Support your child to get the most out of Kindy. 

English in Kindy

At Tambrey, we use the program Pre-Lit to explicitly teach literacy skills. We use Cracking the Code to reinforce these skills and, Peggy Lego to support pre-writing development. Together, these programs provide a strong foundation for your child’s literacy learning.

The expected level of achievement, at the end of the year, includes judgements against the following skills:

  • Makes themselves understood when communicating with familiar adults and peers
  • Segments syllables Orally blends CVC words
  • Recalls letter name or letter sound of some taught letters
  • Beginning to identify first sounds in CVC words
  • Recognises own name AND writes a recognisable form of their name without a visual prompt

Kindy English unpacked

  • Segments syllables: breaking words into chunks or beats
  • Segmenting words: breaking up the sounds in words i.e., in the word dog, the sounds are d-o-g.
  • Blending: pushing sounds together to make a word i.e., the sounds d-o-g make the word dog.
  • CVC: consonant- vowel-consonant (cat)

Peggy Lego Prewriting Patterns

The Peggy Lego program is a systematic way to teaching prewriting patterns, which form the basis of all letters of the alphabet. Peggy Lego breaks down letters into seven pencil movements and then supports students to learn correct letter formation.

Phonological Awareness (PA)

Image from phonological-awareness-continuum- | English Teacher's Blog
Image from National Centre on Improving Literacy

Why We Teach Sounds Before Letters

At our school, we focus on teaching sounds (phonemes) rather than letter names (this comes later). This approach helps children learn to read, write, and decode words more effectively. By recognising the sounds that letters and letter combinations make, children can blend them together to read words and break them apart to spell.

Maths in Kindy

At Tambrey, we use the latest research and resources to deliver effective maths instruction. We incorporate Numicon, a hands-on tool that helps children understand numbers through shape and pattern. Our program focuses on number awareness and counting principles to build strong mathematical foundations.

The expected level of achievement, at the end of the year, includes judgements against the following skills:

  • Recognises and orders numbers out of sequence initially from 5 then to 10.
  • Count orally to 5, then 10.
  • Count and make collections to 5, then 10 mostly matching collections to correct numerals
  • Recognises simple 2D shapes
  • Can identify basic positional language such as in front, on, behind, beside/next to and above
  • Make use of the appropriate language of measurement

Apply the following principles of counting: up to 5, then 10

  • Stable order (Says numbers in correct order)
  • 1-1 correspondence when counting up to 5 items
  • Cardinal value (last number said is the total)
  • Order irrelevance
  • Abstraction

Kindy Maths unpacked

  • Subitising: is the ability to look at a small set of objects and instantly know how many there are without counting them.
  • Partitioning: the ability to think about numbers are made up of parts.
  • Numicon: Numicon shapes are designed to give children a hands-on, visual way to explore and understand the connections between numbers.

Building Independence

Independence is crucial for building confidence, resilience, and responsibility in young learners. Below are specific strategies to support this for school:

Packing Bags & Belongings

  • Encourage your child to take responsibility for their belongings by putting away their lunchbox, water bottle, and hat themselves.
  • Ensure your child can pack their own bag, including zipping it up independently.
  • Check that their lunchbox and bag are the right size for them to manage on their own.
  • Teachers cannot pack every child’s bag—help set them up for success by practising this daily.