Prep

Dear Prep families,

Welcome to Saltwater P-9 College! What a fantastic start to the school year our wonderful Prep students have had. They have transitioned into Saltwater College with an open-minded and balanced attitude and have shown courage as they embark on their new journey, meeting their new wonderful teachers and friends within their classrooms and across the Prep cohort.

We are excited to introduce you to our Prep 2023 Team. We have enjoyed meeting and getting to know all the students in our cohort. Please scroll through the images below to see all the Prep staff photos from Prep A to Prep K.

** As noted above, there are some teachers within our team who have an asterisk (*) beside their name. This indicates that they are only temporarily teaching the classes and will  commence their leadership roles once additional teachers have been recruited to the Prep team.

In Prep K, Anne Farrugia will commence maternity leave this week and will be replaced by Sarah Mason and Stephanie Day in the coming weeks.  Sarah Mason will also be replaced to resume her Leading Teacher duties, as soon as our recruitment process if finalised. 

We are currently in the process of hiring a teacher for Prep I to replace Gramatiki Alexiou (Leading Teacher) and once this has been finalised, we will communicate with families.

We would also like to welcome our Prep Assistant Principal, Taxia Katsouranis. Taxia is an experienced leader who will lead and support our team with all aspects of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. If you would like to contact Taxia, please email the school office and mark the email as 'Attention Taxia.'

During the first week of school, we have watched our students transition into school life. Each morning our students have engaged in developmental play, providing them with opportunities to explore new materials. This helps our students to develop their fundamental skills for their cognitive, physical, social and emotional growth. We will continue this as the term progresses as it provides our students with the opportunities to build relationships with their peers and teachers, learn about sharing, making choices and cooperation, while communicating with others and taking turns. 

Establishing and understanding routines and expectations is important at the start of prep and within our 'First 20 days of School Program', and we have already begun exploring the attributes of learning such as what it means to be 'principled' and a 'risk-taker'. We have been working through establishing morning routines and transitions.

In Literacy we have begun exploring concepts of print and emerging students to develop a love of reading through engaging with the books in our classroom library. After reading the mentor text, ‘Where is the Green Sheep?’ the students conducted a school tour to become familiar with the key areas of the school, such as the toilets, canteen, front office, sick bay, gym, Assistant Principal and Principal’s offices.

In Mathematics, we are learning about the days of the week and tracking how many days we have been at school. We have also been exploring and learning about the maths resources available to us within the classroom, and how to take care of these resources.

REMINDERS:

• There is no school for Prep students every Wednesday during February as DET mandated assessment is conducted on these days.
• The first full week of Prep begins on Monday 27 February.
• Students are expected to bring their satchel to school EVERY DAY – If your child has not received one, please speak to your classroom teacher.
• Hats are to be worn when outside for the whole of Term One. Please ensure to put sunscreen on your child before arriving at school.
• Please ensure all of your child’s belongings are clearly labelled with their first and last names.
• Snack and lunch times are 15 minutes long. Please encourage your child to eat snack/lunch within 15 minutes as this will help them to follow school routine. Practise doing this at home to assist your child. 
• Please pack a change of underwear and shorts/pants in case your child has a toileting accident. These items should be stored in your child's bag and clearly labelled.

Once again, we welcome you to Saltwater College and look forward to meeting you at the Parent Information session on Wednesday 15 February at 6.00pm, in the school hall. 

Kind regards, 

Prep Team