In this edition
Dear Families
We are thrilled to welcome you back to what is shaping up to be a busy and exciting term in the ELC. It was wonderful to hear about our Vacation Care program and children’s engagement in the many learning opportunities it provided. I would like to thank Sera Boccaccio, Alexandra Portus and Valentina Fenandes for the work they put into organising our Vacation care program and ensuring it ran smoothly.
Over the holidays I was fortunate to visit Reggio Emilia in Italy along with Jess Catt, Elina Qian and Emma Huang. This was a wonderful experience that reinforced the incredible work that is happening across our Learning Communities. It was a great opportunity to engage in rich dialogue about early childhood education with teachers and educators from across the world.
Key themes included the rights of the child and collegiality amongst staff. Every child has the right to rich early learning that establishes strong relationships, is responsive to their needs, builds on their current knowledge and understandings, supports them to express themselves, nurtures their creativity and sparks curiosity, wonder and joy. In everything that we do, we need to come back to ‘the image of the child’ as capable, competent and full of unlimited potential. This should be the driver for how we establish our learning environments, plan for learning, engage with children and foster community.
Collegiality was another important theme. This highlights the shared responsibility we all have for providing a rich learning environment, where children feel happy, safe and connected. It was such a pleasure to return to St Peter’s Girls’ ELC and see the Rights of the Child and collegiality so evident in our Centre’s day-to-day practices and operations.
We are on a cycle of continuous improvement and as such, we are looking forward to sharing our experiences and learning from Reggio Emilia with our staff to explore how we can build on our offerings to children and families.
Liz Schembri
Director of ELC
Important Dates
Friday 12 May: Mothers and Treasured Friends’ Afternoon Tea
Tuesday 16 May: Learning Community 1 Photo Day
Wednesday 17 May: Playgroup Photo Day
Thursday 18 May: Learning Community 2 Photo Day
Monday 29 May: ELC Reconciliation Week Celebration
Monday 12 June: Public Holiday (ELC Closed)
Wednesday 14 June: New Family Welcome Evening
Monday 26 June: ELC Hat Ceremony
3–24 July: Vacation Care
Our Central Idea in Term 2
Each term across the Centre we have a Unit of Inquiry that we focus on. These units are based on specific conceptual understandings or big ideas known as the ‘Central Idea’. This term our Central Idea is ‘People can collaborate and learn together in our community’.
This will be a wonderful opportunity for children to build on their sense of identity as they recognise themselves as part of a wider community. Watch our video for further information.
We would love to hear from you if you have an area of expertise that could support us on this exciting journey of discovery.
Celebrate our Learning
In celebration of a wonderful beginning to the year and a full term of learning, we invite families and treasured friends to join us in Week 3 to view your child’s Portfolio.
Each child’s Portfolio will be available to look at together during drop-off and pick-up times across the week.
Mothers and Treasured Friends’ Afternoon Tea
Next Friday 12 May at 2pm, we are hosting our annual Mothers and Treasured Friends’ Afternoon Tea in the ELC.
We will be celebrating Mother’s Day and the inspirational women in the children’s lives including mothers, grandmothers and aunties. We look forward to seeing you there!
Pre-service Teachers at the ELC
This term we welcome two pre-service teachers to our ELC. They are joining us for their professional experience placement from 1 May to 1 June.
Darcey Farmer will be working with children in the Hallett Room and Layne Beveridge will be joining us in the Pathway Room.
Both Darcey and Layne are in their third year at Uni SA studying a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education. They are looking forward to working with the children and developing positive relationships.
Photo Days in Term 2
We are looking forward to our upcoming photo days this term. The structure for how photos will be taken has changed for 2023. To maintain consistency for children and families, and to ensure minimal disruption to the Learning Communities, there will be an allocated photo day for each Learning Community.
Tuesday 16 May – Learning Community 1 (Bell Yett and Stonyfell)
Wednesday 17 May – Playgroup
Thursday 18 May – Learning Community 2 (Ferguson, Hallett and Pathway)
Please note that photos will only be taken of children in each Learning Community on the allocated day above.
If your child does not attend ELC on the allocated day and you would like them to have their photo taken, you are welcome to bring them into the Centre on the day. Group photos will commence at 9.30am, followed by individual photos (with children who have been brought in specially photographed first).
Please ensure that your child is wearing their ELC uniform with neatly styled hair on the day.
If you require further information, please email Fiona McGregor via fmcgregor@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.
Our ELC photos are incredibly special mementos which require a considerable amount of organisation, so we appreciate your support and timely arrival on these days.
News from Vacation Care
During Vacation Care the children in Learning Community 2 immersed themselves in the world of palaeontology. Over the two-week period, our young paleontologists worked together to explore the functions of a Museum, Dig Site and Library. They enjoyed making fossils out of salt dough, collecting data at our dig site, building their research skills in our library and curating their very own exhibition in our Hallett Museum. This exploration provided us with the opportunity to share knowledge as a community whilst developing our relationships.
In Learning Community 1 the Hallett Garden engaged children’s interest and curiosity. It is wonderful to hear how the children have been watering, weeding and nurturing the garden beds and observing the growth of the plants. Children expressed their learning in may ways including through mark making, role play and discussing their observations. Ferguson Park continues to delight the children as they learn about nature and their environment.
来自ELC园长：
亲爱的家长朋友们，
我们非常高兴地欢迎你回到这个即将到来的忙碌而激动人心的学期。我们听到假期日托班孩子们的学习，以及孩子们有各种机会积极的参与其中，真是太好了。在此，我想要感谢Sera Boccaccio，Alexandra Portus 和 Valentina Fenande这些教师为组织我们的假期日托班所做的工作，并确保它顺利进行。
在假期里，我很幸运地和Jess Catt, Elina Qian和Emma Huang一起去了意大利的Reggio Emilia。这是一次美妙的经历，加强了我们学习社区正在进行的令人难以置信的工作。这是一个与来自世界各地的教师和教育工作者就幼儿教育进行丰富对话的好机会。
主要主题包括儿童权利和教育工作者共同合作。每个孩子都有权获得丰富的早期学习，这种学习可以建立牢固的关系，满足他们的需求，以他们现有的知识和理解为基础，支持他们表达自己，培养他们的创造力，激发他们的好奇心、求知欲和快乐学习。在我们所做的每一件事中，我们都需要以“孩子的形象”为中心，即有能力和充满无限潜力的形象。这应该成为我们如何建立学习环境、制定学习计划、与儿童互动和培育社区的驱动力。
在共同合作这一重要的主题中，强调了我们所有人都有责任提供一个丰富的学习环境，让孩子们感到快乐、安全和相互联系。我很高兴回到圣彼得女校早教中心，看到孩子们的合作精神在我们早教中心的日常实践和运作中是如此的明显。
我们正处于不断改进的周期中，因此，我们期待着与我们的教师们分享我们的经验，并向Reggio Emilia教育理念学习，探索如何为儿童和家庭提供更好服务。
Liz Schembri
园长
Emma Huang works in Learning Community 1 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am – 5pm.
News from Learning Community 1
Welcome to Term 2! We are delighted to be with our young friends once again. This term we welcome Miss Redmond back into our Learning Community after the birth of her son Remy. Annabelle will be working in the Stonyfell Room with Mrs Tierney as the teacher on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. As a teaching team we are working collaboratively across Bell Yett and Stonyfell Rooms leading intentional learning groups with children from both rooms. We value all learning opportunities as a chance to gain a deeper understanding of the unique gifts of each child in our community.
Our central idea for the term is ‘People can collaborate and learn together in our community’. Our chosen concept to explore is function. We will be working alongside the children to discover, research and build their knowledge and understanding that everything has a purpose, a role and a function in our community. We will challenge and expand the children’s thinking, exploring dispositions for learning including curiosity, problem solving and creativity as we unpack the value in being a global citizen and what it means for future generations.
Some of the questions we will pose to the children include:
- Why do we have bins? Why are they different colours?
- What is your role in the classroom? The role of the teacher?
- Why do you come to school?
- Why do we eat? Why do we drink?
- Where does it come from?
- Why do we acknowledge Reconciliation Week?
This week we will begin our regular visits to Ferguson Park. We will share and explore the Reconciliation story with the children, valuing the importance of our history is vital as we move towards walking side by side in harmony. As we gather in a Palti Circle we will consider Tamaru’s teachings about ways our interconnection with plants, trees and animals can promote sustainable living.
We look forward to the many opportunities this term will present for deep learning.
Nell Tierney, Annabelle Redmond and Jess Catt
Learning Community 1
News from Learning Community 2
Welcome to Term 2 in Learning Community 2! We have begun the term by celebrating the wonderful learning that occurred during Vacation Care, led by Alexandra Portus. The children were introduced to the concept of ‘function’, where they explored the functions of spaces and jobs associated with Paleontology. They created a beautiful exhibition in the ‘Hallett Museum’ using recycled boxes as display cases that housed our handmade fossils and research labels. The children were excited about their exhibition so they decided to create invitations and invite the children in LC1 to our opening. This work is still in the Hallett Room and we invite you to pop in and take a look.
The concept of function will be our focus this term as we observe the children and offer initial provocations for learning. The educators use the start of term to introduce ideas and test experiences to see where the gaze of the child lays. We also bring a range of observations from last term, as well as areas we need to continue to develop with the children. As you enter your children’s rooms, we encourage you to look around and see what you notice, what provocations have been offered to the children and consider where you think our inquiry learning will lead.
Chloe Skoss and Laura Reiters
Learning Community 2
News from Our Pathway Room
Last week a friend in the Pathway Room exclaimed, “In six days I am turning 5. Then I will be going to school. I am going to miss you then.” This is an exciting time for many of our Pathway friends as they enter their last weeks as an ELC student. This term brings a time of reflection on the past and wondering about the future. The teachers in the Pathway Room will support each child in the next step of their educational journey as they prepare for starting school. We will embrace formal transition visits to school and share in the excitement alongside the children. Over the term we will delve more deeply into our inquiry further developing the children’s curiosity and interest in engaging in a shared learning investigation.
Kirsty Porplycia and Kathy McCabe
Pathway Room
Sun Safety in the ELC
We have a Sun Safe Policy to ensure that each child minimises any health risks due to sun exposure. We ask that you support this policy by:
- Providing your child with a named wide brimmed hat.
- Applying sunscreen before your child comes to the Centre
- Dressing your child in the ELC uniform to ensure that their skin is appropriately covered when outdoors.
Children not wearing a hat will be required to play in an area protected from the sun. If your child has any sensitivities to the SP50+ broad spectrum and water-resistant sunscreen provided by the Centre, we ask that you supply an alternative for us to use throughout the day.
Appropriate footwear is also required and we ask that children wear sneakers or sandals that have a backing to them. For visits into Ferguson Park, long pants and closed-toed shoes are required.
Important Allergy Information
Please remember allergy awareness when packing food for your child.
We kindly ask you to refrain from packing nuts or nut products in your child’s lunch box.
We have members of our community across the Centre with severe food allergies to the following:
- Nuts
- Dairy
- Sesame
- Fish and shellfish
- Egg
- Banana
Due to the severity of these allergies, we are asking that you be mindful of this when packing food for your child. Please ensure food is safely packaged and/or contained.
If you have any questions, please see your child’s Room Teacher. We appreciate your cooperation in keeping our community safe.
COVID-19 Information
Please find the latest guidance from SA Health:
- It is strongly recommended that students stay home if they have cold or flu-like symptoms, and test for COVID-19.
- Whether they receive a positive or negative result, they should stay home until symptoms subside (usually five to seven days).
- It is strongly recommended that parents/guardians inform the School if a student is a close contact. For further advice regarding close contacts, click here
If your child tests positive to COVID-19, please notify the School. Please also notify the School each day of absence, or provide the expected period of absence.
You can notify us via one of the following methods. Please include the name of the ELC Room. If emailing, feel free to ‘CC’ the teacher/s of the room as well.
Email: attendance@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
Text: 0428 601 957 (save to phone contacts as SPGS)
Phone: 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
For more SA Health information, click here
Please note that if your child is unwell, they should remain home until they have recovered, irrespective of the illness.
Find Out What Happens Throughout the Day at ELC
myLink is our School’s parent portal, where families have access to a range of resources including the ELC Home Page. Our ELC Home Page is a dynamic online sharing space that invites you to participate in our learning. We use this tool to house important information for families and provide a window into your child’s life at the ELC, with educators sharing documentation of teaching, specialist lessons and spontaneous moments.
This page can also be accessed through your smartphone, via the Canvas App.
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)
Accessing the Canvas Parent App for the first time:
- Ensure you have previously logged in to myLink on a PC
- Download the Canvas Parent App from your App Store
- Click the ‘Find School’ button
- Look up: stpetersgirls
- Log in using your parent username and password
- Tap on ‘ELC 2023’
- Click on ‘Front Page’ on the top right-hand side
- Here, you can navigate the page through the app
Please note: we do not use the message feature on this app, and ask families to contact their child’s teacher via email rather than this message feature.
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
If your child will not be attending ELC due to illness or otherwise, please notify the School via one of the following methods and include the name of the ELC Room.
If emailing, feel free to ‘CC’ the teacher/s of the room as well. Please also provide a reason for the absence as the School requires this for government reporting purposes.
Email: attendance@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
Text: 0428 601 957 (save to phone contacts as SPGS)
Phone: 8334 2200
ELC Room Contacts
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- Stonyfell – 8155 5778
- Bell Yett – 8155 5780
- Ferguson – 8155 5776
- Hallett – 8155 5775
- Pathway – 8334 2250
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
As part of our approach to prioritising health and safety, we implement effective hygiene practices and work to prevent and effectively deal with any infectious disease in line with the Education and Care Services National Regulations and the advice of health experts. If your child has one of the following, chickenpox, measles, rubella, meningococcal or tuberculosis or any other vaccine preventable diseases we ask that you inform the Centre as soon as possible.