Over the past five weeks, the ELC children, staff and families have been forming relationships and establishing a sense of belonging within their new ELC environment.  As stated in the Early Years Learning Framework, “Children’s lives are characterised by belonging, being and becoming. From before birth children are connected to family, communities, culture and place. Their earliest learning, development and wellbeing takes place through these relationships, particularly within families, who are children’s first and most influential educators. (p.6)” 

The ELC children have been proudly introducing their families to their class through family photos, stories and drawings.  This week they explored a special family, Jesus’ family. The Early Years Learning Framework was updated last year. Head to BELONGING, BEING & BECOMING (acecqa.gov.au) for more information. Our teachers and educators have been attending various personal development opportunities to help understand the changes and how to adapt the programs to reflect these changes.

ELC Fruit Shop

Our first ELC Fruit Shop was a huge success and the children were very excited to ‘purchase’ their own fruit. This week’s Mystery Fruit was strawberries, which we grow in our ELC garden, and our resident blue tongue lizard enjoys feasting upon.

With our Library and Arts lessons scheduled early in the morning, it has had an impact on the days we run Fruit Shop. We will now hold Fruit Shop on Tuesdays (odd weeks) and Thursday (even weeks).

St Jude’s Fete

The St Jude’s Fete will be on Saturday 16th March.  This is a great fun day to meet other families and raise some funds for the school. This year the ELC will be hosting the hairspray stall.  Many hands make light work, so we’d love for you to get involved.  More information on how to volunteer will come soon.

Mufti Day (non-uniform day) is tomorrow 1 March (week 5) for Turtles and Lobsters and Tuesday 5 March (week 6) for Stingrays.  The aim is to collect supplies and donations for our fete stall.  Children are invited to wear plain clothes and we ask that you donate a can of coloured hairspray and a gold coin.

Clean Up Australia day (for schools)

Can you imagine the good we can do if all of Australia came together on one day and took practical action to improve the environment? What a difference we could make! This Friday, 1 March, St Jude’s Primary and ELC will participate in Clean up Australia Day for Schools. We will join with our buddy groups and collect rubbish from our school and the surrounding environment. All classes will discuss safe practices for rubbish collection. We encourage students to bring in gloves from home. Afterwards, we will dispose of the waste collected and wash hands. School Clean Up Day is a great way to inspire students to learn about the impact of rubbish on the local environment while playing an active role in their community.

Project Compassion

During Lent, we are learning about the importance of doing kind things for others. We will participate in Project Compassion, which raises funds to help people living in poverty in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world. ELC families are invited to donate.  Project Compassion boxes are located on the prayer table in each classroom.