The Point Preschool

Our collaborative artwork, ‘Joy and Happiness’, is exhibited this weekend at Oyster Bay Art and Craft Festival.

The children used media of their choice to create individual artwork of something that makes them feel happy or brings them joy.

Together, we placed them onto a large canvas to create one big colourful explosion that we hope brings joy and happiness to the wider community.

Pop into Oyster Bay Public School this weekend to see our artwork and many more amazing pieces from artists within the community.

Today, Michelle from Bunnings Warehouse Australia Kirrawee visited Our Place to help set up a new worm farm.

We were joined by our Nature Play families and learned together how to set up the worm farm with layers of cardboard and coir to make a comfy bed before adding the worms.

Once the worms were in their bed, Michelle covered them with a blanket to keep them warm.

We found a nice, shady spot to keep them in the playground and discussed the types of foods that they can and can't eat.

We learned that they love vegetable and fruit scraps, paper, tea bags and coffee grounds, but they don't like onions, chilli, citrus, bread or meat. The children are very excited to start feeding them and watch the compost build.

It was a wonderful experience to share with our wider preschool community, and we are looking forward to being able to use the worm juice to fertilise our garden.

Thank you Michelle for sharing your knowledge and love of caring for our environment.

Nature Play is an opportunity for our feet to tread softly on Dharawal Country, where each step takes us on a journey of wonder, joy, connection, and respect.

This term, the children have begun to explore the ever-changing natural environment through slow and meaningful experiences.

Together we have wandered along Yanma Nura, listened to kookaburras laughing in the trees, searched for tadpoles in the tree hollow, discovered bright orange mushrooms after the rain, collected fallen gum nuts and leaves, and revisited our favourite red gum tree, “Looky Up La La.”

The environment continues to act as a teacher, inviting us to observe, question, investigate, and connect with the world around us.

Nature Play provides children with time and space to build relationships, develop confidence, express creativity, and foster a deep sense of belonging within the natural world. Through these shared experiences, children learn to care for Country, notice seasonal changes, respect living things, and develop an appreciation for the beauty and interconnectedness of nature.

Last week, we ventured out onto Dharawal Country for our first Yanma Nura of the year, altogether with our families.

As we walked, we connected through conversation as we shared in the joy of noticing the difference in textures of the male and female trees, and the many flowers in bloom.

As we wandered along our route, we mindfully listened to the sounds around us, identifying the calls of the birds in the trees, hearing the buzzing of the boats on the water and the rumble of the train travelling across the bridge.

At the creek we saw hundreds of crabs popping in and out of the holes in the mud. Jet noticed that the shape of the creek was like a letter 'S', and as we followed the shape with our eyes, we noticed two spoonbills amongst the mangroves.

Beau's mum met us at the creek, near their house with his baby sister. She showed us a tree that they call the 'cicada tree'. It was covered in so many cicada shells that we couldn't believe our eyes!

Lastly, we began our climb up the many steps back to Our Place.
We are looking forward to walking in our groups next term and to noticing the changes on Dharawal Country with the change in seasons.

Here at Our Place, we value our diversity as a community and welcome children and families to share their cultures. We foster a sense of belonging as we value and respect each other's backgrounds, celebrate diversity and promote inclusion through shared learning.

Over the last couple of weeks, the Cockatoo children have been bringing photos of themselves as a baby and photos of their families to preschool to share with each other. This led to our educators' bringing photos of themselves as a child which turned into a fun game of 'which educator am I?' for children and families to participate in.

This week we celebrated Harmony Week by sharing photos of our families and bringing items that we value as part of our cultural background or family culture. The children were very excited to share their favourite photos and talk about their family traditions.

Zoe shared her favourite Brazilian/Portuguese song 'Mas Que Nada' that she sings with her Papai, and Julian brought a Polish song, 'Zabiore Brata na Koniec Swiata' that he loves to sing in the car with his mum and brother.

Joshua brought his 'opinci' - Macedonian dancing shoes and his Macedonian dancing 'kjostek', Evie brought her rosella to represent her love of birds and her bag of treasures that she has found when walking in the bush with her family.

Coco brought her beautiful Chinese silk dress that she wears for Lunar New Year, and Emilia brought her traditional hand knitted Croatian bag that was lovingly made by her great grandmother.

Kiaan brought some photos of Vesak lanterns and also some for us to build together. Vesak is the most important holiday in the Sri Lankan calendar, celebrating all three major life events of the Buddha on one day. It is celebrated on the full moon, usually in May and is marked by visiting temples, offering lights symbolising the enlightenment that the Buddha brought to the world.

Our educators brought items they feel have shaped them throughout their life and displayed them in the foyer with a brief description for children and families to look at together. We also made a traditional dish from our home countries to share (descriptions under the photos).

We have loved celebrating each other and sharing joy in conversation about our families as we learn more about one another, strengthening connection and belonging.

As this year comes to a close, we would like to say a heartfelt thank you to our wonderful preschool community.

This year, more than ever, we have witnessed the true spirit of community-based preschool, as the community wrapped its arms around us, supported us and advocated for Our Place, the children and educators.

We have shared many joyful moments throughout the year, and the love and generosity of our families has surpassed all expectations; from the many donations of gifts and food for our giving tree for the St Vincent de Paul Society, to being involved in our fundraising, community events and celebrations throughout the year.

Our End of Year Celebrations were full of joy as the children sang and danced to their favourite songs, accompanied by Georgia's dad, Dave and Lucas's pop, Paul.

The children gifted their families' bags that they had sewn on the sewing machine with the fabric that they had painted together at our Father's Day Family Celebration and received a gift of a book written by Hugh's grandma, Dianne Ellis.

Thank you again for a wonderful year. Our hearts are full.
We wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year and look forward to what 2026 will bring x

Yesterday was World Kindness Day, and this week we have been reflecting on how kindness can be shown in different ways. The children discussed kindness during Yarning Circle:

Kaia "We can be kind and help each other when they're sad."
Bronte "We should take care of everyone."
Arly "And take care of nature."
Matty "If someone is hurt and you did it by accident, you should say sorry and make sure they are okay."
Vinnie "Taking care of animals is being kind too."

During the morning, we had noticed a noisy miner flying in and out of our lemon tree, and when we took a closer look, we noticed that it was building a nest.

We thought it might be getting tired as it seemed to be flying far away to collect materials for it's nest, so we decided to place some yarn in a neighbouring tree to save it's tired wings.

We were so pleased when we observed it take some of the yarn to weave into its nest, noticing that it seemed to prefer the paler colours. We were in awe of the birds amazing weaving and architectural skills.

Lucas said, "That's a perfect spot for a little bird to build its nest," and we all agreed. We can't wait to see if we soon have a family of noisy miners sharing our playground.

This week we have celebrated Australian Pollinators Week. We were very lucky to have Bronte's dad, Trevor, a botanist at the Botanical Gardens, visit Our Place to teach us all about pollinators and how they work their magic.

Bronte very proudly assisted her dad, explaining, "Pollinators are all creatures that visit flowers."

The children told Trevor about how we often notice our native bees carrying pollen on their legs and named other pollinators that they knew of - butterflies, bats, moths, ants, birds.

We wondered how these creatures know where to find pollen and we learnt that flowers have secret messages that only pollinators can see, which only appear under ultraviolet light.

The children experimented by creating a colourful flower using coloured pencils, then writing a mystery message with a highlighter pen. We turned off the lights in our classroom and Trevor shone an ultraviolet light onto their flower. Just like magic their message appeared.

Next, Trevor demonstrated this with real flowers by placing them under our microscope, then shining the ultraviolet torch onto them. We were in awe of what we saw. The colours shone so brightly and now we can understand why and how pollinators are attracted to flowers.

Thank you, Trevor, for sharing your knowledge with us.

Let the bidding begin! Our Silent Auction fundraiser is officially open.
Choose from fabulous prizes donated by local businesses, families and friends of the Preschool, and two VERY special prizes from the children themselves!

The Point Preschool Silent Auction 2025 Silent auction 'The Point Preschool Silent Auction 2025' hosted online at 32auctions.

Thank you to the generous businesses near and far who have supported our Preschool’s upcoming Silent Auction.
Feel free to browse the variety of wonderful prizes we've had donated, before bidding opens this Monday the 20th of October at 8am.
Please share the link with friends and family to bid in support of our beautiful Preschool!
www.32auctions.com/PointPreschool2025