What George has to say about play

feeding a small child: what has worked for me by Mother Who

As we prepare to plunge into introducing food to our second child, the Pixie, I am reminiscing about Birdie’s food journey. I’ve been wondering if there is anything we need to change this time around, which foods first, prepared how and so on.
From her first ever mouthful pictured above to now, nearly 3, I have to say she has been a pretty fantastical eater. She’s good. Yes there are foods she doesn’t like. Yes sometimes she doesn’t want to eat and then complains fifteen minutes later that she’s huunggg-wwwyyy!!! But on the whole, she eats. And she eats well.

Read about:
Why her Mum was amazed
No sugar
Persist
Learn about your child’s eating habits
Get the veg in!
and more at Mother Who

Investment in early childhood is the most valuable investment a society can make.

 

We now have a different Prime Minister. One who is obviously a proud father, whose wife has years of experience as a director of a community based occasional care centre, and one who is committed to red tape reduction, including the so called red tape in our sector contained in the National Quality Framework. 

So what lies ahead? 

A New Minister

We will not know who will be the Minister responsible for early education/childcare until later on in the week.

A Productivity Commission Review

In a 'Letter to the People of Australia' published in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, Prime Minister Abbott listed this as his third priority after removing the carbon tax and 'stopping the boats'. He said "improving access to child care is both a social and economic imperative." The Productivity Commission is to review and report by September 7, 2014.

Our sector needs to become familiar with the proposed terms of reference for the Review and consider ways to ensure we deliver consistent messages to the Review. 

• Read the Terms of Reference here.

This information is thanks to Shortside, the newsletter of Community Child Care Co-operative - a not-for-profit organisation established in 1978 to promote, support and advocate for early education and care services.

If you would like to receive the Shortside newsletter you can subscribe here.

Affordable, high-quality Early Childhood Education and Care

What countries have free early childhood education and care?

In a majority of OECD* countries,

at least one year of ECE is offered for free.

 

 

 Many countries have started to offer free Early Childhood Education services to certain age groups, usually one or two years before the start of compulsory schooling. For example, the Netherlands provides free ECE for 4 and 5 year-olds, and in England and Scotland it is free for 3- and 4-year-olds. Some countries have extended this right to cover younger children as well: France, Israel, Mexico, Portugal and Sweden provide free ECEC or ECE to all 3 to 6-year-olds.

 

Early childhood education (ECE) covers all forms of organised and sustained centre-based activities – such as pre‑schools, kindergartens and day-care centres – designed to foster learning and emotional and social development in children. These programmes are generally offered to children from the age of three.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) encompasses all forms of ECE and ECC services under an integrated system, which provides integrated pedagogical settings covering age zero or one to compulsory schooling age.

 

from Education Indicators in Focus from OECD (pdf)

 

See Facts and Figures about Early Childhood Education in Australia

* OECD countries are countries in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Counties include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, France, Japan, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.

 

 

Join in this week with these link ups and give aways

The Weekly Kids Co-Op featured the best kids' activities of the week from the best blogs on the 'net! Link up your kid-friendly posts to have them featured on over 15 awesome blogs.

WIN: A $50 voucher to spend at Story Mama- online children’s bookstore

 

Book give away: Ready for Kindergarten by Deborah Stewart

 

 

Link up your play ideas at Learn with Play at home

 

 

 

Indigenous Literacy Day: September 4th

One school excited about Indigenous Literacy Day is travelling over 3,000km from the Spinifex Country to Sydney to be part of the national celebration. A small group of students and teachers from Tjuntjuntjara Remote Community School have a lengthy journey ahead of them on Sunday, a 700km drive through the desert to Uluru before boarding a plane and then a 3-hour flight to Sydney.  The Indigenous children from Tjuntjuntjara are eagerly anticipating their week long stay in Sydney. For many of them, this will be their first experience of a big city.
The highlight of the trip will be on 4 September when the students take part in the Indigenous Literacy Day event at the Opera House. They will be performing a song they wrote about the book How Does Your Garden Grow? which was published by our Foundation at the start of this year. With the support of our ambassadors, the children will also share stories of their experiences, knowledge, interest and love of their community garden. Please visit the site to see more: Indigenous Literacy Foundation

Image and article from Indigenous Literacy Foundation

Bookoola Ink resources for early childhood

Thank you everyone for entering the competition for the 5 fabulous EYLF posters.
Congratulation to our winner:
Kristy (who has been contacted by email)

Thankyou to www.bookoola.com.au who make and sell these great resources. They have offered a $5 discount to everyone who entered! Just use the code 5OFFER, to receive $5 off any Bookoola Ink order. This discount code will be valid until the end of September. You can purchase any of their great resources.

 

Another of the great posters sets from Bookoola