foundation 2025

WELCOME TO YOUR FOUNDATION DIGITAL NOTICEBOARD

Welcome to the WPPS Online Foundation year level digital notice boards. These websites will be used for Term outlines, parent reminders and class-related matters. All forms requiring payment will only be issued via Compass.

You may contact us on the following email addresses:

Kathryn Skantzos kathryn.mananis@education.vic.gov.au

Robyn Heeps: robyn.heeps@education.vic.gov.au

2025 WPPS FETE - Sat 22nd November

On Thursday 13th November, WPPS will be taking part in the SHUT UP! FOR MND challenge. As a school community we will go without our voices to support those who have lost theirs to MND. By taking part, WPPS will help to raise vital awareness and funds for those living with MND now.

If you'd like to donate to this very worthy cause, please follow the LINK!

Term 4 Overview

Hello Foundation Families!

It's hard to believe that it's term 4 already!

We hope you had an enjoyable holiday break and are ready for a new and exciting term of learning.

This term, we continue to focus on organisation and getting along well with others. We encourage each child to unpack their bag and organise themselves for the school day. This includes changing their take-home book and putting away their lunchbox and other personal belongings.

Please continue to refer to the WPPS newsletter and website to keep up to date with upcoming events and information. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher.

We thank you for your continued support.

Kathy Skantzos & Robyn Heeps

Morning Routine

When the music at 8.50 am is played, this is the time for students to come into the classroom, put away their bags, change readers and hand in any notices. Parents may also wish to take the opportunity to briefly pass on information to their child's teacher during this time.

Late Arrivals & Absences

If your child is absent, we require you to log this absence on Compass. In addition to this, any student arriving after 9.00 am or leaving the school before 3.30 pm requires a late/early leaver's pass. This is to be completed at the office and presented to the classroom teacher. Students must be collected by an adult if they leave the school.

Classroom Materials

We would greatly appreciate it if your family could please donate a box of tissues and a bottle of hand wash to share with the students in your child’s class.

EXTRA ITEMS FOR SCHOOL BAG:

Please make sure that you pack spare underwear, socks or other uniform items for those little accidents. Place these items in a plastic bag in your child's school bag.

Hats

As part of our SunSmart Policy, students are required to wear their school hats until the end of April. "Remember in September; Put it away in May"

Nude Food

All students are encouraged to bring 'Nude Food' lunches. A Nude Food lunch has no foil, glad wrap or any other packaging. Please unwrap and throw any rubbish out at home to help us significantly reduce the amount of rubbish scattered throughout our school.

What's Happening In The Classroom

English

This term, Foundation students will continue to build and consolidate their understanding of the alphabet and deepen their awareness that texts are made up of words and groups of words that carry meaning. Students will participate in targeted reading sessions aimed at developing a range of reading strategies to support them in becoming confident, independent readers.

As part of our reading program, small focus groups will be introduced. These sessions will give students the chance to explore unfamiliar words, learn and practise helpful reading strategies, and engage in meaningful discussions about the books they read.

In writing, students will continue working on tasks that align with our Sounds Write spelling program. They will further develop their understanding of the differences between letters, words, and sentences, including the use of correct punctuation to form complete sentences. As their confidence grows, students will be encouraged to take risks in their writing and ‘have a go’ before seeking help. They will also continue to apply letter-sound knowledge to sound out unfamiliar words.

We will maintain a strong focus on correct letter formation, pencil grip, and posture.

Our approach to literacy is grounded in explicit, systematic instruction of essential skills, including word reading, spelling, oral fluency, handwriting, and syntax. Drawing on the latest evidence-based practices, we will use a variety of texts to model comprehension, explicitly teach vocabulary, and continue building students’ background knowledge across subject areas.

Spelling

Students will continue to engage in the Sounds-Write spelling program, a structured, synthetic phonics approach grounded in the science of reading. This program provides daily, multisensory, code-based activities that support a systematic and sequential approach to learning.

Our daily Sounds-Write phonics lessons are designed to strengthen students’ reading and spelling skills. As they progress through the year levels, students will continue to apply, develop, and refine these foundational literacy skills in increasingly complex ways.

Through the Sounds-Write program, students gain essential conceptual knowledge, including:

Letters are symbols (spellings) that represent sounds.
A single sound can be represented by one, two, three, or four letters.
The same sound can be spelled in multiple ways (one sound – different spellings).
A single spelling can represent more than one sound (one spelling – different sounds).

In addition, students build on key phonemic awareness skills:

Blending – combining individual sounds to read words.
Segmenting – breaking words into their individual sounds.
Phoneme Manipulation – adding, deleting, or changing sounds within words.

These skills form the foundation for confident, accurate reading and spelling as students continue their literacy journey.

How to support your child at home:

reading daily with your child,
continue to encourage your child to write for authentic purposes. They can write

cards, shopping lists, invitations, labels, and recounts of special events.

support your child to write by assisting them with sounding out the words, rather than

spelling the words for them

encourage them to draw pictures and then label the picture and/or write about what they have drawn
model writing practice. Ensure your child sees you writing for particular purposes to

show them that there is a need to learn how to write

talking about stories that happen in your own family's life. Telling stories orally helps to support the structure of stories in written form
encourage their fine motor development by providing opportunities to complete threading, colouring in, play-doh, craft, and cut and paste activities.

Mathematics

This term, Foundation students will continue to work on understanding numbers. They will match the number name, numeral and collection of objects, and reasoning with number sequences. Students will develop fluency in counting forwards and backwards, skip counting in meaningful contexts. We will begin exploring whole-part-whole relationships of numbers, utilising numerous hands-on activities and manipulatives to enhance addition and subtraction strategies and skills. Students will also be exploring the language of position and location, sharing into equal groups and revisiting measurement and shape.

How to support your child at home:

Include your child in everyday mathematical situations, e.g. counting objects in a

shopping bag, getting the right number of cutlery to set the table.

Whenever your child is practising maths in a real-life scenario, such as counting their

toys or helping to make a cook, encourage them to talk about the strategies and skills

they are using.

Encourage your child to represent a range of numbers in lots of different ways. They

can use toys, food items, or even outdoor materials.

When you or your child sees a number in your environment, e.g. on a sign, ask your child

to identify whether that number would be one less or one more

Talk about the days of the week and the months of the year. Talking about events

that you have on particular days or times of the year will help your child to begin to

understand the concept of time.

Integrated Studies

This term, we will be investigating how things move and developing an understanding of the principles behind motion. They will explore the push and pull forces they can use to move objects in ways such as sliding, bouncing and spinning. Through investigations, students observe and gather evidence about rolling objects and explore the idea of fair testing.

Science

The 'On the Move' unit is an ideal way of linking science with literacy in the classroom.

Students develop an understanding of how things move. They explore the push and pull

forces they can use to move objects in ways such as sliding, bouncing and spinning.

Through investigations, students observe and gather evidence about rolling objects and

explore the idea of fair testing.