Children’s artwork
We have some budding young artists in our Beaconsfield community, and you may have seen some of their artwork on display in the local shops! This is a new community project organised by our Wattle Group teacher, Mrs Soutter, in conjunction with local businesses including Ducky in the Field Cafe, Amcal Pharmacy, Pure Beauty MediSpa, Greens & Grains and GreenSoul Organics. The art display helps support engagement, appreciation and connection, enabling our kinder children to contribute positively to their world and feel like a valued citizen.
The project will see a rotating display of artwork by our local kinder children, with other kinder groups to share the limelight with Wattle Group children once the project is fully up and running.
If you own a local business and would like to display artwork by our Beaconsfield Kindergarten children, please contact us at admin@beaconsfieldkinder.com.au
Beaconsfield Kindergarten is Exceeding the National Quality Standards
Beaconsfield Kindergarten’s Woods St service recently underwent an Assessment and Rating (A&R) process by the Department of Education. All early childhood education and care services are assessed every three to five years, with Woods St’s previous A&R occurring in 2018 and O’Neil Rd’s in 2019.
During the A&R, services are rated against the National Quality Standards in the following areas:
- Quality Area 1: Educational program and practice
- Quality Area 2: Children’s health and safety
- Quality Area 3: Physical environment
- Quality Area 4: Staffing arrangements
- Quality Area 5: Relationships with children
- Quality Area 6: Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
- Quality Area 7: Governance and leadership
We are very excited to announce that our Woods St kindergarten achieved the highest rating of “Exceeding the National Quality Standard” in all seven Quality Areas, which is a fantastic achievement and a wonderful reflection on our awesome team!!!
Our service at O’Neil Rd currently has an exceeding rating in five of the seven Quality Areas and is also rated as “Exceeding” overall. We expect that O’Neil Road will have its next A&R sometime in the next twelve months.
Committee of Management
You may be aware that Beaconsfield Kindergarten is one of the few kindergartens in the local Cardinia/Casey area that is still run by a volunteer Committee of Management. But do you know what that means? Some of the benefits of being an independent, committee-run kinder include:
- Community focus: Our kindergartens are both located in Beaconsfield, and it is this community that we serve. Our policies and procedures reflect the needs of our local community, and all funding and fundraising is spent at our services, rather than spread across many services. We have greater individuality, with our educators having freedom to adapt the kinder program to meet the interests and needs of the children.
- Parent involvement: The great beauty of a committee of management is that it is made up of current families attending our kindergarten. With the guidance of our expert teaching and administration staff, these families, who represent our local community, are able to make decisions on matters that directly affect them and their children. Examples include, but are not limited, improvements to the kinder, purchases, program models, timetables, policy development and recruitment of staff.
- Dedicated, long term staff: The majority of our staff have worked at our kinder for many years, with Mrs Hancock and Nicole Ferguson leading the count at over 20 years each! Our staffing team work closely with the committee of management to influence the direction of our kinder. They appreciate the stability in their employment and the enjoyment they get from seeing returning families and making strong connections within our local community.
We are very lucky to have retained our independence. It can only be done with a strong community behind us, and we would like to thank the Beaconsfield community for continuing to support our kindergarten.
