Saturday March 31 - a 'last ditch' effort

If you've seen this week's Leader Newspaper, you'll know what a crucial stage we're at. So we're putting on a big 'do or die' community day for the working bee on Saturday March 31. We need to get the grounds of the new kindergarten ready before the current lease expires.

Location : New kinder premises, East Bentleigh Primary School, Bignell Road, East Bentleigh.
Date : Saturday March 31, 2007
Time : Any time after 8am.

Child minding, sausage sizzle and other lunch, morning tea etc will be available and you'll be helping the pre-school in its hour of need. There's something that everyone can do and a prize for the family with the most volunteers.

Bring your friends and family - the more the merrier!

Please let Rachel know that you'll be there by calling 9521 8278.



PS: If you can't join the working bee, please offer to provide some catering for those that do.

Evening talk. Tuesday March 20, 7.30 pm.

Educational Talk: The Essence of Steiner Education.

You’re invited to an informative talk presented by Megan Young, founding teacher at our pre-school who taught there for 12 years. Learn about the essence of Steiner Education, with a chance to ask questions. All welcome.

The talk will take place at the kinder: Carnegie Rudolf Steiner
Pre School Centre Inc.
Tara Grove
Carnegie, VIC, 3163.

Tuesday March 20, 7.30 – 8.30 pm. Supper afterwards. $5 entry (fundraising for the kinder)

Working Bees this Saturday and Sunday

We will be running working bees at the new kinder site on Saturday and Sunday this weekend.


Saturday 17 March - 9.30 am to around 3 pm
Sunday 18 March - 9 am to around 3 pm


The new kinder site is at East Bentleigh Primary School, Bignell Rd, East Bentleigh.


On Saturday 17 March, we will be constructing some garden beds, building a frame for a swing set, doing some fencing, putting up shelves and constructing cupboards. If you're experienced in woodwork, we'd particularly like to have you at this working bee. Please don't be put off if you're not. There are lots of other things to do like painting, varnishing, and cleaning up the site. Please bring along the following if you have them: drill, driver, circular saw, belt sander, workbench, tape measure, hammers, rubber gloves, paint brushes, rags, canvas drop sheets.


On Sunday 18 March, we will be painting the inside of the building, varnishing joinery and cleaning up the site. Please bring the following if you have them - rubber gloves, paint brushes, rollers on poles, paint trays, ladders, rags to wipe down paint work, drop sheets, shovels and wheelbarrows.


We're also looking for people to provide lunch at these working bees. Please contact me if you can help with that.


Please wear solid footwear and old clothes that you don't mind getting dirty - we're working on a building site, there are obstacles around and it's very dusty. Please note that children are not allowed on the new kinder site during the working bee as it is a building site and not safe for children. Older children are welcome to play in the school playgrounds outside the working bee site.


If you can help at any of these working bees, please contact me on:


9521 8278/0425 739 529, rachel@careythomas.com.au


Please contact me to let me know you can attend, so that I can ensure we have the right number of people and advise you of any last minute changes.


If you are unable to help out at weekend working bees, but are able to help out during the week that's great. Let me know when you can help and I'll let you know what needs doing.


Thank you for your help.


Rachel

Tasks and materials you can help with

We now have just 3 weeks left to finish off the rest of the work on the kinder building and garden if we are to get everything ready by the start of term 2.

We can still get everything ready in time to open, but only with a mammoth effort from the entire kinder community and help from the broader community.

We are getting help from the broader community already - Orica has donated all the paints for the building, Lewis's timber yard on Jasper Rd, Bentleigh is donating the timber for shelves and cupboards, as well as sawdust & mulch, Delfin provided us with boulders, Xavier college has given us rocks for garden beds. And people from outside the kinder community have also been helping to get the building ready. We have had school teachers and the school principal in painting, grandparents are coming in to help, I have asked for volunteers from the local Rotary group, and past members of the kinder community whose children have moved on to school are also putting in a huge amount of time.

But we can only do this if every member of the kinder community gets involved as well and really stretches themselves over the next 3 weeks. I know it's difficult - we all have small children, babies, work commitments, family responsibilities - and very little spare time. But 3 weeks of hard yakka isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, and at the end of it all, you'll have secured the future of the kindergarten for your children.

There will be working bees on both Saturday and Sunday every weekend for the next 3 weeks (17-18 March, 24-25 March and 31 Mar-1 April), starting around 9am. There are also smaller groups of parents helping most days during the week, and some coming in in the evenings. Let me know when you can help.

Some ideas for helping:

- Get together with other kinder parents and share childcare so you can help out
- Ask grandparents to babysit - many kinder parents are doing this so they can help
- Or ask grandparents or other friends/family to help at working bees - my mum has proved very handy with a paint brush!
- Come when it's easiest for you to help - during weekdays, in the evening or at weekends - just let me know when you can come and I'll let you know what needs to be done
- Help by collecting trailer loads of garden materials for us - we still need trailers to collect rocks, sleepers, sawdust and mulch
- Offer to help with admin tasks - some things can be done from home, sitting at a phone
- Offer to bring lunch or morning tea for volunteers at working bees
- Help source the materials that we still need - do you know a place we might be able to get these materials free or cheap?
- On Saturday 24 March from 10am - 4pm it's the East Bentleigh Primary School autumn fair. Bring the kids along to enjoy the fair with their kinder and school friends while one parent helps out for a few hours at the working bee!

Materials we still need

Sand pit sand (13 cubic metres)
Gravel (4 cubic meters)
Mulch (20 cubic metres)
Compost (20 cubic meters compost)
Redgum or other hardwood sleepers for garden beds
Ready mix concrete
Soil – lots!
Plants
Rocks & bluestones to build garden beds
A garden shed (3m x 3m or similar)
A fax machine
Specialist skills needed

We are desperately looking for a renderer who can render the pillars around the front fence boundary for us - do you know someone who can help?

If you can help with any of these things, please contact me on:

9521 8278/ 0425 739 529/ rachel@careythomas.com.au

Thanks,

Rachel

Trailers for rocks, sawdust, mulch etc

We need the help of some people with trailers to collect rocks, sawdust & some red gum sleepers and deliver them to the new kinder site at East Bentleigh Primary School. We need to get them delivered to the site by this Saturday for a garden working bee.

We will also need people with trailers in the next few weeks to collect mulch, so if you can't help this weekend, but do have a trailer and are happy to help another time, please let me know.

In addition, we need old newspapers - again for use in the garden, and preferably by this Saturday. And if you happen to have any rocks or bluestones that you don't need that would be good for constructing garden beds, we'd be very grateful for them too.

If you can help with any of these things, please contact me.

9521 8278/0425 739 529, rachel@careythomas.com.au

Thank you,

Rachel

Long weekend working bees

We now have just 4 weeks left to complete all the work at the new kindergarten site if we are to get the kindergarten open for the start of term 2. We're making progress but there is still a huge amount of work to be done. We still need to paint inside, varnish joinery, build cupboards and shelves, construct pathways, finish the fencing, construct garden beds, build a swingset and a climbing frame.

We are holding working bees on Saturday and Sunday this weekend from 9 am to around 3pm. I know this is a long weekend and a lot of people are away. If you are around, please consider coming along to help as we're likely to have fewer helpers.

On Saturday, we will be constructing some garden beds and some wooden balancing beams in the garden, building a frame for a swing set, digging a pathway and doing some painting. Please bring along the following if you have them: drill, driver, circular saw, belt sander, workbench, tape measure, hammers, rubber gloves, shovels, wheelbarrows, paint brushes, rollers on poles & paint trays, canvas drop sheets.

On Sunday, we'll be digging some garden pathways and doing some painting. Please bring along the following if you have them - paint brushes, rollers on poles & paint trays, rubber gloves, buckets, rags for cleaning, broom, dustpan & brush, canvas drop sheets, shovels and wheelbarrows.

We are also looking for people to provide morning tea and lunch at these working bees, so please let me know if you can help with that.

The working bees will be held at the new kinder site at East Bentleigh Primary School (Bignell Road, East Bentleigh).

Please wear solid footwear and old clothes that you don't mind getting dirty - we're working on a building site, there are obstacles around and it's very dusty.

If you can help at any of these working bees, please contact me on:

9521 8278/0425 739 529, rachel@careythomas.com.au

Please contact me to let me know you can attend, so that I can ensure we have the right number of people and advise you of any last minute changes.

Please note that children are not allowed on the new kinder site during the working bee as it is a building site and not safe for children. Older children are welcome to play in the school playgrounds outside the working bee site.

Thank you for your help.

Rachel