Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the final newsletter for 2023.

The last week of term is an exciting time at school as teachers finalise report cards, send home student work and celebrate the great learning that has happened across the semester. Individual student information is also being shared across teachers and teacher aides in preparation for 2024 class groupings.  

Teachers and our Head of Curriculum, Kate have been busily planning the 2024 units of work and activities. The Administration and Leadership team have been forward planning for 2024 so we are ready to commence the year.

We have 15 new enrolments for 2024 and 10 of these are Preps! We are so excited to be welcoming so many new families to our school.

2024 Staffing

Rachael Pelling, our Deputy Principal who has been working at James Nash State High School this semester, will not be returning to our school and we wish her all the best for the future.

 I am very happy to announce Phil Whatt will remain as our Deputy Principal for Term 1 2024 and Kate Cloete will continue in the Head of Department Curriculum role for Term 1 2024. I look forward to working with such a fantastic team in 2024.

We have had 2 new Teachers transferred into our school and I extend a very warm welcome to Karen Abt transferring to us from Nambour Special School and Jami Feneck, transferring to us from Baralaba State School. Both of these teachers, who will join our Secondary sector, have visited with us and spent time with their colleagues planning for 2024.

Sadly, this week, we farewell Suzanne Weedon who has been our Guidance Officer since 2016. It will be very sad to see Suzanne move away from our school as she has been an incredible support to students, families and staff over the years, forming close working relationships and friendships during this time. We wish her all the best at her new schools.

January Student Free Days

This year staff have engaged in many hours of professional learning.  We will start 2024 with 3 solid days of professional development from Wednesday 17^th January to Friday 19^th January, in the week before school resumes. We have a packed agenda for these days and anticipate a great year ahead.

The School Office will be open from Monday 15^th January 2024 to Friday 19^th January 2024 for you to drop off any stationary packs, equipment or medication.

Medication

Please drop 2024’s medication into the office during the week before school and complete any paperwork required for your child’s medication. Any students on Medication will require new forms completed for 2024.

If your child has medication currently on campus, please collect this prior to Friday 8^th December. Any left-over medication will be taken to a pharmacist for disposal on Monday 11^th December.

Uniform Purchasing

On Wednesday 17^th January, Thursday 18^th January, and Friday 19^th January the P&C will be available for you to purchase school uniforms from 9.00am to 11.00am each day.   

Celebrations

We celebrated some wonderful events over the past few weeks and still have our Year 6 Graduation Ceremony to come this Wednesday.  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 development activities to support student learning. 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.  

Thank you

 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!

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 2024 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 support on Campus

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.

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. These must be re- requested every calendar year.

Report Cards

Report Cards will be emailed at the end of this week. Also, students will receive an email detailing which class they are in for 2024 and who their teacher and teacher aide will be.

All students have now have received their 2024 Booklists.  You can also find these attached to this newsletter or email admin@gympiespecs.eq.edu.au 

In addition, Nextra at Central Shopping Centre has copies of the booklists.

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 15^th January from 8.30am to 2.30pm to Friday 19^th January if you wish to drop your child’s booklist items off before the first day.

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 2024.

Best wishes

Sarah Lester

Well, here we are, the end of the 2024 school year.

I have had a great time this semester getting to know students, staff and parents/carers. It has truly been an honour to be part of the GSS family and I look forward to finishing the school year on a high. We had an amazing but sweltering PBL Rewards day, with 2 large inflatable obstacle courses, our students had lots of bouncing fun. I would like to thank our PBL committee for making this possible, dedicating their time to ensure safety and fun was a priority.

It has been great to read all the end of year reports. To read about rich educational experiences and student development is always a great experience. As a leadership team, we have been working hard to plan the beginning of the 2024 school year, with professional development focus’ for our staff at the forefront. We are looking forward to a busy start in January with many new enrolments.

Finally, I would like to thank our whole school community and wish you all a very Merry Christmas holiday period, stay safe.

Dear Gympie Special School Community,

As we approach the end of another remarkable academic year, I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every member of our parents, teachers, and students alike. Together, we have navigated challenges, celebrated successes, and created a vibrant and nurturing learning environment that continues to inspire growth and excellence.

This year has been a testament to the hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm exhibited by our incredible community. From the tireless efforts of our devoted teachers to the unwavering support of our parents, and the boundless curiosity and commitment of our students, each contribution has played a vital role in the success we have achieved.

The progress we have witnessed throughout the semester has been nothing short of fantastic. Students have shown tremendous academic growth, creativity, and resilience. Teachers have worked to create engaging and enriching learning experiences, fostering an atmosphere of curiosity and exploration.

As we approach the last week of school before the long-awaited Christmas break, we want to take a moment to reflect on the accomplishments of the past year. The positive energy and collaborative spirit that have permeated our school community have been truly inspiring. It is this collective effort that has propelled us forward and allowed us to overcome challenges with grace and determination.

As students and teachers embark on a well-deserved break, we hope they take the time to rest, rejuvenate, and celebrate their achievements. The holiday season is a time for joy, reflection, and connection with loved ones, and we encourage everyone to cherish these moments.

Looking ahead to the new year, we are excited about the possibilities and opportunities that await us. We are confident that the coming year will bring even more growth and success for each member of our school family.

Wishing you all a joyful and restful holiday season. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to school in the new year, ready and prepared for another year of learning, growth, and success.

Kind regards,

Kate

Well it’s almost the end of our first year in prep! All the students have progressed in leaps and bounds this year. They are all able to follow the routines and rules of the classroom and are becoming more independent in all areas of school. We have created and nurtured a beautiful classroom culture where all our students are kind and take care of each other. Miss Kelsey and I will be sad to say goodbye for the year but are so proud of each and every student we have had the privilege to teacher and nurture.

At parade on Monday the 27^th November students received their Ardy Awards for following our PBL rules. 

Harrision and Jack – Platinum Ardy Certificate

Evie – Gold Ardy Certificate

Oliver and Mason – Silver Ardy Certificate

Jaidyn – Bronze Ardy Certificate

The students also enjoyed celebrating the positive behaviour for learning (PBL) rewards day for following the rules all term.

Miss Cassie and Miss Kelsey 

The year is nearly finished and the children, Kate and I are making the most of our days together. It’s been good to have our favourite activities going right to the end of term. We had our final swimming session on Friday, which was so nice in the hot, humid weather. The PBL Reward’s Day on Thursday was a lot of fun and we all got lots of exercise running and climbing on the inflatable obstacle course. Sadly, the wet weather meant we couldn’t ride on Wednesday, but we have one last ride and break-up party at RDA on Wednesday.

On Thursday we said a sad goodbye to Dominic and his family. We wish them a happy transition to Perth. We’ll miss Dominic very much.

Kate and I want to thank you all for your support over the year-it has been a pleasure working with you to ensure the children had a happy and successful year.

Have a safe and restful holiday.

Happy Christmas.

Lynne and Kate.

Well done to Kruze, Miles and Isaac for being nominated for school awards for 2023. We are so proud of how much all the students have achieved this year. Miles won in the categories of literacy and Isaac won the numeracy award. Well done to Henry for earning his Platinum award this week.

We had a great time at the PBL rewards day. Students went through both of the inflatable obstacle courses multiple times and showed great persistence, resilience and sportsmanship.

Trista and Codie wish everyone an enjoyable holidays and are proud of all our students and wish them well in their move to the Primary sector next year.

So, we have come to the end of 2023!!! What a great year of learning and discovering we had. The last few weeks of term sped by with wrapping up the last bit of learning, creating art works, decorating our classes and enjoying a bit of free time after all our hard work.

The students enjoyed our PBL Rewards day, although it was sweltering hot, we all were sun safe. We also finished last week with our swimming and the students made great progress in the pool. 

On Wednesday, 6 Dec we will have our Year 6 Graduation. Congratulations to Leni in P2 who is moving up to Junior Secondary next year.

We wish you all a wonderful blessed time with family and friends. Rest well, and see you in January 2024.

Carina and Bree

What a year it has been for P3. Halfway through the year we changed classrooms and teachers and got some new students. It’s been a busy year with lots of learning and lots of fun and laughter. We have done so many fun things throughout the year and there are still things to look forward to like Graduation on Wednesday and the End of Year Party Day on Thursday.

We asked the students for their thoughts about this year.

Jaxson - The best thing about this year was going on School camp to Wildlife HQ and sleeping over at school. Next year, I’m looking forward to having a new teacher.

Thomas - The best thing about this year was the Colour Fun Run. Next year, I’m looking forward to being in High School.

Cody - The best thing about this year was swimming lessons at the pool. Next year, I’m looking forward to being in High School.

The highlight for Daniel this year was PBL rewards day with the obstacle course, he loved to run through the entire course as fast as possible.

Well, it has come to that time of year – assessments, report cards, clean up, and of course our very last newsletter for 2023!

Everyone has worked really hard and our English assessments were fantastic. The students used the photos they took at Wildlife HQ and created information texts about an Australian animal. We have really enjoyed comparing information and imaginative texts and have learned some amazing facts along the way.

We have also had a great time measuring everything we could get our hands on in maths. We did discover that every now and then, even if something looks big it may still be lighter than something that is smaller.

The Colour Fun Run and inflatables for rewards day were loved by all, everyone looked fantastic coloured like rainbows. We are currently having some fun with craft activities, we would tell you what they are, but that would ruin the surprise! We are looking forward to graduation for our two year six students on Wednesday, especially as there will be cake, but we will miss them next year and wish them well as they start secondary school.

It is with mixed feelings we are racing to the end of 2023 at Gympie Special School.

Our classroom of learners are ready to hang up their school bags for the holidays. Not only have our students grown in height, they have become more mature in their approach to learning.

Hayley has thoroughly enjoyed her maths experiences and Declan just loves science; especially the electrical circuit kits.

Our Colour Fun Run was a most enjoyable experience with many, many photos taken on the day. We also participated in our PBL Rewards with an exciting obstacle course.

Mason has thoroughly enjoyed belting out a song or two with friends. This has become an afternoon ritual.

We hope you have a restful break and look forward to seeing you next year.

Tyson, Hayley, Evie, Declan, Shyanne, Ryan, Mason, Andrea, Darren, Amie and Deb.

S2 has had a fabulous time the past 4 weeks consolidating our maths learning through cooking. Students put the knowledge they learned about capacity into action, in a meaningful and tasty way.

We made:

• Milkshakes, measuring the capacity of the ingredients before and after blending.
• Apple crumble and explored many different kitchen tools we can use for measuring the capacity of ingredients and which would be the most appropriate. As well we compared the capacity of frozen ice-cream with melted ice-cream.
• Zucchini bake and compared the capacity of whole vegetables to grated vegetables.
• Macaroni cheese and compared the capacity of dried pasta with cooked pasta.

As the weeks went by, the students became more confident and competent at measuring ingredients and explaining why the capacity of ingredients changes before and after preparing and/or cooking.

The students all took home the recipes and many have made the foods at home and shared them with their families. All of the students enjoy cooking and I hope they continue to help out in the kitchen at home.

The cooking process sure was fun, but I can assure you the students most enjoyed eating their foods.

S2 would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday break. We look forward to another year of learning in 2024.

“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year”

Wow! The end of the year is here! We have already said ‘Goodbye’ to many of our Year 10 students, who finished school at the end of Week 8. Over the past few weeks Secondary classes have been completing rotational Christmas activities, including making baubles, picture frames, clay decorations and soap. They all enjoyed expressing their creativity to make truly individual pieces.

On Thursday of Week 9, all students participated in Rewards Day fun, letting their hair down and celebrating their efforts during the semester to be safe, respectful and learners. We congratulate our students on their work efforts and learning successes this year and wish all families a safe, happy and healthy Christmas and New Year!

Warm regards,

Libby, Tegan, Jas, Kerri, Jane, Amie, Tahlia, Tommy, Braydan, Zane, Henry, Ray, Savannah, Angelina, Marcus, Fynn, Jed, Gorgia and Peter.

What a fun and busy packed year we have had with Senior Camp and Senior Graduation this term. As the last days are upon us, we have become a little excited for holidays and a little sad, as we know that we will miss our students and staff. Throughout the year, the students have all grown and matured in many ways. They have proven themselves to be independent, hardworking students who all enjoy a good joke and laugh.

The Year 12 students experienced a fabulous Graduation night and this was enjoyed by all families, staff and students and even had a special visit from Ardy!!. The end of the year has come very quickly, as they say “Time flies when your having fun”!! We wish all students and their families a safe and Merry Christmas!

Kate, Gavin, Liz, Nicky, Michelle, Chrissie and Naomi.

The school holidays are almost here and this will be the communication teams last instalment for the year. We would like to wish all our families a happy and safe Christmas and holidays. Remember you can also use AAC over the Christmas period. Read some Christmas stories, do some craft, watch and movie and talk with your child using AAC.

Thank you,

The Communication Team 

The PBL Committee wish to thank the school community for embracing the principles of Positive Behaviour for Learning throughout the year. Because of everyone’s hard work and commitment, the school has seen considerable positive changes in behaviour in the playground, waiting in Clyde’s Corner and transitioning to the classroom. The culmination to a great year for the students was the Inflatable Obstacle course on Friday. A well-deserved reward for their hard work!

The committee members have enjoyed working together this year on their various projects and look forward to another fantastic year in 2024.

Chappy’s Cost Cutting Tips: Christmas[1]

Christmas can still be a wonderful time if you are on a tight budget.

Emphasise deeper meanings. Your attitude towards Christmas affects not only how you experience the time but also how your children experience it. In many households, Christmas gifts get much of the attention. But, once they are opened, there’s an anti-climax and people start looking around for something else. To combat this, you could explore Christmas traditions that move you beyond the season’s material side. If you celebrate Jesus’ birth, you could look at how you could emphasise this more. Also, you could explore creating your own family traditions that focus on spending quality time with loved ones, like picnic beach breakfasts or board game afternoons. Or you may decide to donate to a charity to help make someone else’s Christmas brighter.

Set expectations. Being upfront about your finances with older children and extended family members will help them know what to expect. Indeed, they may be in the same situation and are relieved that you brought up the subject! Many people interpret gifts as material representations of what others think of them. Thus, in your conversations, you may have to emphasise that you still love and value your family even if you can’t afford extravagant gifts.

Think creatively and minimalistically with gifts. Free gifts (e.g., custom Spotify playlists), second-hand gifts, handmade gifts, and non-stuff gifts (e.g., consumables like food) are worth investigating. Also, offering a service or simply offering to spend time with a loved one can all be valued gifts. If you are gathering with family, consider only buying for the children or organising a Secret Santa or Kris Kringle to decrease costs.

Save on Christmas food. Set a budget and stick to it, and remember that simple meals can still taste delicious and are much less stressful to prepare. If you’re having guests, ask them to bring food to share and to provide their own drinks. Plan your menu in advance so you can ensure it fits your budget and you have sufficient time to buy items when they are on sale. By buying one or two items each week, you will have a stash of treats by the time you get to Christmas Day. Additionally, cooking from scratch will allow you to make the most of cheaper, seasonal fruit and vegetables, and serving only a few choice nibblies will save money and leave you more room for main meals. You can also serve smaller portions and allow people to go back for seconds, which will save waists and waste.

Cut back on other expenses. In the lead-up to Christmas, every coffee, lunch or takeaway you don’t buy means there’s more you can spend at Christmas. Also, be choosy about which Christmas events you attend. Particularly if your social calendar is full and you are feeling overwhelmed, cutting out events you don’t really want or need to attend may help your mental health as well as your hip pocket.

Get help to celebrate. Many families worry about how they will pay for Christmas, so reach out if you need to:

• The Smith Family
• The Salvation Army
• Anglicare
• Wesley Mission
• Food Bank
• Uniting Care
• Vinnies

Happy saving! Chappy Rachel

[1] https://www.frugalandthriving.com.au/christmas-when-youre-broke/

https://www.frugalandthriving.com.au/avoid-christmas-debt/