Our Journey with Sounds-Write

Over the past three years, our school has been on an exciting journey to strengthen the way we teach reading and spelling. We have adopted Sounds-Write, a highly effective, evidence-based structured synthetic phonics program that gives students the essential building blocks for becoming confident readers and spellers.

We began this journey in 2023 by training our Prep teachers so that our youngest learners could build strong foundations in phonics from their very first year of school. Since then, we have gradually extended training across year levels, ensuring consistency and progression as children move through their schooling. At the beginning of next term, our Year 5 teachers will begin their training, marking another important step in embedding Sounds-Write right across the school.

In the early years, Sounds-Write focuses on helping students understand how the sounds of speech map onto letters and letter combinations. This systematic approach supports children to crack the code of reading. As students move into the upper years, the focus shifts towards spelling and word knowledge, helping them develop accuracy, fluency, and confidence in their writing.

For families who would like to learn more about Sounds-Write and how it supports children’s literacy, there are many useful resources and links to Podcasts on the Sounds-Write website: https://sounds-write.co.uk/support-for-parents-and-carers/

We are proud of the progress we are making across the school and excited to see the positive impact Sounds-Write continues to have on our students’ learning.

Prep Indigenous Insights Excursion

This week, our Prep students enjoyed an exciting walking excursion around our local area. We set off from Bulimba State School and began by exploring the beautiful wall mural at the front of our school, learning about the stories and artwork that make it so special. Along the way, the children discovered the unique magpie lark lights and found out why they are an important feature in our community.

Our walk continued down to the Brisbane River, where students had the chance to observe the river environment and talk about its significance to Bulimba. After a morning of learning and exploring, we stopped at Love Street Park to enjoy lunch and some playtime before heading back to school.

It was a wonderful day of hands-on learning, discovery, and connection to our local community!

Prep Transition

It has been lovely welcoming our 2026 Prep children and their families to Bulimba through our various transition events this year. Today, we held our very first orientation morning, where our pre-preppies took part in an Art lesson with Miss Jane and explored the wonders of STEM with Ms O’Neill. We were so impressed by how confidently our future Preps settled into each class and the enthusiasm they brought to their learning.

Next Friday, our second orientation morning will welcome another group of pre-preps, who will enjoy PE with Mr Bryant and Music with Mrs Schache.

For a full overview of the Prep Transition opportunities available next term, please see the attached flyer.