In this edition
Dear Families 
At St Peter’s Girls’ ELC, we support and nourish ‘the Hundred Languages of Children’ in line with the Reggio Emilia educational project.
Every day, our children are exposed to a variety of artistic languages and materials in order to extend their learning and encourage their creativity. The graphic language of drawing is just one of the languages we are currently exploring together.
Mark-making and graphic representations are fundamental for children’s understanding of the world around them, creating meaning around their learning experiences, and developing observational and fine motor skills.
We provide a variety of pencils and markers in different thickness and textures in order to inspire children’s curiosity and research skills. In the Atelier, we display and curate paper and graphic tools to enable the children to refine and revisit their drawing skills. The graphic representation is often the first step during our inquiry because it is important for the children to shape their theories.
In Learning Community 1, the children have been designing self-portraits using an assortment of graphic materials. This becomes a vehicle to explore themselves and their feelings, encouraging creative thinking and language development. They not only explore and exercise their graphic skills, they reflect on themselves, on their physical features and bodies. They enrich their vocabulary and descriptive language while observing themselves in the mirror.
Their facial expressions are extremely connected with their feelings and emotions. When the children create their faces, they are also able to name and describe their feelings. We intentionally harness dialogue between the graphic language and photography to extend the children’s observation of themselves and exploration of their facial expressions. The link between self-portrait and identity is fundamental in order to recognise themselves as individuals in relation to a community.
Through photographic portraits, the children recognise themselves and their friends. They carefully observe and research details; they are able to match different shades, colours and shapes. They also familiarise themselves with the language of photography, using the camera as a creative and interactive tool.
By inspiring the children with these creative languages, we provide learning opportunities to express themselves, their feelings and support their wellbeing. We look forward to sharing with you our educational documentation and the amazing self-portrait gallery made by our young artists.
Caterina Pennestri
ELC Educational Leader
Important Dates
Wednesday 31 August: Fathers and Special Friends’ Breakfast
September 19, 20, 26: Parent-Teacher Conversations
Monday October 3: Public Holiday (ELC Closed)
October 4 – 14: Vacation Care
Parent-Teacher Conversations
ELC Parent-Teacher Conversations will take place on Monday 19, Tuesday 20 and Monday 26 September. There are designated 15-minute time slots for families to meet with your child’s teacher.
We strongly encourage you to book a meeting with your child’s teacher. From these discussions, future goals for your child may be created to ensure they reflect the perspectives of parents and educators.
Bookings can be made via myLink from Monday 22 August:
- Log in to the myLink Parent Portal with your username and password. The username is your ID number followed by @stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
- If you don’t know your password, use the link provided on the login page to reset it.
- Once you have logged in and arrive on the Welcome page, click the ‘Community Portal’ tab in the top menu, then click the ‘Interviews’ tab and select the required cycle. You can log in and change your booking any time up to 5pm Wednesday 14 September.
If you require myLink assistance, please contact the IT Helpdesk via 08 8334 2227 or helpdesk@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.
You’re Invited to Our Fathers and Special Friends’ Breakfast
You’re invited to a breakfast on Wednesday 31 August from 7.30am in the ELC. We will be celebrating the inspirational people in the children’s lives including fathers, grandfathers and uncles.
We look forward to strengthening the wonderful connections we have with our ELC families.
2023 ELC Enrolment Requirements
We are currently preparing our 2023 intake offers and need to ensure our current families have their allocated days in place.
Please notify me via selliott@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au if you require an amendment to your days moving forward in 2023, or if you are leaving the Centre at the end of this year.
Sarah Elliott
ELC Enrolments and Finance Officer
Staff Spotlight
With 20 years’ experience working in childcare in Adelaide and overseas, we are delighted to introduce Julia Phillips, a Co-Educator in Learning Community 1. She is currently undertaking her Certificate III in Childcare as well as studying part-time at Flinders University to become a Registered Nurse.
Why are you passionate about working with children?
I just love that every day is a new day for them. I enjoy watching children grow and progress through life, asking lots of questions along the way.
What makes St Peter’s Girls’ ELC special?
I love how the different rooms in the Centre integrate with each other and the amazing activities the children are encouraged to take part in during their learning journey with us! I also admire the freedom our children have in their play and learning, and I am loving working with other incredible educators.
What is your favourite memory from the St Peter’s Girls’ ELC?
I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the new children gain confidence and getting used to being a part of the St Peter’s Girls’ ELC community. The children who have been there longer are pivotal in making this happen and they are amazing at making our new friends feel included.
Our Sustainability Journey
In Learning Community 1, the children have been visiting our ELC Community Garden in small groups; for some, the first time exploring this treasured space.
Our garden is a wonderful place full of excitement, opportunity and action, where children can explore their natural world and see first-hand the cause and effect that occurs when they care for and show responsibility for their environment.
For some of our youngest learners, this hands-on approach is such a great way to connect them to the learning, and build a lifelong positive relationship to healthy foods that they can grow and eat.
This week, a group of children have been watering the garden and investigating what we are growing…carrots and snow peas!
Not only does this space in our Centre support and sustain children’s connection to the garden and to the natural environment, but it also offers them a chance to reap the rewards of hard work by harvesting the fresh produce.
We are so lucky to have Miss Danniella Capaldo and Mrs Valentina Fernandes (who are wonderful cooks themselves) leading our Learning Community 1 garden-to-plate cooking experiences! Keep an eye out for what our children create in the kitchen soon.
n making this happen and they are amazing at making our new friends feel included.
Important Reminders
Please carefully read the following important reminders:
- Please close all doors and safety gates behind you when entering and exiting the ELC. Whilst we appreciate the kind gesture, please refrain from holding open entry/exit doors or gates for other children unless they are accompanied by an adult.
- We ask families to bring your entry key fobs to ELC each day. If you need to order a new fob and/or report a lost one, email selliott@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.
- Please ensure children wear appropriate shoes and clothing for our indoor and outdoor activities; this includes no dress ups or long necklaces.
The welfare of all children in our community is our utmost priority and we appreciate your cooperation.
Henrietta Balnaves
ELC Manager
COVID-19 Information
If your child tests positive to COVID-19, notify us immediately. Please also advise the type of test (RAT/PCR), the date your child’s test was taken and the date symptoms started (if no symptoms, note ‘asymptomatic’).
Please notify us via email or text:
Email: attendance@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
Text: 0428 601 957 (save to phone contacts as SPGS)
If you need to notify us over the phone, please call the Front Office on 8334 2200.
If children are displaying symptoms, it is mandatory that we send them home. SA Health guidelines advise that symptoms include:
- Fever (a temperature of 37.5˚C or higher) or chills
- Cough
- Loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Tiredness (fatigue)
- Runny or blocked nose
- Shortness of breath (difficulty breathing)
- Nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea
- Headache
- Muscle or joint pain
- Loss of appetite
Should your child develop any symptoms, even mild ones, they must not attend ELC and should be tested for COVID-19. Those with symptoms who test negative using a RAT must undertake a PCR test to confirm that result. Students who have previously tested positive and have completed isolation in the past 28 days do not need to undertake testing.
Under SA Health protocols, asymptomatic children who are close contacts can attend ELC, provided they undertake 5 Rapid Antigen Tests over 7 days and receive negative results.
Please also note that face masks are strongly recommended indoors for adults, including visitors, except if it impedes the ability to teach or interact with children.
来自黄老师的信息
摄影和图形——学习社区1对话中的语言
在圣彼得女校早教中心，我们支持和培养儿童的百种“语言”。
我们的孩子每天都接触各种艺术语言和材料，以丰富他们的学习和鼓励他们的创造力。绘画的“图形语言”是我们目前共同探索的语言之一。
“创作标记”和“图形表现”是儿童理解周围世界的基础，使他们的学习经历有意义，发展观察能力和精细运动技能。
我们提供不同粗细程度和纹理的铅笔和马克笔，以激发孩子们的好奇心和研究技能。在美术工作室中，我们向孩子们展示和准备了不同的纸张和图形工具，使孩子们回顾以及完善他们的绘画技能。在我们的探索过程中，图形表现通常是我们观察的第一步，因为它是孩子们塑造和创造他们的理论的基础。
在学习社区1中，孩子们使用各种图形材料创作自画像。这成为一个探索他们自己和他们的感受的载体，鼓励创造性思维和语言发展。
在创作他们的自画像时，孩子们不仅探索和锻炼他们的绘画技能，他们还思考自己，探究他们的身体特征。他们通过观察镜子中的自己来丰富自己的词汇和描述性语言。
他们的面部表情与他们的感觉和情绪密切相关。当孩子们创造自己的脸时，他们也能够命名和描述自己的感受。我们有意创造图形语言与摄影之间的对话，以延伸儿童对自身的观察，探索他们的面部表情。自画像和身份之间的联系是基础，以辨识出他们作为个人在一个社区中的联系。
通过照片，孩子们认出了自己和他们的朋友。他们仔细观察和研究细节，他们能够匹配出不同明暗度、颜色和形状。他们也熟悉摄影的语言，使用相机作为创意和互动的工具。
通过这些创造性的语言来启发孩子们，创造了学习机会，使孩子们能够表达自己，他们的情感并且支持他们的身心健康。
我们期待与您分享我们的教学成果和令人惊叹的自画像画廊——来自我们年轻的“艺术家们”。
Emma Huang works in Learning Community 1 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am – 5pm.
News from Learning Community 1
‘Research shows relationships are central to children developing acceptance, self-esteem and higher functioning thinking skills that contribute to positive learning and life outcomes.’ – Early Childhood Australia
As humans, we thrive on connections and relationships with others. At St Peter’s Girls’ ELC, we prioritise the development of connections for children: connections with educators, connections with peers, and connections with spaces and experiences.
When children feel connected, they develop their sense of security and comfort, and this allows them to play, explore and learn about their world. Feelings of connection also support children to develop their sense of wellbeing and raise their self-esteem.
We provide opportunities for encounter and connection throughout the day. Spaces and experiences are curated to allow children to develop their awareness of others and engage in reciprocal interactions. This includes opportunities for connection through our Learning Community rituals, and in small and large group play and experiences.
When children develop connections and relationships with others, they are also developing social skills which are fundamental for their learning and engagement both now and in the future.
Jessica Guimaraes and Jess Catt
Learning Community 1
News from Learning Community 2
This term, Learning Community 2 is developing a sense of place through geographic experiences. This helps build the social and emotional foundation that our children need to develop a footing on how we are connected to others and the environment.
As part of our unit of inquiry into transformation and the journey of knowledge, we have been reading the Aboriginal book When We Go Walkabout by Rhonda and Alfred Lalara. We have been using this book to help focus our Mathematics skills on direction and positional language.
In small learning groups, we have been refining how to use both mapping and storytelling together to create our own map involving a journey to some of our favourite places such as our home, the shops and the ELC. The children have been exploring ways to draw and create their own map.
Through play-based curriculum, children have been practising positional language with games in small groups such as Follow the Leader, Hide and Seek-themed experiences and Simon Says. We have noticed children are becoming more proficient using this language in their everyday play.
We look forward to sharing more of our mathematical learnings with you over the term.
Nell Tierney, Kathy McCabe 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:
Each parent has an individual username to access our myLink Parent Portal.
Please note that the username is your ID number followed by @stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
Your ID number has been provided to you in an email from the School
If you have not accessed myLink before or have forgotten your password, please follow these steps:
- Visit https://mylink.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
- Sign in with your parent username
- Click on ‘Forgot my password’
- Make sure the ‘email’ address is your parent username, type in the code, then click the blue ‘Next’ button
- Enter your mobile number registered with the School, with the area code (Australia is +61), dropping the 0 at the beginning (e.g. +61 400000000). Then select ‘Text’
- Enter the security code sent to your mobile number
- Enter the password you would like to use and click ‘Finish’
- Return to the login screen at https://mylink.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au to access myLink
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 our IT Hub 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