Support to keep learning
Wimmera kindergartens are planning to provide flexible early-childhood education options as students go back to class for term two.
In order to retain students across Victorian kindergartens, the State Government announced it would provide up to $45-million in extra funding to provide free three and four-year-old kinder programs for term two.
Horsham and District Kindergarten Association, which manages kindergartens in Northern Grampians, Horsham and Hindmarsh municipalities, opened for term two yesterday.
HDKA executive officer Pauline Butler said State Government support had allowed her kindergartens to continue teaching and caring for children.
“We’re going ahead as planned unless we are told otherwise,” she said.
“We will remain open for families to attend kindergarten and encourage families to send their children to enrolled programs.”
Ms Butler said before the Easter holiday break staff had noticed a decline in attendance as more parents chose to keep their children at home.
“It is really important for children to continue their early-years education. They don’t have to attend, but the services will remain open for families who are wanting to attend,” she said.
“This financial support will help families keep their children enrolled in the kindergarten service, rather than withdrawing them because they cannot afford to pay the fee.
“We want to keep families enrolled and not financially burden them in the event they have had a change in circumstances.
“This will also allow essential workers to do their jobs, because we need them on the frontline.”
Ms Butler said kindergartens were revising their programs to adhere to social-distancing measures.
“We are looking at modifying our programs to minimise the contact between children and staff,” she said.
“It’s a work in progress. We started to make changes before the school holidays.
“We’ll be looking at different ways to do things, like changing pick-up and drop-off times, how we can space children out in the rooms and the outdoor yards and constantly monitoring our hygiene practices.
“We might have two students at a table rather than six. When we are reading a story to the children, we will make sure there’s social distancing on the mat, so children are 1.5 metres away from each other.”
Ms Butler said the kindergartens were planning to implement online learning options for students who stayed at home.
“We’re looking at a blended mix of what we do – some families who choose not to attend the kindergarten program will receive play-based learning online,” she said.
“Our pedagogical leaders are working on a bit of a tool kit for educators to assist them with that mixed model of learning as well.”
Ms Butler said part of moving forward was educating students and parents about correct social-distancing measures.
“It’s about educating the kids around social distancing. A lot of education will happen over the first couple of weeks,” she said.
“Kids adapt very quickly. We’ll be further educating our students about coronavirus and the importance of washing their hands and what germs are.
“We’ve put information out to families about this on our social media pages in regard to this virus and we are hoping parents have already started this education with their children.
“We’ll be trying to reinforce that to make sure children understand.”