Published on: 4 May 2023

  • School Wide Positive Behaviour Support
  • Developing boys’ numeracy
  • School photos
  • Term 2 Parent Forum

Through our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support, we focus on one core value each term. This term, we are focusing on Respect. This value is promoted through the daily student bulletin, signs around the school, in the classroom and through our Vertical House Groups. In addition to this approach, boys are able to earn house points by demonstrating respect around the school. These points are totalled every fortnight and read out at assembly. At the end of each term, the house who collected the most points are awarded the winning house of The Values Cup. We are proud of the way the boys engage with this program and learn about the school values.

Developing boys’ numeracy in the Preparatory School is essential to accessing a range of content from all learning areas. When we talk about Numeracy, we refer to the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that students need in order to use mathematics in a wide range of situations across a variety of contexts. Boys apply their knowledge, skills and understanding of numeracy to Humanities subjects such as Geography and History, to the sciences in data representation, observational skills and predicting as well as everyday experiences in cooking, shopping, estimating and play. The teaching of mathematics in the Preparatory School commences with hands on learning through play and exploration and culminates in the application of skills, knowledge and understanding to abstract problem-solving scenarios and reasoning. Mathematics is taught daily with content broken up into three main strands: Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and, Statistics and Probability. Parents can support their son’s numeracy development through engaging their son in conversations and experiences that incorporate everyday mathematics. Information on how to support you son’s numeracy at home can be found here.

A reminder that School photos take place this week with Pre-Kindergarten to Year 3 having their individual and class photos on Thursday with Years 4 to 6 boys having their photos on Friday. Boys in Years 3 to 6 are reminded to wear their formal uniforms of grey shorts, white long sleeve shirts, ties and their blazers.

On Tuesday of Week 3 I will be hosting the Parent Forum, providing an update on our approaches to reading comprehension throughout the Preparatory School. Parents interested in attending can find more details here.

Dr. Steven Males
Head of Preparatory School