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Prams to go

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Diletta Lanciana, Geoff Vickers and Roseda CampbellCire Services would like to thank the Warburton and Yarra Junction Community Bank branches for their generous sponsorship towards the purchase of three quad multi-seat strollers. Cire Long Day Care in Yarra Junction is located at 39-41 Little Yarra Rd, Yarra Junction. The centre is located at the back of the property (shared with the Cire Community School and Outside School Care program) and borders significant bush plantation. The location of the main evacuation point (Yarra Junction oval) is located 900 metres away. It was identified that quad multi-seat strollers would assist in the event of an evacuation as well as increase the opportunities for educators to take children out on excursions to the fantastic outdoor spaces of Yarra Junction (with parental permission of course!)

4 Wheel prams donated by Bendigo BankEach quad multi-seat stroller buggy features removable canopies, a rain and wind cover with Velcro snug fit to make sure that the children within the stroller stay warm and dry. A large storage area underneath the stroller seats is present for all essentials required for an outing. The buggy folds compactly for ease of storage and is certified to the mandatory safety standards for Australia and New Zealand AS/NZS 2088:2000 Prams and strollers- Safety requirements. The stroller features a five-point safety harness on each seat, 360 pivot wheels with a locking option, handbrake safety mechanism, a rear foot brake, a reflective strip on the stroller canopy while each stroller has a padded bumper bar for front passengers. The stroller is suitable for children aged 6 months to 4 years of age with a maximum weight for each child being 15kg.

Next time you are at Cire Children’s Centre in Yarra Junction, come and check out these fantastic red strollers!

Thanks again to the Bendigo Bank who continue to support us to endure we can deliver quality childcare services to the community.

If you would like to more about Cire Children’s Services call 1300 035 835.

Upper Yarra Community Enterprise

 

 

Working Together Forum – The best Pho I’ve had all week

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Cire Community School students in the Yarra Junction cooking group shone recently at the Cire Working Together Forum where they, along with their teacher, Ian Seppings, catered for 70 staff members, serving a delicious Vietnamese Pho and some healthy finger food.

“Our teacher Ian Seppings, together with students Lachie and Carlie serving on the night, did an amazing job catering for our recent Working Together Forum.  The forum is an opportunity for staff, board and volunteers to all get together and share in what we are up to and contribute to new initiatives.” Gus Seremetis, CEO

In the lead up to the forum, the Yarra Junction cooking group prepared and cooked for the event. The students not only prepped the ingredients for the Pho, they also created samples of food they are cooking for their school projects this year.

One of the projects that the students are undertaking this year is aimed at educating younger children about healthy eating options, which, in partnership with Cire Children’s Services, the students hope to provide the kindergarten children with some fun foods, which are also good for their health.

“It is great to see the work done by the Cire Community School students to prepare the delicious food that we all enjoyed on the night. Lachie and Carlie put in the extra hours to be there on the night, which was outstanding.” Tim Knowles, School Principal

With this as the goal, Cire Community School cooking students created ‘Martian Crackers’, which are made out of cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, rice crackers, hummus and slices of bocconcini. All the ingredients are healthy and nourishing, and when they are ‘built’ to resemble an out of space Martian, eating becomes fun.

So, while staff at the forum sampled Martian Crackers and other tasty morsels, Ian, along with students Lachie and Carlie – who volunteered their time to serve for the evening – got to work organising serving the ingredients of the Vietnamese Pho.

“Commendations to Lachie, who showed true leadership throughout the day in preparing the food, then served throughout the evening. Lachie went above and beyond. Carlie’s help with this event was outstanding. Carlie is not part of the cooking group, but was more than happy to lend a hand on the night and help with serving the food.” Ian Seppings, Teacher

Platters of chicken, vermicelli rice noodles and freshly cut vegetables, herbs and spices were laid out on each of the tables. Then came the demonstration; whilst Ian explained to everyone how to make their Pho, Carlie and Lachie handed out a preserving jar to everyone. These jars were to be the vessels for everyone’s dinner.

The Pho tasted amazing and everyone had a lot of fun slurping out of their jar with chopsticks in hand.

“Ian and our students provided us with the opportunity and learnings on how easy it is to create Vietnamese Pho, a meal that can be prepared and shared around a table with family and friends.  A huge thanks to them for making the session both fun and informative.” Gus Seremetis, CEO

It was fantastic to have the participation of students from Cire Community School in the staff forum.

“Thanks to Ian and his amazing team of students” Tim Knowles, School Principal

Cire Working Together Forums create a space for all staff to come together. People who may not get the opportunity to meet staff from other departments are able to find out what is happening and be kept up to date. Some of the highlights were the People Choice Awards, presenting Ric Butler with a Certificate of Appreciation for his 17 years as our president, Erica German gave an update on the SWEY Project and Robynne Mauger gave us all an overview of what’s ahead for Cire Community House.

If you would like to know more about Cire Community School and the education programs we deliver click here.

VCAL Students visit the Essendon Football Club

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A visit to the Essendon Football Club, just the thing to inspire our students…

On Wednesday 22nd of April our VCAL campuses (Yarra Junction and Mt Evelyn) got together to go an excursion to Essendon Football Club. The students took the one hour bus trip out to Tullamarine to go and check out the new training facilities at the True Value Solar Centre.

When they arrived we were taken into the player’s lecture theatre where they met Josh Hose (Paralympian – Wheelchair Rugby gold medallist), Orazio Fantasia (Essendon footballer), and Kyle Langford (Essendon Footballer). Each of the hosts shared stories about their experiences in becoming successful athletes.

Josh Hose talked about how a car accident in 2005 led him to end up in a wheelchair and how he overcame a lot of difficulties to end up winning a gold medal at the London Olympics.

Orazio Fantasia spoke about how he had a tough experience at school and got into a lot of trouble before deciding to dedicate VCAL Students visit the Essendon Football Clubhimself to achieving his goals at school and in football.

Kyle Langford spoke about how he had been in a lot of trouble for fighting in his early teenage years before deciding that he needed to make better decisions if he was going to achieve his goals in life.

Michelle Murray (Education Program Coordinator at EFC) then took the students through a discussion about risk taking, smoking, drug use and peer pressure. A big thank you goes out to Michelle for organising these great programs and accommodating us for the last 4 years, we straitly appreciate it.

Image of the VCAL Students visit to the Essendon Football ClubAfter the discussions we had a chance to wear Josh Hose’s gold medal and take some photos. We also had a chance to ask questions of the speakers who were all very open and honest in their responses.

Then came the fun part – We were taken into the new indoor sports facility located in a huge hangar. We had the chance to kick the footy with the Essendon players and get to know them better. We also had Michelle and Josh take us through a game of “blind ball” where students were blindfolded and had to throw a ball with a bell in it towards the opposing team’s goal. All of the students had a great time during the sporting activities and got to experience something that they wouldn’t normally be able to.

Finally, we went on a tour of the facilities at EFC, which included their new gym, the locker rooms, the hot/cold pools and laps pool. The first joint excursion between the Yarra Junction and Mount Evelyn VCAL campuses was a great day for all involved.

Article by – Mark Hunt
VCAL Coordinator

If you know of someone that could benefit from our education services or would like to know more call
1300 835 235.