School Events/ Curriculum & Learning
What's happening in classrooms?
in anm Term 1- Foundation/1
Welcome to the Foundation/1 class of 2026! I would like to introduce you to the newest members of Newham Primary School!
All students have settled into class amazingly, you should all be very proud of them and the work that you have done to prepare them for big school.
Term foci
This term our main will focus on our routines, values and expectations. I have included the school wide positive behaviour matrix below which includes the language that we are using in supporting students social skills and behaviours.
In literacy we will begin looking at letters and their main sounds, with all students working at differentiated levels depending on their current knowledge.
Reading assessments have commenced and soon students will be able to take home a decodable reader, which they will keep for the week. Please ensure your child brings their reader in their reader satchel each day and is able to practice at home with you.
In numeracy we will be examining effective counting strategies, which will put us in good stead for working with numbers later in the year. Investigating, recognising and writing numbers form the foundation of all our numeracy learning. This is largely achieved through games and using concrete materials.
I have included our flexible timetable for families. Students will be participating in PE on Tuesdays, for which comfortable runners are preferred. We will have library each Wednesday where children will be able to take home a book for the week. They will need to return their book on the following Wednesday in order to borrow a new one.
Wellbeing
We have sunscreen available in the classroom for students to put on. Please make sure your child has applied sunscreen in the morning before coming to school. We recommend students leave their hat at school in their locker so that they are always available during playtime. If children do not have their sunsmart hat they will be required to play in the allocated shaded areas.
Please ensure your child has a piece of fruit or a vegetable for our fruit snack time. Fruit and vegetables are brain food and helpful to our learning.
Family Support
We always welcome family involvement in our school environment. Whether it is listening to some students with reading, helping on excursions or sports days, we appreciate some extra support from our school community. If you would like to help out in any way, please supply Narelle with a copy of your Working With Children Check and sign our volunteer policy.
Term 1 - Grade 1/2/3
I would like to say a big hello to everyone in the school community, and particularly the parents and family members of our 1/2/3 class. It has been an absolute joy to engage with such a wonderful group of kids!
Our focus for the first few weeks of school has been on establishing strong classroom values, routines and relationships. I am confident that the relationships and culture we are working to build right now will translate into some wonderful collaborative and dynamic learning down the track.
Numeracy: this term we are looking at number lines. Number lines are everywhere: on calendars, on thermometers, on my bathroom scales at home (those seem to keep going up ...at least in my case!) Our younger students are getting a handle on the 'big idea' that is the number line. Our older students are beginning to look at the connections and interactions between different kinds of number lines and how we can collect data on these.
Literacy: so far this term I am ... in a total state of shock. I have taught at both private schools and public schools, and I can honestly say that I have never seen a group of kids who are so passionate about their reading. Even the kids who have some reading challenges / don't like reading still seem to get caught up in the current. My father was an antique book dealer who also ran a secondhand bookstore, so I am...very happy ...to put it mildly.
I have prioritised assessments and spending one-on-one time with each child over the past two weeks. This has given me a lot of insight regarding the direction we should take as a class. While I have been engaging in testing and meeting up with individual students, we have also been worked on handwriting (including cursive handwriting), doing phonics-based dictation activities, and reading 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'.
Wellbeing: we have been working through a range of social and emotional strategies as a class. Some of these have included: mindful breathing, movement breaks and special relaxation strategies for hot days. We are also working through our Kimochi program.
Health: this term’s special curriculum focus is Health. We’ll be celebrating our unique personal characteristics and the diversity in our community, reflecting on resilience through changes in our lives, looking at help-seeking in emergencies and asking/giving permission online, as well as exploring and contributing to community health messages on sun safety.
Term 1 grade 4/5/6
Literacy- This term we will be focusing on common vowel sounds and how these sounds can be represented with different spellings. Our class novel "His name was Walter" and we are working on Narrative. When we finish this book, we will move onto Information text reading and writing with a focus on Australian wildlife, in particular dingoes. I will be in touch very soon about a small excursion towards the end of the term to the Jirrahlinga dingo conservation & wildlife sanctuary.
Numeracy- Each of our maths lessons begin with multiplication warmups and then we look at a focus topic for the week. We have been working on place value and working with large numbers, and we will be using this knowledge as a basis to multiply and divide large numbers by 10's, 100's and 1000's. During the second half of the term, we will be focusing on decimals and fractions.
Wellbeing: We are focusing on current strengths and who the students want to be. We will be exploring how to look after our own mental health, how to problem solve in social situations and resilience.
Year 6 Hoodies
The Grade 6's received their new hoodies at our first assembly, and they are looking great and they won't take them off, even on the really hot days!
