Contents

• Developing Community Spirit - Tim Muirhead Workshops
• Karratha Early Years Group
• Tom Price Early Years Group
• Karratha Community House

Welcome to the first edition of the Communities for Children newsletter for 2010 which is packed full of information and upcoming events.

Communities for Children is supported by Regional Development Australia - Pilbara and is part of the family support program which provides prevention and early intervention programs to families with children up to 12 years old.

In this edition you'll find out about the success of Tim Muirhead's recent developing community spirit and facilitating meetings workshops.

Get out your diary and lock in the dates for the many upcoming events and workshops planned within the Pilbara region.

We introduce a new face to the Bookworms Early Literacy Program who have recently adopted a new logo.

And finally, read up on hints and tips to keep your kids healthy.

Developing Community Spirit - Tim Muirhead Workshops

Tim Muirhead has over 20 years experience as a trainer, advisor and practitioner in facilitation as well as community development and social and community planning.

RDA Pilbara together with Communities for Children arranged for trainer Tim Muirhead to deliver three workshops to a captive audience of community and industry representatives.

The workshops were aimed at identifying opportunities to develop community spirit and capacity and how to create effective meeting and workshop outcomes.

The Developing Community Spirit and Capacity workshops provided a simple and powerful framework for working with and in communities. Participants found this training gave them a greater understanding and clarity to their work in 'Community Development' and related fields.

The Facilitating Meetings workshop focused on simple facilitation techniques to make sure meetings are successful. Participants found that this training gave them the tools they need to act in a facilitation role in meetings and a clearer understanding of meeting processes.

All workshops were deemed successful with participants involved saying it was both informative and relevant and highly rated Tim for providing a value packed program.

Karratha Early Years Group

Child Friendly Community Expo

Communities for Children hosted a Child Friendly Community Expo on Sunday 7th March at the Karratha Aquatic Centre.

The two hour Expo showcased community services available to families in Karratha, bringing together a range of stalls and displays which were hosted by local service providers with an emphasis on services available for families and their children.

There was plenty of activities for the children including two Aqua Runs which were made available for both the little ones and the older kids.

Parents and children rocked out to live music with Corey Colum making an appearance, wooing the crowed whilst everyone enjoyed a sausage sizzle or the healthy alternative, a corn on a cob.

Off to kindy in 2011?

Following the success of the 2009 pilot, the Karratha Early Years group presents a 3+ playgroup that supports skills required for children starting school and they will be offering a four week series in Karratha starting on 22nd of April.

The School Readiness Playgroup will be delivered by Early Childhood Professionals to help support social and emotional development through self help skills.

Where: Karratha Baptist Church
When: 9 -11:30am every Thursday during school terms
Cost: $40 for the series

To register your interest in attending please call 9144 0651 or click here.

Tom Price Early Years Group

"Get ready for a big year ahead!" said Michelle McGregor from Early Years Tom Price.

Michelle has great plans for 2010 and is working on some fantastic programs. Here's an outlook of what's to come....

14th May - Picnic in the Park

Pack a picnic and join us at Lions Park in Tom Price from 9am -12 pm. There will be information available from local and regional service providers, sporting clubs, home businesses, playgroups, Toy library and many others.

P.S. Don't forget to tell the kids that there will be special guest entertainers the Kangaroo Creek Gang there to get everyone moving.

May (Date TBA) - 1-2-3 Magic Parent Workshop

The 1-2-3 Magic Parent Workshop aims to teach parents how to deal with their children's difficult behaviour by using an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use signalling system to manage children's difficult behaviour.

Workshops will be held in Tom Price and Paraburdoo.

14th, 15th June - Addictive Alert Workshop

Join Julie Eady, author of Addictive Alert - your guide to safer shopping. Here's an insight into what she'll cover in the workshop.

Australia today is facing a health crisis such as we have never seen before. Rates of asthma, cancer, obesity ADHD and behavioural disorders in children are all alarmingly high. What is happening and what can we do to safeguard our own health and the health of our children? Our diets must be part of the problem and fixing our diets must be a large part of the solution.

Click here to check out the Addictive Alert website.

Workshops will be held in Tom Price and Paraburdoo at the Nintirri Centre.

For more information about any of the above mentioned events click here.

Karratha Community House

Say "Hello" to the new face of the Bookworms Early Literacy Program!!! The program has recently developed a new logo which will soon be making an appearance on the cover of a Rhyme booklet, flyer and newsletter so keep an eye out for him.

Bookworms wish to thank Communities for Children for the generous funding of their program and are pleased to announce that sessions will now run twice weekly on Monday and Friday mornings from 9am - 10am.

The program has had fantastic exposure through a full page article in the Pilbara News which has encouraged lots of new families to come down and participate in the sessions.

The weekly sessions, run by two experienced early childhood teachers aims to promote the importance of early literacy through a fun, hands on and inclusive program. As well as offering fun and stimulating sessions for children the presenters aim to model, for parents, effective methods and strategies for engaging children with stories, songs and craft activities giving them the confidence to share these activities with their children in the home environment.

The sessions cater for children aged 0-5 with around 30 children and their families attending each session (around 60 children participate in the program each week). Some of the themes we have covered this term include; Australia Day, transport, zoo animals, dogs, music and families.

Karratha Community House and the Bookworms Team participated in the Child Friendly Community Expo at the Karratha Aquatic Centre where they ran an activity with parents and children to promote the Bookworms Early Literacy Program.

Yaandina - Growing Stronger Children

The Growing Stronger Children parenting program has begun its roll out at the Roebourne Regional Prison and is co-facilitated by local Aboriginal women. This trial program is set in a different location with the objective of identifying if women in prison respond to such advice.

The first session was a success with 14 participants with an expectation that similar numbers are attracted to each session. A big emphasis will be put on maintaining consistency of the program whilst introducing new comers.

A similar program for local mothers will start in Roebourne on the 8th of March.

Contact Veronica Rodenburg for more details on 9182 1172 or email veronica@yaandina.org.au.

Did you know? Kids require lots of calcium for growth. Dairy foods like milk, cheese and yoghurt are quick and easy choices.