Foundation News

Dear Foundation Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to Week 9 of Term 4!

It is not long now until the year wraps up and Summer holidays are here. We have been so impressed to see how far students have come this year and thank everyone for their contribution to a very successful 2025. Here is an overview of what we have been learning in the last few weeks of term.

Learning Focus

English

Students are continuing to build confidence with digraphs, exploring sounds such as /oy/, /ar/, and /oo/ (as in ‘book’), while also revising those learned earlier in the term. Using whiteboards, they practise writing words like boy, farm, and book and apply these spelling patterns in simple sentences. Their phonemic awareness is strengthening, with many students now confidently identifying blends, digraphs, and individual sounds as they use this knowledge when reading with a partner. We have also completed our Talk for Writing unit on Jack and the Beanstalk, where students learned how connectives such as once upon a time and early the next morning help link a story together. It has been wonderful to see them apply this learning as they begin using picture prompts to write their own stories using connective vocabulary.

Knowledge

We have continued exploring our geography unit, “Let’s Explore Our World,” with students enjoying their discoveries about continents and countries such as Antarctica, New Zealand, Japan, India and more. To conclude the unit, students have worked hard when creating their own dioramas to showcase what they have learned.

As we move into the final weeks of term, we are beginning a new Literature unit focused on rhyme, using the story Where is the Green Sheep? to guide our learning.

Maths

In Maths, students have enjoyed hands-on activities exploring equal sharing. They began by learning the terms equal and unequal and practised sharing objects between two groups, including through real-life scenarios such as dividing pretend food. As their confidence grew, students investigated unequal sharing and were introduced to the idea of remainders.

In the weeks ahead, we will shift our focus to place value, learning to represent numbers beyond ten as “10 ones and more ones.” Lastly, we will explore how to use money in practical ways by adding and subtracting with coins.

Reminders

Last day of Term 4: Friday 19 July. Students will finish the day at 1:00 and the gates will close at 1:15. There will be an end of year Assembly at 9:00 on this day.
Library books: A friendly reminder that library books should have been returned, so we kindly ask that outstanding library books are to be returned to your child’s classroom teacher
Reader bags: Please ensure your child’s reader bag is brought back to school. These bags will be passed on to your child’s 2026 classroom teacher and will remain at school over the holiday break until the take-home reading program resumes next year
Fruit snack: Another friendly reminder that, if possible, this is in addition to lunch and snack. This fruit is eaten throughout the day or as a brain break to allow students to feel recharged and focus between lessons
Pick Up and Drop Off: Please continue encouraging your child to enter the classroom independently. This helps build confidence and responsibility as they prepare to move from Foundation to Grade One!
School hats: Please ensure your child has their school hat each day for outdoor play and sun protection
Final week of school: students will take part in a small number of Christmas-themed activities. If you do not wish for your child to participate, please let your classroom teacher know so that alternative activities can be arranged

Home Learning Ideas

To support your child’s ongoing learning at home, you may like to:

Practise writing words using letters and sounds learned in class
Have your child write their name using a capital letter followed by lowercase letters
Encourage reading and ask questions after reading (e.g., Who were the characters? What was the setting?)
Practise counting and writing numerals from 0–20

Thank you for your ongoing support. If you have any questions, please feel free to speak with your classroom teacher.

We wish you a safe and happy Summer holiday.

Warm regards,

The Foundation Team