Year One
Dear Year One Community,
A huge welcome back to all our Year One families. We hope you had a wonderful and restful holiday and are ready for the year ahead. We have a lot planned this year and we are so excited to get started.
It was wonderful to see the students begin their school year with such a positive attitude. We understand that coming back from the holidays can be daunting and we are so proud of how our Year Ones returned and settled in, especially with it being their first ever return to school after the long Summer holidays. All students entered their classrooms with excitement and smiles as they begun getting to know their new classroom setting, teacher and classmates. As teachers, we have loved getting to know our students and cannot wait to continue to build on this throughout the year.
As a school, students begin the year by participating in our start up program, ‘The First 20 Days.’ This program focuses on developing an understanding of school expectations and routines, as well as having a strong emphasis on building positive relationships between the teacher and students. This will support student’s learning and development to determine a successful year of achievement and growth.
Our Learning to Learn component of the program comprised of a school tour, discussions of our morning routine and behaviour expectations and what it means to be a part of an IB school. Students also begun to learn explicitly about the attributes of the Learner Profile which we will use to collaboratively form our classroom Essential Agreements at the end of 'The First 20 Days' program.
In Reading, students have displayed student agency, voice and collaboration when sorting and categorising their classroom libraries. They also participated in lessons revising their knowledge of what good readers do, how to choose a just right book, what independent looks like and a range of different reading strategies.
In Writing, students completed an 'All About Me' booklet which helped teachers gain further insight into who the students are as individuals. They revised what good writers do and discussed book expectations. Students also participated in a language experience and then wrote their first recount for the year.
In Mathematics, students were introduced to our Maths lesson structure, 'Launch, Explore, Discuss.' They revised what a Maths lesson looks like, how to represent numbers in different ways, what vocabulary and concrete materials might be used during Maths and RUCSAC.
As the school continues to grow, hiring new staff is inevitable, but brings about an exciting opportunity for fresh faces and new ideas and experiences! Within the Year One team, we are thrilled to introduce our new staff members for this year: Chelsea Christie (1B), Carmen Dennis (1F), Rohan Crowle (1G) and Latalia Singh (1K). They will be joining our existing teachers – Julia Sambell (1A), Allister Lovelock (1C), Payton Meiers (1D), Lucy Mackintosh (1E), Jaclyn Rossi (1H), Elise Clark (1I), Natasha Palombi (1J) and Emily Wilson (1L). We are very excited to work together as a team to move learning forward in Year One throughout 2022.
As we move through the year, if you ever have any concerns or questions, we encourage you to reach out to your child’s classroom teacher in the first instance. If needed, the teacher can direct your queries to a member of the leadership team who will be able to assist you.
Reminders
• In Term One, it is required that all students wear their hats during recess and lunch. We kindly remind students to remember to pack their hats each day.
• Please ensure iPads are sent to school fully charged each day.
• Year One Parent Information Evening – Monday February 20th.
Kind Regards,
The Year One Team.