The Benefits of Open Days for Families (and Centres!)

Open Days are an essential ingredient to help families make the right choice for their children when it comes to starting their early childhood education.

For a family to choose the centre or kinder that best suits their needs and preferences for their child isn’t as simple as looking at a website or hearing positive things in the community. While these are important and help with the decision-making process, there’s no substitute for getting up close and personal with a centre and its staff.

Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale, Victoria is hosting an Open Day on Saturday 4 March. From 10am until midday we have invited members of our local community to come along and visit our centre.

We’ve arranged a music show and yoga with Bonkers for children and families to be entertained as well as gain a deeper, more interactive understanding of our approach to early childhood education.

Attending Open Days presents many benefits to families. Here are three of the main reasons families should definitely attend Open Days to get firsthand experience of a centre:

How Families Can Get the Most from Open Days

1: Programs and Facilities
Explore the centre and see for yourself what it has on offer, rather than read or hear about it.

Questions to consider:
-Does the centre have a rich curriculum to benefit my child?
-Are educational programs embedded in the curriculum and offered daily?
-Is there a funded kindergarten program?
-Are the facilities clean and up to date?

2: Meet the Educators
Meet some of the individuals you would be entrusting with your child’s wellbeing.

Questions to consider:
-Do I find the educators and staff to be likeable and friendly?
-Did the team seem genuine and passionate?
-What are the team’s qualifications and specialty areas?

3: Trust Your Feelings
Get a feel for the centre that can only be felt in person.

Questions to consider:
-How do you feel visiting the centre?
-Can I see my child enjoying spending time at the centre?

Perhaps you’re from a centre and have been wondering if an Open Day is worthwhile for you to showcase what you have on offer for local families – here’s how you can deliver to the community and give them the information they need to decide if you’re the right fit for their families.

Reasons Why Your Centre Should Hold an Open Day

1: Showcase your centre
Don’t just tell – SHOW the local community and families what you have to offer. Planning an open day allows you to put your best foot forward and demonstrate to families why they should choose your centre for their child or children.

2: Meet the Families
Early childhood education is a crucial part of a child’s life and in our communities. Engaging with local families shows and grows your passion for your centre’s wider community and its members. An Open Day could be the beginning of a long relationship between you, your centre and these parents and children.

3: Be Transparent
You can have great flyers, ads and a perfect centre, but the way your centre makes parents and families feel when they are there is a key factor when it comes to enrolling. Let your centre’s positive energy and warm atmosphere shine through to families on a day dedicated to your centre and all that it has to offer children who attend!

Attend or hold an Open Day this year and enjoy the benefits for yourself as either a parent or a centre.

If you’re local to the Aspendale area, visit our Open Day at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder & Childcare on Saturday 4 March, 10am-12pm. Hope to see you there!

Open Day Poster 2017 (wo bleeds)

 

Be Fit, Stay Fit

physical activity for children

To optimise the wellbeing of young children, it’s important to give them the tools they need in life to achieve and maintain good health. Physical activity is an essential ingredient, contributing to a child’s development, ability to learn and mental health.

Physical Activity for Children Every Day

At Bonkers Beat we are dedicated to early childhood development incorporating a range of learning experiences that involve physical activity. Our Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale, Victoria incorporates daily yoga for children as well as a variety of active fun.

In our upcoming school holiday program we organise incursions from Active Start Sports who specialise in sports programs for young children. These incursions are always a hit with children at the centre. The sessions equip them with new skills, get them working on their motor skills and allow them to release plenty of energy!

The Benefits of Physical Activity for Children

So what are the benefits of physical activity for children? Here’s our top 5:

  1. Improve children’s balance, coordination, flexibility and strength
  2. Group sports provide a valuable socialising opportunity to make friends and learn how to be a part of a team
  3. Improve cardiovascular fitness and endurance
  4. Maximise children’s ability to learn by improving concentration
  5. Promote relaxation and happiness through burning off energy and the release of endorphins (the happy hormone)

Getting Active Together

Bonkers Beat Music Kinder’s upcoming Working Bee has a physical activity theme too – Be Fit, Stay Fit!

With plenty of digging, lifting and tidying to be done around the centre, it’s an excellent example of how we can work on improving our physical fitness in daily activities. Plus, being active is always more fun when we’re doing it together!

Taking our commitment to staying physically fit and healthy even further, during this year’s Working Bee we will be installing bike racks at the centre! This is to encourage children and their families to ride their bikes to kinder or childcare.

A mini-gym is also a part of our Working Bee plan – another fun way for pre-school children to get active!

Be Fit, Stay Fit

As adults we know how challenging it can feel to embark on physical activity, especially when we’ve let our fitness levels lapse. What a wonderful thing to do for children to embed a love, understanding and appreciation of physical activity and its benefits while they are young. In fact, a commitment to physical activity won’t just benefit children now – it is a gift that can improve their futures and will also have a huge positive impact on their overall wellbeing as they move into adolescence and adulthood.

How do you encourage children to be active and stay fit? Share with us on Facebook!

Smiles and Segways – Bonding at Bonkers Beat Aspendale

educators team bonding

A yearly staff retreat is a tradition at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale, Victoria, and 2016 was no exception.

The benefits of educators taking time for team bonding outside of the workplace are invaluable, and once again we’ve found our staff retreat to be a worthwhile event.

Taking time to relax and reflect

Educators work hard and dedicate so much to make sure that today’s children are ready for everything life has to offer. Giving them a special day to smile and have fun with one another allows them to relax, reflect and, in the case of this year’s staff retreat, ride on Segways!

In the past, we have incorporated yoga, massage and even laughter sessions into our staff retreat days. This year we took to the Yarra Valley to experience all the beauty the Rochford Wines vineyards had to offer.

Team bonding… on Segways!

Riding on board our Segways (if you’re not sure what a Segway is, take a look here!), the team of educators from Bonkers Beat Music Kinder Aspendale admired the Rochford Wines grounds and practiced this adventurous new skill!

Together we faced the rather daunting task of learning to ride these unusual two-wheeled upright vehicles. What a wonderful bonding experience it was as we all encouraged one another and took on the challenge together. Of course, there was plenty of laughter too!

Some well-deserved wine tasting was a delightful addition to the day, not to mention the beautiful food.

Unwinding for our mental health

The mental health of educators is vital for centres to provide the highest quality care to children. By taking on a new challenge together we strengthened relationships within our team and underpinned the foundations for a supportive environment for all educators.

Laughing, some exercise and enjoying beautiful food together – what better outlet for staff to relax and unwind.

Of course, we also used our staff retreat day to discuss and share ideas about how we can make our centre the very best it can be. An open line of communication is a key factor when it comes to cultivating a culture of motivation, inspiration and happiness in the workplace.

Take a look at the album on Facebook to see how much fun we had!

The hardest part is coming up with something just as great for next year!

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