With the excitement of the Clayton Festival taking place all around them, the team at Clayton Preschool felt they just could not be part of the day on Sunday 25 February! Although their doors will be open as part of the Monash Kinder Open Night taking place in March, they couldn’t resist the opportunity to enjoy the festival atmosphere, welcome the community in and show off their kinder.

A steady stream of families with toddlers and young children were  keen to view the preschool and see the creative environments. However, the team was surprised and delighted, when amongst the 75 families who came along, they spied a few familiar faces! There were some heart-warming moments when many former kinder families stopped by.

Some of the visiting children, now primary school aged and older, shared with the educators their fond memories of their time at the Preschool.

Anay reflected, “It is so nostalgic to see our kinder and our teachers. We just love coming back each year to visit to see how our kinder is changing all the time.” His sister added, “We miss you all so much. Wish we could come back and play here.”

The preschool team had prepared activities and Y Kinders’ green playdough to entertain their guests, along with well received goodie bags with educational gifts.

Ancilla D’souza, Nominated Supervisor, was impressed by the number of visitors this year, “We’ve been part of the Clayton Festival now for the last 3 years,” she said. “It is a wonderful day and our Clayton Preschool team love being a part of the community and meeting new families. It is also so emotional to welcome back our past families who just wanted to come back and say ‘hello’ because their child enjoyed their time at kinder here. One past student, (who visited) is now 22 years old!”

Ancilla and the team are now preparing for their Open Night. “For families who may not have been able to see the kinder at the Festival, we’ll be doing it all again at our Open Night on 21st March. We’ll be open from 5-7pm and look forward to meeting more of the community!”

Find out more about Clayton Preschool here.