Through the second and third week of September, all our Milestones centres participated in the Aussie Wildlife Champions fundraiser drive for the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
A part of this fundraiser was a Dress Up and Donate Day on the 21st of September where the centre teams and their children were encouraged to dress up as their favourite Australian animal, as a farmer, swagman or to bring in their Australian wildlife soft toy.
We also encouraged all families to consider donating towards the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, who do an exceptional job assisting with the protection and re-introduction of Australia's most iconic and endangered species.
Affinity education and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy have formed a partnership to develop our unique Aussie Wildlife Champions program which is offered in all our Affinity owned and operated centres. Affinity education is the only educational organisation that the Australian Wildlife conservancy has partnered with on a project of this scale. Australian Wildlife Conservancy is one of the world's leading conservation organisation and has a focus on preserving Australia unique biodiversity.
The ‘Aussie Wildlife Champions’ education program, developed in partnership with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, provides engaging lesson plans for 18 iconic and endangered Australian species and introduces the children to core principles of conservation and Australia’s sometimes harsh climate and environment. Fun and age-specific videos describe the criticality and lifecycle of species such as Native Bees, Crocodiles, frogs and Bilbies.
Each lesson is filled with delightful imagery provided by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, insights and activities that will expand children’s understanding of the breadth, depth and uniqueness of Australia’s native species.
They have also developed at home resources for all our communities and families to learn about these important Australian species.
Sarah Pedvin, Centre Manager for Milestones Early Learning Sunshine Beach shared, “We had a fabulous day on the Aussie Wildlife Dress up day – While we didn’t receive many donations, our educators took the opportunity to educate the learners of our service about our native wildlife.
“Utilizing the Aussie Wildlife Champions compendium our educators offered children learning activities as they broaden their knowledge of Australian fauna. A popular experience for our Kindy children was creating their own interpretation of the Rainbow Serpent.”
Jody Harrison, Educational leader at Milestones Early Learning Bathurst shared, “Unfortunately, it was photo week at our centre so there wasn't as much dressing happening, but this didn't stop our zest for learning.
“Across the centre, there was lots of singing and storytelling. Movements to music and small world play reflecting our Aussie wildlife all very engaging and purposeful, and learning opportunities for the children to explore. All the children really enjoyed the day, from the small babies through to our preschoolers in the centre. It was fantastic to see how beautifully all the children engaged in the day.
“In our senior preschool room, the Aussie wildlife curriculum is imbedded into their everyday program and the children are enjoying every minute of it. At the moment, they're loving the diagrams and understanding the different parts of the body of the animals.
"In our junior preschool room, the children have been learning about the importance of koalas in our environment and how we need to keep them safe and protected. Ensure we have them in our environment for many years to come.
"In our toddler to room, there has been a strong focus in being able to identify individual Australian animals, their importance to our environment and their purpose. The children have loved engaging with the different pictures and starting to understand where they live as well. What animals are identified on our coins, being the emu and the kangaroo and loving the idea that both the animals cannot move backwards.
“Our toddler, one room has started learning about identifying the different Australian animals and some of the actions they do in incorporating them into movement and dance at group time.
“Across both our nursery rooms there has been lots of story time and singing about Aussie culture and Australian animals.”
All our centres appreciate the commitment our families and our local communities have towards the causes we take great pride in supporting.
If you would still like to donate, please follow the link below.