Contents

• Welcome
• Upcoming Events
• CLAN WA - Free Workshops for Parents
• Tom Price Early Years Group
• Karratha Early Years Group
• New book to prepare Pilbara children for kindergarten
• Bookworms Early Learning Program
• YMCA
• Fish to Feed Project
• Growing Children Stronger
• Healthy Kids Recipe

Welcome

Welcome to the third edition of West Pilbara Communities for Children newsletter. In this edition you will find out what the Early Years group have been up to and read about the launch of the ‘I am going to kindy’ book, a book designed to prepare children for kindergarten.

The Fish to Feed Program is now in full swing as is the Growing Children Stronger Program. A recent visit to Harding Dam saw participants exploring the origins of traditional bush medicine.

New C4C partners, YMCA have been out and about visiting the Pilbara region working towards developing the new ‘Mobile Resource Hubs’for the Shire of Roebourne and Shire of Ashburton.

There are heaps of events coming up so don’t forget to lock them in your diary.

Enjoy....

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Tom Price Early Years Group Update

1, 2, 3 Magic Parent Workshop

A big thank you to Fiona and Denyka who conducted the 1, 2, 3 Magic Sessions in Tom Price. Both sessions were very well attended with about 25 people at each session. There will be a follow up session at Nintirri for anyone who has done a 1,2,3 Magic session, so come along and ask all your questions The Paraburdoo workshops have been postponed until later in the year.

Addictive Alert

Julie Eade recently presented her Addictive Alert workshop in Tom Price. Michelle McGregor from Early Years Tom Price said the workshop was an eye opening experience.

"Julie had a table full of products and the group examined the ingredient labels, all those numbers made our minds boggle," she said.

"It was very interesting to actually find out what all those numbers represent."

Early Years Tom Price would like to thank Rio Tinto and Women’s Health for funding the project. A get together will be organised for the group to meet again and chat about what products they have found without the numbers in so we can all share the information.

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Karratha Early Years Group Update

The ‘Off to Kindy’ 3 plus playgroup sessions have continued to run during term two and are fully booked for terms three and four. Early Years Coordinator Natalie Dewson said this is a very pleasing result and commented about the success of the program.

“The feedback from parents is absolutely awesome and the Karratha Early Years Group (KEYG) are looking forward continuing more of these sorts programs in Karratha.”

“The next KEYG meeting is on Thursday August 12th 9.30am at the Karratha Baptist Church and it would be fantastic to see as many community members there as possible.”

“As a group, we continue to look at the activities that are working well in Karratha and what the gaps might be.”

“Supporting existing programs and advocating for new programs to develop are important goals that the KEYG try to achieve.” said Natalie.

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New book to prepare Pilbara children for kindergarten

‘I am Going to Kindy’, a book designed to explain in simple language what a child will experience in their first days at Kindergarten, was launched by Child Australia at a function at the Roebourne Library on June 22nd.

Made possible by a grant from West Pilbara Communities for Children, the book was developed by CHILD Australia staff member Ann Bell and Yaandina psychologist Anne Mead while supporting Aboriginal families in the West Pilbara with a Playgroup Program known as 3+ Playgroups – a Communities for Children initiative funded by FaHCSIA. Child Australia Regional Manager, Carol Warren explains:

“During these playgroups, we were able to expose the children to routines, life skills, fine and gross motor cognitive and language. At the end of the year we held a serious of workshops on things parents could do to skill up their children for entry to Kindergarten and school.”

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 Census data shows that 41% of the non-Indigenous Pilbara population has a Year 12 or equivalent school qualification in comparison to only 13% of the Indigenous population. In addition, recently released AEDI data shows that at age 5, children in the Roebourne community/shire area have significantly higher percentage of children developmentally vulnerable in the language and cognitive skills domain than the national average.

“If we are to ‘close the gap’ in educational outcomes for Aboriginal children, we must support the delivery of services and resources that assist in breaking this cycle of educational disadvantage.” Mrs Warren concluded.

Contact Child Australia Karratha office at Welcome Lotteries House, or phone 08 91431551 for more information about the book.

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Bookworms Early Literacy Program

The Karratha Community House Bookworms Early Literacy Program has continued to offer wonderful early literacy sessions for young children and their families. Based at the Peg’s Creek Pavilion in Karratha each session aims to engage and entertain young children whilst modelling appropriate skills and strategies for parents. This modelling supports parents, as each child’s primary educator, in developing their ability and confidence to support their child’s early development in the home environment.

Each Bookworms session begins with a jam packed mat time where children participate in singing, finger and action rhymes and storytelling. The mat session is structured to keep very young children engaged utilising puppets, props, stories, songs and action rhymes.

Following the mat session the older children participate in a craft activity matched to the theme of the day while the younger babies and their parents are encouraged to stay (in our cosy book corner), read stories and chat with other families. Themes covered this term have included; birds, occupations, teddy bears, space, butterflies and weather.

Recently, the Bookworms program was involved in the Karratha Teddy Bear’s Picnic. This wonderful event, designed to showcase the range of programs, activities and parent support groups available for families with young children, was a great opportunity for Karratha Community House to promote the Bookworms Program, particularly for new families to town.

The Bookworms team will also be involved in the upcoming Early Years Literacy Forum. During this event children will be able to participate in a nursery rhyme inspired craft activity creating popstick puppets to the popular rhyme ‘Two Little Dicky Birds’. Each child will also be given a nursery rhyme card so that they can sing and act the rhyme with the families at home.

Bookworms sessions run each week on Monday and Friday mornings from 9am to 10am. Each session costs $5 per family with 10 session prepaid cards available for $50. If you would like further information about the program, please call the Karratha Community House office on 0417 769 521.

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YMCA

YMCA Perth representative Fiona Garland visited Karratha and Tom Price to commence consultation with community partners meeting with Early Years groups to introduce YMCA and the Communities for Children ‘Mobile Resource Hubs’.

YMCA Perth has purchased two vehicles and ordered resources. Prospective staff have been interviewed and selected with one staff employed in Karratha and two in Tom Price to support the Shires of Roebourne and Ashburton. Staff will commence the middle of July.

Fiona also had the opportunity to attend the Teddy Bears Picnic and meet many families and supporting agencies and groups at the event.

“I’ve really enjoyed meeting so many passionate people and hearing about all the wonderful activities taking place in the Pilbara and I’m looking forward to working with all the agencies and community groups into the future,” she said.

“I’d like to thank Bianca and Natalie from RDA, Carol and Narelle from Child Australia and Kelly from LINK for all their support and assistance during my visits.”

R to L: Fiona Garland YMCA Perth, Kathy Holt Department for Communities and Carol Warren CHILD Australia at the Teddy Bears Picnic Karratha

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Fish to Feed Project

The Fish to Feed program is now in its second successful term. Marcelle Coakley commented about future plans for the program.

“We now have seven high school students as mentors , all of who have completed their Recreational Skippers tickets” she said.

“From term three we will have some of these students involved in a buddy system to assist in bullying issues.”

“Our aim is to use fishing as a bond between students to forge strong bonds between children of all ages.”

“We will be taking the kids on a camp in term four and want to encourage the upskilling of these high school students as an incentive to the younger ones.”

“We have been fortunate enough to have a new project officer, Anita Brown join the team and she will be helping with the delivery of the program and to keep a check on the attendance of school students and also liaise with the local police to see if any of the kids from the program have been involved in juvenile crime.”

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Growing Children Stronger

The Growing Strong Children program is a 15 week program aimed at encouraging participation with other community members and to increase cultural knowledge.

Pansy Sambo from Population Health joined the group on their latest activity, a trip to Harding Dam. Pansy helped the mothers and children collect traditional bush medicines and explained their importance along the way.

Anne Mead, Coordinator of the program commented on the success of their latest activity.

“A highlight of the recent weeks of the program has been the increased confidence of the mothers as they shared, discussed and encouraged each other” said Anne.

“The mothers have been more assertive about making suggestions for additions and the bush medicine day is an example of this as well as other alterations to the program.”

“We now use puppets to role play when rehearsing the alternative ways of managing children’s behavior.”

Anne also explained her findings from working with the group.

“Watching the development of the children as they play and share together has been very informative for me as a non-Aboriginal parent, educator and psychologist.” she said.

“It has become very obvious that Aboriginal parents expect their children to share and to look after each other far earlier than most non-Aboriginal parents do.”

“As the mothers talk the children play and the group watch over the children together.”

Pansy Sambo shows the group Murrudawubu the pulp from inside the bark of the bloodwood tree can be soaked in boiling water and then used as a medicine to make the blood strong. Pansy explained to the children that if the pulp is mixed to a paste it can be used as an ointment for sores.

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Healthy Kids Recipe

Sausage Rolls

Tip: Kids love sausage rolls so why not make them healthier by adding grated vegetables to the mix. Here’s how to make them.

Makes 28

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
• 80ml (1/3 cup) milk
• 500g pork and veal or chicken and herb sausages
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1 egg, plus 1 egg extra, lightly beaten
• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, just thawed
• Sesame seeds, to sprinkle
• Tomato sauce to serve

Method
1. Combine breadcrumbs and milk in a bowl and set aside until milk is absorbed. Remove casings from sausages and place in a food processor with crumbs, onion and egg. Process until well combined, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to chill.

2. Place a sheet of pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut horizontally into two. Spoon a quarter of the mixture along the centre of each piece of pastry. Fold over a long side of pastry, brush with egg, then fold other side over to enclose, slightly overlapping in the centre, and make a long sausage shape. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling to make 4 rolls.

3. Place rolls, seam side down, on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover and refrigerate for 1/2 hour until firm.

4. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a large baking sheet with non-stick baking paper. Carefully diagonally cut each roll into seven. Brush with remaining egg and place on baking sheet. Use a sharp knife to make 2 small slits on top of each roll (to prevent rolls from splitting) and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and puffed. Serve warm with the tomato sauce.

ENJOY..... Mmmmm

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