Prep at Wesley – It’s all in our approach

It is always wonderful to welcome our students back to school at the start of a new school year. It is a joy to hear their laughter as they move through our purpose-built learning spaces and see them engage with their peers and teachers in their classrooms. There is certainly great excitement and appreciation in being back, face-to-face, as a community.

The challenges experienced in the last 24-months have presented wonderful opportunities to reconsider what is important when it comes to the learning and wellbeing of young people.

At Wesley, we seize the opportunity to reflect on the effectiveness of our learning and wellbeing practices to best meet the social, emotional and academic needs of our community.

The implementation of our bespoke Prep Program is one of many initiatives introduced at the start of this year to ensure our students have the best start to their educational journey.

At our St Kilda Road campus, our young people start each day by making their way through the Prep tunnel to their very own learning hub, which overlooks the newly renovated playground. The classrooms, playground and breakout spaces are designed specifically to meet the developmental needs of our young learners.

With increased staffing in each classroom, we ensure that our students first year of formal schooling draws on the best practice of early childhood education. Establishing and nurturing respectful relationships is at the heart of what we do. Increasing the educator to child ratio in the classroom allows for greater opportunity for positive interactions and the delivery of teachable moments throughout the day.

We deliver explicit literacy and numeracy lessons each day, followed by instructional sessions with smaller groups of students, led by an educator with a targeted focus.

As an International Baccalaureate (IB) School, we offer the Primary Years Program from Early Childhood Learning to Year 6. Through carefully crafted units of inquiry, we present our students will countless opportunities to gain a strong understanding of the world they live in, as well as their individual and collective responsibility. The classroom program is complemented by our rich specialist offerings in Visual Arts, Dance and Drama, Music, Chinese and Physical Education.

We believe our Prep Program provides the best start for our students! If you wish to learn more about our intentional approach, we encourage you to register and join us for a tour. Click here to learn more.

Sabeena De Bono, Head of Junior School, St Kilda Road Campus