In This Issue :

Incentives for

employing

trainees

National

Reconciliation

Week

PD training

Wet weather play

Featured service

award

What is a

webinar

Out of the box

experiences

One centre’s

displays

Childcare Training & Accreditation Solutions Is sue 14: May– June 2015

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is happening this year between 27 May and 3 June.

The week is a great time for centres and families to learn about the shared histories, cultures

and achievements of all Australians and to explore how each of us can work towards the

national reconciliation effort.

Reconciliation is about creating positive, respectful relationships between Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians.

This year’s theme is It’s time to change it up, it is about trying to make a difference no

matter how big or small. The website www.reconciliation.org.au/nrw/ has resources, ideas

and factsheets on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and what you can do to be a

part of change.

To learn more about Noongar (the people of the south-west of Western Australia) culture, go

to: http://www.noongarculture.org.au/

We have included some ideas on experiences in our “Out of the Box” page, and you can

visit our Pinterest page for additional suggestions about art and culture.

Welcome Hi everyone, welcome to another CTAS newsletter. This newsletter is a way of informing, celebrating and supporting the childcare centres in WA, so if you have any comments, contributions or ideas you would like to see included please don’t hesitate to contact us at admin@ctas.wa.edu.au

Incentives for Employing Trainees in your Workplace!

There are many incentives, both sustainable and monetary, that your organisation will receive from employing trainees within your service:

Trainees allow for sustainability in employing youth into the industry.

Having trainees in your service also means you can train educators to the high standard you are looking for and to meet the individual needs of your service.

Employing trainees assists in reducing staff turnover which in turn keeps your clients happy with consistency of the care of their children.

Government financial incentives

The Government Department of Workforce Training and Workplace Development has information on their Apprenticentre website on financial support, how to employ trainees, where you can get support and where to start in employing trainees into your service. You can find all this information at www.dtwd.wa.gov.au/apprenticentre

SAD FAREWELL

We introduced you to Tony, our

“grasshead” last newsletter,

unfortunately he has since passed

away due to an excessive amount

of water (who knew!) prior to a

public holiday. He brought so much

to our lives, including oxygen, and

an unwavering smile.

Tony in happier times…..

Keep an eye out for the July-November 2015 calendar, coming soon to your inbox. Book in early so that you don’t miss out.

Supportive Natural

Environments

3 June, 6.30pm CTAS

Jenna Simmons

Nature is a fantastic resource for

educators and children, how can

we include natural elements

indoors and outdoors in a

meaningful way? Learn the

benefits of nature based play for

children and gain some practical

ideas and applications.

Fun with Maths and Science

20 May, 6.30pm CTAS

Guest presenter: Jan Spence

Discover how much maths and

science is embedded in

everyday play and life

activities, and how you can

enhance this. Build your

confidence and understanding

to effectively communicate a

zest for the topics with

children.

What’s Coming Up?

Sustainability in Childcare

24 June, 7pm anywhere

WEBINAR

Look beyond the veggie patch;

What does it mean to be

sustainable? What is a

Sustainability Management

Plan? How can I demonstrate

sustainability to children?

** For more information on

what a webinar is, see page 3

of this newsletter**

Wet Weather Play

With the change in weather, how

are you giving children the

opportunity to go outside every

day? What opportunities does the

cold and wet weather bring?

There is a persistent notion that being outside when its

cold causes illness, and although it is not true, it may

present barriers for change. It is important to gain the

trust and respect of families

when making changes,

because without this we

cannot take risks.

Strategies include:

Speaking to parents about

why you think it is important for the children to have

the opportunity to go outside in the cold and wet

weather, then showing them the learning happening

via emails/learning stories/conversations

Asking parents to bring in

gumboots and raincoats for the

children, or extra jumpers for cold

weather

Requesting an extra

change of clothes for

children so that they

can get wet

Setting up tents

outside to keep the

rain off

Purchasing enough all-in-one rain-suits for every child

Having spare clothes, gumboots, raincoats, umbrellas

for spontaneous outdoor

adventures

Having hairdryers and

towels on hand.

Remember going outside

when it was wet and

playing in the mud, or in the puddles and exploring all of

the insect life that came out during this time? Wouldn’t it

be amazing to have the

children in your centre

experience these things

too? Send in photos of

the children at your

centre enjoying the

colder weather.

Have you ever wanted to attend a professional development but struggled to get there, do you live in a regional area, can’t find someone to watch the kids? Attending a webinar is perfect for you. A webinar is a seminar or training session broadcast over the internet to a PC, laptop, tablet or smart phone. This means we can bring the training direct to you. All you need is a computer or other device with speakers/headphones/headset, a valid email address and a quiet place to sit and log into the live professional development session. Next Webinar: Sustainability in Childcare- 24th June 2015, 7pm-8:30pm.

Would you like to see your

service featured in our

newsletter?

You could win a $100 voucher to

a resource outlet of your choice.

All you need to do is email us at

pdtraining@ctas.wa.edu.au with

photos and some information

about the experience/

room makeover /

project/event etc.

The Featured Centre is….

Ready Set Grow Bluff Point

Ready Set Grow set a challenge for all their centres to

develop and install an art area with a natural feel. Beck,

from the Toddler’s room in Geraldton, wrote about their

experience:

Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist

when you grow up - Pablo Picasso

Firstly we had a group discussion during our mat session

about the art centre being

introducing into the toddlers room

over the next couple of weeks. We

talked to the children about what

an art centre is and what we will be

working to create. We first talked

about how our art supplies will be

available for the children to play

with and we also talked about what the different ideas

were that we, as staff, and the children had for what to

put in our art area. The children were really excited and

helped with contributing what they would like to see. At

our mat session we also talked with the children about

how we need to be careful when holding our jars and

other breakable materials for our art centre. We passed

around some jars for the children to hold and discussed

how we need to hold onto them tightly and be very

careful when we move around with them

As a group we decided to

have 2 separate shelves to

display our art/craft materials,

one for art supplies like glitter,

collaging materials, paints and

the other shelf for natural

materials like sand, sticks, shells, rocks & leaves. These will

be displayed in recycled or natural materials like tins,

bowls, baskets, jars & ceramic pots which helps develop

the children’s understanding of recycling and respect

for the environment.

We put up notices encouraging parents to donate any

milk bottles, tins, jars & baskets & once we had collected

all the materials required we were able to begin. Beck

put a notice up on the Geraldton

Buy & Sell page on Facebook

encouraging community

participation and involvement in

the centre.

We also chose to create a

chalkboard table for the children

to use for drawing as they

especially love drawing activities.

This table could also be used for

doing our art/craft experiences making it a great way to

manage space and incorporate the children's interests.

The children loved helping set up our art centre they

helped paint our

ceramic pots for our

colour coded shelves

and especially liked

helping collect

natural materials for

our shelves.

We created an art

display area above

the art centre for the children’s art work to be displayed.

We put different pieced up each week rotating them so

parents could see different experiences their children

have enjoyed doing.

At a mat session we had a discussion

talking about our limits and

guidelines for the children when

using our art centre.

We had so much fun creating our art

centre. We had great support from

our families, staff, children and also

the community in helping create it

and the children really love it.

Go beyond dot painting for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

STARBRIGHT OSBORNE PARK

Megan, one of the CTAS trainers, found some great ideas for displaying work and art at Starbright Osborne Park. Thanks

so much to Janelle and her staff for allowing us to share them. Really creative, eye-

catching and natural ways of thinking about displays.

Great blog that talks about how

to make these clapping sticks,

why the colours were chosen,

and how to extend the

experience by using YouTube to

find Aboriginal music to “clap” to.

There is also a sheet of Aboriginal

symbols for older children to

replicate.

Sourced from

www.laughingkidslearn.com

Just wrap wool

around cut out

cardboard snakes.

Older children

could draw and cut

their own snakes.

Idea from

blog.redheart.com

Clay “echidnas” using sticks and clay.

Sourced from the Kids Craft Weekly

newsletter.

Painting

Aboriginal

symbols on

rocks.

Shared on

pinterest by

Bernadette

Calabrese.

Sign so that children can

come back to their work

Displaying documentation

Children’s and group artwork

displayed with respect

A display of children’s art