Latest news and events at the Kindergarten. For important dates please check the calendar.
-
Nov 2023: Saying Hello In Korean
We were very proud to host a delegation of 15 early childhood teachers from Korea at Kinder this week with their interpreter, Won. We are all life long learners at Kinder and it was wonderful to share thoughts and ideas and learn about the things that are different and the same. We drew on our Reggio knowledge, using our 100 languages to communicate. Together we found the heart of our shared experience - that it is a privilege to be in a position to make a positive difference in the life of a child.
-
Oct 2023: We Are All Artists
With colours and paper, imagination and a visiting artist from Indonesia - Zico Albaiquni - our "all of Kinder" art project is coming to life! A big Kinder thank you to Zico for sharing your love of art with the children and helping to bring their ideas from hearts and heads to pencils and paper. This is a picture of our first steps that will ultimately lead to a painted mural in our outside space. It is all very exciting!
-
Oct 2023: Welcoming Our 4 New Fishy Friends
Please join us in welcoming our four new fishy friends. Their arrival coincided with lots of discussion about children's rights and the upcoming referendum. We talked about living in a democracy and put that to the test by voting to determine what the fish would be called. This was quite the project as the children observed the fish and their individual characteristics before voting from a long list of possible names. We are proud to introduce Mango (the fish with mostly orange colour), Sparkles (the spotty member of the team), Plume (the fish with a stripe beside it's eye) and finally, our black and white fish is named Spooky (Halloween is coming up too!).
-
Aug 2020: Celebrating Book Week
Every week is book week at Kinder!
With our big library at the end of the street currently closed as a result of Stage 4 restrictions, we have launched our very own Street Library. We hope you come visit it soon!
-
Jul 2020: Hope - 50 ways to help our planet every day
We are very proud to be included in this great book that provides some top tips to make a difference to our future. You can learn more about the book at this link:
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/hope-50-ways-to-help-our-planet-every-day-9781760896737
-
Mar 2020: Sustainable Jungle Podcast
The Kinder is very proud to be a founding member of the Wurru Wurru Sustainable School Alliance (WWSSA) uniting students of all ages to care for our world. You can learn more about this endeavour on this month's edition of the Sustainable Jungle podcast featured at this link:
https://www.sustainablejungle.com/podcast/episode-51-carbon-neutral-schools/
-
Oct 2019: Kinder in the news | 7.30 Report
We love it when people come to visit Kinder and we recently welcomed the wonderful crew from ABC 7.30 Report. They spent an entire day with us talking with the children about caring for our world and each other. They played with some of our toys and also brought along one of their own! This is Andy the ABC camera operator with his drone. The drone was able to provide us with a picture we haven't seen before - the completion of our second stage of solar panels. There are lots of solar panels up on the roof now capturing lots of energy from the sun to power us through the day. You can see them in the story at this link: https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/australias-first-carbon-neutral-kindergarten/11647840
-
Sep 2019: We are a Carbon Neutral Kinder
We are very proud to announce that we have achieved our 5 year dream of becoming Australia's first carbon neutral early childhood service. A big thank you to the City of Port Phillip for supporting us to achieve this goal. Thanks also to our community and our local politicians who came to visit to share in this joy.
Here's some links to some of the stories in the media that have covered our announcement so far:
www.cela.org.au/2019/09/06/carbon-neutral/
www.sustainableportphillip.com/articles/2019/9/9/australias-first-carbon-neutral-preschool
www.thesector.com.au/2019/09/02/australias-first-carbon-neutral-kindergarten-wins-national-climate-award/
www.elaa.org.au/latest_news/introducing-australias-first-certified-carbon-neutral-kindergarten/
www.governmentnews.com.au/local-climate-change-heroes-recognised-at-awards/
-
Aug 2019: The 2019 Climate Awards
The Kinder is very proud to be a joint recipient with City of Port Phillip in the Cities Power Partnership Awards of 2019 in the category of Community Engagement. This is a national Award that recognises the work that Council have undertaken with the Kindergarten to pursue a sustainable future.
-
June 2019: Kinder in the news
Kinder has been in the news this week.
To read about our interview with Sustainability Victoria click here:
https://elaa.org.au/latest_news/209-vic-premiers-sustainability-award-entries-close-13-june/
To read our interview with ELAA celebrating achieving the Excellent Rating click here:
-
May 2019: Achieving the Excellent Rating
We are very proud to announce that Albert Park Preschool has been awarded the EXCELLENT rating by the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), the highest rating a service can achieve under the National Quality Framework. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the children, families, staff and community partners for their valued contribution in helping us to achieve this goal.
-
Feb 2019: It's a sign!
We welcomed a visitor at Kinder on Monday. Our local MP, Martin Foley, came to congratulate everyone for completing the Healthy Together Achievement Program of Victoria. Martin talked with the children and families about musical toothbrushes, dragons and dinosaurs (who have very healthy teeth by the way!) and how we all want to be happy, healthy and safe. There was a special job to do. We needed to add the very last badge to our sign. Peeling off the adhesive backing was a bit tricky. It required a team effort!
You can read more about Martin's visit and the Achievement Program at this link:
https://mobile.twitter.com/martinfoleymp/status/1099848122736365568?s=12
-
Nov 2018: The Results Are IN!
We are very proud to announce that the Kindergarten has been rated as Exceeding National Quality Standard under the National Quality Framework following our Assessment & Rating visit in October 2018.
The National Quality Standard (NQS) sets a national benchmark for the quality of children's education and care services across Australia. An overall rating of Exceeding NQS is given to services that go above and beyond the requirements of the NQS in at least 4 of the 7 quality areas. Our service was rated Exceeding across all standards and all 7 quality areas. This is a significant achievement for our service and we would like to sincerely thank the children, staff, families and community partners who continue to support our quality program and practice.
-
Nov 2018: Reflecting on FROM NATURE
The FROM NATURE exhibition at Gasworks Arts Park was a big success and we were very proud to be part of it. Here's an excerpt from an article by Janet Bolitho that makes mention of the Kinder's exhibit:
"The heart and soul of this year’s From Nature exhibition at Gasworks Arts Park is Albert Park Pre-School’s exhibit The Butterfly Effect. It’s in the foyer. The children have created an exhibit both disarmingly simple and deeply wise. In language of enviable simplicity, their project comprehensively explores the elements of sustainability and conveys our utter dependence on nature’s gifts of clean air and clean water."
You can read the full story at this link:
-
Oct 2018: The Butterfly Effect
We are very excited to have been selected to enter an artwork in a local art exhibition at Gasworks Arts Park called "FROM NATURE".
Our entry is going to reflect our sustainability journey and our commitment to Bunjil to take care of the land and the children. It's called the BUTTERFLY EFFECT and celebrates that a little Kinder can make a big difference in the world if we dream big and build partnerships to help make our dreams come true. We hope you will come to see it! The exhibition will run from 3 - 11 November 2018.
You can read more about the Butterfly Effect project here:
-
Sept 2018: Congratulations Cynthia
We are very proud to announce that our Teacher, Cynthia Salim, is the recipient of the prestigious Early Childhood Australia Barbara Creaser Award for 2018.
This Award recognises outstanding contribution to the early childhood profession.
Cynthia was presented with the Award at the Early Childhood Australia Conference in Sydney during the final week of Term 3 and was also invited to morning tea with the Governor General at Australia House.
Congratulations Cynthia!
-
Sep 2018: Go for Gold
We are getting closer to the finish line with achieving our “Healthy” Kinder accreditation under the Healthy Together Achievement Program. This has been a three-year journey that has also garnered award success with our runner up status at the 2016 WorkSafe Awards in the category of Commitment to Health & Wellbeing. Our ongoing commitment saw us reach another milestone this month: We achieved Gold Status as a Mentally Healthy Workplace under the Mental Health First Aid Australia accreditation. This involved all staff completing mental health first aid training to complement their existing physical first aid training. Once again, our sincere thanks go to the City of Port Phillip for funding this training as part of their Community Grants program. You can view our profile on the MHFA website at the following link:
https://mhfa.com.au/skilled-workplaces/albert-park-preschool
-
Aug 2018: Premier's Sustainability Awards
We are very excited to share that we have been named a finalist in the Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Awards Education category for a project that celebrates a shared vision with the local Boon Wurrung people to keep our promise to Bunjil to take care of the children and the land. The Premier’s Sustainability Awards are the highest profile program of their kind in Victoria. Winners will be announced at the Premier’s Sustainability Awards gala dinner at The Forum in Melbourne on Thursday 11 October.
CEO of Sustainability Victoria, Stan Krpan, described our project as ‘exceptional’ adding that “Albert Park Pre-School demonstrated to the judges that they have translated the principles of sustainability into practice to achieve outstanding results for our environment and the state of our future. “Victoria is an amazing place to live and Albert Park Pre-School is helping to keep it that way, we congratulate them as a finalist."
For more information, photos and profiles of all finalists, go to www.sustainabilityawards.vic.gov.au
-
June 2018: Goodbye Gas Meter
At 9.30am on Thursday 7 June 2018 something pretty special happened at Kinder. We took a big step forward in our dream to make good on our promise to Bunjil to take care of country by becoming a carbon neutral Kindergarten. Today we installed solar batteries and a solar hot water system which meant we could stop the clocks on using gas and switch over to solar for all our energy needs.
-
May 2018: Early Childhood Conference
We were very proud participants in the 2018 Together We Grow Early Childhood Conference at Caulfield Racecourse.
Our case study "wellbeing for all" story was shared as part of a panel discussion featuring CEO Clare Aimes from WorkSafe Victoria and State Government Minister Martin Foley. You can read more about it in Preschool Matters Magazine at the following link: Preschool Matters Magazine Term 3 2018
-
Feb 2018: Kinder in the News
Here's a story to share that was published in the Preschool Matters magazine this month that celebrates 75,000 Victorian Children Made Safer On Our Roads:
The Starting Out Safely Road Safety Education Program reached a major milestone during October 2017 with over 75,000 Victorian preschool children having now participated. To celebrate, ELAA and VicRoads invited the stars of the Starting Out Safely program - Professor Eric Speriment and his friend, ThingleToodle - to join the children at Albert Park Preschool for some great road safety fun and a magnificent road safety cake. And Victoria's Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Luke Donnellan, dropped by to help the children blow out the candles.
-
Jan 2018: Our Solar Journey
We had some special visitors at Kinder on the holidays with a very big ladder. They used it to put the second and final stage of our solar panels on the roof. This is very exciting as it takes us a giant leap towards our ultimate goal of being energy neutral.
-
Nov 2017: Thank you Jaeden
Jaeden from the Boon Wurrung came to Kinder on our Celebration of Culture, Life & Light Day and we had our first ever indigenous smoking ceremony. He welcomed us to the land of his people and shared with us the story of the spirit Bunjil who travels as an eagle.
Bunjil taught the Boon Wurrung to always welcome guests, but he always required they ask guests to make two promises: to obey the laws of Bunjil and not to harm the children or the land.
It was such a special time and we look forward to Jaeden returning to Kinder in 2018 to share stories, dance and art as we celebrate and learn more about indigenous culture.
-
Nov 2017: Thank you Gasworks
A big thank you to Gasworks Art Park and their resident sculpture artist - Jonathan Leahey. Jonathan's artworks can be found all around the world and we are lucky enough to have a piece of his work in our outside space - a beautiful butterfly to adorn our rainbow wall.
-
Oct 2017: Celebrating our partnership with {SIMPLE as that}
We have some very exciting news to share with our community regarding our "wellbeing for all" pursuit. As part of our Kinder Philosophy we celebrate the wonder of life and the incredible marvel of being human. It is from this place that we seek to support the wellbeing of everyone who comes in contact with our service. Something amazing has happened that will take us towards achieving this goal. Thanks to the creativity of the children in partnership with local pharmacist and our Wellbeing Committee Rep - Danielle Glover (AKA Millie's mum from our Kangas group) they developed a room spray to keep Kinder smelling delicious. It's 100% non toxic and organic so it is kind to our senses and to our world.
Today, our room spray has gone on sale to the public so that everyone can enjoy it.
Available from Danielle's website http://www.simpleasthat.com.au/ alongside her beautiful range of toxin free skincare products, the profits from sale of the room spray will generate funds for our future wellbeing initiatives. How exciting is that!
Our sincere thanks to you Danielle for making this opportunity available to us and helping us to share our story.
-
Oct 2017: Leading Well Victoria Case Study
We are very proud to announce that our Kinder's wellbeing journey has been profiled on the Leading Well Victoria website. We invite you to click the following link to watch the video:
http://leadingwellvic.com.au/resource-centre/?category=case-studies&#resources
-
Aug 2017: Kinder in the News
We are very honoured to be selected as one of 4 Victorian early childhood services to have their solar panel journey profiled in the Preschool Matters magazine. The article explores the benefits and the pathways for funding and installing solar so that we may all contribute to caring for our world.
-
July 2017: It's a BOY!
Exciting news! Our new baby turtle arrived today. The children have lots of ideas for names and we are all learning about what turtles do and don't like.
We are very pleased to report that our turtle is very happy in his new home and our fishy friends will join him tomorrow. A big thank you to the fundraising team whose successful Mothers Day Cake Stall funded our new tank. It's so beautiful and we are so grateful.
.
-
July 2017: Go for Gold - Thank you City of Port Phillip
As part of our commitment to the wellbeing of everyone who comes in contact with our service, we set a goal to achieve GOLD status as a mentally healthy workplace. We currently have silver accreditation and can reach gold status when all staff are successfully trained in the Mental Health First Aid Certificate. There is quite a significant cost involved in reaching this target so we applied for a City of Port Phillip Community Grant and we are very proud to announce that our application has been successful. Thank you to Mayor Bernadene Voss and everyone at Council for your ongoing support of our efforts to contribute to a happy, healthy and thriving community.
-
Jun 2017: Seedlings Award Announcement
We are very proud to announce that we have been selected as one of 4 Kindergartens in the City of Port Phillip to receive the Seedlings Milestone Award in recognition of our commitment to embedding sustainability into our service and curriculum. We have also been invited to become a mentoring service. This is a great honour for us and we would like to thank everyone who has supported us on this journey. We would like to give special thanks to Brett and Verity from the Sustainability Department at the City of Port Phillip. We have learned so much from them both and are very grateful for their ongoing support.
-
Dec 2016: A special visitor to Kinder
As we reflect back on 2016 one of the highlights of our year has been the recognition we have received for our commitment to wellbeing. The wellbeing of everyone who comes in contact with our service is deeply valued by us. We would like to thank our local MP and Minister for Mental Health, the honourable Mr Martin Foley for visiting us today to join in the celebration of our achievements.
-
Oct 2016: Celebrating our partnership with ELAA
The Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA) is celebrating 25 years of advocacy and representation of early childhood service providers. ELAA are passionate about the importance of high quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education and care. We are very proud to be one of four early childhood services that ELAA selected to profile in their 2015/2016 Annual Report. You can read all about us at the following link:
-
Sep 2016: Did you see us on Instagram?
The Cancer Council have been talking and tweeting about us and our involvement in the Healthy Together Achievement Program. A big thank you to Cancer Council Victoria for profiling us on Instagram to let people know about our parent led mindfulness sessions, yoga, walking tours and more!
-
Sep 2016: We are a proud WorkSafe Awards finalist
In recognition of our pursuit of wellbeing for all as a core strength of our Kindergarten, we are very proud to announce that we have been selected as a finalist in the 2016 WorkSafe Awards Wellbeing in the Workplace category. This is a great honour for us and wonderful recognition of the effort and energy our Health & Wellbeing Team has dedicated to this pursuit across the past 12 months.
A big thank you to all our Committee members, staff, children and families who have inspired and supported this aim. Our sincere thanks to everyone at WorkSafe, the Healthy Together Achievement Program, ELAA and Zora Marko, for your collective knowledge and support. We have been surrounded in this pursuit by many cheer leaders whose enthusiasm has without a doubt brought us to this point. Thank you so much.
The WorkSafe Awards Ceremony will be held on October 7th. Until then, please join with us to take a moment to celebrate and reflect on the very special community in which we live, work, play and learn.
https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/news/2016-09/workplace-health-and-safety-finalists-announced
-
Aug 2016: There's light at the end of the tunnel
There's light at the end of the tunnel and it is solar powered!
As a significant step towards our goal to be an energy neutral Kindergarten, the installation of solar panels on our roof top is now confirmed.
Thanks to the leadership of Brett Hedger from the City of Port Phillip Sustainability Department, monies raised by Port Phillip Solar Bulk Buy (a voluntary community initiative) along with a significant donation from Metro Solar, we are reducing our carbon footprint, improving the environment, and contributing to our vision to support children and each other to care for our world.
-
Jun 2016: Kinder in the news - again!
An article by our Educational Leader & Sustainability Officer, Camille Lee-Hill, has been published in the Teacher Learning Network (TLN) Journal. Titled "Albert Park Preschool's Sustainability Journey", the article captures the changes and challenges we have experienced in our aim to become an energy neutral Kindergarten.
You can read all about it at this link:
www.albertparkkinder.com.au/resources/tln.pdf
-
Jun 2016: Our workplace recognised for good mental health
We received news today that our Kindergarten has been officially recognised as a mental health first aid skilled workplace. We have been awarded a silver badge and will now work towards gold status as more of our staff members complete mental health first aid training to supplement our skills around managing medical conditions and emergency situations.
-
May 2016: Celebrating our Program
We are very excited to have the Kinder's walking excursion program celebrated as innovative practice in a feature article appearing in the current edition of the Preschool Matters magazine. Titled "Get Up & Go - a story about our Kindergarten's journey outside the gate", the article captures elements of our project work with the children that took us outside to explore the community in which we live, work and play.
In 2014 our staff had the opportunity to hear Reggio Emilia Approach caretaker, Ms Carla Rinaldi, speak in Melbourne. She shared an inspirational story about the children of Reggio Emilia, their walking excursion to a local park, a tree, and a present the children made to give to the tree on their next return.
You can read the rest of the article in full at the following link:
http://www.albertparkkinder.com.au/resources/article.pdf
-
Mar 2016: Celebrating our commitment to Wellbeing
We have a strong commitment to the wellbeing of all who come in contact with our community Kindergarten - children, families, staff, students, colleagues and visitors - and we seek to establish this approach as a core strength of our service. We are currently seeking recognition of our strength in this area from the Healthy Together Victoria Achievement Program. Our children, staff, families and our local health professionals are working together to achieve this. It has been a very exciting time, with lots of wonderful conversations giving birth to some fabulous ideas. A sincere thank you to everyone who is involved in this project - in particular the Health & Wellbeing Team whose efforts to date have resulted in the development of our Health Charter which is now proudly published on our website and will be launched at our Family Sports Day to be held next week.
You can read our Health Charter at the following link: http://www.albertparkkinder.com.au/resources/healthcharter.pdf
-
Jan 2016: In the spotlight
Our Kinder is very proud to have been profiled in a feature article this week celebrating our innovative approach and commitment to continually strengthen our partnership with families by setting high standards in terms of communications.
You can read all about it at the following link: https://blog.edsmart.com/how-working-outside-the-box-pays-off
-
Nov 2015: Caring for our World - Imagine Act and Inspire
We are very excited to have received our Certificate of Achievement today from the ResourceSmart Education Awards of 2015. The Awards are an initiative of Sustainability Victoria and seek to recognise imaginative and inspiring activities that have led to outstanding sustainability achievements for the Victorian community. A big thank you to all our children and families for sharing our commitment to becoming a sustainable, energy neutral Kindergarten and for supporting each other to care for our world.
-
June 2015: What's over the fence?
We are pleased to announce our new research project called "what's over the fence?". The two specific areas of interest the children have commenced researching are:
1. what plants, animals and bugs can we see and find?
2. what's in our community?
This project will provide children the opportunity to explore their community and for us to learn what is important to them. The children will be given cameras to take photos and have their stories gathered as evidence of learning along with their artwork.
-
Sep 2014: A special announcement
We are delighted to announce that our recently appointed Educational Leader (pictured centre) has been accepted to attend the 2015 Study Tour in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Lesley’s teaching philosophy is greatly influenced by the Reggio Emilia Approach and it has been a long-time dream for her participate in the Study Tour. The Reggio Emilia Approach was developed by teacher Loris Malaguzzi and the parents of the local villages after the Second World War. They believed that children were in need of a new way of learning and, moreover, that children are endowed with "a hundred languages". The program is based on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum.
-
Apr 2014: Thinking of our friends in Balibo
Our Kindergarten financially supports the Balibo Kindergarten in East Timor (Timor Leste). The Balibo Kindergarten was established by the Balibo House Trust which is comprised of the families of the journalists killed in East Timor in 1975. Shirley Shackleton is a local resident and has been seeking the truth about the death of her husband, Greg, and his colleagues for more than 35 years. The region is desperately poor and our help enables the people to see a future for their children through education. At the end of each Term we invite the children to bring a gold coin donation towards our support of the Balibo Kindergarten.
-
May 2013: The Seedlings Project
We are excited to announce that Albert Park Kindergarten has been accepted to be part of the Seedlings pilot programme – an Early Years Education for Sustainability strategy run by five Melbourne Councils. We are one of only two Kindergartens to have been selected in the City of Port Phillip. The programme will run for 18 months and will include the whole of Kindergarten - children, parents and the larger community. The first step is a visit in July from the City of Port Phillip Sustainability Officer who will talk to us about the direction we want to take. The Seedlings project is a process that evolves over time, transforms our thinking and practice and supports a learning culture around the elements of sustainability:
- energy efficiency
- a sustainable future for all species
- waste minimisation
- health and wellbeing
- water conservation and quality
- sustainable governance and leadership
More information about the Seedlings project can be found on the www.knox.vic.gov.au/seedlings website.
-
Feb 2013: Spot the difference...
We have a new look! The Kindergarten was a busy place during the holidays. The building played host to a team of professionals with paints and ladders. The result is a "new look" on the inside and very soon (this weekend in fact), work will commence on refurbishment of the exterior as well. These are the first steps in our effort to improve the quality of our learning space. We extend our gratitude to both the City of Port Phillip for undertaking the work and to Kindergarten mum and interior designer, Danielle Trippett, for recommending paint colours, generating a brief for Council and generously providing her guidance as we rethink our internal environment. Thank you to all our families for your patience as this work delayed our start in 2013. We hope you all enjoy the results!
-
Oct 2012: Our Outside Space is now Complete
What a transition it has been. Many hours of planning have gone into this project and the many, many more hours of labour over the school holidays have transformed our little kindergarten outside space into an oasis!
This new play space will have a special significance for our children and their development. We wanted to provide them with endless opportunities for imaginative play and discoveries, the type of play that engages children and affords them opportunities to build relationships with others. A truly wonderful place to cherish, to build fond memories of their kindergarten years. -
May 2012: Cake Stall Sweet Success
The weather stayed fine, the cellophane glistened in the sun and the Caterpillar was on full display at our annual cake stall on Saturday May 12. In a brilliant effort of raffle-ticket selling and cake-baking, we raised around $5,000! The fantastic effort from all who made sure things ran smoothly made for a wonderful day on Bridport Street. The community vibe was positive and welcoming and it was great seeing the preschoolers and their siblings and families helping out at the stall.