Foundation News

Foundation Students Celebrate...Everyone Belongs! 

Recently, students in Foundation have participated in a range of activities highlighting Harmony Day, celebrating Australia’s cultural diversity. It’s a day for all Australians to embrace cultural diversity and share what we have in common. The central message for Harmony Day is that ‘everyone belongs’.

During the past week, students in Foundation have learnt that Harmony Day is a community celebration that aims to engage Australians in celebrating inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. Multicultural Australia is an integral part of our nation’s history and character. 

As part of Harmony Day festivities, Foundation students shared their family backgrounds,  they created posters highlighting who they are and how they are part of the St Raphael's community. They also listened to stories, made badges using the colour orange (the colour associated with Harmony Day) and developed an understanding and an appreciation for cultural diversity. 

Learning in Foundation

Recently, as part of Maths, students in Foundation have been learning about 2-dimensional shapes.  Students have learnt to define 2-dimensional shapes as being flat and only having two dimensions: length and width. The children identified common shapes and classified these according to their properties. They identified the number of sides and corners within each common shape and recognised that a shape does not change, irrespective of orientation. As part of their learning, some Foundation students created shape monsters using different 2-dimensional shapes. They had fun describing these during share time. We invite you to peruse through the photos below to see some of the monsters created.

Following on from this, we went for a walk outside to see how many common shapes we could find. The children were quick to name shapes they could see. A  great discussion was had about why we noticed a lot of specific shapes in our yard.

Religion-The Events of Holy Week

Students in Foundation have shown great interest in learning about the events of Holy Week. Recently, Foundation students viewed images and read stories about Jesus entering Jerusalem on 'Palm Sunday'.  They made palm branches and reenacted being part of the crowd, welcoming Jesus by waving their palm branches in the air and shouting, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" 

Following on from this, Foundation children learnt about the way Jesus celebrated the last supper with his disciples. He washed their feet and told them to follow his example. During the meal, Jesus took the bread and said, "Take this and eat it. This is my body. Do this in memory of me." Jesus then shared a cup of wine saying, "This is my blood. Drink it in memory of me". 

It has been pleasing to see the children grow in faith, ask questions and learn key messages from stories we have read thus far. 

Parent Helpers in the Classroom

Thank you to the parents and grandparents who have volunteered to help in our learning space this year. We are currently in the process of finalising our roster. We remind all volunteers to submit evidence that they are triple vaccinated and have attended the Parent Helper Induction Course at our school. We will endeavour to publish the roster via Skoolbag in the next week or so.

Important Dates

Wednesday 23rd March-School Open Day

Friday 25th March-Whole School Assembly

Monday 4th April 1:30-6:30pm-Online Parent/Teacher Meetings (students finish at 1pm)

Wednesday 6th April-Promotional Video Filming

Thursday 7th April 4-7pm- "Serata Insieme" (an evening together)

Friday 8th April 9:30am- Holy Week Paraliturgy.  End of Term Break (students finish at 1:00pm)

Week 9 & 10 Learning Intentions

Click on the attachment to find out what students will be learning during the next fortnight.

Timetable-Week 9 & 10

Click on each attachment to find out what is happening during the next fortnight.

Contact Details

Lorraine Uzunovski (FL) uzul@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au

Michelle Slattery (FM) mslattery@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au

Please note, we will respond to emails Monday to Friday, between the hours of 8am- 5pm