Although our Father’s Day Celebrations were a few weeks ago, we really want to thank all our dads and grandads for coming in to Celebrate with us. We had lots of fun getting to hang out with you at Preschool. We hope each of you had a fantastic Fathers Day, surrounded by family.

We have been really grateful for some sunny days as the Term comes to an end. We have even had a few days warm enough to open the water play area at the creek for some water play exploration over the last few weeks.  We are getting back into our routines around applying sunscreen and wearing our hats. We are very short on spare hats at the ELC at the moment, so if you happen to come across any spare ELC hats that may have accidentally come home, please send them back in! With warmer days ahead in term 4, having a good supply of spare hats helps us in ensuring everyone can play safely in the sun – even on those mornings when things accidentally get left at home in the morning rush to school!

The creek area was buzzing with activity when we opened it for play last week! We can’t wait for the warmer weather!

Holidays

We hope that everyone gets to enjoy some slower days and more relaxed mornings during the school holiday period. Term 3 can be a tough term for everyone – with cold weather and winter time colds and flu in full swing. We have tried to slow down our program for the last two weeks as we can see our students are a little tired, and ready for a break from their usual routines!

We have lots of fun things planned for our students enrolled in the Preschool Plus program during the holidays. With a reduced number of students at preschool during the holidays, our educators do a wonderful job of providing a more relaxed, holiday feeling day for our Preschool Plus students, so they have the opportunity to relax in the Holiday period as well!

I am excited to have the opportunity to attend the National Early Childhood conference in Perth during the first week of the school holidays. I will be joining other Directors from Catholic ELC’s for this conference –it promises to be a jam packed few days filled with speakers who are leaders in early education from Australia and around the world.  

Term 4

Term four is already shaping up to be quite a busy term! Before we launch into the term – here are a few dates for your calendars so you can be ready for the Term ahead!

ACT Child Safety Standards

On 1 August 2024, amendments to the Human Rights Commission Act 2005 made it mandatory for all organisations that provide services for children and young people to commence implementing the ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme (the Scheme).

In the ACT, the 10 Standards centre on promoting and protecting the rights, safety, and wellbeing of children and young people. For the purposes of implementing the Standards, the reference to ‘child’ refers to all children and young people aged under 18 years.

During Term 4 our service will be conducting an audit based around the 10 Child Safe Standards, to demonstrate the ways we are meeting these standards. This is part of an initiative across all Catholic Education Schools and ELCs.

More information about the ways Catholic Education services aim to Safeguard our students can be found using the link below:

Safeguarding our students – Catholic Education

The 10 Child Safe standards and our Commitment to Safeguarding Children are also on display in our ELC Foyer. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions about our commitment to safe guarding our students and our practice in relation to these standards.