Welcome, a quick promise
Your child is learning through play this year. The Foundation – Grade 2 curriculum is forty weeks of intentional play, dual-mapped against the Victorian Curriculum F–10 and the national Respectful Relationships (RR) program.
This guide is for you. It tells you what to expect, how to talk to your child about it, and small things you can do at home to pair with the work happening in the classroom.
The five-lesson rhythm, what your child sees
Every week in this curriculum has the same shape, same lessons, new content:
- Overview, a short video your child watches with the class on Monday.
- Play, an active group game that builds belonging and turn-taking.
- Written, a quiet, reflective lesson (usually a drawing or short sentence) that often blends literacy.
- Exercise, a movement game that lifts energy and focus.
- Gratitude, a Friday closing ritual that builds the muscle of appreciation.
Five questions that work better than "how was school?"
Children at this age remember games more than lessons. Try one of these in the car:
- "What was the play game this week?", they will often act it out.
- "Did the gratitude bit make you laugh or smile?", opens a friendly door.
- "Was someone really good at it today?", celebrates other children.
- "What would you change about it?", invites critical thinking.
- "Want to teach it to me?", the surest sign they understood.
A note about Respectful Relationships
Your school is delivering the Respectful Relationships (RR) curriculum alongside this program, it is mandated by the Victorian Department of Education for all government and Catholic schools. The first four RR Topics (Emotional Literacy, Personal Strengths, Positive Coping, Problem Solving) are woven through the year. You may notice your child arriving home with new feelings vocabulary, "frustrated", "proud", "disappointed", that is the RR curriculum at work.
Three five-minute rituals you can run at home
You do not need to teach a lesson at home. Pick one of these and run it for a fortnight:
- Three-things gratitude at dinner. One per family member, no repeats. Children copy whatever they hear adults model.
- A "feelings check-in" before bed. Use the feeling word your child brings home each week.
- A weekly screen-free play night. Cards, board games, kicking a ball, anything that requires looking at each other.
Working with your child’s teacher
If anything comes up at home that you would like the teacher to know about, tell them, they know the class, they know your child in the room, and they have the program’s prompts at their fingertips. Open with what your child mentioned at home; that is usually the most useful starting point.
The free app for home
Many families pair the school curriculum with The School of Play app, a free download with one daily play idea for the family. Same framework, dinner-table friendly. Search "The School of Play" on the App Store or Google Play.
