Prep Handbook 2023/24

Principal’s Welcome

We warmly welcome you to Prep at Mary MacKillop Catholic College and trust your child will have an enjoyable learning journey with us. We look forward to working in partnership with you as your child grows and learns in our care. As professionals who are passionate about the importance of our role as educators, we look forward to your support and collaboration as your child embarks on their journey of lifelong learning.

Mr Chris Gabbett Principal

Foundation College Prayer

Bless our Mary MacKillop College family.

We pray that everyone will live and work in peace. We pray that everyone will spread happiness.

We pray that everyone will show love for one another And love for our God.

We pray that everyone will follow the way of Mary MacKillop And celebrate God in all things.

Amen

Our Strategic Plan

Our current Strategic Plan can be found here.

Early Years Philosophy

The Early Years sets the foundation for children to become lifelong learners. At Mary MacKillop Catholic College we facilitate the development of the whole child. This encompasses the spiritual, social, emotional, physical, and academic growth of all children with the aim of each individual reaching their learning potential.

Parents are the first educators of their children and as such are the primary educators, and we believe that parents play a significant role in developing traits of lifelong learners. This includes developing independence and confidence both at home and at school.

We believe that all people are created in the ‘image and likeness of God’, therefore we actively respond to others with compassion and a forgiving heart.

At Mary MacKillop Catholic College we nurture the ‘Mary MacKillop Way’. We are welcoming, encouraging and say sorry and thank you. We believe we all have the ‘Spirit of Jesus’ in us and work towards letting this shine each day.

Early Years Pedagogy

The Australian Curriculum sets out curriculum (what is taught) leaving teachers to make decisions about pedagogies (how it is taught). Early Years Pedagogy in the early years are learner centred, involve the scaffolding of learning and engage children actively in learning.

Early Years Pedagogies is about:

• How the Australian Curriculum can be taught in the early years of school

• Maintaining rigour in curriculum and assessment

• Active, engaged, agentic and successful learners

• Holistic development of the child

• A range of balance of pedagogies

• High expectations for learners

Early Years Pedagogy is NOT:

• An exclusive focus on play

• Dipping in and out of the Australian Curriculum

• Lowering expectations for learners

• Forgoing the monitoring of children’s learning and progress

The Characteristics of Early Years Pedagogies

ACTIVE Whether this is indoors or outdoors, activity is essential in order to activate children’s full potential. Their focus, concentration, motivation and self-regulation are enhanced through moving, doing and interacting within a range of learning environments.

AGENTIC Ensuring that all children have a voice in their learning.

COLLABORATIVE Being social and co-constructed. Teachers and students work together to identify ways of learning and understanding through sustained shared thinking and action.

CREATIVE Encourage investigation, inquiry and artistry to explore new possibilities and ways of thinking.

EXPLICIT Making connections between the learning purpose and processes employed and skills and understandings these processes support.

LANGUAGE RICH AND DIALOGIC Ensuring that learning occurs in environments where rich language is modelled and employed by both students and teachers.

LEARNER-FOCUSED Recognising that all children learn in different ways and that learning is a highly individual process. They also acknowledge differences in children’s physical, intellectual, cultural, social and personal experiences and perspectives.

NARRATIVE Acknowledging the important role that personal, written, oral and digital stories play in our lives. They support both the production and comprehension of narratives through active processes, especially play.

PLAYFUL Encouraging children to make connections through imagination and creativity to explore alternate worlds and ways of thinking.

RESPONSIVE Incorporating a willingness to be flexible, to ensure that learning is always child, context, content and discipline appropriate.

SCAFFOLDED Including such actions as modelling, encouraging, questioning, adding challenges, and giving feedback, provide the support needed to extend children’s capabilities.

When selecting from a range of teaching approaches considered appropriate for teaching the Australian Curriculum in the early years, teachers consider the participants, context, purpose, and duration of the learning experience. Teachers consider the age, prior learning experiences and strengths of individual learners, and the interests of young learners. The Approaches our teachers use at Mary MacKillop Catholic College include: - Direct teaching / instruction, Explicit teaching, Event-based learning, Inquiry Learning, Play-based approach, Project approach, and a Blended Approach.

Key Learning Areas Achievement Standards

English Foundation Year Achievement Standard

By the end of Foundation, students listen to texts, interact with others and create short spoken texts, including retelling stories. They share thoughts and preferences, retell events and report information or key ideas to an audience. They use language features including words and phrases from learning and texts. They listen for and identify rhymes, letter patterns and sounds (phonemes) in words. They orally blend and segment phonemes in single-syllable words.

They read, view and comprehend texts, making connections between characters, settings and events, and to personal experiences. They identify the language features of texts including connections between print and images. They name the letters of the English alphabet and know and use the most common sounds (phonemes) represented by these letters (graphs). They read words including consonant–vowel–consonant words and some highfrequency words.

They create short written texts, including retelling stories using words and images where appropriate. They retell, report information and state their thoughts, feelings and key ideas. They use words and phrases from learning and texts. They form letters, spell most consonant–vowel–consonant words and experiment with capital letters and full stops.

The curriculum consists of 3 strands: Language, Literature and Literacy.

Mathematics Foundation Year Achievement Standard

By the end of Foundation Year, students make connections between number names, numerals and position in the sequence of numbers from zero to at least 20. They use subitising and counting strategies to quantify collections. Students compare the size of collections to at least 20. They partition and combine collections up to 10 in different ways, representing these with numbers. Students represent practical situations that involve quantifying, equal sharing, adding to and taking away from collections to at least 10. They copy and continue repeating patterns.

Students identify the attributes of mass, capacity, length and duration, and use direct comparison strategies to compare objects and events. They sequence and connect familiar events to the time of day. Students name, create and sort familiar shapes and give their reasoning. They describe the position and the location of themselves and objects in relation to other objects and people within a familiar space.

Students collect, sort and compare data in response to questions in familiar contexts.

The curriculum consists of 5 Strands: Number, Algebra, Measurement, Space and Statistics.

Teaching the Mathematics curriculum in Prep often includes a significant amount of explicit teaching of a concept. Once explicit teaching has occurred students are offered independent learning of the concept. During this independent learning time it allows the teacher to provide appropriate differentiation for the students to be working at their level.

During our Mathematics time students are developing many skills, some skills learnt include:

• Counting skills

• Numeral recognition and identification

• subitizing

• Addition and Subtraction

• 2D and 3D shapes

• Ordinal numbers

• Sorting and classifying

• Patterns

We use a hands-on approach throughout the year using concrete materials to assist with learning mathematical concepts. We also access digital learning opportunities such as Mathseeds, counting songs and differing interactive mathematical games to enhance and consolidate learning.

Religion Foundation Year Achievement Standard

By the end of the Foundation year, students communicate clearly their ideas, feelings and thoughts about God, the goodness of God’s creation and God’s plan that people help each other to live safely and happily together, for the good of all. They identify connections between some Old Testament stories and their personal experience, including experience of the goodness of creation. They listen and respond to stories of and about Jesus in the Gospels that tell of Jesus’ life as a Jew, his mother Mary, his friends and family; of Jesus praying and teaching others to pray; and of his suffering, death and resurrection. They recognise Jesus’ teachings about love, compassion and forgiveness that challenged people about the way they were living. They relate examples of people having the freedom to choose between good and bad, right and wrong. Students understand that prayer helps believers to follow the teachings of Jesus; to live according to God’s plan. They recognise ways in which believers pray, either alone or with others, using word, music, action, silence, images, symbols and nature and participate with respect in a variety of these prayer experiences, including meditation, the Sign of the Cross and Amen. They describe ways in which believers pray together during special celebrations and rituals that mark important times in the life of believers and in the Church year.

Specialist Lessons

Throughout the year, students participate in lessons with specialist teachers. These include areas of the Australian Curriculum such as:

★ Physical Education

★ Performing Arts (Dance, Music and Drama)

★ Wellbeing and Health

★ Auslan

*Specialist Lessons are subject to change each year.

Each class rotates through each specialist lesson during the allocated Specialist time each week. In addition, once a fortnight students engage in a specific gross motor lesson.

Wellbeing

Setting High Expectations

The College has a Student Wellbeing Framework that is designed to facilitate high expectations of behaviour. This is to ensure that learning and teaching is effective, and students can participate positively within all aspects of College life. Our College has 3 statements to promote high standards of responsible behaviour.

• Be Safe

• Be Respectful

• Be a Learner

These expectations will become everyday language for your child and will be referred to regularly both in the classroom and play environments. The Framework also provides procedures around unacceptable behaviours and bullying, ensuring the school environment is safe for everybody.

Merit System

Learning and growing in the classroom is supported by the Mary MacKillop ‘Positive Learning Behaviours’. These behaviours are focused on in the classroom to support students to grow in their own capabilities and to be effective learners. The behaviours are connected to student growth- both as a learner and as person. When a student shows growth or excellence in these behaviours, they are awarded a Joey point. The Joey Points accumulate throughout the term and students can earn a certificate, ribbon or Joey badge.

Be You

When your child enters Prep, we begin a process of tracking their personal growth and mental health using the Be You Continuum. We specifically monitor behaviour, emotions, thoughts, learnings and social relationships. It is important to ensure that all students are given the best opportunity to learn and that any concerns are addressed and support is provided.

Learning Support

Learning Support teachers support school leaders and class teachers to:

• Assess students’ learning, social and behavioural needs

• Use assessment data to design teaching and learning experiences to actively engage learners and promote academic success

Learning Support teachers work in partnership with teachers to:

• Identify more specific needs through monitoring assessment and evaluation processes.

Planning to support learning requires attention to the unique needs of all students. Students present with a diversity of personal characteristics. A thorough background knowledge and understanding of our students will support and empower our teachers to manage this diversity in their classrooms. Regular communication with families is paramount to enabling active learning for all students.

Our teachers explicitly plan and provide the required support to ensure every child in their classroom has access to the Australian Curriculum. This can be through specific strategies or adjustments used in specific learning areas or across all key learning areas. Targeted support may be needed to supplement learning in the classroom. Intensive support may be required where a student may not be progressing as expected. Students who are working above expected are provided with learning that enables them to learn and enrich their understanding and knowledge. Learning support teachers and school officers work in collaboration with classroom teachers as part of the Learning Support team.

School Routine

Attendance at Prep

As Prep is now a compulsory year of school, attendance is very important. It builds foundations for your child’s future development and learning. Statistics show that even missing only one day a week can impact heavily on learning potential.

Starting and Finishing Times (subject to change)

8:15am Prep doors open

8:25am Bell rings to sit on the carpet and get ready for the day

8:30am School Commences

10:50am–11:30am

1:30pm–2:00pm

First lunch break

Second lunch break

2:50pm Dismissal

Please note: All children who arrive late (after 8:30am) or depart early (before 2:50pm) must be signed in or out at the Junior Reception.

Before and After School Procedures

• Supervision will occur in the Prep Playground from 8:15am each morning.

• Prep students may be collected from their classrooms at 2:50 pm. Any student not collected from the classroom will be walked to the ‘pick up’ area in Uluru where they can be collected by an older sibling, parent or meet for external After School Care.

• Students are not permitted in classrooms until a teacher is present.

• Please be on time when collecting your child. If you are delayed, contact the office.

School Assembly

Each Friday morning there is an assembly, held in the MacKillop Centre, commencing at 8:45am.

Parent Involvement

We value the role that parents play in the educational journey of their children. If you have any special skills, interests, occupational or cultural backgrounds please consider sharing them with us.

Excursions and Performances

Excursions and performances are held throughout the year and relate specifically to the interests of the students and align with the curriculum. All costs for excursions and performances are subject to the College Fee Schedule.

Meal Breaks

Munch and Crunch

Munch and Crunch is a short snack break that occurs half way through the first session of our day. This break is an opportunity for children to eat a piece of fruit or vegetable item to help build stamina and maintain concentration levels until our first lunch break.

Lunch

Please pack a nutritious lunch for your child. This may include such things as a sandwich, fruit, yoghurt, etc. A water bottle containing water only (no fruit juices or cordial) should also be sent to school each day. Please ensure that all lunch boxes, water bottles and plastic containers are named. As we promote healthy eating habits, please avoid packing foods such as roll ups, chips, lollies, chocolates, soft drink or cordial. Please also avoid nut-based products (peanut butter, Nutella, peanuts, tree nuts, etc) due to student allergies.

The College Cafe

Our Café (canteen) operates five days a week and orders for Prep to Year 2 are processed through the Flexischools website. Orders must be placed before 8:30am via the Flexischools app or website, which can be found at www.flexischools.com.au . Your child’s order will be sent to their classroom before the appropriate lunch break.

Communications – Keeping Informed

There are several ways to keep up to date with what is happening at school. It is strongly recommended that you regularly check these methods of communication, in particular, the top four points.

Methods of communication include:

• Emails & Electronic Permission Slips

• College App alerts & notifications

• Parent Portal

• College Calendar – available on the website and College App

• College Newsletter

We also have regular print and digital publications to celebrate student successes, including:

• College Facebook Page

• College Instagram & Sports Instagram

• College Yearbook

• Newspaper & Magazine Articles

• Podcast

• Youtube

Interviews & Reports

While interviews are officially offered twice a year, we are always happy to discuss your child’s progress with you. If you have any queries or information that will help us to understand and assist your child, please do not hesitate to let us know. We are available most mornings before school, by appointment, or we can organise a mutually convenient time for more involved conversations.

• School Report Cards - issued at the end of terms 2 & 4

• Parent/Teacher interviews - offered in terms 1 & 3

College Uniform

The College uniform and accessories are available only through Hannas Family Department Store, Toowoomba.

Purchasing Uniforms

The College Uniform list and Code of Presentation can be located on our website. All uniform items and accessories can be purchased through Hannas Family Department Store in Ruthven Street, Toowoomba.

A range of hair ties, clips and bows in the College colours, can be purchased through the Junior Reception during office hours.

View our Uniform Look Book

Sunsmart Policy

At Mary MacKillop Catholic College we follow a Sunsmart Policy where we enforce the ‘No Hat, No Play’ rule. Students must wear a hat if they wish to play at break times and participate in outdoor activities. Please remind your child to bring their hat to school every day. Sunscreen lotion is available in each classroom for children to reapply as required.

Illness

Parents are asked to keep their children home when they have an infectious illness. Please refer to the Time Out fact sheet. If your child becomes ill during the day, you will be notified so you can collect your child and take them home. If your child is ill and absent from school please ring the office before 8:00am and leave a message. Alternatively, use the Student Absentee form on the Mobile App. If you have not notified the school and your child is marked as absent, you will be contacted to confirm the absence.

Administration of medication at school

An Administration of Medication at School Record Form must be completed and handed to the Junior Reception staff for all medications to be given at school. Prescription medication is to be provided in the pharmacist’s original package, clearly labelled with instructions for dosage, mode and frequency of administration. The medication must be within its used by date to be administered. All medications will be held at the Junior Reception and students are required to go there to be administered any medications. The only exceptions to this are anaphylaxis and asthma medications, which can be held in the classroom. Students with ongoing medical conditions (e.g. asthma, anaphylaxis, allergies) must have an action plan and this must be provided to the College upon enrolment.

Children learn words and language skills from listening and engaging in stories, songs and conversations. By reading aloud and sharing stories with your child, you are helping them become familiar with words and sounds, stimulating their imagination and expanding their understanding of the world. This will assist in developing literacy skills and help them to go on to read successfully later in life.

The library offers some exciting opportunities for your child this year. Our Program includes:

• Promoting the very best of children’s literature to your child with activities designed to help students enjoy the stories even more.

• Recommending specific reading materials to students to get (or keep) them “hooked on reading”.

• Assisting students to identify books that are a “Just Right Fit” for their interest and ability.

• Planning special events including National Simultaneous Storytime, Book Week activities and Bookfair.

Students visit the library weekly with their class to browse and borrow picture books, nonfiction, and readers. It is requested that students transport their books using their Homelinks Bag to keep their library books in good condition and make them easier to find. Teachers will advise you of your child’s Borrowing Day and encourage loans to be returned on this day in preparation for new borrowing.

The Junior Library is open at First Break, Monday to Friday and students are invited to visit at this time to browse, read and participate in activities.

Giving your child the best start to Prep

Parents and caregivers play an important role in preparing and supporting a successful transition to school. Below are some suggestions of things that you can do with your child prior to starting school and throughout their time in the Early Years. This includes supporting the development of Social and Emotional Skills, as well as Physical, Academic, Independence and Spiritual domains.

Support the Development of Social and Emotional Skills

Social and emotional skills build resilience and support children to manage their emotions, behaviour, and relationships so that they can learn and focus on academics. Children aren’t born with these skills but learn via experiences and in relationship with others. The family, community and school all provide these experiences, and at MMCC, we encourage a partnership between all systems to support social and emotional skill development. The collaboration between each system will enrich opportunities for your child, fostering a child who feels competent to meet their social and emotional needs, whilst simultaneously respecting the needs of others.

• Prioritise connection with your child: All children need to feel Safe, Seen, Soothed, and Secure and our earliest interactions with our children support them to develop a secure attachment that they can transfer to other important people in their life, including their classroom teacher. This connection supports co-regulation, which enables self-regulation and adaptive behaviour, which in turn enables learning and healthy social relationships.

• Talk with your child about their emotions and model the skills you want your children to develop. Children need their emotions validated by adults in their life, which helps them to realise that all feelings are okay, and to learn helpful ways of managing and expressing

these. Ideally, we want children to feel confident in their capacity to adaptively manage and express difficult emotions and experiences – not to fear these or avoid them. The learning process starts with parents and guardians, and you can support this by encouraging your child to name their feelings and to talk through the situation that evoked these – the good and the bad! Tell them that it is okay to have a range of feelings but there are helpful and unhelpful ways to react to these feelings. For example, while anger is a valid feeling, hitting and punching are inappropriate for any reason, and instead they may be able to express this emotion in a different way. Sometimes their feelings may be hurt by others, and sometimes they may hurt the feelings of others; what is important is making things right again, apologising, and repairing the rupture.

• Practise turn taking and sharing skills by playing structured games (such as board games) and allowing them to have unstructured play with their siblings or other children. This is also a great opportunity for your children to practise their social and emotional management skills. Playing with children is vital for this purpose; to enable opportunities to develop and master skills that they can continue to build on as they mature and develop.

• Assume a strength-based approach to parenting. Instead of focusing on what needs to be fixed, it can be useful to consider what strengths are needed in that situation. Strength spotting in your children supports their strength awareness and a range of wellbeing and academic outcomes.

• Praise for process not outcome. This supports the development of a growth mindset, which in turn, supports a love of learning. Highlight effort, practise, progress, and persevering through challenge or mistakes. We are aiming for persistence and progress, not for perfection or immediate success.

HELP YOUR CHILD BECOME MORE INDEPENDENT BY:

★ Encouraging them to take responsibility for their actions

★ Encouraging them to take responsibility for their belongings (for example; carrying their own school bag; making sure they put their hats, jumpers, etc., away)

★ Allowing them to follow classroom morning routine procedures on their own when they know how

★ Encouraging them to have a go at new experiences (try not to pass your own fears onto your child - adopt a ‘you can do it’ attitude with your child)

★ Help your child put things that happen into perspective (children often need support to consider “how big is the problem”)

Help your child to become more resilient by allowing them to participate in activities that will provide opportunities for them to learn to cope with:

★ Winning and losing

★ Succeeding and failing

★ Persevering with tasks until they are finished, even when they may be difficult or ‘boring’

★ ‘Having a go’ at new and unfamiliar experiences

★ Taking turns

★ Sharing with others

★ Completing tasks that benefit the whole class/school, rather than the individual

★ Not always being the first to do or have something

★ Not always having what they want when they want it

★ Suffering logical consequences for their appropriate and inappropriate choices and behaviour

★ Not always receiving praise for everything they do

Physical

• Practise gross motor skills such as hopping, skipping, throwing, catching and bouncing a ball.

• Encourage your child to cut; showing them how to correctly hold their scissors and paper.

• Encourage correct pencil grip when they hold a pencil.

Academic

• Begin to work with your child on recognising the names and sounds of the letters of the alphabet initially with lowercase, beginning with the letters in their first name.

• Practise recognising the numbers to 10, rote counting to 10 and counting objects to 10.

• Read to them daily. Model reading by talking to them about what you’re reading and why.

• Develop their oral language skills by spending time each day having conversations with them and asking them questions. Incidentally, model correct use of grammatical structures with your child such as past tense (I played, not, I did play) and personal pronouns (using she instead of her, e.g. She got on her horse, not, Her got on the horse) when speaking with them. The broader your child’s word band, (depth of vocabulary) the better prepared for school they are.

• Provide opportunities for your child to develop the fine motor strength and dexterity necessary for writing by playing with puzzles; threading blocks; playdough and other construction materials.

Independence Skills

• Encourage them to recognise their name (and nickname if relevant) – spoken and written.

• Allow them opportunities to become responsible for regular household tasks such as setting the table, wiping up, folding clothes and tidying their own toys away, as this teaches them reliability and responsibility.

• Encourage your child to be more independently organised by:

o Encouraging them to take responsibility for themselves and their belongings.

o Help him/her learn to dress themselves (put on their own socks and shoes).

o Competent toileting skills and hygiene including washing their hands after going to the toilet.

o Have him/her practise eating lunch from their lunchbox over the holidays, and helping them learn to open packets, unwrap glad wrap or put straws into poppers independently. Remember to show your child the difference between first and second break food items.

o Show them their name on their clothing, lunchbox, etc., and help them to recognise it.

o Give them the responsibility of carrying their school bag and bringing their own homelinks folder into the classroom each day.

o Have your child in the habit of wearing a hat outside as the school policy is ‘no hat no play’

• Help them develop an awareness that there are many other children in the class who have wants and needs just like them.

• Set consistent, clear boundaries and logical consequences for your child’s choices and behaviour.

Spiritual

• Talk with your child about God and nurture the spiritual dimension of your child’s life by encouraging wonder and awe of the beauty of creation.

• Consider taking your child to Mass on a regular basis. Our Parish, Lady of the Southern Cross, holds its Mass in the MacKillop Centre at our school on a Sunday morning at 8am. Children’s liturgy is available during Mass.

Tips for Talking about School:

Attempt to find a balance between talking positively but also realistically about school. It’s important to encourage positive emotions and thoughts about this upcoming exciting new adventure. However, as with any new challenge and activity there will be unknowns and some parts about school that might bring uncomfortable feelings – such as anxiety, worry, doubt, etc. It can be helpful for children to adjust to new situations by talking openly and honestly about what to expect.

• Discuss with your child the idea that school is not always about playing and just having fun. That there will be times throughout each day, that they will be required to sit still, listen to their teachers, concentrate, follow instructions and put effort into tasks that they might not necessarily consider ‘fun’.

• Explain to your child that it is likely they, like everyone else, will find some things that are easy, and they are good at, and other things that are more challenging. Impress upon them that they don’t have to be good at everything, but improvement will come with increased motivation, focus and effort.

• Help them consider that by having a go at different things, they will discover what they are good at, what they enjoy, and other areas where they may need to build confidence and skills, or put in more effort in order to improve or enjoy.

• Help your child to understand that it may take time for them to develop friendships with others, and that some children prefer and are happy to play on their own sometimes. In the Early Years children have lots of friends, not usually just one or two special friends.

Prep Requirements List

First Day Checklist

 Purchase College uniform (Available from Hanna’s Department Store – see Uniform Lookbook)

 Have your child’s College Backpack and homelinks bag ready (Available from Hanna’s Department Store – see Uniform Lookbook)

 Cover and name all books

 Attach a tag to your child’s school bag to assist them in identifying their bag

 Ensure all clothing is clearly named

 A clearly named water bottle.

 Packed morning tea, lunch and ‘munch & crunch break’ fruit or vegie snack.

 Ensure there is a change of clothes in your child’s school bag

 Discuss travel and pick up arrangements with your child

 Talk to your child about the exciting journey they are about to begin!

 Transition statement from your child’s Kindergarten/Day Care Centre to be delivered to the Junior Reception prior to commencing Prep.

 Please see booklist for other requirements

Click here to access our New Student Welcome Pack.