Welcome back, everyone, and welcome to all our new families, to our Engadine Preschool family.
We are expecting a very warm start to the term. The children will be able to enjoy the outdoor learning environment, having lots of water play and fun activities in the mornings when the UV
rating is lower.
This is a very long newsletter and I don’t expect them to all be this long but please take the time to read all of it as it contains very important information for you all. Please also pass on relevant
information to family members that may be dropping off or picking up your child each day they attend.
Bilby Room staff for the year
Class Teachers
- Renee (Full-time) – Mon, Tue, Wed in the room, Thu and Fri in the office
- Nicole Sheath (Part-time) – Thu, Fri only. Nicole is new to our team. She has been working for many years in Early Childhood Education in services in the Illawarra and west of Sydney. We welcome her to our Engadine Preschool family.
Educators
- Jackie Forbes (Part-time) – Mon, Tue, Wed. Jackie is new to our team and comes to us from Wagga Wagga and Bulli KU more recently.
- Danielle (Part-time) – Thu, Fri
- Jess (Full-time)
- Stevka (Full-time)
Gumnut Room staff for the year
Class Teachers
- Emma (Full-time). Emma has been with our preschool for three years now and is well settled into Engadine Preschool life.
Educators
- Dani (Part-time) – Mon, Tue
- Rachel (Part-time) – Wed, Thu, Fri
- Jacqui (Full-time)
- Tahne (Full-time)
RFF Support Worker
- Cassie (Part-time) – Thu, Fri
Allergies
This year, we have four children enrolled with ANAPHYLASIS. Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening allergic reaction.
It is important to remember to wash your child’s hands on arrival at the service each day they attend to minimize the spread of allergens.
This year, we need to be allergy-aware for the following foods:
- ALL NUTS – no whole nuts, nut butter, or foods made with nut flours, please.
- WHOLE EGGS – no egg sandwiches or boiled eggs please (eggs in cooked foods such as cake, biscuits and other baked goods are okay for other children at the service to consume)
- DAIRY – milk or yogurts please (hard cheese sliced in sandwiches can be consumed by other children)
A sticker will be placed on your child’s lunchbox on their first day of attendance to remind you not to pack these foods.
What to expect in the first weeks of Preschool
We expect a very busy time over the next few weeks as we grapple with a new way of transitioning our new children, delivering our educational program, funding arrangements, writing new policies and procedures, and keeping everyone informed of the constant, sometimes daily, changes. It has been so lovely to welcome our families back for both the morning drop-off and the afternoon pick up.
We feel it is extremely important that each child is allowed to settle into preschool with the help and security of a parent or familiar adult. Adults are asked to sign in using the OWNA app on the foyer iPad, supervise their child/ren washing their hands with soap and water then handing your child over to staff member from your child’s room. We will make every effort to work with you and your child to make this a happy and comfortable experience for them as they become familiar with us. We will be starting the day outside as per our sun safe policy.
During this time we ask you to let a staff member from your child’s room know any important information that may affect their day with us and try to settle them into play. If you feel they may need extra support when you leave please ask a staff member to assist you.
Please ensure you say goodbye to your child before leaving and assure them you will be back to collect them at the end of the day. Some of our little Gumnut and Bilby children may have some
settling issues but they will soon settle once they get a reassuring cuddle from one of the staff. We would like to remind you that if your child is still unsettled after you leave, we will call you and arrange a meeting to discuss how we can best help your child settle when they arrive at preschool. Familiar cuddly toys from home are both welcome and a great asset to your child if they need something extra to help them feel safe and secure.
You are of course welcome to ring during the day to see how they are going.
At the end of the day you can come into your child’s room to pick them up. Remember to sign them out on the iPad in the foyer and tell a staff member you have taken your child home.
Once a week, the OWNA app will feature a conversation starter for both rooms that tells you what your child and their class have done during their preschool days. There will also be lots of photos for you to look at.
Please remember that if you are using before and after care you need to book in. This year this is really important as we are at capacity on some days and cannot accept any further children for
these times. We still need to maintain staff-to-child ratios at these times, and we have had to change staff shifts to accommodate the large number of children attending before and after care
this year. This service is for working parents only. We have to restrict to working parents only as we are limited with the number of staff on duty and we need to strictly adhere to the regulations and ratios.
When leaving, please do not allow your children to stand or swing on the front gate. This puts the gate out of alignment and the gate will not self-close if this happens and that puts all the children at risk with such a busy carpark in front of the preschool.
Please also observe the one-way only rule in the carpark. Heavy fines have been metered out in the past for not observing this road rule in the carpark, so please be careful. Also, be very careful where you park. The carpark has restricted and timed parking spaces marked by yellow lines on the ground, and the fines are very heavy.
If your child is not well, please be considerate to both your child and other children and keep them home with you until they are symptom-free. There is a considerable risk to everyone if sickness is brought into the service, especially now. Please have a plan in place for the care of your child at short notice if your child is unwell and you are still required to work outside of your home. If your child or any member of your household contracts COVID, please get in touch with the preschool as soon as possible. You will need to isolate from attending preschool for a week to ensure that the chain of infection is broken and reduce the chance of an outbreak at preschool. Remember, our children cannot be vaccinated, and we have vulnerable people attending the service and working here.
Annual General Meeting for 2025 & Parent Meeting for Term 1
WILL BE HELD ON MONDAY 24th February 2025 COMMENCING AT 7 PM
ALL PARENTS ARE WELCOME & ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND. We will also discuss in the parent meeting how to use the OWNA app and answer all your questions about using the app for
communication, invoicing, and your child’s observations and assessments.
If you would like to join our Management Committee this year, please add your name to the nomination sheet in the foyer. We are looking for some new members this year as we farewell some
as they follow their children on to big schools.
If you have any requests for Guest Speakers at our parent meeting, please see Renee, Emma, or Eve. We are more than happy to arrange a topic of interest for you.
Extra Notes
Gentle reminder to all parents to please ensure that you pack enough spare clothes for your child to accommodate for any little accidents that may happen whilst they are distracted with new toys and friends or experimenting with water activities. You can use the new wet bags that have been supplied at enrollment for this purpose.
Gentle reminder……. Sometimes, little pieces of equipment from preschool find their way home to your houses when they are forgotten in pockets during play or popped into a backpack for “safe keeping”. If you find such a piece of equipment, would you please return it to preschool? Little people sometimes forget they have them squirrelled away. There will be no questions asked or judgment.
Dates for your diary will come out in the next newsletter. Please mark all dates in your diaries.
As always, if you have any questions, please ask me. Every day is a new day with a new twist and turn but always a silver lining to be found.
Warm regards,
Eve Hawkes
Early Childhood Education and Care Director
Engadine Preschool Kindergarten