A bag of goodies for every Prep student
Each Prep student attending a Victorian government school will receive a Prep bag to celebrate this milestone in their education journey.
The bags are filled with engaging learning items and information for parents and carers to help families have a great start to the year.
This year’s theme, ‘Moving on up,’ recognises and celebrates the transition from kindergarten to school and encourages Prep students to move more.
What’s in the Prep bag?
To help build literacy skills and encourage a life-long love of reading from an early age, Prep students will receive 5 specially chosen books. The books are:
- Bedtime Sorted! by Jimmy Rees
- Stellarphant by James Foley
- The Biscuit Maker by Sue Lawson
- The Two-Hearted Numbat by Ambelin & Ezekiel Kwaymullina
- What Colour is the Sea? by Katie Stewart.
To support Prep students who are blind, the Statewide Vision Resource Centre produced the books in braille with tactile illustrations.
Other goodies in the bag include:
Learning
- A Literacy and Numeracy booklet with handy tips to help parents and carers develop their child's literacy and numeracy skills. The booklet is available in additional languages including Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Dari and Persian. You can access the booklet in your preferred language by visiting Literacy and numeracy tips in your
- A Mathscots ruler featuring characters from the Mathscots Animation to help Preps have fun while exploring maths and numeracy at school and at home.
- A jigsaw puzzle featuring a world map and children from across the globe dressed in traditional clothing, introducing our youngest learners to global learning and . The puzzle also includes conversation starters for parents to support discussions with their child about multicultural Victoria.
Sport
- A NAB AFL activity booklet from the Australian Football League with a range of fun football-themed activities and details on how to register for the 2023 NAB AFL Auskick season.
- A Melbourne Stars or Melbourne Renegades activity booklet from Cricket . The booklets include activities to learn more about cricket and information about getting involved in Cricket Victoria's entry-level program.
- An activity booklet and chatterbox from Netball . The booklet includes information on the rules of netball and how to get involved in your local Woolworths netball starter program.
Health and wellbeing
- A foldable frisbee that families can enjoy while getting active together. Parents and carers can visit Get Your Move to find fun ways to get kids moving for 15 minutes, 4 times a day.
- A Respectful Behaviours within the School information flyer outlining the shared roles of parents, carers and school staff in creating a positive environment for learning.
- A Primary School Nursing postcard containing information on a free health screening service offered to students in their first year of school, as well as websites and links to children’s health and wellbeing resources.
- A Future cooler bag from to keep your child’s healthy lunch chilled. Fresh, fun and ready to go!
- A magnetic postcard from Optometry highlighting the importance of regular eye examinations at every age to ensure good eye health. The postcard, which also can be coloured in, links families to Good Vision for , containing quality information, including how to find a local optometrist.
- SunSmart stickers from Cancer Council to remind the whole family to slip, slop, slap, seek and slide to reduce UV exposure.
Find out more
For more information about transition and starting school, visit Information for .
Reviewed 31 January 2023