AGM REPORT 2013 - 2014 Artwork by Jack Evans Mittagong Preschool Director’s Annual Report (2013 - 2014) Firstly I would like to thank the members of the outgoing committee for all their hard work and dedication to the Preschool over the past year. Thanks to Heather James for her work in the position of President, to Jane Boadle for her support as Vice-President, Sarah Farnese and her assistant Christine Harrison for their expertise, attention to detail and support in the role of Treasurer and Katie Contré for her diligence, organisation and support as secretary. Special thanks to our three general members, Cathy Brooks-Lloyd, Jo Plokstys & Kate Sarty (who also was our Publicity/Newsletter coordinator) & Angelina Marcon-Jones for her role as Social Events Coordinator, which seemed to encompass quite a deal more than that throughout the year. Thanks too to Suzanne King for being our Book Club Organiser & Sarah Bull for looking after our library, cataloguing & keeping our inventory up-to-date. Thanks also to Lucy Nias who jumped into the role of General Maintenance around the mid-year mark. We all fully appreciate the fact that these positions are voluntary and that there can be stress involved at times. However, as I say each year, I believe that involvement in your child’s education is a priceless gift that you can give children and, please know that your child, the other children, families, staff and community benefit from your dedication. I have enjoyed working closely with you all and hope you have enjoyed the experience as well. I often think of the saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. This may have become somewhat of a cliché, but the idea behind it—that children grow up as a part of a community—remains an important one. Remember, that as a community-based centre, we could not operate without you. We have had a very busy year with special events like the Family Nights and celebrations for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. The staff continued with the journal-style programming format based on children’s interests, incorporating the Australian curriculum framework document, “Belonging, Being & Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia” (EYLF). We have also continued with the individual portfolios as a means of maintaining children’s individual records. We continued writing six-monthly and annual Developmental Summaries as a means of ascertaining appropriate directions for facilitated growth and as a tool for informing our ongoing programs. We started up the Blog on our website last year & have continued to display the program journals on a fortnightly basis. Program-wise, we have had lots of exciting incursions like music incursions, the “Hatch & Grow” chickens, the Rock Pool Show & the Bugs Show. We have also had excursions, including the Library for Book Week, as well as trips to the Pet Shop, Fruit Shop & even a train-ride to Moss Vale for some children & a trip to the Mittagong Playhouse to see “HONK Jnr” for others. We have continued with annual Staff Review sessions between the staff and myself with the aim of setting professional goals and working towards growth. This affirms the staff for all their wonderful qualities as well as indicating appropriate inservice training. We have continued reviewing the Preschool policies, upgrading them to reflect recent policy & practice. This process is ongoing and will continue into 2014, also impacted by our Improvement Plan, set in conjunction with the National Quality Standards. Phone (02) 48 711109 Email [email protected] page 01 The Preschool had full enrolments throughout 2013 with a waiting list. There were some staffing changes to reshuffle staff combinations to ensure a distribution of skills and expertise. The position of Outdoor Programmer created in 2010 continues as an important innovation, raising the profile of the outdoor program. As part of this role we have continued implementing the “Munch & Move” program with a ‘fundamental movements’ session each day in the outdoor environment. It has been wonderful to see how the children’s skills have grown with this repeated practice. Sarah McAllan left the Preschool in October last year to take up a position in the Macarthur area & this year we welcomed Friedel Gorman as the full-time teacher in the Possum Room. I know I speak on behalf of the parents and Committee as I say thanks to each staff member for all their hard work and dedication! The staff make this the fantastic Preschool that it is!!! Parent involvement is very important to us and this was evident in 2013 - from weeding to painting to covering books to mending, the ‘end-of-year’ clean-up & oiling the fort. Thanks to one and all for your involvement in so many ways, large and small! Please remember that we are not asking for a huge commitment of time but rather, if everyone does just a little, then the whole task is more manageable. Preschool education is all about forming and nurturing relationships with families/ carers, and as such, the staff at the Preschool are committed to consulting with, and involving the whole family within the Preschool program. Please remember, we have an open-door policy, we invite program-input from families and we are always here to discuss any issues you may have. Good luck to the incoming committee members and I look forward to working with you all. Pauline Iacono Director THE 2014 PARENTS ASSOCIATION President: Katie Contré Vice President: Angelina Marcon-Jones Secretary: Lee Coyle Treasurer: Jacqueline Stewart General Members: Jane Boadle Jennifer Arboit Karen Bramble Publicity / Newsletter: Lauren Evans General Maintenance: Jennifer Arboit Book Club Organiser: Suzanne King Social Events Coordinator: Angelina Marcon-Jones Fundraising: Seantay Boyan Belinda Myles Cathy Batt Phone (02) 48 711109 Email [email protected] page 02 Mittagong Preschool President’s Annual Report (2013 - 2014) As president of Mittagong Preschool I have had the pleasure of working with a great parent committee and committed preschool staff. Without the generosity and dedication of parents volunteering their time and skills Mittagong Preschool would not survive as an independent community based preschool. The past twelve months has been an exciting time at preschool. Early in the year we welcomed our new preschoolers and held a family night and morning tea week. This is always a great opportunity for our preschool families to meet each other. As the year progressed there were more opportunities for the preschool to come together. We had a mothers night, fathers night, and movie night nights with popcorn and drinks. These events were all fun nights and well attended. Fundraising efforts are an important part of preschool. They are an opportunity to engage with the wider community and money raised is used to provide the cream on top of the basic preschool experience such as new play equipment, upgrading our kitchen, and our stage with its incredible murals. Our fundraising efforts over the past year have included bulb sales, movie nights, Mother’s Day hamper raffle, Bunnings BBQ and cake stall, Father’s day raffle, election day cake stall, baby and kids market, name labels, greeting cards with our children’s drawings or photographs, and our fantastic trivia night. We were fortunate to have benefitted from the State Government Preschool Fee Reduction Initiative. This resulted in us receiving a one off payment passed on to parents of eligible children as reduced fees from term two to the end of the year. It will be great if this initiative is implemented again in 2014. In June we held a trivia night fundraiser. The night was a great success thanks to our fantastic organising committee, the generosity of local businesses and families for our silent auction, the hosting by preschool parent Steve Cheers ( he hosts a regular trivia night at Mittagong RSL), and the support and participation of preschool families and friends. In the middle of the year we undertook some upgrading works around the preschool resulting in a revamped and remodelled kitchen with new appliances, a new hot water system, and a new bench top in the prep room. The work was almost all undertaken by tradespeople associated with our preschool community. Around this time we also replaced our portable telephone system with a new one providing coverage over the whole preschool site ( a major improvement on the old system). In November new blinds were installed in the front office, Pauline’s office and the kitchen reducing heat and glare to these rooms. In July preschool received notification of Capital Grant Funding available for preschool infrastructure. Our committee investigated options for an additional classroom on our current preschool site or a possible satellite preschool. Whilst we did not submit an application for funding it did get us thinking about our future direction and we will keep our eyes open for other opportunities as they arise. In October Sarah Mc Allen our teacher in the Possum room handed in her resignation to take up a director’s position at a community based long day care centre. We were sad to see Sarah go as she was a great teacher and team member. To cover the vacancy created we managed to secure Laura as a temporary teacher three days a week, and Kamie Lee took on two additional days until the end of the year. This was done to ensure as little disruption as possible for our children in the Possum Room. Laura fitted right in and both Laura and Kamie did a wonderful job. During this time the committee recruited for a new teacher and after an exhausting interview process have been fortunate in securing Friedel Gorman as our new teacher in the Possum room. Phone (02) 48 711109 Email [email protected] page 03 Our wonderful families also participated in maintenance work around the preschool renewing the sand in the sandpit, tree pruning, cleaning out the creek, oiling the fort and outdoor timber, cleaning soft fall and concrete, covering books, and several working bees to weed and mulch gardens. As you can see a lot of things have occurred during the past year. A lot of these would not have been possible without the enthusiasm and dedication of our experienced and dedicated staff, and the generosity of our preschool families. Many things are done by staff out of hours including attending family nights, and many parents donate their time, skills and services for the betterment of the preschool. I am proud to be part of this preschool community. I have made many friends and am proud to tell others that my child attended Mittagong Preschool. I would like to extend my thanks to our parent management committee members being: Jane Boadle as vice president, Katie Contre as secretary, Sarah Farnese as treasurer, Christine Harrison as assistant treasurer, Kate Sarty, Cathy Brooks-Lloyd and Jo Plokstys as general members, and our sub-committee of Kate Sarty as publicity/ newsletter officer, Angelina Marcon-Jones as social events co-ordinator, Lucy Nias as maintenance officer, and Suzanne King as book club organiser. These people have all given generously of their time to contribute to the smooth running of the preschool. We have worked as a team with every member being important and the ideas and opinions of everyone being valued. During the past twelve months we have worked together collaboratively making all major decisions for the preschool Thank you to our fantastic staff, you are all so important in making our preschool what it is. Our teaching staff: Pauline Kamie, Friedel, Agnes, Jenny, Kristie, Shannon, Simone, Sue, Sally and Lisa our ever helpful casual for enriching our children, Jo working behind the scenes keeping the place clean and tidy, and Leanne turning chaos into management in our office. Finally thank you Pauline for your strong leadership and love of our preschool, not only do you juggle and manage the staff and the children, but also provide much needed guidance to the parent committee. Thankyou. On behalf of the preschool I extend a special thank you to all our parent volunteers for your generosity and support over the past year. It is the preschool families that make the preschool community what it is. Finally, we are very fortunate to be a stand-alone community based preschool. For us that means complete autonomy in decision making and the ability to create unique positions such as that of outdoor educator. A role that was introduced several years ago and has proven to be highly valued by staff and parents. The preschools future as a stand-alone community based preschool will only continue with the commitment and involvement of our preschool families. Community based preschools are run by the parents (by way of a committee). We therefore need parents to take on committee roles. Every year there is the daunting task of trying to find people to fill committee roles. These are not difficult roles. They are responsible roles and past position holders will tell you of the satisfaction they have had from fulfilling these roles. If you want your children to have the unique experience that is Mittagong Preschool (and we have a waiting list attesting to families wanting that experience) then we need you as parents to become involved. My hope is that Mittagong Preschool continues to prosper as a stand-alone community based preschool providing the experiences for children and families that make it the unique place that it is. On behalf of the outgoing parent committee thank you for your support over the past twelve months and to the incoming parent committee enjoy the experience and we wish you every success. Heather James, President Phone (02) 48 711109 Email [email protected] page 04
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