A Message from Our ELC Leaders
To our dearest St Peter’s Girls’ ELC community,
As we come to the end of Term 4 for 2022, we have taken some time out of a busy final week to ensure we reflect on the wonderful year that was.
This year, we were anchored by our optimism and open-mindedness, learning side-by-side with our families and children. We are proud of our achievements and successes, working as such a cohesive team to create enriching environments for your children. Collectively, we have been inspired by the children’s learning and thinking throughout the year, one of the many joys of working in early childhood education.
We would like to thank everyone who joined us at our ELC End of Year Celebration. It was so lovely to celebrate the unity of our community, and we appreciate you and your family members for taking the time out of your busy schedules to create such a joyful and memorable evening for the children.
Today, our ELC Giving Tree gifts have been delivered to Anglicare SA and we thank everyone for their generosity, especially the children who fought the urge to relish in the toys under the tree, understanding the concept of giving to children in need.
It was a joy to see our next St Peter’s Girls’ Reception class participate in our ELC Hat Ceremony on Monday, sharing their confidence and pride during this treasured ELC tradition. We send our best wishes to all families and children embarking on new learning adventures for 2023, wherever this may be. We ask that you please do not be a stranger, as you will always be a part of our community.
Each child’s learning portfolio will be sent home this week for holiday sharing, and we hope all families enjoy the rich and deep thinking displayed throughout these. It will be joined by a special gift, handmade by each child, symbolising our learning across the year.
Caterina and I thank you all for your warmth, feedback and support whilst we navigated our new roles over the course of this year. We look back with pride and appreciation to have been given this opportunity to support you all. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to lead the Centre in 2022, and we are looking forward to seeing our ELC continue to blossom under the new leadership structure in 2023.
Caterina will be continuing her role as Atelierista/Art Educator at the ELC in 2023, with exciting projects on the horizon. I will be teaching in the Stonyfell Room for Term 1, before embarking on a new journey overseas to teach. I would like to personally thank everyone for being an integral part of this warm and welcoming ELC community for my past 7 years, and I will miss you all.
We wish everyone a happy holiday season, and we hope you continue to make beautiful memories, cherishing this joyful period in children’s lives.
Kind regards
Henrietta Balnaves, ELC Manager
Caterina Pennestri, ELC Educational Leader
Important Dates
Friday 9 December: Last day of Term 4
December 12 – 23: Vacation Care
January 9 – 27: Vacation Care
January 26: Australia Day Public Holiday (ELC is closed)
January 30: Term 1 Commences
Our 2023 ELC Teaching Team
We are delighted to announce our ELC teaching team for 2023:
ELC Director: Liz Schembri
ELC Manager: Sera Boccaccio
Teachers:
Stonyfell Room: Nell Tierney, Henrietta Balnaves (Term 1) and Annabelle Redmond (Term 2)
Bell Yett Room: Jessica Catt
Ferguson Room: Chloe Skoss
Hallett Room: Laura Reiters
Pathway Room: Kirsty Porplycia and Kathy McCabe
We look forward to another wonderful year of learning at St Peter’s Girls’ Early Learners’ Centre.
Our ELC Hat Ceremony
There were heart-warming scenes at our ELC Hat Ceremony on Monday as our 2023 Receptions received their School hat and bag during this treasured tradition.
The girls were guided by our incoming Prefects and presented to the audience by our Head of Junior School to celebrate their pathway to school.
We wish them all the best as they begin their Saints Girls’ School journey next year!
Our Pathway to School
We are excited to announce an enhancement to the education provided by our highly-acclaimed Early Learners’ Centre: our Pathway to School.
Whilst maintaining a strong emphasis on building relationships, a sense of belonging and valuing children’s right to childhood, we are proud to introduce an elevated opportunity to strengthen children’s transition to school.
We are creating a new flexible learning space as a part of Learning Community 2 and welcoming an additional teacher to the team who will provide targeted support for children during the six months prior to their commencement at school.
To complement the globally-recognised learning experiences already taking place across our Centre, children will also be engaged in an extended range of focused learning opportunities aimed at setting them up for a successful and positive start to school.
Fundamental capabilities that will be accelerated through our Pathway to School include social, emotional and self-management skills to further develop independence, organisation and resilience. Literacy, numeracy and STEM explorations will be amplified daily during rich inquiries and interwoven play activities, guided by problem-solving and creativity. Crucially, our Pathway to School places children’s wellbeing at the centre as we focus on their individual growth and continued interactions across Learning Community 2.
Children’s participation in our Pathway to School will be based on their age and school start date. Commencing in Term 1 next year, ELC children eligible to start school from mid-2023 will be our first Pathway to School group.
We look forward to sharing this enhanced experience with our families.
Suzanne Haddy, Head of Junior School
Caterina Pennestri, ELC Educational Leader
Henrietta Balnaves, ELC Manager
ELC Christmas Giving Tree
Thank you to everyone who supported our ELC Anglicare Christmas Appeal by donating gifts to others in need. Our ELC children demonstrated their generosity and compassion as they added toys under our tree, and engaging in discussions around the importance of giving.
This year we started a new ELC tradition with the children creating beautiful handmade decorations to place on our tree.
Reception Christmas Assembly
Our Reception girls brought festive cheer and lit up the Arts Centre stage during their recent Christmas Assembly.
Check out the highlights video:
ELC/Year 9 Sports Morning
Our ELC children were thrilled to participate in a Sports Morning coordinated by our Year 9 students last Friday.
The Year 9s designed, developed and practised the delivery of a 10-minute gross motor skills session throughout Week 7, culminating in the Sports Morning. They focused on improving the children’s movement, coordination and balance through key stages in each session. Our ELC friends had a great time with the older girls, displaying excellent listening skills and energy.
For our Year 9s, this leadership initiative was aimed at developing their communication skills, both in their peer groups and whilst leading a group of children. They showed sound leadership in supporting each of our ELC friends, and for those who were a little hesitant, kind words and a hand to hold were offered.
We thank the Year 9 girls for stepping out of their comfort zones and providing this opportunity for our ELC children.
Exciting New ELC Uniforms
We are excited to announce our ELC will be rolling out a new custom-designed uniform from mid-December 2022. This beautiful new range takes into consideration the unique sizes, proportions and needs of our youngest community members, giving our ELC children a smart, cohesive look, and simplifying the routine of getting dressed in the morning.
2023 will be a phasing-out period, where children can continue to wear pieces of the old ELC uniform to supplement their outfits, giving families time to purchase the new garments.
From 2024, the new ELC uniform will be compulsory for all children to wear during their time at the ELC. Children will need to wear both the top and bottom pieces (t-shirt; shorts; long sleeve top; long pants). A plain navy-coloured long sleeve top will be permitted to be worn underneath the t-shirt. For summer and high UV periods, children will wear the new ELC bucket hat, and for cooler periods, there will be new ELC vest and jacket options to replace non-ELC jackets, jumpers and vests.
These new items will be available for purchase from our School Shop in mid-December, and we look forward to seeing the children proudly wear their new ELC attire.
Suzanne Haddy
Head of Junior School
Vacation Care Bookings Now Closed
Vacation Care bookings are now closed. Thank you to all families who have booked. Due to staffing requirements, cancellations will incur the full day’s fee.
Vacation Care will run from Monday 12 to Friday 23 December, and will be closed from Monday 26 December. Vacation Care will reopen on Monday 9 January and run until Friday 27 January, with Term 1 beginning on Monday 30 January. Please note: Thursday 26 January is a public holiday and the ELC will be closed.
Sun Safety in the ELC
As the weather starts to warm up, please ensure your child brings a broad-brimmed hat each day they attend ELC. If you do not have an ELC uniform hat, we ask that you pack another broad-brimmed hat for your child to wear. As we move into the warmer months, it is extremely important that we adhere to our policies and procedures. If your child does not have a hat, they will be asked to play under the shaded areas or indoors. We encourage you to apply sunscreen on your child prior to arriving at the ELC so they are ready for the day. Sunscreen application is undertaken regularly at the ELC; if your child requires an alternative sunscreen, please provide this to your child’s teacher. We also ask that your child wears their correct ELC uniform, and refrains from wearing dresses or singlets where their shoulders are exposed. 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.
2023 ELC Enrolment Requirements
We are working through our intake offers for next year and need to ensure our current families have their allocated days in place. Please notify me ASAP via selliott@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au if you require an amendment to your days moving forward in 2023, or if you are leaving the Centre at the end of this year. We understand that families may need to take extended periods of time off throughout an ELC year for special circumstances. We do still charge for any booked days when your child is enrolled in the ELC. In line with the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) service, children are allowed 42 CCS ‘absent’ days per year, with any number of days following this incurring the standard daily rate of ELC without subsidy. Please keep this in mind and let me know if you intend to be absent for an extended period of time.
Sarah Elliott, ELC Enrolments Manager
COVID-19 Information
As you may be aware, a number of COVID-19 requirements have been lifted including mandatory isolation for those who test positive. Notwithstanding this, SA Health encourages anyone with symptoms to get tested and stay home until symptoms have cleared (usually five to seven days). As there is no longer a set COVID isolation period, you must notify the School each day your child will be absent, or provide the expected period of absence.
Please notify us via email or text:
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
The School is no longer required to record details of COVID-19 cases for SA Health; however, there is still a requirement for South Australians who test positive using a RAT to report their result to SA Health online. Close contacts should continue to monitor for symptoms, get tested and stay home until symptoms have cleared. For more information, click here. As always, we will keep you informed of any updated advice. Please note that if your child is unwell, they should remain home until they have recovered, irrespective of the illness.
来自黄老师的信息
致亲爱的ELC社区朋友们，
2022年第四学期即将迎来尾声，从上周的忙碌中我们抽出了一些时间来回顾这美好的一年。
今年，我们坚持ELC的乐观和开放的价值观，与我们的家人和孩子共同学习。我们为今年所取得的成就和成功感到自豪，作为一个有凝聚力的团队，为孩子们创造丰富的学习环境。总的来说，我们一直受到孩子们全年学习和思考的启发，这是在儿童早期教育领域工作的许多乐趣之一。
在这里，我们感谢大家参加到11月25日星期五的ELC年终庆祝活动。庆祝我们社区的团结是如此美好。我们感谢你和你的家庭成员从年底日程的百忙之中抽出时间为孩子们创造一个快乐而难忘的夜晚。
今天，我们的ELC捐赠树下的礼物已经被收集好并送到了Anglicare SA，我们感谢大家慷慨地参与到这次筹集捐赠机会。特别是那些能克制住自己想要去玩树下礼物的孩子们，他们逐渐理解了为其他有需要的孩子提供礼物的意义。
很高兴看到我们的圣彼得女校小学预备班的孩子们参加了周一的ELC“升学戴帽“仪式集会。当孩子们参与到这一美妙的ELC传统中，他们展现出了自己自信和自豪的一面。我们向2023年开始新的学习旅程的所有家庭和孩子们致以最美好的祝愿，无论哪里。我们希望你不要成为一个陌生人，因为你将永远是我们社区的一部分。
每个孩子的学习文档将在本周发给各位家长，以便大家在假期里一同和孩子分享这一学习记录。我们希望所有家庭都能享受其中展示的丰富而深刻的教学理念。在文档中还附上由孩子们亲手制作的一份特别的礼物，代表着我们一整年的学习。
Caterina和我要感谢大家在这一年里在我们的新角色中给予我们的温暖、反馈和支持。虽然这些角色对我们个人来说都是新的，但我们很自豪和感激能有机会支持你们所有人。很高兴和荣幸能够在2022年领导这个中心，我们期待着在2023年看到我们的中心在新的领导结构下继续蓬勃发展。
2023年，Caterina将继续担任ELC的Atelierista/艺术教育专家，并将制定令人激动的学习项目。在我开始新的海外教学之旅之前，明年第一学期我会是Stonyfell 房间的老师。我个人想感谢在过去的7年里成为这个温暖且充满欢迎的ELC社区里不可或缺的每一个人，我会想念大家的。
我们在这里祝大家有一个愉快的假期，也希望大家继续留下美好的回忆，珍惜孩子们生命中的这段快乐时光。
“快乐，让一切皆有可能发生”——洛里斯·马拉古兹（“Nothing without joy” – Loris Malaguzzi）
Henrietta Balnaves ELC经理
Caterina Pennestri ELC教育专家
Emma Huang works in Learning Community 1 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am – 5pm.
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. 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
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. Text: 0428 601 957 Email: attendance@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au Phone: 8334 2200
ELC Room Contacts:
- Stonyfell – 8155 5778
- Bell Yett – 8155 5777
- Ferguson – 8155 5776
- Hallett – 8155 5775
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