👋 LIVE FROM THE HIVE … 👋

Our HALLOWEEN PARTY was a huge success. We had an inflatable obstacle course, face painting, spooky games, creative stations, cookie decorating, dress-ups, competitions and loads more… Massive shout out to the Hive team, who gave it it 100% to make sure 130 KIDS had the most spooktastic time ever!

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN: recent news articles about the acute staffing shortages in childcare throughout Australia at the moment. Whilst this problem is real, and widespread, we want to reassure you that at The Hive, we’ve recruited steadily and diligently over the last two years, including a thorough induction program and we are happy to report that we are fully staffed at the moment.

We employ a GM of 8 years at Hive, two qualified Nominated Supervisors both of 5+ years on the team, three Senior Team members (one primary teacher and one studying primary education) plus a wide pool of casual Educators, many of whom have been with us for years and several of whom undertake child/education-related studies. These staff all have regular shifts, offering consistency to the children. In addition, although mandated to operate at a ratio of 15:1, we roster an additional one or two supervisors, depending on booking numbers. So we’re rostering above ratio, for every shift.

In a nutshell, we’ve worked hard to ensure this team is hand-picked, qualified, engaged, consistent and well supported - meaning we can offer your children the highest levels of care possible.

2024 ENROLMENTS & HIVE’S NEW SOFTWARE

Next week (w/c 6 Nov) you’ll receive an EMAILED INVITATION TO ENROL for 2024. Please read the enrolment form carefully, take the time to fully complete it, and upload all required documents. Within the form, you can request the permanent bookings you’d like for 2024.

When HP opens in Week 7, you’ll also be able to book January dates via this new software.

December HP dates (18th-20th) should be booked within the existing parent portal.

🏖️ HOLIDAY PROGRAM 🏖️

Bookings will open in Week 7. 🛎️ You should enrol in the new software before then!! 🛎️

🏖️ HP OPEN 18 - 20 Dec - book via existing software
⛔ CLOSED Thu 21 Dec - Sun 7 Jan
🏖️ HP OPEN Mon 8 Jan - book via the new software
⛔ CLOSED Mon 22 - Fri 26 Jan for a week of staff training
🏖️ HP OPEN Mon 29 - Wed 31 Jan
🏫 Term 1 starts (Y1-6 only) Thu 1 Feb

🐝 BEES OF THE WEEK 🐝

This week we salute PASSION!

OLIVIA in Kindy is so keen to find out all she can about BUGS! It’s awesome to see such curiosity, and eagerness to learn. Our new Gardening Club is a dream come true for Olivia :-)

Go Olivia - it’s a lovely quality, to find the wonder in
the natural world around us.

Ellie - General Manager

With The Hive since it all began, back in 2015 - Ellie has loved helping the centre to grow, in both size and scope.

Outside of work she’s a mum to two awesome teen girls and loves cooking, netball, camping, exploring Australia, getting crafty and flitting to UK & NZ to see family & friends.

Did you know… Ellie has lived in London, Cape Town and now Sydney; she speaks French; and is pretty nifty with a sewing machine! 🪡 🪡

Top of her bucket list is to see the aurora borealis…

😃🚰 SCREEN TIME 🥗🏃🏽‍♀️

Tricky topic, yes? Screen time and screen use are normal parts of life for most children. The time your child spends watching TV or on the computer, phone, iPad or gaming console can be part of a healthy lifestyle. It’s all about making sure the screen time offers safe, quality engagement, and that this is balanced with plenty of other healthy activities with friends and family. Advice is out there to help you navigate what can be a touchy subject in many households...

There are lots of tips and info on the Raising Children website.

OUR WONDERFUL GARDEN

We absolutely love seeing how excited the children are about the garden, how keen they are to learn and how willing they are to get involved. So far, we’ve planted strawberries, tomatoes and eggplants. We’re taking our time, making sure the kids are involved in all the stages, that they learn bits along the way, and that everyone gets chance to have a turn.

Nelly is doing an awesome job creating a sense of ownership of what we’re growing. We really think it could encourage the kids to think about food a little differently: about where it comes from, about how much (or little) we need, about how simple and precious it can be, and not to be wasted…