explore the options available here and see if there’s an offer that suits your needs.

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia

This book is a compelling collection of stories from Aboriginal Australians reflecting on their diverse experiences growing up.  This book offers personal insights into culture, resilience, and identity, highlighting the impact of racism, stereotypes, and the strength of community.  This is an invaluable resource for understanding the unique challenges and triumphs faced by Aboriginal children and families, which can deepen empathy and inform more inclusive practices in your work with children.  Reading this will help foster a greater appreciation of the rich perspectives that Aboriginal culture brings to Australia’s shared story.

 

Hi from Albany….

This month our focus Educator is Angela Jenks in Albany.  Angela has been an Educator with us for nearly 9 years and has made a difference to so many families in that time.  When we visit, we are mesmerized by the beautiful connections that develop between Angela and the children. Each child is so confident and capable thanks to the time Angela spends building their skills, whether it’s physical or emotional. Angela has achieved amazing progress working with children with additional needs and has even adapted her home to include a ramp for inclusive access.  Angela gives each child the time and space to build their individual personalities, and relationships are a priority of her Service. She embraces each family by offering her support and guidance to help parents be the best they can be. Angela is passionate about local indigenous culture and over time, the children have had regular access to the Kalgan Fish Traps and have learnt about the significance of this space. We look forward to continuing our visits to Angela and watching the children thrive.

Policies being Updated

The following Policies are being updated and we invite and welcome any feedback, suggestions or additions:

Word of the Day

Executive Function – Includes working memory, flexible thinking and self-control.  Executive functioning refers to the mental processes in the brain that enable children to plan, focus attention, remember instructions and manage multiple tasks successfully.  The Education Hub has a great article about Executive function in Early Childhood and for those of you who enjoy a good Journal article, there is also a very informative paper presented by Harvard University. 

Office Hours

Our office hours are 8.30am to 4.30pm. If you have a query outside of these hours, please phone and leave a message. If you need to speak with someone in an emergency, please ring Jo Georgiou and if your call is not answered immediately, leave a message and your call will be returned.

Phone Numbers

Sandra / Mandy: 0431 449 567 (Mon – Fri); Joy: 0429 030 362 (Mon, Tues, Wed & Fri); Jo C: 0477 029 531 (Mon – Fri); Jo G: 0477 029 132 (Mon – Thurs); Lea: 0477 029 228 (Mon, Tue, Thurs & Fri).

To ensure that we respond to your emails promptly please send your queries to: info@naturealliancefdc.com.au

“Walk away from anything that gives you bad vibes. There is no need to explain or make sense of it.

It’s your life. Do what makes you happy!”

Anon

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