WELCOME TO SMOOSH

SMOOSH is a community–based, not-for-profit organization, which offers care for school age children in the Blacktown area. SMOOSH provides Before and After School Care sessions operating during school terms only. Our service is run by a parent management committee, is accredited by the National Childcare Accreditation Council and operates to the requirements of the Department of Community Services & the NSW National Standards for OOSH Services. Reduced fees available subject to the guidelines of the Family Assistance Office.


Thursday, November 25, 2010

SMOOSH Newsletter
South Marayong out of School Hours 0415231509 Nov 24.2010
Well with less than four weeks to go until the end of school term and so much packed into these last weeks at school and SMOOSH I just wanted to keep everyone up to date with what is happening.
Firstly the SMOOSH Committee and Parent Planning meeting was held last Tuesday. This was an open meeting for all parents to attend putting fourth any ideas on how SMOOSH can improve. Unfortunately there was a poor response to this meeting with only the committee and one family represented. The meeting went ahead any way with the main focus being fundraising, accessing further grants in order to purchase our own bus and the 2011 budget and also the need to create our own Website.
It’s not too late to pass on any ideas or suggestions you may have on how to improve our service. Your ideas are valued as this is your service.
Two of the main outcomes from the night were; we must fundraise on a larger scale to ensure we reach our target figure of $14,000.00
Ideas put forth were a Sausage sizzle held at Bunnings, or held on important event days such as Election Days. Our usual chocolate drive, which we always get a great response from, will still run in 2011. The funds raised going back to the service for the children, equipment and resources.
The second topic was our budget and fees.
SMOOSH has no option but to increase fees in 2011. The increase will commence from the 31/1/2011 see page 2.
Parents are also reminded that their fee account must be kept up-to date with all accounts being finalised by Wednesday 15th of December. SMOOSH is a Not-For-Profit Service and as such relies heavily on parents paying their fees to ensure we keep our doors open as well as meeting our financial commitments but most importantly paying staff wages. Thank you for your understanding.
We are also now looking into creating our own website. Having a website is a must in order to stay competitive and accessible in any business. If there are any parents out there that have knowledge of creating a website and think they can help SMOOSH please see Lynda.
Vacation Care The topic of vacation care was raised and will be investigated as to the viability. We firstly have to have a serious survey and parents will need to be more committed to answering the survey, as it will determine if we proceed with the investigation.
Starting up vacation care is not something that can just happen, there is a process and we have to make sure we can make it work. The process requires input from a number of families from Marayong South Public and the School principal, We also have to negotiate our contract to rent the hall with the Education Department and apply for approval through Deewr for places. I will keep everyone informed as we proceed through the process.


Need care over
Christmas and New year School Holidays

Vacation Care Service in our area;
Vardys Rd OOSH 9830056
Quakers Hill OOSH 9626620
Holy Family OOSH 96261344
Blacktown South OOSH 96713392
Play House 041462935
PCYC Vacation Activities 96223470

Important Notice about Enrolments for 2011
If your child is returning to SMOOSH in 2011 then you must complete a re-enrolment form which is available from the sign in desk. Re-Enrolment forms must be returned by November 2010. SMOOSH is now extending our service to Walters Road Public School. Children already attending may miss out if parents assume that their child's place is secure.
Parents with children finishing SMOOSH in 2010 and not returning in 2011 must give two weeks notice with a final day of attendance so your bond can be refunded and your account prepared and finalised. If no notice is given you will be charged up to and including 17th December 2010.
2011 fee’s increase for AM & PM will increase by $1.00

AM Session
Permanent $14.00
Casual $15.00
Short Stay $ 6.00

PM Session
Permanent $17.00
Casual $18.00
Pupil Free Day $38.00


This increase will allow SMOOSH to stay operational. Please be reminded that SMOOSH stays operational only through parent’s fees. SMOOSH receives no other funding to be able to operate our service, which includes wages, superannuation, insurances and rent to the school.

Quality Assurance & Accreditation.
Our self study has been submitted and now it time for the staff and children to complete the surveys.
The surveys for the children are worded very simply so children can
Understand but may need the assistance of an Adult.
The surveys are going out in week 7 and parents are asked to assist their child in filling them out.

SMOOSH needs to receive 100% return rate.
Surveys are to be returned by
Wednesday 1st December

Special outing
The children at SMOOSH have been working towards a behaviour reward.
The reward is that ten children and not necessarily those with the most stars will attend a special outing. This outing will take place on
Tuesday December the 7th, children chosen will be given a surprise, as they won’t know where they are going until the day.
Parents of those children chosen will receive a special invitation and permission to travel on the bus to the surprise destination, which will be either Bowling, Rock climbing or Lazer tag for the afternoon. How exciting, good luck

What’s happening at SMOOSH over the next four weeks.

SMOOSH is packed with exciting activities for the children, not only are we starting Christmas craft, we have our Art competition that is coming to a close, all art work needs to be returned by Monday the 29th of November for judging. Please remind your children.
As with every year SMOOSH staff and Committee like to give back to our community and at Christmas time what better way than through our Giving Tree. The giving tree has become a SMOOSH tradition. We ask families and staff to donate canned or package food suitable to be passed on to the Salvation Army to make up Christmas Hamper. These hampers are then distributed to those families who are having a difficult time financially at Christmas. We hope everyone can make a small donation.

Week 9 - Ten lucky children are going on a Surprise outing, destination a secret until the day. Parents will be informed soon.
The SMOOSH end of year party is also in week 9 on Thursday the 9th of December, which includes an interactive Jumping Castle, sausage sizzle and fun fun fun games for the children. You need to book your child into SMOOSH or Mum or Dad need to stay the afternoon to supervise.
Our year Six children will be given a special afternoon tea and presentation as we farewell them off to High school in week 10.
If you child does not attend on the 15th December a special guest invitation will go home to ensure they don’t miss this special day.

Pupil Free Days

SMOOSH will be opened for 16th and 17th December for the two pupil free days.

Thursday 16th - We will be visiting a Horse Riding School. The children will not be riding due to safety regulations and safety gear required. But we will have a great day learning about horses, helping to groom them and assist with making up their feed for the day. There will be lots of other exciting activities including a treasure hunt.

Friday 17th Will be our wet and wild Day. We have organised a three lane water slide for the children as well as many water games and activities, Water bombs, extra clothes and a towel are a must.

There will be one more Newsletter before the end of the Term 4
Regards Lynda Julius

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

SMOOSH Newsletter
OCTOBER 2010

Namasta and Welcome to term four everyone.
I hope everyone had an opportunity to have a break during the school hols from work and have some family time as we are heading into the busiest term of the year.

Before I go onto the business of term four I just want to give a Huge thank you to our Wonderful Staff and Committee Members who all volunteered their time for our Spring Fair and to make this family night great and fun for everyone.

Well plenty has happened over the term break in the school. The grounds are looking so spacious as all the fencing has all been taken done which means we can go back to using the field. The Library looks like its ready for use. New boundary lines have been painted. Both bathrooms in the hall have now been fixed with new tiles and a coat of paint.
So SMOOSH hopefully can now get on with term four without interruptions to our routine over the next ten weeks, Ten weeks eeeeeek didn’t we just have Christmas? That’s right ten weeks of term and 11 weeks to Christmas.

The next ten weeks will be busy with lots of visitors, activities and events for the children to be involved in at SMOOSH.
We begin our activities with the focus on the Commonwealth Games and the host country India. We have planned a week of activities around this event.

Week two, Pink Week, this is very exciting and our staff are looking forward to the events for Pink October. Everything is going PINK, PINK , PINK, SMOOSH staff have organised a week of PINK activities in support of Pink October , raising awareness of Breast Cancer. We are having lots of activities centred around the colour pink. The staff will be wearing pink shirts, with lots of pink accessories all week. The children can join in the pink theme on Wednesday 22nd of October by wearing something PINK and donating a gold coin. We will be making a garden of Pink Flowers, Pink Hair Day and Pink Craft, just to name a few.

We will be making lots of Pink Cup Cakes to sell.
If you wish to pre-order these Yummmmmy cup cakes see Lynda.
We will be holding a Cup Cake Stall at Marayong South Public School on Wednesday the 20th of October . We also have a beautiful selection of Pink Ribbon merchandise to sell. Including some oh so cute Teddy Bears.
All money raised from the event this week will go to Pink Ribbon Day Breast Cancer Foundation.

AASP
Active After School Sports starts on Friday 24th with Cricket / volleyball on Wednesday and Water Sports on Fridays. Make sure you sign the permission for forms for children to participate see Amy.

SMOOSH Children and Leadership roles. SMOOSH has appointed 11 Junior Leaders who attend over the course of the week and assigned them to junior leadership roles in areas of sports, craft, food prep, and room design. Children chosen for these roles are in year 5 and 6 and will be consulted about the day to day routines and activities at SMOOSH. This has been introduced to assist staff and gain more of a child’s point of view about activities offered. Having this consultation process gives the children more ownership and interest in what is happening at SMOOSH.
Our junior leaders have already presented me with one of their ideas, a Kids Café which will run on Tuesday 2nd November, Melbourne Cup Day.

The junior leaders will need to present a menu, learn about budgeting and go shopping with a staff member to purchase the goods.
I am sure it will be a wonderful event and one the children will get a lot out of.

Special points of interest:
· Pink Week
· AASP
· Children & leadership
· 2010 Kindy Enrolments
· 2011 Re-enrolments
· Business Achievement awards
· Accreditation
· Term 4 Pupil Free Days

Management Committee Meeting
Term 4

Tuesday 19th October
6.30 pm school Hall

Tuesday 16th November Parent Planning meeting. Your input is important so hope to see you there.
Refreshments provided.

In the school hall
6.30 pm start.
Mark it in your diary


2011 Enrolments

Enrolments are now being taken for kindy children for 2011, so if you have a younger child starting school next year now is the time to enrol them.

2011 Re– enrolment forms for existing SMOOSH children will go home in week 4.
Children not returning in 2011 will need to provide two weeks notice with a final date of attendance. If claiming the CCB Parents must be advised that your child/ren must attend on the final date, otherwise full fees will be charged. Fees need to be finalised two weeks prior to the end of term and attendance needs to be up to and including the last day.
Any changes to your family circumstances eg phone numbers, contact people. Please see staff about up-dating your enrolment form.

Parent Planning night
On the 16th of November our Management Committee will be holding a Parent Planning night. All parents are welcome. This is an opportunity for parents to come along and let the Committee know your thoughts on our service,. How we can do things better, some ideas on Policies and Procedures, payments of fees, vacation care, keeping parents better informed.

Accreditation
Accreditation comes around every two years and it is a very important process. Our service has to show evidence of meeting the 8 Quality Areas and 32 principals set out by the National Accreditation Council.
This process also involves a visit form a validator who will observe our practices as well our documentation related to running our service to back up our practices.
Everyone involved with SMOOSH has a role in the process, the staff in their care of your children and reflecting on how to improve those practices in caring for children. The Management Committee by ensuring the service is meeting all its legal obligations in running a childcare service of which there are many. Parents and children by providing feed back about our service. I would be happy to hear from any parent with ideas on how we can improve. All suggestions are welcome.
Our self Study is currently being prepared and will be available for viewing in week four.



Blacktown Business Achievers Awards
This year SMOOSH has been nominated into the Small Business Awards through the Cumberland Newspaper Group and has been selected as one of the Finalists. Thank you to all those families who voted for us via the Internet.



Grant Update
There has been no word on our grant submission to Blacktown RSL for funds to purchase our own small bus. I will keep everyone informed as soon as I here something.

Fundraising
Update on what our fundraising money has purchased for the children. We have increased our wooden train set by adding more tracks, wooden village and new carriages. Also purchased was additional construction equipment, adding to the Labyrinth. Mouse Trap and two Play-station games, Batman and Scooby, which were all on the children’s wish list.

December means a busy time for everyone. We will update you on what is happening in our next newsletter. Vacation Care Options will also be given out in that newsletter

Program & Events Term 4
Week 1 Commonwealth Games
Bollywood Dancing
Week 2 Pink Week , Cake Stall Cup cakes in school and at SMOOSH
Week 3 Fire Brigade Visit
Emergency Evacuation Week
Halloween Halloween Breakfast.
Week 4 Diwali / Melbourne Cup
Police Visit 4th November
Week 5 Visit from Karate demonstration
Week6 Visit from WIRES / Featherdale ?
Week 7 Christmas Craft
Week 8 Christmas Craft / Hamper /Giving tree
Week9 End of year party
Week10 Two Pupil Free days
16th RDA Visit ( Excursion) 17th Wet & Wild ( Incursion)


Pupil Free Day

Both Public School and Catholic School will be subject to Pupil Free days in December.
SMOOSH will be running two pupil free days on the 16th and 17th of December. Bookings are now being taken for:
Thursday 16th
Visit to Horse Riding School
Plus picnic lunch.

Friday 17th
Wet and Wild
A day full of Fun, Fun, Fun with water games and a jumping castle.
The Schools Back gate will now be open to SMOOSH families until 5.45pm each night for those families living on the Woodcroft side on the school. This will be subject to Weather Conditions, eg heavy rain. If in doubt please ring the SMOOSH number to confirm if the gate is open.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

FATHERS DAY RAFFLE

Smoosh is holding a Fathers Day Raffle. Tickets are $1 each. Books have gone out to all families. Tickets should be returned by Wednesday 1st September. Draw will take place on Thursday 2nd September at 5pm.

Thank you for your support.
Your’ invitation to the
SPRING FAIR IS HERE
Dear Parents/Carer

SMOOSH is holding a Spring Fair on Tuesday September 14th
And your family is invited
Starting time 6.30pm to 8.30 pm
The Cost for two hours of fun including a Sausage Sizzle is,
$ 20.00 for a family of four ( 2 parents & 2 children )
$10.00 for family of two (1 parent & 1 child)
or $5 each
All children must be accompanied by an adult
Your money buys a Sausage Sizzle for each person plus a drink.
The children receive a booklet of tickets to use on Fair Games and other fun things.
To ensure we have enough sausage please indicate if you family will be attending.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Spring Fair RSVP by the 10th September
The …………………………………………Family
Will be attending………………YES / NO
Sausages beef…………. Vegetarian…………
(one Sausage Sizzle per person)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

SMOOSH NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2010

Once again we have just about reached the end of the term and we still have lots to pack into the last two weeks.
Firstly, you might notice that Amy is missing for SMOOSH. Well she on leave for a week and is visiting the Northern Territory lucky girl. Amy will return for week 11.
Here at SMOOSH we also have lots of fun planned.
Over the next two weeks we have planned a number of events for the children, so mark the dates on you calendar,
Emergency Evacuation will be held
Tuesday 22 AM and Wednesday the 23rd PM. ( I know not so fun but very important).
A Pyjama Party is planned for Wednesday 30th, morning session. Children attending need to wear their Pyjamas and bring their favourite soft toy or pillow. Don’t worry we won’t send them to school in their PJ’s.
Thursday 1st of July, afternoon session a Winter Disco, dancing,
Hot chocolate with Marshmallow, and a freeze ice cream followed by a Snowball fight. Prize for the most outrages Beanie, s
Our visit to McDonald for ten children was a huge success and will be sending another ten children in week 11.
Vacation care
Please refer to our notice board re Vacation time for local OOSH services and their programs. I have tried to provide as much options as possible for families to use over this two-week period.
Pupil Free Day
Bookings are now being taken for Term 3 Pupil Free Day. It will be lots of fun with a Funk & Groove Dance lesson, a Dance off and much more. Book Now.

Chocolate Fundraiser, Our chocolate fundraiser is going very well. So well in fact that we have order a few more boxes. So if you are still able to sell chocolate more will be arriving Wednesday.
The Money raised will go to back into the service to buy resources and equipment.
If you have any recommendation as to how to spend the money, your suggestions are more then welcome. All chocolate money needs to be returned by Thursday 29th for banking.

Bond updates. There has been a review of all two-week bonds held. This review is a result of the increase to fees earlier this year. Families will be receiving notice of their new bond amount and any payment required.
Any concerns please see Lynda.
Special Points of Interest

FEE Payments

Parents please ensure that fees payments given in cash should be given directly to staff and you should receive a handwritten receipt for this money.


Next Committee Meeting

Tuesday 29th June
School Hall 6.30 pm
All families
welcome.

Vacation Break
SMOOSH will close for the term 2 Break.
Starting Friday 2nd of July
SMOOSH will re-open Monday 19th July
Pupil Free Day

Blog Page
Check out our Blog page for all sorts of information, coming events, photos of the children and much more..
smooshinc.blogspot.com

Thursday, June 17, 2010

FUNK AND GROOVE DANCE
WORKSHOP
Pupil Free Day
19th July 2010
SMOOSH will be holding a Dance workshop for boys and girls which will include a team
dance off at the end of the session.
The cost of the day is $37 (Fee Relief Available)
All performances will be recorded and available for order on the day.
Pupil Free Day – 7am – 6pm
DON’T FORGET TO BRING
Sun Hat (No hat, No play Sun policy)
Morning Tea
Lunch and Drinks
Breakfast and Afternoon tea are provided
Medication will require a signed letter from
you doctor stating child’s name, dosage and
time to be given.
BOOKINGS ARE NOW BEING TAKEN
ACTIVITIES FOR THE DAY WILL INCLUDE THE DANCE WORKSHOP,
CRAFT AND GAMES.
EVERYONE WELCOME. -This day is open to all families,
not just regular Smoosh families.
Fee is non refundable if SMOOSH is not notified before the end of term 2 of
any cancellations. (Staff numbers are planned before the end of the term)
Payments must be received by Friday 2nd July 2010
SMOOSH
South Marayong Out of School
Hours Care
For more information contact Lynda on 0415231509
Fee Relief Available – Contact Family Assistance Office on 136150