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HIPPY Australia welcomes four new team mates
Due to the rapid growth of our program, HIPPY Australia has now welcomed on board four new team members.
The new staff have a great range of skills, knowledge and experience that will benefit the work of HIPPY Australia.
We are very happy to introduce each team member to you as we embark on another exciting year in the life of HIPPY in Australia.
Christine Wakefield, HIPPY Consultant.
Christine joins us from HIPPY Moonee Valley where she previously coordinated the program.
With hands on experience in delivering HIPPY and from working in diverse communities, her knowledge will be a credit to HIPPY Australia.
Mog, aka. Magdalene van Golstein Brouwers, Office Support and Administration.
Mog’s previous working life was spent at the Melbourne Museum, providing office support to the CEO.
In her few short weeks at HIPPY Australia she has already given our office a much needed organisational makeover and has us feeling very looked after!
Sandra Andrews, HIPPY Consultant.
Sandra comes to HIPPY with a background in movement and learning and extensive teaching experience in the early childhood sector.
Her most recent appointment was as Foundational Learning Facilitator across a multi school campus with an emphasis on mentoring and training Prep – Year two staff. Her knowledge in the area of curriculum will enhance the HIPPY team’s ability to support sites.
Sandra has hit the ground running since starting with HIPPY Australia and we commend her on picking things up so quickly!
Sherri Longbottom, HIPPY Consultant, Indigenous programs.
Sherri has been involved in HIPPY for almost 10 years now. As a coordinator for the HIPPY La Perouse program in NSW, she spent time in Israel training with the founder of HIPPY, Professor Avima Lombard.
She brings with her many strengths and skills, not only to our team but also to the Indigenous communities that she will be working with.
2010, a new and exciting year!
It is with pleasure that I welcome our new 2010 HIPPY partner agencies. HIPPY brings together many service providers who add their own local experience, knowledge and other programs for HIPPY families to benefit from.
The support that is provided for a HIPPY coordinator by their partner agency is demonstrated in two important ways. The first is the supervision and support to the coordinator by their line manager and the second is the agency’s engagement with the local community and other service providers.
At the HIPPY Australia National Coordinator’s Training held in Melbourne last December, I noted that all the line managers and coordinators highlighted the importance of regular supervision. I want to acknowledge the great support that has been provided to coordinators and I know that this level of assistance will continue.
I would like to commend all existing coordinators for the leadership and support they provide to their home tutors. I would also like to share with you a comment made to me by a home tutor regarding her relationship with her coordinator. ‘My coordinator is inspirational to me at work and what I have learnt helps me with my life’.
I would also like to acknowledge the good work that is undertaken by HIPPY advisory groups or committees. The members bring with them diverse skills, knowledge and the capacity to raise HIPPY’s awareness with a wider audience.
In my experience good committees are kept small, have a specific focus or purpose and meet on a regular basis. By regular, I mean identifying what needs to be done at what time in the life of the HIPPY year. We all have busy lives, so a good thing to do is to talk with members, identify the purpose and then the functions or activities that the committee will undertake.
What an exciting year this will be as the 13 programs that commenced in 2009 will experience the reward of organising their Age 5 graduation. For the first time, graduation ceremonies will happen in every state and territory across Australia.
Graduation is a very exciting and busy time, so it is important that coordinators and tutors take the time to sit with parents and complete the graduation and evaluation survey.
The survey provides a good opportunity to talk with a parent about their experience and their child’s experience doing HIPPY.
This year will be the first year that HIPPY coordinators and home tutors deliver the new Age 5 activities, so a journey of discovery and enjoyment is before you.
On behalf of everyone at HIPPY Australia have a great 2010 and remember together we make HIPPY a rewarding and fun experience for many families.
Carmen Calleya-Capp, National Manager HIPPY Australia
New HIPPY Coordinators establish their sites
The 13 new HIPPY sites are finding their feet and working hard to establish the program in their communities. The process of engaging families and sharing information about HIPPY is well underway. This is a task that has many challenges and requires imaginative approaches and willful determination in order to succeed.
Our creative Coordinators have been out and about getting to know their community and spreading the word about HIPPY. Many fond stories have come back to us about their experiences during the recruitment period.
Bev Seaman, Coordinator at HIPPY Riverview in Queensland, has been visiting local playgroups to model HIPPY activities for families. During one of these visits, Bev met a Thai mother who was interested in when she should start teaching her daughter the Thai language and was encouraged to do so as early as possible.
On return to the playgroup a few weeks later, the mother approached Bev, excited. She explained that after their previous meeting she called her sister in Thailand and asked her to send Thai books and CDs. She then started reading to her, and playing the CDs in the car.
The mother was amazed at how quickly her daughter learned Thai nursery rhymes and songs.
Among the many events and information sessions attended by Shelley Harmer, Coordinator at HIPPY Elizabeth Grove, was the HIPPY launch she held at the Elizabeth grove Children’s centre (pictured below). Breakfast was provided and the opportunity for parents to learn about the program.
Sites across the country have been holding community BBQ’s, parent information sessions, distributing pamphlets, writing newsletter articles, and partnering with other services in a bid to help new communities learn about HIPPY and it’s benefits.
We understand the effort and challenge this initial period brings and we appreciate all the hard work we’ve seen as a result. Coordinators have proved that they always remain positive and enthusiastic to get the programs off the ground.
New sites all aboard!
We would like to send a warm welcome all our new sites starting in 2009 through the national roll-out, funded by the Commonwealth Government. We also welcome back our existing sites from 2008.
Our new partner agencies have done a brilliant job in finding highly qualified HIPPY Coordinators that bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the program. A brief description of each new partner agency can be found in our March newsletter (click here to view).
Its a busy time of the year for programs as they establish their sites, recruit families and tutors, and commence yearly training. HIPPY Australia wishes each of the sites the very best luck for 2009.
2009 National Training Forum
HIPPY Australia has successfully delivered three day national training to over 55 participants, inlcuding HIPPY coordinators and managers from the new partners agencies across Australia.
The training was held from Monday 23rd February to Wednesday 25th February 2009 at the Brotherhood of St Laurence in Fitzroy, Victoria. This event brought together, for the first time, all 22 HIPPY sites currently taking part in the national roll-out.
HIPPY Australia Consultants, Nicola Mackenzie and Lou Gilfillan, led the 3 day event with the National Coordinator, Rae Hussey. Coordiantors from the 2008 HIPPY sites also played a very important role in sharing their knowledge and experience with the new site staff members.
Woodworkers donate to HIPPY
We welcome donations of any creative activities that families can do with their children, and the painting of spinning tops is definitely one of them! We have received donations of wooden tops from the Blue Mountains Wood-turners Club, Eurobodalla Woodcraft Guild Inc.,Townsville Area Wood-turners Association Inc., Waverley Wood-workers Inc and individuals.
We really appreciate these donations as the time and effort that goes into creating them is so great, but also because spinning tops are an international toy that children from many countries of the world are familiar with.
Thank you for understanding and encouraging the importance creativity plays in the happiness and education of children.
HIPPY Australia welcomes a new National Manager
We are very pleased to advise that Carmen Calleya-Capp has been appointed as the National Manager, HIPPY Australia. Carmen commenced her role with HIPPY Australia on the 11th August and has hit the ground running!
Carmen brings significant public sector and community management and leadership experience to the job of heading up the Federal Government’s national rollout of HIPPY. Her outstanding track record provides excellent leadership to a growing HIPPY Australia team, and will successfully lead the major national project to bring HIPPY to 50 disadvantaged communities in Australia over the next 5 years.
HIPPY Australia welcomes a new National Manager
We are very pleased to advise that Carmen Calleya-Capp has been appointed as the National Manager, HIPPY Australia. Carmen commenced her role with HIPPY Australia on the 11th August and has hit the ground running!
Carmen brings significant public sector and community management and leadership experience to the job of heading up the Federal Government’s national rollout of HIPPY. Her outstanding track record provides excellent leadership to a growing HIPPY Australia team, and will successfully lead the major national project to bring HIPPY to 50 disadvantaged communities in Australia over the next 5 years.
Pictured: A drawing of mother and child reading a HIPPY book, by a HIPPY Moonee Valley participant.
HIPPY goes for growth in 2008
The new federal Labor government has pledged $32.5 million to roll out HIPPY in up to 50 sites nationally over the next five years, including funding for existing sites. This gives the program a solid basis for expansion.
The National Manager of HIPPY Australia said: 'We are negotiating with the federal government over the process by which the pledge to fund up to 50 HIPPY sites across the country over the next five years will be achieved. It is likely to take some time, but is a very exciting prospect nonetheless.'
Pictured: The Hon. Maxine McKew MP. Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care visits HIPPY Fitzroy and Moonee Valley.
Woodworkers donate to HIPPY
We welcome donations of any creative activities that families can do with their children, and the painting of spinning tops is definitely one of them! We have received donations of wooden tops from the Blue Mountains Wood-turners Club, Eurobodalla Woodcraft Guild Inc.,Townsville Area Wood-turners Association Inc., Waverley Wood-workers Inc and individuals.
We really appreciate these donations as the time and effort that goes into creating them is so great, but also because spinning tops are an international toy that children from many countries of the world are familiar with.
Thank you for understanding and encouraging the importance creativity plays in the happiness and education of children.
Pictured: A Certificate of appreciation surrounded by many of the wooden spinning tops donated to HIPPY
Coordinators' and Tutors' Training Forum February 2008
The two-day seminar was aimed at supporting and training new HIPPY Home Tutors and Coordinators, as well as refreshing those with previous experience. Representatives from every site (NSW, Tasmania and Victoria) were present. Thirty new tutors will be accredited and have begun to learn the skills needed to work with families from within their own communities.
New trainee, Mai Nguyen, was inspired to become a tutor to help her four-year-old daughter.
‘My home tutor encouraged me to become a tutor. I thought that it would be a great way to help more kids and enjoy more time with my daughter.
'I do it together with both of my kids now'. ‘HIPPY for our family is about loving, reading and learning.’ Mai will be accredited with a Certificate III in Community Services Work on completion of her traineeship.
