How Oberon's Kindergarten students navigated school life in the first term

Friendships have been formed, new worlds have been discovered and plenty of learning has occured for the region's newest students.

Oberon Public School's Kindergarten teacher Nicola McMahon said the students have settled in very well and have learned a lot over the first term.

"They have settled in beautifully. They're settled, they're here, they understand the school routines," Ms McMahon said.

"They have a really good grasp on the day-to-day life of school, which is a massive change from pre-school to school."

According to Ms McMahon, the students are content in the classroom and they are learning a variety of foundation skills.

"This term we have done a couple of author studies. We've been learning about numbers, shapes and the environment," Ms McMahon said.

"We've also been learning about school expectations and schoolwide behaviour systems. We are a Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL) school, so we've been learning about key concepts everybody strives for at the school."

The positive behaviour concepts are respect, responsibility and the right to be safe, which the students have been practicing in the playground and the classroom.

The Kindergarten students are also being supported by their year six buddies, who have provided guidance for the start of their schooling journey.

"Yesterday they [year six] came down and read some of their narratives that they had been working on with the students," Ms McMahon said.

Ms McMahon said the Kindergarten students enjoyed their First easter hat parade recently.

"The buddies came down and built hats with the students and then they paraded them in front of their parents and their grandparents," Ms McMahon said.

"The local pre-school came and they came down, watched and then they paraded.

"There's lots of learning that's been happening."

Ms McMahon said Kindergarten have also been on their first excursion through the Oberon community.

"We took a turn in the school bus to have a look at the local features. We looked at businesses that we see in the community," Ms McMahon said.

"We looked at how to get on and off the school bus safely and places like the emergency services and where to stop and how to cross the road safely.

"It was about getting in and around transport before we go on bigger excursions throughout the year."

Kindergarten students have settled in to the first term of big school with ease, According to Assistant Principal of St Joseph's Catholic School, Tanya Pointon.

Ms Pointon said the students started the year with the Ready for Learning Program which is a Catholic Education - Diocese of Bathurst initiative.

"This program explicitly teaches social and emotional skills to strengthen relationships and build strong friendships, teaches mindfulness to calm bodies ready for learning and uses Occupational Therapy programs to promote core strength, correct pencil grip and body awareness," Ms Pointon said.

The students have began building their social skills and getting to know the way around the school premises.

"Our Kinder children have enjoyed exploring the school, making friends with other students in their class and spending time with their Year 6 buddies," Ms Pointon said.

According to Ms Pointon the students have enjoyed feeding their curiosity and have grown a love for learning.

"They have been learning how to represent numbers up to 10, counting up to and backwards from 10 as well as learning focus sounds and identifying these sounds in words," Ms Pointon said.

"The students are so keen to learn that they have asked for homework."

Ms Pointon said staff are a credit to the ease into school life for Kindergarten.

"A smooth and successful start can also be attributed to our Pre-Kinder Transition program and our wonderful teacher Miss Stapleton and Teacher Assistant Mrs Rich," Ms Pointon said.