1

June 2020

Welcome

It has been a particularly challenging time for

many of us as we move forward with changes

to our physical environments, social support

systems, workplaces and education. Our

mental wellbeing is really being tested this

year.

It is important we watch for signs of anxiety

and stress in ourselves, our partners and our

children. Taking some “me” time is important.

Allowing yourself and your family to do

something that brings joy is a great way to

reduce stress.

It’s always best to talk to someone sooner

rather than later. We can connect you with a

range of helpful resources, and our educators

can offer great ideas and links to services who

specialise in offering assistance to families.

I would like to send a huge shout out to our

educators and staff who have been a fantastic

support to families with high quality education

and care, setting an exceptional standard in

health and hygiene practice during this

unforeseen pandemic.

I also want to thank all of our families for their

patience and understanding as we implement

new changes to our drop off and pick up

routines. We are pleased to advise the

children's routines and daily activities are

continuing mostly uninterrupted, with the

exception to our routine outings.

We have just started to venture back out to

places we can explore and play in and will

incorporate community activities when the

time is right.

As most of our families may know, child care is

"free" until 28 June 2020. During this time, we

strongly encourage all families to ensure fee

payments are up to date.

I would like to extend my personal gratitude to

our families for continuing to keep children

enrolled. Now more than ever we need your

support to ensure we can continue to provide

high quality child care.

We can't wait to see the children and parents

who have been isolating at home in this period,

however parents are welcome to return to our

services whenever they feel comfortable. If you

would like tips or ideas for educational activities

kids can do at home, please do not hesitate to

speak to your child's educator for further

information.

Louise Hatton

Coordinator, Children and Family Services.

Pennie’s say

A friendly reminder to parents, we encourage

you to stay enrolled with our service by

booking Term Two After School Care, even if

children are not ready to attend yet.

2

Childcare is free until 28 June 2020, allowing for

unlimited absences. By staying enrolled you will

keep Child Care Subsidy arrangements with

Centrelink and our service active. All Child Care

Subsidy processes remain the same during

COVID-19.

Pennie Clarke

Finance and Administration Officer

Moruya OOSH kids’ news

Well what a year we have had so far! We

haven’t had the best start for 2020, so let’s hope

the rest of the year goes a bit more smoothly!

A big thank you to our casual staff who stepped

in to run our service while Selena and I were on

leave and a big thank you to all our families who

have been wonderful during the unpredictable

COVID-19 situation. It is has been a very scary

time so we all deserve a pat on the back for

handling it so well.

Selena and I are back on deck now and we look

forward to seeing our regular Mooshies in

attendance very soon.

We hope the next school holidays will be better

as restrictions ease, keeping in mind we all need

to stay safe. We will continue to follow the set

guidelines, thoroughly washing our hands and

keeping sanitiser nearby.

We have a fun and active program planned for

the July holidays so we hope to see you all back

for OOSHIE good times.

Please remember to label all of your children’s

items, as although we do try to keep everything

together we tend to end up with lots of lost

property each vacation care period.

Tracie and Selena and the MOOSH kids

MOOSH Supervisor/Assistant Supervisor

Narooma OOSH kids’ news

Our April holidays were different to say the least!

We welcomed a new educator, Ceda whose

energy and enthusiasm is greatly appreciated by

the children.

To make the most of the lovely Autumn sun, we

stepped outdoors to play on the ‘Big Kids’

Equipment’ and wheelie boards and challenged

each other to friendly games of badminton and

cricket.

The arts and craft table was a hive of activity

with our creative kids producing impressive

work. The children learnt scrapbooking skills,

marbling techniques and made drink coasters

using tiles.

We had a ball with balloons, built interesting

vehicles using our new Mobilo made little

treasures with our favourite ‘beados’.

The highlight of the holidays was the delivery of

some much needed sand for our sand pit. A

3

The truck missing the sand pit when dumping

resulted in great excitement, but also a great

deal of shoveling to move the sand back into the

sand pit! Once finished the children were keen

for a play and spent hours enjoying their new

sandpit. They even managed to incorporate a

cubby with a roof made from a gym mat.

Narooma OOSH kids’ news

Although it has been a quiet start to Term Two,

we continue to have fun at NOOSH. We hope

everyone is keeping well during this challenging

time and look forward to seeing the children as

they return to school.

Please give us a call if you have any questions or

concerns.

Donna and Cathie and the NOOSH Kids

NOOSH Supervisor/Assistant Supervisor

Batemans Bay OOSH kids’ news

Well what a crazy time we are in! But that hasn’t

stopped us BOOSHIES from having some FUN!

Last term we put a call out for donations of

larger ticket items, which Kmart Batemans Bay

answered with a whopping $1,000 gift card! Let’s

just say Mouse had the best time shopping.

Three trollies later, we have floor mats, a doll-

house, a kitchen, sporting equipment and much

more to play with. Thank you to Kmart for your

kind donation. It has definitely helped us to feel

at “home” again.

The last few weeks, have been very quiet. We

have focused on spending quality time with our

essential OOSHIES while missing the many of our

usual smiling faces. We are counting down the

days until we can see you all again. Please keep

up the handwashing and sanitizing so you can

stay healthy.

Just before lockdown we sadly said goodbye to

Danny, who moved on to bigger (but not better!)

things. What could be better than the awesome

OOSHIES? Nevertheless, every departure

deserves a goodbye party with plenty of games

and laughs. We wish Danny all the best and

remind him our door is always open for a visit

and a chance to defend his UNO championship

title!

4

During our last vacation care break we gained a

few new faces. One of our new faces, Austen

even brought his cute, fluffy rabbit Oreo along

for the day. The kids loved every minute!

The kids also made some beautiful craft to

commemorate ANZAC Day because although we

couldn’t watch a march or join a public

ceremony, we wanted to make sure they are and

always will be remembered.

Hope to see you all really soon.

Melinda and Robyn and the BOOSH kids

BOOSH Supervisor/Assistant Supervisor

Family Day Care news about town

Family Day Care Week recognises and promotes

the important role Family Day Care Educators and

services play in the development and wellbeing of

children. Although we weren’t able to get together

we celebrated the week by taking part in online

family fun activities via video links, including

storytime and craft making workshops.

Our service also recognised our wonderful

Educators by delivering surprise packs to them

and posting their profiles on our new Facebook

page.

Educators continue to care for children through

COVID-19 restrictions and keep in contact with

their coordinators with regular phone calls, emails

and chats to ensure they remain up-to-date and

feel supported.

Follow Eurobodalla Children’s Services on

Facebook

Six ideas to have fun in isolation

1. Put your favourite music on and dance! Sign up to ‘Dance for sick kids’ and take on the challenge to dance every day while raising funds to support seriously ill children and their families.

2. Host a home cinema party from your lounge room. Stock up on lollies and popcorn, make your own movie tickets and get cozy on the couch to watch your favourite DVD.

5

3. If you love camping, why not pitch a tent in

the backyard? Grab a sleeping bag and have fun making memories.

4. Make a ‘pantry popcorn mix’ for your home

cinema or family camping night. It’s so easy the kids can pretty much make it themselves, with little supervision. Recipe ideas include popcorn, pretzels, Tiny Teddies, dried cranberries or sultanas, Cheerios or a hand full of M&M’s.

5. Challenge your family with a scavenger hunt.

See who can be the first to find an entire list of items from around the house and garden.

6. Grab a picnic rug, your favourite book and

find a nice shady spot in the garden for storytime outdoors.

Out top tip

If you are looking for advice for maintaining health and wellbeing, we came across this great online resource we’d like to share with you:

Cancer Council Wellness Kit

Jessica and Natalie

Child Development Officers, Children’s Services

Family Day Care Educator Spotlight

Belinda Morris - Malua Bay

At Bush Explorers Family Day Care we have

enjoyed exploring Belinda's property, learning

about all about the dam and the animals that

live in it.

We have loved riding the bikes down the hill

each day and learning all about the importance

of wearing a safety helmet when riding,

watching out for others and giving way.

6

We all enjoy camping holidays, but haven’t ac-

tually been able to go so instead we have been

play camping in tents and making pretend

camp fires.

Each week we visited the beach to enjoy

exploring the natural environment of sand and

rocks. We made sandcastles, learned how to

write our names and words in the sand and

had running races on the beach, improving our

gross motor skills.

We were also able to keep in contact with our

playgroup friends and other friends in isolation

chatting through Facebook and Zoom.

3Bs playgroup news

Teddy Bear Hunt

You may have you noticed teddy bears sitting in the

windows of local businesses, the libraries, on

porches, in trees and public places. You can hunt for

teddy bears and other stuffed animals hiding

around Eurobodalla in the Teddy Bear Hunt.

See how many you can find by heading out on a

walk or drive with your family. Tania from the local

‘Eurobodalla Rocks’ group says this scavenger hunt

is a great way to have fun while social distancing

and encourages families to get involved by sharing

their teddy bear sightings on the Eurobodalla Rocks

Facebook page.

Facebook

With the launch of the new Eurobodalla Children’s

Services Facebook page we are now able to provide

a range of videos to support families with play-

based learning activities at home. We have learnt a

whole set of new skills producing videos to share.

7

As you can see in the photo below, there’s

quite a lot of work involved in shooting, editing

and loading a three minute video with a

professional look. It was certainly surprising to

me!

We prepared videos demonstrating how to

make an Easter hat, cloud playdough and a

Mother’s Day surprise for mum. We also

shared eight fun activities for families with

young children while home-schooling.

We chose these activities as they are easy to do

from home using everyday household items.

The number of views comments posted to our

Facebook page gave us the impression these

videos were very popular with our followers.

We sent out special resource packs to families,

just in time for Mother’s Day. Each pack

included a present and card for children to

decorate for Mum. As part of our We Care

Project we put in an extra card to send to a

local aged care resident. The aged care facilities

were delighted to be involved.

Virtual playgroups

Our Playstrong Playgroups now deliver online

playgroup sessions two days a week for our Muddy

Puddles and multicultural families. Each session

includes a fun activity, songs and story time. Join in

Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10-11am.

Email lisa.heinze@esc.nsw.gov.au to register your

interest, then we can send you the link to connect

with the group.

During Families Week we prepared and delivered

special packs to assist families in taking part in

activities at home. The packs included everything

needed to give participants their home cinema

experience an authentic night out at the movies

feel, including movie tickets, popcorn, party cups,

licence plates to make a drive-in car and glow stick

surprises.

The 3Bs program delivers playgroups across

Eurobodalla, supporting parents by acting as their

child’s first teacher and helping prepare children for

the big step of starting school.

To celebrate 3Bs Playgroups fifth birthday, we are

preparing some new ‘Transition to School’

resource kits for families. The resource kits will

include items and learning guides to assist parents

in carrying out home-based activities supporting

children’s social, emotional, physical and cognitive

development. We hope to have the finishing

touches ready for the big launch.- stay tuned!

Lisa Heinze

Supported Playgroup Coordinator 4474 7382

Embracing Babies

Our Embracing Babies groups for parents and carers of babies 0 to 6 months old are now meeting online. Register your interest to join a group on our website.

8

Comic Corner

NOOSH Q: Why can’t cars play football?

A: Because they only have one boot

Q: what starts with “t” ends with “t” and is full of “t”

A: A tea pot Q: Where do sheep go to get their hair cut? A: To the Baa Baa shop Q: What kind of keys can’t open locks? A: Monkeys, donkeys and turkeys

MOOSH Q: What time is it when the clock strikes thirteen? A: Time to get a new clock Q: How does a cucumber become a pickle? A: It goes through a jarring experience

Share a Healthy Recipe Corner

Try this for a healthy brekky recipe for

black rice pudding by Jamie Oliver

Book now for our OOSH school holiday program

The school holidays are fast approaching! Booking forms for our OOSH school holiday program are now available to download from our website or from the Skoolbag app.

Our bookings week

Monday 22 June to Friday 26 June, 3-6pm Bookings must be made at the centres as you will need to complete excursion forms and view risk assessments.

To secure your booking your child care payments must be up to date If you are having trouble paying your account please contact the office on 4474 7333 or 4474 1213 as soon as possible so we can assist you with a payment plan option.

9

Are any of your families new to child care?

Dear Families

In response to COVID-19, child care is free. This means Centrelink is not currently paying Child

Care Subsidy (CCS).

If you were receiving CCS before 6 April 2020, you won’t need to do anything for it to start

again when the free child care period ends.

If you recently started using child care, you may be interested in the CCS:

What is CCS?

CCS helps with the cost of approved child care. Centrelink pays this subsidy directly to your

child care provider to reduce the fees you pay.

Who can get it?

To get CCS you need to meet certain requirements set out by the Federal Government on the

Services Australia website.

How much can I get?

Centrelink will consider your circumstances to work out how much you can get. Find out what

you may be entitled to online.

How do I apply?

If you want to apply for CCS when it starts again, and haven’t already applied, you

should submit your online claim now.

Find out more

If you’re new to child care, you can find out more about CCS on the Services Australia website.