Return to Kinder week starting Monday May 25th 

Restarting Term 2... 

In line with the advice from the Department of Education and Training (DET), we continue to be open but invite families who have chosen to stay at home to rethink if they would like their children to return to kinder in Term 2. Please note there will be no charge except for extended hours on Thursdays.

Life at kinder is certainly different especially at the beginning and end of sessions. This cannot change at this point as we need to follow guidelines in terms of social distancing, hand hygiene and cleaning due to coronavrius. Below there are a number of new procedures that we ask parents to become familiar with.

We also ask families to please email us by Monday May 18 at diamond.creek.memorial.kin@kindergarten.vic.gov.au as to whether you think your child will return in Term 2 so we can organise staffing as not all staff are back at kinder and also to permit us time to group families together for staggered starts and pickups. Families will be assigned a group we receive attendance feedback and will be sent a follow up email.


  Session information for the remainder of Term 2
Preschool- 
Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays staggered starts and collection
Group 1- 9.15am to 2.00pm
Group 2- 9.25am to 2.10pm
Group 3- 9.30am to 2.15pm (with extended hours on offer on Thursdays)

3 year old-  Simone and Bron
Wednesdays only is available for all 3yo children regardless of any booking, you just need to confirm you would like to attend. Hours may extend as we reflect with you on how children are settling.
Group 1- 9.10am to 12.10pm
Group 2- 9.20am to 12.20pm

These times may change, but we certainly hope to return to our usual timetable in Term 3.


     Social Distancing
We will continue to encourage social distancing especially between adults. This means we will need to limit adults in our kinder space and children are required to be dropped and collected at the front door of kinder. This has been working very well for children attending.
Children bring in their backs and unpack their lunch and drink bottles, wash their hands and then engage in play with friends. We will do this 10 families at a time and we ask families to meet with their child on a drawing on the footpath. We mix the pictures up and it usually links to curriculum and what has been going on inside kinder. 

If your family is in Group 2 or 3, we ask you to wait with your child in the carpark which will be free of cars and the chain will be across. We cannot have families lining up on the side of the busy road. 
Educators are super organised inside supporting children,  but please adhere to your times so we can continue to meet guidelines and keep everyone safe including limiting the time you need to stay with you child in the carpark.  

Pick up is the same and we ask families to find a picture (1.5m part) and we will bring children to you with bag packed and cleanly washed hands. Please note that we try to ensure some social distancing during session like chairs being further apart, staggered mealtimes, mats for children to sit on to ensure distance if we have group times and children have been amazing especially with health and hand hygiene. We role model and remind children, but they are very young and inevitably there are the occasional hugs, closeness when building, when checking a painting, when problem solving. Cleaning has been intensified but children are social. We also endeavour to spread children as far as we can by offering indoor/outdoor curriculum, with the deck always open, open blinds for side matting access so using every area we can. We hope to be able to go out and about when guidelines permit. 


  Family Curriculum Communication and Celebrating Learning
Educators have been very busy ensuring there are updates of children's learning and play from throughout the day pinned to outdoor cork boards for all families to see. Please take a moment to have a look. 

We will make the whole book available at some point and are working on the best way to do this to ensure everyone has access. Stay tuned for this but keep an eye out for the boards out the front.

If families need to collect children early, please call us and we will ensure your little person is ready and bring them to the door.


 Absences and Illness
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.

If children become ill during the day, as with usual policy, we will contact you. If there are any coronavirus general symptoms, we will contact you and will need to isolate suspected cases which will occur in the front foyer. Families will receive a flyer if you choose to bring your child back to kinder in term 2 with more details of procedures. All families with children in attendance have received this comprehensive information. 

 
 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  on diamond.creek.memorial.kin@kindergarten.vic.gov.au or on the kinder mobile 0447 099 055.

 
Many thanks for your support, understanding and words of support during this time. Our educating team is very small, smaller than usual and they have been working really hard to ensure we can have all our wonderful little people back with us as soon as possible. 

Please feel free to contact us with questions and enjoy the weekend sunshine.
 
The Educating Team