By Dongyun Kwon
Prep children in Healesville took a big step in getting into school.
Healesville Primary School prep children had their first day in school on Tuesday 30 January.
Healesville Primary School prep teacher Esther O’Halloran said two prep teachers were pleased that everyone’s coming settled and ready to start school.
“The children have started really well. No tears [from the children], only from the parents, a couple of parents were crying,” she said.
“But apart from that, the children have been very settled. We’ve done some reading, cutting, pasting, colouring, sticking things in their book and, as always, playing outside.”
Another prep teacher Sharyn Borg said the school’s transition program helped the kids settle into the new environment smoothly.
“They’ve already been to the school four times,” she said.
“They did sessions in the classroom and art room and they also had a sports session.
“They’ve been on a tour of the school to look at the different areas and to introduce the office and admin staff, so they’ve been pretty familiar before they start.”
Healesville Primary School has 33 prep children enrolled this year and they are divided into two classes.
Ms Borg said they would be doing lots of activities together within two classes.
“Our classrooms open up so we’re able to put them in to do some learning together,” she said.
“We also have two ES (Education Support) staff and they’ll be working with small groups of children that might need a bit more consolidation or extension.”
The two teachers will teach the kids phonics and maths through the year.
“We have a really solid phonics program, so lots of work on decoding stories and books looking at high-frequency words in combination, looking at sound in all the different sounds, playing with putting the sounds together so the children can sound out the words and stretching them, lots of rhyme and building sentences,” Ms O’Halloran said.
“With our maths program, lots of hands-on material, lots of name count, make blocks, counters and play-doh.
“[The children are going to] work up to 20 and then for those children who are advanced, they can keep going.”
Each prep child will be paired up with a Year 5 child through Buddies Program and they participate in a range of activities such as Teddy Bear’s Picnic, making of books, craft activities and using technology.
“It’s an opportunity to build a network within our school community and it’s having an older student that’s a bit like a role model to help them learn the ways of the school,” Ms Borg said.
