Early childhood

Child protection training, undertaken by educators, maintains a general knowledge of what to do if concerns arise. The purpose of this book is to help the early childhood sector to be working from a position of earlier identification and prevention. This book is a step-by-step guide to champion children’s safety and wellbeing. As a practical tool, it will give clarification and confidence about what to do to create a culture of child safety at your education and care organisation.   Praise for this book: This book is a must-have for every early childhood professional’s bookshelf. Nicole takes a confronting topic and turns it into something real, something tangible, something not so scary. Full of practical examples, links to reputable resources and opportunities for reflection on current thinking and practice makes this book a useful resource for early childhood professionals at all stages of their career.- Sarah Louise Gandolfo, Professional learning project coordinator, Early Childhood Australia The topic has so many layers to unpick, so everything in it is important. I would definitely use it as a resource when needing further clarification. So very proud of the passionate and hardworking advocate she has become and continues to be as she explores and gains new knowledge to share with us all. - Karryn Grunden, Early childhood teacher Congratulations on your phenomenal book. The early years sector will really benefit from your hard work. We must start teaching protective education from the age of three at the latest, and your brilliant book will definitely help.- Holly-ann Martin OAM, Child abuse prevention education specialist The most valuable resource an early childhood educator can have right now is this book. A powerfully written text that provides not only a detailed yet easy-to-read summary of all Child Safe Standards, but cleverly and importantly a working document. This book allows educators and all those within our community to understand, to reflect and to be better when considering best practice. - Michelle Smith, Early childhood teacher I really enjoy your writing style and choice of language and expression. I only had to google one word to find its meaning! I loved it. You write beautifully.- Susie Rosback, Owner early childhood centre I believe that everyone will benefit from reading this and working through the suggestions, ideas and helpful/practical supports you have provided. As I read through your book, I created an extended version of a Quality Improvement Plan for Child Safe Standards. You have supported me to achieve a quality benchmark to implement all of the Standards.- Lorrelle Orrman, Early childhood director

Are you thinking of enrolling your child into school next year? You might have heard the term ‘school readiness’ – but what does it really mean? Starting school is a big step for all children and their parents. In this book, experienced primary school principal, Andrew Oberthur, provides a detailed roadmap of how you, your child and the school can make the move into primary school a successful one for everyone. Andrew uses personal stories, coupled with knowledge from some of Australia’s leading educators and parenting experts to provide genuine insight into getting your child ‘school ready’. Full of communication tips and insights into how schools operate and how to navigate issues that could eventuate. It also explores current issues like remote learning and technology to help parents and their children be prepared for the new and exciting world of primary school.ReviewsA strong resource for parents and teachers! I’ll certainly be recommending it on my school travels.- Madonna King, journalist and author of Ten-Ager I think the trio of key concepts—trust-collaboration-enquiry is dynamite. I found this very helpful for any relationship.- Steve Biddulph, psychologist and author of Raising Boys and Raising Girls The warm, reassuring, and personal advice from Andrew in his book is extremely helpful. We are not all created expert parents and it is good to know how to make decisions at this time. A lot of parents I know fret about the decisions.- Dr Matthew McLean, parent Starting school is an exciting, yet daunting time for children transitioning from kindergarten to primary school. Equally, parents also go through a similar transition, with mixed emotions of anxiety and joy knowing their child will foster new friendships and enter a new learning environment. Andrew Oberthur’s book is aimed at squashing some of those trepidations and understanding your role as a parent to collaborate with the teachers and the Principal.- Richard and Katrina Kretschmer, parents.

Ask the Animals aims to encourage the natural curiosity of young children. Unfortunately curiosity in a child’s early years weakens with time, and during school they become accustomed to mainly seeking correct answers to questions asked by their teachers. Curiosity involves asking questions about something which you know little about. These questions usually start with WHY or HOW and help children to gain knowledge of their own accord. In this book 16 animals are introduced with an illustration and a fun rhyming poem, and are followed by a range of WHY and HOW questions to strengthen curious thinking. Ask the Animals shows young children the importance of asking questions and develops their critical and creative thinking.   Download the animal templates here  

This practical resource provides early years professionals and foundation teachers with games, activities and strategies to incorporate language into movement. The premise is that learning language concepts through movement will help all children, particularly especially those who might have language delays or coming from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Section one provides whole class and individual movement activities to enable children to learn single-word concepts and simple phrases. Section two contains concept games and development motor movements activities and ideas that will help develop the physical process needed in learning language. Educators, teachers and learning assistants can easily implement these ideas to their programs and be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to help children develop language through movement and active play.   Authors: Garry Powell was a teacher and administrator in both country and city government schools for 32 years. He was a classroom teacher, specialist physical education teacher and principal at inner city schools. He lectured in tertiary education for 15 years, and has spoken on teacher education at conferences and workshops. Garry has written numerous teacher reference books. Debra Armstrong has taught in government primary schools for 28 years. She has been a classroom teacher, a specialist teacher in art and physical education, and a lecturer at Monash University. Debra has undertaken research in Australia and overseas, and won awards for her contribution to teaching. Debra has co-authored a number of teacher reference books.     Download the Flashcards here