At Blackburn Lake Primary School our goal is to make your child feel welcome in our caring and nurturing environment. There are lots of things that make Foundation a special year at BLPS!
Transition Program:
Our transition program aims to ensure a smooth transition to your child’s start to primary school. In Term 4, we have 4 sessions where students engage in fun Literacy and Numeracy activities as well as the opportunity to experience school life, participating in fun and engaging ‘Specialist’ sessions. These may include Visual Arts, Performing Arts, STEAM, Physical Education and Italian.
To ensure a smooth and successful transition to school, we do the following supports prior to the school year:
At the beginning of the school year we have the following supports:
More information about our comprehensive transition program can be found on our 2026 Foundation Transition Website.
Curriculum
At the Foundation level, our primary curriculum focus is to ensure your child is given every opportunity to have a successful start in English and Mathematics. At Blackburn Lake Primary School, students participate in a two and a half hour English block and a one and a half hour Mathematics block each day.
Literacy
Systematic Synthetic Phonics
Reading begins at home. A child’s ability to read is influenced greatly by literate experiences they enjoy at home before commencing school. Some children will be able to read when they start school, others will need more than a year at school before they begin to read fluently. Whatever their stage, share their joy when they bring home their first books! Through a systematic synthetic phonics approach, students are explicitly taught the relationships between letters and their sounds. When introduced to a new sound, they are taught a cued articulation sign to help them determine how different sounds are made. They develop phonemic awareness through daily practice segmenting and blending sounds in words. Students apply these strategies while reading decodable words and texts as a class, in pairs and individually. They take home decodable texts to practise their developing phonics knowledge, in addition to passages taught during phonics sessions. In addition, they are systematically taught high-frequency words to enhance their fluency in both reading and writing. As students are introduced to new ‘heart words’, with components of the word requiring students to ‘know by heart’, they are added to their word rings to continue to practise automaticity at home.
Language comprehension
In our Reading sessions, students have an opportunity to respond to a range of texts, including narratives and non-fiction books based on our inquiry topics. They shared their thoughts, opinions and connections about characters, settings and topics, engaging in discussions with a focus on building their language comprehension.
Writing
In Writing, students are supported to develop their fine motor skills through opportunities involving activities such as cutting, pasting, tracing and threading in addition to developing correct pencil grip and posture. Students learn and revise letter formation daily and apply their developing phonics knowledge to write at a word and sentence level. They explore when to use spaces between words, capital letters and full stops and experimented with this in their own writing. Students are taught how to orally retell events sequentially and discuss the features of narratives, recounts and information writing.
Within all aspects of our literacy program, students are encouraged and acknowledged when using their “Ace Attitude' to have a go.
Mathematics
The Foundation Mathematics curriculum centres on key proficiencies of Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving, and Reasoning. Children develop concepts through the manipulation of concrete materials and discussion. Understanding, problem solving and reasoning are an integral part of our school’s mathematics content.
Students will explore number, measurement and space concepts by engaging with rich tasks supported by literature, songs, games, and play-based learning. They develop their understanding of counting items with 1:1 correspondence and ways to organise collections, in addition to learning number formation. Students deepen their understanding of numbers 1 to 10 by using their developing part-part-whole knowledge, subitising collections and number facts. They are supported to apply this knowledge to solve problems. They are supported to develop their fluency to orally count forwards and backwards.
Inquiry Units
Term 1: Marvellous Me
This unit compliments the TRRAC values, as it focuses on personal identity and relationships, helping students understand what makes them unique and how they relate to others. This unit is designed as the Wellbeing/TRRAC/Inquiry unit as students are transitioning to school and building relationships with their teachers and peers.
Alongside classroom routines and expectations, students will recognise similarities and differences between themselves and others while exploring their own interests and strengths. They will identify key family and friend relationships, considering what makes them feel safe, included, and comfortable within those positive connections.
Term 2: Fantastic Families
This unit invites Foundation students to explore their personal and family histories while developing emotional awareness and management skills. Students will learn about their own emotions and how to recognize them in themselves and others. They'll discover strategies to manage challenges and understand the importance of trying new experiences.
Through stories and discussions, students will explore how their families have changed or remained the same over time. They'll learn to appreciate the unique histories of their families, understand where they come from, what they celebrate and what makes their family unique.
Term 3: My Place, Our Place
This unit emphasises the importance of local places and how they connect to daily life. They explore the concept of community by looking at who keeps them safe, the different people/places found in their community and how the weather impacts their community. Students will explore natural and manmade places within their community, people's attachment to places and how they might care for those places.
Term 4: Wonderful World
Wonderful World exposes students to the idea of living things and the importance of caring for their habitat, especially Blackburn Lake Primary School and Blackburn Lake Sanctuary. The unit introduces students to the essentials of caring for living things and the environment. Students will learn to distinguish between living and non-living things, understanding what living things need to survive, such as food, water, and shelter. They will explore how to protect the habitats of various creatures and take practical steps to care for their environment at BLPS. This unit encourages students to appreciate the natural world, fostering a sense of responsibility and action to ensure that both living things and their surroundings are preserved and nurtured (sustainability).
Technology
Students have the opportunity to use class iPads to support engagement and understanding of core curriculum concepts. They participate in weekly STEAM sessions where they develop computer skills. Teachers also use a variety of media, including interactive whiteboards to present information to students in a meaningful and stimulating way.
PMP
Our Foundation students participate in a perceptual motor program once a week. The students rotate around a series of activities designed to improve their perceptual awareness through motor skills. Language development is an integral part of the program.
Foundation Fun
Throughout the year Foundation Students participate in a variety of engaging and entertaining experiences to support the curriculum teachings in addition to the many whole school celebrations. These include:
