YEAR ONE

Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Primary School provides a range of holistic learning experiences to enable students to:

• Participate in the life and mission of the school.
• Deepen their knowledge and engagement with the Catholic faith and tradition.
• Build the capacity to continuously reason, reflectively, logically and critically.
• Embrace interdependence of human existence as global citizens, who are responsible to and for themselves and others.
• Engage in learning in a multitude of ways, through personalised and self-paced learning.

Religious Education

Our Religious Education units for Term 4 include: 

1.6 Love One Another: This unit focuses on the concept of relationships. It begins with the children’s friendship experiences and broadens to the Christian way of relating to others. It then focuses on forgiveness and gratitude in relationships.  

1.8 Advent and Christmas: This unit focuses on the seasons of Advent and Christmas. The students are exposed to two Advent stories: ‘The  Annunciation’ and ‘The Visitation.’ Throughout these stories, the themes of hope and joyful expectation are presented. Matthew’s infancy narrative is the source of the Christmas stories told: ‘The Wise Men’ and ‘The Holy Family’s Flight into Egypt.’ Students are invited to ponder the mystery of this wondrous birth and the plight of the Holy Family.

English

The English Literature Focus for this Term is on 'Character', 'Representation' and 'Imagery, Symbol and Connotation.' The following books will be our mentor texts:

• Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees

• Your Birthday Was The Best! by Maggie Hutchings, illustrated by Felicita Sala

• Chinese New Year Colours by Rich Lo

The students will continue to engage in modelled, shared and guided reading experiences to develop their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills. Students will continue fluency pairs daily to build their automaticity and expression. 

Creating Written Texts: Through a range of texts, including narratives and factual descriptions, students will investigate how culture is represented, particularly through colour, celebrations and ceremonies. Students will compare and connect ideas across texts and reflect on their own cultural experiences, developing an understanding of how context influences the way stories and information are communicated. Students will also identify how authors use animals as characters in stories and will compare informative and literary texts focusing on language and text structure.

Handwriting: Students will continue to work on their pencil grip, correct formation of letters (including starting point and direction) and correct sizing of letters. They will continue to improve writing within lines and develop a fluent handwriting style.

Phonics and Spelling: Students engage in phonics and spelling daily. Students are explicitly taught different letter/sound correspondences from the extended code, using Decodable Readers Australia.

Mathematics

The students will be taught explicit concepts from the NSW Mathematics K-10 Syllabus with a focus on using mathematical language, reasoning and understanding. Activities are differentiated to cater for all student needs and abilities. 

Mathematics lessons occur daily for 60 minutes including a daily review, mental arithmetic, explicit teaching and consolidation. 

The topics taught this term are:  

• Whole Number (Weeks 1-2)

• Forming Groups (Week 3-4)

• Combining & Separating (Week 5)

• 2D/3D spatial structure (Weeks 6-8)

• Data (Week 9)

• Chance (Week 10)

Science and Technology

This term students will be investigating the topic, ‘Living World’ with a focus on the unit ‘Watch it Grow!’

Living World focuses on the features of living things, their environment and how they change and reproduce. This strand develops students’ understanding of how living things and their environment play a central role in the support for and survival of humans. Students specifically focus on the lifecycle and features of plants. 

History

This term, the students will continue to develop their understanding of ‘Present and Past Family Life.’ They will focus on present and past family life within the context of their world. Students learn similarities and differences in family life by comparing the present with the past. They begin to explore the links and the changes that occur over time and are introduced to the use of historical sources. 

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education

Sport: This term, students will be introduced to fundamental movement and object control skills through a variety of fun and interactive games. They will practise aiming, throwing, striking, and tracking objects, as well as participate in simple net and wall games. Modified activities are incorporated throughout the unit to promote teamwork, communication, and hand-eye coordination. The focus is on developing accuracy, spatial awareness, and perseverance, while encouraging cooperation, positive participation, and safe, inclusive physical activity in a supportive environment.

Students will also be undergoing an Intensive Swim Week in week 6 and 7. During our Intensive Swim Week, students will focus on developing essential swimming skills in a safe and supportive environment. They will participate in lessons that include stroke techniques, water safety, and fun aquatic activities, ensuring they gain confidence and competence in the water.

We’re excited to launch our Peer Support program in Term 4. 

All students will participate in a 30-minute session each Friday. In this initiative, two trained Peer Leaders guide a small group of 8–10 younger students through engaging, structured activities designed to foster connection and collaboration. 

This term, we’re exploring the Keeping Friends module—an enriching series of five sessions focused on friendship, empathy, and critical thinking. We encourage families to chat with their children about Peer Support each week. These conversations help reinforce the values and skills explored during the sessions, and deepen the impact of this meaningful program.

Open Parachute will then continue for the remainder of the Term. Open Parachute aims to provide practical support on mental health to students. The program aims to reduce stigma and generate authentic dialogue in classrooms about the real issues students face. The psychological skills-building exercises aim to increase empathy, self-compassion, self-awareness, mental health literacy, and self-efficacy in students.

Music Program

In Music with Mr Parlato, Students will learn traditional Australian compositions and develop their understanding of Beat, Rhythm and Pitch. They will use percussion instruments and their voices to perform compositions.

Creative Arts

In Drama, students will work in small groups to create performances using mime and movement. They will develop their vocal expression and projection. Students will adapt scenes taken from Pamela Allen books and create dramatic scenes based on their knowledge and interpretation of the stories.

In Visual Arts, students will create artworks based on the Science, Religious Education and English programs. Students will work with various mediums including watercolours, oil pastels and paint. 

Homework 

Homework books are due each Thursday.

Students are to complete: 

• Reading: Students are to be reading for at least 10 minutes each night. Reading Diaries are to be returned weekly.

• Spelling: Students complete their spelling words and sentences in their homework books. 

• Mathematics Homework: Students will receive a worksheet each week in their homework book which covers topics previously taught in class. This homework activity consolidates students' mathematical skills and knowledge. 

We look forward to an exciting and productive Term 4!

Miss Bailey Thomson (1Blue)

Mrs Lauren Govers (1Gold)

Miss Holly Pooley (1White)

Important Dates for Year 1

Sport Day

Sport days for Year 1 are as follows

1Blue –   Thursday

1Gold –   Thursday

1White – Thursday

Library

Each week, students will have the opportunity to borrow books from our school library. Please ensure your child brings their Library Bag to school on their allocated day.   

1Blue –   Thursday 

1Gold –   Thursday

1White – Thursday 

2025 - School Term 4

 Please refer to the Parent Calendar at this link to confirm dates

Dates may have changed after publishing this bulletin.