It is also time to reflect on the year that was. So much has happened this year at Choklits, including-
- launching Storypark as our communication platform
- building a brand new car park, watch the construction video here
- planting almost 300 new trees (not a typo!), shrubs and bushes
- constructing the Kindergarten children’s very own veggie patch as part of our sustainability program we call “Plant to Plate”, photos and videos here
- installing two new activity forts joined by a bridge complete with rope ladders and a rock climbing wall, lots of photos here
- opening up our yard and doubling our useable play area
- building and installing our new kindergarten room including all new resources, watch the grand opening here
- starting our Instagram account, follow us here
- launching our YouTube channel, subscribe here
- many incursions including a visit from Farmer Kevin (video here), a visit from John of the Box Hill RSL for Remembrance Day (photos here) and visit from Natasha of Sage Garden to help start our worm farm (watch the video here)
- re-building the centre feature of our main playground area and our sandpit, photos here
- an excursion for our Kindergarten Children to the Royal Botanic Games in Cranbourne, video below, and
a new nursey play yard
A BIG thank you to Jade and Matt who have put in a lot of time and effort to make the Centre what it is today. They have been very patient as not all things went to plan.
The children are loving the new areas in the yard, watching our vegetables and plants grow in the garden and bundling things up for the parents to take home.
Choklits has been a fun place to come to this year and we are looking forward to another exciting year in 2109.
The educators over the next few months will be taking holidays, including myself. I will be taking a couple of weeks off to relax with family and friends and will return to Choklits on Monday, January 7th.
We hope you have all had a lovely year with us at Choklits and noticed the growth, wonder and joy your children have developed over the time they have been with us.
A big thank you to all the educators and staff for the wonderful care they have provided to the children this year. We have some fabulous early childhood educators on board who really have the best interests of the children at heart.
We look forward to seeing you again in 2019 for another fun and exciting year.
Until next time,
Sue
Welcome to Our New Choklits Families
A big welcome to all our new families to Choklits, especially those new to early learning. We look forward to getting to know you over the next few weeks and months. As always, there will be some settling in periods across the centre as new children join us and as many children change rooms and settle into their new surroundings for 2019. For those children who are a little unsettled, please persevere and make drop off a quick and short goodbye in the mornings. We have found over the years that this works best for the child, the parents and the educator. You can ring us anytime to check how your child’s day is going and check how they settled in after drop off.
Start of Year Reminders
Enrolment updates – if you have changed address, phone numbers, contacts or email addresses in 2018 please let us know so we can update our records and ensure you get important Choklits updates.
Immunisations – when your child has a new vaccination please remember to bring in the immunisation history statement into Choklits for our records, your CCS will be affected if these details are not updated.
Notice periods – Choklits has standard 4 weeks notice whenever you are requesting to withdraw your child from care or reducing your child’s days so please keep this in mind when planning. We also have a minimum two-day enrolment requirement per child as attending for two days or more per week helps children to settle in quickly and to get the most out of our curriculum, programs and extra activities.
Pickups and drop-offs – if your child needs to be picked up by someone new, please let us know the day before. Every new face will be required to provide us with photo ID on arrival. And remember, please do not give them the door code or your pin for our Choklits sign-in system to anyone (for obvious security reasons), please have them ring the bell when they arrive and a Choklits team member will take them through the process of picking up for the first time.
Medicine – if your child requires medicine prescribed by a doctor during the day, it must be in its original bottle and clearly labelled with your child’s name. The medicine must be handed to one of our educator’s members on arrival at the centre. It must not be left in your child’s bag and please remember to fill in your child’s medication form.
Recycling and Sustainability Update
As you all know, throughout 2018 we really focused on reducing our carbon footprint. We have-
- planted two vegetable patches
- started our own worm farm
- established many recycling and reusing initiatives
- invested in recycling bins, and
- had our water tanks delivered
We are very excited and committed to our sustainability journey and loved enjoying the spoils of our “Plant to Plate” project, with many of the children already enjoying the crops in their weekly meals. Many of our parents have also been able to take home fresh vegetables and herbs from our garden. We look forward to continuing this journey with our next sustainability project getting underway in late January, installing water tanks!
As always, we’ll keep you posted, there’ll be plenty of updates on our Choklits Facebook Page and Instagram Page too.
Stay tuned for other sustainability updates throughout the year. If you have any recycling or sustainability tips please let us know by email.
Staff Member Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge all our staff and educators at Choklits for all their wonderful work this year in caring and educating all the children and being flexible and supportive amongst all the renovation changes. Looking back, we achieved a lot as a community this year and our entire team have been there every step of the way. It would have been very easy to think of all the action as a big inconvenience, but we chose to think of it as a fantastic opportunity to learn. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t love hammers, shovels, diggers and cranes? Well done everyone, the Choklits community thanks you.
Storypark Communication
Since the launch of Storypark as our communication platform in 2018, we have had an overwhelming response. We now use this medium as our main form of communication to ensure your child receives the best support possible and to ensure that you are involved and up-to-date with your child’s development. Please make sure you check it regularly as we love you to be involved, read and comment on your child’s learning goals and developmental milestones. We find your input most valuable in supporting your child and your family.
We welcome your feedback and look forward to providing an even more responsive, innovative and valuable experience for you and your child.
Cooking with Choklits
Have you seen our new menu? Please visit our Choklits blog for all recipes and menus. If you have any delicious recipes you would like us to know about please email them to us.
Policy Review and Staff Training
We review different policies and procedures at Choklits every month. All of our policies and procedures are available for your review in the foyer of the centre and our educators are here to help with any questions. Over the next few months we will be reviewing our excursion, waterplay and safe sleep guidelines. For more information or if you would like to have input into any of our policies please email Sue.
Keep Up-to-Date
Please follow us on Instagram. We are posting stories there every day so it’s the best way to keep up-to-date with all the activities at Choklits! We love when you get involved and include us in your posts, here’s one of our recent favourites-
And, please give our Facebook Page a like. It’s a great way to see the latest happenings at Choklits including features, stories, events, recipes and special incursions. This post has been one of our favourites.
Parent Feedback and Input
All our staff at Choklits Child Care in Ringwood welcome any feedback from our families, if you would like to have a chat please come and see us in the office or send any questions or concerns to us via email.
Our Centres
(03) 9879 5888 
