Junior School

PREP AA 

Hello families,

Hoping you are all well, we have had a shakey start to term two in the Foundation room with all of the illness going around, I am pleased to let you all know that hand washing and cleaning the room thoroughly has been on our agenda and hopefully we will all be at 100% soon. We have been using this term to solidify our knowledge of the Officer Primary School behavioral responsibilities and making sure these become a regular part of our day, we have been battling for house points and the students have loved showing me and Jacqui how responsible they are.  

Literacy:

I am happy to announce that we are officially at stage four of Little Learners Love Literacy and your children have almost unlocked all of the phonemes they will need to effectively read! We are about to head into revision weeks where assessment will take place and I will update you all on what sounds your children will need some more revision. 

It has been amazing seeing the children using their blending and segmenting skills to create words and decode new words they are not familiar with. I am seeing confidence bloom in our classroom and all students have a growth mindset when undertaking challenging reading/writing tasks. 

We have been consolidating grapheme writing using whiteboards and beginning to sound out and recognize sentences. As we move through term two, this will be our main focus. Working on including spaces, capital letters and ending with a full stop. 

Numeracy: 

In numeracy this term, we have been consolidating our knowledge of numbers from 0-10 and breaking them into smaller parts to strengthen number sense before moving to addition and subtraction. 

We have also been progressing to teen numbers and working through building these larger numbers using MAB blocks. The students have loved using hands-on materials to build larger numbers and as we progress through the year we will use these skills with numbers to 100. 

National Simultaneous Story Time 2025: 

This year we enjoyed the story "The Truck Cat", it followed themes of identity and belonging and encouraged the children to think about the world around them on a deeper level. The Prep students enjoyed creating their own "Tinka truck" and included elements of the story that we could recount. 

Colour run!

Show and Tell: 

Show and Tell has begun in the Prep AA room, 

Each child gets a day when they can bring in a toy or tell a story to their classmates. 

Monday:  Mack, Sonny, Ziggy and Serenity 

Tuesday:  Scarlett, Pamela, Jackson, Theo

Wednesday: Sahas, Killian, Poppy and Brody 

Thursday: Willow, Adeline and Kingston

Friday: Leigh, Thomas, Joachim and Aviro. 

Show and tell has been working beautifully, students are happy to speak infront of one another and work through questions about peers objects. It has been awesome seeing the students building that public speaking confidence and being able to articulate their thoughts and ideas. 

Thank you all so much for the dedication you have put into your children succeeding at school this term, all the children are happy and excited about learning! 

-Miss A and Jacqui. 

1/2 BD and LP. 

The Year 1/2 students have settled smoothly into Term 2 and are showing wonderful enthusiasm for their learning. It's already been a term full of excitement and positive changes in our environment. Highlights so far include the Colour Run, Mother’s Day Stall and Cross Country, which brought great energy and joy to our school community. We’ve also been thrilled to witness the exciting transformations taking place within the junior building!

English 

Students have shown a drastic improvement in their reading and writing skills with our new phonics program, Little Learners Love Literacy! We enjoy seeing the students prosper and use their knowledge in other areas of their learning. The students have grown their confidence as they practice segmenting and blending words and are making strong connections of their phonics knowledge whilst reading and writing. 

As the students grow stronger in their reading and spelling skills they have grown more independent in writing. This term we began with narrative writing where students were able to write stories about princesses, witches, frogs and for some their own parents! It was great to see their imagination shown through story making. 

Our focus now has been exploring procedural texts. Students have been able to break down the structure of a procedural text and create their own. So far, they have enjoyed learning through creating step-by-step instructions on tasks such as making fairy bread and tying their shoelace. We look forward to creating more that can be shared with families at home!

Maths 

This term has been busy with building a number of skills across several areas of mathematics. Students have been engaging with hands-on activities to grow their skills in a more interactive space. 

Our main focus this term has been developing addition and subtraction skills through introducing a number of strategies. They have learnt to add and subtract through tens frames, number lines, bridging to 10, near doubles and base ten models. By providing a diversity in skills and strategies this allows students to create greater independence and confidence when solving problems. 

In our statistics unit, students have been collecting and displaying data. They have learnt about different ways to collect data through observing, questioning, online surveys and counting. We have explored exciting topics such as; what colour car passes Officer Primary? What is your favourite activity to do after school? What is your eye colour? They enjoyed turning this information into bar graphs and learning how to read and interpret the data they have collected. 

New furniture 

We’re thrilled to share that our classrooms have been refreshed with brand new furniture! Teachers and students alike are already enjoying the positive impact the new furniture is having in the classroom. With the arrival of the new tubs, students are taking charge of their own belongings and loving it! It’s sparked a buzz of excitement and a real sense of ownership around the classroom.

Colour run and Cross Country 

Term 2 has been bursting with energy thanks to our exciting Colour Run and Cross Country events! I'm sure all students can agree that their highlight was seeing Mr Azadzoi getting slimed! The Year 1/2 students had a fantastic time running, laughing, and getting covered in colourful powder during the Colour Run, a great way to celebrate fitness and fun.

Our Cross Country event showcased the students’ determination and sportsmanship as they raced around the course, cheering each other on every step of the way. It is a great accomplishment for all students to engage in and finish the race!