From the Director of Early Learning
Dear Families,
With so many families making times to meet with the teachers last week, we were able to connect with you and share your child’s journey in Term 1. Many families were involved in setting learning goals with their teacher for next term. This partnership enables us to work together to create strategies at home and at ELC to support the goals. Thank you for giving up your time and rearranging your busy schedules to meet with your teachers. The teachers were empowered by this opportunity and the sharing of information, further developing their understanding of your child.
We celebrate a busy and exciting Term 1, one where foundations have been laid, learning communities have been formed and trust has been built. Although our ELC continues operation throughout the school holiday period, our teachers take a well-earned break. During this time the co-educators will run Vacation Care and familiar faces will be at the centre to greet you if you have booked your child in.
We wish all families a relaxing and happy Easter break. We look forward to welcoming you back for the commencement of Term 2 on Monday 1 May.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any queries regarding Vacation Care at kmount@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.
Kate Mount
Director of Early Learning
Thank you to the Friends of the ELC
This Thursday, staff and children will enjoy some beautiful hot cross buns for morning tea. These are a gift from the Friends of the ELC. A special thank you to Drakes Supermarket for supplying the buns.
Did you know?
At the ELC we talk a lot about the Easter Bilby instead of the Easter Bunny. The bilby is an endangered species and lives in the Australian desert. You can see a bilby at the zoo or at Cleland Wildlife Park.
On Thursday, we will have a special visit to the Hallett Room from the Easter Bilby who will read the children the famous story Hunwick’s Egg.
Please look out for the bilby when next visiting the zoo.
There are many Easter Bilby books available so you might like to read some together over the holiday break.
Reminder – Vacation Care Program
As our official term ends on Thursday 13 April and does not recommence until Monday 1 May, the centre provides a Vacation Care Program for the school holiday period. Complete the booking form below to secure your child’s place. You will note there are half day and full day options available.
For our new families, please also note that your regular bookings during term time do not apply for Vacation Care. You can book as many sessions as you need during this time.
Our Vacation Care Coordinators are Miss Galia Kay and Miss Annabelle Redmond. We will place additional information and forms to support families in the front foyer as you enter from Hallett Road.
Note that the ELC will be closed on all public holidays.
Please address any queries to Miss Kay or Miss Redmond, their emails are available on the booking form.
Please ensure you have secured your Vacation Care bookings for next week. Children must be booked in to attend the service during this holiday period.
Save the date
| 14 April: | Easter and school holidays |
| 18 – 28 April: | Vacation Care Program |
| 12 May: | Mothers’ Day Tea Party |
Letter from Miss Qian
亲爱的家长：
时间过得真快，转眼到了第一学期的最后一周！
过去的一周，我们ELC举行了一对一家长会，非常感谢所有出席的家长，你们的参与和肯定给了我们很大的鼓励，通过一对一家长会，您了解了孩子在ELC的学习发展情况，我们也更加了解您对孩子教育的期待。如果您由于时间关系错过了本学期的家长会，您也可以发邮件给您所在班级的老师咨询孩子的发展情况。
本周末即将迎来复活节小长假以及第一学期的假期，圣彼得女校ELC全体员工祝愿您和孩子度过一个愉快的长假，我们下学期见！
100 ways to express our identity
A journey across the ELC
As the ELC Art Educator, I have the privilege to work across the four rooms and interact with all the children in the centre. My special role makes it possible to ‘read’ the rooms and to know the ‘why’ behind the experiences that the teachers are offering to the children. I am very lucky to see also how the children’s theories have been generated by their incredible creativity. My role is to listen and to support, to be the children’s tool to make ‘the possible’ happen. ‘The possible’ is the future, it is the children’s voice to which we must always listen.
We are at the end of Term 1 and the last 11 weeks have been full of challenges, learning and achievements. We have been investigating Identity across the centre but the children were not alone in this amazing journey. The whole ELC team explored a new territory to find ‘our way’, to challenge and improve our practice, to find our identity as a new ELC team.
Together, the teachers planned for the possible learning and we offered several experiences, always thinking about the children’s theories and interests. We are proud of our achievements and we are looking forward for the new amazing learning in Term 2.
News from the Stonyfell Room
The Stonyfell Room has been abuzz with energy this term. We have welcomed a lot of new friends and their families into our community and begun our journey as a group of learners. We have been focussing on our identity as individuals and this inquiry has allowed us to then begin to see ourselves as a group.
Much of our learning has been based around the children developing their connections to each other and working on their communication and social skills. This was an area that I was delighted in sharing during our Parent Teacher Conversations that occurred last week.
Many of the children have had one of their goals focus on the development of their cooperation skills and working with others. We have been inviting our children to engage in experiences that are collaborative in nature and support them to work together. These opportunities have allowed the educators to work alongside the children and model targeted skills such as:
• Sharing materials
• Taking turns
We have also focussed on using language that is conducive to these skills and will often use phases such as:
• “I like how you are sharing with your friends”
• “We need to pass that to our friends”
• “We need to wait our turn”
I would like to take this opportunity to also thank you for your involvement and openness over this term. We are very appreciative to have the voice of the parent reflected in our practice and know that this will add depth to our teaching and learning.
Laura Reiters
News from the Bell Yett Room
Only 11 weeks ago we came together as our new 2017 Bell Yett learning community. We began the year with a theory. We wondered that if providing an environment that was rich in possibilities for supporting the children to develop strong self-identities, it would in turn, support them to develop a group identity.
By keeping our eyes, ears and minds open to the children and their agency within our learning environment, we were able to realise that the simple act of tracing around a child’s hand could become a catalyst for creating a community. Their hand became a way of expressing their identity, creating a trace of themselves in the room and an invitation to explore, create and learn together.
While we invited the children to represent their hands through mark making, photography, light and shadow, clay and play dough we also began exploring our hands as a connector. We joined hands to find a friend, make a circle, help each other and join together in song, dance and play. We began to understand that while one hand was special, two hands were better and many hands was the best.
Better than I was, more than I am, and all of this happened, by taking your hand.
– Tim McGraw
We believe that throughout the past weeks, a group identity built on respectful relationships has emerged. It is with eager anticipation that we head into the new term with our learning community, wondering where our group identity and agency will take us next. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Easter and we look forward to seeing you again in Term 2.
Leanne Williams and Nell Tierney
ePortfolio information
During our Parent Teacher Conversations, we had the opportunity to talk to you about your child’s ePortfolio and how it provides a window into their life and learning in the ELC. Children in each of our four ELC rooms have an ePortfolio.
Some tips for viewing your ePortfolio . . .
• Log in to the Link Parent Portal at https://link.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au, using your username and password. If you don’t know your password, use the link provided.
• Select your child’s name from the menu on the right hand side of the page
• From the top menu, click on ‘Documentation’
• Click the ‘Open’ button next to the ELC room name
• Click on the web page link
• You will be taken to the ePortfolio welcome page
Parents who are travelling for work and extended family who live interstate or overseas can share in your child’s learning. Involve your children. Regular opportunities for them to share and revisit their ELC experiences with you will deepen and enhance their learning.
What you will find inside . . .
WELCOME
• This is your home page.
• Here you will be introduced to your child’s educators and find important information about ePortfolio etiquette and technical support.
INQUIRY
• Our Inquiry Overview is uploaded at the beginning of each term, giving you an important insight into our direction for the term.
• Throughout the term educators upload documentation of inquiry investigations, ongoing projects, numeracy learning and much more.
SPECIALIST LESSONS
• At the end of each term Specialist Teachers provide a summary of their program.
SPECIAL EVENTS
• Relive our Twilight Picnic and many more ELC events via our photographic documentation.
• Has your child come home talking about a special visitor to the ELC or a unique event? Find out more here.
PHOTO GALLERY
• Updated regularly, our Photo Gallery captures the joyful moments of childhood.
News from the Ferguson Room
As the term comes to a close, we are reflecting on what a rewarding time it has been for us all in the Ferguson Room. Our focus on identity and group function has brought us together as a team of people who have a growing understanding of our responsibilities towards one another. What’s more, the knowledge and insight we have gained into each other as diverse and complex individuals has fostered tolerance and empathy, qualities that are essential in all aspects of our lives in order to build successful relationships with family, friends, peers and colleagues.
Our approach to teaching and learning values the child as a competent, capable individual form birth. We do not regard them not vessels to be filled with knowledge, but creative and imaginative people who have the ability to construct their own theories and understanding of the world around them. In this way children gain the confidence to wonder, question and think for themselves. We have supported the children to do this in Term 1 through many different pathways:
• Small group work such as Numeracy and Visual Art
• Small and whole group discussions on topics of relevance and importance to us
• Our Helping Hands project
• Creating a book all about ‘me’
• Sharing family photographs and presenting objects of importance before the class
• Games on Chiverton Lawns
• Participation of our families
Our partnerships with you have supported us in all that we have done. Our philosophy and values align with those set out in the Early Years Learning Framework whereby ‘educators view culture and the context of family as central to children’s sense of being and belonging, and to success in lifelong learning’. Thus, we place great importance on your engagement with our work with the children. This includes:
• Conversations at morning drop off and afternoon pick ups
• Special events such as the Welcome Drinks and ELC Twilight Picnic
• Information Night and Parent Teacher Conversations
• Participation of families to share their stories, knowledge and family life with our class
• Support from parents to assist the children with special projects including their books and bringing in a special object or photograph to share and draw
The children have also had access to an incredible range of co-curricular subjects which they have enjoyed enormously and which have expanded their understanding of the joy of learning. These have included Chinese, Japanese, Dance, Gross Motor, Soccer, Music Buddy Class and Library.
Thank you to all of you for being part of our wonderful Ferguson Room Family.
Happy Easter and safe holidays.
Mel Angel
News from the Hallett Room
Last week, I had the privilege of meeting with families for Parent Teacher Conversations and engage in reciprocal dialogue about each child’s learning. It was a wonderful opportunity to share goals and together develop new ones for the term ahead, ensuring we are working in continuous partnership. We are looking forward to implementing the ideas that we discussed in the conversation into next term. I thank everyone who was involved in these sessions as they were extremely valuable and I appreciated the time to meet with you.
As we move into the last week of term, it is a great opportunity to reflect on the Hallett Room identity. This term, the educators have engaged in numerous discussions unpacking ‘identity’ and what this means for us at the ELC. This gave us focus when we were working with the children and enabled us to look more closely at group dynamics. We watched as the children made new connections, strengthened friendships and began forming what we feel is becoming part of the Hallett Room identity.
Our Essential Agreement, not only supported the children to engage collaboratively to establish an agreement of how the group will function, but also empowered them to stand up for important aspects that impact on ELC life. This has had significant impact on the interactions we have observed, a growth in confidence in many of our children and their agency as participants in the Hallett Room.
The future direction for our planning for the possible, is heading into how our unique identity influences the group identity. With the inclusion of the self-portrait bag, we are highlighting the importance that appearance alone does not tell us about each person’s story and we are learning so much more about each other through the special items that are being shared. Our aim for Vacation Care and Term 2 is to understand how our differences and similarities make the group what it is. We are eager to continue sharing the children’s self-portrait bags at the beginning of next term, to keep the inquiry focus. If your child has not yet shared their self-portrait bag, please encourage them to work on it over the break ready to share next term. We wish you a wonderful and safe Easter and school holiday break and look forward to seeing you next term.
Pam Reid