Lobethal Community

Kindergarten

Torrens Valley Partnership

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLAN

2016

Service name Service approval number

LOBETHAL COMMUNITY KINDERGARTEN

SE-00010575

Primary contact at service

LEE MUNN

Physical location of service Physical location contact details

Street: 1 Reserve Avenue

Suburb: Lobethal

State/territory: South Australia

Postcode: 5241

Telephone: 8389 6321

Mobile:0432 582 775

Fax: 83895153

Email: Leeanne.Munn791@schools.sa.edu.au

Approved Provider Nominated Supervisor

Primary contact: Department for Education and Child Development Trish

Strachan, Head, Child Development

Telephone: 8226 0000

Mobile:

Fax

Email:

Name: Lee Munn

Telephone: 8389 6321

Mobile: 0432 582 775

Fax: 8389 5153

Email: as above

Postal address (if different to physical location of service)

Street

Suburb:

State/territory:

Postcode:

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

PLAN

Operating Hours

Monday Occasional Care:

Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday (Alternate Weeks)

Friday Playgroup

Opening time

9:00am

11.30am

9.00am

12.00pm

9.00am

12.00pm

9.00am

12.00pm

9.00am 10.30am

Closing time

12.00pm

15:00pm

12.00pm

15:00pm

12.00pm

15:00pm

Provide additional information about your service—parking, school holiday dates, pupil-free days etc.

Parking is located on Reserve Avenue, in front of Rotary Park.

One day per week (last day of each kindy week), kindergarten sessions are held at our Bush Kindy location at Bushland Park, Kenton Valley Road,

Lobethal.

How are the children grouped at your service?

All kindergarten children attend all sessions offered, as there is only one group in 2016.

Write the name and position of person(s) responsible for submitting this Quality Improvement Plan

Nominated Supervisor, Director, Lee Munn

PLAY, LAUGH, LOVE, LEARN, NUTURE, GROW, INSPIRE

The children, Staff and their learning

At Lobethal Community Kindergarten we believe children learn best when they engage in a stimulating, challenging, high quality play-based learning programme. We believe children blossom in an n environment where they have a sense of belonging and connectedness to their learning environment. This includes building strong, reciprocal relationships with children and their families, respecting their diversity and uniqueness. We value 'children’s voice’, ideas and initiative within our curriculum, promoting wellbeing, trust, respect and value life-long learning. We provide opportunities for children to learn at their own pace and take control of their learning, following their passions and making their own unique marks on the world. We support the development of learning dispositions such as curiosity, purposefulness, persistence, risk taking, cooperation, collaboration, resilience and problem solving.

Our curriculum is guided by- *The Early Years Learning Framework, *Observations of each child (both as an individual and within a group), *Children’s interests, understandings and ideas.

We encourage children to be reflective in their learning, to validate current learning and to empower them for future learning. We have high expectations of children as learners. Our image of the child is that they are capable, competent, creative, curious learners who are full of potential.

All staff are involved in reviewing our curriculum daily, reflecting on emerging directions and recording evidence of learning. We aim to stimulate children's thinking and build upon their existing knowledge and skills to enrich learning. Our Staff has a strong commitment to life-long learning, keeping up-to –date with current research and engage in professional reflection and dialogue.

Lobethal Community Kindergarten has a strong commitment to the authentic and amazing learning that occurs in the outdoor learning environment and values children’s strong connections with nature. We actively encourage curiosity, awe and wonderment, discovery, and engagement in their natural environment. Sustainable practices are embedded in the kindergarten operations and consistently promoted in the everyday program.

Secure, respectful, reciprocal relationships and partnerships

We believe that secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships are essential to achieve quality outcomes for children. At Lobethal Community Kindergarten we recognise and value families as the children’s first and most influential teachers.

We aim to create a welcoming environment where all children and families are respected and actively encouraged to work in partnership with educators, to ensure learning experiences are meaningful. We acknowledge and respect the different social and cultural backgrounds of families and we will actively encourage families to participate in our centre. We support families with information and workshops that will build their capacity and knowledge base, in relation to their parenting and beyond.

We aim to share information respectfully with families about their child’s learning journey and collaboratively set goals during their kindergarten year. We will make each child’s learning visible by collecting work samples, photos, observations and learning stories in their Learning Journey Book. We will provide a summary of learning at the end of each term and seek input and reflections from families.

We value the importance of effective transitions for children and their families and have developed a range of partnerships with local schools and childcare facilities.

Centre Philosophy Statement

We aim to enable seamless and effective transitions for our families.

Our Community

Our kindergarten plays a strong and important role within our community and so does the community within our Kindergarten. We are strongly interwoven. Our kindergarten provides a place where young children and their families come together, regardless of social, cultural or economic status. It is a place of connecting, learning and belonging for all. We aim to be sensitive to the changing needs of our community. We aim to network and participate in a range of community groups and partners, to share resources and develop a support of networks for families. Our community links, through our Governing Council, enable us to share information, reach goals and promote the value of quality public education within our community and to build an active community of engagement and enquiry.

We aim to use our Statement of Philosophy to guide all aspects of our decision making and practice at our centre. We believe it should be embedded and reflected in all that we do. We believe that a statement of the Centre’s Philosophy changes as new insights are gained and practice evaluated. We will review our Philosophy statement annually, including input from children, families and educators.

The words included on the columns are provided by our families via our “Rock solid Values “Project

Sources: Previous Lobethal Community Kindergarten Philosophy statements 2010 & 2013

Belonging, Being and Becoming-The early Years Learning Framework for Australia 2009

National Quality Framework 2011

CREATED JUNE 2014

Please Note: PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT CURRENTLY UNDER REVIEW

Lobethal Community Kindergarten 2016 OVERARCHING GOAL: To provide a Quality Learning Environment that promotes the development of intellectual stretch and learning dispositions for all learners.

Quality Teaching

and Learning

QA: 1.1.1, 1.1.4, 1.2.2, 2.2.1, 2.3.1, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 7.2.1

Strong Community

Connectedness

QA: 2.2.1, 2.3.4, 6.1.1, 7.3.1

Educator Inquiry

See adjacent graphic

Quality Physical

Environment

QA: 3.1.1, 3.2.1

Our Image of the child as a capable and competent

learner

TV Partnership Results Plus

Inquiry Numeracy Focus

'Nature Connect'

Bush Kindy program

Every Child, Every Day

Making Learning visible

Exploring the Role of the educator through

Relationship Rescue

Exploring the literacy and Numeracy Indicators

Intellectual Stretch

Learning Dispositions

Executive Functions

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLAN 2016

STRENGTHS: Individual children’s learning journey books (sent home once per term and always accessible to parents and children), Effective documentation in learning journey books, Positive feedback from parents around the use of LJ books, Strong partnerships with parents- Parents as foremost educators- partnerships with parents is strong through multiple forms of connecting and consultation. Creation of assessment and reporting schedule, Planning cycle, Effective use of closed Facebook group to share the here and now learning experiences, Lots of parents (and Grandparent) feedback and interest in Facebook group. Use of Floorbook to document children’s thinking and learning. Initial steps to use the floorbook to streamline programming, documenting children’s’ voice and reflective practice. Nature Connect program (bush kindy held once per week in terms two and three) at Bushland Park, Lobethal.

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Floor book as an effective ‘All in one tool”, sustainability of assessment processes, Making learning even more visible to our children and families, Making Learning visible through a range of documentation mediums and using collected data effectively.

Standard/ Element

Priority- Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

1.1.1 Curriculum decision making is based on the needs of each individual learner.

H We will:

Collect daily data on children’s engagement and interactions (QA 5.1.2) and use this when forward planning and creating/reporting on ILPs, summative reports etc.

Use Literacy and Numeracy indicators to collect data and observations

Link data collected to ILP’s *Data consists of staff engagement, digital data, observations, RRR data, Lit/num indicator data

Effective cycle of observation, documentation and planning, linked into each child’s daily data set. Effective use of the data collected to progress each child’s improvement journey.

Staff Team

1.1.4 To make Learning Visible to all members of our learning community

H We will:

Use our table of learning as platform to highlight learning experiences. Staff to create different forms of documentation that can be used to pull out learning experiences for learning examples put on the table of learning

Floorbook displayed daily for parents to see documentation of learning and a link between planned, spontaneous and intentional teaching and learning experiences

Table of learning (or bush kindy equivalent) a source of conversation and connection for parents and children at pick up time Parent feedback (verbal and written) Child Feedback Photographic evidence of displays Reflections Facebook Group Program Floorbook and Staff Floorbook 100% of staff contributing to our ‘making learning visible’ initiative.

Staff Team Floorbook: Term 1 2016 Table of Learning: Term 2 2016

Displays (digital and hard copy) documenting children’s voice, thinking and learning

1.2.2 Effective documentation of intentional teaching within floorbooks and reflections

We will:

Create a process that enables staff to document intentional teaching opportunities and experiences in our daily reflections and our Floorbook program

Create opportunities for staff to retrospectively document intentional teaching moments

Documentation of intentional teaching experiences (planned and retrospective) in Daily Reflections and floorbook.

Led by teaching staff (Lee and Nell) End of Term 2

PROGRESS NOTES: 2/5/2016: E.C.E.C process established early term 1, disposition data collected in term 1.

STRENGTHS: Children conduct risk assessments along with staff. We have two take home puppets, ‘Crunch Munch the healthy eating crocodile’ and ‘Albert the Active Ape’ which helps to increase awareness of healthy eating practices and enables us to celebrate and share different cultures in our kindy community. Day book containing records of cleaning/disinfection practices and communication with parents around illness, injury and infection control. Water trolley used to ensure children access their water filled drink bottles at all eating times. Daily exercise (run, walk, climb and explore the park adjacent) planned into daily timetable. Cooking program integrated into curriculum, sourcing kindy grown harvests (strawberries, tomatoes, peaches, eggs, apples, cucumbers, capsicums, raspberries).

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Continued focus on healthy eating and nutrition Adequate supervision of all children at all times

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

2.2.1 Healthy eating and physical activity are promoted through our learning experiences

M We will:

Explore nutrition within our curriculum

Introduce the Rainbow of healthy foods

Link nutrition choices with physical expenditure through bush kindy experiences

Communicate with families, the need for nutritious snacks, drinks and lunches at kindy via Facebook posts, newsletters, blog posts etc.

Floorbook documentation Visual displays Predominately Healthy food in children’s lunchboxes each day Facebook posts, blog posts and other documentation Rainbow of foods display and data

All staff Ongoing

Cook and create nutritious meals with our children through our cooking program

Source seasonal foods from our garden or local community for cooking experiences

2.3.1 (and 4.1.1)

To ensure children are adequately supervised at all times

H We will:

Create a Supervision Procedure that includes lunch time procedures, bush kindy supervision requirements and procedures, changing children’s clothing, toileting, outdoor learning and indoor learning environment supervision procedures.

Add procedure to staff induction folder

Supervision procedure created by staff team and implemented 100% of Lobethal kindy staff aware of supervision procedures and responsibilities

Staff Team End of term 3 2016

PROGRESS NOTES:

STRENGTHS: We have a strong nature pedagogy. Our curriculum is filled with natural experiences; Outdoor kindy, bush, forest and beach kindy. We have moved lots of our resources out of our store room and onto the ‘floor’ and kindy verandah area for children to access as required. We use the park adjacent to the kindy in the morning for exploration and movement experiences. We Purchased new indoor furniture resources for children to be able to access materials and resource their own learning. We created a new mud kitchen area in early 2016. Strong sustainable practices- chooks, kindy community recycle centre, reusing and recycling materials, composting, kindy vegetable garden, strawberry patch and orchard, links with NRMed, Bush Kindy/Nature Connect program

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Nappy Change area non-existent. This has been an identified issue since 2013 Sustainable Practices need to be consolidated in a documented policy

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

3.1.1 To provide a safe nappy change area H We will:

Continue using current risk assessments and nappy change procedures

Continue ongoing conversations with DECD facilities management

Apply for any relevant grants to help fund building development.

Risk assessments, Risk Register Progress towards plans being drawn up for nappy change area.

Lee Ongoing

3.2.1 Embedded sustainable practices are a part of our centre philosophy and culture

We will:

Create a Sustainable Practices policy, documenting current practices and

Policy written then taken to Governing Council for consultation and ratification. Kindy GC mins to verify this process

Policy: Nic and Janice End of Term 3 2016

beliefs.

Include Sustainable practices policy in induction folders and welcome packs for all staff and families

Include Sustainability practices and beliefs in our philosophy statement (QA 7.2.1)

Include sustainable practices in our daily program/curriculum

Include a Sustainability tip/article in each newsletter

Include Sustainability practices in director’s reports

Share practices, learning and ideas on Facebook posts and Blog posts

Policy included in all kindy PR material and in induction folders New staff will be aware of our practices Newsletters Philosophy statement Directors reports All families will be aware of our sustainability practices ( Feedback will be sought) Children attending our kindergarten will actively engage in sustainable practices both at bush kindy and at kindy.

Newsletters/PR material: Janice End of term 2 2016 Staff Team Ongoing

PROGRESS NOTES:

STRENGTHS: Staff rosters ensure that we always have 4 staff at kindy on any given day (1:8 ratio) Staff processes and agreements created to ensure appropriate supervision is provided for children at all times, e.g. staff code of conduct, rosters. Staff learning nights and PD sessions are integrated into individual PDP’s. Staff team have presented our nature play story to over 300 educators across the state over the last 2 years. Staff team attended a Reggio nature pedagogy conference in NZ on 2015.

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Creation of Supervision procedure to ensure that staff supervision guidelines are clear to all staff and volunteers.

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

4.1.1 (and 2.3.1)

To ensure that all children are effectively supervised by staff at all times

H We will:

Create a Supervision Procedure that includes lunch time procedures, bush kindy supervision requirements and procedures, changing children’s clothing, toileting, outdoor learning and indoor learning environment supervision procedures.

Supervision procedure created by staff team and implemented 100% of Lobethal kindy staff aware of supervision procedures and responsibilities

Staff Team End of term 3 2016

Add procedure to staff induction folder

4.2.1 and 4.2.2

Educators, co-ordinators and staff members work collaboratively and affirm, challenge, support and learn from each other to further develop their skills, to improve practice and relationship

H We will:

Work with our staff team and colleagues across the Torrens Valley partnership Results plus inquiry and Teacher PLC

Include Results plus inquiry participation and commitment in Staff PD plans

Attend PD sessions with Lisa Jayne O’Connor exploring the numeracy processes.

Engage in our own site inquiry around the numeracy indicators

Attendance at PLC and PD sessions Staff PD plans Staff actively engaged in inquiry (feedback sought through PD and staff meetings) Staff Floorbook Staff reflections in daily reflections folder.

All staff: Commence Term 2 2016

PROGRESS NOTES:

STRENGTHS: Belonging focus Term 1 and throughout the kindy year, Children’s photos displayed, belonging tree, each child greeted each morning by each staff member, Staff responsive to children’s needs, interests and rights. Every Child, Every Day process ensures that each child’s learning, wellbeing, social connections and interactions are discussed. Staff engagement levels are analysed and documented and followed up as required. Parents and caregivers consulted and relationships built upon children’s interests and cultural background and in line with their unique individual personality and needs. Children’s voice leads our curriculum, with children engaging in morning meetings, where children’s ideas, theories and wonderings are shared and explored as a group. Staff facilitate child lea learning in a range of ways.

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: EVERY CHILD. EVERY DAY process started last year but wasn’t sustainable due to large numbers and staff changes. This is a major priority for us in 2016.

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

5.1.2 Each child’s needs, interactions and interests are the basis of our program

H We will:

Participate in daily staff reflection process (non-negotiable) where each child’s needs, learning and interactions are shared, documented and analysed each day. Staff will collect engagement level data to guide future actions. (see QA 1.1.1)

Collect data (as above) which will play an important part of the planning cycle and will be used to assist in the creation of learning goals and in writing

Documented observations of each child’s interactions with each educator every day. Data collected used to inform next steps and used as base line data for distance travelled.

Teaching staff- Lee and Nell Term 1 2016

statements of learning.

PROGRESS NOTES: 2/5/2016: E.C.E.D process established early in term 1. Daily reflection proforma created to include data and observations. All staff engaging in process. Data used to reflect on progress and used to inform documentations and Term 1 reviews.

STRENGTHS: Nature connect program, support and involvement by Lions Club and Rotary Club, Adelaide Hills Council, friends of bushland park, local primary and secondary schools, families (incredibly high number of parents volunteering at bush kindy every session), exceptional parent feedback about nature connect program- 100% return rate on paper surveys 2015. Collaboration and consultation with families around the nature connect program. Artefact folder provides evidence of this. Visits to local schools, shops, community groups and centres. Partipation in Community events- SALA, Woollen Mill exhibition, Termly visits to Restvale Retirement home. Established the “Lobethal Hug” group, set up to support families in need. This group organises food, donations, resources and support to local families affected by hardship or tragedy. CAYHS screenings, DECD speech pathology and coordination of external providers to support our children and families. Families support our kindy through daily clean up rosters, participating in busy bees, fundraising events, Governing Council membership (over 50% of parents on GC in 2016) and through sharing their skills and passions in our program.

AREAS IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Need for an unfunded occasional care program, as there isn’t anything available for our families like this in the Lobethal area. Continue to build relationships with our feeder schools to provide opportunities for us to engage in professional conversations around continuity of learning and transitions.

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

6.1.1 To provide children attending Lobethal kindy in 2017 with an effective transition process through attending an unfunded occasional care program.

H We will:

Create an Occasional Care policy and operational procedures.

Investigate costings and viability of the program- share with stakeholders

Add expenses and income to 2016 Budget

Consult with Governing Council around starting an unfunded program as a trial for term 1 2016.

If approved, Create an unfunded Occasional Care session once a week for members of our community throughout 2016.

Consult with families around times, session frequency etc.

Promote the program through Facebook and in kindy and school newsletters

Occasional Care program up and running in term 1 2016.

Lee, Janice and Nic Term 1 2016

6.3.2 Build relationships with feeder schools which will support transition and continuity of learning

M We will:

Engage in professional conversations with our main feeder schools.

Participate in the Torrens Valley partnership Teachers Play based pedagogy PLC.

Reconnect with Lobethal Primary school and revisit our “Kindy Connect” 10 point transition program

Meetings with feeder schools Attendance and active participation in PLCS by staff members Reviewed and updated 10 point transition plan

Lee :Term 3 2016 Nell: Term 2 2016 Lee and Nell: Term 4 2016

PROGRESS NOTES: 2/5/2016: Occasional care costings tabled at 1st Governing Council meeting (17/3/2016), previous GC approved unfunded occasional care to commence. Janice Jenkin and Nicole Wood employed as ECW to plan, implement and reflect on program on weekly basis. 2016 kindy budget included Occ care income and expenditure based on calculations and cost analysis. Tabled and accepted at GC meeting 7/4/2016. As at the commencement of term 2, all places are taken. No vacancies- 20 permanent bookings for the whole of term 2 2016.

STRENGTHS: Strong membership on Governing Council (50% of families represented on GC in 2016), Clear processes established re: Governance- Minutes procedures, roles and responsibilities, Code of conduct, criminal screenings, RAN training for volunteers. Clear induction process through well organised induction folder and meetings for all new employees- permanent and temporary and volunteers. Bush Kindy induction given to ALL parents, helper and staff prior to attending and participating in a session. Staff PLC established and links made to PDP’s. Strong continuous improvement evident through self-review process using improvement cycle. Staff Floorbook, QIP discussion record and daily reflections provide evidence of this. Director currently participating in Leadership advisor trial- coaching two newly appointed directors, previously mentored another director through DECD workforce development.

IDENTIFIED FOR IMPROVEMENT: Review and rewrite our Centre Philosophy statement to include current research, pedagogical focus areas and our nature connect program.

Standard/ Element

Priority - Goal Or Outcome Priority L, M, H

How Will We Get There? Strategies and Actions

Success Measure Our evidence and data

Responsible persons and By When?

7.2.1 The Centre’s philosophy statement is the basis of all curriculum, governance and resourcing decisions

We will:

Review our site philosophy statement to include current priorities and focus areas and input from our families, children and staff members.

Consult with our parent community to contribute to the philosophy review by writing a word or sentence around what Lobethal kindy means to them. These will be displayed at the kindy and included in the statement.

Consult with our children about what

Updated Philosophy statement presented to kindy families Updated Philosophy statement added to induction folder Philosophy statement on website and in info packs

Nic End of Term 2 2016

our kindy means to them. Responses will be collated and documented in our floorbook and included in our statement also.

Upload a copy of our philosophy statement on our kindy website and send a hard copy to our local feeder schools

Add updated statement to PR and enrolment packs

PROGRESS NOTES: