Community hampers ready to be delivered to Guliyali and Mingaletta families
Community Hamper Storypark Post
LEARNING FROM OTHER PRIOR TO SCHOOL SERVICES At Guliyali Preschool we are always looking for innovative ways to enhance our teaching practices. We believe that great teachers must be great learners as well. It is the opportunities that Guliyali Preschool provides its educators to observe and exchange ideas about best practice from other quality services that makes us exceptional. We have liaised, visited and collaborated with services such as John Brotchie Nursery School, Lansvale Public School Preschool, Toukley Public School Preschool, Kooloora & The Entrance Public School’s Preschool, Garawa. These visits not only challenged our educators to reflect upon their own approaches but also inspired them to examine and modify these practices to contextually suit Guliyali Preschool's setting.
For example, after our visit to Toukley Public School Preschool, our educators were inspired by the many different Indigenous plants being used in daily learning experiences from the ‘Bush tucker garden’. Upon returning to Guliyali Preschool the educators held discussions with the Principal and community members and were successful in applying for an 'Eco Schools Grant' that allowed us to develop another outdoor learning space servicing the preschool, the ‘Bush Tucker Dreaming Trail’ to be created. The benefits this environment affords us have been detailed in previous sections of this submission. Here it is referenced as evidence of the fact that have the ability to recognise opportunities to implement ideas that have been successful in improving outcomes for children, families and community for other early childhood settings.
At Guliyali Preschool we believe that learning and the sharing of ideas is a two way process and we happily share our knowledge, skills and teaching practice with other services. After a spontaneous conversation with educators at The Entrance Public School about how Guliyali Preschool were connecting with community by delivering hampers to our families & community members during the COVID 19 pandemic they were inspired to do the same. Guliyali Preschool educators and The Entrance Public School now combine resources to deliver care packages to families and vulnerable community members across the two ends of Central Coast and continue to build respectful partnerships to support parents in their parenting role. In partnership with Foodbank NSW, Guliyali Preschool is able to offer families free fresh and dry goods each term to help reduce the impact of household shopping as well as supporting healthy eating.
OUTCOMES:
- Children who attend our service benefit not only from the expertise of our educators, but also from their ability to be reflective practitioners and to look for opportunities to implement programs that have been successful for other service providers. Our educators support the children of Guliyali Preschool to eat healthy foods/meals by providing families with food packages. Other DoE preschools have adopted this practice and their families are experiencing the same benefits as ours have been.
- A strong collaborative workplace culture that values and supports the professional and personal development of staff has allowed educators to connect with and support communities across the Central Coast.
- Through this sustained commitment to professional development, Guliyali Preschool has excelled in the level of care we provide for our own children and their families, and is now bringing other communities together for the benefit of all children and families.
IMPACT :
Guliyali Preschool's commitment to a positive workplace culture, organisational values, support of educators and sustained commitment to professional development can be seen in our educators creating and participating in collaborative and reflective learning communities such as the Tuggerah Professional Teams Group and the Early Learning Teams Group. Excellence can be seen in our positive workplace cultures that support educators to learn from each other and develop professionally. Our influence extends beyond our service with Guliyali Preschool educators hosting site visits and sharing professional knowledge with our educational community.