Junior School News
🌟 Last week’s Athletics Carnival was a runaway success!
Thank you to all the families who stepped up to the mark and lent a helping hand during our Athletics Day last Friday. Your support helped the day run like clockwork. I know the junior teachers were certainly ready to rest their running shoes and put their feet up by Friday evening!
The resilience and persistence shown by our wonderful students never ceases to amaze us. They truly went the extra mile, cheering one another on and giving every event their best effort. A special shout out to our incredible Prep students who took the day in their stride, embracing each event with big smiles, brave hearts and plenty of enthusiasm. 🌟🏃♀️
Prep News
As we fast approach the end of Term One, it is clear that the Prep students have certainly not slowed the pace of their learning. Instead, from Prep to Year Two, students are busily completing the final units of the term. As you walk through each classroom, you can see the consistent routines and predictability that help create a calm and supportive learning environment. These structures provide students with a strong sense of safety and confidence, allowing them to thrive. It is wonderful to see their enthusiasm for learning, with students engaged, eager, and ready to make the most of every opportunity.
The photos below are a small snapshot that capture just how proud the Prep students are of their efforts and achievements of their writing, where students are beginning to construct simple sentences that include a 'who' and a 'what doing.' It is wonderful to see them developing their early writing skills and taking such pride in sharing their work.
In Maths, our Prep students have been learning to count forwards and backwards to ten. Alongside this, they have been practising correct number formation each day, much like their daily handwriting sprints. Regular practice is helping them build confidence and accuracy. We also ensure students have plenty of opportunities to use concrete materials, allowing them to develop a strong understanding of numbers through hands on learning.
At home, students can practise their number formation by following the picture guide. Each number has a star to show where to start, and arrows to show which way to go. This helps them form their numbers the correct way and build good habits.
Year One News
Our Year One students have been busy building their understanding of sentence structure and bringing their writing to life. They have been learning how to use adjectives to modify nouns, adding detail and interest to their sentences. It has been wonderful to see their creativity shine as they describe people, places and things with greater precision. Alongside this, students have been exploring four different sentence types. Learning about statements, questions, commands and exclamation sentences and how each one is used for a different purpose.
During MSL, our Year One students are truly in the swing of things, building on their strong foundations from last year and showing great enthusiasm for their learning. They have been exploring the three sounds of the letter ‘y’, including the clever and slightly cheeky “Thief Y” rule—because sometimes ‘y’ likes to steal the spotlight and take on different sounds! In one-syllable words, ‘y’ often says /i/ (as in my or fly), while in two-syllable words, it usually says /e/ (as in happy or sunny). Our students have been busy recognising and reading irregular words, those tricky words that don’t follow the usual spelling patterns and need to be memorised. They’ve been putting these words into action by using them in dictation sentences, helping to strengthen their spelling and reading skills.
In Maths, our Year One students have been proudly showcasing their mathematician skills as they continue to build their understanding of place value. They have been exploring how numbers are made up of tens and ones, using hands on materials, visuals, and number activities to deepen their understanding. Students are learning to recognise, represent, and order numbers, as well as explain their thinking.
Daily Reading
Reading at home should be enjoyable and relaxed, just 5–10 minutes each night is plenty! The book should feel like an easy read, helping to build confidence and a love of reading.
We kindly ask that you encourage your child to take responsibility for their own readers by packing them into their school bag. Doing this independently helps build strong organisational habits and sets the tone for the importance of reading.
Year Two News
In Writing, our Year Two students are beginning to step up and uplevel their sentences by adding some juicy adjectives to enhance their ideas. Their writing is becoming more sophisticated as they apply the strategies they have been learning, helping them create richer and more detailed sentences. It's important to note students have also been steadily working on improving their handwriting through daily handriting sprints.
In MSL, the Year Two students are learning about R-controlled syllables and the Thief Y rule. R-controlled syllables occur when the letter r follows a vowel and changes the way the vowel sounds, creating patterns such as ar, er, ir, or, and ur. Students are learning to recognise these patterns in words and apply this knowledge when reading and spelling.
Our Year Two students have been leading the way with their daily fluency sprints, showing great commitment to practising their reading each day. These short, regular bursts of reading are helping to build their confidence, accuracy, and expression. As their fluency grows, students are becoming more confident readers, setting a strong foundation for the next step, reading to learn. It’s wonderful to see their progress and enthusiasm as they continue to develop this important skill.
In Maths, our Year Two students have been exploring addition and subtraction families, learning to recognise the connections between related facts. These little rockets have been using the inverse method to check their answers, boosting both their understanding and confidence with numbers. In Geometry, the students have begun with basic shapes, examining segments and curves, and discovering how different parts come together to form familiar figures, laying the groundwork before we move on to 2D shapes and 3D objects.
Harmony Day 🧡
Our school came together to celebrate Harmony Day, and the junior school was a vibrant pop of orange! Students and staff joined in a variety of fun and engaging activities, celebrating the joy of diversity and the strength of inclusion. It was wonderful to see everyone blending together as one community.
A little bit of Irish magic and a whole lot of team spirit! 🍀
A little bit of Irish magic and a whole lot of team spirit! 🍀
Louise Donnelly,
Junior Leader
hwood@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au
zporter@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au
sprosser@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au
kobrien@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au