St Peter's News
Woolworths Junior Landcare Project 2023
Recently St Peters Preschool was awarded a grant from Woolworths for the Woolworths Junior Landcare Project.
We are using this grant to build a vegetable garden so that all the students can participate in growing vegetables. The children are involved in designing the new garden beds, growing plants from seeds, caring for the plants and of course harvesting and eating the produce! The expected outcome of the project is our students learning the plant life cycle and where food comes from through hands on learning.
We love our hens
We love our hens! They are producing two eggs a day and the children are learning how to care for them. We use use the eggs in our cooking experiences.
Armidale’s St Peter’s Preschool will receive almost $20,000 from the state government
On Friday, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall delivered news the preschool would receive two grants, $15,000 from a quality learning fund and $4500 from a community grants program.
St Peter’s Preschool Director Jane Schutz, said the centre would use the larger grant to provide a bathroom upgrade at the O’Dell Street property.
“We need a new inclusive bathroom so that children have some private space,” Ms Schutz said.
“We also have children from many backgrounds and older children who would like a better sense of privacy. Our current facilities are all completely open which has its place – but we also need more private spaces for some of the children.”
Ms Schutz said the remaining funding would be used to increase the teaching skills of St Peter’s educators.
“The funding will go towards sending our staff to two workshops that educate staff on how to better aid Aboriginal students on the transition to school,” she said.
“It will also allow Elders to come into the preschool and work with the staff to learn how to better engage the local Aboriginal community.”
Mr Marshall said the funding will allow the preschool to increase the quality of its service and the education environment for young children and their families.
“Extra funding for early childhood education is always welcome and this grant will improve the little world of little kids at St Peter’s learning about life in environments where there is a high standard of care and community,” Mr Marshall said.
“These two grants are great news for one of Armidale’s longest running pre-schools and they will be used to increase the quality of the early education they get and in a centre that prides itself on enhancing the facilities and amenities young children use.”
Mr Marshall said St Peter’s was showing an ongoing commitment to ensuring children in the Northern Tablelands have access to top quality early childhood education.
“And as the local member, that commitment makes me extremely proud,” Mr Marshall said.
“Funding like this not only improves the quality of the learning environment for children but additionally parents can also rest assured their children are having the best start to their educational journeys as possible.
“Importantly, providing staff development opportunities increases the delivery and access for more young children, including disadvantaged and Aboriginal children, to participate in quality learning.”
Doing it for our farmers
A huge thank you to our preschool community for donating non perishable food and household items for our farmers who are struggling in this drought. The children and educators used this opportunity to show their concern and gratitude to our rural community.
We love the new out door blinds. They provide warmth and shelter from the weather and they enable us to use the outdoor space for our morning tea and lunch time. They will also provide shelter from the rain at all times of the year. What a great new space for the children.
Every year the Regional Australia Bank make a donation equal to 1% of your CPA’s average annual balance to a community group of your choice, at no additional cost to you.
This year St Peters Preschool received a donation of $2897.47. If you would like to support the preschool through this initiative please look at the Community Partnership Account on the Regional Australia Bank website and support St Peters Preschool Ltd.
