Foundation Spotlight

Welcome Back to School!

The Foundation teachers didn’t know exactly what to expect when we welcomed Foundation students back to school after more than three months away. We knew that there would be a lot of excitement, but we didn’t know how nervous or worried the children would be and how well they would remember all the routines that we introduced earlier in the year. All of our expectations were well and truly exceeded as students quickly resettled into Foundation life. Within no time students were making all sorts of new and wonderful connections, as though very little time had passed at all.

Exploration

This term we have continued to start each day with Exploration. This open-ended time has afforded students opportunities to re-establish old connections and build new ones as well. It has allowed creativity to flourish and given the Foundation teachers ideas of what we could introduce next. Several of the experiences that were set up reflected the interests of students before lockdown, such as library areas, craft tables and construction sites. We also added new areas to reflect some of topics that we explored during online learning. These include a space exploration area, puppet making and puppet play, as well as light and shadow play spaces. The hairdresser and greenery are examples of entirely new areas.

Student Reflections

Students were asked about what they enjoyed about being back at school. Here are some of the as highlights they mentioned:

• It’s been weird because I haven’t been to school in a long, long time, but I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve liked playing with my friends. ~ Cleo H, FB
• I like actually having an oval. I play footy with lots of people. ~ Ziggy KF, FB
• I liked having a lunch order for the first time. ~ Ayla H, FB
• I liked playing on the play equipment with my friends. ~ Isaac K, FC

The most popular reflection though was:

• I liked seeing everyone’s faces!

~ Foundation Teachers and Students