Our Foundation Transition Program is designed to support you and your child to build confidence, relationships, and knowledge of our school through a series of dedicated sessions.

With an aim to help your child settle happily into school, sessions may include:

• Targeted parent/carer information meetings – for answers to all your questions
• Transition to school sessions – held throughout Term Four, providing an opportunity to meet other new students and our teachers in a modified classroom setting
• Curriculum information distributed - providing you with details as to how Literacy, Numeracy, and Social-Emotional Wellbeing are explicitly taught within our curriculum.

Dependent upon school and regional events, the timeline for transition sessions can vary slightly each year.

The information below provides you with an overview of what you may expect as part of our transition program: 

Registering for Compass Parent Portal log-in details; this is our parent communication app which you will use to stay up-to-date with information about our school. We will provide your log-in details in early September of the year preceding your child commencing Foundation. Upon receipt of these details, we ask that you action your log-in as soon as possible. When installing the Compass app onto your digital device, please ‘allow notifications’ as this will alert you when important information is published.

Booking a one-one family interview with our Foundation teachers; these interviews are generally scheduled to take place via the Webex platform, during late October of the year preceding your child commencing Foundation. This is an opportunity for you to ask questions, and share information, in-confidence. 

In-person transition sessions; these generally occur in Term Four of the year preceding your child commencing Foundation (timelines can vary dependent upon Department of Education guidelines and events). Please be aware that our transition program is designed to help students build their independence and confidence, whilst familiarising them with the school and their peers. Some transition sessions are held in small groups, and may require you to action a Compass booking based upon available timeslots. 

• Session 1: a 30-minute session in small groups occurring during the morning; parents/carers may stay for this session if they choose
• Session 2: a 30-minute session in small groups (which may differ from Session 1) occurring during the morning; parents/carers may stay for this session if they choose
• Session 3: a 30 - 45 minute session in larger groups occurring during the morning; parents/carers are encouraged to promote their child’s independence for this session
• Session 4: a 30 - 45 minute session in larger groups occurring during the morning; parents/carers are encouraged to promote their child’s independence for this session
• Session 5: a 2.5 hour morning session for the entire cohort, held within fluid class groupings; parents/carers are encouraged to promote their child’s independence for this session

The finer details for each transition session are provided to families as relevant in the year of enrolment. 

For further information visit:  Victorian Government - Starting Primary School Guide

Commencement of the Foundation Schooling Year

Please be aware that Foundation students commence school on a flexible timetable (in comparison to Year One-Year Six students), which can vary from year to year.

To support Foundation students in transitioning from kinder/daycare hours to school hours, the Department of Education allows schools to adjust timetabling at a localized level, up to the Labour Day weekend. How schools manage adjusted Foundation timetables can vary across schools, and may include one or more of the following adjustments: 

• late start/early finish times; some schools may choose to have Foundation students start or finish early on one or more days of the week
• a full day break each week; some schools may choose to have a full day break each week, during which all Foundation students stay at home
• a deferred starting date; some schools may defer the starting date of Foundation students, by up to two weeks, and then enter a full daily timetable following the deferred start.

During the above adjusted timetables, Foundation teachers undertake one-one early year's assessments with each Foundation student. This means that, on at least one occasion during the above adjusted timetabling, your child will be required to attend school for up to two hours, during which they will work one-one with their classroom teacher to undertake a series of game-based assessments. The information gained from these assessments is shared directly with parents/carers, and forms learning goals for each child in their first semester of primary schooling. 

The structure of adjusted Foundation timetabling for Upwey South Primary School is shared with enrolled families in September of the year preceding your child commencing Foundation.