End of Term  When is that?

We are open at kinder tomorrow Monday March 23.

School Holidays
At this time, we have not received the same advice from the Department of Education and Training (DET) as primary and secondary schools in terms of closures and extra days off due to coronavrius. So at this point, we are in session until school holidays at the end of this week.  

We understand that school holidays start on Tuesday March 24 for primary and secondary school students but it is unclear if this will include the early years sector. We are seeking clarification from the Victorian Government through peak bodies and the union so we can best inform you. We apologise for any confusion, but this is the information as it stands this evening and we have spent the weekend watching and reading any state or federal updates for early years.

We then are due for two week's school holidays to return on Tuesday April 14. 

Notifications and Updates
We will ensure that we keep families as up to date as possible. We will circulate any new information through email, kidsapp and on Facebook. We do have a staff member on facebook and committee members but mostly we are contactable by email over closure times on diamond.creek.memorial.kin@kindergarten.vic.gov.au or on the kinder mobile 0447 099 055.

Absences
We do ask that you let us know if you will be away in any capacity but especially if you, your child or close contact has been diagnosed with coronavirus, as we are mandated to record and report such a diagnosis with the department. This would also immediately impact our ability to stay open.

Social Distancing
We will continue on with increased and heightened health and safety procedures and wherever possible we will encourage social distancing especially between adults. We will continue to discuss and practice handwashing with children and how germs can be spread careful not to increase stress or add anxiety.
 
The Joy of Childhood and Learning
We will be releasing an end of term newsletter celebrating the wonderful term of fun, play, development, wonder and learning. Thank you for entrusting your children to us. We have had a wonderful term in both 3 and 4 year old curriculum and during such times as this, children are (and remind us to be) happy, warm, caring and full of joy.... ,and because of this, our work is just that... joyful!
 
Many thanks, happy holidays when they come and stay safe,
 
The Educating Team

 
 

Health Policy and Procedure Update- Coronavirus 

We have been promoting germ awareness with children and focusing on infection control. Practically we have been focusing on coughing into their elbow, washing hands before eating or cooking, after coughing, toileting or blowing their nose. Washing hands with soap while singing happy birthday is the norm. Our soap is from Trinature so kind to hands but effective.

All of these measure are also role modelled by all educators.

Cooking with children is and has always been quite tight at kinder as staff use food safety measures and children learn quickly to not lick their fingers and equipment as they are then sent to rewash their hands.

We have increased hand washing with children and we will ask you help us to ensure all children wash their hands before kinder sessions commence, bit like sunscreen application on arrival.

We are also increasing cleaning and infection control throughout the service including washing down door handles, taps, more frequent toilet cleaning (both indoors and downstairs) which includes toilet buttons and iPad screens.

We encourage families to feel free to use our hand washing amenities in the bathrooms with paper towel drying and/or hand sanitiser in the foyer.

As part of new procedures and because we use an iPad for attendance, we will be signing all children in and out until at least the end of the term. Please ensure that the educator with the iPad has seen you on arrival and pick up.
 
If children become unwell during the day, they will, as usual, be sent home and we need to ensure families contact us if a child has any illness. You can do this with Kidsapp and then receive a confirmation from us that we have seen the message. If you do not have kidaapp up and running, please see Bron and she will reset your password (you have a 15 minute window) so you can access your account. 

We are in constant contact with the Department (DET) and we will use Kidsapp if we need to notify families of a closure which is unlikely at this time but we are receiving updates from the department almost daily.

If you have been in contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus or your child or member of the family has been diagnosed with coronavirus, please let us know as soon as possible. We are mandated to notify the Departments of Education and Training and Health and Human Services.

FInally on a lighter note, our philosophy and policy of playing and learning outdoors everyday mean we can escape the close quarters on indoors, grant some more space between children and soak up some fresh air and sunshine.  Like in Ireland... appropriate social separating... thank goodness for a large garden.