T1 Weeks 1-3

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👋 LIVE FROM THE HIVE … 👋

OUR NEW KINDIES

We have absolutely loved getting to know our new Kindies over the past fortnight (spot them in their red bibs!). We were lucky enough to meet many of them during our Summer Holiday Program, which has really helped support their transition into new routines.

Normally, we run a Kindy-specific program for the first couple of weeks to help our littlies settle in. But this group has been so eager and brave, they were ready to join the other children after just one week!

It has been so lovely seeing our older children step into their role model roles. They have been lending helping hands, showing the Kindies around, and introducing themselves. It has made such a difference in helping our Kindies feel safe, confident, and settled.


LAUNCHING XPLOR - PLAYGROUND

We’re excited to share that we’ll soon start using the Xplor Playground Posts feature to give you a window into what your child/ren are doing and learning at The Hive. You might see photos, learning moments, and little snapshots of play and projects from their day. Our goal is simple: to help you feel more connected to your child’s world while they’re with us!

Posts will show up directly in your Xplor app, and if you have notifications on, you’ll get alerted when your child is tagged. We’ll share more detailed info about how this works in a comms post next week. If you’ve chosen no photos or no Xplor permission, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered and your preferences will be respected.

PLEASE EXIT SCHOOLGROUNDS AFTER PICKUP

A friendly reminder to please leave the school grounds promptly when picking up your children. While it may seem harmless to stay and chat with other parents, it actually makes it very difficult for our Educators to effectively supervise the children who are still in our care - especially if you have younger siblings running around! We appreciate your support by collecting your children, signing them out, and heading off 🙂

OUR THEME FOR THIS TERM 🍃🐛🫜

This term, we’ve chosen “Our Growing Garden” as our programming theme, celebrating how amazing the garden is looking and all the hard work our children (and Nelly!) have put into it. We’re also so lucky to have Nelly running a separate garden program for our keen little gardening bees!

We’ve already jumped in by decorating the Hive room with garden-themed crafts, including building a giant paper chain vine to hang our bugs and flowers from (check out the photos below!).

Have an idea for a garden-themed activity? Let us know HERE or here. We’d love any and all ideas!

🐞🌻🍓🐌 OUR GARDEN 🌿🐛🫜🥕

We have been busy in the garden as we enjoy the final weeks of summer. We picked our much-anticipated rainbow carrots - a colourful mix of red, orange, yellow, white and purple! Alongside them we’ve been enjoying an abundant harvest of rocket and green beans. Some other exciting developments include:

Worm Farm

Waverley Council has generously provided us with a worm farm through the Compost Revolution program. We’ve assembled it and are eagerly awaiting the arrival of 1,000 worms who will soon move into their new home. In the meantime, we wrote up some menus for our worm cafe!

Compost

We’ve been taking great care of our compost system - adding fruit and vegetable scraps, tearing up cardboard to mix in, and turning the compost regularly to keep it aerated. We love observing the many creatures that call the compost home! Our finished compost has been spread around the new banana plants to enrich the soil.

New Scarecrow!

We’ve welcomed back our scarecrow, who is now sporting a fresh outfit and a newly restuffed head, and keeping a watchful eye over the garden.

🤔 CHALLENGE: Can you spot the blue banded bee hidden among the purple flowers? 🤔

👨‍🍳 🎨 🎲 WHAT HAVE THE KIDS BEEN UP TO? 🏏 🧸 🧪

Holidays, who?!?!? We’ve launched straight into term-time fun this fortnight!

Here’s what we’ve been up to in our ACTIVITY CLUBS:

ARTS&CRAFTS: vines & leaves to decorate our hive room with, peg butterflies, stunning flowers, oil pastel cards, jewellery, scratch paper, colouring club and pipecleaner bees
BAKING CLUB: rice bubble slice & vanilla cupcakes
SPORTS: bin ball, newcombe ball, handball, LOTS of jack in the pack, golden child, soccer, giant skipping and relays!
EXPLORE & DISCOVER: cloud dough (sensory fun!), potions & hermit crab research (watch this space!)
GARDENING: setting up our new worm farm, worm menus, restuffing Mr Scarecrow, harvesting carrots & green beans, and building natural enclosures for our animal friends!

HIVE GALLERY…

That’s all folks….!

SUMMER HOLIDAY PROGRAM

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🏖️ Summer Holiday Program - it’s a wrap! 🏖️

WHAT A HOLIDAY PROGRAM!!! We got stuck into TREE HOUSE BUILDING with Julie Zommers, enjoyed a GIANT mega-slide, ROCK CLIMBING, BILLY KART and ROCKET making, a sunny trip to REDLEAF BEACH, SURFING with Let’s Go Surfing, soooo much SLIP ‘N’ SLIDE and HIVE POOLS time, CUBBIES galore, ARCHERY, SKATEBOARDING with Concrete Skate, and LOOSE PARTS PLAY with Reverse Garbage (which the kids absolutely LOVED, and has inspired us to start building our own loose parts library!), plus a special CONNECT TO COUNTRY day, BUBBLE SOCCER and SO much MORE!!!! 🌿🏄‍♀️🛹✨

This week, our team also took part in some important professional learning days. We refreshed our First Aid and CPR training and dived into Play Theory and Reframing Behaviour workshops with our favourite Kerrie from CELA (Community Early Learning Australia). We wrapped it all up with an educators-only turn on the famous inflatable slip ’n’ slide (see below!) 😄

🤩 Whew! Bring on Term 1!!! 🤩

Staff Training Slip n Slide!! ☀️

T3 Weeks 9-10... Happy Holidays Everyone!

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👋 LIVE FROM THE HIVE … 👋

❤️ Message to Our Hive Community ❤️

We’ve been grateful to end the term with a couple of days back together as a team, and with the children. It’s been therapeutic to see one another and to have opportunities together to process Sundays events. Many of the children have been keen to talk and we’ve allowed them to do this is little or as much as they need. Our thoughts are with all those impacted, and we encourage everyone to take the time and space they need during this difficult period. Please know that we are here to support one another.

After such an event, children might have questions or show changes in behaviour. Children take their emotional cues from the adults around them; so calm, simple, and reassuring conversations are really helpful. If you would like advice on ways to approach these conversations, please take a look at this short pamphlet from the Trauma and Grief Network.


Enrolments/Re-enrolments

Please note that enrolment and re-enrolment applications are now officially closed, and will reopen on 5 January.

If you already have an active enrolment, it will remain valid through to Friday 30 January. To make bookings beyond this date, you will need to have submitted your re-enrolment application.

Please be aware that term-time bookings for Term 1 cannot be made until your re-enrolment has been processed. We are already operating waitlists for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, so we encourage families to submit their re-enrolments as soon as possible in the new year.


Extracurriculars 2026

Slots are filling up quick for our four paid activities on offer Term 1 2026...

Click on the registration links below to sign your child up for the relevant activity (remember you need a confirmed Hive booking for the relevant day). Please read carefully which options are available to your child's year group.

Mon (Y1+) - Skateboarding

Tues (Y1+) - Soccer

Weds (YK ONLY) - Soccer

Thurs (Y1+) - Gymnastics

Please Note: We will not be accepting mid-term additions in Term 1. If you're interested, please sign up as soon as possible.


Need care over the Christmas Closures/Summer Holidays?

Need a babysitter over the holidays? Some of our wonderful Hive staff offer babysitting. If you’re looking for care over the break, please reach out to us at bookings@thehivebondi.com.au and we will connect you with an available Educator.

🏖️ HOLIDAY PROGRAM 🏖️

Make sure to get your Holiday Program bookings in to avoid missing out! We are running waitlists on a few of the days already, especially our January 29th excursion to Wild Play @ Centennial Park.

Please remember our HIVE closure dates: Friday 23rd Jan - Wednesday 28th Jan inclusive.

Please note: Early-bird pricing has ended, please at +$10 to the advertised prices.

🐝 New HIVE Educators! 🐝

JORDAN

With years of experience across OOSH and school settings, and as a teacher currently taking a break from the classroom, we’re so pleased to welcome Jordan to our Hive family! With a love of music and visual art, we’re sure he’ll bring a wonderful creative spark to his work with us.

ASH

We’re so excited to welcome Ash to our team! Originally from the North Shore, Ash is a qualified teacher who will be joining us during our Holiday Programs. Her gentle, caring nature will be a wonderful addition to our Hive community, especially as she works closely with our Littlest Bees.

HIVE GALLERY…

….. that’s all folks!

T4 Weeks 7-8

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👋 LIVE FROM THE HIVE … 👋

RE-ENROLMENTS

We’re still missing some re-enrolments for next year. Please note that permanent bookings cannot be made until your re-enrolment is completed, and we are already running waitlists for some days…

Please Note: if re-enrolments are not submitted by Monday 8th December, they’re unlikely to be processed until mid/late January, with a high chance of joining waitlists.


HIVE EXTRACURRICULARS

That’s right! We've finalised our exciting Hive extracurriculars for next year.
In Term 1, 2026 we have four paid activities on offer.. Click on the registration links below to sign your child up for the relevant activity.

Please read carefully which options are available to your child's year group.

Mon (Y1+) - Skateboarding

Tues (Y1+) - Soccer

Weds (YK ONLY) - Soccer

Thurs (Y1+) - Gymnastics

Please Note: We will not be accepting mid-term additions in Term 1. If you're interested, please sign up as soon as possible.


END OF YEAR PARTY - 18th DEC

To celebrate the end of another awesome year, we are throwing an end of year bash on Thursday the 18th of December! If you already have a booking, no need to anything else. If you would like to book a casual day, please request it via the app….

There’ll be inflatables, fun activities, and maybe even some sweet treats….

👨‍🍳 🎨 🎲 WHAT HAVE THE KIDS BEEN UP TO? 🏏 🧸 🧪

The end of the year is fast approaching, and with the warmer, longer days, we’ve been embracing all the summer fun and holiday spirit! Here’s what we’ve been up to in our ACTIVITY CLUBS:

ART&CRAFT: finger painting, matchstick drawings, pipe cleaner caterpillars, summer bug cards, stained hearts & string jellyfish… we’ve also been getting into the holiday spirit with DIY wrapping paper, letters to santa, holiday cards AND a christmas tree garland to decorate the Hive with!!!
SPORT: jack in the pack, it’s a knockout(!!), scramble pot (THE FAMOUS), numbers soccer, kick tennis, tunnel ball, survival tag and bench ball!
EXPLORE & DISCOVER: mud pies! sensory car wash, a spectacular talent show, ooblek, and we also had our final coding club with Christophe… coding club will continue with our lovely educators
BAKING CLUB: delicious milo biccys & choc chip muffins!
CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY: giant train tracks, cubbies, legomasters comp, obstacle course, kapla towers, magnatiles & giant jenga!!

🏖️ HOLIDAY PROGRAM 🏖️

Bookings are flooding in for our SUMMER Holiday Program! Make sure to get in quick, we are already running waitlists for some days…
As always, please make sure to fill out the excursion permissions form, even if you are not planning on booking any excursion days.

Please Note: Early bird pricing ends this Sunday 7th at midnight… please add +$10 to calendar price, for all bookings made after this date.

🐝 BEES OF THE WEEK 🐝

Stevie, Juliet, Olivia (Y3)

For being absolute superstars writing and recording a video to send to our penpals in Germany!
And having A LOT of fun in the process ;)

Thank you for your dedication girls!!

Charlie B (Y4)

For his incredible Rubiks cube skills! Did you know he can complete the cube in 37 seconds?!?!?!? Check out the video below!!


You’re amazing Charlie!

Claire (Educator)

Originally from England, Claire first fell in love with Bondi when she lived here back in 2017. After spending some time travelling to new places and living back home, she returned in January this year and joined the Hive team in April.

She enjoys getting creative with the kids — through crafts, games, or outdoor activities — and loves watching their confidence grow.

Outside of work, you’ll usually find her at the beach soaking up the sunshine and grabbing a good coffee… or a Tommy’s Marg! She’s always up for a chat about travel and loves exploring new places and ticking off bucket-list moments whenever she can.

🐌 OUR GARDEN 🌿

Enjoy some progress photos from our garden, including our brand-new signs for the native plant garden bed! The plants are small for now, but will grow beautifully once settled in.

The space has really come to life, plants are budding, new shoots are appearing, and everything is looking brighter each week. Our veggie patch is also thriving, with strawberries, cucumbers, and tomatoes all beginning to bud. It’s exciting to see the children’s care and attention paying off as the garden continues to flourish!!

Frog update: Still no froggies yet! But our pond is looking very welcoming….

HIVE GALLERY…

T4 Weeks 5-6

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👋 LIVE FROM THE HIVE … 👋

RE-ENROLMENTS

We’re still missing some re-enrolments for next year. Please note that permanent bookings cannot be made until your re-enrolment is completed, and we are already running waitlists for some days…

The link that was sent out will expire this Sunday (23 Nov), so be sure to submit it before then!!

LEAVING SCHOOLGROUNDS

For the safety and supervision of all our students, we kindly ask that parents and guardians leave the school grounds after picking up their children. While we understand the temptation to chat with other families or let kids play on the equipment, we cannot prioritise these activities over ensuring proper supervision. If you're bringing younger siblings to pickup, please make sure they stay with you at all times. This helps us maintain a safe environment for all children still in our care. We ask that you enter the school, sign out your child, and exit the grounds promptly. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation! ☺️

👨‍🍳 🎨 🎲 WHAT HAVE THE KIDS BEEN UP TO? 🏏 🧸 🧪

Summer is truly upon us! We’ve been loving these lovely, warm days. Here’s what we’ve been up to this past fortnight in our ACTIVITY CLUBS:

ART & CRAFT: We’ve been building cardboard cities, experimenting with firework painting, creating tissue paper flowers, rainbow clouds, popsicle stick fruits, oil pastel flowers and accordion snakes just to name a few! We’ve also enjoyed designing hamma beads, jewellery and chatterboxes!
SPORT: bin ball, golden child, jack in the pack, kings & queens, European handball, touch rugby, knockout basketball and 3-point shooting! As well as our usual favourite soccer and soccer shootouts.
EXPLORE & DISCOVER: Christophe joined us for another coding session and we’ve LOVED making mud pies and mud cakes on the adventure playground recently…
BAKING CLUB: delicious scones and yummy choc chip cookies!
CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY: cubbies, magnatile towers, LEGOMASTERS, beyblades and straw construction!

🏖️ HOLIDAY PROGRAM 🏖️

Yes, you heard that right! Bookings for our hugely popular SUMMER Holiday Program are officially OPEN!!!! The bookings are already rolling in… so make sure to get in quick so you don’t miss out!

PLEASE NOTE: We are not open for any Holiday Program days in December. Hive will be closed from the last day of term (Friday 19th of December) and will reopen in the New Year (Monday 5th of January). We will also be CLOSED between FRI23 JAN - WEDS28 JAN for Public Holiday and Staff Training.

We’re really excited to be welcoming LOTS of new Kindy faces starting in our January HP!!

🐝 BEES OF THE WEEK 🐝

OPHELIA (Y5)

A very HUGE congratulations to our very own Ophelia H in Y5, who recently won the regional finals for poetry slam competition & is onto the state finals! Way to go Ophelia!!!

You can watch her submission HERE.

“The theme for my poem was For The Wild, but it was more about the effects that control and peer pressure have on the wild. I’m so excited to compete in the state finals at Taronga Zoo!” - Ophelia

LEROY - EDUCATOR

Leroy grew up and went to school in the Bondi area and enjoys spending as much time as possible outdoors and in the sun! When he’s not relaxing at the beach or camping on the South Coast, Leroy devotes his time to creative pursuits. He recently completed studies in furniture and interior design and is also a passionate musician, performing at venues across Sydney—from local Bondi stages to the Opera House!!

Leroy is also an enthusiastic traveler, exploring destinations around the world including Fiji, New Zealand, the United States, and most recently Europe, where he spent nearly two months visiting eight different countries…woah!!

📚 DID YOU KNOW…? 📚

One of our awesome Educators, Harper, is proudly representing Australia at the 2025 World Beach Ultimate (Frisbee) Championships in Portimão, Portugal! Check out his impressive defensive play below!! Don’t stop watching until the end! His celebratory dab is a special shout-out to our wonderful Hive children…

CONGRATULATIONS HARPER! You are amazing!!

HIVE GALLERY…

…..That’s all folks!!

T4 Weeks 3-4

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👋 LIVE FROM THE HIVE … 👋

‼️ RE-ENROLMENTS ‼️

If you’ve not already completed your 2026 re-enrolment, please do so over the weekend. The link to the pre-filled form was emailed to you on Mon 27 Oct, and it will expire at midnight on Sun 9th Nov, this weekend. Please note:


🙏 THANK YOU JOHNNY & THE DEPOT TEAM 🙏

For a change of scene, we held our last staff meeting at Depot, on a Thursday evening - and we loved it! Huge shout out to Johnny for taking such wonderful care of us - the vibe was great, the food was delicious (and just kept coming!) and they make a mean margarita! Our meeting table was the perfect spot and it was a welcome change to be sitting on full size chairs for once… 🤣 🤣

If you haven’t tried their Weds/Thurs steak nights - you’re missing out!! (bookings essential)

Thanks Johnny - we love you all. The Depot feels good! 😊 😊 😊

👨‍🍳 🎨 🎲 WHAT HAVE THE KIDS BEEN UP TO? 🏏 🧸 🧪

It’s been a jam-packed, fun-filled, curiosity-fuelled couple of weeks…!

  • ART & CRAFT CLUB: Hama beads, paper rainbows, pipe cleaner spiders, friendship bracelets, ‘how to’ 3D drawing/shading, fingerprint trees, paper plate pizzas, watercolours, hot air balloon and soooo many Halloween crafts!

  • CONSTRUCTION & GAMES: cubbies, magnatiles, legomasters, marble run and the ever popular beyblades!!

  • SPORTS: newcombe ball, kick tennis, ultimate scissors paper rock battle, jack in the pack, soccer shootout, basketball, touch rugby, golden ball & star wars dodgeball

  • EXPLORE & DISCOVER: sensory car wash, bug hunts, mud pies, sensory boxes & a talent show!

🏖️ HOLIDAY PROGRAM 🏖️

HP bookings open in Week 6 — get ready!

Just a heads-up, there will be NO HP in December, with the last day of Term 4 and Hive being Friday 19 Dec.
We’ll be back for HP fun on Monday 5 Jan.

You can check out all the Dec/Jan Hive closures and term dates right here.

🐝 BEES OF THE WEEK 🐝

Archer & Lexi(YK)

For being wonderfully curious bees, always asking interesting questions and being eager to learn more!

Along with featuring the kids, we’re bringing back our Hive Team Spotlight! Every fortnight, we’ll share a little note about a different team member so you can get to know the wonderful people who care for the children each day 😊

SERENA - EDUCATOR

Inspired by her own fond memories of BBPS, Serena joined us earlier this year while also studying to become a Primary School Teacher.

Outside of work, she loves playing and managing women’s netball teams — even waking up early on frosty winter Saturdays to umpire, often spotting some familiar faces from The Hive!

Most of all, Serena loves reading and getting crafty. Whether she’s painting, sculpting, or weaving something new, her creativity is always buzzing — and she loves sharing that with the children!!

🐌 OUR GARDEN 🌿

It’s all happening in our garden at the moment! We have so many exciting things to update you on… including:

Our Frog Pond 🐸

This fortnight, Nelly and our little garden enthusiasts installed our lovely new frog pond. The kids dug the hole, put the pond shell in, then added pebbles on the bottom of the pond and around the edges before adding water and aquatic plants. The final step was installing the metal grid, and covering with rocks, pipes, and plants around the edges to provide shelter for frogs. It was all very exciting!

We haven’t spied any froggy friends just yet, but the bees are sure loving it!

Did you know…?

We can’t introduce frogs ourselves, as it can spread disease and upset the ecosystem. Instead, we can create a safe, inviting home and wait for the frogs to discover it on their own 🐸🏠

🌿 New Edible Native Garden 🍃

Nelly also popped by the Indigigrow nursery in La Perouse last week to get some expert tips on what to plant in our new Edible Native Garden bed.

With the kids’ help, we planted our very own native edible garden! It’s full of yummy native plants like Karkalla, Midyim Berry, Davidson Plum, Bush Basil, Native Oregano, and Apple Berry. They’re in the baby stage at the moment, but they should settle in and fill out the space more over the next few months ☺️

NEW SIGNS

We’ve put up our brand-new signs! They include the life cycle of a frog (ready for some possible new residents!), a handy list of what’s inside the toolshed, and a bright, colourful reminder of our garden rules….

HIVE GALLERY…

T4 Weeks 1-2

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🍯 LIVE FROM THE HIVE … 🐝

👋 WELCOME BACK!! 👋

Welcome back to Term 4! As we draw towards the end of the year, here are a few things we know:

  • sun safety is more important than ever. Make sure your child has a HAT every day, so they’re free to play

  • lots of kids get end-of-year fatigue. We’ll always make sure there are peaceful activities on offer, and quiet spaces available for rest and chill time

  • we start to increase the Kindys’ independence, in readiness for Year 1 and we get ready to farewell some of our older children…

🎉 2026 RE-ENROLMENTS ARE OPEN! 🎊

Look out for Xplor comms from lunchtime Thu 23 Oct, plus an email from Xplor containing your re-enrolment link. Your link is active for two weeks only, and this year we’re asking parents to act within that window, to help us streamline admin and better manage waitlists. A quick re-enrolment is the safest way to secure the bookings you need for 2026.
If you have a new Kindy starting next year, that requires a separate, new enrolment. Next Thu (30th)—following the Kindy parent info Weds evening—you’ll receive an email from school containing the link for fresh enrolments.


🏃‍♀️ PLEASE LEAVE AFTER SIGN OUT 🏃‍➡️

As the weather warms up and the sun stays out for longer, we know it’s tempting but please minimise the amount of time spent on school grounds at pickup. Although it might feel harmless, hanging around for a chat with parents or children still in our care, or letting younger siblings run around and join in, it’s actually very distracting for the children still in our care, and makes it much harder for us to manage and supervise effectively.
To support us, please collect, sign out and then leave the school grounds straight away.


🚫 PARENTS IN CHILDRENS’ TOILETS 🚫

It’s important that parents don’t enter or use the childrens’ toilets. For the safety of all the kids who use them, these spaces are reserved for children only. Please ask a member of staff if you need help…

DID YOU KNOW?

We’ve launched two brand new activities this Term. A big thank you to our fabulous Educational Leader, Ana 🙏 💕

🤖 CODING CLUB 🤖

We had Christophe from the University of Sydney’s Physics Research team join us to teach us all about drag-and-drop coding! We’ve been using a program called Scratch to create our own code and upload it to the Edison Robots (version 3). So far, we’ve made them move with claps (so cool!) and even taught them to avoid obstacles using their clever sensors!

🇩🇪 CULTURAL EXCHANGE ✍️

We’ve teamed up with a school in Kiel (Germany) to exchange letters between students! We were the first to receive some letters and got to learn a little about life for our German friends, and to answer questions about our favourite foods, subjects, and what life is like in Australia. The children absolutely loved it — we had 17 eager participants of all ages in our first session, and some even included drawings with their letters! Here are a few of the letters, incoming and outgoing…

🐌 OUR GARDEN 🌿

Exciting updates from our garden!

  1. We welcomed back our dear gardener Nelly, who has returned from teaching English in Indonesia! Nelly will work alongside David in the garden, and her return means we can now offer Gardening Club 3/4 afternoons per week. …and we’re currently trialling it on a Wednesday morning too!

  2. Nelly’s been hard at work already, getting our Sensory Garden bed ready for our frog pond installation! With the children’s help, Nelly has already culled the persistent banana trees (roots and all) and dug the hole where the pond will be placed.

HIVE GALLERY…

SPRING HP

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🏖️ Spring Holiday Program - done and dusted!🏖️

We got busy this Holiday Program, and what an epic one it was!! The weather was in our favour and boy did we make the most of it! We had FARMER DAVE to learn about all things dogs, went to our favorite TARONGA ZOO, had an incredible time with JULIE ZOMMERS making our own sock puppets, went to MONSTER JUMP, had an AFL CAMP with a real-life AFL coach(!), went to NINJA PARK and FRENZY PARK, went to Bondi Beach for a BEACH CLEANUP and SAND PLAY, and had a lovely yoga session with the wonderful Marketa…. PHEW!!! 😅

Some photo highlights below, including our usual HIVE GALLERY at the end :-))

COUNTRY YARNS & CANVAS ART: We had Josh, Billy, and Deakin join us for an amazing day sharing their Indigenous culture — and we LOVED it! We learned traditional dances and the stories behind them, discovered the meaning and making of the didgeridoo (fun fact: it’s named after the sound it makes!), and finished the day painting our own canvases with Indigenous symbols — plus a big one for our Hive room!

The MASSIVE monster jump at the ENTERTAINMENT QUARTER!

Keeping our beach clean and having fun in the sun! We had such a great chat about what it means to care for our community and protect the animals we share the beach with — then rolled up our sleeves for a super successful BEACH CLEAN UP! Of course, we finished off with some SAND PLAY… we’re so ready for summer!

We also had a surprise visit from our lovely ALI! Our Kindy educator who moved away earlier this year… What a treat!

Hive Gallery….

T3 Weeks 9-10

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👋 LIVE FROM THE HIVE … 👋

🎒 SENIOR EXCURSIONS 🎒

Our seniors’ excursion are growing in popularity - the older kids the extra freedom and responsibility of their dedicated mini-trips out of school in the afternoon. In Wk10, we headed off straight after roll call, taking afternoon tea with us. It worked well, and gave us an even longer excursion - win/win!

💡 REMINDER - SIGN OUTS 💡

It’s a legal requirement that children are correctly signed in & out. Even if you forget your phone, you can still sign in/out at the iPad, using your phone number and the PIN you chose when you created your Xplor parent profile.

🙋🏽‍♀️ Not sure how, or need a hand…? Just ask a staff member 🙋

🐟 WHERE ARE THE FISH? 🐠

We finally had to accept that it was just too hard to keep our fish tank clean. Our fish have now been rehoused with a local fish enthusiast, and he’s also been able to advise us on our exciting new plans for the tank…. a playground for HERMIT CRABS!!

The children will help to plan, design and then build a wonderful dry tank environment for our new crabby friends! 🦀 We’ll make sure it includes everything they need to be safe and happy. We’ll also get busy creating some housing options for them, including (of course) a lovely range of sea shells 🐚🐚🐚

🏖️ HOLIDAY PROGRAM 🏖️

HP spots are filling fast, with several days now fully booked
Even if we’re full, you should still ‘request a space’ to join the waitlist, in case of last minute cancellations.

  • Mon 6 October is a Public Holiday

  • Mon 13 October is still Holiday Program - school goes back on Tues 14th…

‼️ IMPORTANT REMINDER ABOUT WAIVERS ‼️

Three of our excursion venues require waiver forms:
> Wed 8 Oct: FRENZY PARK (Little Bees) & NINJA PARC (Big Bees)
> Thu 2 Oct: MONSTER JUMP (All Bees)
All waiver details are in the excursion permission form. The kids can’t participate without a valid waiver, so please don’t miss these important steps

Quick reminder: please do complete the excursion permission form even if you’ve not yet booked any excursion days

👨‍🍳 🎨 🎲 WHAT HAVE THE KIDS BEEN UP TO? 🏏 🧸 🧪

As the term winds to a close, we’ve been providing lots of time for rest, but even more for PLAY!! Here’s what we’ve been up to in our ACTIVITY CLUBS this last fortnight:

  • ARTS & CRAFT: DIY calendars, hama beads, paper weaving, DIY picture frames, paper watch, fidget toys

  • EXPLORE & DISCOVER: ooblek, origami, treasure map making, nature self-portraits

  • SPORTS: Newcomb ball, hunger games, jack in the pack, dance games, and of course all the usuals…

  • BAKING CLUB: choc-chip muffins & cinnamon scrolls

  • CONSTRUCTIVE & GAME PLAY: giant jenga, bingo, kapla blocks

🐝 BEE OF THE WEEK 🐝

YONAH (Y6)

For making children of all ages feel cared for and included. We’ve noticed that if Yonah ever spots
someone looking a tad lost or lonely, he heads straight over to check on them and ‘bring them in’.
We love this about you, Yonah - it’s a very special quality...

HIVE GALLERY…

T3 Weeks 7-8

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👋 LIVE FROM THE HIVE … 👋

SENIOR EXCURSIONS

Last week, the weather gave us the gift of a beautiful sunny afternoon – the perfect way to kick off the senior excursions! A group of 25 headed over the road to the Pavilion Playground with Matt and Sydney and had a whale of a time playing soccer, playing on the playground, and soaking in the freedom…

PLEASE LEAVE AFTER SIGN OUT

With the days getting longer, we understand it’s tempting to stay and have a chat with other parents, or hang out at the play equipment after sign out. Though it might feel harmless - it actually makes it harder for our staff to supervise the children still in our care. The safety and security of the children in our care is our highest priority, and we thank you in advance for your support with this.

REMINDER - SMART WATCHES

💡 Just a gentle reminder: children shouldn’t bring out electronic devices (like phones or smartwatches) while at The Hive, unless you’ve arranged an exception with us. If they do bring them along, they’ll need to stay tucked safely away in their bags.

GOING AWAY…?

For planned absences of one full week or more, we allow families to cancel their permanent bookings for that period. This reduces your costs, and helps manage the allowable absence total, as recorded by Centrelink. You should request these planned longer absences in the app as HOLIDAYS. The absence must be submitted before 9am on a Friday in order to take effect the following week.

See the step-by-step instructions below—photos and red text will help guide you along the way.

  1. Click ‘Bookings’ to open the calendar

    • Click 'add new' (top right)

  2. Choose ‘Absence/holiday’

  3. Select start and end date.

    • Add optional comment.

    • Select HOLIDAY (this is important)

  4. Click 'Request' (bottom right). The request will cover all that child’s bookings within the selected period

  5. All done! Your holiday request has been received. You will be notified when it has been processed.

💥DID YOU KNOW…? 💥

At The Hive, we operate using a child-led approach.

This means, we give children the freedom to choose what they’d like to do! When kids pick their own activities—whether that’s sometihng crafty, gardening, playing soccer, or taking some quiet time—they feel confident, capable, and proud of their choices.

Following their interests helps them learn new skills in ways that feel fun and exciting. Most of all, it lets children know that their ideas and voices matter every single day 🙂

🏖️ HOLIDAY PROGRAM 🏖️

✨ HP bookings are now open – and spots are going fast! ✨ Make sure to secure your bookings so you don’t miss out!
NB: Early bird prices end on Sunday the 21st of September.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON WAIVERS
We’ll be visiting three venues, each with its own waiver. For two of them (FRENZY PARK - LB ONLY) and (MONSTER JUMP @ EQ), you can give the Hive permission to sign on your behalf. The third (NINJA PARC – for Big Bees only) requires your signature directly. More details about the waivers are available on the excursion permission form - You can find the link here.

A quick reminder to please complete the excursion permission form, even if you’re not planning on booking any of the excursion days!

👨‍🍳 🎨 🎲 WHAT HAVE THE KIDS BEEN UP TO? 🏏 🧸 🧪

The days are getting WARM (one might even say HOT?!?!). We’ve been outside as much as possible, looking forward to those glorious summer days…. Here’s what we’ve been up to in our ACTIVITY CLUBS lately:

ARTS&CRAFT: cardboard roll olafs, jewellery, pop out cards, diy flower bouquets, chatterboxes, popsicle stick fruits, watercolours, hama beads, free drawing,and comic strips!
EXPLORE & DISCOVER: modelling clay club, dance games, recycled crafts, bird count walk and movie club
SPORTS: touch rugby, circus skills, netball, dodgeball, newcombe ball, soccer, kick tennis, handball, and soccer shootouts!
CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY: cubbies, kapla blocks, beyblades and legomasters!!

🐝 BEES OF THE WEEK 🐝

CLEO (YK)

For showing such wonderful curiosity on our bird count walk and getting so excited about spotting pigeons! It was such a joy to see. Thank you, Cleo, for reminding us that even pigeons can be beautiful in their own way!

Ben - Educator

Ben joined our team back in February after graduating from Rose Bay Secondary College last year, and it didn’t take long for him to feel right at home at The Hive! He’s especially passionate about supporting children’s well-being and bringing plenty of fun, energy, and enthusiasm to mornings and afternoons.

When he’s not at work, Ben loves a good laugh and enjoys keeping active and social—whether that’s a day at the beach or catching the footy with mates. A keen sports fan (and player!), football ⚽ is his absolute favourite. He’s currently studying a Bachelor of Business Management at UTS, majoring in Sport Business, and is soon off on a trip to Europe to watch football!

HIVE GALLERY…