Blog

Thursday, 02 December 2021 05:21

Family Decision Making For Preschool

Our educators are often approached by families asking to explain how preschool works at MICCC and wanting to know if we think their child is “ready” for preschool or school. The truth is that families know their children best. If you take advice from the Government, children should start school…

Thursday, 09 September 2021 01:28

Predictability and Routines

Predictability and Routine are two words that are vital for your child to thrive. We all develop routines for key moments of the day and for key life celebrations, it is a way of building healthy habits and for sharing our beliefs and values with our family and friends. For…

Friday, 14 May 2021 00:29

Grief & Loss

Grief & Loss

Death is all around us, a normal part of life... meaning GRIEF is a constant wave for some people and our children need to develop the skills to be able to express their feelings of grief and continue to function in life. It is a big topic, a scary topic,…

Friday, 29 January 2021 05:24

2021 - Starting off on the right foot!

Nathan Wallis presenting on our big screen for a Zoom session

During our Summer closure the MICCC staff team came together on January 8, for a day of professional learning, team building and beautifying spaces. After updating our first aid/CPR skills, we then logged in for a live presentation across the ditch with New Zealand’s leading neuroscience educator Nathan Wallis. As…

Thursday, 26 November 2020 04:06

Returning To Work: A Personal Insight

When returning to work full time in 2016 after my maternity leave, the struggle was real. I was learning to balance life in a whole new way. I was full of emotions, a full time single mum, a full time educator and a full time student balancing teaching placements with…

Thursday, 26 November 2020 04:01

Transitions Can Impact Everyone

I know that this time of year many families will be focusing on the older children in their families who might be transitioning to start school next year, we also have children transitioning to new rooms and starting at MICCC for the first time. Children who are not changing rooms…

Friday, 27 March 2020 01:47

Family Isolation

Nowhere in the words ‘family isolation’ or ‘home lockdown’ do I read the words school or academics. What I read are the two most important words a child needs, ‘family’ and ‘home’. Children need a safe space to process all their feelings and thoughts right now. During this time children…

Tuesday, 10 December 2019 23:30

Continuous Reflective Dialogue - An insight into how we operate.

Continuous Reflective Dialogue - An insight into how we operate.

We are continuously reflecting on the the way we plan, program, intentionally teach, support and document children’s learning. We are proud of the way we prioritise reflective conversations and seeking perspectives in a collaborative manner, avoiding situations when pressure and isolation overwhelm primary educators. We decided years ago to reduce…

Friday, 22 November 2019 03:17

Supporting Change & Transition

Every single day we aim to provide a safe space for your children, an environment where children feel secure in their relationships so they go off and explore the world around them. One thing however that is out of our control are the moments and events happening outside of MICCC…

Friday, 18 October 2019 04:57

ECA NATIONAL CONFERENCE - A Personal Expereince

The MICCC team on the Hobart ECA stage

DAY ONE Day One of the conference started just as I had hoped, a colourful and textured rainbow lighting display spread across the stage and the music of Dwayne Everett Smith. Dwayne opened the conference with a Welcome to Country. His presence alone demanded attention, with deep breaths between his…

Wednesday, 07 August 2019 22:50

The importance of WELLBEING - Breathe & Talk

The importance of WELLBEING - Breathe & Talk

Every day throws up new challenges and celebrations, sometimes there is balance and other days the balance is harder to achieve. Some people can navigate through the tough times but for some it can have a compounding effect day after day. An individual’s level of wellbeing is deeply personal and…

Friday, 14 June 2019 04:29

Noticing The Best In Everyone

Noticing The Best In Everyone

At Margaret Ives we focus on the strengths of everyone in our community; families, children and staff. It is so easy to overwhelmed by the negative things happening around you in life and at work but it is so important to refocus and remember what makes you special and remind…

Thursday, 30 May 2019 05:17

What I Want My Four Year Old to Know

What I Want My Four Year Old to Know

You may have heard the terms ‘hard skills’ referring to academic learning and ‘soft skills’ relating to self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Families visiting our centre often ask about academics in an emergent play curriculum and we are able to articulate this, but we also place great emphasis on the importance…

Wednesday, 13 March 2019 02:14

MICCC GREETINGS

Coral Room Greetings

After leaving a provocation on the staffroom whiteboard about the self-esteem of 9 year old girls. I left a message for educators to reflect on their own greetings and how that could be a compounding factor to how children perceive themselves... did they ever comment on a child’s hair, shoes…

Friday, 15 February 2019 02:34

Sensory Space

The sensory space

I have been busy creating a sensory space/retreat for all of our children to be able to utilise. At any moment our library can now transform into a dinosaur world. With the main lights off, it is complete darkness so before children enter, a sound sensing light moves dots of…

Monday, 10 December 2018 01:46

The Year’s End

Looking forward to an new year ahead.

In the final month of 2018 we reflect on the monumental year that has passed and start to imagine and see the huge potential for the new year ahead. In 2019 we are wanting to further consolidate our leadership and governance as we move away from team leader roles and…

Wednesday, 24 October 2018 01:26

Behaviour - The Tip Of The Iceberg

Behaviour - The Tip Of The Iceburg

There is a strong interconnecting relationship between the behaviours we see from children and the feelings we can’t see that manifest inside them. The question we need to be asking ourselves is NOT what are they crying/hurting/stealing for?.... but, WHAT ARE THEY CRYING OUT FOR? At a recent Gowrie inclusion…

Wednesday, 26 September 2018 03:48

ECA Conference 2018: An Educational Leader’s Perspective

Our MICCC Team at the ECA Conference in Sydney 2018

This will be a long one so grab yourself a drink and pop your feet up! On Wednesday Kerys, Jo, Sarah, Rochelle and myself headed to the airport full of excitement and anticipation ready for the Early Childhood Australia National Conference. We were quickly reminded that this trip was going…

Wednesday, 12 September 2018 07:56

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER Professional Development Report

Another quick update about the professional development our staff have been engaging in lately... We love being able to share our new knowledge and experiences with the MICCC children and families and are excited that five of our staff members are heading off to Sydney next week to the Early…

Wednesday, 05 September 2018 06:06

Learning Styles

Recently I presented a reading to our Coral Room team for reflection and it evoked such an emotionally connected response I wanted to share it with our wider community. The reading link below will lead you to the website of renowned child psychologist Dr Louise Porter (2018), the reading itself…

Monday, 30 July 2018 06:28

Professional Development July Report

Once again this month has been jam packed with wonderful professional development opportunities for our staff, including our Centre Closure Day. It is so great that we are able to share our new knowledge and experiences with the MICCC children and families. ‘Practice is shaped by meaningful engagement with families…

Wednesday, 25 July 2018 04:13

A Child’s Right To Play

There was a recent article in the Sunday Mail that used words like ‘free play’ ‘unstructured play’ ‘open-ended play’ ‘no rules’ and ‘free-choice’ in a negative light, claiming these moments were lost opportunities for learning in childcare and preschool. I actually laughed out loud and covered my mouth in disbelief…

Monday, 18 June 2018 05:43

Professional Development May/June Report

We love Anthony Semann

Well we have had some very busy educators at Margaret Ives over the last month or so, engaging in learning, self, team and whole centre reflection. Below are the main points of each training, how new educator knowledge can benefit interactions with children, relationships with families and support other staff…

Friday, 18 May 2018 03:36

Gender: How neutral is neutral?

At Margaret Ives we provide a safe place that celebrates the diversity of our families and provides children with opportunities for self-exploration, self-discovery and self-confidence. Our educators are trained and knowledgeable, viewing children as competent individuals with a right to an identity, a sense of belonging, choice/opinion, health/nutrition, protection, education,…

Monday, 30 April 2018 05:54

Professional Development - April Report

Here at Margaret Ives we have an amazing and educated staff team that values growth in knowledge, development and reflection, to remain at the forefront of early childhood education. During April I created a professional development reflection form to help staff articulate the main points of each training, how their…

Wednesday, 28 March 2018 05:09

Mental Toughness

This year we replaced our February and March staff meetings with Mental Toughness training through Bakjac Consulting. Our whole staff team engaged in the two sessions with Michelle Bakjac and we each got something different out of the training that had unique meaning for ourselves. The first session focused…

Wednesday, 07 March 2018 00:29

Inspiration and Positivity

An important aspect of my educational leadership role is to motivate others with a strength-based view. One way to keep me focused on the positives is to remind myself just what it is about the individuals in our staff team that inspires me and share that with them. This is…

Monday, 19 February 2018 06:16

Key Word Signing

Key Word Signing Vocabulary for Childcare Setting

Our staff team came back to work last Saturday to take part in Key Word Sign training with Liberty Gates. It was an inspirational session that had us all wanting to implement more key word signs in our rooms. Key word signing is a visual communication tool that benefits all…

Wednesday, 07 February 2018 02:22

Are you making the most of mealtimes?

This Term I have been continuing to use the involvement observation scale from the Respect, Reflect, Relate document. For this, I video a range of children in each room (2 minute videos, 6 times in one day) and then analyse their level of engagement in play experiences and routine moments.…

Tuesday, 16 January 2018 23:39

Let the Readings Begin!

Reflective conversation starters

As new and existing children start their 2018 Margaret Ives journey, new staff/child/room dynamics begin to unfold in our Jacaranda, Bottlebrush and Coral Rooms. It is important that while we focus on developing secure attachments and trusting bonds with these children that we continue to question our curriculum decisions and…

Friday, 15 December 2017 01:40

Involvement, Rights, Competence & Time

Initial Resources used to start conversations

Over the last couple of months I have been encouraging our educators to reflect on high level involvement and what it looks like in their rooms. I spent time recording video footage of a sample group of children in the Jacaranda Room and analysed it in correlation with the Respect,…

Friday, 01 December 2017 02:38

Live Wires Forum

The Live Wires Forum had a real mix of delegates, some as passionate about technology as the speakers and some still unsure about the role of technology in Early childhood. So it was great that Professor Lydia Plowman started the forum by dispelling 7 myths about technology in early childhood…

Tuesday, 21 November 2017 05:16

Re-imagining Childhood Conference

Wow, such an amazing collection of perspectives shared at the inspirational Re-imagining Childhood conference! From the start of day one I was captivated, I laughed, focused intently, actively listened, shared and even shed some tears. Jack Buckskin’s welcome to country with his young son Vincent epitomised the importance and influence…

Tuesday, 21 November 2017 00:25

Welcome To Our Blog Page

As Educational Leader of Margaret Ives I would like to welcome all existing and new families to our MICCC blog. In 2015 we were rated as exceeding the National Quality Standard across all seven quality areas and as a Centre we continue to grow and challenge ourselves daily. This blog…

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