The Fern Early Learning Centre Cheltenham

🥧❄️ Nothing beats a warm, hearty meal on a cold winter's day!

If you're looking for comfort food inspiration, look no further. This homemade Shepherd's Pie is packed with flavour and topped with creamy mashed potato, piped to perfection and ready for the oven. 😋

Who's adding this to their dinner menu this week?

🍽️💚

We are delighted to introduce Emily, our new Educational Leader at Fern Cheltenham.

With over 10 years of experience in the early childhood education sector, Emily is passionate about supporting children's learning, development, and wellbeing. She believes every child is capable and unique, and loves creating engaging learning experiences that inspire exploration, creativity, and confidence.

As Educational Leader, Emily looks forward to working closely with our educators and families to provide a high-quality learning environment where children feel safe, valued, and encouraged to reach their full potential. Building strong partnerships with families is especially important to her, and she is excited to get to know our children and families throughout the year.

Emily shares: "I am excited to be part of the Fern Cheltenham community and look forward to sharing many wonderful learning experiences together."

Please join us in giving Emily a warm welcome! 💚

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As part of Reconciliation Week, the children in our Kinder Room enjoyed a special cooking experience with Ed, our cook. Together, they made traditional damper, learning about its cultural significance while developing their cooking skills through hands-on participation. The children were excited to enjoy their freshly baked damper for afternoon tea!

🌈 Chinese Learning – Colours with Melody 🌈

Today in our Mandarin class, the children explored colours through a fun and engaging colour song! 🎶✨ Learning through music helps children develop language skills while making new vocabulary memorable and enjoyable.

The children learned:
🔵 Blue – the beautiful sky
🔴 Red – the blazing fire
⚪ White – the falling snow
🩷 Pink – our little hands
🟤 Brown – the colour of soil
⚪ Grey – an elephant’s thick skin
🟡 Yellow – a sour lemon
⚫ Black – a little black bird

The children loved singing along, listening carefully, and identifying colours in their environment. Through melody and movement, they are building confidence in learning Mandarin while having lots of fun!

我们今天学习了颜色！🌈
(Wǒmen jīntiān xuéxí le yánsè!)
Today we learned about colours!

🎨❤️💛🖤 Reconciliation Week fun with our toddlers! ❤️💛🖤

Our little artists explored the colours of the Aboriginal flag through a hands-on sensory art experience, blending red, yellow, and black paint directly onto fabric using their fingers. They loved squishing, swirling, and spreading the paint, discovering new textures and creating beautiful abstract masterpieces along the way!

This creative experience supported sensory exploration, fine motor development, self-expression, and colour discovery while encouraging children to connect with and celebrate Aboriginal culture through art.

What amazing creations our toddlers made! 🌟

As we celebrate National Reconciliation Week, the children engaged in meaningful experiences that deepened their understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal culture. Through exploring Indigenous symbols, native Australian animals, and Dreamtime stories, children were encouraged to build respect and curiosity for Australia’s First Nations peoples and their rich cultural heritage.

Together, we shared the Dreamtime story Echidna and the Shade Tree, which sparked thoughtful conversations about storytelling, nature, animals, and caring for the land. To extend on this learning, the children created their very own clay echidnas, using creativity and fine motor skills to mould and add textured spikes and features. This hands-on experience encouraged imagination, self-expression, and connection to the story and cultural learning explored throughout the week.

🌿 BIG NEWS for new families! 🌿

Take advantage of our EOFY offer and receive 4 weeks FREE care when you enrol and start by 5th July — that’s some seriously amazing savings!

Come and experience the magic for yourself. Book a tour online and visit Piko and friends at The Fern Cheltenham — we can’t wait to show you around!

T&Cs apply.

🏙️ Exploring Our City Through Play 🏙️

Our Kinder children began by brainstorming and recalling what they may have seen when visiting the city. The children excitedly shared their ideas and experiences, including cars, aeroplanes, buildings, lakes, police cars and more. 🚗✈️🏢

Using loose parts and materials found around the room, the children worked collaboratively to recreate their own city. Through this hands-on experience, children extended their imagination, made meaningful connections, negotiated with peers, and shared their ideas in a supportive group setting. 💭🤝

This learning experience encouraged creativity, problem-solving, communication, and teamwork while fostering a strong sense of belonging and collaboration.

✨ Learning through play at The Fern Cheltenham ✨