2024 Incursions & Excursions

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Excursions are a regular part of our weekly program and provide us with a wonderful opportunity to connect with our local community.

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Library Visits

Both the Kindergarten and Preschool rooms visit the local Albert Park Library each week to select new books and return previous ones from the week before.

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This is a great opportunity for children to research their own interests as well as the group interests around our intentional teaching goals and projects.

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South Port Nursing Home & Emerald Hill Nursing Home

Our program of weekly visits to the South Port Nursing Home or Emerald Hill Nursing Home connects the Preschool children of Neighborhood House with their community in a genuine and sustainable partnership with the South Port Nursing Home & Emerald Hill Nursing  Home. Through conversation, shared activities and quiet togetherness the children have formed new friendships and bonds with the nursing home residents, spanning across the generational gap of our community’s youngest and oldest citizens. The Program provides a unique context for Neighborhood House children to learn important lessons about life’s journey and the power of community and relationships to bring joy into people’s lives.

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The Program exceeds expected everyday practice as it goes above and beyond by embedding in the children’s daily life a true sense of belonging to their community, identity, wellbeing, learning and an extension of communication which are all critical components of the Victorian Early Years Framework. Through constant reflective practices the Program is continuously expanding and raising the benchmark for the children’s learning outcomes.

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It supports the Early Childhood Australia code of Ethics which states “Connect with people, services and agencies within the communities that support children and families,” while at the same time contributes and supports the “Ageing Well” strategy for the City of Port Philip.

To the children, Thursday has become the most exciting and interesting day of the week! They have embraced the experiences and relationships wholeheartedly.

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Parents of the children attest to the power of the program to inspire family conversation about ageing, disability, relationships and even death and it has also provided real world context assisting parents to teach their children about community diversity and empathy.

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We also take the children on casual excursions that include but are not limited to;

•        Local Parks

•        Local Village/shops

•        Albert Park Lake

•        Beach

•        Market

•        Local cafes and restaurants

•        Local Primary School

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In order to ensure that the children are aware of and are connected with their local Community, the centre encourages and invests in a wide-range of incursions whereby different educational presentations, including music, drama, indigenous storytelling, farmyard visits and more, are made to the children within the Centre on programmed days. These visits are considered to be of a large benefit to the children and staff. Families will be informed of the visits in advance.

 

A yearly calendar of events is displayed in the foyer with the incursions for the current year.

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