Thornton Child Care and Preschool Centre

16/06/2026

On the weekend, some of our educators went on an op shop adventure to explore op shops in Newcastle. Over the next few weeks, you might be able to spot a few of our op shop finds in the rooms as we introduce them to our environments.
This is a way to ensure we continue to provide an environment that is inviting and home-like while embedding sustainable practices 🏡

11/06/2026

We are on the lookout to see if any Mums or Dads are able to help us. We have a solar light that needs installing onto brick in our carpark. As its solar, no electrical work is needing to be done.

We would greatly appreciate if someone would be able to help us. Please let us know if you are able to help and think you might have the right tools to do the job 🛠 Thank you!

02/06/2026

📢 Important information to read regarding changes in Medicare funding for Speech Therapy

Medicare support for speech-sound difficulties 💜

Recent changes mean Medicare now helps cover the cost of speech therapy for children and young people who stutter or have speech-sound difficulties (including articulation disorder, phonological disorder, childhood apraxia of speech, dysarthria), and for those with cleft lip and/or palate.

Children and young people under 25 may be able to get Medicare rebates for:
🔹 speech assessments (up to 8 sessions)
🔹 ongoing speech therapy (up to 20 sessions)

Helpful tips for families 📌
🔸 A referral is required from a GP, specialist or consultant physician
🔸 Medicare provides a rebate, so some families may still have a gap fee depending on the provider
🔸 Not all speech pathologists offer Medicare rebated sessions, so ask first
🔸 Early support can make a real difference, but it’s never too late to seek help
🔸 NDIS and Medicare cannot be used for the same session

This is an important change that parents of children who stutter or who have speech-sound difficulties have long advocated for.

25/05/2026

This Wednesday, we invite children to wear their favourite jersey as we will be engaging in simultaneous story time, ‘Luna Roo: The Kangaroo Baller’.

This week is also Reconciliation Week. The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2026 is All In, a call for all Australians to commit wholeheartedly to reconciliation every single day. We invite families to dress their children in yellow or accessorise in yellow starting on Thursday and continuing to next Wednesday, to show solidarity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

We look forward to seeing jerseys, yellow outfits and accessories over the next week.

18/05/2026

Soul Speech Pathology is offering $25 speech and language screeners for children aged 1-5 with free screeners for additional siblings. This is a great opportunity to quickly assess and review your child's communication skills and pick up on other issues.

Please see details below 🙂

05/05/2026

Time is an abstract concept that young children can sometimes struggle to understand. We use visual timers in our rooms to help children understand time, particularly when we are about to transition into another activity.

This can be a great strategy to use at home, instead of saying 'almost done' and 'five more minutes', with children becoming frustrated when you say the time has elapsed. Using a visual timer helps children mentally prepare for the transition, increasing their time awareness and their independence.

If you are looking for a free visual timer at home, MouseTimer is a free to download app where you can select time increments and count down. Another (screen free) alternate is rainbow style visual timers like the one pictured.

02/04/2026

Celebrations support children to explore traditions, culture and rituals, as well as connect to people and places.
Over the past few weeks we have been using play in our Kangaroo Room to explore Easter. This is also including Greek Easter with our red dyed eggs and egg cracking game Tsougrisma.
Rituals in early childhood are intentional actions that provide emotional security, foster Belonging and turn daily routines into meaningful nurturing moments.
“Family Lunch” is a treasured part of our day when we join the tables together and enjoy a meal connected as a community.
As the Kangaroos observed the tables being put together, they quickly made the connection- “Yay! Are we having family lunch?”
“Yes, that’s what we do at Easter, enjoy a meal with my family”, Educators answered.
“Oh that’s a nice part of Easter” a friend commented.
Wishing all of our Families a Happy, safe and connected Easter 🐣🐰

31/03/2026

It is our Easter raffle draw today! A huge thank you to our families for their very generous donations for the prizes. The children will be helping to draw the tickets today, and we will call the lucky winners so they can collect their prizes.

31/03/2026

25/03/2026

Our Joey Room has extended our play space out to our verandah and turned it into a tool workshop.
Dramatic Play, or pretend play, involves the children adopting pretend roles in order to engage in make believe scenarios.
In this space our Educators want to encourage the children’s imaginations and immerse themselves in a pretend world. These spaces are enhanced by using creative stimuli such as dress ups, props and staged environments.
Dramatic play offers limitless potential in developing multiple areas of our little ones cognitive ability.
Our main aims in this space is to encourage language engagement and positive social interactions.