Welcome to the first edition of our Community Connections Newsletter for 2024. A very warm welcome to all our new families and children. We are looking forward to getting to know your children and yourselves over the coming year. January will see many of our children transitioning to new rooms. This always comes with challenges but with positive support & encouragement our children adapt to new rooms routines, Educators, and expectations. Our fabulous staff have worked extremely hard to make the transition as smooth as possible and to give children and their families as much support as possible. We welcome feedback on how you think the transition process was handled as we feel there is always room for improvement as we move forward. There will be twelve editions of our newsletter each year. Inside you will find upcoming events, useful information about our curriculum, planning, and philosophy. Important news including breakouts of illness, reminders or changes to upcoming events or changes to policy will be emailed to parents at other times throughout the year. Please take the time to read all communication so you are aware of what is happening within our Poppins Community. The next edition will be due in February.
Message from our Educational Leader.
Welcome to 2024 and another exciting year for Poppins Bush School! My name is Kellie and in addition to being to Prep Teacher, I am also the Educational Leader at Poppins Bush School. Over the past two years we have continued to reflect on our program at Poppins Bush School and how we can continue to improve ensuring educators are present and active in the children’s learning, while continuing to embrace our Philosophy which reflects Nature Based Play and the Reggio Emilia principals. We continue to receive such positive feedback from our families.
Based on current research, child development and children’s interests, each room will be compiling a "Learning Focus”. The focus will continue for a period of around 8-10 weeks, with educators not only using their current knowledge but they will also become-researchers alongside children as they learn and discover together. This will all be documented and displayed in rooms “making learning visible” with the addition of some creative experiences and excursions being displayed in reception for families to view. Photos will also be displayed in the frames in reception, next to the current learning focus for your child’s room. Each week educators will also email families with a reflection of the week which will include learning that is occurring and future planning for the room. Photos will also be included in this email (no faces of children will be visible in the email). We encourage family feedback and responses to these emails to assist with our programming and planning.
For the past two years we trialled photo books at the end of year Christmas Parties and Graduation. We received positive feedback around the photo books from families, (these were provided in place of portfolios) and due to the success, we will continue to provide these for families again at the end of the year.
The change in programming has been positive for the educational team as they are much more present and the pedagogy relating to documentation, listening, and learning has created a much more engaging environment. We are excited for 2024 and look forward to collaborating with families over the course of the year!
