A Playgroup Victoria conference for early childhood professionals focussing on play based ... conference speaker and pre
19-20 August 2010 Bell City Preston
A Playgroup Victoria conference for early childhood professionals focussing on play based learning and the value of partnerships through supported playgroups
Keynote
speakers
Anne Stonehouse Playgroup: What’s the point? The word play is used a lot to talk about valuable ways for children to learn and is highlighted in both the National Early Years Learning Framework and the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Understandings of play vary widely, and sometimes play isn’t play. Sometimes what children learn through play isn’t what we would want them to learn. This talk will consist of a look at what play is and isn’t, its value and purposes in a supported playgroup, how to encourage it, and what gets in the way. Anne Stonehouse AM was involved in developing the National Early Years Learning Framework and has written many resources about young children. She has worked as a consultant, editor, author, academic, conference speaker and presenter of professional development in Australia and overseas over 35 years.
Anthony Semann The importance of relatedness in playgroups True partnerships bring strength to any program and relationship but there lie complexities and challenges in both the formation and maintenance of these partnerships. This keynote address will provide insight into the importance of relatedness and the diverse ways in which relationships can become collaborative, sustainable and mutual. Anthony Semann for the past 15 years has worked as an educator, innovator and advocate with a broad range of government, nongovernment and private organisations. His skills and expertise have seen him work with organisations across Australia and overseas including Columbia University, New York. What began as a young teacher’s desire to help individuals transform the quality of their lives, relationships and values, led to combining his skills and knowledge with Colin Slattery and in 1999 founding Semann and Slattery, a company committed to transformative practices and philosophies.
Concurrent
workshops
Pre-conference panel discussion
B1 Making connections matter Anthony Semann The challenge of providing any programs to the community is to ensure that those who need them most are at the forefront of program planning and delivery. Playgroups serve an important role providing beneficial support to families. It is timely to consider how programs can support hard to reach or vulnerable families. Marg Whalley suggests one way forward is to rethink our approach to working with families and perhaps see programs as hard to reach. This approach throws many challenges to playgroups. Join a panel of experts to reflect on how we work in respectful ways with families and share some strategies to help others on their journey.
C1 Harmony in the west Denise Jones and Kate Hills Isis Primary Care This workshop will explore the work that has been done with newly arrived migrant and refugee community members in Brimbank to facilitate a culturally appropriate and needs specific playgroup. The benefits that have come from this include mixing cultural groups, using community leaders to help with facilitation, supporting participants to improve their health and wellbeing, connecting participants with the wider community, and promoting behaviours conducive to positive child development. Case studies will be presented that reflect challenges faced when working with newly arrived community members in a disadvantaged area and benefits the playgroup has brought to participants’ lives.
C2 Connecting through creative arts-play Sue van Wyk Bentleigh Bayside Community Health In this workshop, Sue van Wyk will discuss the experiences of facilitating Yumi Supported Playgroups (Yumi: a place of beauty), playgroups for mothers with post natal depression and anxiety. She will explain how a creative arts-play based approach is used to engage mothers at playgroup and how partnerships between Glen Eira Maternal and Child Health and Moongala Women’s Community House have been instrumental in establishing the playgroups.
C3 Koorie Kids Family Playgroups Cindy-Lee Hunter Harper, Sharon Blow and Jedda Charles Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Association (VACCA) Presenters of this workshop will discuss the way support and links to Indigenous and mainstream services are provided through Koorie Kids Family Playgroups to families who may be reluctant to use universal services and whose needs are often complex. Discussed as well will be how sense of community that strengthens parents’ Indigenous identity is slowly built through using everyday activities.
C4 Apples come from trees: gardening with children Pattie Morgan The Playgrounds & Recreation Association of Victoria Sue Ellis City of Greater Geelong This session will cover the practicalities and potential of gardening with children to promote learning about sustainable practices, food sources, seasons, plant and animal life, and how to help develop physical, sensory, social and language skills. As well, there will be an exploration of how gardening can facilitate greater family and community involvement in children’s services through shared garden work. A success story will be discussed that demonstrates how gardening has been integrated into a supported playgroup program.
C5 Together we play and grow Jan McCaffrey and Doris Wong City of Greater Dandenong Explored at this workshop will be the importance, benefits and challenges of partnerships with agencies that auspice supported playgroups, playgroup facilitators, children and families and supporting agencies such as libraries and health services. Presenters will explain the process of engaging agencies, facilitators and families, and the outcomes of these partnerships for families and agencies.
C6 Oral foundations for literacy: story-play and rhyme Claire Jennings and Amanda Merryfull Reading Discovery, Beyond The Rainbow and Rainbow Rhyming This workshop will include demonstrations from the Rainbow Rhyming and Beyond the Rainbow programs with props and stories that show how play, stories and oral language is the foundation for literacy readiness by school age. Handouts of activities to help develop story-play in playgroups will be supplied. Extensive reference lists for stories will be provided. Presented will be results from longitudinal research with Deakin University as well as the learnings of parents who participate in these programs.
D1 Afghan family settlement and supported playgroups Shaima Shahbaz Advocacy Disability Ethnicity Community (ADEC) The Afghan Supported Playgroup (City of Casey) was established in 2007 with one family attending regularly. Employing strategies that were culturally and linguistically appropriate, the playgroup slowly grew and 11 children and their mothers now attend. This workshop presentation will cover the experiences and strategies employed by the playgroup facilitator to make families aware of the benefits of the Australian playgroup experience and the on-going growth of the group. The presentation will also cover a comparison between the way children socialise and learn in their early years in both Afghanistan and Australia.
D2 Supporting parents to manage stress and anxiety Frances Eyre PANDA Practical strategies for how time out can help new parents deal with day to day stress, anxiety and postnatal depression will be provided in this workshop. Be taken on a meditation journey to help calm your mind, relax your body and experience a technique that can help with mental clarity, depression, tiredness and increase one’s ability to deal with day to stress.
D3 ISP Dandenong Plaza Playspot Playgroup
E1 Engaging with families from refugee backgrounds
Janine Regan and Paula Jormakka Playgroup Victoria
Sharon Shaw Brotherhood of St Laurence
This workshop showcases Dandenong Plaza Playgroup, a playgroup in a shopping centre. This playgroup was formed from a partnership between Playgroup Victoria and the City of Greater Dandenong, and aims to engage vulnerable, newly arrived, CALD, Indigenous and transient families who are not accessing services. The session will cover how the playgroup operates, strategies used to engage families and link them into their community and the strong partnerships formed through the playgroup.
The need for sensitivity to family needs and an understanding of culture differences when engaging with families from refugee backgrounds will be explored in this workshop. Covered as well will be the importance of building a trusting relationship with a parent; opportunities playgroups offer to strengthen the parent-child relationship and to link the family to local support services and how refugee experiences impact a family’s ability to engage and participate in playgroup.
D4 Map your area for healthy outdoor fun at playgroup Narelle Debenham Natured Kids This workshop explains how to map your area for happy, healthy, outdoor family playgroup fun. Young children need to explore, experience and observe nature, with daily doses of free play. Early outdoor discoveries allow children to feel the world is a safe, interesting and friendly place. This workshop will examine how through the Natured Kids Playgroup, children have participated in activities to develop a sense of empathy, wonder and creativity. Children’s health and the future of our environment depend on restoring the connection of children to nature.
D5 Together we Play and grow (see C5 for details) D6 Oral foundations for literacy: story-play and rhyme (see C6 for details)
E2 Play Expo Fiona Miller City of Whittlesea This workshop is a presentation, overview and discussion of the success and experience of City of Whittlesea Play Expo days and training. Discussed will be how partnership and ownership from a variety of organisations brings families and professionals together to discover experiences and opportunities to enhance play in children’s services.
E3 Successful supported playgroups: critical elements Rupert North and Roisin Rizzo Save the Children An overview of Save the Children’s supported playgroup programs will be provided at this workshop. Using experience gained from over 20 years across Australia, Rupert North and Roisin Rizzo will examine the critical elements of a successful playgroup model: building strong community partnerships, helping families’ access local services, play, building parents’ confidence, and program evaluation.
E4 Importance of play at supported playgroups Fiona Witheridge Playgroup Australia Fiona Witheridge will explain who supported playgroups are for and what they are designed to do. Discussed will be how supported playgroups provide opportunities for families from six distinct target groups to participate in play activities that respond to their children’s needs, and at the same time develop social and family support networks within their local community.
Program at a glance E5 Transition pathways for supported playgroups Jacquie Beddows Mornington Peninsula Shire Council This workshop explains the key learnings gained from Playgroup Victoria’s Five Star Playgroup Training modules within supported playgroups. Discussed will be ways to ensure the modules are accessible to all families attending supported playgroups and the importance in the transition process of establishing community playgroups as long term partners to supported playgroups.
E6 Feed your children tongue meat: an introduction to ParentChild Mother Goose Program Jacquie Simpson Uncle Bobs Child Development Centre-RCH (early intervention program) This workshop will engage participants with samples of oral language material and discuss the history and philosophy of the program. It will also explore how engaging families in oral language traditions enhances the parent-child bond, facilitates coping skills and gives children greater language development opportunities.
F1 Engaging with families from refugee backgrounds (see E1 for details)
F2 Fun with nothing much Michelle Kirkpatrick, Tracey O’Keefe and Sue Thomas A multi-disciplinary team from Early Childhood Intervention Services, Ballarat This workshop will explore how to use recycled materials to create fun with children at home and at playgroup, and the importance of play, music and movement, pretend play, motor skills and sensory play. Some practical activities will be provided for everyone to enjoy.
F3 Successful supported playgroups: critical elements (see E3 for details)
F4 PlayConnect playgroups: building the capacity of communities, families and children
Thursday August 19
Mike Quilty Playgroup Australia
A1 Supported Playgroups and Parent Groups Initiative (SPPI)
This workshop will cover how PlayConnect playgroups give families the opportunity to attend facilitated playgroups geared to the needs of families with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or ASD-like symptoms. Discussed as well will be how these playgroups build capacity and connectedness within families and communities, and are a soft entry point for families beginning to navigate their children’s treatment options. The structure of PlayConnect playgroups will be explained and well as the value of playgroups for children with ASD and their families. Recent national survey findings will be presented.
A2 FaHCSIA Supported and PlayConnect playgroup programs
F5 Building brighter beginnings: bridging the gap
9am Registration and morning tea 9.30-11.30am Program specific workshops
A3 Intensive Support Playgroups (ISP) and other mobile playgroup programs A4 MyTime 12-1pm Lunch 1-3.30pm Pre-conference workshop B1 Making connections matter Panel discussion facilitated by Anthony Semann on the successes and challenges in working with families.
Friday August 20 8.15-9am Registrations, tea and coffee
Amelia Harris and Darran Todd Anchor Incorporated
9am Conference opening and Welcome to Country
Building Brighter Beginnings Playgroup is for people who are homeless, at risk of becoming homeless or who have experienced homelessness. The aim of this playgroup is to provide parents and children with the opportunity to participate in a community activity, build upon their social skills and develop positive relationships. Some families find it difficult to access mainstream playgroups due to their lack of confidence, social skills and fear of being judged. Through participation with the Building Brighter Beginnings Playgroup, the aim is for parents and children to work towards accessing mainstream playgroups. This playgroup is also a pathway for referrals for parents and children into other services as requested.
9.50-10.30am Keynote address: Playgroup:What’s the point? Anne Stonehouse
F6 Feed youR children tongue meat: an introduction to ParentChild Mother Goose Program (see E6 for details)
10.30-11am Morning tea 11-11.15am Supported playgroups in Darebin Sue Stanecki, City of Darebin and Narelle McNaughton, PlayConnect Thornbury 11.15-11.55am Keynote address: The importance of relatedness in playgroups Anthony Semann 12-12.40pm Concurrent workshops C1-6 12.45-1.25pm Concurrent workshops D1-6 1.30-2.15pm Lunch 2.20-3pm Concurrent workshops E1-6 3.05-3.45pm Concurrent workshops F1-6
Register Early bird discount applies to all conference registrations received before June 25. Register here.
Telephone 1800 171 882 www.playgroup.org.au ABN 13 094 186 877
