Prep News

Welcome to our Prep newsletter! We are so excited to share our amazing learning and journey together. Please check the timetable below for your child's weekly Specialist times, including Library and Curious Corner.

📅 Important Dates & Reminders

All important dates and events are available on our Compass Calendar. Please check the calendar regularly to stay up to date.

• Little Learners Celebration party! On Tuesday 17th March, the Preps are having a special Little Learners Day and celebrating that we have learnt all of the Milo Monkey characters. Please encourage your child to share what their favourite character has been so far and what costume they may like to wear.

   

• Thanks to those who have already bought their childs decorated placemat back. If you haven't yet returned you child's, please do so.

• Please remind students to bring their ‘red bag’ back to school with Library books inside ready to return on your childs allocated Library day.

• Students are required to bring their take-home bags to school daily. Please always check inside these for important information, notices or student work. 

Literacy 

We have been meeting more of our Little Learner characters and practising their sounds. Some new characters we have met are Roxy Rabbit, Vicky Vulture, Eddie Elephant and Zoe Zebra. Students have enjoyed learning the sounds these characters represent and using them during our daily literacy sessions.

In Word Work, students have been reading and encoding words using the letters o, d, g and l. They have been practising reading and writing CVC words such as sit, pit, miss, dam, pip and many more. It has been wonderful to see their confidence growing as they apply their letter–sound knowledge.

We have also completed our Literature unit based on the text Stay for Dinner. Students learned that stories have a beginning, middle and end, and identified important story elements such as the setting, characters, problem and solution.

Through explicit instruction Prep students have begun to understand that a sentence needs a ‘who’ and a ‘what doing’. Using images from the text, students practised constructing verbal who and what sentences. They also explored the difference between statements and questions, and had opportunities to use question words including who, what, when, where and why.

We are very proud of the effort and enthusiasm our Prep students continue to show in their learning.

Preview - 

Next fortnight, students will be exploring the traditional tale of Little Red Riding Hood and comparing it with the humorous version by Roald Dahl. As part of this unit, students will be learning to answer both literal (right there) and inferential (thinking deeper) questions in response to both texts. They will also continue to develop their understanding of story structure, including the beginning, middle and end, as well as key story elements.

In Word Work, we will be focusing on the letter sounds v, b, h and n. Students will practise reading and writing these sounds in CVC (consonant–vowel–consonant) words to continue building their confidence in early reading and spelling.

Knowledge Rich

We have recently concluded our unit on exploring the five senses. Throughout this learning, students discovered how sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch help us to understand and explore the world around us, as well as keep ourselves safe.

To finish the unit, students completed a “senses sort,” where they matched different experiences and objects to the correct sense. This activity allowed them to showcase their understanding of how each sense works and why they are important in our everyday lives. It was wonderful to see students confidently explaining their thinking and making connections to real-world situations.

Mathematics

This fortnight, students have been learning about Measurement, with a focus on the concept of time and understanding the difference between long and short durations. Students explored everyday events that take a short amount of time compared with those that take longer, helping them develop an awareness of how time is experienced in daily life. 

Students also learned and practised important time-related vocabulary, including before and after and first, then, next and last. Through classroom discussions and practical examples, students practised sequencing events in the correct order, such as putting on their socks first and then their shoes.

In addition, students explored the days of the week. They practised identifying what day it is today, what day it was yesterday, and what day it will be tomorrow. Students also discussed the difference between weekdays and weekends and shared examples of activities they might do on each of these days. Learning the days of the week and related language helps build a foundation for understanding time and sequencing events. 

Preview -Next fortnight, students will begin learning about Counting and Place Value, with a focus on counting collections and developing accurate one-to-one counting skills. Students will practise counting a variety of objects, such as counters, blocks, and everyday classroom materials, to determine how many items are in a collection. This helps students understand that when counting, each object is matched with one number word, building accuracy and confidence when working with numbers. 

Wellbeing 

Our students have been actively engaging in Friendology lessons as a whole cohort, building important skills around friendship and connection. Together, they have been practicing how to confidently introduce themselves, ask others to play, and share interesting facts about themselves with someone new. Learning and rehearsing these skills as a cohort has allowed students to build relationships beyond their own classroom and engage positively with all peers across the year level.

Preview - 

Over the next fortnight, students will explore what makes a friendship healthy or unhealthy. We’ll discuss how our words, actions, and body language can influence how others feel and how strong friendships are built on respect, kindness, and clear communication.

Curious Corner 

We have continued exploring Curious Corner, where students are developing their social skills through a variety of play experiences including imaginative play, role play, construction, and art & craft activities. Through turn-taking, sharing, including others, and collaborative play, students are strengthening their confidence, empathy and sense of belonging within our school community.

It has been wonderful to see students applying real-world skills through their play, such as grocery shopping, caring for babies, cooking, building homes and working together to solve problems. These experiences allow them to practise communication, responsibility and cooperation in meaningful and engaging ways, while continuing to show growing independence, creativity and kindness towards one another.

Cross Country 

The Prep students showed incredible spirit at their very first Cross Country event! From start to finish, they demonstrated fantastic resilience, supported one another with wonderful teamwork, and most importantly, had lots of fun along the way. It was inspiring to see their determination and smiles as they crossed the finish line. Every student should be proud of their amazing effort and the outstanding result achieved by everyone!

Homework

Prep 2026, Additional Homework

Literacy 

• Practice writing your name, numbers and SATPINM letters (both lowercase and uppercase).
• Please practice reading SATPINM (letter tiles) letter names and sounds. You can expand on this by creating 2,3,4 and 5 letter words. 
• Enjoy reading to your child nightly using books from your home, local library and school library. 

Mathematics

• Practice reading and writing your numbers 1-1

Meet the teacher 

Name: Miss Sweetten

Things I like:  Going camping, swimming in the lake & fishing!  

In my spare time: I like finding new recipes to make and seeing my friends and family. 

Favourite Colour: Orange

Pets: I have a Staffy called Rosco!

 Birthdays 

Student Awards

Please note that Prep students are now attending assembly and will start receving  'Student of the Week' awards. Parents and carers of the selected child will be notified by email (this will be for their first award only).

Have a wonderful weekend,

The Prep Team

Mrs Sandeman, Miss Bouloukis and Miss Sweetten.