Tag: kindergarten

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The Importance of Information Nights

Before we make any significant decisions, we all tend to seek out as much information as possible. This is particularly true of parents making decisions that will affect their children’s wellbeing and future. It is with this in mind that Bonkers Beat believes in the importance of childcare services hosting information nights, and parents taking the time to head along to them.

Let’s look at what centres should include in an information night, and then we’ll list some things that parents should be engaging with during a centre information session or tour.

Childcare centre information night checklist

Firstly, centre owners and directors may be thinking ‘do I really need to host an information night?’ and the simple answer to that question is YES! That is if you want to show your community and prospective families how your childcare service is a wonderful choice to give children the best start in life…

Here’s what to consider when arranging yours:

Time and date: Make your time and date accessible to your community. Look at what other events are on and avoid any schedule clashes.

Showcase your programs and point of difference: What makes your centre special? And how do you achieve great outcomes for children? Tell families and aim to show them too. Talk about your educational programs, your curriculum, your values and philosophy and how you are the best of the best!

Be open and transparent: Be ready to answer many questions – or better yet, put enough information across that there’s nothing left to ask! Openness and transparency are key to show parents that your centre is dependable, honest and communicative.

Include a tour: Always have time for families to tour the centre. It’s so important for parents to get a feel for space, as they need to discover whether it’s somewhere they feel comfortable with their children spending time. Talk parents through your environments and displays, explaining what children have been learning.

Parents, here’s what to look for

If you’re a parent looking for a childcare service, it can be overwhelming for a few reasons. Firstly, because there are so many options, and secondly, because you want to be 100% certain that your child is in safe, caring hands and receiving the high quality of early childhood education and care possible.

Here’s how to get the most out of a centre’s information night:

Come prepared: Make note of your priorities and values in a centre. Check the website, read the philosophy to ensure it’s in line with your family’s philosophy as well. Write down some questions to make sure you get all the answers you want and don’t leave forgetting things. However, you can always follow up later if you do remember something later.

Engage with the centre: Look around, check the displays, environments and the layout. Explore the outdoor area, crouch down low and see it with a child’s eyes. Make notes in your phone of the things you love, things you aren’t sure about. Be thorough.

Speak to the educators: A casual chat with the educators, manager, director – the more people you speak to, the better! Are they people you feel comfortable with, do they put you at ease?

Look at the facts: Outside of your personal opinions that are forming, look at factual information. Do they have awards or community partnerships? What educational programs are they running in the centre? What is their NQS Rating? What do other families say about them?

An information session should be valuable for both centre and parents, and with a little planning and preparation, everyone will benefit!

At the end of the day, you wouldn’t buy a car without a test drive, so giving families the opportunity to come and explore the place where they could be starting their child’s education is essential.

We are having an Information Night in November

The Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale is hosting an Information Night on Thursday 7 November from 7.30pm – 8.30pm. It will include everything we’ve mentioned above to give families all the information they need to make the right decision for their children’s early childhood education. If you are a parent considering a centre in Melbourne’s South-East Bayside area, learn more or register to attend the Bonkers Beat Information Night here.

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Enhancing school readiness in everything we do

As the end of the year fast approaches, it is almost time to say goodbye to 2018 and goodbye to many children at our centres who will be heading off to primary school next year. Preparing children for this huge transition and ensuring their school readiness is the best it can be is such a crucial part of our role in early childhood education. With an innovative strategy in place, we can keep enhancing children’s school readiness right through to the end of their early childhood education experience in everything we do!

Boost school readiness through end of year concerts

While the year is almost over, our efforts toward school readiness don’t have to be! In fact, the end of year concerts for your children can be a powerful platform to give children a self-esteem boost and sense of support that will add to their confidence in moving on to school.

Now is the time to plan. Your end of year concert presents an opportunity to add to your efforts in shaping school ready children.

Why? Music concerts can be an amazing exercise in building confidence and self-esteem in children, allowing children to express themselves through music and movement, bringing community and families together and of course celebrate children’s achievements and letting them know how wonderful they are!

Of course, musical concerts and performance are important for children of all ages, and the sooner you harness the power of music for the children in your centre, the better! We even believe that these benefits can be utilised throughout the entire year – by embedding music into daily routines, and singing songs throughout the year, children can enjoy that confidence, self-esteem, sense of belonging and self-expression every day! Not to mention, the preparation for a concert becomes fun and stress-free.

Focusing on school readiness with School Readiness Funding

Now is also the time to look at how you will get the most out of your School Readiness Funding. The Bonkers Beat programs are featured as an evidence-informed option for your centre to give children the skills they need for a smooth, empowered and confident transition to primary school, along with a range of other programs focused on school readiness.

What all the programs on the School Readiness funding menu have in common, including Bonkers Beat programs, is that they address these three priority areas:

  • communication (language development)
  • wellbeing (social and emotional)
  • access and inclusion.

End of year concerts with a purpose

To add to your end of year concert, optimise engagement and give children the maximum enjoyment out of the experience along with the benefits. Involve children in the planning process, talk about themes that are meaningful to them – did everyone have a favourite event or story that can be at the heart of the concert? Will you focus on Christmas or make the event more about a summary of your year? Can you incorporate many cultures into the event to ensure it’s representative of your centre’s families?

Let us know how you are seeing out the year at your centre and share ideas with us on Facebook or through email – we’d love to feature what you’re doing and inspire one another!

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Tips for centres aiming for Excellence

Engagement is something we frequently talk about in early childhood education. Engaging families, parents, communities, children and engaging our educators. Not only does engagement help you on your centre’s path to an Excellent Rating, but engaged educators are happier, more fulfilled and do their very best work in giving children the best start in life.

One very simple strategy you can use to engage educators in your centre is by keeping alive their passion for early childhood education. How? Industry magazines, article recommendations, participation in industry forums and groups and regular professional development are all perfect to get your educators engaged.

Reading high-quality publications like an Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland’s quarterly magazine – ‘Early Edition’, is a simple way to engage educators on a regular basis. Articles in the latest ‘Early Edition’ include ‘The Magic of Nature Play’, ‘5 Top Tips for Settling Infants’ and ‘Toddlers’ Imaginative Play Project’. Send a link to the publication to your educators and encourage them to have a read and stay excited about their important work.

Early Edition tips for Excellent Rating

There is an article about Bonkers Beat in the latest issue of ‘Early Edition’ where you can discover the strategies on how centres can work towards gaining an Excellent Rating. We share our top four tips in the article – read it here.

As the tips for achieving an Excellent Rating are covered in ‘Early Edition’, we won’t go into great detail here, but if you have been wondering what it takes to reach Excellent Rating, these four tips are an honest insight:

1. Music every single day

Music engages the brain and enhances children’s development. It helps your educators to improve children’s social and emotional skills and overall wellbeing.

2. ‘7 Stones’ Philosophy links to the 7 Quality Areas of the NQF

Over many years we have developed the ‘7 Stones’ Philosophy, with each of these pillars of our philosophy directly connected to a quality area of the NQF.

3. Focus on wellbeing

It’s not a buzzword – wellbeing is crucial for development and we do yoga and meditation every day to improve outcomes for children. Resilience, focus, self-esteem – we achieve so much through our daily wellbeing program and it all ties back to the NQF areas.

4. Educational resources to use at home

The fun of our music and wellbeing programs extends to children’s homes through resources for families, such as music books, CDs, yoga cards. The parental engagement is easily achieved, contributing to a higher NQS Rating, but more importantly to giving children the best start in life.

Keep your educators engaged and excited about early childhood

Continue to encourage educators at your centre to read industry publications, participate in online forums and keep their love of early childhood education alive! You can even challenge educators to discuss things they’ve learned through reading and self-learning, or gather a range of articles each month to share with your team via email or in the staff room.

Head over to ‘Early Edition’s latest issue to read our Excellent Rating tips in depth and get a range of actionable suggestions on how you can work towards improving your NQS Rating at your centre.

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Exploring the wonders of Australia in ECE

One of the many amazing things we get to do with the Bonkers Beat programs is travel to visit centres and attend early childhood education events all over Australia. This is a privilege and an honour, and continually reminds us of the importance of embedding a strong sense of connection to this beautiful country we all share.

Just recently Bonkers visited Hervey Bay and Toowoomba in Queensland, and shortly he is headed to Perth for the upcoming ‘7 Stones’ workshop for Owners and Directors on 11 October (reserve your spot here)!

In this week’s blog, we’re going to explore a few ways of how you can incorporate an ongoing exploration of Australia into your curriculum.

Getting close to the local land

We’ve written about our love of Bush Kinder and even had its founder, Doug Fargher as a speaker at one of our Wellness Summits in 2017. Heading outdoors with children is a simple activity that is free and full of benefits. Explore the wonders of the local area’s parks or reserves and find plenty of Australiana to talk about, such as birds, plants, flowers and more. Don’t forget to share with children what you can learn about the traditional landowners and the indigenous name of the land too.

Share adventures

In many centres, we have children travelling with their families, and we always encourage them to share their stories! Is a child in your centre headed on a family holiday to the Gold Coast, Darwin, Sydney – anywhere? Ask them to bring photos or postcards from their trip when they return to allow all children to expand their knowledge about Australia. Some families may even be willing to share photos and adventures as they go via the centre’s private Facebook group so you can keep tabs on the trip with the other children!

Map it out

This one can work well with the previous suggestion as well as be incorporated into many discussions. Keep a big, prominent map of Australia up on the wall and throughout each term or the whole year you can add notes to it. Refer to the map frequently. If a child or educator is on a holiday, make a note on the map! If you’re reading a book that makes reference to a certain region of the country, find it on the map. Children can learn orientation skills and begin to grasp the whereabouts of each state and city of Australia through this map familiarisation – a wonderful skill!

Follow Bonkers’ adventures!

If you’re ever looking for an Australian journey (or international!) to share with children, Bonkers has had plenty of them. Visit our albums on Facebook and show children Bonkers’ journeys in various locations! His passion for exploring Australia is very inspiring!

While you’re on Facebook, we’d love for you to tag us in any Australian activities you get up to and we love to see new ideas too!

As mentioned earlier, Bonkers, Galina and the Bonkers Beat team are off to Perth for the widely celebrated ‘7 Stones’ free hands-on workshop – join us! Tickets are FREE for Owners and Directors and a limited number are available to claim at  www.bonkersbeat.com/7stones

Following Perth, the ‘7 Stones’ workshop is headed to Melbourne (19 October), Gold Coast (7 November) and Sydney (6 December). Jump online to secure your spot!

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Bonkers Beat Success Story Revealed, VIC: Increased Occupancy by 35% in 8 months!

Like countless childcare centres and kindergartens in Australia, Ellina from ‘Smart Oz Kidz’ was feeling the pressure that comes with a low occupancy rate. Struggling to find a way to stand out from the competition, Ellina knew that she had to take action, and that’s when she decided to try the Bonkers Beat programs.

Eight months ago, Ellina’s centre occupancy was sitting at around 60%. Today?

 Since promoting the Bonkers Beat music program at our centre we have reached just over 95% capacity”, says Ellina.

Adding weight to their curriculum, a strong point of difference and a sense of quality programming has appealed to families in the community and things just keep getting better.

In fact, it’s not just occupancy that has improved but the way the entire centre runs. Ellina credits the way the Bonkers Beat content and philosophy links to outcomes for the Early Years Learning Framework and National Quality Framework. Not to mention, the visible benefits for children’s learning.

 Bonkers Beat has enhanced our educator’s approach to programming. The way the Bonkers Beat songs are to the world around us, which gives us great links with our programming and it ties beautifully with the framework”, Ellina explained.

The Bonkers Beat approach has even caught on with parents and families who are now more involved in their children’s early childhood education than ever before.

 Everyone is just so happy to see children going home singing the songs and listening to music together. Parents are now more involved because with the music and the book, they get to explore it together and it’s a family activity. Families are definitely more involved in the child’s learning which is fabulous”, says Ellina.

The broad scope of the benefits the Bonkers Beat programs bring is exciting and inspiring, within the centre and beyond.

 One of our families, their oldest child is learning to play the piano and is now learning to play the Bonkers Beat songs – the whole family is participating which is so fantastic to see! And another child with us who is visually impaired. Well, the Bonkers Beat music has brought about such confidence and joy for him and to see that is just so rewarding and priceless”, shares Ellina.

Could the Bonkers Beat programs help your centre and children to flourish too? YES!

To see the program IN ACTION and gain an insight into how you can tackle your centre’s biggest challenges, claim your FREE TICKET to 7 Stones: Music Kinder in Action: the most practical half-day workshop for centre Owners and Directors.

 

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Bonkers Beat Music Program selected for the School Readiness Funding Menu

School readiness is such a vital element of early childhood education. It is within kindergarten settings that we lay the foundation to build a lifelong love of learning for children. This is why we are so excited and honoured that Bonkers Beat Music Program has been selected for the School Readiness Funding Menu!

What is School Readiness Funding?

The School Readiness Funding is a Department of Education and Training initiative in Victoria, giving all services with a funded kindergarten program across the state the opportunity to access funding for programs proven to enhance school readiness.

And Bonkers Beat Music Program has been chosen to feature in the menu!

According to the SRF website, the menu includes evidence-informed programs and supports that address the three priority areas for school readiness funding:

  • communication (language development)
  • wellbeing (social and emotional)
  • access and inclusion.

To find out when your kindergarten’s school readiness funding kicks in, take a look here.

Bonkers Beat recognised for developing school readiness

To be recognised for the amazing positive impact Bonkers Beat programs have on children as they make their way toward primary school is an honour — especially to be selected alongside a number of other reputable and inspiring organisations such as Kidsmatter, Yarn Strong Sista and so many more.

You can view the whole School Readiness funding menu here.

If you’re a Victorian kindergarten, this funding creates an exciting opportunity for you to invest in the quality of the early childhood education you offer, enhancing the outcomes for children, families, communities and your centre. In fact, no matter where you’re based, the very existence of this funding is a timely reminder of how essential school readiness is for the children in our care.

Explore the Bonkers Beat programs and discover for yourself just how effective they are in helping you give children the very best start in life: EarlyChildhoodEducationalPrograms.com.au

Spending your funding

The School Readiness funding menu is where all services in Victoria with funded kindergarten programs will spend most of their funding. This menu enables services to ensure they are accessing programs that have been validated for their effectiveness in supporting children’s development across those three vital areas of communication, wellbeing and inclusion.

When considering how to spend your School Readiness funding, assess what your service’s particular needs are and what will be the best fit for you.

It’s worth noting that the menu is available to all services, not just those receiving the funding. So, when you’re looking for programs and support to bolster your childcare service, this program menu is a useful tool to know that your choice is evidence-informed and supported by the department.

To discover more about the Bonkers Beat Programs, visit EarlyChildhoodEducationalPrograms.com.au

 

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Being an active member of the Early Childhood Education Industry

We all know how busy life is, meaning that leisure activities like reading books and magazines don’t often get prioritised. Thankfully, an exceptional early childhood industry publication means you can enjoy reading while also squeezing in some professional development!

Belonging Early Years Journal is a publication that is well worth taking the time to read – and we’re thrilled to be included in the latest issue! You’ll find featured across pages 20-23 covering all that you might be interested in about achieving an Excellent Rating.

The Belonging Early Years Journal is packed full of quality, engaging material for educators of all levels. If you are able to find the time to read an industry publication, make sure you take note of these interesting pieces in the Belonging Early Years Journal:

President’s Report on Page 4; The Importance of Teaching Gratitude on Page 12; and Teaching Children With ASD in Early Learning on Page 30.

Owners and directors, you may find the article Master Your Marketing in 2018 (Page 40) of particular interest – perfect to help you up your marketing game and shine among the competition in your area.

The full issue is here: http://belongingearlyyearsjournal.realviewdigital.com/

A new way to connect with other Centre Owners and Directors

During the 2018 ACA Victoria Conference, we met many Centre Owners and Directors and many spoke to us about their challenges. The common thread – owners and directors are always looking for support and keen to support each other.

These conversations inspired us to create a new Facebook Group specifically for Early Childhood Centre Owners. So, if you are a Centre Owner and would like to connect with like-minded people, get inspirations and practical tools, join our new Facebook Group – Early Childhood Centre Owners Connect.

We’d love you to be part of this supportive community, so join us here and join the conversation! Together we can achieve so much more.

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Saying THANKS on Early Childhood Educators Day!

As a career, early childhood education roles often do not receive the recognition and respect they deserve. The early childhood profession is one of the most important and the work the educators do is invaluable. Next Wednesday 5 September is Early Childhood Educators Day and we encourage you to consider taking the time to acknowledge the amazing educators in your life.

The work of early childhood educators is meaningful and vital for families. Parents choose to trust educators with their precious children and educators take great pride in ensuring the children in their care are getting the best start in life.

Educators also do so much to make parents and families feel special. Beautiful crafty creations for special occasions, new songs children go home singing and wonderful memories to last a lifetime.

So, how are you going to say thank you? We think early childhood educators deserve to know just how amazing they are, and Early Childhood Educators Day is the perfect time! These children have some ideas:

The Early Childhood Educators Day website has more ideas for families and children to explore how they could ‘say thank you’: https://earlychildhoodeducatorsday.org.au/families

Centres might like to explore ways to acknowledge the day too with these ideas. Even a wall or tree of thanks can be a simple but thoughtful gesture to allow families to write a note of appreciation to educators when they come and go from the centre over the coming week.

We would love to see your Early Childhood Educators Day celebrations. Please share with us via Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing facebook page your ideas, or even use the official hashtag #EarlyChildhoodEducatorsDay so we can all explore the festivities around this occasion.

 

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What’s your favourite childhood book?

Book Week is coming up from 18 – 24 August, bringing the perfect time to focus on the incredible benefits and positive impact of books and reading on people young and old.

A special childhood book can be a beacon of joy throughout your entire life. Think about your own early years and you can probably recall one or more books that have stuck with you ever since. To celebrate Book Week, why not get educators to share a favourite childhood book with children at your centre?

Three reasons we love reading

1. Literacy is vital

Learning to read and developing reading comprehension are essential skills for life. If you can encourage a love of reading and books in children, you are giving them one of the most valuable tools possible.

2. Reading benefits other areas, like numeracy

Researchers found that reading provides benefits to a child’s overall education, not just literacy. Even formal tests showed higher scores for children who were read to more often at age 4 and 5, including improvements in numeracy!

3. Books are full of knowledge

Reading books doesn’t just improve your ability to read — books are full of knowledge and facts that enable children to learn just about everything! In fact, for a child who isn’t overly interested in books, start with books on their favourite subject to spark their interest.

Three books with a positive message

If you need some extra inspiration for new books to try in your centre, here are just five that are not only a great read but also have a really positive message embedded within them:

The Way We Have Fun: This book isn’t just about a family holiday — it tells the story of a family who takes off on a family trip armed with devices like smartphones tablets and laptops. But only when these ‘essentials’ go missing do they realise where the real fun is!

The Rainbow Fish: A beautifully illustrated story that takes the reader on a journey to discover the true meaning of beauty and friendship.

Little People, Big Dreams: This series of books takes you through the stories of the lives of some of the world’s most amazing and inspiring people, such as Marie Curie or Mother Theresa. Educational and full of inspiration!

Make Book Week a time for your centre to focus on the importance of literacy and the magic of reading for children and adults alike!

We look forward to finding out more about your favourite books, so share them with us on our Facebook page.

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Reasons to get outdoors even when it’s cold and rainy

When winter just starts to seem too chilly to bear, a tropical getaway is a must… Of course, that isn’t always possible so for most of us we need to find other ways to warm up!

Parents and educators alike can relate to the challenge of keeping children entertained, engaged and warm in the winter months. Rainy days, in particular, can leave educators and parents feeling frustrated – not to mention children, most of whom love to run around outside!

Thankfully, avoiding heading outside when it’s cold and rainy is unnecessary! As we like to say, there is no bad weather, just bad clothing! In fact, spending too much time indoors is how many coughs and colds are spread throughout winter. Get your gumboots, coats, scarves, gloves and beanies and get outside!

Here are a few reasons why spending time outside (even in winter) is a great idea:

1. Mood booster

The winter blues is a real thing and is often attributed to the increased time spent indoors which translates to less exposure to natural light and vitamin D.

2. Fresh air

Fresh air and getting amongst nature can give your immune system a much-needed boost. Flush out your airways with some cool, crisp winter air and reap the rewards. In fact, babies in Sweden are almost always bundled up for naptime outdoors to gain the benefits of the fresh air!

3. Get moving

It’s no secret that we tend to be more active outdoors, and that goes for children and adults. With more room to move, getting outside means more physical activity which will benefit your health and mood right away.

An outlet for indoors

If the weather really is too severe to brave the outdoors, there are plenty of ways to get active and boost children’s overall wellbeing while indoors.

Daily yoga practice is something we do at Bonkers Beat daily, and it can be enjoyed indoors or outside. If you’re not sure about how to do yoga with children, start by checking out our Yoga Cards, designed especially for children with simple instructions and engaging illustrations.

Want an effective release for children’s energy while inside? Turn the music up! Get moving to your Bonkers Beat music CDs or any music that children enjoy! Music and dancing enable self-expression, a physical outlet for emotions and is just good fun! Take a look in the Bonkers Beat shop here.

 

 

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