Welcome to our first whole school newsletter for 2022.

I am very pleased to welcome all of our new students and their families to our Gympie Special School community. We welcome Miles and Jade into Prep, Moni into Early Years, Evie, Jacob and Cody K into Primary, and Tyson into Secondary. We started this year with 78 enrolments across 14 classes.

We also have some new faces on staff to introduce. Welcome to Cassie Perry in our Early Years Sector, Tegan Atkinson into Secondary, Deb Campbell into our Senior sector.  Ellie Garvey as our new ARTS teacher and Deb Kitchen as our HASS teacher. These experienced staff members bring a wealth of experience and knowledge from their previous placements in other state schools and we are very happy to welcome them into our staff.  

Rachael Pelling is currently on 4 weeks long service leave and we have welcomed Annette Scanlon, from Currimundi Special School as Acting HOC, while Shellie Pursey has stepped up into the Deputy Principal role. Both of these fabulous admin staff have been working hard to support staff and students.

Whilst we have had a disrupted start to 2022, I have been very pleased with student behaviour and engagement over the last few weeks. Classrooms have been busy as students and staff get to know each other and establish new routines, make new friends and settle into their new units of work. I am really looking forward to the next 4 weeks of learning in our school. We have 20 days of schooling before the Easter Holidays to focus on learning. 

Our senior students from years 7 to 12 began swimming at the Gympie Aquatic Recreation Centre in week 4. Our primary students will be swimming in term 4 this year.

This year we have six Year 12 students who will graduate in November. Already we are starting to plan ahead to ensure they have a successful last year of schooling and a wonderful graduation.

Facebook: We regularly post on our school Facebook page. If you have not yet ‘liked’ our Facebook page, please go onto Facebook today and join our “Gympie Special School” community page. We will be posting news, photos, celebrations, inviting you to events and keeping you regularly informed via our Facebook page. To let us know you have read a post- hit the thumbs up or leave a comment.

Pick Up: Thank you so much for your patience at Pick Up time. We are working hard to move the line of traffic as smoothly as we can whilst maintaining a safe environment for our students, families and staff.

Parent/Carer access to school classrooms: If you are visiting the school during the day, or arriving late with your child, please enter and exit through admin. As the first lesson of every day starts at 8.30am, I would encourage all students to be at school prior to this starting time. We appreciate your support in having your student at school on time.

All parents/carers are required to sign in and out at the office when visiting. This is an Education QLD Health, Safety and Wellbeing procedure required for safety. We appreciate your support.

Parade is back from next Monday: Parade is each Monday at 2.00pm in the performing arts room. Parents and carers are most welcome. We look forward to you joining with us!

I am really looking forward to a fantastic 2022 and working with our terrific staff, students and families.