In this edition
Dear Families 
Our young learners need to be surrounded with mathematical language and concepts in both playful and intentional ways, and demonstrating a positive attitude to mathematics is key to their learning.
Every day, we engage with the children in mathematical experiences such as:
- Identifying a number before and after a given number
- Recognising numbers in the environment
- Making connections between number names, numerals, and quantities up to 10
This term, we have been especially focusing on data classification and geometry. We have provided a range of provocations within the Learning Communities for the children to explore these themes, thinking like mathematicians.
Classification is the skill of sorting or grouping items by similar characteristics, such as colours, shapes or sizes. The Learning Community 2 children have been studying and classifying fungi from their walks through Ferguson Park. By using descriptive language, they created data displays and refined their classification skills. Understanding classification is important for young children as it supports the development of scientific concepts, for example that things can belong to and be organised into different groups. Children naturally classify their knowledge to make sense of their world, and it is especially meaningful and inspiring to associate their innate need to organise things and concepts with a mathematical skill.
To share their discoveries with families and peers, we invited the children to create maps of Ferguson Park indicating where they found each type of fungi. Using positional language, the children learnt how to express where things are located or where they appear in relation to other things. Learning about directions and position is a fundamental skill to support their understanding of geometry.
As educators, we highlight when they use mathematics during their daily experiences and we provide playful experiences to explore the world around them with a mathematical lens. This will assist in building a curiosity around mathematics and encourage children to develop a stronger interest in STEM subjects as they progress through their educational journey at St Peter’s Girls’ School.
Caterina Pennestri
ELC Educational Leader
Important Dates
September 19, 20, 26: Parent-Teacher Conversations
Thursday September 22: Public Holiday (ELC Closed)
Monday October 3: Public Holiday (ELC Closed)
October 4 – 14: Vacation Care
Monday 17 October: Term 4 Begins
Vacation Care – Bookings Closing Soon
Vacation Care will run from Tuesday 4 to Friday 14 October. Please note Monday 3 October is a public holiday and the ELC will be closed.
Bookings close next Wednesday 21 September at 5pm.
Book your spot via www.trybooking.com/CCNLQ
Introducing Our Reimagined Friends of the ELC Group
Are you a parent/family member looking to be a part of our Friends of the ELC, connecting with other families and helping organise our ELC community events?
Our Friends of the ELC group previously held fortnightly meetings at a local coffee shop. As we juggle the reality of our busy lives, we have reimagined what this community group will look like, and how it can best support our ELC events and our wonderful community. We know there is nothing more important than building community around our children and offering a chance for families to engage, and so we have reflected upon the nature of these meetings.
Moving forward, the Friends of the ELC will hold casual get-togethers on Friday of Week 2 each term, from 8 – 9.30am, in the School’s Chapel. The meetings will enable families to connect while we will discuss the volunteering opportunities for the term ahead, organise helpers for our upcoming ELC events, and ensure we continue to give value and voice to our parents, families and other community members.
If you’re interested in joining our reimagined Friends of the ELC, there will be no ‘lock-in contracts’ – just an opportunity to further engage with one another and the ELC. Morning tea and coffee will be provided. We welcome all help and participation from our community however it fits into your busy schedules.
If you’re interested in coming along to our first meeting on Friday 28 October (Week 2, Term 4), please email me via hbalnaves@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
Henrietta Balnaves
ELC Manager
Our Sustainability Journey
Spring has sprung and our ELC Community Garden is ready for replanting! The children have shared a very keen interest in gardening, with Learning Community 1 exploring fresh produce and the possibilities within the kitchen, and Learning Community 2 investigating the lifecycle of seeds and growing their own broad beans. They have also spent time with their hands in the dirt ripping out all our old winter vegetable plants to make way for the new.
As educators, we have a responsibility to ensure children are learning 21st century skills. Our ELC Community Garden is a fantastic environment where children can build innovation and collaboration, develop their social skills through democratic practices and group decisions, and learn to become responsible global citizens.
We are hoping to fill each of our garden beds with fresh spring produce, whether it be from seeds, seedlings or established plants. We are extending this opportunity to all of our families and community to share any ideas, seeds and/or gardening tips so we can begin planting in Week 10.
We invite you to share your suggestions with us on the board in the ELC Foyer over the next week.
By gathering this data from our families and our wider community, the children can collate the suggestions and engage in creative ways of voting, enabling them to feel connected to the process and have a say in what they care for. This process acts as a magnet of connection and responsibility to our ELC Community Garden.
Henrietta Balnaves
ELC Manager
2023 ELC Enrolment Requirements
We are working through our intake offers for next year and need to ensure our current families have their allocated days in place.
Please notify me ASAP 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
Saints Girls’ Old Scholar Juliana (Selwyn 2000) holds a Bachelor of Education (Early Years) and has a breadth of early years teaching experience, having taught in London, Singapore, Vietnam and Italy, as well as here in Adelaide. She has a passion for working with the youngest members of our School community, helping them to feel that sense of belonging which is so important in the early years.
Why are you passionate about working with children?
Young children are such open-minded and creative thinkers. They always have their eyes and hearts open to the wonder of the world. I hope that through my practice with young children, this natural instinct of children is nurtured. As an early childhood teacher, it is my responsibility to guide, encourage and support students to develop a love of learning and to help them to feel the success that ultimately leads to further success. I believe that the experiences of an individual’s early education set the foundation for later academic and social-emotional development.
What makes St Peter’s Girls’ ELC special?
The opportunities available to the children are what make our ELC special. There is something for every child to feel success in and to explore their ‘Hundred Languages’. The children have opportunities to explore the great outdoors in Ferguson Park or the grounds of the School, Visual Arts with Ms Caterina, music, languages and gross motor sessions. There is something available for every child to feel successful and find their voice.
What does a typical day look like in Learning Community 2?
Plenty of self-directed play in spaces that are focused on our current area of inquiry. Indoor and outdoor play is a must for helping develop strong relationships between the children as they negotiate, share and co-construct their play. There is always a lot of busy noise and chat in the LC2 spaces as the children explore in beautiful language-rich environments. We also have lots of small group learning experiences where we are able to delve more deeply into our inquiries with teacher-led learning. Groups may go off to the Library, gross motor activities, music sessions or explore Ferguson Park. Some of our older girls may also go and visit the Reception classes to help ensure a smooth transition to school.
What is your favourite memory from the St Peter’s Girls’ ELC?
The joy the children have shown when discovering the fungi in Ferguson Park and learning the funny names they have such as Green skinhead and Jelly babies. This joy and amusement is why I am so passionate about working with young children.
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 School has received reports of concerning driver behaviour on Hallett Road. This includes holding up traffic while waiting for cars to leave in order to park near the ELC, performing risky u-turns and parking in bus zones. As our staff have no jurisdiction over public roads, the School will be asking the police to conduct regular patrols at peak times. We implore all of our community members to support road safety and show courtesy to others.
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
亲爱的家长朋友们，
我们年轻的学习者们需要被既好玩又有意义的数学语言和概念包围着，同样展示积极的态度是他们学习的关键所在。
每一天我们鼓励孩子们参与到各种数学活动中去，比如：
- 在给出一个数字的前一个和后一个数字下，标识出这个数字
- 在环境中辨别数字
- 在十以内的数字中以数字的名字，数字和数量之间建立联接
在这个学期里我们特别关注数据的分类和几何。在学习社区中，我们提供给孩子们一系列的挑战去探索这些主题，如同数学家一样思考。
分类是把事物按照不同的相似的特征（比如按照颜色、形状以及尺寸大小）进行分类分组的技巧。学习二社区的孩子们通过弗格森公园的探索之路，对菌类进行学习和分类。通过描述性的语言，他们创作的数据展示了他们对分类技能更好的完善。理解如何分类对幼儿学习是十分重要的。它帮助了对于科学概念的形成发展，比如事物属于并可以被分为不同的的类别。孩子们自然地将他们的知识分类，对此来理解世界。这是特别有意义和鼓舞人心的，以他们内在的学习需要，并通过数学的技能来联系他们对组织事物以及事物的概念。
为了与家人和小伙伴们分享他们的发现，我们邀请孩子们来制作弗格森公园的地图，指出他们在哪里发现的每一种菌类。通过使用地理位置的语言，孩子们学会了如何表达事物的位置或在那个地方与它相关的其他事物。学习方向和位置是帮助他们理解几何的基本技能。
作为教育工作者，我们希望提高他们在日常生活中对数学的运用。我们提供有趣的体验，让他们有机会用数学的视角探索周围的世界。这将有助于建立对数学的好奇心，并鼓励孩子们在圣彼得女校的教育旅程中对STEM学科产生更强烈的兴趣。
Emma Huang works in Learning Community 1 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am – 5pm.
News from Learning Community 1
An ability to recognise feelings and emotions in ourselves and others, known as emotional awareness, is important for the development of children’s wellbeing. In order to develop their emotional awareness, children need to experience the range of emotions in a safe and supportive environment. They need to feel connected to others to nurture their emotional wellbeing and be able to explore ways to express how they are feeling.
We embrace opportunities to name emotions and support the development of strategies children can use to recognise, manage and express different feelings in appropriate ways. Through this term’s unit of inquiry, ‘Welcoming transformation can support wellbeing’, we have been exploring the concept of transformation of our emotions. Children have been supported to develop their understanding of their feelings and those of others.
We have provided opportunities for children to explore how emotions can be represented through different facial expressions and body language, and to recognise how emotions feel in their bodies. We have begun discussions around how feelings and emotions are natural reactions to different situations and that there are appropriate ways to express all emotions. We have also been exploring strategies we can use to make ourselves feel better if we are feeling sad or angry.
The children have begun spontaneously recognising and naming their own feelings and those of others in social play and interactions. They have been supporting each other through connection and comfort to work through the range of emotions.
Jessica Guimaraes and Jess Catt
Learning Community 1
News from Learning Community 2
In recent weeks, the children and educators of Learning Community 2 have been exploring, investigating, classifying and documenting the fungi in Ferguson Park. We have become mycologists, or fungi experts! We wanted to find out more and were able to reach out to an old friend. Professor Geoffrey Bishop runs the Friends of Ferguson Park, a volunteer group that looks after and cares for the park. He has supported us in the past to identify various plants that can be found in the park, and along with his knowledge of Botany, he is also a mycologist.
Professor Bishop visited us in the Centre and shared that there are over 50 different species of fungi that can be found in Ferguson Park. He showed us photos that he has taken of various fungi from both the park and around his home in the Adelaide Hills. We then went into the park to see if we could find and share some of the fungi we have been noticing.
Along with our scientific focus, Miss Caterina has been supporting the children in the Atelier to explore creative ways we can document and represent fungi. The children have been introduced to Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist who makes different types of art – paintings, sculptures, performances and installations – they have one thing in common, DOTS!
She produced a series of colourful paintings of mushrooms covered in dots, illustrating fungi in different shapes, sizes and colours. We invited the children to use their imagination to create their own mushroom artworks inspired by Yayoi’s experience, harnessing a variety of graphic materials and paper.
Through the lens of our inquiry, these are just two examples of how our learning is transdisciplinary. Our curriculum areas are merged through creativity, wonder and curiosity. For children, learning isn’t compartmentalised, it is holistic, and this is why it is important that we offer our children multiple and varied opportunities for exploring and investigating the world around them.
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. The School requires a reason for the absence for government reporting purposes.
Text: 0428 601 957 (save to phone contacts as SPGS)
Email: attendance@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au (If emailing, please ‘CC’ the teacher of the Room as well)
ELC Room Contacts:
- Stonyfell – 8155 5778
- Bell Yett – 8155 5777
- Ferguson – 8155 5776
- Hallett – 8155 5775
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