From the Principal’s Desk!

It was wonderful to return to school in Week 3, after my 2 weeks additional leave. I had a fabulous time walking the Great Ocean Road from Apollo Bay to the 12 Apostles.  The walk was amazing - from walking along the ocean on the beach, to walking cliff tops high above the sea.

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 and want to thank everyone who made sure the day was a success to provide opportunities for our students to achieve in the Sporting arena. We had 13 students move forward to District Cross Country Trials, almost double last year’s numbers! 

We have welcomed some new staff members to our school this term and appointed some existing staff on contracts to permanent positions.

*Kate Cloete has been successful in gaining our permanent Head of Department Curriculum position. Congratulations Kate!

*Cherie Randell has been appointed as our permanent Business Manager. Cherie has been working with us for the last 2 years and it is wonderful to know this appointment is now a permanent one. Congratulations, Cherie!

*Joshua Baker has been transferred into our school as a permanent Teacher Aide. Joshua will be working in our Secondary Sector in S1. Welcome Josh!

*Sarah Tramacchi has gained a permanent position as a teacher aide. Sarah is currently working in our Primary Sector in P1. Congratulations, Sarah!

We have had a fantastic start to term 2, with a focus on developing staff professionally and students returning to school routine. Our staff have attended professional development opportunities such as Restorative Practice, Team Teach Intermediate Trainer and PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope) training to expand knowledge and assist with the delivery of curriculum within the Gympie Special School setting.

Last week, we had our first Twilight staff meeting where staff were introduced to practical examples of how to implement ‘Zones of Regulation’ into classroom activity. I would like to thank Elizabeth Noske for preparing and sharing her knowledge along with her resources.

We will have our first student council meeting to be scheduled within the next 3 weeks of school. Our student council will discuss our current PBL rewards systems and choose our term 3 activity for PBL rewards day. Allowing our student’s a voice within school wide decisions is a priority within our Annual Implementation Plan and we I look forward to the ideas and decisions our students put forward.

A reminder that Gympie show is this Friday (17^th May) and therefore no attendance at school. This also coincides with being have way through term 2.

I hope you have another fantastic long weekend and look forward to moving into our assessment and reporting period.

Dear Parents, Carers and School Community,

We are delighted to share with you the exciting start to Term 2 here at our school! As many of you know, this term is particularly significant as it involves rigorous learning, teaching, and assessments since it is our main reporting term. We’re thrilled to report that both students and teachers have embraced the curriculum with enthusiasm and dedication, setting a positive tone for the weeks ahead.

Engaging Learning Environments

One of the new initiatives we are particularly proud of is the introduction of learning walls in several classrooms. These learning walls are interactive spaces that allow students to take ownership of their educational journey. The walls are student-centred, fostering a dynamic learning environment where students actively participate in tracking their progress and reflecting on their learning. This visual and interactive approach not only enhances their engagement but also supports a deeper understanding of the curriculum.

Archery Incursion - A Bullseye Event

A highlight of this term was our Archery Incursion, which was an absolute hit with the students! This activity was integrated into our Health and Physical Education (HPE) unit and provided a fantastic opportunity for students to learn about safe practices, teamwork, and strategy through interactive archery foam tag. It was wonderful to see the students so engaged, learning new skills, and having fun in a safe and supportive environment.

Stay Connected and Involved

Looking ahead, we have many more exciting activities and learning opportunities planned. To keep up to date with all the happenings around our school, we encourage you to regularly check our Facebook page. Your involvement and support greatly enhance our vibrant school community, and we are eager to share these moments with you.

We also look forward to seeing many of you around the school, participating in events, and witnessing the wonderful learning experiences of your children. Your engagement is invaluable to us and to them.

Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. Let’s continue to make Term 2 a productive and joyful term for everyone involved.

Kind regards

Kate

The last few weeks have been busy with the cross-country run, Anzac Day and the many public holidays which occur at this time of the year.

All the children thoroughly enjoyed the cross-country race and it was great to have so many parents there to watch and run with the kiddies. The children loved it!

There was a good turn-out by the school community for the Anzac Day march through Mary Street on Anzac Day. Our class was represented by Jake and Miss Kate.

Horse riding has been going well. We have had some days of rather boggy ground with all the rain but have been lucky to only miss one session. Fingers crossed this week will be fine. Everyone loves going to riding!

Our Early Year’s parades have been a great success, with the children learning the routine in an adapted format that suits their interest and concentration level. It is wonderful to see them participating in the songs and awards ceremony with ever increasing interest and attention. So far this term Jake, Marky and Jace have received awards on parade for following the school expectations of being safe, respectful learners.

 In class we are enjoying our literacy activities. Each book of the week has been a lot of fun and by the end of the week the children are able to participate in the reading, joining in with repeated phrases and making comments and giving opinions about the story. In writing we have been mainly writing about anything that interests us and using the PODD to make choices and give us ideas. We are practising how to form our letters correctly and love using the interactive whiteboard to practise on.

In maths we are making simple graphs to show our likes and dislikes as well as practising counting and writing numbers.

Coach Tim comes on Tuesday and we have been practising jumping, throwing and relay races to prepare us for sports day.

A busy, happy time.

Till next time-that’s all from Early Year’s 1.

Lynne, Kate, Jake, Rose, Jace, Isabell and Marky.

Hi everyone,

Early Years 2 have had a flying start to the term! Students have settled back into routine quickly and lots of learning is being done. The students are enjoying participating in HPE activities a few times a week. On Monday we join EY4 in Miss Trista’s classroom where we work on action songs using musical instruments. EY4 then join our class on a Friday to do action songs and scarf dancing. On Wednesday we join with the other prep class EY1 with Miss Lynne and do group games. We use different props and costumes to do action songs and we also have been learning the game “What’s the time Mr Wolf”. The students ALL thoroughly enjoy these activities.

For mathematics we have continued practicing our counting skills and completing our graphs for statistics. We have been discussing what animals we like or don’t like including pets, Australian Animals and Zoo animals. Shortly we will move back to food tasting but this time it will be vegetables and treats.

All students have really taken to our ‘Book of the Week’ this term. We did Brown Bear for a couple of weeks as the students kept requesting I read it again and again! They enjoyed creating each of the characters in the story in art, which are now displayed on our learning wall. Several students have been looking at the wall and saying the story out loud from memory.

Our Teddy Bears picnic is not too far away. We are hoping all our beautiful families can come along and enjoy the picnic together.

Lastly, just a reminder that our early years parade is now on a Monday at 12noon in the Performing Arts Room (PAR). Families are always welcome to come along and join us. All students will receive their Bronze Award this term for following our school rules for being Safe, Respectful, Learners. We will let you know beforehand so you can attend if you are able.

Thank you

Early Years Team

Miss Cassie, Miss Kelsey, Miss Leanne

EY3 has had a busy start to term 2. After a wet Easter holidays, week 1 has us lacing up our runners and participating in school cross country. We had a great time cheering on our classmates and friends .

In English we have been enjoying our book of the week. So far out favourite has been Aliens love underpants. We used this as stimulus for our writing tasks and letter formation, letter recognition and sounds and joining in with chants and repeated phrases of the books.

In maths we have continued to work on participating in number songs, counting collections, making collections, answering yes no questions to collect data about our favourite food, animals and games and interpreting data displayed on simple graphs.

In PE we have begun sessions with Coach Tim in the lead up to sports day at the end of term. So far we have practiced modified long jump, javelin/rockets and shotput.

Congratulations to the follow student for receiving student of the week certificates so far in term 2

Elliot – using Proloquo2Go to communicate his feelings, wants and likes.

Oliver – communicating with kindness and concern to a friend who was upset.

Jade - writing her name, with paint sticks using accurate letter formations.

Congratulations to Jade for earning an Ardy Bronze award this week.

It was great to start the term with the school’s cross-country event. The students took part enthusiastically and it was lovely to see so many families come along and support all the Early Years students.

EY’s attend horse riding on a Wednesday and you are welcome to meet us at RDA and walk alongside your child as they ride. A special shout out to Elliot who rode for the first time, in just a couple of weeks he progressed from quickly touching a horse to getting on and smiling as he rode! We also want to give shout out to Oliver. This is his story over the last 12 months, initially he was terrified of horses and stayed as far away from them as possible, then at his own pace he moved nearer and watched closely, now he collects grass and feeds his favourite horse. We are so proud that our students feel safe and supported enough to move outside their safety zone and experience new things.

This term Coach Tim is back at our school to teach the students athletics skills for sports day. So far the students are learning to jump and throw a modified javelin. Sports day is on Friday 14^th June, which is week 9. It would be great to see as many families there as possible to assist and cheer everyone on.

EY’s now have their own parade at 12 O’clock on Mondays. Students can dance, sign, sing and experience AAC while learning: the school rules, word of the week and receive prizes and certificates. All families have an open invitation to attend the Parade and join in the dancing if you wish! Keep an eye on GSS Facebook page for photos.

Hello there from P1,

The start of term two has seen our students continue to develop their abilities in P1 through their English, Maths and Health and Physical Education areas.

So far this term we have continued to put a significant emphasis on literacy, focusing on many of the building blocks that will help our students later in life. With a big focus on letters, sounds and how they link together to make words, that we then take to make sentences, the students are finding their learning challenging but hopefully fun.

In maths we have engaged our students through a variety of different activities that have had a number focus. Through using hands-on activities and games, technology and peer-based learning, our students have been kept busy with their learning.

Our HPE sessions have focused on team work and turn taking, as well as following the rules and respecting each other. The students of P1 have had a great time during our HPE lessons. We were also fortunate enough to have a special archery incursion. It was incredible to see how the students engaged with their new learning and focused on the tasks that the instructor put in place.

That’s all from the P1 teaching team.

Until next time.

Week 5 already!!!! Time goes by too quickly, but, while time was flying by P2 was working so hard at being safe, respectful learners during all our daily activities in and out of classroom.

In English the students are working hard at their phonic and creative writing skills. They love the books chosen for Shared Reading and completing their formal deskwork activities in their books. Their handwriting skills are improving, and the students are proud to show off their work.

In Maths number work is fun and it looks like most of our Prep students have a solid understanding of data collection and presenting it in different ways.

During the last 4 weeks we had whole school Cross Country, ANZAC Day commemoration, and P2 loved making presents and cards for Mother’s Day. Last week our students had such fun during an archery session. We think we might have a few prospective archery athletes in the making.

Remember we have a public holiday on Fri 17 th May.

Hello to our P4 parents and carers,

We have hit the halfway mark for Term 2. Our students have been becoming self-directed learners from the moment they arrive at school. We have another Bronze Award recipient. Congratulations Chris on achieving this award.

Last week, students participated in an Archery Incursion. They learned to hold bows and load and fire arrows correctly. Many students quickly became skilled archers and had targets and goals to achieve. We all had lots of fun!

This week, our book of the week focus is, “Grandpa and Thomas.” This is a very sweet book about going to the beach, making a sandcastle, and having a picnic.  I am sure this will lead to another exceptional class book on Friday.

During maths, we have been collecting data using a range of questions. The students have travelled to other classrooms to gather information. This has proven to be a great opportunity for students to develop their people skills.

HPE lessons have been a lot of fun with Coach Tim helping our students to upskill their talents in long jump and javelin. Coach Tim has also introduced discus to our school as another event for sports day, however discus will commence in 2025.

Enjoy the Gympie Show holiday,

P4 students, Darren, Jas and Deb.

The S1 class have had a cracking start back this term. We have engaged in a lot of fun extra-curricular activities and are hard at work getting through some of our assessment tasks.

The S1 class have been thoroughly enjoying getting outside for our Maths bootcamp as a part of our morning routine. In Maths, we are collecting, displaying and analysing data. We have been making our way around the secondary classrooms to ask our peers about some of their favourite sports and foods.

In HPE we have been looking at identity. We have been looking at similarities and differences between ourselves and well-known celebrities. Students have been identifying the things that make them unique such as their hobbies, strengths, likes, dislikes and interests. They have begun to make multimodal presentations and are sharing this information with their peers to help build relationships.

In English, we are enjoying different creative texts. We thoroughly enjoyed the book of the week “Giraffe’s can’t dance” by Giles Andreae. We are now beginning to work towards creating our own creative texts using elements of some of our favourite stories we have read over the Semester.

In extra-curricular news, students put in some amazing effort in our cross country, with Ryan Grant-Stewart receiving an Age Champion award and moving on to the next level. We have been thoroughly enjoying our Athletics preparations with Coach Tim on Wednesday mornings. We also had an Archery session on the oval on Thursday of Week 4 which the students had raving reviews about. Finally, our Mother’s Day stall was an absolute hit. The S1 class had the opportunity to shop, browse and sell some of their amazing creations. We hope all of the mum’s out there were showered in love, appreciation and gifts for Mother’s Day.

Thanks,
Miss Jami and the S1 class (Locklan, Ryan, Mason, Azalia-Hart, Eli and Mason CH)

Wow! Is anybody else surprised by how quick the semester is progressing? We are off to a firing start with lots of learning and assessment to finish before we move on to the next program of teaching and learning.

Firstly, we must congratulate Rebekah fom reaching her Arty Bronze award, and Hayley for achieving age champion in Cross Country and progressing to participating in the district competition at One Mile ovals. We have also been making the most of the increase in sunshine by going outside with Coach Tim on Wednesday mornings, preparing for HPE assessment and attending an archery incursion. Wednesday mornings with Coach Tim are in preparation for athletics later in the term. The students have been learning javelin, long jump, discuss, and sprint races.

Our focus in English has been on reading and analysing the simple structures of children’s stories.  The students have also been learning to collect their own mathematic data by asking questions and displaying the collected data in a simple graph. The school’s schoolwide PLD program is continuing to boost our students’ literacy skills, and the Zones of Regulation program is helping the students develop a social and emotional intelligence. If you are ever unsure about how your child feeling, ask them; “Which zone are you in?”

The students and staff of Secondary 2 hope you had a fantastic Mother’s Day and are looking forward to the rest of the term.

This term is flying by as we have been so busy with our usual learning and some other exciting activities. We have completed Secondary craft rotations, culminating in our Mother’s Day stall last Friday. All students who worked on the stall selling our soaps, cards, magnets, jewellery and plants did so with maturity and thoughtfulness, interacting with their customers in a respectful and mature manner. We also participated in our House cross-country during our first week back and an archery incursion. Lots of fun was had firing our modified, soft ended arrows at targets, other students and staff. We will be visiting the Gympie Show this week and look forward to demonstrating the same maturity and respectful behaviour whilst out in the community. Over the next few weeks students will complete assessments and revise their semester’s learning, so our days will continue to be full of learning!

Warmest regards,

Libby, Jas, Laila, Riley, Tyler, Jaxson, Rosie and Jacob

Hi everyone, and what an action packed term we’ve been having in S4 and across our sector.  We have been playing dodging and tagging games with the other secondary classes, practicing skills in isolation and then putting them to action with lots of laughs.  The students have been very motivated to try to not get tagged, hit (with very soft balls), tails (pieces of fabric stuck out of their pockets) taken, as well as trying to win different movement races.  Lots of laughs all round.  We’ve also been working with the wonderful Coach Tim on Wednesdays to learn all the different athletics disciplines, long jump, discus, and sprint races.  Athletics day will be Friday week 9.  The Cross Country event went well with all of our students competing.  We even had three students from our class go to district Cross Country.  The Mother’s Day Stall was a success, with Secondary students helping sell items they made at the end of Term 1.  For Maths, we’ve been working on ‘statistics’, learning about collecting and recording data, and interpreting this information for useful purposes, e.g., ‘what food would you buy for a (fictional) party based on data you collected about peoples’ food preferences.  The archery incursion was a lot of fun and we have the Gympie show excursion this week and then our show holiday, so another long weekend. 

Signing off, Andy, Chrissie, Marcus, Angelina, Amber, Gorgia, Braydan & Ky!

We are having such fun in S5 this term.  We have been focussing on physical movement and playing lots of different dodging and tagging games with the other secondary classes.  We are working with Coach Tim on Wednesdays to learn all the different athletics disciplines, long jump, discus, and sprint races.  Athletics day will be Friday week 9. 

The Cross Country event went well with all of our students competing.  We even had three students from our class go to district Cross Country.  We are so proud!

We have been completing our assessment for English and Maths as I collect the evidence to write the report cards for the Semester everyone is really making progress with some great learning going on.  

The archery incursion was a lot of fun and I am sure the boys will be talking about it for a long time to come.  We have the Gympie show excursion this week and then our show holiday, so another long weekend. 

Later this term we have our secondary parent visit, where you can see some of our learning and have a cuppa.  Save the date coming soon!

Until next time

Miss Karen, Miss Michelle, Charlie, Declan, Jed, Peter, Tommy and Tyson

What a flying start we have had to Term 2! The students have settled right back into our school routines and transitions. The term has started off busy with the preparation of our wonderful ANZAC parade and the Mother’s Day Stall. Cross Country was a brilliant day to support one another and cheer for our sports team. We also thoroughly enjoyed an Archery Incursion where lots of new skills were learnt. The students needed to listen to safety briefing before hopping up and engaging in a variety of archery-based activities. We aimed for targets, participated in new social games and also launched the foam tip arrows as high as we could into the air.

Another energetic experience has been Coach Tim’s sporting sessions which have been successfully preparing the students for Athletics Day towards the end of term. Javelin, shot put, long jump, discus and different relays have been practised weekly so the students will have great experience when we get to the real day. Our learning in the classroom is going well as Senior teachers are in the process of collating Year 12 evidence to create the graduating students’ portfolios – very exciting! We are certainly looking forward to our Gympie Show excursion this week!

We can’t wait for planning day to create some fantastic units of work for Semester 2. Graduation planning is well underway and tickets are available to purchase for $80.

Crafting success

Our students have been preparing for our Mother’s Day Stall, organising gifts, price lists and layout as well as continuing our craft work in preparation for our Market stall towards the end of June (date to be advised).

Numeracy

Students should be very proud of their work as they are achieving their QCIA goals when working with mental and written strategies to solve addition problems. We have been using a variety of catalogues to achieve this goal and working on timetables and maps of our local area.

Literacy

Students have been focusing on making meaning in texts using symbols and pictures. They are co-creating a story using technology when composing texts and continuing our focused book of the week work where they are creating amazing sentences.

Adulthood

Our focus in this subject has been to fill out forms such as, Medicare forms, enrol to vote and a variety of other forms as practice runs on how to fill out forms correctly. We have also started to explore what services are available in our local area that they can access post school.

Travel

We have continued our focus this term on reading maps, locating places on the globe and identifying their features. This week we will be attending the Gympie Show and can’t wait to have so much fun!  In week 9 we will be heading down to Noosa and catching the ferry. The students can’t wait for this excursion.

Assessments are underway!  I am constantly surprised as our students demonstrate their understanding of the coding and programming skills taught this semester.  Our students embrace working and playing with technology.  I do love showing the students all of the positive uses of an iPad beyond just gaming.  Literacy develops while researching on the internet, sending and receiving emails, playing educational games, and while using the technology to facilitate communication enhancement. They’ve also used them for music programming, Stop Motion videos, operating robotic devices, and now learning about coding by making their own animations and simple interactive games.  They are having so much fun I’m not even sure they realise they are learning so much.

Andrew Stokes – Technology Specialist Teacher

Choir Update

The school choir is progressing amazingly well. At the end of last term, we had Miss Sarah be an audience for us, and some of the students are so good with their signing that they conduct the choir at times as well. We are still working on ‘Give me a Home among the Gum Trees,’ and we have just started ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight.’

First Hamper Given Away

As part of the school’s current wellbeing focus, we are raffling off a pantry essentials hamper to school families (to the value of $20) each fortnight. This fortnight’s winners are Leni Innes and her family, and Vinnies provided an amazing hamper that we could gift them with. If you have yet to put your entry into the raffle, please contact the office.

Honouring the Anzacs

A couple of weeks ago at the Anzac parade, I had the privilege of praying with the school community to thank God for the sacrifices soldiers and others have made for us. I was also able to organise wooden poppies for the students to decorate and ‘plant’ to honour these men and women. A big thank you to Bunnings for donating the decorated planters and some of the flowers after they used them last year, and also to Mr Andrew, Miss Emma and their friends for preparing the flowers for our students to use and for making extras so we would have enough.

Winter Warmers

Oven-bake recipes are perfect for our colder weather and earlier evenings. Here’s one from taste.com.au that you could try:

Creamy French Chicken Tray Bake

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Cooking Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

600g baby potatoes, quartered

1 brown onion, cut into thick wedges

1 ½ tbsp olive oil

20g (1 tbsp) unsalted butter

4 small chicken breast fillets (1kg total)

40g pkt French onion soup mix

250ml (1 cup) thickened cream

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked

100g green beans, thinly sliced lengthways, steamed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200⁰c (180⁰c fan forced). Arrange the potatoes and onion on a 2.5m-deep, 25x35cm baking dish. Drizzle with 1tbsp oil. Season. Bake for 30 minutes or until the potato starts to turn golden.
2. Meanwhile, heat the butter and remaining oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes each side or until golden. Transfer to a plate. Whisk the soup mix, cream, mustard and 80ml (1/3 cup) water in a jug.
3. Place the chicken breasts in between the potato and onion on the dish. Pour the cream mixture over the top and sprinkle with the thyme sprigs. Bake for 15 minutes or until the chicken is golden and the potato is tender.
4. Serve with green beans for a well-rounded meal.

 Notes

1. Take care not to overheat the pan so you don’t burn the butter.

My role is to support the wellbeing of staff, students, parents, and others in our school community. If you ever need to have a chat or help with something, please contact me. I’m at school on Tuesday (8.30am-11.35am) and Thursday (9.30am-2.35pm), and can also be contacted via email – rsdri0@eq.edu.au.

Hope the term is progressing well,

Chappy Rachel

S3 enjoyed another week of fun during athletics, learning to throw the javelin and discus. They are improving their distance with each turn of the long jump and their times when relay running. Riley was a bit concerned to start, but became really enthusiastic, trying his best with each event!

Sports with Coach Tim has been so much fun and every week the students of S4 are becoming more motivated, enthusiastic and stronger in each of the disciplines. Marcus was recovering from a bike malfunction on his camping trip but you couldn’t keep him from participating when he could. Thank you so much Coach Tim.

S1 has been thoroughly enjoying their time with Coach Tim on a Wednesday morning for Athletics practice. With each week, students’ confidence and skill is quickly growing. They have been working towards improving the distance and accuracy of their throws in Javelin and Shotput. A class favourite is long jump, with Ryan and Zali eager to try and outjump the mat’s distance.

The PBL team made flyers advertising the end of term PBL rewards day on Friday 21^st of June. I hope you have all received these and your child is excitably looking forward to the inflatables. We are currently making a timetable of exact times each sector will be using the inflatables, we will let you know so you can come and watch.

The PBL team will be conducting a staff survey around Gympie Special Schools’ reward systems soon. We will then analyse the results to see if any changes are needed.

The PBL team are also in the middle of completing The Effective Behaviour Support (EBS) Survey across all staff at the school. The result will help us know where to focus are energy and resources to support the students and staff across all areas of the school.

sensory requirements

Remember to look at the Gympie Special School Facebook on a Monday afternoon to see the amazing students who received ‘students of the week’ and ‘Bronze Ardy awards’ for follow school rules. Alternatively you are welcome to come to parade and watch these proud students receive there certificates in front of their peers.

The PBL team