What's happening in our learning spaces?

FOUNDATION NEWS

For all of us in Foundation, the transition to school has been smooth. Over the last five days, there has been lots of excitement, with many new discoveries and firsts!

As self-managers, we have been focusing on engaging in some of the different daily routines, including the morning routine, eating time, lining up and packing our bags at the end of the day. We have also tuned in to the St Fidelis' Agreed Ways and will continue to unpack these over the coming weeks. Check out some photos of us engaging in the Morning Routine below!

As learners, we participated in our very first specialist classes. We were excited to meet the different teachers and get a taste of Art, Italian and Sport with the wonderful teachers. We also had our first catch-up with our grade 5/6 Buddies and had some time to get to know one another. We read some stories together, they interviewed us, and together, we drew some of our favourite things!

As members of a faith community, we tuned in to Prayer. We began learning how to do the Sign of the Cross as we engaged in Prayer each morning. As thinkers, we spoke about who we pray to, where we pray and why we might pray. We also had time and opportunity to visit the St Fidelis' Church and discus some of the things we could see there. On Friday, we also attended our very first school mass!

It has been a big week of learning, playing, exploring and finding out, and we can’t wait for our 2nd week of school!

Foundation Team,

Alycia Marsico, Leanne Wenckowski and Olivia Sargent

YEAR 1/2 NEWS

It was extremely wonderful to see the beautiful smiling faces of the Year 1/2 cohort walking through our learning spaces on Friday. Last week, we made a wonderful start to the year, by learning about our big question, ‘What do we need to do and be, to learn well together?’

As part of a safe and inclusive learning environment we were sure to begin developing positive relationships with one another. We played lots of games to get to know each other and our teacher of course. As readers, we had the opportunity to listen to a heartwarming story called, Our Class is a Family, written by Shannon Olsen. We identified school being a place where we show kindness and respect, a place where we can be ourselves and celebrate our differences. We will make memories together and make mistakes so that we can learn and try again! As part of feeling safe at school, we have been exploring the St Fidelis' Child Friendly, Child Safe Policy. We understand that all children have the right to be respected, to learn and to feel safe at school. We also created a safe hand to explore who we can go to, if we are feeling unsafe. Additionally the students had the opportunity to review our Agreed Ways and discuss expectations when learning inside and playing out in the school yard.

As mathematicians, we had the opportunity to listen to the story, Old Friends, New Friends written by Andrew Daddo. This story inspired us to reflect on our feelings about beginning the school year. As we collated our data about feelings and together we created a picture graph. We were able to make statements about what we noticed. Most students were excited! To extend our thinking, we also had the opportunity to find out about our peers by collecting data about brain food and birthdays and turning our findings into picture graphs.

As a Catholic faith community, we have begun to explore the concept of ‘prayer’. As thinkers, we activated our prior knowledge about prayer and then had time to extend our thinking by looking at different symbols such as the bible, a candle and the sign of the cross. Together, we have been reading and developing our understanding of the St Fidelis' prayer. This week, we will come together to develop prayers of the faithful that we will read during our class prayer time.

We would like to commend all the Year 1/2 students on following the morning routine, beginning their daily reading as well as following our agreed ways and transitioning up and down the stairs in a responsible manner. A fantastic start to the term!

A friendly reminder that as well as daily reading, a spelling sheet has been sent home for home learning along with a maths rubric. The spelling sheet will be changed each week and the maths rubric will be changed every few weeks.

Vania Sparano, Vivian Boggis, Nadia Ascenzo, Chloe Wang

1/2 Team

YEAR 3/4 NEWS

Welcome to Year 3/4 2025!

The purpose of our newsletter is to share highlights from our learning space, updates on upcoming events, and key dates to keep in mind. We are looking forward to an incredible year of learning, growth and collaboration, and we can’t wait to keep you in the loop about all the wonderful things we get up to!

The year has begun in a positive way as we have been engaging in different icebreaker activities to build happy friendships with each other. We have gathered together as a SLA on numerous occasions this week to ensure we are all sharing our expectations on our shared learning space.

Thank You: Thank you parents and carers for the Meet and Greet conversations last Thursday. It was lovely to see familiar faces and meet new ones too!

Library of Learners: You may have noticed our Library of Learners on display next to 3/4BP’s classroom in the SLA area. Just like every book holds a unique story, each decorated book represents one of our students, sharing their hobbies, strengths, and what makes them a great friend. It’s been wonderful to browse our bookshelves and learn more about the amazing individuals in our school community.

Welcome Video

If you haven’t already, please watch our Welcome Video where you will find important information about Year 3/4, routines, expectations, key dates and contact details.

Have a great week!

Year 3/4 Teachers,

Belinda Panzarino & Sarah Hogan

YEAR 5/6 NEWS

Welcome back! It’s fantastic to kick off another exciting year. A big thank you to all the parents and caregivers who have visited the SLA and said hello!

We've had an amazing week getting to know our new Year 5/6 cohort for 2025. We've focused a lot on learning about the Senior Learning Area (SLA), establishing routines and expectations, and, of course, engaging in lots of fun activities to help us get to know each other!

To explore the Agreed Ways of St Fidelis, the SLA (Years 3-6) worked in mixed groups with different teachers to participate in the chalk talk thinking routine. They discussed and recorded their thoughts on the 6 Agreed Ways. These ideas were then shared back with the SLA so all students could hear what these ways of learning are and how they will look and sound in the SLA this year.

We also had the chance to welcome our buddies to their very first week of primary school! It was such a joy to visit them for the first time and even take part in an activity together. Watch out Year 5/6s – the Foundations crayon colouring skills are truly impressive!