In this edition
From the Director of Early Learning
Dear Families
Welcome to 2019! What a wonderful start to the year we have had launching our two learning communities. Despite a few settling hurdles with children, we have begun the year so positively. The emphasis has been on establishing small groups and forming relationships, and the children have instinctively been utilising both rooms within their communities. It appears they are very in-tune with our new model which has helped them settle naturally into friendships within their mixed age groups.
I am very proud of my teaching team who have worked so diligently to prepare for this year. The spaces are warm and welcoming for everyone, and beautifully curated. I hope you share this sense of pride we all have for our ELC.
We begin the year with many plans for exciting events, and of course, rich learning opportunities. We would love to share this with you, so we invite you to put in your diaries our Parent Information Evening on Tuesday 12 February at 7pm. Educators will share with you the learning and experiences offered throughout a day and the purposeful intentions behind each of these.
I look forward to personally meeting many of you this Friday at our Welcome Morning Tea on Chiverton Lawns at 9am.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries via kmount@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au or 8334 2245.
Kind regards
Kate Mount
Director of Early Learning
Save the Date
Friday 8 February: Friends of the ELC Welcome Morning Tea 9am
Friday 8 February: Parents’ and Friends’ – Welcome Drinks on the Lawns 7pm
Tuesday 12 February: ELC Information Evening 7pm
Sunday 24 February: Parents’ and Friends’ – Garden of Saintly Delights Fair
Parent Information Evening
We invite families to our Parent Information Evening to learn about daily life within
our two new learning communities on Tuesday 12 February at 7pm in the ELC.
Educators will outline the significant elements of their teaching and learning strategies for the year, with a clear focus on the rich learning and experiences offered throughout a day and the purposeful intentions behind each of these.
Families are encouraged to engage in dialogue with Mrs Kate Mount and the ELC educators as we build a deep, respectful connection with families and the ELC.
Please register via the sign on sheet placed in each playroom.
Signing in via iCheck-In
Last year, St Peter’s Girls’ Early Learners’ Centre introduced iCheck-In – new easy-to-use software that enables you to digitally sign in and out of our ELC, bringing us in line with updated Government regulations.
Please note, signing your child in/out daily using the iPad provided is a legal requirement. If you are having issues signing in/out, please ask an ELC educator to help you.
On your first login, you will be asked to enter your mobile phone number and a password will be sent via SMS which you will need to use every time you sign your child in or out of the ELC. Each family member will need to enter their own phone number and password when signing in/out, so please do not give your password to others.
Please refer to this instructional poster to familiarise yourself with the new procedure. This will also be on display next to the iPad when you sign your child in or out.
If you have any queries, please contact Sarah Elliott via 8334 2271 or selliott@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.
Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum
The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum is a child safety program for children and young people from age 3 to Year 12. It is a respectful relationships and child safety curriculum that teaches all children and young people they have the right to be safe and they can help themselves to be safe by talking to people they trust.
All children and young people have a right to:
- be treated with respect and to be protected from harm
- be asked for their opinions about things that affect their lives and to be listened to
- feel and be safe in their interactions with adults and other children and young people
- understand as early as possible what is meant by ‘feeling and being safe’
The ELC educators will be engaging the children with this curriculum, explicitly teaching them about the nature of personal safety and wellbeing, their rights to personal safety and wellbeing, seeking help and self-protecting behaviours, and their responsibilities to the safety and wellbeing of others.
This will be done in an age-appropriate and delicate manner and we will often use the art of storytelling to engage the children. If you have any questions or would like some further information, please do not hesitate to make contact with Kate Mount, Kirsty Porplycia, Teena Nicholls or your child’s key teacher.
Kirsty Porplycia
Assistant Director of Early Learning
ELC Goes Egg-Free
We ask that you do not pack nuts or eggs or food containing these ingredients as we have children within our Centre who have severe allergies to them. We request that families be responsive to our requests when packing their child’s lunch box. We are also removing items containing eggs from the Tuck Shop menu.
We thank you kindly for assisting us to support all children and staff’s health and safety whilst in our care.
MEDC 001 Student Medication Policy
St Peter’s Girls’ School recognises the importance of the health and safety of all students. The School recognises that in keeping its obligation to ensure the health and safety of its students, it has the responsibility to provide adequate and appropriate nursing staff to students of the School. St Peter’s Girls provides an on-site health service to the students between 8.15am and 3.45pm during term time only.
Please note that Medication cannot be administered to St Peter’s Girls’ School students without a FORM 135 Medication Agreement that has been completed by a treating health professional or pharmacist (for over-the-counter medication) and authorised by the parent or legal guardian.
This does not include asthma puffers or EpiPens when used as an emergency response medicine.
The form can be requested from ELC staff and must be completed by your health care professional or pharmacist. If medication (i.e. antibiotics) is prescribed to your child and your health care professional or pharmacist has completed the form, only the School Nurse will administer this medication between 8.15am and 3.45pm during term time. The School Nurse does not work during the vacation care period. Medication that requires administration three times per day can generally be administered from home outside of school hours (in the morning, after school and in the evening).
Where medication is prescribed for a known health condition, the parent or legal guardian should provide a Health Care Plan that has been completed by the treating health professional.
Kirsty Porplycia
Assistant Director of Early Learning
Professional Learning in the ELC
Before the start of Term 1, the ELC educators participated in a professional learning workshop run by education consultant Fiona Zinn.
The workshop focused on collaboration and how educators could unpack that term and develop a new, deeper understanding, and apply that to their daily teaching in the ELC. Fiona drew on more than 25 years’ experience in early years pedagogy, curriculum and learning environments to co-construct this new understanding of collaboration with the ELC team.
Watch the video below to hear more about the fascinating workshop.
来自黄老师的信息
亲爱的家长朋友们，
欢迎回来我们的ELC，也欢迎新加入我们ELC大家庭的新家庭朋友们。在这里祝大家新年快乐，阖家欢乐。
今年我和Ms So很荣幸能在ELC为我们的中文家庭提供支持与帮助，如果有任何建议和疑问，欢迎跟我当面交流对话，同样也欢迎家长们给我发邮件，我的邮箱地址：lhuang@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
在2月8日星期五早上9点，我们将在ELC举办欢迎早茶会，诚邀所有的家长朋友们一同参加。邀请函我们已经向您发出。
在2月12日星期二晚上7点，我们将举办ELC信息之夜，为所有的家长朋友们提供非常重的信息，届时会有中文翻译在场。欢迎所有ELC家庭的家长和朋友们参加。如果可能的话，希望小朋友能留在家中和其他家庭成员在一起。
关于食品过敏问题，我们希望所有的家长朋友们有责任按照我们的要求为小朋友们准备午餐饭盒。由于园内有小朋友对这些食物有严重的过敏，希望家长们不要准备带有坚果和鸡蛋的食物。在我们的午餐预定订购单上，我们也将取消鸡蛋的选项。在这里我们十分感谢您对我们ELC小朋友和老师的健康安全的支持。
所有的家长朋友们有任何疑问和建议，Kate园长都欢迎和她交流，她的大门一直为你们打开。在我们ELC社区，Kate园长非常希望和所有家长朋友们建立和保持良好的关系。
Emma works in Learning Community 2 on Monday, Thursday, Friday from 9am – 5pm, and Jade works 11am – 6pm every day in Learning Community 1.
Happy Lunar New Year
在ELC我们庆祝中国新年，这些美丽的装饰来自我们慷慨的ELC家庭。一些孩子还制作享用了饺子，非常美味。
我们祝福所有家庭在2019年富足健康欣欣向荣。
Learning Community 1
News from the Stonyfell and Bell Yett Rooms
A warm welcome to Learning Community 1 in 2019. We are delighted to join new, existing and Playgroup families together in our space to begin our journey as a community of learners.
Our children must be admired for their courage and confidence in embracing their new setting so quickly.
We are beginning our year by giving time to ‘being together’ in our space. Each educator in our ELC understands and respects the significance of creating a special connection with each child. It is only when we know each other well that we can begin to explore what being a part of this community means to each of us.
Engaging in small group experiences has provided both child and educator with a calm platform for us to transition through our day. Within our small groups we have:
- explored the ELC, familiarising ourselves with new spaces and new faces
- investigated different and familiar materials in our atelier
- experimented with construction resources
- slowed down and rested in our rainforest light atelier
- dined with one another in the home corner
- shared in a few simple cooking experiences!
A favourite this week has been getting to know the newest additions to our learning community, our green tree frogs and stick insects. The children have demonstrated a huge amount of care and responsibility for them already.
We have cherished our first week as a Learning Community and are eager to share our explorations. We embrace the active participation of families in our ELC and look forward to opportunities for having a chat at our upcoming events including our Morning Tea and Information Evening.
Annabelle Redmond and Mel Angel
Learning Community 2
News from the Ferguson Room
Our focus for this week has been to connect and orientate ourselves with our Learning Community. Our intention for the children has been to develop their confidence to access and use all the spaces available to them. We have been working on this by using our morning meeting time to break off into small groups to move around the spaces and to identify the names and locations of these areas.
These have included:
- The veranda
- The mud kitchen
- The stage
- The atelier
- The community garden
- The Hallett Room
Our intention as the educators during these times of exploration and discovery has been to observe and document how the environment supports collaboration and if and how the children are beginning to work together.
To support this concept of collaboration, the educators have been engaging the children in experiences that nurture this. Once such example has been to engage the children in a Banbabanbalya as part of our morning meeting ritual. A Banbabanbalya is a traditional Kaurna ritual of drawing and documenting the people present around a Palti Circle. Many of the Ferguson children have been engaging in this ritual previously and they were able to support their peers in knowing and drawing the symbol for young girl or young boy.
As part of our commitment to developing and growing our Learning Community, the Hallett children have been participating in similar experiences and I invite you to read their newsletter piece written by Nell Tierney and Leanne Williams.
Laura Reiters
News from the Hallett Room
This term, the children in the ELC are investigating the central idea that ‘Working together can create communities’. We have begun our inquiry by exploring our Learning Community with a particular focus on its people, places and rituals.
One of the benefits of our Learning Community Model is that it has enabled us to enhance our learning environments. With the opportunity to move beyond our four walls, we have been able to embrace the strengths of each physical environment and provide thoughtful materials that enhance our collaborations as a learning community. In partnership with the Ferguson Room, our intention has been to create environments that are landscapes of possibilities and suggestions for the children. Each learning experience is enhanced by its physical setting and encourages the children to not only develop relationships with each other but also with the environment and its materials.
One example is the Atelier of Sound that is being established in the Light Room. This builds on some work done by the children in 2018, and the research by the educators into the benefits of providing music as a language of expression for the children. As we have begun experimenting with the musical instruments, the children have started developing ideas for effectively working together. We are already observing the children listening to each other, respecting their opinions and sharing new understandings. This was evident when Jessie shared with her friends, “Yesterday, Mia said we need to know what time starting and what time stopping. We need some moving to tell us.” The children have begun exploring the role of the conductor as an essential ingredient for them to work successfully together as a community of musicians.
As educators, we know that collaboration enables us to achieve more than we would as individuals. We invite you to please read the Ferguson Room newsletter article for more examples of the children exploring the concept of community as they participate in small group experiences in these environments.
Leanne Williams and Nell Teirney