It was wonderful to return to school last week after my 2 weeks additional leave. I had a fabulous time in New Zealand and hope to return there over the next few years to do some more of their Great Walks. Such stunning scenery!

A huge Thank You to Chrissie Hansen for the wonderful job she has done for our school over the past 10 months. Chrissie was Acting Principal during my leave and has been a terrific Acting Deputy Principal for our school whilst Rachael Pelling has been away, helping drive our improvement priorities. We are happy to be retaining Chrissie as she supports our Senior Sector and our Student services

We warmly welcome back Rachael Pelling, who has returned to her Deputy Principal role here at Gympie Special. Rachael has been working as a Deputy Principal at other locations, gaining valuable experience. It is wonderful to be working with Rachael again, to support our students, staff and families as we focus on teaching, learning and curriculum to achieve the best outcomes for our students.

I am excited by the learning improvements I see and hear about, throughout our school, especially in Literacy and Communication. The new, school wide approach that staff are using across the school in literacy to develop student’s phonemic awareness and knowledge is really achieving success. PLD is an Australian evidence-based approach that is aligned to the Science of Reading.

Staff and students are very busy engaging in assessment activities over the next few weeks in preparation for reporting. Report Cards will be emailed out at the end of the Term. We look forward to celebrating the gains and improvements that our students demonstrate through their learning.  

What a great Cross Country the school held on the first week back. I have heard all about it – it was very pleasing to hear how many families supported their students on the day. Thank you to everyone who made sure the day was a success to provide opportunities for our students to achieve in the Sporting arena. We had 7 students move forward to District Cross Country Trials. Congratulations to our 4 Age Champions from those trials – what a fantastic result!