Bethania Early Education Centre & Preschool - QCCS

Bethania Early Education
Centre & Preschool
66 Station Road, Bethania, Qld, 4205
Telephone: (07) 3805 1375 Facsimile: (07) 3299 7285
www.qccs.com.au www.aiecs.com E-mail: bethania@qccs.com.au
NEWSLETTER
July 2011 Editor: Claire Hutchinson “achieving great things with little people…
Education Through Care.
Directors News
Welcome to another edition of
Bethania’s Newsletter. It is
great to be able to welcome
some new families into the
centre. We hope you have all
settled in well and are enjoying
your time with us. If anyone
has any issues, small or large,
please let me know so these
issues can be addressed.
Can I ask that all parents please
check their children for head
lice and treat them, as they
seem to be around at present.
As the cold weather is upon us,
there are a few children with
the cold and flu symptoms.
Please be mindful of the other
children at the centre and keep
your children home until they
are well.
I look forward to many more
exciting months to come,
Thanks
Bernie
Changes in Staff
Babies – Jodie and Anne
Emus – Katrina and Anna
Possums – Lisa and Tennille
Kindy – Kayla & Karen
School readiness – Elle,
Courtney and Hayli
Group leader Float/Schoolies –
Katrina and Amelia
Assistant float‐
Fiona, Beni and Melissah
Fee increase as of 4th of July
2011
As of the 4 th July there was a
rise in fees, as you may have
noticed the signs around the
centre informing parents of
this. All fees for under 2.5 yrs
and over 2.5 yrs went up by $4
per day.
Please see below for the new
fee scructure:
Under 2.5 yrs ‐$68.50 per day
Over 2.5 Yrs‐ $66.50 per day
Before school care‐$21.00per
day
After school care ‐ $23.00per
day
BS & AS ‐ $33.00 per day
Vacation Care ‐ $66.50 (not
including meals)
All staff within the Childcare
Industry were expecting a
significant increase into their
wages as of 4th of July 2011
and as the cost of running a
business (childcare) is growing
in expenses across the board.
To ensure our fee’s are within a
reasonable price range we
research with the other centres
in our local area, to compare
what each centre provides and
their associated fees. Taking
this into account as well as our
increasing expenses, we adjust
our fees accordingly whilst
trying to keep the increase as
minimal as possible for
families.

Interactive Televisions
To further facilitate the
education and development for
our children throughout the
centre, we will shortly be
installing an interactive
television in the School
Readiness Room. Some of our
families’ older children may
attend primary school that has
smart boards. These interactive
televisions are very similar to
the smart board and its
features, but better. All of the
children who attend Bethania
will utilise this resource. It is
also such an amazing tool for
the staff to use to further
children’s learning. The smart
board has many programs
installed with learning activities
and a touch screen which the
children can use as a group to
further their learning.
Early Years Framework
All of our families should now
have noticed on top of your
child’s room lockers their
individual child portfolios.
Please feel free to browse
through these at any time.
At the end of the year each
your child will have their
portfolio sent home for you to
keep.
Displayed in each room is an
emergent curriculum folder
which holds information about
the emergent curriculum
programme. When we
have our parent teacher
interviews we will be going into
depth about the emergent
curriculum programme and
how it contributes to your
child’s development and
learning.
All the rooms have been
displaying some very
interesting learning stations
that have stemmed from our
children’s individual interests.
We strongly encourage all
families to contribute to your
child’s daily program through
the parent contribution forms.
It’s not as hard as you think it
is. All you have to do is keep
the staff informed about
activities that are happening
outside of the Centre. From
there you would be amazed
where the staff can take it.
When we hold our annual
Parent Teacher interviews, we
will be discussing your child’s
portfolio and the advancement
of the Early Years Learning
Framework over the past year.
Many of our families would
have noticed how much the
staff have enjoyed this new
way of programming, and how
rewarding the child focused
framework is for all the
children to enjoy and
participate in.
Sign In/Out Sheets
Please ensure you sign your
children in and out every day.
This means writing your full
name not just initials. When
your child is away please ring
us and let us know, also ensure
that you sign for their absent
day. All children are allowed 30
days absent per financial year.
Important Bus Information
Please remember that all
children who attend the
morning bus run need to be at
the centre by 8am. The bus is
on a tight schedule and cannot
leave any later than 8:10am.
Also if your child is not going to
be on the bus in the afternoon
or goes home from school
during the day could you please
ring the centre to inform us.
The staff worry when children
cannot be found and cannot
leave the bus to find them.
Daily Requirements
Please remember all children
need to bring:
‐Healthy food for morning tea,
lunch and afternoon tea eg.
Fruit and yoghurt, Lunch
(Sandwiches or left over
dinner) and afternoon tea a
small snack eg. biscuits.
‐A hat, a sheet to rest on and
shoes.
‐Nappies and wipes if required
‐Warm clothing and shoes for
the late afternoon
Please ensure all items are
labeled. If all parents could
please donate a box of tissues
as our supplies are getting very
low and with the current
weather there are lots of
running noses.
Koala’s News
Firstly, a big warm welcome
goes out to all our families,
both new to the centre, and
those that have been with us
for a little longer.

The children have been
exploring colours, and we have
only about two colours left to
discover.
We will then be exploring
shapes, learning about
different shapes through
artwork and group discussions
(e.g the sun is a cirle, a door is a
rectangle).
As Winter is still upon us, can
you please ensure that your
child has warm spare clothes in
their bag each day, and also,
we would like to ask if a box of
tissues can be brought in for
your child, as we have all but
depleated our supplies.
Some of our children in the
nursery have accomplished
some amazing skills, as most
have begun to crawl and a few
are now walking. Well done
babies.
If you have any questions or
concerns, please feel free to
come and see us.
Miss Jodie and Miss Anne
Emus News
A big welcome to our new
friends in the Emu’s and
congratulations to the children
who have moved up from the
nursery, all the children have
settled in well.
In Emu’s we have been
focusing a lot on our
communication skills, by
singing songs, reading books
and using flash cards to help
extend on our vocabulary.
The children have also been
very interested in role‐playing –
dressing up, washing the babies
and wrapping them up to keep
them warm.
We have started a pet shop
pod in our room which the
children have been making
animals to put in there as well
as doing animal paintings to
hang, we will continue to
expand this pod as long as the
children show interest.
In the coming months we will
be focusing on our coordination
skills, climbing
frames, walking along beams,
jumping, as well as ball
catching and throwing.
As it is still cold please ensure
the children have warmer
clothing on as well as extras
packed just in case.
Also could all families please
bring in a box of tissues as we
are running very low, Thank
you.
If you have any questions
please feel free to talk to me or
my assistant,
Miss Katrina and Miss Anna
Possum’s News
Welcome to July’s newsletter,
July has many activities to look
forward to as it is “travelling
around the world month”. Each
week we are going to learn
about a different country, what
they eat, what they wear, the
different cultural occasions and
even animals that live in the
other countries. To help give us
a real sense of the atmosphere
Miss Lisa is going to google all
these different things on our
lap top and see for our own
eyes the way of life for other
nationalities.
There will be follow up with
shape recognition as most of us
are still a little unsure as well as
color and letter recognition,
Miss Lisa would like us to know
the first letter of our name and
be able to recognise it on
paper.
It is very chilly in the mornings
and throughout the day so If
you would bring in a box of
tissues that would be great, as
we have many runny noses.
Also each child needs a sheet
and hat for their day at Kindy.
Please if you have any
questions, concerns or would
just like to know how your child
is going do not hesitate to
come and see me or my
assistant.
Thank you have a wonderful
month,
Miss Lisa and Miss Tennille ☺
Kindy’s News
Well, another month has past
and as we have been very busy
with the children working hard
on colours, shapes and
counting, we have been
working hard counting
backwards from 10 – 1.
We are starting some pre
writing in the next few weeks
and are looking at name
recognition.

Parents, please continue with
this at home to help your child
to recognise their own name.
Just a few reminders, all
children must have sheets for
their beds at rest time, please
ensure that your child has a
hat, wipes and tissues. Also
please check your child’s head
for head lice, we have had few
cases in the Kindy room lately.
If your child does have head
lice please ensure that you
treat them before your child
comes back to Kindy.
If you have any issues or
concerns, please feel free to
come and see Karen and I, as
we are happy to help.
Until next time,
Miss Kayla and Miss Karen ☺
School Readiness News
We are getting very clever in
school readiness as we are
going really well with learning
how to spell our names with
most of the class now being
able to write their own names.
We have been extremely
excited about dinosaurs this
month after “walking with the
dinosaurs” came to town. We
have been dinosaur crazy doing
dinosaur artwork, making
dinosaur cookies, dinosaur
masks and creating our very
own dinosaur land.
As you would have noticed a
change in the room with the
lockers; this is to make room
for the new arrival of our smart
board, in which the children
will be able to write on the
touch TV board, use the laptop
on the board and engage in
many educational activities as a
group.
We have been learning lots
about recycling this month and
are collecting lots of recycled
materials to build something
creative in the room, so if you
have any recycled materials at
home we would love to utilize
them.
As summer is near can we
please ask that you bring a hat
with your child everyday as we
have a sun smart policy “no
hat, no play”, please also
ensure that it is a sun smart hat
and not a Winter hat.
We are having a great time in
school readiness and look
forward to the rest of the year.
Thank you very much,
Miss Elle and Miss Courtney
Schoolies News
This month we have had a lot
of adventures from science
experiments to art work and
games. We were lucky enough
to receive a few new toys this
month, we got a new pool
table, a game called slammer,
new games on our computers
and new board games. We did
a list of fun activities that we
could do outside that we don’t
usually do, this list included bull
rush, sack toss, long jump and
much more.
These holidays were so much
fun we had so many event
days. We had arts and craft day
where we made feather fans
and imaginary friends on paper,
we had bowling which was so
much fun (score sheets were
handed out so that everybody
had a copy of their score), we
had a competition day which
was filled with crazy and fun
activities including events
called flour bowl, apple
bobbing, donuts hanging,
balloon races and much more.
We had electronic day where
we watch a movie called ‘Up’,
we then ventured to Civic Park
where we had lots of fun
playing ball games, and we had
a crazy hair day.
We look forward to the months
ahead with more learning and
skill building to come.
If your child leaves school early
or does not require our services
for the day please call the
centre and let us know as this
saves a lot of worry and
confusion during pick‐up.
Thank you very much,
Miss Kat and Schoolies

MEDICATION POLICY
Medications will only be administered to children during Centre hours when it is absolutely necessary for the
child’s well being. Parents are required to complete the medication form before staff can administer any
medication. This form is to be signed by two authorised staff members, when the medication has been checked
and administered. Staff are permitted to administer oral or skin medications only. Staff are not permitted to give
injections, however if injections are necessary for the welfare of the child, i.e. epilepsy, diabetes, etc, parents
must make arrangements with their medical practitioner and the Director.
ALL MEDICATION MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED WITH THE CHILD’S NAME PRESCRIBED
OR NON-PRESCRIBED MEDICATION.
Please do not leave your child’s medication in his/her bag, as it is easily accessible to children.
PRESCRIBED MEDICATION:
A Director or Assistant Director (or a Group Leader if neither of these are present at the Centre) can administer
prescribed medication, however a letter from the doctor with instructions must be supplied or an accurate and
up to date label on the medication detailing:
• Child’s Name
• Date
• Name of Drug
• Dosage
• Doctor’s Name
• Times to be Administered
NON-PRESCRIBED MEDICATION: (OTHER THAN PARACETAMOL / IBUPROFEN)
A Director or Assistant Director (or a Group Leader if neither of these are present at the Centre) can administer
non-prescribed medication. Administration of a non-prescribed medication must be accompanied by a doctor’s
letter/ chemist label stating:
• Child’s Name
• Date
• Name of Drug
• Dosage
• Doctor’s Name
• Times to be Administered
MEDICATIONS CONTAINING PARACETAMOL/IBUPROFEN:
Medications containing paracetamol/ibuprofen such as Panadol or Nurofen can act to reduce fever, and can mask signs of infection. As such, these
can only be administered at the Centre (other than on an emergency basis) when accompanied by a doctor’s letter and labelled by a pharmacist. The
letter must define the length of time it is to be administered and in what circumstances eg; three times daily for 1 week from the date.
THANK YOU
Please fill out the following and return.
I am happy with the current MEDICATION policy Yes No
Suggestions: