NEWS
New BCFN events and initiatives:
- School Starters Picnic – a first for Bathurst is a FREE event to be held on the last Friday in November 2017 from 4pm-6pm in the Adventure Playground in Bathurst to celebrate this important milestone for all children starting school in Bathurst the following year.
- ‘How would you like to play?’ inclusive non-verbal communication signs situated in the Adventure Playground and Macquarie River Bicenetennial (Peace) Park featuring a range of play-related actions using and celebrating Auslan language to support children and adults in our community. The signs and their frames were provided by BCFN through receipt of a FundAbility grant brought to us by Northcott and funded by the NSW Department of Family and Community Services. Bathurst Regional Council kindly contributed by providing the posts, installing both signs and providing ongoing maintenance.
Events
Ongoing events, activities and initiatives include:
- Bathurst Family Fun Day (BFFD) is a FREE annual community festival held on the third Saturday in May from 11am – 2pm at the Macquarie River Bicentennial (Peace) Park during National Families Week. The BFFD is the proud winner of the 2016 Community Event of the Year Award.
- Kids Play provides free fun early learning activities in the community for young children under school age (0-6 yrs) on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month during school term from 9.30am-10.30am. Activities include: art, craft, games, story time, music and more…
- Teddy Bear’s Picnic provides free fun activities in local playgrounds and parks at the end of each school term. Teddy Bear’s Picnics are held as part of Kids Play where children can bring their teddy and have fun, games and stories in the park – parks include Machattie Park, the Adventure Playground, and Bicentennial (Peace) Park.
- BCFN ‘building child-safe, child-friendly communities’ initiative is an ongoing approach toward Bathurst becoming a child-friendly city where children’s voices are heard and valued and where they are involved in decisions that affect them.
- Transition to School Meet and Greet Networking Nights for professionals are held during Term One and Term Four from 5.30pm-7pm to provide an informal opportunity for teachers, educators and other professionals to connect and get to know each other.
Past activities, events, initiatives and projects include:
- Bathurst’s Big Banter “what’s wrong right for kids today?” (2015)
- Arts activities for children, examples include:
- ‘The story of Biladurang the platypus and Yindyamarra (respect)’ in (2014). Wiradyuri artists Nyree Reynolds and Lewis Burns painted the story of Biladurang on two poles surrounding the play equipment in Peace Park to promote positive connections between people and place to promote a sense of shared history and belonging for all. Children were invited to paint a canvas that was later used as the background for the BCFN collage featuring children’s drawings to decorate the harmony day people template.
- ‘Hearing children’s voices’ (2016) drama and circus (hoops) workshops and performance where children created and told their own story about what it might be like if they had no voice and weren’t listened to.
- ‘Children and community: celebrating Wiradyuri culture’ (2017) under the guidance of a local Wiradyuri artist, children painted an aerial view of Flat Rock as a an important place in the story of Biladurang (platypus).
- Professional development events
- BCFN Annual Conference