Lismore Preschool

Lismore Preschool has now wound up another enjoyable, energetic, challenging, and jam packed year, across two creatively organised sites. Our days were filled with play and learning, friendships, laughter, visitors, excursions, a huge Art Exhibition and topped off with an amazing End of Year Celebration at the Brewster Street site. We thank children, families, our community members and incredibly hard-working staff team for investing so much into bringing it all together in 2025. We wish everyone a safe and Happy Christmas and New Year at a time when being together and celebrating with those you love is so important. We wish all those leaving us all the very best for future endeavours (in big school!), and look forward to welcoming returning children and families alongside our new members of the preschool community in 2026. Best wishes the Lismore Preschool team :)

Thanks to Steve from The Australian Native Bee Company who dropped in to preschool today to fix the precarious position/angle our hive had got itself into (it was super healthy and very heavy!). Steve split the hive, carefully creating a new home for the bees to share. The "new" hive will be moved to the Brewster St site very soon (unfortunately we lost our last one there due to an infiltrating pest wasp). What an amazing insect these beautiful little bees are!

Save the date reminder - this Wednesday!! Look forward to seeing everyone there!

Wonderful to be back in the Pine Forest this week at the Lismore Gardens. We enjoyed walking through the cool forest undercover, learning about seeds, pods, and different leaves, designing flower art, building on our knowledge about recycling, composting and waste management and making our own bee's wax wraps! Thank you to all the volunteers and staff team at the Garden and Waste Facility for your knowledge and patience - a great morning out!

Please pass on details to anyone you think may be considering preschool in 2026. We are currently taking enrolments for 2026. Spots are limited but we would love to talk with you re your interest!

Educators and families from Community Preschools came together this morning in Lismore, joining our colleagues in Sydney and other sites in NSW, to advocate for stronger pay and conditions across our not for profit centres. The NSW government is currently developing guidelines that are asking services to consider what is essentially a long day care model, longer hours, younger children, increased responsibilities, ironically, as it is recognised that community based centres do an amazing job working with children families and communities (work really hard and are rightly proud of this) and achieve very high quality ratings compared with for profit services. The sector is incredibly resilient, but has a tipping point...let's not run the risk of ruining an amazing model of care and education! Thank you to our staff and families who represented us and supported a great event today (both physically and in spirit!).

This year's National Children's Week theme focusses on "Children's Rights", and is based on Article 42 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This important focus emphasises educating both children and adults about children's rights, and what these might look like, and mean for children's decision making processes and rights (which encompass important areas such as the right to education, safety, to be heard, to play and more). This week asks us to really consider how these rights are understood by everyone, particularly children and empowering them to know and understand their own rights. What conversations might you have?

🌿 Thoughtful Parenting Program 🌿

Are you a parent or caregiver of children aged 2–12? Join our program, designed to support and empower your parenting journey.

🧠 Learn about children’s brain development
💬 Discover strategies to manage stress and parenting challenges 🤝 Connect with other local families
📚 Access relevant support services in our community

📅 Date: Wednesday 29th October
🕙 Time: 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
📍 Location: 7 Carrington Street, Lismore CBD
📞 Register: Call (02) 6621 2489 or follow the link https://forms.office.com/r/ic4viAwrUH

Children are welcome to attend with their caregiver

Let’s build stronger, more connected families, together. 💛

🧡 Are you a parent or carer looking to better understand and support your child’s emotional needs?
The Circle of Security program might be just what you need.

This free 4-week parenting program is designed to help you:
✔️ Build stronger connections with your child
✔️ Support their emotional growth
✔️ Boost their self-esteem
✔️ Understand their need for safety and security

🗓 Thursdays from 6th Nov – 27th Nov
⏰ 10am – 12:30pm
📍 73 Magellan Street, Lismore CBD

Recommended for parents and carers of children of any age.

Call on (02) 6621 2489, scan the QR code on the flyer, or follow the link to register https://forms.office.com/r/ic4viAwrUH

We hope everyone is able to find some time to enjoy some family time together this term break! Preschool will return 8am Monday 13th October, ready to hear about all your adventures! Safe travels whatever you are doing.

These photos do not do justice to the amazingness of last week's 2025 Art Exhibition - but I had to share them anyway (unfortunately there were many other amazing displays but we have not included images as they involved photos of children - but believe me they were wonderful!). The exhibition was an outstanding sharing event, with a large amount of the opening time, wall to wall with families and children! A huge call out to our amazing educator team who worked (unbelievably) hard in the months, weeks, days and hours leading up to curating the event, caring for and beautifully displaying children's creative work; paintings, textiles, drawings, three dimensional environments, photos, weaving and felting, fired clay pieces, representational work, collage, mixed media, drama, film, natural and sustainable creations - that's just some of the beautiful work shared. Thank you also to our skilful and creative children and our families and community members who made the evening such a resounding success and offered such heartfelt feedback on what they saw and experienced. :)

We would love to see you on the 3rd September - children are very excited to showcase their skills, interests and developing ideas using the creative arts - all welcome!!!!