Curriculum- Teaching and Learning

School Wide Teaching and Learning

In each edition of our school newsletter, we share with our community an insight into the curriculum being taught within our classrooms. This reflects our school's strong focus upon continuous improvement. 

Each edition covers a different area of the curriculum, and is supported by our school-wide approaches to teaching and learning. 

In this edition we focus upon providing you an overview of what has been occurring across our classrooms over the past fortnight. 

Let's TALK Program coming in 2022

Through our existing partnership with Yarra Valley Psychology, our school recently joined a Worksafe Funding Application to promote social-emotional welfare within workplaces and schools. 

As one of five educational organisations/schools we were part of a successful grant application, and will be launching this approach to creating 'safe' conversations in early 2022. 

The purpose of the program is to improve 'school connectedness' and to provide students and staff with a consistent and predictable approach to talking about mental health. A key component of the program is to train all staff, and to train 20 student mentors from Year Four- Year Six. 

Stay tuned for more information early in 2022. 

Foundation Transition Information

INFORMATION FOR FAMILIES: Transition Program Dates for 2022 Foundation Students

We are very excited to be able to finally confirm the arrangements for our much anticipated Foundation Transition Program! Please be aware that this year's program required modifications in comparison to how we would normally conduct transition sessions. These modifications are required due to the Department of Education and Training (DET) Operations Guide and Covid-Safe Schools Plans. You will note alternating days are allocated to the below sessions, with the aim of accommodating the spread of kindergarten timetables, and parent/carer work commitments. 

Please note the dates below for your family calendar: 

Friday 19th November- Transition Session #1 (on-site)

• On this day, students and a chosen parent/carer are invited to attend a 30 minute on-site transition session. There will be seven separate groupings/timeslots.
• This session will be a mixture of outdoor/indoor activities allowing your child time to explore the Foundation play area and classrooms.
• These 30 minute on-site sessions will be held in groups of ~six students, with the addition of one parent/carer each.
• Parents/Carers are required to stay for the entirety of this 30 minute session. The intimate small group atmosphere will allow you an opportunity to freely interact with our staff and other parents/carers.
• Groupings have been arranged by the school, and are based upon friendships/interests/kinder connections which we have gained from our one-one Webex interviews held previously.
• Personalised email invitations for this session are being emailed to each family on Tuesday 9th November. This email will contain the finer details for the event, CovidSafe requirements, as well as what to do if you are unavailable during your allocated session time.

Wednesday 24th November 6:00pm- 7:00pm Online Parent Information Session (off-site via Webex platform)

• During this session we will provide you with the practical operational details which you may be wanting to know, such as timetabling, uniforms, care arrangements, etc. We will also be providing parents/carers with an overview of our approach to teaching Literacy.
• Personalised email invitations for this session are being emailed to each family on Tuesday 9th November. 

Wednesday 1st December- Transition Session #2 (on-site)

• On this day, students are invited to attend a 60 minute on-site transition session. There will be four separate groupings/timeslots.
• This session will be a mixture of outdoor/indoor activities and involve a visit from our Visual Art and Performing Arts teachers.
• These 60 minute on-site sessions will be held in groups of ~10 students, who will be grouped according to information we have gathered about each child/family.
• Parents/Carers are encouraged to allow their child to attend this session independently. The intimate small group atmosphere, with plenty of staff support, should allow your child to feel comfortable and confident. However, if a parent/carer feels the need to stay then you are of course welcome.
• Personalised email invitations for this session are being emailed to each family on Tuesday 9th November. This email will contain the finer details for the event, CovidSafe requirements, as well as what to do if you are unavailable during your allocated session time.

Thursday 9th December 9:30am-12:00pm: Transition Session #3 (on-site)  

• On this day, students are invited to attend for 2.5 hours, with all enrolled students being in attendance for the entire duration.
• Parents/Carers are encouraged to allow their child to attend this session independently.
• Each student will be required to bring a backpack/bag containing a snack and water bottle.
• This session will be a mixture of indoor/outdoor activities, with students having the opportunity to learn/play alongside both Mrs Peters and Mrs Dam.
• Personalised email invitations for this session are being emailed to each family on Tuesday 9th November. This email will contain the finer details for the event, CovidSafe requirements, as well as what to do if you have any questions.

For all of the above listed on-site sessions, please provide your child with a Sunmart hat. This may be a personalised hat which you already own, or you may contact the school office to arrange the purchase of a school hat. In reading the above information, we understand that some families may have additional questions/comments which they wish to address prior to the above sessions. 

We welcome your input, and encourage you to email Mrs Holly Peters   holly.peters@education.vic.gov.au We are so excited to finally be allowed to have your family visit us on-site. 

We cannot wait for the first session!