When you step into Jesse Waters’ Foundation classroom at Hastings Primary School, you are stepping into much more than a room of five-year-olds learning their ABCs. You’re entering a carefully designed environment where curiosity is celebrated, confidence is built, and the first precious impressions of school life are shaped: not just for students, but for their parents too.
With 13 years of teaching experience, including 10 dedicated to Foundation (Prep), Jesse brings a deep understanding of how these first years set the tone for a child’s entire educational journey.
“The growth from the start of the year to the end of the year is amazing,” Jesse says. “You start with many children who can’t write their name, who can’t yet identify the letters in their name, and by the end of the year, they’re writing sentences. Every year is new and different; the children’s personalities make the learning come alive.”
Jesse’s Path to Hastings PS
Jesse’s teaching roots go back to Woorana Park Primary School in Dandenong North, that was a school known for its gifted and talented program and its strong commitment to giving every child rich learning opportunities.
It was here that Jesse was first immersed in the Reggio Emilia philosophy — an approach that views children as capable, curious learners and treats play as a powerful vehicle for growth. “There was so much planning and intention behind everything we did,” she recalls.
After several years teaching in Victoria, Jesse moved to Byron Bay, New South Wales, where she worked at a progressive new school, Living School. This experience broadened Jesse’s perspective on innovative, holistic education. Later, she used her expertise to consult for Byron Community Primary School.
Her return to Victoria in 2024 marked a new chapter at Hastings Primary School — one that felt like coming home. “I grew up on the Peninsula, and I’ve always had a soft spot for this area. The history of Hastings PS and its connection to the community drew me in immediately.”
Building Foundations For Children and Families
Jesse sees Foundation not just as the starting point of schooling, but as the moment to establish a positive relationship between home and school.
“I think about parents as much as the students,” she says. “For many, this is their first experience of school as caregivers. If they feel welcome, involved, and connected, that has a direct impact on their child’s outcomes.”
Her classroom practices reflect this belief. From inviting parents in small groups into the classroom on the first day, to having parents and caregivers meet at the classroom door to pick up their children each day, Jesse wants to give parents every opportunity to get to know her and be involved.
“You have to have the belief that parents, no matter what is happening in their lives, they love their children, they are doing their best and they want the best for their children. And a lot of parents and caregivers need support with that and that’s ok. If that really is your belief, it changes the way you look at families and it allows you to see their barriers and challenges and offer ways to support them.”
Creating Engaging Learning Opportunities
A highlight for Jesse this term has been a speaking and listening activity where students presented a weather report on video.
“We had been learning about the weather, so we turned our dramatic play space into a recording studio. It was halfway through the year, and it was a really good way of assessing their speaking and listening. Next term we’ll do another one and have both clips side by side for the students to reflect on and see their own growth. So yes, it is playing and dressing up, but it is authentic assessment.” The videos were posted to the school’s Facebook page and received positive feedback from parents and the wider school community.
Another highlight was seeing a child with significant speech challenges jump right in to make a video. “He has a block and a stutter, and the standard advice is ‘don’t cut them off, encourage them to talk no matter what.’ I can’t stop him talking now,” Jesse smiles. “The self-confidence he has, and the way he’s accepted into the group is powerful.”
Her focus on confidence-building is deliberate. “If a child feels like they’re failing all the time, they stop wanting to try. I find something they’re great at, build them up, and then they start to believe they can take risks in other areas. That’s when the magic happens.”
Evidence-Based Instruction Essential to Literacy and Numeracy
Jesse is committed to using evidence-based practices - including systematic synthetic phonics - while at the same time preserving the wonder and playfulness of early childhood.
“When I worked at Dandenong, the approach was whole language. Now in teaching there’s a heavy focus on systematic synthetic phonics and I feel like explicit teaching is the missing piece. To learn to count to ten, that’s practice and repetition. You can’t creatively think about 10. You have to be able to count one. One koala. One picture. One apple. One orange and build from there. Things that are skill based need to be taught systematically.”
Jesse sees explicit teaching as an equalizer. “When it comes to learning to read and write some kids pick it up so quickly, the ones that don’t need explicit teaching. Five-year-olds have great great ideas and often really good verbal expression, but no way to document it, no way to think higher on it, because they must have foundational skills. Children see the disparity. They know they have great ideas and want to be able to write them down. They see the person next to them writing sentences and they have no idea what to do. It is frustrating and disheartening and deflating.”
“Being trained in direct instruction gives me tools to know that I’m teaching evidence based best practice. You have to give students foundations to build their learning on. It’s like the foundations of a house, if it's rocky your house isn’t going to stand for very long and you’re going to be patching up holes all the time.”
Jesse adds, “Five-year-olds can’t sit in rows for six hours a day. They need space to explore, to talk, to play,” she says. “Every lesson in my classroom has explicit teaching, but it also has time for discovery and connection.”
Looking Ahead
As Hastings PS strengthens its connections with local kinders through joint programs and initiatives, Jesse is excited about what lies ahead.
“Foundation is a universe of its own,” she says. “We have this beautiful moment between early childhood and the more structured experience of school. My job is to make sure that first impression of school is one of belonging, learning, and confidence for every child and every family.”