Dear Families
Naa marni, marni naa pudni.
We acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the first Nations people of our country, and we continually pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. The region of the Adelaide Plains is Kaurna Land.
As many of our families know, each morning, the ELC children say an Acknowledgement of Country in their rooms, created by the ELC children and educators a few years ago. However, our reconciliation journey does not stop there. We believe it’s important to embed reconciliation in our everyday, demonstrating to the children the importance of building rich and genuine relationships, respect and trust between all cultures.
Naa Marni is how you say ‘Hello’ to a group of people in Kaurna language. Marni naa pudni translates to ‘Are you good?’ We incorporate Kaurna language throughout our daily rituals at ELC as one of the many ways we welcome diversity and show our deepest respect for one of the oldest living cultures in the world. It’s amazing to see the children learn yet another language – for some children, this becomes the third language they can speak before starting school.
Our friend and Kaurna Elder Tamaru joined the children at ELC today in the spirit of welcome, welcoming us onto Kaurna land for 2022. The children loved this opportunity to connect with Tamaru, learn about his culture, sing together, and have their faces painted with ochre. This act of welcome and connection is the foundation for our year ahead, as we continue on our journey of reconciliation together.
With our Term 1 Central Idea being, ‘A welcoming community can strengthen connections’, we are looking to extend this into our wider ELC community. Strengthening our connection to the land, our relationship with Tamaru and Kaurna culture, and the connections between our families and our community.
There will be many opportunities throughout the year for our community to join us and engage with Tamaru, including guided walks with the children through Ferguson Conservation Park. If you would like to volunteer as a parent to accompany us on a walk, please reach out to me via email: hbalnaves@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
We look forward to the many diverse ways families can join our ELC community’s journey of reconciliation this year.
Kind regards
Henrietta Balnaves
ELC Manager
Important Dates
Monday 14 March: Public Holiday (ELC closed)
Friday 18 March: ELC Twilight Family Picnic
April 4, 5, 11: Parent-Teacher Conversations
Thursday 14 April: End of Term Morning Tea (TBC)
ELC Twilight Family Picnic
Please save the date for our Twilight Family Picnic on Friday 18 March from 5pm, hosted by the Friends of the ELC. A separate invite will be distributed to all families once we have confirmed the details.
The Twilight Family Picnic is an ELC community event and a wonderful opportunity to meet new families and chat to the ELC educators.
We look forward to seeing you there!
The Art of Welcome in the ELC
As we begin the term, we have been discussing with Learning Community 2 children what it means to feel welcomed and how we can welcome others. This aligns with our Term 1 Central Idea that ‘A welcoming community can strengthen connections’.
The Learning Community 2 children have been delving into these questions through a range of planned experiences including drawing greetings, exploring language, storytelling and role play.
Watch our video above to see how we welcome in Learning Community 2.
Join the Friends of the ELC
Are you interested in helping our ELC community? Our Friends of the ELC (FELC) group is looking for new members! We value the opinions of all our community members including, but not limited to, mums, dads and grandparents.
We meet every second Friday at 9am over a coffee, where we organise community events and support the ELC’s community and charity projects – all fantastic things that benefit our children!
While the fortnightly meetings are not mandatory for all group members, they are a great way to share ideas and be a vital part of the ELC’s thriving community.
If you are interested or think you could help out in any way, please email our FELC Community Representative Nikki Geyer.
Online Information Evening
Our ELC Online Information Evening videos will only be available for families to view for one more week. An email has been sent to families in each Learning Community which includes a presentation from the ELC educators detailing the significant elements of the teaching and learning strategies for the semester ahead.
As always, we welcome involvement from our families. If you have specific questions after watching the presentations, you can contact your child’s teacher.
Henrietta Balnaves
ELC Manager
Sustainability in the ELC
What should we plant next in our ELC Community Garden?
This is the question we have been asking the children at ELC over the past two weeks, after realising two of our garden beds are empty.
‘We need to plant more things so we can keep cooking!’ – Emma
‘Maybe we should plant flowers that are everyone’s favourite colours…’ – Julian
‘Sunflowers!’ – LC1 children
‘What about all the different coloured carrots?’ – Axel
‘Blueberries and onions…together!’ – Esperanza
We are welcoming everyone’s ideas over the next week before we come together and think of a way to decide what we will plant. If you have any suggestions, please add them to our board in the ELC Foyer! We look forward to your input.
Henrietta Balnaves
ELC Manager
来自黄老师的信息
亲爱的家长朋友，
Naa marni, marni naa pudni
圣彼得堡女校早教中处于阿德莱德原主民土地上（Kaurna Land）。我们承认原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民是我们国家的第一民族，我们不断向过去、现在和新兴的长者表示敬意。
“Naa Marni” 是您用 Kaurna 原住民语言向一群人打招呼问好的方式。 “Marni naa pudni” 的意思是“你好吗？”我们在 ELC 的日常仪式中融入原住民语言和文化，这是我们欢迎多样性的众多方式之一，并表示我们对世界上最古老和最丰富的生活文化之一表示最深切的尊重。
正如你们许多人所知，每天早上孩子们都会在他们的教室里表达对“国家的谢礼”，但我们的旅程并不止于此。我们努力将“和解”融入我们所做的一切，旨在在我们的文化之间建立关系、尊重和信任。
我们的朋友以及原住民长老Tamaru 带着“欢迎的精神”加入了 ELC 的孩子们，欢迎我们在 2022 年来到原住民土地上。这种“欢迎”行为是我们这一年的基础。一起开启我们的“和解”之旅。
我们第一学期的中心思想是“一个热情欢迎的社区可以加强联系”，我们期待将它扩展到我们更广泛的 ELC 社区。加强我们与土地的联系，加强我们与 Tamaru 和原住民文化的关系，加强我们家庭和社区之间的联系。
这会为我们一整年提供许多机会，加入与土著长老 Tamaru 的互动，包括在带领下和孩子们一同在弗格森公园散步。如果您想加入到作为父母志愿者加入到我们的散步中来，欢迎发邮件联系Henrietta Balnaves：hbalnaves@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
Emma Huang works in Learning Community 2 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am – 5pm.
News from Learning Community 1
We continue to support the Learning Community 1 children to develop their social skills and awareness of others, guided by our Central Idea that ‘A welcoming community can strengthen connections’. Through observations of individuals and groups of children, we have begun to refine our lines of inquiry and explore these in more depth. Through engagement in Learning Community rituals, children are beginning to develop their connections to others, both educators and peers.
One of our treasured rituals is our morning Banbanbalya, or meeting. This group time signifies us coming together as a Learning Community for the day and provides valuable opportunities for children to engage socially with others. Our rituals incorporate Kaurna language and symbolism, greetings and welcomes, and the sharing of plans for the day. Through this, children are developing their sense of belonging and their connection to people, spaces and our ELC story.
Our Learning Community rituals provide us with opportunities to differentiate children’s learning according to their needs and development. Some children are developing their sense of identity, their awareness of others and what it means to part of a group; whilst others are developing their leadership skills, helping to guide the flow of our rituals, and supporting participation of their peers.
Over the course of the term, we will continue to enhance and evolve these community rituals as the children develop their identity as a group learners.
Annabelle Redmond and Jess Catt
Learning Community 1
News from Learning Community 2
‘Experiencing belonging – knowing where and with whom you belong – is integral to human existence. Children belong first to a family, a cultural group, a neighbourhood and a wider community. Belonging acknowledges children’s interdependence with others and the basis of relationships in defining identities. In early childhood, and throughout life, relationships are crucial to a sense of belonging. Belonging is central to being and becoming in that it shapes who children are and who they can become.’
– Early Years Learning Framework, Belonging, Being and Becoming
Over the past weeks in Learning Community 2, we have all had the above quote in mind. This passage is from a document that forms and shapes our curriculum and everyday practice in the ELC.
We have been exploring what it means to belong through the word ‘welcome’. Some of the questions we have been asking the children to think about are:
- What is welcome?
- How can you help others to feel welcome?
- Do you feel welcomed when you come to ELC?
- How does it feel to be welcomed?
To support these questions and to build on the children’s knowledge and understanding, we have been using a range of planned experiences. The vehicles we have used to provoke and inspire the children’s thinking have included:
- Small and large group discussions
- Stories and books
- Role play
- Puppets
- Games
- Drawing, painting and mark-making
These experiences have invited the children to be curious, resilient, problem-solvers and to develop theories for further discussion and thinking. As we have progressed through the first few weeks, we are noticing the children’s excitement and interest in exploring feelings and emotions as well as their own self-image and self-identity. In the coming weeks, we will work with the children to ensure they all have a strong sense of who they are, have connectedness to each other and a shared identity within our community.
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.
Your username is {ID+}@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
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