Dear Families
It was very special to have our ELC Hallett Garden transformation officially opened this morning by The Honourable Rachel Sanderson MP, State Member for Adelaide, Minister for Child Protection, and Saints Girls’ Old Scholar. When embarking on this project, we aimed to create a learning and play space that would both challenge and connect children.
We also wanted to create traces of our shared history and narratives of our learning with Kaurna elder Tamaru by making a garden linking our past, present and future. Underpinned by Kaurna culture and sustainability, our new landscape is reflective of the importance of what we hope for the future of childhood, adhering to the national guidelines of the Early Years Learning Framework, which states:
Environments that support learning are vibrant and flexible spaces that are responsive to the interests and abilities of each child. They cater for different learning capacities and learning styles and invite children and families to contribute ideas, interests and questions. (Early Years Learning Framework, p. 15)
In our quest to connect learning and culture, we have created a strong sense of belonging and emotional security for our children. There is both security and challenge within our new landscape, offering a differentiated scope for our 2 to 5 year olds.
We have cleverly utilised each section of the space with the help of our experienced landscape architects Swanbury Penglase. The planning was collaborative and ensured all voices were included in each step of the design process. We were fortunate to be on site during its construction, as landscape designers Greenplay worked for several weeks with the children and educators looking on from our viewing window. This process strengthened the children’s connections and understandings as each phase was completed.
In the few weeks the garden has been available to the children, we have observed a new rigour in their play. They have created new games, further developed confidence in their gross motor skills and demonstrated to the educators even more ways the garden spaces can be interpreted. This excites us as to what might be possible and what outcomes may be achieved with this appealing and creative design. As often stated, it is the garden of possibilities, and we are proud not to have the end in mind as we launch this new play space.
We are extremely appreciative of our School community for supporting this project, including the Friends of the ELC who purchased a few of the artefacts that are pivotal in our design. If you have not yet visited the new space, we invite you to take a walk through in the coming weeks and let your imagination run wild.
Kate Mount
Director of Early Learning
Important Dates
Monday 8 November: Reception Transition Visits Commence
Friday 19 November: ELC End of Year Celebration, 5pm
Monday 29 November: ELC Hat Ceremony, 12.15pm
Thursday 2 December: Learning Community 2 Farewell Afternoon Tea, 2pm
Growing Connections in our ELC Community Garden
ELC End of Year Celebration!
We invite you to join us on Friday 19 November on the School’s Chiverton Lawns at 5pm for the ELC End of Year Celebration. We encourage families to bring a picnic rug and basket, and set up your space on the lawns.
Children are requested to arrive by 5.20pm and be settled in their family picnic place. Singing will commence at 5.30pm. The children are invited to wear their party clothes or a touch of Christmas. A sausage sizzle, drinks and cupcakes can be preordered upon registration.
Register your family by Monday 15 November by clicking here.
Keeping Sun Safe in the ELC
As the weather warms up, we ask families to please bring their children to ELC with sunscreen and a named, broad-brimmed hat.
When the daily UV Index level reads 3 and above, staff ensure children wear their hat and have applied sunscreen before they go out to play.
来自黄老师的信息
亲爱的家长朋友们，
今天，很高兴的是儿童保护部长也是我们的老校友Rachel Sanderson女士来正式启动我们新改造的ELC Hallett花园，这对我们是有特别意义的一天。当我们开启这个项目时，我们的目标是创造一个学习和玩乐相结合的空间，既能挑战孩子，又能连接孩子们的学习。当我们与土著长老Tamaru分享我们学习的故事时，我们也想创造机会去追溯历史的痕迹。这使它成为一个连接过去、现在和未来的花园。以Kaurna文化和可持续性发展为基础，我们的规划也正反映了我们对孩子们未来童年发展的重视。
遵循澳洲早期学习框架（Early Years Learning Framework）的指导方针，在此:
帮助孩子们学习的环境应是充满活力和灵活的空间，满足孩子们的兴趣和能力的发展。它们适合不同孩子的学习能力和学习方式，并接受儿童和家庭提供的建议。兴趣和疑问。(EYLF 第 15页)
在我们寻求之前的学习和文化的联系的过程中，我们从中创造了一种强烈的归属感，从而促进孩子们的安全感。在设计中既有安全性也有挑战性，为2- 5岁的孩子提供了差异化的空间环境。
在经验丰富的景观设计师Swanbury和Penglase的帮助下，我们巧妙地利用了空间的每个部分。在共同协作的规划下，尽可能确保大家的建议都被包含在设计过程中。在Greenplay景观设计建筑公司施工期间，孩子们和教师们有幸从我们的Hallett教室的窗口看到施工过程! 这个过程在每个阶段都加强了孩子们和花园的联系及理解。
几个星期以来，孩子们在花园玩耍，我们在他们的玩耍中发现了一种新的“磨练”。孩子们创造了新的游戏，建立了对自己大运动技能的信心，并向教师们展示了更多如何去利用花园空间的方式。这让我们感到兴奋，因为有了这种吸引力，一切都有可能，创造了更多的成果和创意设计。就像我们经常说的那样，这是一个充满可能性的花园，我们很自豪向您介绍这个充满无尽可能的新游玩空间。
园长
Kate Mount
Emma Huang works in Learning Community 2 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am – 5pm.
Sustainability in the ELC
What’s Growing?
This term, the children across the Centre will be engaging closely with our ELC Community Garden and discovering the joys of spring gardening!
Over the past few weeks, the children have been slowly pulling out the rest of our carrots from our winter planting, making the most of this abundant crop. Children have engaged in democratic decision-making as a community, voting on their different ideas as to what to make with our carrots, resulting in carrot cake, carrot soup, cold rolls, carrot dip and carrot pasta!
Growing in our garden beds at the moment, we have lettuce, pumpkin, cucumbers, corn and tomatoes, together with our long-term lime tree, mandarin tree, orange tree, passionfruit vines and strawberry bushes. We are very excited to add more into our rotation and are seeking your help:
Are you growing anything in your home garden?
Do you have any tips or ideas for us?
Over this term, we are hoping to form a stronger connection around our ELC Community Garden, sharing our experiences and joys, and involving families and our wider community. Families are welcome to email me any questions, answers or photos to hbalnaves@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au so we can share them within our ELC community.
Thank you, and happy gardening!
Henrietta Balnaves
News from Learning Community 1
As the weather warms up and we spend more time outside, educators observe a shift in emotion and in the type of play that children engage in as they explore their outdoor environment.
The children have an emotional connection to Ferguson Park and our outdoor gardens that will stay with them long after they have moved on from ELC. These spaces offer a freedom that cannot be replicated indoors; they are spaces where children engage with the elements, can run, make noise, and make a mess. They learn about native wildlife and vegetation, and the significance of the land to the Kaurna people. They feel the weather and how their body responds, and grow an awareness for how other creatures live. As they navigate these natural spaces, children establish a sense of place, shaping their ecological understandings and identity.
Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach to early childhood education, once shared, ‘Beyond the wall there is always a beyond. The eye, when it looks beyond the wall of habit, of custom, of the normal, of the non-surprise, of assumed security, will find the possible’. We believe this of our outdoor environment at ELC. It is not until we move beyond the comfort, safety and familiarity of the indoors, that we are exposed to the extent of children’s imagination and wonderings.
Play becomes more resourceful outside, with children content to use only what they can find around them. The outdoor spaces of the ELC are deliberately designed to be open-ended, encouraging creativity and imagination in play. Educators have been intrigued as we’ve observed children across the ELC explore and connect with the new garden on Hallett Road, watching how play changes as they grow older, and from indoors to outdoors.
For ideas about outdoor play beyond ELC, Nature Play SA is a not-for-profit organisation that inspires the South Australian community to engage with nature in creative, sustainable and meaningful ways. They have many amazing online resources and events held outdoors across Adelaide. You can learn more by clicking here.
Annabelle Redmond and Jess Catt
Learning Community 1
News from Learning Community 2
‘The more risks you allow children to take, the better they learn to look after themselves.’ – Roald Dahl
The Garden of Possibilities…
As educators, we are very fortunate to observe children engage in joyful moments every day in our new Hallett Garden. We play alongside them in an environment where inspiration and creativity flourish, where curiosity and spontaneity can be realised, and where risk and failures can be experienced.
We have noticed a shift in play as the children explore and discover these new spaces. As they gravitate to the sensory kitchen, we have seen children show a greater sense of cooperation and encouragement for each other. New relationships are being formed as is the ability to compromise and negotiate, problem-solve and take turns. These spaces enable children to dip into many different learning contexts including mathematics, science, literacy and research.
The rich social interactions children have when they are playing and learning in our outdoor environment encourages development of oral language and vocabulary. It allows them to experience the concepts of number, patterns, measurement, spatial awareness and counting. Recently, we have discovered Shield’s Beetle on the gum tree in the garden. We have used digital technology to photograph then magnify the beetles, making observations about their colour, size and shape. Through this and our explorations of Ferguson Park, we have noticed a greater sense of awe and curiosity, and a heightened level of respect for nature.
‘The forest’ is a space in the garden that allows children to take risks, challenge themselves and negotiate every step. As they twist their bodies and grab hold of a thick stump to move along the course, they are building core strength, coordination, balance and persistence. This week, we are having rope installed between the log space that will enable children to hang, climb and swing in their play. The possibilities are endless…
Nell Tierney, Laura Reiters and Kirsty Porplycia
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:
You have an individual user name to access our myLink Parent Portal which has been provided to you. To set up your myLink access you will need your user name and access to your mobile phone to setup your recovery details.
Please note that your user name requires your ID number followed by @stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
- Visit https://mylink.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
- To set your password, click the link provided
- Enter your user name and click ‘Next’
- Click on ‘Forgot my password’ in blue under the password field
- Enter the characters in the picture and click and click the blue ‘Next’ button
- Select ‘Text my mobile phone’ radial button
- Enter your phone number in the following format +61 0400 000 000 (if you are in another country, please use the correct country code) and click the Blue ‘Text’ button
- You will be texted a code
- Enter the code and click the Blue ‘Next’ button
- You will then be taken to a screen to set a new password for your parent account
Please note: If you forget your password in the future, you can use this method to reset it.
Please return to the login screen at https://mylink.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au to access myLink and use the username from above with the password you just set up.
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