Welcome to the Mitchelton Pre-Schooling Centre Inc – our community kindergarten.  This is an independent centre run by a very dedicated group of staff and a parent Management Committee.  It is a great privilege to be a family at the centre and to be involved with the running of the centre.  MPC is a place where decisions are made in the best interests of our children and 2012 will be no exception.
This year a National Quality Framework was established.  The framework applies across different types of services which includes pre-schools.  As part of this framework, centres like ours will be given a quality rating as part of an assessment program.  Another aspect of the new framework is the introduction of a National Quality Standard, designed to set a new national benchmark for the quality of education and care services.  The National Quality Standard is divided into seven Quality Areas:

1. Educational program and practice
2. Children’s health and safety
3. Physical environment
4. Staffing arrangements
5. Relationships with children
6. Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
7. Leadership and service management.

As a committee we will be working with the staff to ensure that our centre is meeting and exceeding these standards so that we will be eligible to apply for the ‘excellent rating’.
Our centre will continue our affiliation with The Gowrie (Qld).  MPC is one of 60 community kindergartens in Queensland who have chosen to affiliate with The Gowrie (Qld).  There are many reasons why MPC has chosen to be associated with The Gowrie, including:

• The Gowrie (Qld) are an organisation dedicated to providing centres of excellence for early childhood education.  They have sought to affiliate with other centres striving to provide a high quality early childhood education.
• They were founded in 1940 and are well respected throughout Australia for their advocacy for young children, high quality services and training and professional development of teachers.
• Gowrie believe community members have a major role in shaping the services they consume.  They believe centres should be responsive to their community's needs and that, as a result, each kindergarten will be different and unique.

For more information about the Lady Gowrie Community Kindergartens, see their website - www.gowrie-brisbane.com.au
We wish you all the very best as you settle into our wonderful kindergarten.

A recent improvement to MPC is the new fencing and safety gates which have been installed around the external perimeters and between our classrooms (we have three of them) and our playgrounds (we are blessed with two of them).  The fencing was funded from the committee’s annual budget.  Black in colour, the fencing looks great and provides a great contrast against our lovely green surroundings.