From our Educational Leaders

Message from the Ed leaders:

After the DET tightened their requirements relating to children going offsite (Excursions) We ceased our community outings to ensure our offsite program met these requirements. This coming term we are excited to resume our beach discovery and garden programs for Platypus, Kinder 3 and Preschool; getting back to providing rich learning experiences ‘in’, ‘out’ and ‘beyond’ the centre provides opportunities to build authentic connections, understandings and relationships with the local environment and community.

What has changed?

• Families must give written consent when their child is to engage in an offsite excursion each term
• Excursion Dates – eg: Term three 15th July – 20th Sept
• The day(s) the child is going offsite – eg: Every Monday
• Families must know what time and for how long their child is offsite eg: 9.30am – 12.00 noon
• Families must be notified if their child does not attend – By text or call
• The excursion location must be specific – This means no more 2-3 KM zones
• The risk assessment radius is very specific each term – no longer including spontaneous exploration
• If a child arrives late and misses their beach session they can no longer go on another day. They are required to wait until their next scheduled day
• If I child refuses to attend – another child is not able to take their day
• If a child refuses to attend and remains onsite – the family must be notified by SMS or phone
• There must now be only 1 specific route to the Beach disc location – see risk assessment
• If there are any changes to child, time, dates, day, beach location or group in any way all new documentation is required
• If any changes are made (listed above) – A new risk assessment is required.

Moving forward: We will now shift our focus to developing offsite excursions for the Bandicoot, Bilby and Koala Groups. We hope to have all teams out in the community by September 2024! 

We appreciate all families being patient and understanding during this change.

We look forward to seeing you out in the community.