Prep Community News
Hello Prep Families,
I hope you are all enjoying the start of our school year! We have loved getting to know our students and their families throughout the start of the term.
Learning to Learn
In the first few weeks, we have been learning about our school values, classroom expectations and daily routines. The children have been taken on regular tours of the school and have lots of practice of our routines which will set them up to be successful learners. This will continue in week 4 before we settle into our regular classroom learning schedule.
Bravehearts Incursion
On Wednesday 12th March, the Prep students will attend the Bravehearts incursion. The Bravehearts Education team will provide a personal safety incursion for all Prep students. The focus of the preventative education program is to protect children from sexual harm. This includes a simple, fun, non-threatening incursion for the students with Ditto, the brave Lion Cub mascot who will lead the songs and actions that reinforce the important personal safety messages. Please provide consent and payment through Compass, the cost is $11 and is due by Wednesday 5th March. If you have any difficulties making your payment, please contact the office who will be happy to help you.
Take Home Reading
At Tarneit Rise, we encourage reading every school night to practice and develop enjoyment in reading. Each child will be given an assigned day which is displayed on the door of your child’s classroom. On their day, please bring their reading satchel, or the red prep bag mentioned above for the books to be stored in. They will also be given a reading journal which they will bring back to school each week for the teacher to record how many nights of reading they have done. At the end of each term, certificates will be given to celebrate hitting certain milestones in the Nights of Reading!
Prep Explicit Maths Program
We are extremely excited to be introducing the Explicit Maths Program (EMP) for all children in Prep this year. EMP is a high-quality, rigorous and research-informed mathematics program designed to provide a strong foundation to build increasingly sophisticated numeracy knowledge and skills, which will enable them to demonstrate success in NAPLAN later in years three and five. EMP requires your child to have their own student workbook, the cost is $34.50 and can be paid via Compass by Friday 28th February.
General Reminders
- School Photos are on Friday 28th of February so please bring the photo slip and payment on the day of photos.
- In terms 1 and 4, students are required to wear a hat outside during recess and lunch times. Hats can be purchased from the office if needed.
- Please label everything that your child brings to school with their name and their class (e.g. PA). This helps us with lost items and ensuring that your child’s items are returned to them. This includes hats and all items of clothing that they may remove throughout the day. We quite often end up with parents having to repurchase uniforms as the children lose them throughout the day and they cannot be found. If it has a name and class on it, it will easily be returned to the teacher within a few days.
- The first bell rings at 8.45 am signalling students to make their way into class and be ready to begin learning at 8.55 am. The school day finishes at 3.10 pm. In Term 1, parents drop off and collect their children from the classroom inside the pod. If your child will be attending Big Childcare after school, they will be collected from their classroom and walked over to the gym.
- Preps do not attend school on Wednesdays for the whole of February. They will begin attending 5 days a week from the first week in March.
If you have any further questions, please contact your child’s class teacher for support. We look forward to a wonderful year of growth with all the children in their first year of school!
PLC Prep