Newsletter 04.12.

14

Parents want to support Staff as

their conditions are currently
under review
Parents are prepared to pay for
the quality of education offered
here
Parents understand that we drive
Government goals for Nutrition
and Movement in setting up
young children with healthy lifelong attitudes and skills

Hello to our families

At this exciting time of year of
Christmas, we are aware of others, we
think of giving, of being empathic, and
we are aware of deep gratitude for all
that we have. We celebrate
achievements and cant help but note
huge development in our children.
Congratulations to everyone who helped
to make the Christmas Celebrations this
week so wonderful.
Thank you for coming along and sharing
this time with us all.
Thankyou to all our Board Members,
Parents and Staff for engaging in a
planning process over recent months.
We end the year on a very positive note
and are making an exciting innovation
into next year. Well done!
Parent Meeting Thursday 27.11.14
Feedback was presented re the Preschool
will have three Staff working on Class
each morning once Enrolment is
complete in 2014. (The children feed in
slowly so as to maintain a calm tone in
the Learning Environment of a
Montessori Centre.)
Information was given that at this point
as per draughtsman Steve Edgars feedback, any extension was problematic.
Parents are open to ideas of how to
sustain this model of education in
Tamworth.
Parents spoke positively re this Preschool
valuing quality in early childhood
education
valuing the well-trained Staff
valuing the individual
opportunity for their child
how happy they are with the care
and attention
the learning offered
the friendly, community tone of
Tamworth Montessori Preschool
Newsletter 04.12.14

Staff
Staff use Staff Meetings to (among many
other tasks) continue to work through
important documentation in relation to
their Legal Responsibilities, Policies and
Procedures. This is dynamic with Staff
developing templates and continuously
tweaking systems. Staff are becoming
text savvy and work hard.
Thursday Friday Children
We have been discussing environmental
issues such as water re-cycling and
water saving and what the children are
going to do at Preschool to achieve this e
g re-cycle bins and not playing with
water in the sand.
There have been lots of parent visitors:
Jelka has brought Bella the dog; Anthea,
Dory the hen and her chicks; Alyssa has
helped us make pasta; we look forward
to Bindi leading us in active games. It is
good to see the healthy lunchboxes. A
reminder that clothing must cover the
tops of the arms to be sun-safe and
within our Sun Policy. No thongs please
safety in gym work is paramount.
Robinson Crusoe is a big hit. Many
thanks Wendy.
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Children
The wheat continues to be harvested,
husked and ground. We recently enjoyed
pikelets made from the flour. We have
been developing an awareness of
drinking lots of water through the day in
recent hot weather. We have enjoyed
delicious frozen fruit pieces on sticks to
help cool us off.
All the children
are working hard on lots of activities
and have enjoyed preparing for the
Christmas Concert. `My Country and
`Deep in the Forrest are very exciting.
The fish tank is happily back in operation
with a serious pump. We would love a
family to take the fish over the break.

Outside and inside, gross motor work is

available at most times through the day.
The children drive this e g they may be
using the trampoline, they may be
scrubbing a chair or a table or they
might be sitting on a mat on the floor
with a settled activity.
Support their being active by checking
out

childrens lunches. We have healthy

foods from different cultures. Check out
`Vegies serve em up on the website
http://www.goodforkids.nsw.gov.au/Parents or
follow the links through our
websitehttp://www.tamworthmontessori.nsw.edu.
au/nutrition-and-physical-activity.html

Australian Guidelines for screen

time:
Australias Physical Activity
Recommendations: 5-18 y.o accumulate
no more than 2 hours of screen time a
day for entertainment (excluding
educational purposes)11.
Guidelines for children under five
recommend children younger than 2
years do not spend anytime viewing TV
or other electronic media and for
children 2-5 years less than 1 hour per
day.

http://www.goodforkids.nsw.gov.au/Pare
nts/Get_Active
The varied gymnastic skills are being
finely tuned under Chris trained eye e g
different throws into the soccer net. Ask
about the game the children invented
along with Christensoc! Many children
carry their own weight across the
overhead ladder and all enjoy belly
crawling. All these skills and many more
are essential to strong co-ordination,
strength and flexibility as the children
grow and develop.

Sedentary Behaviour Recommendations

Parents helping: thankyou to so many

families for a host of different jobs this
year. We have had some generous
donations and are very grateful to these
families. Thankyou to Fiona for keeping
up with a list of jobs being signed off on
and willing parents always at the ready.
If you forget to mark that you have
completed a job (Job cards) you may well
be billed for now having participated. So
do remember to complete the Job Card.
Our website continues to have new
information and links thanks to Zamelas
dedication. (see below)
Healthy Eating Policy: please remember
this as we actively monitor that children
are being offered plain, healthy foods
without lots of colours and numbers. We
are very proud of the enormous effort
families put into healthy nutrition for the

Children younger than 2 years of

age should not spend any time watching
television or using other electronic
media (DVDs, computer and other
electronic games).

For Children 2 to 5 years of age,

sitting and watching television and the
use of other electronic media (DVDs,
computer and other electronic games)
should be limited to less than one hour
per day.
Infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers (all
children birth to 5 years) should not be
sedentary, restrained, or kept inactive,
for more than one hour at a time, with
the exception of sleeping.
We sprouted wheat seeds, grew a wheat crop
harvested, milled and eaten pikelets and pasta
made from the flour

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-phys-actguidelines
http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/bf5f3e0045d0b6eda24fae9f9859b7b1/OPALscreenfactsheet accessed
4.12.14

We also just wanted to pass on a special

Thank You to all our families for donating
a present for those children in need at
the Christmas function. The Salvation
Army are preparing their largest number
of hampers/presents ever and really
appreciate the assistance we were able
to provide. Well done everyone!

From Jo in the Office: Another busy year

has almost passed by. Thank you to all of
our families whom are contributing, very
few participation fees are now being
charged, which is great it means that we
are all working as a team.
There are still some fees outstanding, If
you have not yet cleared all fees for the
year please send me an email to advise
when you will be able to make finals
payments by 8 December. Email:
admin.tammont@westnet.com.au
Thank you

Newsletter 04.12.14

The child seeks for independence by means of work; an independence of body and mind. (The Absorbent
Mind, Chapter 8, p. 91)