Grandma’s Place Blog

After our successful Artist in Residence program in 2018, we are delighted to have Donna Robinson back for an intensive Artist in Residence program during November. Donna will be collaborating with the children of Grandma’s Place to build an exhibition of work for our end of year party on Sunday 16th December. Donna is a digital artist, and this year’s exhibition will feature a digital exhibition of the children’s project work and a mural created by the school age child ..read more

It is always exciting to go shopping for a new bag to start school. It is a big decision and if your child is choosing their decision is often decided be Super Heroes or Film Stars or brand names. But be sensible here Mums and Dads. Consider the physical weight of the bag – the lighter the better, with wide padded straps. Consider the size of the bag – does it sit too high on their shoulders or bang against the back of your child’s knees? Consider what is going t ..read more

After successfully being rated at the Exceeding level for quality of service and education programs in 2017, we are delighted to build on this quality and extend into higher level learning opportunities in 2017. We have three new initiatives this year – our very anticipated Artist in Residence program, which epitomises the pinnacle of quality in contemporary early learning in Australia, introduction of learning Japanese language for Kindergarten children, extended by our ve ..read more

Many of the world’s countries with top education performance levels are ensuring that their society’s children have access to Kindergarten for the two years prior to school, not just the one year as is currently the case in Australia. Kindergarten programs provide children with opportunities to develop their skills, capabilities, talents and interests. Kindergarten also helps children learn how to get along with others, be collaborative problem solvers, be creative, as well as  ..read more

At the recent Australian Council of Educational Leaders (ACEL) Early Childhood conference, a visiting professor from Oxford University shared some of his research from Britain that followed children from birth to 16 years of age. It overwhelming showed that children who hear lots of oral language from people around them and have books read to them each day do much better at primary and secondary school. He said that poor literacy at school level had its roots in the early childhood year ..read more

Congratulations to our families on choosing not only the highest rated long day care but also the highest rated Kindergarten program in the Sarina area. We have worked hard to achieve this recognition from the Queensland Department of Education and ACECQA and are delighted to share this exciting news with you. The Exceeding rating is especially tough for long day care services to achieve, in that the rating given for the service is the lowest individual rating observed (i.e. if you hav ..read more

Recently, CHOICE™, Australia’s leading consumer advocacy group, looked at packaged snack foods that are aimed at babies, and there are some interesting things to be aware of as a parent to negotiate the minefield that is packaged food. Below is the article that was posted, and that CHOICE™ have kindly given permission to us to reproduce to share with our families and families in our region. If you would like more information, head over to www.choice.com.au (http://www.cho ..read more

According to a recent article in the Australian Financial Review, one of the world’s most senior women in the fast growing cyber security industry says kindergarten children should be the focus of government attempts to boost the number of tech-savy workers because many students – especially girls – have already given up on maths and science. The article states that instead of waiting until high school to teach algebra to a shrinking number of boys and girls, teaching a ..read more

We are excited to launch to the new website for Grandma’s Place. 2016 brings new ways for our centre to connect and share stories with our families no matter where you are. Our website has been had a complete makeover creating a more user friendly, information based, interactive space. Over the past seven years Grandma’s Place has been changing, evolving to give your child the best possible start to life while in care. In 2016 we decided it was time to revamp our websi ..read more

Bedtime. Are you struggling to get your kids to bed and have them stay there? With some preparation, a plan, and some good old consistency it is possible. The Basic Bedtime Method It all starts with what we call The Basic Bedtime method. There are two steps: 1. pick a bedtime and stick to it 2. create a bedtime routine 1. Time for Bed Step one is to pick a bedtime and stick to it. You absolutely must be consistent with the bedtime. Why? Because every time you alter ..read more