Nido Early School Alkimos

What Does Reconciliation Week Look Like at Nido Early School Alkimos?

As National Reconciliation Week begins, our children, educators and families have proudly taken their learning beyond the walls of the service and into the wider community through the Sea of Hearts movement.

Following a fantastic professional training session with Connecting The Dots Through Culture, the educators have supported the children and families to thoughtfully create and display their own hearts, engaging in meaningful, age-appropriate conversations about kindness, respect, inclusion, belonging and caring for one another. These discussions support children to understand the importance of listening, learning and walking together respectfully on our shared reconciliation journey.

This week, we were excited to take our Sea of Hearts out into the community, with our display now located along the fence line of the service. Families and community members are warmly invited to pause, reflect, and add a heart of their own. A small explanation and reflective questions have been embedded with each heart to support those who may be unsure, helping everyone to recognise the meaning of the hearts and the impact of their actions in showing support for reconciliation.

Our Sea of Hearts serves as a powerful visual reminder of the importance of connection, acknowledging the histories, cultures and contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and committing to a future built on respect, understanding and unity.

We are proud to stand together with our children, families and community as we continue to learn, reflect and grow on our reconciliation journey. ❤️💛🖤💙💚🤍

✨ What a wonderful evening at our Nido Kindergarten Information Night! ✨

Last night it was so special to come together with our families to share our beautiful kindergarten program, our Nido kindergarten curriculum, and the many ways we support children as they prepare for their transition to school.

We loved the insightful conversations around our daily routines and rituals, and it was heart-warming to hear such positive feedback about our older classrooms and learning environments. These meaningful discussions with families are what truly make our work so rewarding.

Coming together to share knowledge, build strong partnerships, and celebrate children’s learning is exactly what we’re all about here at Nido in Alkimos. What a beautiful, supportive community we have, thank you to everyone who joined us!

🌿 We’re Hiring! 🌿

We are looking for a passionate educator to join our wonderful team here at Nido Alkimos!

If you are enthusiastic about early childhood education, love building meaningful relationships with children and families, and want to be part of a supportive, welcoming team — we would love to hear from you.

Come and be part of something special 💛

Please email your resume to [email protected] or click on the link below to view and apply for our current job opportunity.

https://au.seek.com/job/92255796?tracking=SHR-WEB-SharedJob-anz-1

🦧 Orangutan Foster News! 🦧

The votes are in… and Kristin Steele has won it!

We’re so thrilled to share that through the votes from the educators, children, families and community, we are now officially fostering Kristin Steele who is one of the orphaned orangutans cared for by Orangutan Foundation International Australia, a charity that supports the rescue, care, and rehabilitation of displaced orangutans in Borneo. Our contributions will help provide Kristin with ongoing care, nutrition, enrichment, and the support she needs to grow, learn and thrive, all as part of her journey toward independence and, hopefully one day, returning to the forest.

We couldn’t be happier and prouder to have supported this meaningful cause, and we can’t wait for the children in Classroom One to deepen their animal learning through their current inquiry project, seeing real-world impact makes learning even more special!

A huge, heartfelt thank-you to Bongo Bedlam for helping us on our fostering journey, our community thrives when local businesses step up and become part of our story, and partnerships like these truly embody what we’re all about.

Below is a small exert of Kristin’s Story

“Orphan orangutan Kristin Steele’s arrival at OFI’s Care Centre is sadly an all too familiar tale. She was reported to have been found “alone in a rubber tree plantation” some 100km from the Care Centre. She was being chased by village dogs, but luckily, the Forestry Department was informed and OFI was contacted. At just one year old, Kristin Steele would normally be inseparable from her mother, and we can only assume the worst. While it is a tragic loss, we now embrace her as part of our family.

Over the first few days, she was wary of her new surroundings and comforted herself by closely hugging branches and blankets that caregivers provided. As Kristin became more comfortable, staff took her for daily visits to the nearby forest. She was a natural climber and immediately took to the trees. For one so young, Kristin is not overly dependent on humans, displaying an independence and inner strength, something that she clearly had developed in the time before her arrival. Kristin also enjoyed the fruits provided to her, especially bananas. In fact, Kristin loves bananas so much that if her caregivers can’t find her, they say “if you lose Kristin Steele, look in the banana basket.” Sure enough, she’ll be there headfirst, bum in the air!“

Here’s to kindness, curiosity and helping amazing animals like Kristin flourish! 🧡

We’re Adopting an Orangutan! 💚

Following on from the success of our chick program, we’re excited to continue building on the children’s curiosity and care for animals in a meaningful way. After another amazing incursion with Bongo Bedlam, we were inspired to take our animal learning even further as Classroom One explore this with their Animal Inquiry Project.

Through our conversations, we learned Bongo Bedlam proudly support the Orangutan Organisation International Australia who provide care for orphaned orangutans, and we couldn’t say yes fast enough!

We’re thrilled to be fostering an orangutan and sharing this journey with the children as they learn about compassion, conservation, and caring for others.

Now we need your help!

There are a few orangutans to choose from, and while we’d love to adopt them all, we can only choose one. Families are invited to vote at the service and scan the QR code to read each orangutan’s special story.

We’d love for our wider community to share their thoughts too! Comment on this post with your vote and we will add it into our tally!

We can’t wait to introduce our newest and very furry member of the Nido family 🦧

A massive congratulations to our Classroom One Lead Educator, Emma, on completing her Diploma! 🎓

This achievement is a true reflection of your hard work, dedication, and determination. The time, effort, and commitment you’ve put in have all led to this incredible milestone, and we are beyond proud of you.

So well deserved, congratulations on an amazing achievement! 👏✨

Our hearts were so full today celebrating the beautiful mums and special caregivers in our children’s lives 💐

Thank you to all the families who joined us for our Mother’s Day Morning Tea. The smiles, cuddles and special moments shared today were truly so precious, and we feel incredibly grateful to celebrate alongside such wonderful families.

We’d love to mention and thank Fair Maiden Flowers, who kindly donated some dried flowers for this wonderful event!

Wishing you all a Mother’s Day filled with love, warmth and beautiful memories ❤️

A space for calm, connection, and reset ✨

Our sensory room evolves alongside our children. By adapting the space, we stay in tune with each child’s changing needs.

Here, soft textures and gentle sensory experiences support emotional regulation, relaxation, and a sense of balance throughout the day.

It’s a shared environment where every child can explore, learn, and enjoy a slower, low-stimulation approach to learning.

Come and discover what makes spaces like this so powerful in the early years at Nido Alkimos.

April really said “let’s make this one count”… and we listened 🐣✨

Despite all our posts this month, our Easter celebration was one we never did properly share!

Where play met connection and our community came together in the best possible way. There was laughter, a little bit of chaos (the messy and fun egg hunting kind), and a whole lot of moments that reminded us why we love what we do 💛

And just when we thought it couldn’t get better… along came our favourite orang-utan legends, Bongo Bedlam! bringing the beats, the energy, and all the good vibes. Safe to say, they understood the assignment!

We love an excuse to celebrate together… but honestly, with a community like this, we don’t really need any!

Already counting down to the next one 🎉

💛 Nido Day 💛

Yesterday we came together to celebrate Nido Day, a day dedicated to connection, appreciation, and making each of the incredible people who make up our service feel just that little bit more important, cared for, and truly cherished.

We spent the evening sharing a fun paint and sip! painting each other and embracing our creativity. The laughter was contagious as we explored our artistic flair (and had a few giggles along the way!).

One of the most special moments was sharing messages of reflection and recognising the positive practices we see in one another every day. It created such a wholesome, thoughtful sense of connection and reminded us just how lucky we are to work alongside such passionate, caring people.

Thank you to our beautiful team for the love, laughter, and heart you bring to Nido every single day 💫