Welcome to Hay Children’s Services
Hay Children’s Services provides high quality Early Education and Care in Hay and surrounding areas.
We offer Preschool, Long Day Care and Mobile services in Hay, Hillston, Booligal, Carrathool, Coleambally, Goolgowi, Ivanhoe and on-farm.
We also offer a Vacation Care Program during the NSW school holiday periods.
Our Services
Our Vision Statement
To provide a safe, inclusive, nurturing learning environment for the
children and families of Hay and surrounding districts.
To champion excellence of Early Childhood Education and Care
within communities by demonstrating best practice whilst valuing
respectful partnerships. To cultivate strong relationships to
maintain positive and fun work environments.
Our Philosophy
Community
We appreciate that powerful connection between stakeholders drives authentic relationship building.
Parents and guardians are a child’s first teacher. From there it is the role of Educators, and wider community members to collaborate with first teachers to adopt a holistic approach to every child’s learning journey.
Through information sharing, we build robust trusting relationships with families. We commit to engaging in community activities and spaces to invoke in children a sense of belonging and connection to community. Our powerful partnerships with external organisations broadens our knowledge, compounding the delivery of exceptional education and care.
Inclusion
We acknowledge that differences make us interesting, and through interest, we learn and grow.
Through education and embracing diversity, we will authentically embed inclusive practices and attitudes within the services. We aim to be responsive to the needs of all who interact with our organisation by nurturing collaborative partnerships with children, families, community, and professional support services. Critical reflection will inform practice and ensure strategies are actioned to remove or reduce barriers to participation.
Individuality
We recognise the uniqueness of individuals and value the contribution they make.
Embracing the strengths and interests of children, families and staff is a precursor to powerful learning environments.
By providing a welcoming platform to share knowledge and skills, we acknowledge the independent wisdom of all stakeholders. Although developmental milestones exist, we respect the uniqueness of the individual child’s learning journey, responding and planning respectfully and attentively.
Child-led
We honour a play-based curriculum and an immersive learning journey for every child.
Play is a context for learning that enhances children’s skills, development, and dispositions.
Children are social beings who are intrinsically motivated to share thoughts, ideas, feelings, and questions. Educators are actively present to intentionally facilitate and extend on children’s learning.
Thoughtful planning scaffolds children’s learning across all developmental domains and maintains a child-focused approach.
Risky play
We empower children to be confident, resilient risk takers.
‘Yes, have a go’ is our motto. By trusting children to measure and take risks in play, we bolster the development of a durable internal compass, aiding children to navigate the unknown. We are there to guide and encourage, celebrate, and commiserate.
We are firm believers in offering genuine, rather than imitation objects for play. By expecting children to inquisitively explore and interact with their surroundings, we protect their ability to independently gather and process information to effectively make decisions.
Environmental Sustainability
We aim to genuinely embed environmentally sustainable practices, and transfer to children an ardent responsibility to protect their natural world.
We will become champions and drivers for sustainable living.
Using what we have for today, tomorrow, and beyond will be prioritised and we will extend our knowledge to engage in innovative ways to live sustainably.
National Quality Framework
The National Quality Framework is made up of:
- The National Quality Standard
- A national quality rating and assessment process
- Streamlined regulatory arrangements
- A national body jointly governed by the Australian Government and state and territory governments (ACECQA) to oversee the new system
The National Quality Standard (NQS) sets a high national benchmark for early childhood education and care and outside school hours care services in Australia.
The NQS includes 7 quality areas that are important outcomes for children.
Services are assessed and rated by their regulatory authority against the NQS, and given a rating for each of the 7 quality areas and an overall rating based on these results.
The Rating System
The state’s Regulatory Authority for children’s services in NSW, the Department of Education, monitors services and providers’ compliance with legislation and approval conditions. The Regulatory Authority employs authorised officers to undertake compliance and monitoring – their powers are established in the National Law.
All HCS Services are currently rated as Meeting the National Quality Standard except for Vacation Care which is yet to be assessed.
Family Involvement & Communication
Family involvement across all of our Services is encouraged and valued.
Family participation can take the form of:
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- Participation in ‘Stay and Play’ at our services (please see your child’s key educator if you are able to participate in any way). The children love having parents, grandparents and carers visit and help out.
- Become a committee member.
- Take part in working bees.
- Attend excursions and/or inclusion activities.
- Volunteer assistance where possible.
- Sharing family traditions, celebrations, or events with us.
- Sharing an interest, such as cooking, reading a book, or gardening.
- To assist families involvement in their child’s progress during their time at Hay Children’s Services, we utilise an app called StoryPark.
- StoryPark is a platform for communicating your child’s day to day experiences as well as their ongoing developmental progress. We also utilise StoryPark to communicate information to families.
- Our programs focus on the EYLF approach of “Belonging, Being and Becoming”.
Play-Based Learning
Staff will support your child during their learning journey at HCS by facilitating play based and child-led experiences drawn from the child’s interests. When a child has the opportunity to be autonomous and exercise their rights to pursue their own interests, they will feel safe and secure. Our program offers your child the choice to choose from a wide variety of play-based learning experiences that promote a balance of active and restful play. Children are invited to participate in individual, small group and large group experiences, and educators are respectful if a child chooses not to participate.
With a strong focus on holistically fostering children’s developmental domains, our preschool program encompasses all areas of learning including maths, science, technology, music & movement, literacy, and the creative arts. We encourage children to become confident and involved learners who are active participants in their learning, while working alongside or co-constructing knowledge and understandings with their Educators in the development and implementation of daily activities. Educator’s use intentional teaching strategies to assess children’s knowledge and skills, which supports their documentation and assessment for individual children.
Bush Kinder Program
Bush Kinder is a program we investigated and developed over the course of 12 months. We consulted with families, community, and Nature Program experts. We selected an appropriate site for our ELC, Preschool and Hay venue Mobile children to participate in Bush Kinder (Eastern end of Madman’s Bend) and completed an extensive risk assessment.
Children are natural learners. Bush Kinder will provide your child with the time and an ideal environment for them to learn during uninterrupted play in the bush, using what nature has provided as learning materials.
Children will have the opportunity to play in the weather, roll down grassy mounds, balance along fallen logs, get involved in dramatic play, find insects, draw with sticks in the ground, or make mud pies.
Each child’s developmental progression, advancing skill levels and particular interests will be noted by Educators. These notes will be used to support the children’s learning just as the do in their service.
Children will be taken to the Bush Kinder site in small groups, with a ratio of 1 adult : 4 children, we will also be utilising the assistance of volunteers for this program.
We are genuinely excited to finally begin our Bush Kinder journey with your child.
Multipurpose Room
Our newly renovated multipurpose room, located on the right of the Preschool foyer, allows us to facilitate vital telehealth appointments for children and their families whilst they are attending our service.
This space is also used for visiting services, such as the Community Health Nurse, Dietician and Speech Pathologist.
With the new technology within this room, Educators are also able to use this space to show children education videos and connect with the online world in a safe manner.
Our Team uses this space for meetings, family consultations, training days, programming and study and for our AGM.
Hay Children’s Services acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional owners of the land on which we play and learn, the Ngyiampaa, Nari Nari and Wiradjuri People. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
