Hillbank Community Children's Centre

Well done to all the rooms, the doors look amazing.

Book week has been successful, with lots of creative dress ups and activities provided.

So the votes have been counted and the winner is............................
the rabbits room with their Harry Potter themed door well done.

❤️Today was an amazing day for educators across the country and I am so lucky to have been able to be part of it❤️

Finally, educators won the recognition they deserve and secured a 15% Government funded pay increase!!!

I am so proud to be part of such a dedicated centre. Every time I asked them to take a photo, do a video, step out of their comfort zone with media, hit the streets and stand up for our sector..They did and they did it with style 😊

It is the moments like this that have helped drive the Big Steps Campaign and as a service, we should be VERY proud to have been such a big part of it.

Thank you to all our families who have supported our journey and thanks also goes out to all those Directors and Educators before us, who laid the path for this win!

💙Today was about these wonderful Educators💙

Naa Marni? - Are you all good?

The 4th of August is ‘National Aboriginal and Zenadth Kes (formerly known as Torres Strait Islander) Children's Day’ however, we celebrated today.

We spent time with the children today, continuing to embed Aboriginal culture into our everyday curriculum & practices.

The morning started with children & educators placing their pictures on the wall to show how they were feeling. Marni ai, Yuku marni ai or Kuku ai.

We then held group time where the children led our Acknowledgement Of Country in Kaurna language.

We read some stories ‘Big Rain Coming’ and ’Walk With Us’, as well as singing songs and doing the dance movements. The children have also enjoyed practicing naming the different animals in Kaurna. These activities are embedding the language, songs and stories of Kaurna Culture.

Welcome to the Beehive's Pizza Shop!

Today, the babies engaged in a delightful role-playing experience centred around our very own pizza-making shop. A variety of play materials were arranged on a wooden board, including paper representations of ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, and cheese. Each ingredient was labeled with small chalkboard signs adding a touch of provocation to spark their curiosity. The highlight of the setup was a cardboard oven, completed with a flame to simulate the cooking process. The babies eagerly assembled their own pizzas using the colourful paper toppings and then "baked" their creations in the oven.🍕🍕🍕

It's time to pay us the 25% for the professional work that we do 💰💰💰💰

Matt Burnell MP
Early Educators United
Peter Malinauskas
Rhiannon Pearce MP
Big Steps Campaign

👩‍💻👩‍💻NATIONAL PAYROLL DAY!👩‍💻👩‍💻

Today was the perfect opportunity to celebrate Jess and thank her for all of the hard work she does for Hillbank CCC
Payroll is no easy job but Jess does it with dedication!
But Jess' role doesn't stop there, she is the first smiling face you all see coming into the centre! Amongst all of the other jobs she takes on to keep our centre's wheels turning.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thanks for all you do Jess! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

📣 CALLING ALL PARENTS! 📣

We know that without a dedicated, qualified, and professional workforce, your children cannot get the best start in life. Quality early learning is vital to your child's development. Australia deserves a properly funded early learning sector. 💰✊

That's why we're asking you to leave a quick message on our Digital Notice Board about why educators matter to you..🫶

👉 unitedworkers.org.au/ecec/

This week, in recognition of NAIDOC Week, our educators are dedicated to incorporating Aboriginal and Zenadth Kes into our daily environment, not just for this week, but as an ongoing commitment.
Our journey so far has lead us to learn how to say an acknowledge of land in the Kaurna language. We are working on establishing a permanent culture area in our room. Our goal is to create a space filled with diverse cultural resources and materials for the babies to explore. 🖤💛❤️

🖤💛❤️ NAIDOC WEEK 💚💙🤍🖤

This week we celebrated and recognised NAIDOC Week. Throughout the week the children participated in a range of experiences to extend their knowledge of Aboriginal and Zendath Kes history and culture.

We also had a special visit to the Anglicare Nursing home and made special cards for the residents!

Today was a big dayof learning for our Hillbank team!
We began our day with Farran Street Education 'between the flags' where we talked about building on our effective communication and created pledges committing to how we will all work cohesively in our small teams and as a whole team.

We then had a bit of a brain break, and got moving with a hoop challenge, everyone was to link hands and pass the hoop down the line without touching it with their hands. The winning team took the oit the win with a cool 16 seconds😎

In the afternoon it was time to PLAY with Nature Play SA running a workshop. It really shined a light on what we are doing so well already within our centre and how we can continue to extend on it.
We had the opportunity to explore open ended resources and really work our imaginations and then onto making paints and painting out of nothing by nature! Using flowers, leaves and spices 🍂🌿🌻🌹 to create the most amazing colours. Our team are looking forward to how we can incorporate that into our programs using what we have available within the community.

We are so lucky to be able to have this time as a team to reflect and build on our skills and knowledge!

Congratulations to Kristina who today was marked off on her final assessment and has now completed her certificate 3!

Despite Krissy already achieving her Cert 3 previously, to move on to the Diploma she needed to update to the new certificate, a bit of a spanner in the works but she didn't let that stop her.

👏👏👏👏

Today we farewelled our much loved director Bec Stiles. After 29 years at Hillbank she is taking 12 months to work with the union to continue advocating for our sector.
To say our Hillbank team is proud would be an understatement, we absolutely beam with pride and gratitude for all that she does!

We wish you all best Bec! Thank you for being such an incredible leader for our team of educators and our community 🩵💜

It's important to that our Educators keep there skills and knowledge up to date.

Today, we were able to congratulate Kirstina on completing her Diploma of Early Education and Care, all whilst working and being a Mum 😊

Well done Kirstina, your commitment and determination has finally paid off!!!

What a great way to finish the week, The Rabbit’s walked down to Anglicare SA Nursing home and enjoyed singing some songs and colouring in with the residents ❤️❤️❤️

Have a great long weekend!

Today we celebrated National Fish and Chip Day 2024 🐟🍟 to acknowledge the importance of fish and chips during WW1 and WW2, and on D-Day.

We also planned an experience for World Ocean Day 🌊 the Lions enjoyed an Icy sensory activity finding the ocean animal frozen in ice, they used a variety of tools and techniques to set them free.

We loved our surprise visit from Elsa and Anna, who will be performing this June at the Shedley Theatre. Be sure to get your tickets before they sell out.
Information is in your parent pockets.
❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Gather your friends and family and join us for our Quiz Night!!!
We will have games and raffle prizes to win through out the night 🏆
Saturday June 22nd!
RSVP and purchase tickets at Hillbank CCC

It's that time of year again and today our Educators received their annual flu vaccination 🤧

It is important to us that our little community stays safe ❤️

Have you hade your jab yet???

To help the babies acknowledge Reconciliation Week, today we read the book “All around us Animals All around us” written and illustrated by Melanie Hava. We then explored a Tuff tray inspired by the book itself. We hunted for the animals deep within the sea, jumping along the desert and hiding amongst the trees . The babies loved exploring all the different textures & animals
🖤💛❤️🖤💛❤️🖤💛❤️🖤💛❤️

🖤💛❤️🖤💛❤️🖤💛❤️🖤💛❤️
Have you added your leaf to our tree?

Write down on a leaf, one action you will commit to as you work towards Reconciliation with us & add it to the tree (in the foyer).

Let’s see how big our tree can grow!
🖤💛❤️🖤💛❤️🖤💛❤️🖤💛❤️

This year's National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) takes place on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, at 12 pm. Each year, a picture book written and illustrated by an Australian author is read simultaneously across libraries, schools, childcare centers, homes, and more.

This year's book is "Bowerbird Blues" by Aura Parker. The story follows a bowerbird on a quest for all things blue, while he feels something is missing in his life. The narrative encourages reflection on environmental pollution and its challenges.

Today, our educators set up a beautiful tuff tray filled with various blue items, including cellophane, crepe paper, string, blocks, and more. The children loved listening to the story while exploring the tuff tray. We encouraged the children to collect the bowerbirds and then gather other blue items, which they really enjoyed.
We then spoke about what the bird was feeling during the story and emphasised the importance of cleaning up after ourselves.

We continued this learning throughout the afternoon, as we created beautiful bird nests using play-dough, straw and recycled blue resources, from the earlier tuff tray experience. The children loved pushing and hiding the items in the play-dough and making special homes for the bowerbird.

Today, the entire center headed down to Jo Gapper Activity Park to celebrate Australia's Biggest Morning Tea with our very special guests. The children had an absolute blast exploring the various attractions of the park.

The children enjoyed climbing the playground, which tested their gross motor abilities and strength, and had loads of fun kicking balls around on the grass area.

It was a fun filled day with laughter, spending quality time with friends and loved ones out in the beautiful outdoors. ☀️🛝⚽️💗

Hello families, we have a special day on Sunday -Mother’s Day.

Shout out to Jessica Hallewas our admin for the lovely donation of Jurlique (skin care products).

We have 3 lovely gift packs for 3 lovely ladies. Who will be notified by telephone.

We hope you all have a lovely Mother’s Day 💐