The commencement of a child’s learning journey can be filled with anticipation and excitement. At St Thomas, our priority is to care for every child’s wellbeing, paving the way to allow students to experiment, be creative, make mistakes and have fun on the way.  The Prep year will enable children to become familiar with school and schooling. They develop confidence as a learner and as members of our school community. Connecting with their peers, teachers, and the wider school community is an essential social and emotional element of the first year of schooling.

Students are matched with a Year 5/6 buddy, fostering friendships and providing further support in forming a sense of belonging to the school community. Our approach to education in the foundation years encompasses experiential learning activities, with hands-on learning opportunities emphasising play in the discovery process, which engages the child’s thinking and motor skills. 

As students move from single class groupings in Prep, they are introduced to our multi-level setting in Year 1/2.  This grouping encourages connections between children as they build friendships with alternate year-level peers. It enables them to develop a broader range of connections, supporting the growth of social and emotional skills. The lower primary years allow children to learn how to build relationships, negotiate ideas and opinions, and work within a culture of investigative learning.

Year 1/2 students explore and learn to harness their creative, innovative and imaginative concepts to achieve solutions within the learning environment. They learn to use various tools and equipment and work collaboratively with their peers. They engage in reflective practices and develop their decision-making skills. Students are encouraged to cultivate their own interests and showcase their knowledge, thus building self-confidence and connections. 

Students in the Year 3/4 levels have the opportunity to transform their technology skills from mainly using ipads to having access to their individually assigned Chromebooks. This enables students to develop their digital citizenship skills as they navigate the technological world and work collaboratively with others. Access to their personal Google accounts give students ownership of their email and Google Drive, in which they learn how to respect others while communicating or collaborating, thus assisting with the progression to independent learning.  

Students are provided opportunities to take on more responsibility at school as Sustainability champions, with roles centering around communal responsibility for our shared environment. They participate in various activities outside the classroom, including an overnight camp with alternate biennial campsites and an intense Bike Education program, thus building on their resilience.