Welcome to the first edition of our Community Connections Newsletter for 2023. 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 is a process that always comes with challenges as children adapt to new rooms, Educators, and expectations. The Educators 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 2023 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. Last year the Management Team at Bush School wanted to create a program which enabled educators to be present and active in the children’s learning and embrace our Philosophy which reflected Nature Based Play and the Reggio Emilia principals which are the basis of the Philosophy at Poppins Bush School. We received such positive feedback from our families. We continue to reflect on our practice and the programs we provide and implement and have made minor adjustments to reflect the feedback from families and educators.
Based on current research, child development and children’s interests, each room will be compiling a “Learning Focus”. The focus will continue for 8-10 weeks, with educators not only using their current knowledge but they will also become co-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 being displayed in reception for families to view. Photos will also be displayed on the TV screens in each room for families to view. We encourage families to go into their child’s room to see the photos, the environments and the learning occurring with the displays. These also reflect the children’s individual voices within the spaces. 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.
We also received positive feedback around the photo books for families, (these were provided in place of portfolios) and due to the success, we are looking at providing a larger sized book for 2023.
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 2023 and look forward to collaborating with families over the course of the year!
