Mitcham Preschool Centre
2021 annual report to the community
Mitcham Preschool Centre Number: 4682
Partnership: Mitcham Plains
Preschool director:
Mrs Chris Catt
Governing council chair:
Claire Harton
Date of endorsement:
17 February 2022
Signature
Context and highlights
Context for 2021
-the centre has a capacity of 88 children. 77 children commenced term 1 -
- 39% of children attended both Mitcham Preschool and Hawthorn Child Care Centre, which is walking distance
from the preschool
- Families are from a range of backgrounds, including 2 parent homes and single parent families. Most families had
2 parents working, with at least 1 parent working full time
.- There have been several cultures represented at the kindergarten including Aboriginal, Sri Lankan, Greek, Italian,
Indian, Chinese, New Zealand, Hongkong, Mexican. Nepalese and Pakistani.
Highlights for 2021
- the cohort of 2021, were a group of enthusiastic, engaged, interested learners
- We use an inquiry based approach to learning, and our focus of learning for each term, included “Cultures around
the world", “All about me and people in my world” underpinned by the Child Protection Curriculum, "What is a
pattern" and "People make books and we can too". The feedback from parents on their child's engagement in the
curriculum was extremely positive, in particular the maths focus on 'patterns" and the literacy focus on "bookmaking"
- We have been committed to making progress in our QIP goals (see report) - our ongoing commitment in
implementing a program that provides numerous opportunities for intellectual stretch and developing a positive
growth mindset, through challenge tasks, hard work and persistence
- we have made learning visible through literacy / numeracy wall, display of pedagogical documentation, STEM
focused notice board. Children's work folders are located in the main room, for children and families to access
readily.
- In 2021, Mitcham Preschool was relocated to Mitcham Primary school for term 1, whilst major work occurred on
our building. This included new roof, ceiling and air conditioning. It also included some site funded works such as
rejuvenation of the kitchen, the storerooms and laundry area. Due to the nature of the major works, the indoor areas
were painted and new carpet was installed in 3 rooms. We returned to the preschool in term 2. COVID again
impacted on families accessing the preschool for a period of time. However, we were able to offer several
excursions, incursions and special events to support children’s learning.
- Through all the changes in 2021, the children demonstrated resilience, bravery and courage to cope in many
varied situations.
Governing council report
Mitcham Preschool Centre (MPC) proceeded through a second year of the Covid-19 pandemic with conscious care,
flexibility in its routine, a focus on the wellbeing of its students and staff, and with aims that the future of MPC will be
as all-round excellent in the future as its previous years.
In its 65th year of operating as a Preschool education facility, MPC spent Term 1 at Mitcham Primary School whilst
the State heritage-listed Kindergarten undertook major renovations. These works begun at the end of 2020 and
finished in time for the Kindy to reopen at its home in Mitcham Community Court for Term 2 2021. Other upgrades
passed by the GC include new student and staff furniture. Plans for works during 2022 have also been devised.
Whilst Government-led limitations were instigated at ad hoc times throughout the year, MPC staff provided the
children and families a busy and exciting year. Excursions were planned, modified, postponed and undertaken, with
the support of MPC staff and families, and with flexibility from previous vendors. These include trips to Kuitpo
Forest, Adelaide Zoo, Marshmallow Park and the creek adjacent to MPC. Incursions included Wheels Day, Trent
Hill, Mud Day, Ruth Tuck Art School, Family Nights, and the quarterly Celebration Days, all meticulously following
Government restrictions.
It must be noted that the staff showed inspiring strength, resilience, support, and creativity throughout all changes
brought by the Department, led by their focus on the care and nurture of the child as a person, as a learner and a
preschooler. They must be commended on this year’s work.
I would like to acknowledge the tireless and outstanding work, enthusiasm and care the staff of MPC have gifted our
children throughout their unique year of Kindy, under the cloud of pandemic unknowns. Thank you to Mitcham
Primary School for housing and embracing MPC for Term 1, the GC of 2021 for arranging the Kindergarten’s
renovations, MPC families for continuing the strong community-based spirit of MPC, and thank you also to the
members of MPCs 2021 GC for supporting the Kindy throughout the year and ensuring MPC continues its
outstanding education legacy.
2021 Annual Report to the
Community
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Preschool quality improvement planning
Goal 1
To Improve children’s numeracy skills through a focus on measurement
- Staff built knowledge and skills on measurement working collaboratively through PLC’s, developing our skills on
using strategic questioning. Question prompts were placed in each room as a guide for educators when working in
small groups or 1:1
- STEM centre established with focus on measurement. Each week activities in the STEM centre were based on
one area of measurement eg linear, weight & capacity.
- Each week there was a STEM challenge task. Children experimented, problem solved and recorded their answer
on the sheet. Every Monday was “Measurement Monday”, where we carried out the measurement experiment,
incorporating strategic questioning, to find out the answer.
- Dedicated Numeracy table focussed on measurement and number sense, for periods of time throughout the year.
- Large number of opportunities were provided to investigate measurement outdoors such as the portable
measurement bags.
- We reviewed our site based assessment tool, to include capturing data on children’s knowledge and skills in
measurement. Other data gathered included sheets from the STEM centre (who participated and how often),
observations, photos
- Children were then immersed in a wide range of measurement experiences indoors & outdoors; established a
STEM centre with weekly STEM challenges: focussed on comparative language; used small / large group times to
implement explicit teaching / modelling of measurement activities; focussed on standard & non standard tools for
measurement; Dedicated Numeracy / maths table with a focus on number / aspects of measurement –
- there was a lot of evidence of high quality teaching and learning in the area of measurement
- what we noticed - children using comparative language; children investigating measurement using tools
appropriately; participating in STEM challenges; children very engaged in the small / large group activities and
transferring learning to other areas of curriculum; taking the learning home and transferring knowledge (eg
feedback from parents)
- Children were assessed through 2 designated tasks and demonstrated very good understanding of measurement.
They use comparative language in context and can describe how (purpose) the measurement tools are used and
what they measure (eg length, weight).
Goal 2
To improve children’s literacy skills through a focus on fine motor development and mark making
- Throughout 2021, we built on from 2020 strategies, in the areas of mark making & fine motor skills. Each week our
targeted planning incorporated both areas.
- Through site based pupil free day, we worked with Lisa Burman in term 3 & in workshops during term 4, focussing
on bookmaking, to build skills and knowledge in this area of literacy.
- In Term 4, we put our new learning into our inquiry focus ”People make books and we can too”.
- Children were immersed in bookmaking, with the emphasis on building their confidence and skills as an author
and illustrator.
- There was an expectation that every child would make and publish one book during term 4. This did occur,
however some children produced multiple books
- What we noticed – children built their knowledge on the construction of texts such as front cover / back cover /
spine / title / author / illustrator / blurb / speech bubbles / ellipses / onomatopoeia / exclamation marks / question
marks / page numbers
- Children built confidence with drawing and writing – some children did “4 year old writing”, others copied written
text, some children wrote phonetically, whilst others asked educators to spell words which they wrote
- We also completed 3 author studies, whereby children noticed different characteristics in their writing / illustrating
style.
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Enrolment
NOTE: The data is based on person counts in the two week reference period each term. Excludes pre-entry.
Data Source: Preschool Data Collection, Data Reporting and Analytics directorate.
Term 2 2020 data may not be available for all preschools.
Enrolment by Term
Year
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
2018
86
85
82
82
2019
83
83
80
82
2020
77
77
76
75
2021
77
74
74
73
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
2018 centre
97.9%
95.7%
94.8%
94.0%
2019 centre
95.5%
94.6%
90.6%
96.8%
2020 centre
95.3%
91.6%
95.4%
94.3%
2021 centre
93.9%
94.6%
84.3%
92%
2018 state
90.8%
88.4%
88.0%
88.2%
2019 state
90.8%
88.2%
86.9%
87.6%
2020 state
89.8%
73.0%
86.3%
87.0%
2021 state
88.6%
86.5%
88.4%
85.0%
Attendance
Based on attendances recorded in the two week reference period each term. Data for eligible enrolments as described in the
department's Enrolment policy.
Attendance rates may differ to previous reporting with the transfer from calculations based on deemed attendance to actual
attendance using booked hours divided by attended hours.
*Note: Term 2 2020 data may not be available for all preschools.
Attendance comment
The year commenced with 77 children enrolled. However, some changes occurred during the year.
In term 1,a child moved to a preschool associated with her siblings school. Another child withdrew by week 4 with her
family deciding to postpone her enrolment at preschool until 2022.
At the end of term 2, 1 child commenced at a Catholic School, 1 child moved with her family to Sydney. In term 3, a
child moved to a new home so transferred to another preschool. At the commencement of term 4, one child
commenced preschool, following her families move from Queensland. For term 4, 73 children were enrolled.
The attendance data indicates high attendance rates again throughout 2021, despite Coronavirus. Attendance data
was impacted in terms 2 & 3, when 2 children were absent for long periods of time due to illness / a long term family
holiday However, across terms 1, 2 & 4, attendances were above state average. In 2021 there were 3 children who
only attended 25 hours of the allocated 30 hours of preschool each fortnight. They did not attend the half days on
Mondays. The families at Mitcham Preschool value continuity of learning and are committed to ensuring their child
attends regularly.
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Destination schools
Feeder Schools (Site number - Name)
2018
2019
2020
2021
524 - Belair Primary School
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
4.9%
723 - Colonel Light Gardens Primary School
20.0%
22.4%
24.1%
24.6%
1063 - Highgate School
1.0%
0.0%
1.7%
3.3%
270 - Mitcham Primary School
41.0%
40.8%
34.5%
42.6%
9037 - St Joseph's School - Kingswood
6.0%
4.0%
10.3%
4.9%
475 - Westbourne Park Primary School
21.0%
26.3%
20.7%
16.4%
NOTE: The data is collected in Term 3. It does not reflect actual schools enrolled in by exiting preschool children. Only
schools that are a destination for 3% or more of students are shown.
Data Source: Site Performance Reporting System (SPER), Term 3 2021 collection.
Mitcham Preschool feeds into a large number of public and private schools.
• Mitcham Primary remains the main DFE feeder school. A total of 42.6% of children are enrolled at Mitcham Primary
School from the 2021 cohort, which is an increase from 2020.
• Numbers of children who are enrolled at Westbourne Park Primary School, have decreased since 2019. In 2019
26.3% attended from Mitcham Preschool. In 2020 there were 20.7% enrolled. In 2021, 16.4% of children were
enrolled at Westbourne Park Primary.
• Colonel Light Gardens Primary School had a slight increase in children enrolled from Mitcham Preschool, There were
24.1% enrolled in 2020 and 24.6% in 2021.
• St Joseph’s Primary School at Kingswood has seen a decrease in enrolments, from 10.3% in 2020 to 4.9% in 2021.
- in 2021 there were a few children enrolled at Belair and Highgate Primary schools, the first time in several years.
• 5% of children attend a range of other schools
Destination schools comment
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2021 Annual Report to the
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Family opinion survey summary
Mid-term 3 2021, The parents were given the opportunity to complete the Parent Opinion Survey on line. 49 families
out of 73 completed the survey and the feedback was very positive in all 4 areas of the survey
Most families who responded to the survey, answered with “agree or strongly agree” to each question, with only few
responses answered in the “neutral” column.
This year there were "neutral" answers to several questions, including
- the preschool seeks parent opinions about educational programs
- the preschool provides opportunities to discuss my child's progress
- teachers let me know how well my child is doing
- parents are invited to participate in decisions about their child's education
2021 was a challenging year, with the move to Mitcham Primary school for term 1 and restrictions of COVID. However,
information from assessments were shared during parent interviews, twice in a year (terms 1 & 3). ILP's were
developed with parents to set goals and identify ways to support their child's needs. Parents were given the option of
phone conversations if they felt uncertain about attending the centre, due to COVID. Spontaneous conversations were
more difficult this year, but emails and phone calls were provided. Parent opinions and having a say in preschool
decisions are welcomed through their involvement on the Governing Council. But in 2021, we had limited opportunities
to invite families to come share their skills. There were 3 opportunities to assist on excursions. Parent written
comments were positive in all 4 areas.
It is imperative that we continue to strive for excellence in all that we do at Mitcham Preschool. High quality education
programs, healthy & positive relationships between staff, parents & children, continuous improvement, effective
communication strategies, listening to the needs & directions of the community, & working with the Governing Council
will continue to ensure that Mitcham Preschool is highly regarded as a centre for quality education and care for young
children and their families.
• All Criminal History Screening Certificates for educators, University students, work experience students, gardener,
cleaners, volunteers etc are checked for compliance (WWCC)
• Copies of certificates are kept on file for staff to access
• All WWCC certificates are checked for expiry date
- Please note that all parents wishing to volunteer must also complete RRHAN-EC training for volunteers. In 2021,
families accessed this training on line and provided a certificate of completion (or a link to the certificate). Copies of
RRHAN-EC training are kept on file.
Relevant history screening
Funding Source
Amount
Grants: State
$565,198
Grants: Commonwealth
$0
Parent Contributions
$58,644
Other
$0
Financial statement
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2021 Preschool annual report: Improved outcomes funding
Improved outcomes category
(where applicable to the site)
Briefly describe how the 2021 funding was used to improve the relevant department's standard of educational
achievement outcomes (where applicable):*
Outcomes achieved or progress towards these
outcomes:
Improved outcomes for numeracy and literacy
In term 3 2021, the Literacy and Numeracy grant part funded the staffs work with Lisa Burman on
Bookmaking (developing children's identities as authors and illustrators). Lisa worked with staff in a full
day pupil free day as well as 2, half day workshops. The strategies for bookmaking were then
implemented late term 3 and as part of term 4 inquiry focus.
2 teachers also attended 3 sessions as part of the continuity of learning project, developing skills and
knowledge in phonological awareness. These literacy strategies were also incorporated into our targeted
planning, including book making.
Data demonstrates most children have made
very good progress in their phonological
awareness skills and have sound skills in
writing & mark making associated with
bookmaking
Inclusive Education Support Program
The IESP grant provided funding of support for,
- in term 1, 4 children worked in a small group to develop language skills and confidence
- 1 child accessed support for severe speech needs
- 1 child required ongoing 1:1 support to fully access the program, throughout 2021
- several children have required extra support with pencil grip, cutting skills, puzzle skills, number
recognition. etc
All children have made steady progress in
their skills and development
Improved outcomes for non-English speaking
children who received bilingual support
There was 1 child who required additional language support. The funding was used to access bilingual
support to provide a translator service between the family and DFE special services team. (support
during speech assessments etc)The bilingual support person also worked with the child's preschool
support worker, to provide additional support to the child.
The child made steady progress in his
development over the year, improving skills,
language acquisition and communication
skills.
* The department's standard of educational achievement is defined as children and young people progressing and achieving at or above their appropriate year level.
