Dear Families
As we approach the end of Term 2, I would like to thank our community, staff, students and families for your investment in our ELC this term. It certainly has been a challenging period with uncertainty and hurdles placed before us. However, through this, we have demonstrated and delivered our three School values – Courage, Creativity and Compassion – at the centre of all we have done.
When faced with complex situations and change, compassion was at the heart of our decision-making processes. Compassion was and still is required as we experience significant changes to life as we know it.
Courage was necessary in order to work through each phase and obstacle. Leadership requires courage to be at the forefront. We extended our toolkit with these new challenges and found pathways forward. I am extremely proud of everyone for their responses to these challenges.
Creativity is the reason we have entered our final weeks with such strength. We have had to think differently and come up with new ways of doing things, often well and truly outside the square. When asked last week by a parent, “How are you all fairing in the ELC?”, I could confidently answer, “Extremely well.” Again, the strength of our practice, values and strategies is in the collaborative community approach we have.
Through their everyday actions, the children have demonstrated flexibility and trust. Their joy, wonderings, growth and maturity throughout the past three months have made our work so immensely rewarding. It reminds us of what is important amidst global uncertainty. I know that the strengths we have gained from this time will not be lost as we move ahead into a new semester.
Wishing you all well as we approach the mid-year break.
Kind regards
Kate Mount
Director of Early Learning
Important Dates
Monday 22 and Thursday 25 June: New Family Visits
Tuesday 23 – Thursday 25 June: ELC Class Photos
29 June – 20 July: Vacation Care
Tuesday 21 July: Term 3 Commences
ELC Student Photos
Our ELC group and individual photos will be held on Tuesday 23 – Thursday 25 June from 9am – 12 noon. Order envelopes distributed in March remain valid and any orders placed will be filled. Replacement forms have been handed out to families or placed in pigeon holes for collection. The process for ordering photos is explained on the order envelope. Please read the instructions carefully as they outline the available packages and payment methods.
Please ensure your child is wearing their ELC uniform on each of these days as they will potentially appear in multiple class shots depending on the days they attend. Please also ensure your child’s hair is styled as neatly as possible.
Each day will commence with group photos followed by individual photos. Individual photos will only occur once for each child, regardless of the number of days they attend. Sibling photos will be taken at 12.15pm on Tuesday 23 June in the ELC.
If you wish for your children to have sibling photos taken, please fill out the additional sibling photo order form. This can be obtained by emailing Fiona McGregor via fmcgregor@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au. If your child’s sibling is in the School, please advise your daughter’s teacher of the time that she is required at the ELC.
If your child does not attend the ELC on these days and you would like them to have a photo taken, please arrange with your child’s teacher to bring them in to join in with their room’s group photo. We will organise for their individual photo to be taken at the same time.
Please return your order envelopes to your child’s teacher as soon as possible. At the latest, the order forms can be returned on the day of the photos. If you have any further enquiries, please contact Fiona McGregor via fmcgregor@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.
Vacation Care Bookings
Vacation Care booking forms have been sent home over the past week. You can also download the form here. Vacation Care bookings are required if you wish for your child to attend ELC outside of normal term bookings. Please see ELC staff if you have any questions regarding this.
Please note, Vacation Care commences on Monday 29 June, with Term 3 beginning on Tuesday 21 July.
Kaurna Art Installation in the Hallett Garden
The ELC is extremely fortunate to be the new owners of a Kaurna art installation gifted to us by the 2019/2020 Friends of the ELC and created by Kaurna elder Tamaru and his family. This special canoe has been crafted from a 450 year old redgum tree from the Willunga Hills area.
The tree has been carved with significant symbols providing the opportunity for storytelling, history-keeping and Kaurna culture connections. Our children in the ELC are equipped with the skills to read the symbols, translating the information shared. Without defining the object, the children have been hypothesising what it could be, its multiple uses and possibilities.
We will treat this artefact with ‘Ngaitalya’, which means respect in Kaurna language. We are extremely appreciative of Tamaru for his work in crafting this keepsake for us. It will form a pivotal role in the future landscaping of the ELC Hallett Garden.
Songwriting with Ned – ‘Inside Our Wodli’
At St Peter’s Girls’ ELC, we strive to be innovative and resourceful. How can we teach complex concepts in ways that encourage curiosity and active participation? How can we engage children in rich opportunities that are inclusive and appeal to different styles of learning? Looking to our community and drawing on the diverse talents and skills of others is part of our practice.
Ned Baulderstone is a visiting musician and songwriter, engaged to collaborate with staff and students. Each Friday, he works across the ELC, listening carefully to the educators before joining the children to start work. This process helps develop understandings through collaborative compositions. The children verbalise their ideas that become lyrics to the music Ned creates.
“The children are so intelligent! I realised I needed to be very adaptable, very quick to respond. Coming to the ELC is the highlight of my week” – Ned
Research is clear that exposure to music has countless benefits for children including improving memory and reading skills. The work we are doing with Ned is focused on music as a vehicle for learning, covering concepts and values such as:
- Kaurna language and culture
- Mathematical concepts
- Environmental issues
- Creativity
- Connecting with community
We look forward to sharing more of these collaborative works with you throughout the year.
Mel Angel
Learning Community 1 Teacher
Learning Community Transitions
Our ELC Learning Community model is aimed at establishing frequent opportunities for children of all ages to learn together, interact and recognise that they all belong to our ELC Community.
After up to 18 months in Learning Community 1, children transition into Learning Community 2. This is a seamless transition as relationships are already established and learning opportunities are shared. These include looking after our ELC with a sustainable mindset, visits to Ferguson Conservation Park and growing vegetables together in our Community Garden. These shared responsibilities allow our children to frequently interact across Learning Communities and develop relationships with staff and students beyond their group.
Prior to the start of Term 3, the students will have numerous opportunities to spend time in their new spaces and be involved in some daily rituals. We know that we are creating a natural process for the children rather than making it an event. This ensures we are supporting and empowering the children throughout the transition.
来自黄老师的信息
亲爱的家长朋友们，
第二学期已经接近尾声，十分感谢我们ELC社区的家庭和学生们以及我们的教师团队在第二学期的投入付出，这个学期非常挑战，也伴随着各种不确定性和障碍。通过这个学期，我们展示并传达了我们的同情心，勇气和创造力——这是也是我们圣彼得女校的核心价值观。
从同情心出发，在见证了疫情对学校带来的重大改变，当面对复杂的情况时，我们怀抱同情心对招生、员工安排和政策的改变等各方面做出重要决定。
与勇气同行，在这个特殊时期，并非每个决定都能让人满意，为了克服每一阶段的障碍，我们勇敢地改变了ELC的一些流程，员工结构以及中心限制。我们通过扩大应对这些挑战的“工具包”,找到了前进的道路。对于挑战，我们积极回应，这令人感到骄傲。
而创造力让我们打破常规，我们必须以不同的方式思考，找到新的方法去解决问题。我们在这个合作式的学习社区中，我们很好地发挥了我们的实践力，价值观和决策力。
在过去的三个月里，孩子们通过他们的日常行动展示了灵活性和对学习社区的信任。他们的喜悦，他们的好奇，他们的成长和成熟，让我们的工作获得了巨大的回报。这提醒我们在世界危机中什么是重要的。我们希望在下一个新学期中，我们从这次经历中获得的优势不会消失。
另外提醒家长朋友们,请尽快填写并将假期日托班的表格以及预订校园照的表格交给我们的教师们。6月26日是我们这个第二学期的最后一天，我们这次的假期日托班为期三周。
提前预祝大家渡过一个愉快的年中假期。
Emma works in Learning Community 2 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am – 5pm.
Sustainability in the ELC
As we settle into the colder weather, it invites change within our ELC Community Garden. The children have been deciding what to plant next in our empty garden bed where our pumpkins once flourished. Keeping our recent research into seasonal vegetables in mind, along with many children wanting something we could grow to cook with in our kitchen, the children all agreed upon carrots.
“I like pulling them out” – Audrey
“Purple carrots! And yellow!” – Ethan
“We can make carrot soup!” – Alex
It is important that children are given these opportunities to be leaders of change, taking responsibility for their own health and wellbeing, as well as their environment. As we waited for our seedlings to arrive, the children couldn’t help but notice the empty garden bed was looking ‘lonely’.
“I think it’s sad” – Ava
“We can pretend there’s carrots in there?” – Spencer
“We can make some!” – Angelique
The children drew on their current exploration of reusing recycled materials with their imagination to create their own sustainable carrots to ‘plant’ in the empty garden bed. The children cannot wait for our seedlings to arrive and for our next journey in the ELC Community Garden to begin!
Green and Clean Question of the Day: What seedlings are we planting in the Community Garden?
Staff Spotlight
The journey that Laura Reiters has travelled over the years from co-educator to teacher highlights her passion and dedication to the profession of early childhood education. One of her strengths is bringing beauty to our spaces and curating environments which inspire the children and educators across the Centre. She is a fantastic mentor to others and a dearly valued member of our ELC staff team.
What is your teaching background?
I have a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Politics and Anthropology. I also have Honours in both Politics and Anthropology and a Master in Teaching in Early Childhood. This is my ninth year at St Peter’s Girls. I began my time here as a co-educator after I graduated, then moved into a teaching role based in the Stonyfell Room when the Centre expanded in 2014. That year, I was fortunate to attend a 10-day study tour to Reggio Emilia with a group from South Australia.
What brings you joy in the St Peter’s Girls’ ELC?
Our connection and passion for the natural world. I have a love for the outdoors and being outside in all types of weather. In my spare time, I love discovering bushwalking trails in my local area. I spent much of my childhood in the neighbour’s creek with my brother, with winter being one of our favourite seasons to explore this space, with gumboots on, all muddy! I love Ferguson Conservation Park and relish every opportunity to be in this space with the children. I love creating rich opportunities for the children to be immersed in nature.
What makes the St Peter’s Girls’ ELC special?
Our strong and genuine community spirit. When a child begins at ELC, we immediately enter into a partnership with that family. We work together as a team to support that child. I love all of the various opportunities to spend time with our families, whether it’s a picnic on the lawns or our Parent Teacher Interviews.
News from Learning Community 1
In early childhood, when we regularly return to a particular place, we notice changes, gather history and knowledge, and begin to develop strong attachment to the place. For the children in Learning Community 1, one of these special places of connection is Ferguson Conservation Park.
Busy minds and bodies become slower as soon as we step into the park. We hear the birds and the wind, see the colours, smell the wet ground, feel the weather and, all of a sudden, give our full attention to what is around us. Exploration and interactions encourage creativity and imagination, and we are immediately drawn to investigate the natural setting around us.
This term, we have braved the colder elements, put on our special dry suits and have ventured into the park to explore the changes that come with a shift in season. We have been closely investigating the colours seen from the ground up to the sky, and how these colours can look different on certain days depending on the weather. We have been using the iPads to photograph what we have noticed about the changes and colours in Ferguson Conservation Park:
“The tree is grey and with white spots.” – Aiden
“The grass is all wet there.” – Ally
“The birds are still here.” – Amelie
“The magpies have stayed.” – Oliver
“Let’s go in the Wodli!” – Lara
Back in our Learning Community rooms, we have been studying the photographs closely and experimenting with mixing and matching the colours we see with paint. We have been expressing our creativity through constructing a Ferguson Conservation Park scene with our recycled materials. The children have made smaller scale Wodlis (Kaurna word for a shelter made of branches and leaves) that replicate the larger ones they love to create and play in, building on their understanding of the Kaurna language and culture that is so deeply intertwined in this land.
Our ELC educators believe that learning which is strongly immersed in nature nurtures a strong connection with land, the flora and fauna living on it, and with those that were here before us. When we feel we belong in a natural space, we develop an ethic of care for the natural world that we carry into our futures.
Mel Angel and Annabelle Redmond
Learning Community 1
News from Learning Community 2
At St Peter’s Girls’ ELC, we have the privilege to work with a range of specialists. These talented and amazing people are a part of the very rich fabric woven together to form our ELC community.
Tamaru, our Kaurna friend and elder, continues to enrich our connection and relationship with the Kaurna culture. A few weeks ago, he spent some time in our Learning Community building on our knowledge of the Wodli. This organic structure has become a very powerful symbol for the children. They can recognise its shape and why they were constructed; however, that was where our knowledge stopped. We needed to find out more. Tamaru shared with us more of the design process and the other important environmental factors that are considered when the Kaurna people construct a Wodli.
With this newfound information, we then reached out to another member of our ELC community, Ned Balderstone. Ned helped us write a song about a Wodli. In the song, we wanted to include the various Wodli design elements that Tamaru shared with us.
This is the final product:
“It’s made from sticks and bark and leaves
Won’t you come and sit with me?
Very warm we all will be
Inside our Wodli
The leaves will keep us dry at night
When it starts to rain outside
Very safe we all will be
Inside our Wodli”
To further enrich this process, Ned worked with us in the Atelier as Miss Caterina encouraged us to draw representations of a Wodli using markers and charcoal.
We invited Ned to join us in Ferguson Conservation Park to show him the Wodlis that we have built. Using our song as a guide, the children supported him to begin constructing a new Wodli. We then sat together and sang our song as Ned played the guitar.
This process has allowed the children to embrace their creativity, share their knowledge and walk side-by-side in active and genuine Reconciliation. We can’t wait to share this song with Tamaru and see what he thinks.
Kirsty Porplycia, Nell Tierney and Laura Reiters
Learning Community 2
School Business Directory
We are offering our current families a FREE ad in our School Business Directory. If you are interested in participating please contact Melissa Westgate in our Community Relations Office via mwestgate@stpetergirls.sa.edu.au or call direct (08) 8334 2244.
In your email please send through:
1) The Business name you would like advertised
2) Contact person, email, phone number
3) A Logo in jpeg format
4) Your website address
5) Any photos you would like included
Melissa Westgate
Foundation Manager
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
Accessing the ELC Learning Community Home Page
The ELC Learning Community Home Page is a dynamic online sharing space that invites you to participate in the communities’ learning as it happens. It provides a window into the children’s life at the ELC, as educators share documentation of intentional teaching, specialist lessons and spontaneous moments.
Accessing myLink for the first time:
- Visit https://mylink.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
- To set your password, click the link located below the sign in section
- Your user name was emailed to you upon your child’s commencement (see Helpdesk contact details below if you cannot source your user name)
- Enter your unique user name, click ‘Next’
- On the next screen, enter the security code that was sent to your mobile
- Enter the password you would like to use and press submit
- Return to the login screen at https://mylink.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au to access myLink
- Several instructional videos are available via the Welcome page if you click on the ‘HELP’ menu tab.
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.
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