In this edition
From the Director of Early Learning
Dear Families,
Pro
viding leading, innovative early childhood education has been an ongoing commitment of the ELC. The educators are continually striving to deliver best practice across the centre. This cycle of continual improvement based on deep reflection is embedded in our practice. For several years we have been inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to learning. With several staff experiencing first-hand this Italian pedagogy, we are able to authentically adjust the principles to blend in our Australian setting and culture. St Peter’s Girls ELC holds a very strong image of the child and of childhood. The value we place on giving visibility to this both within and beyond the ELC gives value to the learning that actually takes place. We are beyond being viewed as just looking after little children; the seriousness of our pedagogy lays the foundation for every child’s learning journey and, in particular, their position in society of being a significant person with so much to offer. We do not see the child for what they cannot do, but rather for what they can do. I am continually challenged when I hear adults talk about all that they have to do for the child – why is it that we cannot see firstly what the child has the capacity to do herself or himself.
During the October holidays my staff had the privilege of a visit from Professor Carla Rinaldi from Reggio Emilia. Those of you that have followed our ELC journey over the years would know that this would have been an incredible honour. Carla was Adelaide’s Thinker in Residence in 2012 – 2013. Following this she made several recommendations to the State, including the development of Prototype Services that could act as models for services endeavouring to incorporate the Reggio Emilia approach in their schools/workplaces. This includes not just a few schools and preschools, but also the Art Gallery and a group of Architects. St Peter’s Girls Early Learners’ Centre is one of these prototypes and regularly meets with the other prototypes to share our research. We follow the principle of Educator as Researcher to deepen our understandings of our practices and beliefs. We continually read, theorise, collaborate, share, question and endeavour to articulate our findings, wonderings and practice.
It was a morning of pure joy having Carla in our centre: for her to view the marriage of architecture and pedagogy, to see our environment so alive and transparent, our strong image of child, and emphasis on community with relationships at the centre. She loved all of the traces of years gone by and, in particular, loved the Friendship Garden and what it represented to us. Carla walked through each section of the centre, asking questions, provoking our thinking and challenging us. She delighted in our projects of inquiry and the journey we are travelling on. In particular, she highlighted our advocacy for the very young child and how beautifully we catered for two year olds in our centre. Carla commented:
“This ELC has to be respected. It is a wonderful place; it is so alive. It is a treasure.”
As we all sat together at our big, long table Carla congratulated us on our authentic work and our trust in ourselves to be so proactive with our continually changing pedagogy, which is driven by our research. She told us about the essence of the centre that she could feel. It was not something she could really explain in words; rather, a feeling she had! Her words of encouragement and provoking questions have given us a burst of excitement going into Term 4 in the ELC – it was indeed one of my proudest moments since being Director in this beautiful learning facility. I congratulate my team of educators for being part of this exciting event!
Kate Mount
Director of Early Learning
ELC Christmas Picnic
Join us in the ELC grounds to celebrate the end of a fantastic year as we wish all our families a wonderful Christmas.
5pm, Friday 25 November 2016
The Friends of ELC will have some food and drinks on sale, as well as a Christmas raffle. Bring your own picnic basket, rug, nibbles and drinks.
Lock this date into your diary so you don’t miss your children participate in this special concert. Extended families are very welcome!
ELC Dates for the Diary
- Reception Transition Visit for girls attending St Peter’s Girls’ School: Monday 14 November
- Reception Transition Visit for girls attending St Peter’s Girls’ School: Monday 21 November
- Hat Ceremony: Monday 5 December, 8.30am
- Final ELC Day: Friday 9 December
- Vacation Care commences: Monday 12 December
News from the Stonyfell Room…
Exploring sorting and classification in the Stonyfell Room
“Numeracy is the capacity, confidence and disposition to use mathematics in everyday life.” Early Years Learning Framework
Every term, each room in the ELC plans and constructs a numeracy planner that sits alongside our Unit of Inquiry, that supports the children to deepen their investigations and explorations.
This term’s focus in the Stonyfell Room is sorting and classification. This focus has allowed our children to begin to explore and understand the process of recycling. We have been introducing this concept during morning meeting and offering the children a range of materials both rubbish and recyclables to provoke their understanding of this concept.
We have been asking the children to express their ideas as to where we could put these materials and why?
Grace: “In the bin, we put rubbish in the bin!”
Hugo R: “They all go in the bin.”
Teddy: “Yes, over there in the bin.”
Penny: “I have a bin a home.”
Many of our children have the understanding of where to put our rubbish. However, we want them to start thinking about the difference between rubbish and recycling and how we can actively engage in this practice to take responsibility for our world.
The educators have planned an intentional experience to support us in unpacking this concept. We have offered the children a range of resources to sort and classify as they see fit. This has allowed the children to have multiple opportunities to revisit and create their own meanings. We can sort and classify items in many ways and by giving our children the opportunity to work in collaboration with others further assists them in developing their understandings of numeracy and how it is ingrained in our everyday world.
Laura Reiters
News from the Bell Yett Room…
The educators in the Bell Yett Room have been extremely pleased with the deep understandings the children developed during our Term 3 inquiry, People Are Connected to our Planet. This has been particularly evident in the way they have embraced taking responsibility and initiative for recycling and reusing materials in the Bell Yett Room. With our delight, comes a challenge. How do we ensure that the children’s enthusiasm and learning does not stop with the end of a term? This led us to thinking carefully about how our Term 4 Inquiry could build on such previous successful learning. Our new Central Idea, People can create systems to learn together, has given us the opportunity to look at how we can share our knowledge and understandings about sustainable practices with others. Many of the children have been enthusiastically creating posters for their friends across the wider ELC. Other children have been helping to create an iMovie which we hope to share with the Junior School. We look forward to sharing these systems with you upon their completion.
If you would like to know more about our current Unit of Inquiry please use this link to login to your child’s ePortfolio: https://link.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.
We were extremely excited to announce the launch of our ePortfolio’s in the ELC in Term 4 2015. The ePortfolio’s allow us to share documentation and learning experiences; as they are happening. It provides a window into your child’s life in the ELC as educators share intentional teaching, specialist lessons and spontaneous moments through photos, videos, text and images of children’s creative expressions. The ePortfolio’s enable us to share more of the process of learning rather than just the end product.
It was wonderful for the educators to be able to share your child’s ePortfolio with you during our recent Parent Teacher Conversations. It was also beneficial to receive feedback from you in regards to this still relatively new communication system. Through this opportunity we discovered that while parents are very positive about the ePortfolios and all they offer, they often forget to login and have a look. It was through one of these discussions that a parent suggested that we provide a link through our eNews as a regular prompt for families. We would love to hear if you use the link above and if you have any other suggestions for improving our communications with you.
Leanne Williams and Nell Tierney
News from the Ferguson Room…
Recycled Treasure
We thank our families for joining in with our treasure hunts at home! We have loved sharing the interesting collections and hearing great feedback about the joy children have had in participating in the experience at home. As we talk about often, your child’s learning is enhanced when we all work together.
In sharing their treasure bags, children are developing their communication skills and confidence. As they enthusiastically show everyone their finds, we can see their sense of pride and excitement. One thing that strikes us as fascinating, is their ability to happily share their items with the group. We don’t see a worry for what is their property, but more a willingness to involve others in their joy. The apparent learning this is bringing to the inquiry is awesome to see!
This learning has included:
• an awareness of others as they share
• the numeracy component of organising and sorting
• working collaboratively to establish creative ideas of what to make
• continuing the important notion of sustainability.
The Bell Yett children have discussed with us their ideas about recycling and ways to use materials again. This links beautifully with our ideas of looking after our planet, as we build the foundations of thinking about what it means to ‘waste’ materials.
Thank you again for participating in our program.
Pam Foden
News from the Hallett Room…
The Year 5 musical, ‘The Little Mermaid’, was definitely a highlight of last week for the Hallett children. The colour, song and enthusiasm of the Year 5 girls swept us away into a world under the sea – it was truly magical! It made me think how lucky we are, to be part of a school. The week before we joined the Year 12 girls for their Celebration Day as they ran up the path to the Arts Centre for their final day. I explained in an email to Kerry Skinner, the Head of Senior School and Georgina Sarah, the Head Prefect, how connected the Hallett children were to this special occasion, recreating the magic in the Hallett Room later that day. Georgina replied to say that it ‘really is a tight knit community at St Peter’s Girls’.
So it is with great excitement that many of our Hallett children are preparing to start school. For those continuing at St Peter’s Girls, they will be continuing their learning journey knowing they are part of a special community full of joy, dedication and care.
Many parents ask me how they can best prepare their child for school with a particular focus on literacy and numeracy. It is great to playfully support and grow your child’s interest in literacy and numeracy in various everyday experiences however, the best skills that we can nurture in our children is a love of learning and a sense of agency. As International Baccalaureate (IB) learners we encourage children to act on their interests, to research the answer to their questions, to find out more and to listen to others. In the Hallett Room we encourage children to develop their independence by taking care of their belongings, having a try at doing something before seeking help and encouraging them to help their peers. As parents we can support children to develop independence by encouraging the children to carry their own bag, providing lunch boxes and drink bottles that the children can manage to open/close themselves, by encouraging children to dress themselves and by asking them to take responsibility for packing up their own bag at the end of the day. A good routine can assist children with knowing what to do and how to help them-selves. Please feel free to discuss this further with me if you wish.
How exciting it is to be in the Hallett Room at the moment, to be surrounded by children beaming with confidence as they prepare for the next step in their learning journey!
Sarah Croston-Melling
Hallett Room Shared Lunch
To farewell the Hallett children moving off to school next year, we would like to invite the Hallett children and their parents or carers for a shared lunch. The children will sing a few of their favourite songs and then we will have our lunch under the verandah and in the ELC garden. Please bring a plate of food to share, it can be savoury or sweet. We especially love to try savoury food from around the world!
**Please note, no nuts.**
Where: Hallett Room, ELC
When: Friday December 2, 2016
Time: 11:30-12:30pm
Bring: A plate of food to share
Magic Moment
