SDN Children's Services Inc. Annual Report 2010

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Our centres Mainstream early childhood education and care for children from birth to five years of age SDN has long had a reputation as a leader in early childhood education. Each Children’s Education and Care Centre is led by an Early Childhood Centre Director and an Early Childhood Teacher who are both university qualified, and supported by an educative team of highly experienced staff members. Individual centres are strengthened by the larger SDN community which provides guidance, professional learning opportunities for staff and management assistance. SDN early childhood education • We are one of the few providers to employ universityqualified teachers in all of our centres. • We run highly-regarded educational programs in a long day care setting based on the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), the new national early education standard produced by the federal and state governments. • SDN also has its own Curriculum Principles, based on a range of contemporary early childhood research perspectives and philosophies. Higher standards of care • SDN has operated a 1:4 staff-to-child ratio for children from birth to two years — above government regulations — for many years. • SDN supports all children as competent learners from birth. • We are inclusive and respectful and include children from all backgrounds and all abilities. Value for families • We pride ourselves on delivering excellent services at a competitive price. • As a not-for-profit organisation we keep fees as low as possible. Comparative analysis with neighbouring centres shows that our fees are generally lower. Any surplus from fees is invested into the quality of our services. ‘ We value children and families by delivering higher standards of education and care than required. We also ensure our staff have opportunities to reflect and create new understandings and then share their knowledge. We are proud of our physical environments and have put a lot of time into creating uncluttered and calm environments for children. Rebecca Watson, Director, Early Childhood Education ‘ 14 SDN Annual Report 2010
Encouraging a sense of community: Helping Haiti ‘ Following the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, people around the world pledged funds in order to help. The children at SDN Marrickville also wanted to help. The children in the Bilbies room (four year olds) and educators discussed the problems the people of Haiti faced as a result of the earthquake and decided that the best way to help was to raise money for essentials such as food and water. The Bilbies wrote a letter to the Red Cross and included a donation of $525. They explained that the money was for ‘toys, chocolate, food, water and houses’. The staff and children signed the letter and went on an excursion to post it with the donation. They talked about how to ask the Post Office staff for a stamp and money order. The children proudly posted their letter and donation. Belinda Filipe Afonso, Early Childhood Educator, sdn Marrickville ‘ New centre at the heart of the nsw baby boom One of our newest centres, SDN Glebe, is helping meet the need for early education and care in an area of high demand. At the first anniversary celebration in May, the Hon Verity Firth MP, NSW Minister for Education and Member for Balmain, confirmed that the Inner West had the highest birthrate in NSW. SDN has five centres in the Inner West: Petersham, Newtown, Erskineville, Marrickville and Glebe. Protecting the safety of our children SDN has been campaigning for 40km/h speed zones to be introduced around child care centres and preschools to help ensure the roads are safer for young children. In June 2010 the NSW Government announced that it would consider introducing 40km/h speed zones on a case-by-case basis. Encountering, exploring and engaging with the Early Years Learning Framework Dr Miriam Giugni, SDN’s Early Childhood Research and Learning Advisor, has been leading a practitioner research project, with several SDN centre directors as co-investigators, entitled Encountering, Exploring and Engaging with the Early Years Learning Framework. This project has been designed to support critical engagement with, and reflection on the EYLF. As our centre directors embark on new pathways in an ever-changing regulatory landscape, this project is exposing directors to new theories they can use to articulate their experiences of change leadership. Many changes in practice are emerging and being documented as staff re-consider and engage with concepts of equity, cultural diversity, documentation and community relationships, all within the overall framework of the EYLF. Standing: Michelle Richardson, Anna Whitty, Fran Bastion, Dr Miriam Giugni, Michelle Lane and Megan Ball. Seated: Rebecca Watson (Director) and Nicole Jones We are hoping that a major outcome of the project will be to offer insights into the experience of ‘becoming a teacher researcher’. We are expecting that the findings of this research will add significantly to the currently rather scant body of documented teacher research in the early childhood education sector, both nationally and internationally. SDN employs an Early Childhood Advisory Team of seven highly experienced, university-qualified early childhood teachers who lead, manage and advise SDN’s 23 Centre Directors and their educative teams. The Advisors support the ongoing development of SDN’s early childhood curriculum and practice, and the operation of our Children’s Education and Care Centres. This level of support has strengthened SDN’s reputation as a leader in early childhood education. A unique feature of the Advisory Team is the inclusion of an Early Childhood Research and Learning Advisor who is facilitating professional learning by conducting teacher research. SDN Annual Report 2010 15
Page 1 and 2: SDN Children’s Services Inc. Annu
Page 3 and 4: SDN SDN Annual Annual Report Report
Page 5 and 6: What we do SDN was established in 1
Page 7 and 8: Our purpose We aim to provide the h
Page 9 and 10: Ginie Udy, Susan Salter, the Hon Ve
Page 11 and 12: Our performance: The year in review
Page 13: Goal 4 Being financially strong Our
Page 17 and 18: Early Learning Program is for child
Page 19 and 20: organisation, putting children firs
Page 21 and 22: 1951 Bathurst; Double Bay (closed 1
Page 23 and 24: We are constantly trying to improve
Page 25 and 26: People and Culture Unit Marketing a
Page 27 and 28: 2009-10 annual staff survey results
Page 29 and 30: Congratulations to all of our schol
Page 31 and 32: The voices of children and families
Page 33 and 34: Media coverage In 2009-10 we issued
Page 35 and 36: In 2009 -10 SDN awarded Aboriginal
Page 37 and 38: ‘ We’ve been helping families t
Page 39 and 40: The voices of families in our progr
Page 41 and 42: Effie Bland Chair of the History Co
Page 43 and 44: SDN Child and Family Services’ Bo
Page 45 and 46: Our financial performance The conso
Page 47 and 48: We thank everyone who gave permissi

SDN Children's Services Inc. Annual Report 2010

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