Prep - 2 Community

Welcome to 2023

A warm welcome to 2023 from the staff and students in the P-2 learning area.  In this article we hear from our students telling us why they enjoy learning through Investigations and our first photos of the year is the banner with some of our preps saying hello and one of the first stories read at school - 

Our First Day.

One of the best introductions to the new environment is through play and each campus had a number of sessions outside in prep play areas to establish connections.

INVESTIGATIONS IN THE P-2 Area

Our developmental curriculum supports oral language development and learning at point of need. It is wonderful to see students working with their peers and learning new skills!!!! An important learning component is called investigations - and across our campuses  it is exciting to see our students participating in investigations. Each student is presented with a range of stations (activity centres)  to choose from. 

The visitor during investigations sees movement, concentration, enjoyment, serious interaction with peers and with objects. It is a hive of activity and is clearly enjoyed by the students. When the session is over each class gathers to discuss and consolidate what they have been doing.

We asked students at Hendy and Tallis this week to say what they liked about Investigations.  Some just kept talking about it - so we have gone for the one liners!

Thank you to all who offered a comment.

“I like investigations because it’s fun. You get to make lots of stuff.” Sam HB1

“I like investigations because you get to play kitchens, dinosaurs and some coloring.” Gavin HB1

“ I like investigations because it’s good and we feel more free.” Sonni HB1

“The best bit about investigations is the lego.” Hayden HB1 “I like the lego because I build houses.”   Aaron HB4

“I like the puppets.” Uriah HB3  “I also like the puppets.” Ronomy HB3

“I like collage because you make heaps of cool things.” Lily HB2

“I like construction because we can build things of our own choice.” Shawn HB2

“I like to do coloring because I want to make a present for my mum and baby.” Dua HB4

At Tallis we have enjoyed learning about our Investigations stations and how they link to our learning throughout the day. Our children say: 

‘I have made a dinosaur in the lightbox table’ Jonah TB1

‘I love reading with my friends in the classroom library’ Sophie TB2

‘We are playing with the dinosaurs and digging for numbers’ Oliver TB1

‘In investigations I love learning about animals and making maps with the lego’ Mack TB2

Our families will also have heard their children talking about VCOP.  In 1/2s we have been revisiting VCOP and looking at the punctuation pyramid. In our writing we have been working to make sure we use capital letters at the start of a sentence and for proper nouns like our names, we have also been checking that we have used full stops at the end of the sentence. 

‘When I write sometimes I forget to put a capital letter for my friends names, that is my VCOP goal’ Summer TB1

However, the start of a school year is 

massive for one special group of people 

and their families. Prep. Across the college 

we have had a good start and have 

been working on daily routines and 

schedules. It is a big difference to what 

they are used to and I am happy to report that 

after only a month the daily activities 

are being well understood.

Specialist Teachers

They have begun to spread their wings and have sessions with our specialist teachers. Now they can enjoy another adult teaching them in Visual Art, Performing Arts and PE classes.

This picture is of Emir and Onyx who insisted we take a picture of their Paper 3D  Construction. Well Done!  Mr Mullaly their art teacher was very impressed.

Kindness - Thank You

Thank you to Barwon Prison manufacturing program and St Vinnies. 

These 2 organisations collaborated to provide 400 students with Library Bags, Art Aprons and Pencils. Schools in 3214, 3215 and 3219 benefitted from this gift where made as a contribution to the community. To thank the organisations Prison Staff and St Vincent workers came to a thank you morning tea. 

We were told that many of the inmates are fathers and that this in a small way helped them make a connection to their children. Ivy and Ashil modelled show cased the gifts and were on the thank you certificate presented by Prep student Harrison who enthralled the guests with his love of being at school - and perhaps an even bigger love for the strawberries we had for morning tea!.

The Healthy Lunch Box

Our College Nursing partners from The Department of Education found this fantastic website with ideas and tool kits for student lunches.

The website is well worth looking at - one of the pages is on how to avoid the boomerang lunchbox ...that keeps coming back uneaten! https://www.healthylunchboxweek.org.au/ 

BUS PARKING ZONES

Each Campus has a Bus Parking Zone which is repeatedly being used by families for pick-up. Our buses deliver and collect students from and to programs and need to use the space for speedy in / out. Parking at bell times is never good, but please be considerate if you think just a quick stop will be OK. 

Mat Potter

Assistant Principal 

Hendy Campus

Prep - 2 Stage of Schooling 

Coordinator