September 5th

As the writer of this blog was away for the end of last week, the post has been delayed. So we are combining two weeks into one! Sorry for the wait!

Last week we once again recorded long jump scores. With such a focus on scores, children have noticed that after training and practice they went from improving in leaps and bounds (pun intended) to only slightly improving or plateauing.

Something that you may not know is on Tuesdays we have a technology free day. This means we have an evening that we encourage more physical activity, imaginative play and interactive games, board/card games, table top sports and building and creating with recycled materials.

Last Wednesday we had a fake Friday and watched The Incredibles, because the weather was wretched. Others played lots of games, noses were buried in books and we started a new survey. The staff has been discussing adding an education TV night. We would choose to watch documentaries and shows that talk about particular topics like history or different cultures around the world. If parents have any suggestions for suitable shows, please let staff know. As for the kids, they can come have their say on our survey!

This week we have had really great displays of creative thinking. Whenever the weather is horrible, we get stuck inside. When we don’t have the SAC at our disposal this can sometimes mean we have 45 students and 4 adults all inside OSHC. When this happens, it is great to see some creative thinking, people trying to solve the issue of cramped space, having too much energy to spend or just wanting some great entertainment. This week we saw a lot of tabletop games developed, like shooting hoops with plastic pots. Others decided to study photos and improve their realistic drawing skills. While some just played with ordinary items to try make something beautiful.

On Friday we had a pupil-free day. After the Olympics, lots of children continued to discuss different sports and were really interested in being competitive. So we organised races, practised long-jump, built obstacle courses and played lots of sports. We even shared some of our favourite videos on youtube. Damian was also kind enough to bring in his foosball and hockey tabletop game for the kids to use. Thank Damian!

We were also very lucky with the warm weather to find a scaly friend enjoying the warm stones around OSHC’s front door. This sparked so much interest with the kids, who followed its movements and fed it banana. Also the mother bird in the tree next to OSHC was having worms collected for it to feed to its chicks.

We realise this pupil-free day has snuck up on people. So get your calendars out! The next one is on October 31^st after vacation care.

Lately we have had higher numbers booked into week nights. With Monday and Wednesday being booked out we are unable to take casual bookings. Unfortunately though, we have had increasing numbers of people not informing us of cancellations. This means that other families are missing out because we cannot inform them early enough that we have a place for their children. Please help us to help others. If your child is absent, without us being informed, full fees apply.