All the news from the early childhood world!

Hello and welcome to the latest issue of ECA WebWatch. We hope you all had a safe and relaxing Easter break.

In this issue you'll find:

• Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Resources for feedback
• Australian Awards for Teaching Excellence
• SNAICC Children's Day
• Paid parental leave

Plus:

• ECA calendar
• Quality-assured early childhood resources

Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Guidelines

Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Guidelines for Early Childhood Settings
The Guideline Resources are available online now until Friday 8 May for your information and comment.

We encourage you to have your say about the Guidelines, either by participating in a focus group or completing an online survey.

Help Teaching Australia celebrate our teachers and carers!

Australian Awards for Teaching Excellence
The Australian Awards for Teaching Excellence recognise and celebrate the exceptional achievements of teachers, principals, support staff and schools from early childhood through to senior secondary. The award categories of Excellence by a Teacher and Excellence by a Beginning Teacher are of particular relevance to registered teachers working in early childhood settings.

For more information, visit the Australian Awards for Teaching Excellence website.

SNAICC Children's Day

Good child protection – We do it better together
National Aboriginal and Islander Children's Day is held each year on 4 August. SNAICC will be producing leaflets, free posters and activity kits to support local services, schools and others to get involved in children's day.

Paid parental leave

Community supports paid parental leave in next budget
New survey results released by Auspoll on 9 April have revealed that there is broad community support for paid parental leave in the May budget.

To view the results of the poll, download the ‘Attitudes to Maternity Leave in Australia' report (PDF)

US early childhood experts to speak at university conference

Evidence-Based Practice in Early Childhood Conference
This one-day conference is for early childhood practitioners, policy-makers, educators and researchers. The keynote speakers and workshop presenters are Professors Judith Carta and Charles Greenwood – senior scientists at the Juniper Gardens Children's Project, a Kansas University community-based research centre located in inner-city Kansas City, US.

Children exploring

Explore and discover
Six links to help you support children to gain the confidence to explore and discover the world around them.

Curiosity
Children are naturally curious - support them and help them feed their appetite for knowledge.

ECA Calendar

Evidence-based practice in early childhood Conference
27 April 2009
Caltex Theatre
Macquarie Graduate School of Management
Sydney

Workshops will show researchers and practitioners how to use Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IDGIs) and how to assess and strengthen parent–child interactions.

Seminar with Robyn Dolby
9 May 2009
Functions Room
Marymead Child and Family Centre
255 Goyder Street
Narrabundah, ACT

Dr Robyn Dolby will focus on the theme of 'Building security in early childhood: Understanding and responding to the needs of young children'.

Robyn's book The circle of security: Roadmap to building supportive relationships is available from Early Childhood Australia.

Visit Early Childhood Australia's online calendar – it's the easy way to keep track of important events, conferences and dates.

Quality-assured early childhood resources

All of ECA's publications are peer-reviewed by early childhood experts, so you can be assured that all our publications are of the highest quality, and relevant to you and your work.

Australasian Journal of Early Childhood Vol.34 No.1
The latest scholarly research and debate from around the world on issues affecting the early childhood field.

Powerful children: Understanding how to teach and learn using the Reggio approach
Explores and explains how the Reggio approach can be used to address major concerns currently found in early childhood education.

Help us expand the ECA WebWatch community
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Let us know what you think ...
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Past issues of ECA WebWatch are available on the Early Childhood Australia website.

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ECA WebWatch - Issue 70, April 2009. © Early Childhood Australia.