Welcome to Blue Mountains Kidz !
Blue Mountains Kidz (or BMK’s as we like to call it) is the Children’s Ministry of Blue Mountains City Church, Mt Riverview.
Our BMK’s program exists to raise up the next generation of Leaders, who love God & their Church with passion; and to equip these future leaders to go out and change their world, while reaching for their full potential in life.
We are proud of our Children’s Ministry. We can tell you of many wonderful children over the years who have come alive in God and blossomed through our Children’s Ministry. Many have returned to Children’s Ministry to serve as young Leaders and continued to grow in Christian discipleship through our Youth Ministry. They have also gone on to become involved in service through short & long-term Missions endeavours, and are now leaders in our own Church and several other ACC Churches.
We love being involved in Children’s Ministry. We pray you will also be excited & blessed.
Margaret Hurford, Children’s Pastor
BLUE MOUNTAINS KIDZ
Welcome to Blue Mountains Kidz and thank you for entrusting us with your child. We aim to provide your family with a safe and loving, age-appropriate environment, to assist in Godly growth.
OUR DEPARTMENTS:
Parents’ & Babies Room: Babies birth to 12 months.
Babies are always accompanied by a parent/carer. Meets in the Board Room, next to the main Auditorium. Comfort staff are provided by our Church Hosts Teams. Open during ALL Blue Mountains City Church services & most meetings.
Beginner: 1 year (walking) to 3 years.
Meets in Beginner Room, located in the Multi-Purpose Centre.
In a loving & secure environment, your child is first introduced to Children’s Ministry. Age-appropriate Bible themes, music, toys, games and snacks are introduced. Parents are welcome to stay in the Beginner room until children are settled; BMK’s staff will contact you (via your supplied mobile ph#) if your child becomes distressed. Babies graduate into Beginners after their 1st Birthday.
Preschool: 3years (toilet-trained) to 5 years (incl Pre-K class)
Meets in the Community Hall, located a short walk across the car-park from the Multi-Purpose Centre. This public hall provides a safe environment (complete with outdoor play centre) for a caring and nurturing preschool program that introduces preschoolers to God and his word through structured and age-appropriate activities.
Currently, preschool follow the same curriculum themes as school-age children.
The community hall has no nappy change facilities; children may graduate to the program after their 3rd Birthday if they are toilet-trained, or wearing pull-ups.
BMK’s staff will contact you (via your supplied mobile ph#) if your child becomes distressed or behaves inappropriately and is unable to be settled.
School-age: Kinder – 6th Grade ( ages 5-12 approx )
Meets in the large hall, located in the Multi-Purpose Centre.
Children are challenged to develop and grow in a personal relationship with God through a wide variety of learning games, hands-on activities, teaching and worship. Some activities involve small group work with the child’s own age group; sometimes peer support learning is used, where the older children assist the younger ones. Two important program emphases are Bible verse memorization and inspiring the children to be a proud part of our local Church. Children are encouraged to ‘have a go’ and thus begin to explore their giftings in a safe environment, which will help equip them for future service in their local Church.
Graduation into the School-age program, and throughout all levels, is at the beginning of February each year (after the public School year has commenced).
Parents will be notified of any ongoing inappropriate behaviour, and if necessary, our BMK Senior Staff together with our Church Pastoral Care Team, will assist you with behaviour strategies.
MORNING BMK’s PROGRAMS: 9.15am – 11.00am approx
Register your children directly at the program location: Multi-Purpose Centre or hall. Pre-activities commence 9.15am: pick-up time is immediately after Service ends.
NIGHT BMK’S PROGRAMS: approx 6.20pm (after worship) – 7.30pm
Register your children in Church Auditorium Foyer before Service commences. Children stay in the Service with parents for Praise & Worship.
Age groupings held at night are as follows:
Parents’ & Babies Room: Babies birth to 12 months. As above
Beginner: 1 year (walking) to 3 years. As above
Preschool, Kinder –Year 3: Multi-Purpose Centre, main hall.
Years 4-6: Community Hall, walk across car-park.
All children are picked-up at the Multi-Purpose Centre after the night Service
CHILD PROTECTION:
Blue Mountains City Church adheres to the Australian Christian Churches National Child Protection Policy. Our leaders must be approved by our Church Pastoral Care Team, complete an interview and a Working with Children Check. No ONE BMK Leader is ever permitted to be alone with ONE child in an enclosed area. A minimum of two (2) leaders will be assigned to any BMK program.
On-duty BMK leaders will be easily identified by their photo ID badge.
All leaders are expected to make themselves available for training.
SIGN IN / SIGN OUT
We adhere to a sign in / sign out procedure as part of our duty of care for all children entrusted to the Blue Mountains Kidz program.
SIGNING IN:
- All children are signed in with a parent/carer signature.
- All children wear name tags whilst in Blue Mountains Kidz programs.
- A parent ID card is not required to be shown at sign in; however BMK Staff may check with you that you have your card available for sign out.
SIGNING OUT:
- All children are signed out with a parent/carer signature.
- All children’s permanent name tags are returned to Blue Mountains Kidz boards.
- A parent ID card MUST be shown to a BMK Staff member before any child is permitted to leave the building where the BMK program has been conducted.
- Parents in regular attendance at Blue Mountains City Church will keep their Parent ID Card.
- Visiting parents will return their temporary parent ID Card to BMK Staff.
VISITORS/ NEW ENROLMENTS:
Morning programs: A Visitors lounge area operates at the Multi-Purpose Centre. Parents/carers will be asked to fill out an information card; they will then be issued with parent ID cards, name tags and directed to the appropriate BMK area. Children will be invited to sample the lolly jar!
Night programs: Visitors are enrolled (as above) at the BMK sign in desk in the Church Auditorium Foyer, prior to the commencement of the Service.
DISCIPLINE:
We aim to make our programs fresh, varied and powerful so that children do not become disruptive. All sorts of positive reinforcement and prayer for wisdom and insight are our preferred options. Parents will be notified of inappropriate behaviour (see note in School-age program). In extreme circumstances, a child may be taken to sit back with their parents in the adult church service.
CURRICULUM:
We are currently using a mix of curriculum: partly written by our Children’s Pastor, Margaret Hurford, and partly sourced externally from other writers. We look at the overall needs of our children and plan the teaching curriculum to meet their needs in the best possible way. This area is evolving, and Senior BMK Staff will be happy to talk to you about curriculum, if you want more information.
Our team of BMK’s Leaders love your children, and love being involved in Kidz Ministry. If you see a BMK Leader around Church, please thank them and encourage them for the GREAT job they do! |