FDC United Educators Scheme

We value and support our educators and staff to become lifelong learners and nurture their professional development through attending various training and liaising with other professionals for reflective discussions on their pedagogy and practice. This supports their documentation and daily practice and hence creates meaningful experiences.

"The outdoors offers limitless potential to young children. It becomes a place where they can go to relax their mind, to be inspired and to deep dive into the world of imagination. It's a place where they can design, create and explore. The possibilities are endless," - Angela Hanscom

When you hear about people living with Dementia, you really don't understand the disease until you experience it first hand with a family member of your own. This is my father, he was diagnosed with glaucoma 40 years ago. Unfortunately, his diagnosis was too late and as a result he wasn't able to maintain his sight. In the last years his condition has deteriorated him rapidly and he is unable to leave the house due to his severe blindness.

The last years we had started to notice odd behaviours, which we didn't take much notice of at first. My dad has always been a joker with a very dry humour. We came to realise this was the onset of his dementia. Some days he isn't aware of who we are and why we are there.

At 90 years of age my father has no concept of age or time, he sleeps most of the day and needs someone with him 24 hours a day. My heart breaks watching a man who was once so full of life, able bodied and strong being so debilitated by a physical and mental illness. Some days he is so depressed that he sits and cries.

My son was an absolute pillar for my dad, he would sit with him and give him comfort with his gentle, kind nature. As a working single mum I relied on my parents for babysitting quite a lot and as a result my son formed a very close bond to his grandparents. So much that he decided to move in with them when Covid hit, taking the voluntary role of being his carer.

Dementia impacts close to half a million Australians and almost 1.6 million Australians are involved in their care. The number of people living with dementia is set to double in the next 25 years. We all need to be aware of dementia and be mindful of the way we respond and behave towards people in our lives and in our community who are living with dementia.

These last months we have been working in collaboration with the amazing and very talented a Graphic Artist, Designer and a proud Bidjara and Wakka Wakka woman of south west and east Queensland, Australia. Danielle has created an Acknowledgement of Country for our service. Our objective was to create a First Nations-style artwork that would reflect our service's values.

As a service we recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures as a valued part of our Australian heritage. We work in collaboration with our educators to ensure they extend their knowledge and understanding around Australia’s first peoples and to embed this into their everyday practices so as to teach our young generation to understand and accept cultural diversity.

Danielle understood the design brief immediately and we feel she really captured the essence of our vision. Our service and educators will proudly display our beautiful new Acknowledgement of Country in their services.

50 Today! I feel so appreciative to be able to reach my 50th. If I could go back in time and tell my younger self anything, I would tell her:
1. Take it easier on yourself. I am a perfectionist, I want everything to be perfect and have learnt that sometimes you need to just let go. The things I can control are myself - I can’t control others so I need to learn to let go and breathe - count to 10 during the moments of anxiety and stress.
2. Take time off - I love my work and I love being busy. I need to learn to turn the switch off and mentally take a break from work
3. Listen to your body. If your body is sore or you just dont feel right - dont push yourself. Go easy on your body, its the only one you have.
4. Make time for yourself - Time is precious. Take time out of the day to go for a walk, breathe in the fresh air, sit outside and watch the children playing.
5. Get your regular check ups - dont wait until it is too late and things can’t be fixed.
6. Spend time in the now - let go of yesterday. Dont hold onto grudges or pain that other people have caused you in life. You can’t move forward if you are always looking back
7. Do what you love because you love doing it - dont add more things on your plate unless you are sure you can handle them. Dont do things to impress others - do it for yourself or dont bother doing it at all
8. Love the way you are - you are a work in progress, go easy on yourself.
9. Stop competing with others on a personal and business level - only compete with yourself.
10. Surround yourself with people that love you and value you - you are worth it. Be authentic always and be true to yourself always.

We are a Sydney based boutique Family Day Care scheme by choice. Why do we want to remain small?

1. Being a smaller service gives me the opportunity to spend quality time at each Educator’s service and support the educator’s wellbeing, discuss professional development, business practices and regulation compliances.
2. Being a small scheme gives me the ability to also get to know each of the children in care, which means I can better support the educators with questions or reflective discussions relating to children’s developmental progress.
3. If an Educator has a question, they are always able to contact me directly and receive an immediate answer. This results in higher work satisfaction, the educators in our service feel confident, supported and valued in their work, as a result their businesses are thriving.
4. Our Educators never feel isolated or alone in their work. The educators are all able to connect with each other at any time of the day.
5. Our educators consistently have a voice in the service. Our relationship is one of collaboration, this enables me to seek their valuable feedback and value it as a positive way for the service to be able to improve and grow.

How cool is this scarecrow that Jules made with the children. It is hard to believe that the humble scarecrow has a history!

Some interesting fun facts about scarecrows:

1️⃣ They were originally made to scare off crows and other birds that might ruin the farmer’s crops - just as their name suggests.

2️⃣ Scarecrows have been around a long time, the first scarecrows known to history were made about 3,000 years ago

3️⃣ The Egyptians were the first to make scarecrows to protect their wheat fields along the Nile River.

4️⃣ It is not just the way the scarecrow looks that scares off birds, it is also due to the smell of humans that linger from the clothes of a scarecrow.

5️⃣ Nagoro is a Japanese village (known as scarecrow village) and it has 35 inhabitants, but over 350 scarecrows. Its inhabitants left the village in a search of employment or died. When Tsukimi Ayano returned home eleven years ago, she was faced with loneliness and populated the village with life like dolls representing a former resident.

As a person that grew up in the 1970’s, (UNCRC, 1989) Article 19 is important to me on a professional as well as personal level. The UNCRC did not exist to protect children from arbitrary practice of teachers abusing their power to smack children. I remember being hit by my teacher as a young child for showing feelings of separation from my mother. I still today distinctly remember feeling a sense of anxiety and fear of going to school. As stated by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, (DEEWR, 2009 p.23) Learning Outcome 1, when children are able to feel secure in their environment by trusting their caregiver it enables them to develop belongingness. It is important for children to feel safe and nurtured at all times. Education and care services should be safe spaces for children to learn and grow.

https://www.fdcunitededucators.com.au/post/what-children-s-rights-mean-to-us

From our family to yours - wishing you a very Merry Christmas! Thank you for the Pandora Christmas tree cake idea, the kids had a ball creating it today after lunch.

I was sitting at my desk and could hear my daughter talking to her dolls. She had placed the group of dolls on the floor, beside each other in a semi circle with a bingo card on each of their laps. I stopped to listen and could hear her telling dolls “does anyone have spaghetti?” She held the picture card up and showed it to each of them. She then paused for a response and leaned forward looking at each of their cards and said “oh Alanna, yes you have spaghetti. Good job” as she reached over to place the marker on Alanna’s card.
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​“Logic will get you from A to Z, Imagination will get you everywhere” - Albert Einstein 💕💕💓⭐⭐⭐

We are dreaming to be back again 🚅 🏖️🌴☀️🐚🍹
​Where would you rather be right now?