In this edition
Dear Families
Welcome to our Week 6 edition of ELC News. We hope you and your family can find some joy in this edition whilst we are in lockdown. We are thinking of our families during this time. Our ELC team is operating the Centre with reduced staff to support families with essential workers.
The health and safety of our community is our primary focus, so whilst we are disappointed about the cancellation of our End of Year Celebration, we look forward to celebrating with the children in other ways around the ELC. We have been fortunate to capture some of the songs on video and these are being uploaded to your Learning Community Home Pages.
The arrival of our ELC Christmas Tree signifies that the festive season has arrived and, for many, this time is filled with beautiful celebrations. At the ELC, the tree represents community and thinking of others. We will be talking to the children about bringing gifts to place under the tree to support The Smith Family. This constitutes an important part of our Service Learning in the ELC. We were so appreciative of the time Rhianna from The Smith Family gave to the children on Monday, explaining why we donate gifts to other children. You will receive a brochure on what you can donate to the Christmas Toy and Book Appeal. We encourage you to discuss this with your child and hope that our community can find ways of contributing to our tree post-lockdown. Thank you already to several families for beginning this process.
As we approach the end of the year, it is vital to give gratitude to those who have supported us. We will be acknowledging special people who have assisted us in our learning and daily ELC life. These people include our Friends of the ELC, Kaurna elder Tamaru, Charlie Aykroyd from Australian Green Clean and helpers in Ferguson Conservation Park. These people have added to our ELC community life, partnering us in special learning opportunities.
I thank you again for your ongoing support and cooperation and look forward to sharing end of year highlights with you over the coming weeks. Please stay safe and well.
Kate Mount
Director of Early Learning
Important Dates
Wednesday 25 November: Children return to the ELC following lockdown
Tuesday 1 December: Reception Transition Students’ Hat Ceremony, 8.45am
Thursday 3 December: Learning Community 2 Farewell Afternoon Tea, 2.30pm
Friday 4 December: Last day of Term 4
Monday 7 – Friday 18 December: Vacation Care
Please note that these dates are subject to change depending on restrictions implemented by the State Government. We will communicate any changes with you at the earliest opportunity.
COVID-19 Update
Please see further information below regarding the closure of the ELC as part of the six day statewide coronavirus lockdown.
Vulnerable children and children of essential workers are still able to attend school or ELC; please note, all parents/guardians must be essential workers for children to be eligible to attend. If you are in this position, please email our School Principal’s Executive Assistant Sue Dickinson via sdickinson@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au with your child(s) full name and ELC room to assist us with staffing and other arrangements.
Following the lockdown, we urge families to not enter the ELC if you present with any cold or flu-like symptoms, including:
- Temperature
- Runny nose
- Sore throat
- Cough
If a child presents with any of the symptoms above, they will be sent home upon the advice of the School’s Registered Nurse. If you or another family member are unwell, do not hesitate to get tested at one of the free COVID-19 testing stations in your area.
When entering the ELC, please use the hand sanitiser provided before signing your child in or out, and encourage proper hand-washing at home to support our ELC practices.
ELC Cancellations
End of Year Celebration
Of course, we are extremely disappointed we are unable to share our End of Year Celebration together, but the health and safety of our community is our primary focus. Please note that those who pre-paid for food and beverages will receive a refund.
We have been able to take some video of the children singing their celebration songs over the past few weeks. On our Learning Community Home Pages, you will find an ‘End of Year Celebration’ button. Please click on this to watch and enjoy some of these moments together.
Playgroup Week 7
Playgroup on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 November have been cancelled. At this point, we look forward to reconvening the following week on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 December. We will communicate any changes with you at the earliest opportunity.
Hat Ceremony – Rescheduled
The Hat Ceremony for Reception transition students has been rescheduled to Tuesday 1 December at 8.45am.
The Smith Family Christmas Toy and
Book Appeal
The ELC community is excited to partner with The Smith Family in our annual Christmas gift donation.
Following lockdown, the children are invited to bring a gift to place under the ELC Christmas tree for a child less fortunate than themselves.
Earlier this week, Rhianna from The Smith Family came to speak with the children to explain how they can participate in making another child’s Christmas very special through the act of giving. We see this as a wonderful learning opportunity and encourage families to engage in discussions at home about this experience.
The gifts will be sorted into age groups from 0-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 years of age. These could include books, board games, craft sets, push and pull toys, toy cars and dolls. Please refer to the poster in the ELC foyer for further gift ideas.
Please note, all items must be new, not wrapped and delivered to the ELC by Friday 4 December.
We thank you for your participation in this special giving tradition.
What’s Happening Around the ELC?
Sometimes family members say to us, “Wouldn’t it be great to be a fly on the wall in the ELC?” This video captures some of the everyday magic in the ELC. This term, we have been celebrating the special moments that bring us joy. We hope the video gives you a sample of the joy we have had in our daily life.
Announcing our 2021 Teaching Team
We are delighted to announce the appointment of our new ELC teacher, Mrs Jessica Catt. Jessica will join the wonderful ELC team in 2021.
Learning Community 1 Teachers
Stonyfell Room: Miss Annabelle Redmond
Bell Yett Room: Mrs Jessica Catt
Learning Community 2 Teachers
Hallett Room: Mrs Kirsty Porplycia and Mrs Nell Tierney
Ferguson Room: Miss Laura Reiters
Please note that Kirsty will be taking long service leave in Term 1 2021, and experienced teacher Mrs Kathy McCabe will fill her position during that time. We wish Kirsty a restful Term 1 as she spends time with her family.
来自黄老师的信息
亲爱的家长朋友，
欢迎大家来到我们第六周的ELC新闻。在封城期间，我希望您和家人在阅读这期时，能够得到一些快乐。 在这个特殊时期，我们一直惦念着我们的各个家庭。我们的ELC团队在这里支持重要工作人员的家庭，我们的中心目前依赖少量员工在维持运行。
我们社区的健康安全是我们的重中之重，尽管我们不得不取消年底的庆祝音乐会，我们还是非常期待在ELC和孩子们用其他方式来庆祝。我们很幸运地能够录下孩子们的歌曲，现在已经上传到Canvas的网页。
ELC圣诞树的到来标志着节日的到来。对许多人来说，这段时间充满了各种美好的节日庆祝。在ELC，圣诞树代表了我们的社区以及想到他人。我们将告诉孩子们，把礼物放在树下，以支持史密斯家庭基金会。这是我们在ELC社区服务学习的重要组成部分。我们非常感谢史密斯一家的Rhianna周一来给孩子们解释为什么我们要给其他孩子捐赠礼物。您将收到一本小册子，小册子中会向您说明可以捐赠什么圣诞玩具和图书。我们鼓励家长朋友们和你的孩子一同讨论这个话题。谢谢那些已经开始准备礼物的家庭。
在临近年底的时候，向那些支持我们的人表示感谢是重要的。作为一个社区，我们感谢社区中帮助我们学习和日常生活的人们。这些包括我们ELC家委会的朋友们，土著老师 Tamaru，来自澳大利亚绿色清洁（Green Clean）的Charlie Aykroyd和Ferguson公园的志愿者们。你们加入了我们的ELC社区的生活，在各种特别的学习机会中与我们一同协作。
我再次感谢大家一直以来的支持和配合，期待在未来几周跟大家一起分享年底华彩篇章。请多多保重，我们期待能够尽快再次更您联系。
祝安康。
园长
Kate Mount
Emma Huang works in Learning Community 2 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am – 5pm.
Sustainability in the ELC
As we welcome this warmer weather, the children have been busy in our ELC Community Garden preparing for summer and nursing our new fruits and vegetables!
The children decided together on the new summer plants, choosing tomatoes, corn, capsicum, carrots, zucchini, cucumber and strawberries!
“I can’t wait to pull these carrots out already.”— Harriet
“I have strawberries at my home too!” — Angelique
We have also noticed our established blueberry bush is ripening!
The children cannot wait to harvest this summer produce over the coming months. Stay tuned for what we create with these fruits and vegetables to share within the community!
Green and Clean Question of the Day: What new summer plants are growing in the Community Garden?
Staff Spotlight
Emma joined our team two years ago and quickly formed relationships with staff and families. Emma’s passion for immersing herself in ELC life was evident and she has become a highly valued member of our team. She supports the community with translating newsletters into mandarin and also assists families with English as an additional language transition into the ELC. Emma is based in the Hallett Room.
What is your teaching background?
I completed a Bachelor of Finance Engineering and worked in a bank before I came to Australia in 2012. My passion for early childhood education drove me to finish studying a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Diploma in two years and work in this field for six years. This is my third year at St Peter’s Girls’ ELC where I learn and grow a lot. I am also planning to go university to study further in the future.
Why are you passionate about working with children?
The child is made of one hundred languages. I enjoy playing, laughing, speaking, listening, thinking and loving with their one hundred languages during my daily practice. Their happiness, courage, creativity, empathy, natural curiosity and bright eyes inspire my passion for a positive work and life.
What makes the St Peter’s Girls’ ELC special?
When working at the ELC, I turn myself into a learner just like our ELC friends. A mathematician uses mathematical thinking to solve the problems. A dynamic dancer listens to the body on the stage. An artist can create masterpieces in the atelier by using clay or loose parts. A musician creates songs and sings along with the friends. A botanist walks in Ferguson Park and knows the native plants, like kangaroo thorn or magic tree. A pharmacist tells you that golden wattle plants can help your headache with water. A gardener plants the seasonal vegetables and fruits in the Community Garden. A cook uses the harvested food to make pizza, dips and all kinds of other delicious food. A photographer expresses himself through the lens.
I enjoy every special moment of being a member of the ELC community and work with beautiful people and families.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I enjoy spending my spare time with my two daughters, Chloe and Olivia, and my family. We go to the library or bookshops to choose books, go for a walk or a hike in nature, or catch up with our friends. I enjoy taking photos when we explore the world together during the holidays.
News from Learning Community 1
‘Nothing without joy’ – Loris Malaguzzi
In Term 4, we are exploring and researching the concept of joy alongside the children. A meaningful concept at the centre of our planning provides us with a compass for our work, guiding the decisions we make for the experiences we offer. We always take inspiration from the children themselves, and our observations of their engagement with storytelling, songs, music and painting in Term 3 inspired us to support the children to understand themselves better; to recognise their own gifts and talents, passions and curiosities. These are some of the ways in which we can experience joy, to know what we are good at, what we enjoy doing, and what our gifts can be for others.
Whether or not we celebrate Christmas as a religious festival or as a time to be merry with family and friends, the songs, music, stories and rituals we engage with at this time of year in Australia make it a very special season.
The children have been fascinated with stories told through song such as ‘The Little Drummer Boy’, ‘We Three Kings’ and ‘Away in a Manger’. We have read The Christmas Story by Dick Bruna and used fabrics and props to explore the characters through drama. We have seen the children take on these characters and ideas in their own play, wrapping up dolls, making presents for people and pretending to be babies in mangers! Through these examples of children in play, we can see they have been inspired to enjoy, love and recreate the stories they are sharing together.
In order to help them discover their own gifts, we asked them, ‘What could you give to a new baby?’ At first, all of them said ‘a toy’. We asked them to consider what they could give if they did not have money or any shops to go to. Like the ‘Little Drummer Boy’ playing his drum for baby Jesus, we all have something we can give.
‘I could do a ballet dance.’ – Jess
‘A flower.’ – Mila
‘I have some tiny teddies in my bag?’ – Molly C
‘I could give a cuddle.’ – Lola
‘I can tell a story.’ – Ava
‘I would make him dinner.’ – Axel
‘I can tell the message from the Angel.’ – Amaris
‘A hug.’ – Ally
‘A playdough cake for the baby Jesus.’ – Molly P
‘I can read a book.’ – Sebastian
When Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia project in Italy, said ‘Nothing without joy’, what he meant was this: if you learn something and there is no joy in the process, what is the point? There must always be a joyful path to knowledge. With thoughtful, careful planning and close observations of the children’s interests, we can ensure in this way we are all learning with joy.
Mel Angel and Annabelle Redmond
Learning Community 1
News from Learning Community 2
Collaboration and Connection – Deepening our Relationship with our School Community
There are many benefits to being part of an ELC to Year 12 school. We are fortunate to be able to access many of the resources that the School has to offer and we utilise them at every chance we get. We know that the children’s connection with the School community, resources and staff supports all transitions, and benefits all children. They have the opportunity to develop an understanding of school life and the expectations around being in a classroom environment.
This time of the year always brings about a sense of change. We start thinking and preparing some of our children for the next step in their learning journey, and we want to provide them with the necessary skills to make this change as positive and seamless as possible.
In order to do this, we focus closely on relationships with others, and this has continued through our close connection with the Mid-Year Reception class and their teacher, Miss Zoe West. This term, we have been working together, planning lessons with a focus on THRASS. What is THRASS you may ask? THRASS stands for: Teaching, Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills
“THRASS is a system for teaching learners of any age about the building blocks of reading and spelling – the 44 phonemes (speech sounds) of spoken English and the graphemes (spelling choices) of written English.” https://www.thrass.com.au
THRASS has been specifically chosen by the School and it is used in the classroom to support the children’s reading and writing. It is important that the children have had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with this tool for learning and have had the time to play with it and explore it.
The Mid-Year Reception girls have been supporting us in our ongoing explorations and have introduced us to a new range of concepts. We have been introduced to new words such as:
- Phoneme
- Grapheme
We explore sounds and letter names. We practise our emerging writing skills, and learning alongside our peers makes this time fun and builds our confidence. We usually have an activity we get to work on and the children are always proud of what they achieve. We take the time to share this learning amongst our friends when we return to the ELC and this experience continues to add to our skillset in preparation for Reception in 2021.
Kirsty Porplycia, Nell Tierney and Laura Reiters
Learning Community 2
Find Out What Happens Throughout
the Day at ELC
The ELC Learning Community Home Page is a dynamic online sharing space that invites you to participate in the communities’ learning as it happens. We use this tool to communicate important information with families and provide a window into the children’s life at the ELC, as educators share documentation of teaching, specialist lessons and spontaneous moments.
Accessing myLink for the first time:
- Visit https://mylink.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
- To set your password, click the link located below the sign in section
- Your user name was emailed to you upon your child’s commencement (see Helpdesk contact details below if you cannot source your user name)
- Enter your unique user name, click ‘Next’
- Enter the security code sent to your mobile
- Enter the password you would like to use and press submit
- Return to the login screen at https://mylink.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au to access myLink
- Several instructional videos are available via the Welcome page if you click on the ‘HELP’ menu tab
Accessing the Learning Community Home Page through myLink:
- Access myLink as per the above instructions
- Click on the ‘MYLINK HOME’ tab
- Click on your child’s name tab
- Under ‘Class Contacts’, click on the ELC room name (you may need to enter your user name and password again)
If you have any issues accessing or navigating myLink, please contact the IT Helpdesk via helpdesk@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au or 8334 2227.
ELC’s Online Etiquette Policy:
Please note that the ELC Learning Community Home Page and ELC News contain images and videos of other children. We therefore ask that you do not copy or share images or videos, especially on social media, if they contain other children.
Absences in the ELC
Student Absences
Please notify the School via one of the following methods for late arrivals/early departures and absences, ensuring a reason for the absence is included.
Text: 0428 601 957 (save to phone contacts as SPGS)
Email: attendance@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
Phone: 8334 2200 or phone the relevant room as per the contact list below.
Please include the relevant room teacher when sending via email.
ELC Room Contacts:
Bell Yett – 8155 5777
Ferguson – 8155 5776
Hallett – 8155 5775
Stonyfell – 8155 5778
ELC Immunisation Policy
Under the Government’s No Jab No Play policy, families must meet immunisation requirements to attend the ELC and receive the Child Care Subsidy. Families are required to provide all approved immunisation records to the ELC. Further information is available by clicking here.
Children who are suffering from illnesses such as those listed below must be excluded from ELC in line with our Exclusion Policy.
Influenza
Chicken Pox
Conjunctivitis
Diarrhoea
Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease
High Temperature
Infectious Hepatitis
Measles
Meningitis
Mumps
Rubella (German Measles)
Scabies
Scarlet Fever
School Sores (Impetigo)
Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
Vomiting
Whooping Cough