MORE than 60 Prep students from Inverloch Kongwak Primary Schools celebrated 100 Days of Prep on Tuesday.
It was an exciting milestone marked with the young students dressing up as their 100-year-old selves.
“It’s great to see these guys ticking off all the usual Prep experiences,” principal Ben Soumilas said.
“We have five Prep students out at Kongwak, and the whole school was invited to dress up, which was a lot of fun. At both schools, all the older kids like getting out to reminisce on what it was like for them. There’s a good culture of the old buddies supporting the Preps.”
Mr Soumilas was once again impressed by the Preps’ costumes.
“They all looked fabulous. I wonder at what point in time we might break the stereotype. Maybe in a few years they’ll be dressing differently. They might be in activewear instead of all the flannelette shirts and waistcoats,” he said.
The Prep team has introduced the Phonics Plus structured literacy program, as mandated by the State Government, this year.
Classroom teacher Jake Mackie said the program was proving effective.
“It’s very collaborative, so although we have some part-time teachers in our team, we’re all over the same work, which ensures all students are getting the same learning experience no matter what classroom they are in,” he said.
“We dipped our toes into the program last year, and this is the first year we’ve implemented it fully. The data shows that it has been effective and the kids are progressing quite well against the curriculum.”
Mr Mackie said this style of teaching would continue in the Prep classrooms moving forward.
As for the 100-day milestone, Mr Mackie said the day was a lot of fun with the highlight being the parade.
“The whole school came out to see the kids and they loved it. There’s a nice community feel in the way our senior kids support our junior kids. They were high-fiving them as they walked around,” he said.
