2011 
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SDN’s CEO takes on national role
Friday 2 December, 2011
The CEO of SDN Children’s Services, Ginie Udy, said she was honoured to attend this week’s inaugural meeting of the Federal Government’s Children and Family Roundtable, chaired by Parliamentary Secretary for community services, Hon Julie Collins MP. Mrs Udy was one of 14 child and family experts and advocates selected nationwide for the Roundtable from [...]
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Spring has sprung at Northern Suburbs
Thursday 15 September, 2011
After seven weeks of patiently waiting, SDN Northern Suburbs were excited to recently unveil their new playground. As the front section of the playground had been upgraded earlier in the year, the children wanted to see what the second round of renovations would look like.They watched the construction work with keen interest and took every [...]
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Aunts Fry Scholarship now open
Wednesday 31 August, 2011
SDN partnering with USyd to support future teachers and social workers SDN would like to announce the opening of the newly created SDN Children’s Services Aunts Fry Gift to support future teachers and social workers. The scholarship is offered to students at the University of Sydney undertaking studies in early childhood education, special education or [...]
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Unveiling an integrated approach at SDN
Wednesday 24 August, 2011
SDN’s new structure was unveiled to the leaders of the organisation on the 16th August. More than 60 Centre Directors, Managers, Community Leaders and members of the Senior Leadership Team took part in a day of discussions, group work and relationship building at Head Office. Attendees were presented with the new organisational chart. Ginie talked [...]
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Get your SDN news instantly
Friday 29 July, 2011
SDN has now set up an RSS feed for the latest news page of our website. If you would like to keep up to date on what’s happening at SDN child care centres, programs, events, sector news and updates from head office, simply subscribe to the feed on the 2011 latest news page by clicking [...]
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Animal farm visits SDN Ultimo
Wednesday 20 July, 2011
To extend the children’s ongoing interest in animals, the educators at SDN Ultimo TAFE arranged for Aussie Farm 4 Kids to visit our centre in July. After months of exploring and playing with plastic animals, the children finally had the chance to interact with real animals. The staff from Aussie Farm were fantastic. They let [...]
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Integrated children’s services
Tuesday 12 July, 2011
Integrated children’s services. What does it mean for early childhood education? One of the priorities at SDN Children’s Services is to break down the barriers of access to early education for children who are traditionally marginalised, such as children with disabilities, children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. One [...]
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NAIDOC week at Woolloomooloo
Wednesday 6 July, 2011
To celebrate NAIDOC week, SDN Woolloomooloo Children’s Education and Care Centre held a cultural celebration at the centre for the local community. Special guests included local Aboriginal elders, the Kings Cross Police Superintendent, Sue Waites, the Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Marcelle Hoff, the Darlinghurst Fire Department, as well as community members and families. Everyone participated [...]
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SDN staff conference 2011
Monday 4 July, 2011
On Saturday 2nd July more than 110 SDN staff members from centres, programs and Head Office came together to listen to and learn from a range of inspiring presenters at the 2011 SDN Conference. The theme for this year’s conference, belonging, allowed conference presenters to share their own stories of belonging to time, place and [...]
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Ngara Nanga Mai ambassador, Leah Purcell
Saturday 2 July, 2011
Aboriginal actress and cultural activist, Leah Purcell, was today announced as ambassador for Ngara Nanga Mai, SDN’s Aboriginal unit, reflecting her commitment to supporting and advocating for Aboriginal children. The award winning actress – perhaps best known for her contribution to the entertainment and arts industry – has long been an advocate for Aboriginal children. [...]
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Greening Glebe
Thursday 30 June, 2011
New garden beds have been set up at SDN Glebe Children’s Education and Care Centre, thanks to a grant from the City of Sydney. In January this year the centre received a $3300 grant to transform one of their outdoor spaces that was not being used into a sustainable vegetable, fruit and herb garden. Throughout [...]
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Reconciliation breakfast with Mark Olive
Thursday 26 May, 2011
To acknowledge National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week, SDN Children’s Services Aboriginal unit, Ngara Nanga Mai hosted a breakfast with Aboriginal celebrity chef, Mark Olive. The theme of Reconciliation Week 2011 (May 27 – June 3) is recognition. At SDN, we recognise the contribution Aboriginal people have made, and continue to make. The event started [...]
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Harmony Day
Friday 20 May, 2011
The SDN Brighter Futures Southern Sydney team recently celebrated Harmony Day. The staff and families of the Brighter Futures program represent the diversity that exists in Australia. This diversity challenges and motivates the team to extend their learning and understanding of their colleagues and clients. This year for Harmony Day, instead of looking outside of [...]
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Hilda Antill Scholarship
Friday 15 April, 2011
SDN Children’s Service’s CEO, Ginie Udy, presented the eighth Hilda Antill Leadership Scholarship at an awards ceremony at Macquarie University on Thursday 14th April. This prestigious award went to Leyla Eide, a fourth year student studying for a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education. Leyla feels “incredibly honoured to have been chosen as the 2011 Hilda [...]
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Koomurri visits SDN Linthrope Street
Tuesday 12 April, 2011
SDN Linthorpe Street in Newtown was visited by the Aboriginal entertainment and education group, Koomurri on Wednesday 6th April. This was in response to the two-year-olds at the early education centre showing interest in Aboriginal culture.Over the last few months the staff at the centre have been reading Aboriginal dreamtime stories to the children, painting [...]
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The Dreaming – Wake Up Australia!
Monday 11 April, 2011
A group of 30 Aboriginal children, staff and families from SDN centres at Redfern, Newtown and Waterloo had the opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal dreamtime stories at the premiere of Leah Purcell’s latest play. The group ventured to the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) to see The Dreaming – Wake Up Australia!, which is directed [...]
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SDN Marrickville featured in Rattler magazine
Wednesday 6 April, 2011
SDN Marrickville Children’s Education and Care service recently participated in a national trial of the new National Quality Framework system. The centre is featured in the Autumn edition of Rattler magazine as an example of a high-quality centre. Click here to read the article.
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New service for children with autism spectrum disorders in Western Sydney
Wednesday 23 March, 2011
SDN Children’s Services, in partnership with Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect), will be opening a new early education centre and outreach services for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) living in Greater Western Sydney. SDN will build and operate a new 24-place long day care centre in Rooty Hill, which is due to open in 2012. [...]
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Rabbitohs visit SDN Redfern
Tuesday 15 March, 2011
The children at SDN Redfern got the chance to meet their football heroes on Tuesday 15th March when Rabbitohs players Jason Clark and Chris Sandow visited the centre. The anticipation and excitement was building throughout the day, with the children eagerly waiting for Chris and Jason to sign their South Sydney jerseys, hats and football [...]
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SDN receives EOWA Employer of Choice for Women citation
Tuesday 8 March, 2011
SDN Children’s Services has been formally recognised as an employer of choice for women by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA). The award was announced by the Federal Minister for the Status of Women, The Hon. Kate Ellis, on the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, and allows SDN to use [...]
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SDN launches Aboriginal Unit – Ngara Nanga Mai
Sunday 6 February, 2011
The Hon Peter Garrett MP, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, and The Hon Linda Burney MP, NSW Minister for Community Services and for the State Plan, launched SDN Children’s Services’ new Aboriginal unit, Ngara Nanga Mai. ‘The establishment of SDN Ngara Nanga Mai represents an important step towards our mission of addressing [...]
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SDN calls for free preschool for Aboriginal children
Sunday 6 February, 2011
SDN Children’s Services is calling for preschool to be free for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, following the release today of new research by SDN on the factors that contribute to lower participation rates. SDN’s research study, Aboriginal Access to Preschool, reveals a range of issues preventing Aboriginal children attending mainstream preschools, but the [...]
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SDN welcomes early implementation of higher ratios
Tuesday 25 January, 2011
SDN Children’s Services has welcomed the NSW Government’s early implementation of the 1:4 staff-to-infant ratio in licensed long day care centres, as it will improve the quality of early education and care across the board. At the start of the year, the staff-to-child ratio changed from 1:5 to 1:4 for infants aged under two. The [...]
