Prep News

A very warm welcome to our 2022 Prep families. What a fabulous first week of school the Preps have had. The first couple of days have been filled with excitement, pride and a whole heap of tiredness. We are delighted with the way the students have begun to settle into school life and we would like to extend a huge thankyou to our parents for preparing your child so well in making this transition such a smooth and happy experience for everyone.

So far we’ve been learning lots of new school routines such as where to place out bags in the morning, how to take care of our belongings, a typical school day and of course how to ask for help when we need it. We have begun making great social connections with our classmates and are working toward building a flourishing community. The teachers are thoroughly enjoying getting to know all the new faces and families.

In Reading, we are familiarising ourselves with the Reader’s Workshop as we explore the different features of books. We’ve been busy looking for letters that can make the c, a, t sounds which will set us up nicely for our word of the week next week - cat!

In Writing, we have been practising emergent writing skills and what good writers do. We’ve used pictures and letters to share ideas about our first day and week of school and we’ve been practising how to hold a pencil as well as the different shapes and lines that might be found in letters.

Maths has been all about the numbers to 10. We’ve explored different ways that you can make numbers to 10, matching dice to numbers, using our hands to count and counting the number of letters in our names.

This term the students will participate in a range of exciting specialist subjects including PE, Science, Art and Performing Arts. On Friday mornings they will also have PMP to develop their fine and gross motor skills.

On Tuesday 15th of February we will be hosting a Prep information evening. Please save the date and keep an eye out for further information.

Thank you for working with us to make your child’s start to school such a positive experience.

The Prep Team

Alarna Creed, Allie Harrison and Elyce Munnecke

Level 1/2 News

Welcome to 2022! The Level 1/2 students have made a very positive start to the year and we are all thrilled to be back at school. The children are settling into school routines beautifully and becoming familiar with new classrooms, friends and teachers. We would like to thank all of our families and school community, for working so hard to make this such a smooth process.

In Reading, we have been establishing routines and learning more about the Reader’s Workshop. The students will be given their take home books this week in their Communication Folders. Please encourage them to read at least four times a week for about 15 minutes. A family member needs to sign and complete their child’s reading calendar. This will make a huge difference to their learning and progress.

In Writing, we have been sharing our Summer holiday experiences and communicating some information about ourselves to our peers. We have made some interesting sunglasses, jigsaw pieces, balloons and dice to get to know each other better.

In Maths, we have been focusing on increasing our knowledge of number and working on our quick maths facts. We have also focussed on creating some colourful birthday graphs and charts to show when our birthdays are.

The students are looking forward to beginning their learning in Investigations and Inquiry. This term we will be focussing on Places and Spaces. The students will learn about services in their community and design and construct some model buildings for a precinct in their community. We would love families to send along any SMALL boxes (such as a Shapes box) to school to help with this project.

Timetables will be sent home to families this week, to help families adjust to new routines and assist with daily organisation. Please remember we are a SunSmart School and all students need to bring a school hat and water bottle with them each day.

We are excited about a fantastic year of learning and are looking forward to meeting parents and family members at the ‘Getting To Know You Interviews’ and Level 1/2 Information Night. In the meantime, please feel free to communicate with the teachers, via Compass, if you have any questions or concerns.

Kind regards

The Level 1/2 Team

Daena Hailey, Kayla Hartrick, Mykaela Oakley, Llinos Poole and Timothy Wilson

Level 3/4 News

Welcome back to school level 3/4!

We have loved coming back to see our friends, meet our new classes and jump into learning.

Level 3/4 have enjoyed our first level sport game and showed some beautiful sportsmanship whilst having a lot of fun.

The teachers are excited about our learning of the school’s new spelling program and our planning of all the fun, engaging tasks for the year ahead.

We are all looking forward to exploring new subjects and learning new topics. We just know it’s going to be a fabulous year!

The Level 3/4 Team

Carolyn Allan, Katie Smith, Rachel Boyle, Damien Smith, Hayley Peirce

Level 5/6 News

Welcome back to school! Our Level 5/6 students have had a fabulous return to the classroom this week and enjoyed settling into their new grades. They are becoming familiar with new classrooms, friends, teachers and routines. As a team we are looking forward to working with a wonderful bunch of students.

For Term 1 students are participating in Design and Technology, Science, PE and Global Studies as their Specialist subjects across the week. On Thursdays they will also participate in Level 5/6 Sport. Students have selected a sport from Volleyball, Tennis, Cricket and Softball.

Find below reflections of the first week from students:

I have really enjoyed being back at school and seeing all my friends again. All of us Grade 5 students are sooo excited for when we will get to meet our Prep Buddies and have lots of fun together. It has been extremely fun getting all our classroom things organised and getting to know our new class mates. It has been nice connecting with new people each day. It is strange everybody has their face hiding behind a mask. We all can’t wait for this pandemic to be over. This year in 5/6 will be so awesome! – Abbi V, Grade 5

This year I am in Grade 5 with Miss Cairns. This week was a great start! I know most people are excited for 5/6 Sport this year, Camp and Graduation. I am feeling really excited about being a role model this year for the school as a Grade 6 student and as Vice Captain. I am very happy with all my friends in my class. On the first day of the year the Grade 6s already got their Grade 6 jumpers. I think it’s been a great start to the year! – Lily, Grade 6

Thanks to the 5/6 students and families for making the return to school such a smooth process.

The Level 5/6 Team,

Brendan Van Haaster, Claire Cripps, Clare McCandlish and Teagan Cairns

Technology News