Welcome to the ELC 2024

The ELC teaching teams have been delighted to welcome our new cohort of preschoolers for 2024. The children have bought their smiles, confidence, inquisitiveness, and questions and sometimes a few tears, but all the children are settling beautifully. The family interviews conducted last week have enabled a very smooth transition to the preschool this week. 

A reminder that the ELC hours have changed this year and our new hours are 8:00-5:30. Your child will need to be picked up by 5:30 to avoid being charged the extra fee of $10 per 5 minutes.

For those children enrolled in the Preschool Plus program (8:00am-5:30pm, you can drop off and pick up anytime during these hours. Entry is by the side gate where you will sign your child in, help them to unpack their bag, apply sunscreen to one of our beautiful staff members. Those children in the Preschool program (9:00am-3:00pm) are to unpack, support your child in applying sunscreen, sign in and then enter the classroom at 9:00am.

If your child is experiencing difficulty separating from you, please do a handover directly with a staff member. In this instance, give a kiss and cuddle goodbye, remind them you will see them in the afternoon at pick-up, and then leave quickly. Prolonged farewells can be difficult and emotional for both children and parents. If you are concerned about leaving your child upset, please don’t hesitate to contact the ELC to check-in – we are very happy to take these calls.

You may notice some different behaviours and/or regression in your little one in the next few weeks. It is not unusual for children’s appetites to decrease or increase while at school, experience toileting accidents, require earlier bedtimes or need an afternoon nap. They are working hard at school to remember new faces and names, new routines and environments. They may have tantrums once they are at home (or even on the way to the carpark!) as they save their best behaviour for school and tend to fall apart once they are in their familiar environment with the ones who love them most.

Stay and Play

Stay and Play is a playgroup for pre-preschoolers and their carer each Wednesday in school term 9am-10am in the ELC Adventure Garden (weather permitting). All families and the broader community are welcome to attend.