Catjump Preschool strongly encourages the need to engage and connect with the wider community. We aim to teach the children the importance and benefits of belonging and giving back to the community through various ways which are both beneficial and enjoyable.
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation
The purpose of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation is to introduce pleasurable food education to children during their learning years, in order to form positive food habits for life. The recipe for effective food education is ...
Pleasurable food education emphasises the flavours as well as the health benefits of fresh, seasonal, delicious food.
Dishes cooked reflect the vegetables, herbs and fruits grown, season-by-season, by the children in their organic gardens, and also reflect the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
Kitchen educators emphasise balance and moderation, and endorse the concept of preparing fruit-based desserts ‘sometimes-only’.
Pleasurable food education is designed to be fully integrated into the curriculum or learning framework as it offers infinite possibilities to reinforce literacy, numeracy, science, cultural studies and all aspects of environmental sustainability.
Pleasurable food education delivers observable social benefits to all children, including those with special needs.
Pleasurable food education encourages critical thinking, teamwork, an understanding of cause and effect, and increased levels of observation.
Doncare
Catjump preschool has a partnership with Doncare to develop an intergenerational program with older members of our community and the kinder 4 children. During 2019 the older members of the community attended the kindergarten with Doncare volunteers. The children sang songs and some of the older visitors joined in too. A Morning tea of scones were served, and the children gave the visitors a hug. During the Pandemic lockdown, the children made posters of Love and Hope for the older members of the community and the Doncare staff delivered the posters.
Wesley Mission
The service provides a box for donations throughout the year in the kinder foyer and the donations are dropped off as the box fills. At the end of the year many boxes with clothes, food and toys are delivered to the Wesley mission in Ringwood.
Local Primary Schools
At Catjump we collaborate with local primary schools. This includes Donburn primary where we share a music program with the children at Catjump. Our professional collaborations with Milgate primary include a sister school and kindergarten partnership with BKNU in Beijing
Fundraising
We regularly take part in Bunnings sausage sizzles, community raffles, and general fundraising initiatives and we’re always open to suggestions from our families on how we can further contribute to our community both as individuals and as a whole.
Family Resources
The health, safety and wellbeing of our people – big and small – is always our highest priority. As everyone adjusts to the new world, there is no “one size fits all” solution to how we should now do things, and drastic and rapid changes can often be difficult and stressful to cope with for both adults and children.
We have a collection of family support resources available below, and we encourage you to reach out and use them if there’s anything you need help with.
