SDN Children's Services Inc. Annual Report 2010

Encouraging a sense of community: Helping Haiti
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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
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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