Principal Post Week 4 Term 4

Term 4 is always a busy term with assessment and reporting, Awards Presentation, Year 6 and Year 12 Graduations, PBL Rewards day and end of year celebrations. Please check your fridge Calendar for important school events and keep an eye on Facebook posts and communication books as we approach the end of this year to make sure you are informed and up to date with all events.

Our students and staff will be very focussed over the next few weeks on finishing unit work, and gathering evidence and information to share in our report cards which will come home at the end of this term. There are plenty of things to celebrate in our students report cards- things we can check and measure and give a rating to. Some things though, are difficult to measure but are obvious within a busy, engaged classroom. We are always excited to share the work that is happening across our classrooms and as reporting draws closer, we look forward to celebrating student achievements with you. 

2024

Strategic Planning

Currently, we are focusing on our Strategic Planning for 2024, identifying our school priorities and how best we can meet the educational needs of our students. We will share our 2024 School Improvement agenda with our school community later this term.

2024 Classes and Staff

It’s also the time of year when parents, students and staff start thinking about next year and class groupings for 2024. We are aiming to send home class groupings with report cards during Week 10. The process of developing classes is a multifaceted and exciting task. Because we try to make the best groupings possible it can take some planning and time. The following is a brief description of the steps that we take to formulate class groupings:

1. Confirmation of the total student population for 2024. Sometimes this is hard to know, as 2024 enrolments are not yet finalised, and sometimes depend on late transfers as families move in or out of the area. If you know your child will not be at Gympie Special School for 2024, please let us know as soon as possible, by contacting our office.
2. Determining the number of classes we are able to create depending on upon the number of teachers allocated to the school. We get indicative staffing numbers before the end of this year, but as always, Day 8, 2024 numbers are the final determining factor.
3. The school is divided into 4 sectors consisting of: Early Years - Years P-2, Primary - Years 3 to 6, Secondary - Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and Senior - Years 11&12. Class groups are formed in these sectors based on students’ educational and social emotional needs.
4. Once classes are developed, we allocate staff to each class. This may be subject to change as staff may receive transfers in or out of the school. We also have teachers who relocate, retire, take family leave and some who are on contract whose contract simply comes to an end.

Learning to work with new teachers, new staff and new classmates each year is an important part of the school journey as our young people build resilience, learning to work with a wide variety of people (as they will in other areas of their life), build their network of familiar adults and learn to make new friends. As you can see there are a great many variables, some of which cannot be controlled. We ask for your patience and support as we work towards a successful transition to learning in 2024.

Happy World Teacher’s Day

On Friday 28^th October, we celebrate “World Teacher’s Day”. This is the perfect opportunity to thank the amazing teaching staff we have here at Gympie Special School, who make a difference every day for our students. Happy World Teacher’s Day to our staff and thank you for the commitment, enthusiasm and support you provide each and every day.

Day for Daniel

On Friday 27^th October we also raise safety awareness for our students by acknowledging Day for Daniel by wearing red to school. Day for Daniel is Australia’s largest child safety education and awareness day. This National Day of Action advocates for safer communities for children and empowering them to Recognise, React and Report when they feel unsafe. We believe Day for Daniel is the perfect opportunity to start conversations around personal safety.