Prep Term 3 Overview
Prep 2026 Term 3 Overview
Psalm 31:16: "Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!"
Welcome to Term 3
Thank you to all our families for your ongoing support of your child's learning throughout last term. The children have returned refreshed, enthusiastic and ready for the exciting learning opportunities that Term 3 brings.
Term 3 is one of our favourite terms, as we begin to see the strong foundations from the first half of the year come together. Students are becoming more confident and independent learners and are beginning to work at learning levels that best meet their individual needs. Some students will receive extension opportunities, while others will continue to consolidate key concepts with additional support.
We will continue to encourage increasing independence in both learning and daily routines as we work with our Prep students ensuring every child is challenged and successful.
Important Events
- July 27 - Kaboom Sports Incursion 12pm - 1:30 pm
- July 30 - Student-led Teacher Conferences 3 - 7:30 pm
- July 28 - Prep A Class Mass 10 - 10:45 am, St John’s Parish
- August 7 - Whole-school Bush Dance - 6pm
- August 15 - Major School Fundraiser - Adult Trivia Night 7pm
- August 17 - National Action Against Bullying week
- August 18 - Student superhero dress up day for National Action Against Bullying week
- August 19 - Junior Responsible Pet Safety Incursion
- August 24-28 - Book Week - A Symphony of Stories
- August 24 - Book Week Parade and dress up as a book character day
- August 31 - Prep A & B Assembly, 2:50 pm
- September 1 - School closure day - staff professional development day
- September 4 - Fathers Day Breakfast, Coghlan Centre
- September 15 -23 - National Science Week - Science of Seeds: Nurturing Knowledge for All
- September 15 - Whole-school STEM day challenge
- September 17 - R U OK Day
- September 18 - Students Last Day of Term 3, Assembly 12:15 - 1:00pm & Students Finish Early 1:00 pm
Religious Education
This term in Religious Education, we will continue to strengthen our relationship with God by exploring different forms of prayer. Students will learn about prayers of thanksgiving and adoration (praise) and will create their own personal prayers to contribute to a special class prayer book. We will also be introduced to Pentecost and learn about the Holy Spirit, discovering how the Holy Spirit helps us to be brave, kind and loving followers of Jesus.
History
This term, our unit focus is History, guided by the big question: “How has my family’s history shaped who I am and helped me to shine?”
We’ll explore our own family history, how life has changed over time for both children and adults and different historical celebrations.
As part of this unit students will also develop a questionnaire as a class to learn more about their own family history and be asked to bring in a family memento to share with the class during Show and Tell during week 6 and week 7. Students will write about their item and explore how the item is different from an item that they have at home today. The item could be a special plate or cup from their parents' childhood or a nonelectronic toy that their parents had as a child.
Literacy
In Literacy this term, the Preps will continue building their independence as readers and writers through our daily PHORMES phonics instruction. Students will revise and consolidate the sound codes x, w, ch, sh, th, ng and wh, strengthening their understanding of these digraphs - where two letters work together to make one sound. This knowledge helps students decode more challenging, unfamiliar words when reading.
We will continue to place a strong emphasis on developing reading comprehension through rich mentor texts, while explicitly teaching new vocabulary to deepen students' understanding of stories. Students will also continue reading and writing CVC and CCVC words independently, applying their growing phonics knowledge with increasing confidence. Alongside this, they will practise recognising and reading high-frequency irregular words that do not follow regular sound patterns, helping to build reading fluency and confidence.
In Writing, students will continue using Colourful Semantics to support the development of sentence structure and expand their independent writing skills. They will explore a variety of simple text types, including narratives and informative texts, through engaging mentor texts such as Giraffes Can't Dance, Wombat Stew and a selection of familiar fairy tales. Daily handwriting practice will also continue, with a focus on correct letter formation, consistent sizing and confidently writing on dotted thirds.
We are also looking forward to celebrating Book Week later this term. Students will enjoy participating in a range of literacy activities and are invited to dress up for our annual Book Week Parade, celebrating our school theme, "Symphony of Stories." It is always a wonderful opportunity to foster a love of reading and celebrate the joy that books bring to our learning.
Mathematics
The Preps loved learning about the number 100 last term as we celebrated 100 Days of Prep! They continue to build their mathematical understanding through daily review sessions, hands-on learning experiences using concrete materials, and will soon begin a daily fluency routine where they practise number facts appropriate to their individual learning needs.
The Victorian Curriculum encourages Prep students to confidently say, create and represent numbers to 20. Throughout Term 3, we will continue developing these foundational number skills while also exploring:
- Addition and subtraction
- Measurement (mass, length and capacity)
- Sharing and grouping
You can support your child's learning at home by incorporating simple number activities into your daily routines. Some great ways to practise include:
- Counting a collection of 20 objects with one-to-one correspondence.
- Making and representing numbers to 20.
- Exploring one more and one less.
- Partitioning numbers to 20 (for example, understanding that 10 and 4 make 14).
- Practising writing and correctly forming numerals to 20.
If your child is already confident working with numbers to 20, they are encouraged to extend their learning by exploring numbers beyond 20.
A fun way to practise addition at home is by using Uno or playing cards. Simply take turns flipping over two cards and adding the numbers together. We have included the UNO Addition activity for you to try at home.
For more engaging maths ideas using Uno cards, you may also like to explore:https://rainbowskycreations.com/awesome-ways-you-can-use-uno-cards-in-maths/
Social & Emotional Learning
This term, students will continue to deepen their understanding of The Resilience Project superheroes: Emotional Literacy, Empathy, Gratitude and Mindfulness. These figurative characters help students recognise and understand their emotions by noticing how they are feeling, naming the emotion and identifying a positive strategy to support themselves. For example, "I notice I am yawning, I name that I am feeling tired, and I can listen to some energetic music or jump around to help wake my body up."
Students will continue using their The Resilience Project Journals to explore learning intentions such as recognising their own body language and the body language of others, noticing how others may be feeling, and practising gratitude. This learning connects beautifully with Religious Education as students create prayers of thanksgiving and adoration, reflecting on the many blessings in their lives.
Prep is a significant year for developing social skills and building meaningful friendships. Throughout the year, students are learning that friendships require kindness, respect, empathy and teamwork. They are practising important skills such as taking turns, including others in play, using kind words, solving simple disagreements, and recognising that it is okay to have different friends in different situations. As children continue to grow in confidence, they are forming strong connections and beginning to build friendships that may last throughout their primary school years.
You can support this learning at home by talking regularly with your child about their friendships, encouraging them to include others, celebrating acts of kindness, and modelling positive ways to communicate and resolve conflicts. These conversations help children develop the confidence and resilience needed to build healthy, respectful relationships.
Occasionally at home, you might like to look at our school's Behaviour Matrix with your child and ask them to share one way they demonstrated being respectful, responsible or safe during the school day. They may use the dot points to help them identify an example, such as, "I was respectful because I followed instructions in my learning space." These conversations reinforce our shared language and expectations, while encouraging children to reflect on the positive choices they make each day.
STEM & Digital Technologies
In STEM, students are focusing on Physical Science where they will be introduced to different types of forces and the vocabulary used to describe them. They will learn the names of these forces and complete simple experiments.
For Digital Technologies this term students focus on safe screen time and navigating the online world more safely. We will discuss how not all places online are safe and explore how trusted adults can help us stay safe.
Specialist Timetable
The specialist timetable remains the same. Please ensure your child is wearing their sports uniform on Thursday. | ||
Monday | Thursday | Friday |
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We are excited for another fun and engaging term of learning.
Please feel free to get with your child’s teacher if there’s any way we can support you in assisting your child’s learning at home.
You can contact us via email or by leaving a message at the school office. We aim to respond within two working days, between 8:00am and 5:00pm.
We also encourage you to keep up to date by reading the school newsletter, which is emailed every second Monday and by checking the Prep News Board located at the bottom of the stairs. For a glimpse into what’s happening at St John’s, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. SCHOOL SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook Instagram
With faith and love,
Cara Woolley & Rebecca Stuart