Annual Letter, 2020

Hello Choklits Community,

We made it, what a year it has been! Ups, downs, challenge after unexpected challenge and more press conferences than we ever thought we’d watch in our lives.

Through it all our Choklits children have continued to remind us that when you get up each morning, put on a big smile and take to the day with an inquisitive mind and a passion for learning, things tend to work out OK. As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m sure I’ve learned more from our children this year than they have from us.

I wanted to express my deepest appreciation for all of your love and support throughout this very challenging year. There are many people who have helped us through 2020, way too many to mentioned here, and from the bottom of my heart I want to thank you all.

I’ll remember this year for the strength of our community which has surprised me in such a positive and meaningful way. Our Choklits Community, which includes our children, educators, parents, carers and extended family, is very special.

Though it has been a turbulent 12 months, the superstar Choklits team never faulted, in fact they really have achieved quite a bit.

• Helen passed 9 years service at Choklits, Tracey 15 years and Sue 24.
• Junie, Ned, Merinda and Chan Ming, the Chokliteers, were born and took up permanent residence at Choklits.
• Our cookbook, Cooking at Choklits, got a brand new look.
• We moved to our new system Xplor to further improve our communication and transparency with parents and carers.
• Choklits passed 500 Facebook page “likes” which we know isn’t many compared to most, but it’s pretty amazing for us. 
• We extended on our current practices around community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander perspectives, adding a beautiful indigenous gathering circle to our entrance. 
• Four of our Educators completed further formal levels of early childhood qualifications, and two started new ones.
• We took 759,389 photos of our early learners during learning and play (ok, this one’s a bit of a guess, but any of our educators can confirm it could well be closer to twice that!).

So this is it, I’m drawing a line through 2020. To borrow some recent words of one of our pre-kindergarten children and thanks to all of you, “our hearts are smiling at Choklits” and we could not be more excited for 2021.   

Happy holidays, please be safe and enjoy the festive season.

Jade Ingleby

Choklits Owner