Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the final newsletter for 2022.  It is an exciting time at school as teachers complete report cards, send home student work and celebrate the great learning that has been evidenced this semester. Individual student information has been shared across teachers and teacher aides and there is much excitement and forward planning for 2023.

We have had some fantastic celebrations over the past few weeks, including our Year 6 Graduation today. This semester has seen the school celebrate the great learning taking place in classrooms, students demonstrating pride in their work and staff engaging in professional learning with lots of enthusiasm. There have been high levels of positive behaviours demonstrated by students and many have achieved significant personal successes in their learning. I am particularly thankful to parents and carers who have sought to share information about their child, visited classrooms, and attended events.  

I would like to thank students, staff, parents and carers for a wonderful year. Thank you to all of our families for the fantastic support you have given our school this year. The past few years have been challenging and your support has been invaluable. Without your support, our work would be much harder. We greatly value our partnerships with families and the wider school community. Thank you!

Rachael Pelling, our Deputy Principal who has been working at James Nash State High School this semester, has taken a position at another school for the start of 2023 and we wish her all the best. I am very happy to announce Chrissie Hansen will remain as our Deputy Principal for Term 1 2023. I look forward to working with such a fantastic team in 2023.

This year staff have engaged in many hours of professional learning.  We will start 2023 off with 3 solid days of professional learning in the week before school resumes. We have a packed agenda for these days and anticipate a great year ahead.

A big thank you to our small, but dedicated P&C who have worked throughout the year to support our school and raise funds to support our school initiatives. The P&C will be renewing their drive in 2023 to seek more members and I would encourage everyone to consider becoming a member and joining in to ensure the best possible outcomes for our students.

NDIS: The department is committed to improving outcomes for students with disability by delivering high-quality education supported by reasonable educational adjustments. The department recognises that NDIS supports may contribute to improving a student’s ability to access and participate in education and achieve. In some instances, parents may request that NDIS providers deliver supports included in their child’s NDIS Plans (NDIS supports) at school, during school time. The NDIS providers may be either engaged by the parent or NDIS plan managers.

These must be re- requested every calendar year. All current requests expire on Friday 9th December.

As Principal, I will consider requests from parents for NDIS providers to access Gympie Special School to deliver NDIS supports at school, during school time on a case-by-case basis. If you wish to request this please collect the paperwork from Cassandra in our office or request it to be emailed to you.

Report Cards will be emailed at the end of this week. Also, students will receive a letter detailing which class they are in for 2023 and who their teacher and teacher aide will be. If your student will be away on Friday, please contact the office via email at admin@gympiespecs.eq.edu.au  and we will email this information to you.

All students have now have received their 2023 Booklists.  You can also find these attached to this newsletter or on our Website or email admin@gympiespecs.eq.edu.au 

Please make sure you have purchased ALL items on the booklist and bring this equipment into school on your child’s first day. The school office will be open from Monday 16^th January to Friday 20^th January from 8.30am to 2.30pm if you wish to drop your child’s booklist items off before the first day or drop off Medication.  Any students on Medication will require new forms completed for 2023.

I would like to wish all of our families an enjoyable festive season, and a safe and refreshing Summer Holiday break.

I am really looking forward to working with you next year and enjoying a fantastic 2023.

Best wishes

Sarah Lester