Growing into Butterflies - Whole School Step-Up/Transition

Over the next few weeks as a school, we will be reflecting on and celebrating our Asian Connections and Social Design focused Inquiry which we have been exploring for the past few terms.

We then move into our Transition Inquiry in which we are going to be exploring our School Wide Key understanding:

I have grown and I am ready for change. I can use tools to build my resilience, personal and social skills, and self-efficacy to make a positive transition into 2023.

This Inquiry involves lots of opportunities for students across the school to explore and experience different types of change, and to build their toolkit ready to embrace and jump into the challenges of a new year.

We know change in all of its forms can be tricky to handle, but we also know that it is inevitable! This is why we are spending an extended time preparing for, practicing and experiencing changes in smaller steps.

Part of this inquiry unit is a four week series of Whole School Step Up Mornings in which students will be experiencing sessions around the following change foci:

Hello New Spaces! - Tuesday 31/10

Hello New Faces! - Wednesday 8/11

Hello New Routines! - Wednesday 15/11

Hello New Teams! - Wednesday 22/11

The intention of these sessions is to provide scaffolded, calm experiences of change. All students will be supported before, during and after these sessions to encourage positive experiences. Some of these sessions will occur at the same time as our Foundation 2024 transition sessions.

There will be an alternative specialist timetable every week as we move through the transition unit, and class teachers will keep families informed of the changes as the weeks progress.

Part of our class formation process is inviting parents and carers to provide relevant information that will help us create a positive learning experience for your child, which you can do here. If you are planning to share additional information about your child, please remember the complexity of finding the right class for our 400 students and share only essential information. Providing information about your child does not make any guarantees.

Last year, Ibu Kas described our journey through the year in a beautiful way which helps to understand how these small experiences of change, (which may feel uncomfortable to begin with) are working towards a bigger picture:

Our Journey to transition is like the life journey of a butterfly.

We started the year as a caterpillar, newly hatched from its egg. All year we have been eating up experiences and gaining new strategies to handle change.

This final 6 weeks, including the transition inquiry and step-up sessions, is like a cocoon, keeping us safe and supported while we change into butterflies, ready to fly into the new year!

We ended last year with a similar Transition inquiry which supported a smooth transition for the start of 2023, we are excited to extend the learnings from last year to support a positive start to 2024!

Supporting Children's Transition to School

Keir Jasper