Please make sure your child brings their labelled hat for Term 1 and part of Term 2 (these can remain in their lockers for the term).

Art smocks for weekly lessons (last year's is fine if it still fits or an old shirt works too!)

All students will have their library session on Thursdays. Library bags are not essential, but recommended.

Kinect2Dance Arts Festival Program begins this Friday 6th February - payment and permission due 13th February.

Take home books and homework will commence at the end of Week 4.

We encourage students to enjoy a fresh fruit/vegetable snack at 10 am every day. We find this helps the students to stay energised and focussed.

Please encourage your child to go to the toilet before school upon arrival. We encourage students to go to the toilet at recess and lunch breaks to avoid them needing to go so often during class time.

Most importantly, now that students have had a chance to settle in, we ask that parents drop their child off at their classroom door rather than enter the classroom. We find that students tend to settle better if parents say their goodbyes at the door.

Of course, you are welcome to briefly chat with us before school outside the classroom and after school. Please note, we have scheduled meetings on Mon-Wed after school so we have limited time to meet on those afternoons.

Students are welcome to bring their toys to school, but we kindly ask that the toys remain in their school bags during learning time to minimise distraction.

Welcome Back!

Dear Level 1 families, we warmly welcome you to the 2026 school year and extend a special welcome to the families joining our Level 1 community for the first time. We understand that the start of a new school year can bring a mix of excitement and nerves, and our focus is on creating a calm, predictable, and supportive environment where all learners feel safe and confident.

Over the first two weeks of school, our focus has been Learning to Learn. During this time, students have been reacquainted with routines and the ways we learn at SEPS — using whiteboards, respecting one another, caring for our belongings, and working closely with their teachers. We have also practised new line-up spaces, learned our role order, and explored the many learning spaces across our school.

The children have been energised and eager to put their learning into their brand-new books, and we are already seeing a very high standard of work. Keep it up, Level 1 — you should be incredibly proud of yourselves!

Timetable Term 1

Literacy

Over the past two weeks, students have been enjoying the story Jessica’s Box by Peter Carnavas. Through this text, we have been exploring key vocabulary, making predictions, and forming connections to the story and to our own experiences. Students have also been practising how to ask thoughtful questions about the text. Using key words from the story, they are beginning to create compound sentences and give reasons for their ideas, developing both their comprehension and their writing skills.

The Next Fortnight

Students will be exploring the text Possum Magic by Mem Fox. They will be learning to describe characters using nouns, verbs and adjectives, focusing on Grandma Poss and her magical powers. Students will practise using new and challenging vocabulary in their own writing and begin to model their writing on the style of the author. Using their imagination, children will create their own magical powers and include an Australian city in their writing, building both creativity and confidence as young writers.

Core Literacy

Our daily Core Literacy lessons include many English components including handwriting, dictation, card deck, making words with letters and their sounds, reading words and texts and comprehension.

It is also a time when we incorporate the student text book, Spelling Mastery, twice a week into our lessons to revise sounds, letter names and the reading and spelling of words.

Over the past two weeks we have been revising the vowel sounds- both long and short a,e,i, o and u.

This week our heart words have been the, was and are.

Our spelling focus next week will be learning about the 'magic e' rule. Magic e at the end of a word makes the vowel before it say its name (long vowel sound).

Our heart words to learn to read and spell will be have, give, live, like.

Mathematics

Students have settled beautifully into Level 1 Maths routines and are showing great enthusiasm for their learning. A strong focus has been placed on helping students record their mathematical thinking clearly and confidently. This includes setting up their maths books, recording one number per square, and using the ‘make, name, record’ strategy to explain their thinking.

So far, students have been learning about data. They are developing an understanding that data is a collection of information that can be sorted into categories. Students have been sorting and displaying data into both given categories and categories they create themselves. They have been learning to ask questions that can be answered by looking at data, create simple pictographs, and represent data using tally marks, describing what the data shows.

The Next Fortnight

Over the coming weeks, students will begin exploring number and place value. They will estimate and then systematically organise and count collections of between 20 and 120 objects. Students will learn that grouping objects into tens makes counting larger collections more efficient and accurate, with opportunities for dynamic counting and skip counting by 10s. Students will also use hands-on materials to form bundles of ten, strengthening their understanding of how our number system is built around tens. This will support them in naming and recording numbers from 20 to 120 and exploring the importance of the number 100.

Warm Regards,

The Level 1 Team

Nishtha Kapoor, Lizzie Parmar, Rhiannon Harris-Tudor and Robyn Hall

Problem of the Week

By Trudy Gau