Year 3/4 - Newsletter
Dear Parents and Carers,
What a great two weeks we have had to start off 2026. The students have been full of anticipation and excitement at being in the classroom and playground with their friends. It has been wonderful to have such a positive start to our school year. We welcome any new families to the school and hope your children have enjoyed their first week at ENPS.
As you may be aware, our parent information night has changed. An email with a PDF of information around Level 3/4 will be sent home on Friday. If you have any further follow up questions, please feel free to email us via COMPASS.
What happened in Year 3/4 this week?
These past weeks have been about setting up our classroom as a safe, challenging and positive learning community. We have spent our time getting to know each other, establishing classroom norms and rules and introducing the way we do things in Year 3/4 that may be similar or different to what your child has experienced before. We revisited and explored our Behaviour Curriculum and CARE values and discussed the values that we want to exhibit in our own classrooms.
Students have been designing our, ‘Student Recognition Award,’ certificates which they have very much enjoyed. This award is voted for by the students each week and they come up with the class goal that students work towards to receive this award.
English
This week we’ve begun our Structured Literacy unit, introducing the students to the routine and structure. Structured Literacy is a highly explicit and systematic teaching approach based on the Science of Reading and all five pillars of literacy - Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension. Over the coming weeks we will be exploring two novel studies which we will use to help students develop their vocabulary, language skills, verbal reasoning, and literacy understanding. We’re also strengthening their ability to use language effectively in different situations and building the background knowledge they need for reading and writing success.
Maths
This week in Maths students have been investigating Place Value and enjoying a range of digital and physical games. We’ve altered our teaching for 2026, utilising content and lessons directly from the ARC Education, a Victorian Education Government body, giving the students the opportunity to explore their own learning whilst being explicitly taught strategies and skills.
We’ve also completed some Essential Assessment pre-tests on Whole Number, utilising the data to guide us in targeting our teaching.
Wellbeing
This week we introduced our Friendology unit. We discussed how to Make Friends and our 4 Friendship Facts. We will be delving into this further as our term progresses.
Inquiry
Our Inquiry unit this term has had us investigating our Rules & Laws. This week we’ve begun our exploration of decision making and voting, tying this into our Junior School Council (JSC) and Environmental class representatives. As part of this, we’ve encouraged all students to give it a go, working at home over the next week on their ‘resume’ and preparing a speech for next week’s voting. Each level 3/4 class will vote and choose 2 representatives for each role.
Over the next few weeks we’ll discuss in groups and as a class why rules and laws are important, and explore who makes our rules & laws. We’ll look at the structure of our Government, identifying the three levels of power (Federal, State & Local) and what areas each level governs.
Specialist classes:
Refer to your individual class’ email on Friday for their specialist class timetable.
Homework:
Reading homework won’t begin until week 4. Although it is not compulsory, we will set Mathletics tasks and students are strongly encouraged to use Mathletics each week, it is a great tool to practise their numeracy skills.
More information on Homework expectations can be found in the attached Parent Information PDF, and will be communicated in a separate email to come.
Things to Remember
Term One is a no hat no play term - please ensure your child has a school hat.
Whilst not mandatory, we highly recommend that your child have wireless headphones and a keyboard attached to their iPad. This helps us greatly in utilising the iPad’s in class.
We are aware that some school supplies have still not arrived, please just send in when available.
If your child is still missing one, please provide your child with a day-to-day diary and pencil case.
If you haven’t done so already, please make sure your child has an art smock at school and library bag.
Absences: If your child is going to be absent for three or more days, for legal reasons, it is very important you let the school know. Please use the notes section on compass, email us via compass or contact the office.
What’s Coming Up?
- Parent Student Teacher Conferences - Thursday 12th February
- School Swimming Carnival - Friday 13th February. Please ensure your child has returned the notice sent home regarding entry into varied events AND you have completed COMPASS permission.
- School Photo Day - Tuesday 3rd March
- Labour Day Public Holiday - Monday 9th March
- School Cross Country - Thursday 26th March
- Good Friday Public Holiday - Friday 3rd April
Student of the Week
Look out for your class’ individual email Friday afternoon for the Student of the Week & Student Recognition Award shoutouts.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to touching base at our upcoming PST conferences.