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To all our families of 2023 a big welcome to you and your beautiful children! We have had a fabulous few weeks starting our year at Preschool. The children are quickly settling into our Preschool routines and it is lovely to watch new friendships forming, and the delight and curiosity shown by the children as they explore their new learning space.
Over the last few weeks each of the classes has spent time orienting the children to their new environment. Classes have been learning about the chickens – with visits to the chicken coop and discussions about how we care for the chickens at preschool. There have been opportunities for the children to help with some digging and planting in our vegie patch, and we have been on visits to the library and the sensory garden at the primary school. On Friday we were able to join with the school community for a Liturgy to celebrate the beginning of our year at St Anthonys. We have been busy!
Each of the classes, through a shared learning story and some class teddy bears, have been learning about the important things to bring to preschool each day. Our bears have been showing us how we can have fun and enjoy our day at school through remembering to come each day with helping hands, listening ears, walking feet and kind hearts.
We are also very excited to announce that the children at the ELC will be joining in with St Anthony’s Primary School students in learning Italian this year. Please see below for some information about this new initiative from the school Italian teacher, Ben Mockler.
Our Meet and Greet the staff afternoon is this Wednesday. This will be an opportunity to meet your child’s class teaching team, join us for a late afternoon tea and meet other parents. The teachers will also deliver a short information session. We are unable to supervise children at this time, however children may attend with you if you are unable to make any suitable care arrangements.
This will be a child free event however we undertstand that in some cases, that is not always possible and therefore chidlren can attend if needed. Please note that the staff will be unable to provide supervision for your child/ren as they will be involved in the event. We look forward to seeing you all there!
We are very excited to be introducing Italian within our preschool. Please see the below information regarding this new program your children will experience.
Research suggests that learning a musical instrument or learning anything ‘new’ improves neural pathways in the human brain. Learning another language is equally important in developing the human brain’s ability to overcome challenges, think logically and creatively, and problem solve.
We are excited to announce that learning experiences in Italian will be available to students attending the ELC on Wednesdays. Mr Ben Mockler (from St Anthony’s Primary) will visit the ELC to offer play-based learning experiences (which will explore aspects of Italian language and culture.)
The Italian Embassy is funding the provision of native speakers of Italian as Learning Assistants in our community. They will assist Ben in creating authentic experiences for your child. We are thrilled to be supported by the Dante Alighieri Society in this initiative.
When learning Italian at our ELC, students will: imitate sounds, rhythms and patterns of the Italian language. They will use simple words and phrases, sing songs and dance. Students will explore aspects of Italian life and culture through play-based learning activities, through cooking, gardening and naming aspects of the environment with Italian translations. We hope your child comes home to share their learning of Italian with you too!
A BIG Happy Birthday to Jack, Mary H, Samuel, Aidan M, Zoe, Isaac D, Libby & Leo V who have all celebrated their birthdays recently!!
We hope you all enjoyed your special day.
ELC car visor sign can be collected from the foyer
Please take an ‘ELC’ visor sign for your car, to increase visibility in the car line.
This sign will allow staff on duty to know that you are in the car que, waiting to leave the carpark. When possible, the staff member will move other cars along so you can continue through.
Thank you for your continued cooperation when the car park is busy at the end of the preschool day.
LUNCH ORDERS
Children at the preschool are able to receive lunch orders from the primary school canteen. When ordering food please order from the Early Learning Centre Canteen Menu only. Items ordered that are not from this menu list will be sent home in student’s bags and students will be given a suitable alternative from the canteen or our ELC kitchen.
The Early Learning Centre Lunch Menu includes wonderful options suitable to your 3-5 year olds. The full canteen menu is not an option as it is important that our preschool students are eating a healthy and balanced lunch while at Preschool and enjoying ‘sometimes’ foods when they are at home.
To order please download and use the Qkr! app. Once installed, find and click on St Anthony's Parish Primary School and create a profile for your child.
The Canteen is open Tuesday - Friday and orders need to be placed by 9:15am.
As you would be aware, SZapp is our main source of communication for general information within our preschool. I hope that you are reading this as you are connected and recieved the notification about this newsletter being published and shared with you. If not, and you became aware of the newsletter only through a Seesaw message from your child's class teacher, please connect to SZapp now.
You will miss important information and events if you are not connected and subscribed to the 'Preschool Parents/Carers 2023' group. Please see the below instructions to download the app, or speak to one of us in the office and we will be more than happy to help. Thank you.
