Term 3 is progressing so quickly! One of the best things about this term is I have had a chance to visit more classrooms to observe teaching and learning and provide feedback to staff about the great work they are doing with their students. This is exciting and rewarding.

Student achievement: I really enjoy seeing the student progress that occurs across time and recently I met with Kate, our Head of Curriculum to discuss the progress students have made over the past 12 months. It was wonderful to hear that 13 of our students from Prep to Year 10 went up a curriculum level! This is a fantastic result of 18.5% of our students moving up a curriculum level from the end of 2023 to the middle of 2024. WOW!

School Support Staff Recognition Week: This week is School Support Staff Recognition Week. We will be celebrating the great work our support staff do here at Gympie Special School. This week recognises, respects and celebrates what they do to make our schools safe, supportive and engaging places to work. We could NOT do our jobs without the hard work, positive approaches and dedication our support staff provide here at GSS. At GSS our support staff includes:

Administration Officers, Business Managers, Schools Officers, IT Officers, Speech Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, and Physiotherapists.

School Opinion Survey: Thank you to those families who have completed the Online School Opinion Survey. We want to improve and make sure we are doing everything we can to make our school an excellent school – please help by completing the survey to let us know what we are doing well and where we can improve!

Great news! We have a newly elected P&C executive.

Our new P&C President is Nicole Shannon. Nicole has a child in Secondary. Our Vice President is Leonora who has a child in Primary. Our new Secretary is Miss Liz, one of our Senior Sector teachers and our new treasurer is Tricia, a past parent and teacher aide.

I would like to send out a huge THANK YOU to our previous P&C executive of Juanita, Cathie, Paula, Ashleigh and Cann. Many of this group have been on the executive for a number of years, working tirelessly to fundraise and support the school, to ensure our students can have wonderful experiences during their schooling.

Our school just can not do what we do without the support of our parents, caregivers and friends of Gympie Special School and our P&C is integral to supporting our students.

If you are interested in being a P&C member, please come along to our next meeting on MONDAY 12^th August at 3pm in the admin building. Your child is welcome to stay during the meeting.  

Principal on leave: I am taking personal leave from Tuesday 20^th August and will return on Wednesday 28^th August. Phil Whatt will be Acting Principal and Kate Cloete will be Acting Deputy Principal during this time.

I honestly feel like I write this every time, but, Oh My Gosh where is the year going! We are moving into the mid-point of term 3 and the school has been very busy working towards our Annual Implementation Goals.

It has been great to conduct 30-minute observation and feedback sessions with our classroom staff not only to identify professional development needs but, also to celebrate the amazing work/time our educators invest into our amazing students. Important findings from these observations are excellent student engagement, use of positive behaviour interventions and the obvious growth within our students social/emotional and academic abilities.

The school has rolled out its alternative education program for students 10-18 that are at risk of missing school for a number of reasons. The first 3 weeks have been an enormous success and I would like to thank the whole school in trusting in this process in order to provide educational opportunities for all students.

I was honoured to structure our first Student Council Meeting' for 2024 with Miss Trista offering AAC support. Our school leaders discussed 'PBL Rewards Day', 'Parade Rewards Box' and 'Playtime Activities' from a student perspective. Ensuring student input in our school decisions is a vital part of our 'Annual Improvement Plan' and it was great to have all student council members contribute to the future decisions of the school.

This week (Week 5) is School Support Staff Recognition Week! I would like to truly thank all of our support staff at GSS. We honestly could not do our jobs with out you. Finally, I will be facilitating our teacher-aides ‘Annual Performance and Development Plans’ mid-term review. This is a great opportunity to check in on Wellbeing and professional goals set at the beginning of the school year.

Quick reminder for week 7: Book Week with the book being ‘Reading is Magic’.

Phil 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 3! It has been a busy but fantastic start to the term. We have had a few class changes and welcomed some new staff members. A big thank you to our dedicated teachers and teacher aides for supporting all students through these transitions, ensuring the hard work and access to the curriculum continue seamlessly.

English:

Our students have been engaging with informative texts, navigating and exploring their structures. They are delving into age-appropriate materials, gaining insights into what makes an informative text both effective and engaging.

Mathematics:

In Maths, the focus has been on learning about time and numbers. Various exciting and interactive activities have made this learning journey both enjoyable and enriching for the students.

Science:

Science has been a hit, filled with fun and discovery. Students are exploring how materials can change by planning and conducting experiments, making predictions, and observing the outcomes.

Health and Physical Education (HPE):

HPE has focused on establishing and applying rules in various physical activities, promoting fair and inclusive play. This unit also emphasizes body safety and awareness, teaching students about private body parts and the importance of respect and responsibility in both public and private contexts.

Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) and Geography:

Students are learning about different places, how they are represented on maps, and the various features of these places, whether natural or constructed.

Visual Arts:

Visual Arts has been an enticing expedition. Students are diving into the world of collage, exploring various visual conventions, art processes, and materials. They are crafting and sharing their unique artworks, celebrating creativity in informal settings.

Design Technology:

In Design Technology, students have had great fun designing and planning the creation of a product. Early Years students are creating toys, Secondary students are making useful items from recyclable materials, and Seniors are designing products to meet identified needs within the school community. What fun!

Thank you to our teachers and parents for engaging in the Individual Curriculum Plan meetings, ensuring our students' curriculum needs are met and they achieve the best possible outcomes in their learning.

We still have lots of fun and learning ahead of us this term, and we are excited about the journey. Thank you for your continued support and collaboration.

Kind regards

Kate

The children in early Years 1 are working hard at following the school rules: I am safe, I am respectful and I am a learner. The last few weeks have featured rules around being safe at school by having safe hands and feet, wearing my school uniform and a hat and shoes. We have talked about why these things are important.

Our literacy work is going very well with all children using the PODD to help them to find interesting things to say in writing time. The children use the PODD to follow so many of our routines, such as days of the week and how we are all feeling.

Our Books of the week have featured Australian animals and have been a lot of fun. The children have been practising letter formation using the interactive screen and saying the little rhymes for each letter. For example, this week’s letter is n and the rhyme is ”down, up and over.”

Our Naidoc Week activities were great fun. Everyone enjoyed painting and listening to stories. We have another day to learn more about the Gubbi Gubbi culture. Thank you, Kate for all the work you do to make these days so interesting and fun.

Everyone enjoyed planting a tree on “Tree Planting Day” and we’ll be able to watch them grow.

The winter weather is perfect for playing outside in the beautiful sunshine and the children are loving running and climbing and digging huge holes in the sand.

WOW, I can’t believe it is already week 5. Half way through term!!!

Where has the time gone?

Over the past 4 weeks, EY2 has been busy with our units of work.

In English we have enjoyed reading the books: “Wheels on the ute” and “If you’re happy and you know it Aussie edition”. We have also explored animals from the texts; playing with figurines, making scenes from the stories and getting messy when doing book of the week activities and crafts.

In maths we have been exploring numbers by participating in hands on activities and in HPE we have been enjoying the soccer skills sessions with Coach Tim.

Friday of week 3 we took part in planting a tree for National Tree Day tree day.

Last week, we welcomed a new friend to the classroom. We all hope “S” enjoys his learning journey at Gympie Special School.

Many thanks to the staff and students who have made me so welcome on my return to Gympie Special after almost 5 years specialising in literacy and numeracy development at mainstream schools across the region. It is my privilege to return as EY3 Teacher for the remainder of this school year.

There has been lots of learning as we get to know each other and settle in to new routines. I have been astonished at how resilient to changes the EY3 crew are! Congratulations Indi for earning our first Student of the Week Certificate for engaging with class activities and following new routines in the classroom.

Our class has enjoyed the winter sunshine and taken any opportunity to get outside. As the days can be quite warm at times, kindly dress your child in layers so that jumpers can easily be taken on and off throughout the day. Thank you for labelling clothing and other items and for packing a full bottle of water each day. To keep our minds and body fuelled for learning, we have also begun to take a very short break at 9.30 for fruit snack.

We are well into finding new ways to practise our pre writing and letters of the week skills. Using chalk at Clyde’s Corner is great fun and allows our students to share their artistic flair. In English we have enjoyed reading the books: “Somewhere in Australia” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Australian Friends”. In maths we are exploring subitizing which is a fancy word for looking at number in different ways, such as numerals, groups, dice, signs etc.

With Book Week coming up in week 7 we are busily planning our Decorated Door Design and character costumes so stay tuned for more news soon from the EY3 learning crew ?

Miss Jodie and Miss Nairda

I can’t believe how fast time flies and 4 weeks have already passed in term 3! Our weeks are full of exciting events and activities, on Monday we enjoy the interactive EY’s parade. Well done to the following students for earning awards:

Harrison earnt two student of the week awards for enthusiastically completing his work after the holidays and actively engaging in learning with a positive attitude. 

Oliver earnt a student of the week certificate for playing and sharing with others.

Elliot earnt a student of the week award for engaging enthusiastically with his learning.

Isaiah earnt a Bronze Ardy award.

On Tuesday we enjoy learning soccer skills with Coach Tim and on a Wednesday, it is horse-riding!

In between all this excitement we have engaged with the stories  and  learnt letter sounds, syllables and onset and rime.

We also took part in planting a tree on school tree day. We are now in charge of keeping the tree alive!

We are looking forward to all the excitement and fun contained in the rest of the term engaging with the amazing EY4 students.

Trista, Leanne and Codie.

How did we get to week 5 already? In P1 we have been really busy, we have been making some cool clay things for the art auction and we love getting our hands dirty while we are being creative.

We have also started soccer with Coach Tim which some of us love a lot more than others, but we are all trying hard to kick the ball around the markers and kick goals. Learning all about our bodies and naming their parts in health has also been very interesting and we get excited when we can name parts correctly.

In English we have really been working hard on our literacy and spelling. We also have a new favourite book which we read in Week 2, The Wonky Donkey. There is a really funny video of someone singing it which most of ask to watch at least once a day, and we all sing along even if it is a bit of a tongue twister.

Time has been really slipping by very quickly in Maths as we discuss what time we do different ascitivites. We also have a new favourite maths activity which is sorting all the ice cream scoops which show different wqays to represent a number onto the correct ice cream cones. Aaaannnnddd we loved the counting activity with fluffy chick that went along with the book Handa’s Hen.  Some days some of us really need a nap by the end of the day, but we have to keep teaching!

Students in P2 are the best!!! All five of them have done so well during the last 4 weeks of Term 3! They are trying their very best and when faced with a challenge they are giving it a go. The students are working on being SAFE and RESPECTFUL LEARNERS in class, and when out on the playground. In class we are learning the different signs for words every week e.g., ‘today, tomorrow, yesterday, have, make, here and there and a few more.

We are having the greatest of fun with our chosen Shared Reading books every week. P2 students are dramatizing, crafting, writing and learning to answer questions in full sentences. During our daily phonic sessions, we are applying our knowledge when reading and writing.

In Maths we are becoming more skilled in working with numbers, and with our unit on Time they are becoming more confident with concepts of daily, weekly and monthly events. Some are learning to order the days of the week, helped by YouTube music videos we are listening to.

In Health, we are learning to name and label our body parts, and talking about the differences between boys and girls. Also, that we all have our personal space and “From our heads to our toes, we say what goes”.

We are almost halfway through the term, with much more learning to happen and we are looking forward to our exciting Book Week in Week 7, time spend with Aunty Christine during our GUBBI GUBBI workshop and yay, we have a long weekend at the end of Aug.

So let’s get on with learning and having fun in P2!!

Carina, Andrea and P2 students

We have been working hard in P3 this Term. We have started our new units and are enjoying learning about animals and how to tell the time.

In English we have been labelling animal body parts and reading and writing sentences about the animals we study each week. Did you know that a chicken has a wattle and comb? They are the red parts under a chicken’s beak and on top of their heads. Last week we read ‘The Wonky Donkey’ by Aaron Bladey, we had a great time on Friday playing pin the tail on the donkey.

In Maths we have been counting to and from 100 and adding small numbers together. Dinomaths is fun! We have made our own clocks to help us tell time to the hour and half hour. We also ordered the events we do throughout the day.

We have started our art action piece inspired by the book ‘When Pigasso met Mootisse’ by Nina Laden. We watched a reading of the book on Storyline Online. You’ll have to come to the art action to see what we have created!

Hello to our P4 Parents and Carers,

Well, Term 3 is shaping up to be a big one. Our students are busily working on a collaborative artwork for the up-and-coming Art Auction, look out for our piece in the show. In addition, we have Book Week in week 7. The theme for 2024 is, ‘Reading is MAGIC.’ Students will decorate their classroom doors and dress up on Friday in their favourite costume from a book.

We continue to develop as independent thinkers and learners in our classroom with all students increasing their skills to read, decode words, count, add and subtract numbers. As well as these skills, all students are focussing on being safe, turn taking, knowing their bodies and increasing their knowledge of their feelings and how to use them positively.

Coach Tim has been upskilling our students on Tuesday afternoons to increase their soccer skills. Most students have increased their ability to share the ball with team mates to manoeuvre the ball into the goal. It’s great to watch!

Finally, I would like to inform everyone that I will be taking 5 weeks off, from week 6 until the end of term. I will be returning for term 4 and beyond. The teacher replacement is Gaelle (pronounced Gay-la), who has a wealth of knowledge in education and many great ideas already planned. Darren will still be in the classroom with extra support by Jaz.

Don’t forget the pupil free day coming up on Friday 30^th August,

P4 students, Darren, Jas, Gaelle and Deb.

Term 3 is off to a great start with all students adjusting well to their new teacher and classmates. The students have been developing a morning routine of writing and checking in using the zones of regulation. On Mondays we write about our weekend and throughout the week we check using the zones of regulation and write about how we are feeling and what zone we are in. We have also been experimenting with different types of sentences such as commands, facts and questions and have been formulating new sentences in these forms each morning. The students have also been using the word of the week and rule of the week to inform their morning writing. The students have been using laptops to develop their typing skills using the website typing.com. Typing is a skill that will be needed for our students to become active and informed citizens in the future due to our reliance on technology. Your child is able to use this typing program at home by using the same log in details they use at school. These typing skills will help them develop the skills needed to read and write informative texts and information reports about Australian animals—our focus in English this semester.

The HPE unit is keeping students busy with physical activity each week and requires them to work as a team and be social with students from other classes. Coach Tim has been facilitating soccer classes for the students once a week which all students are participating in and enjoying. The students have also been engaging in circle music games that require them to follow rules and engage respectfully and fairly with students of all abilities.  The health education part of HPE requires the students to learn about the concept of 'consent', focusing on assertive communication strategies, including refusing. Additionally, it includes a review of staying safe online and offline as well as anatomical body parts to reinforce body awareness and respect.

The students have been busy with extra-curricular sporting competitions with some students travelling to Maryborough to compete in the soccer gala day and other students travelling to compete in the districts athletics carnival. Congratulations to Azalia and Ryan for proceeding to the next stage of the athletics competition.

In Math we have been focusing on developing skills and vocabulary to help tell the time on an analogue clock and correctly read calendars. The students have also been working towards their individual number, addition and subtraction goals. Math games have been a great way to make the learning fun and easy for the students.

Overall it has been a great start to Semester 2 with plenty of things to look forward to including camp. Please make sure you have returned your child’s permission form. Thank you to everyone for meeting in person or over the phone to endorse your child’s Individual Curriculum plan.

Warm Regards,

Mr. Declan, Mr. Josh, Jaxson, Mason, Locklan, Ryan, Rebekah and Azalia

Eli has been using his visuals to communicate with familiar and less-familiar people both in the classroom and in the playground.

Mason has been engaging well with his Literacy and Numeracy which earned him a ‘Student of the Week’ certificate presented by the Deputy Principal Phil Whatt.  He has also been making useful items from up-cycled wood in the Practical Skills Development Program.

The newer students in our class have settled in nicely and are now familiar with our daily routines. We have been revising our Zones of Regulation and each morning complete a sentence about how we are feeling using our ‘Zones’ ALS boards. We have started our HPE unit which explores the advantages of physical activity and introduces the concept of 'consent', focusing on assertive communication strategies, including refusing. Additionally, it includes a review of staying safe online and offline as well as anatomical body parts to reinforce body awareness and respect. The unit includes short YouTube clips, social stories, flash cards and labelled diagrams all used to reinforce these important concepts. We will be observing how our students demonstrate skills and describe strategies required to develop respectful relationships. Accordingly, students apply protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies to keep themselves and others safe. In a range of movement contexts, students are being encouraged to develop and apply rules while collaborating with their peers.

In maths, we have been focusing on each student’s number goals, especially addition and subtraction strategies using 100’s charts, number lines and concrete materials. We have made our own analogue clocks and regularly challenge each other about who can be fastest to make o’clock or half past times. In English we have been reading informative texts and looking at text structure and features, including headings, timelines and images and how these inform the reader and improve access to the information in texts. Students have been creating their own informative texts and have made labelled drawings to illustrate their work. Some of us are becoming very good at the Beat the Tiger spelling game, too!

We look forward to the next few weeks of consolidating our learning.

Warm regards

Libby, Jas, Laila, Mia, Cody, Riley, Thomas, Tyler, Rosie.

Hello to parents and carers of S4!  Firstly a big thank you to everyone for giving their time to discuss the ICPs for their offspring (I can’t really say children any more – they’re young adults now).  It’s always great to share the work we will be doing in class, to have a chat and discuss any concerns or questions. 

The students in S4 have been working hard continuing their routines for literacy, and some of them can be seen in the photos super focused and hard at work.  Currently the class is using the school laptops make their ‘baseline’ information rerpots, researching a chosen topic and creating an information report on powerpoint.  Throughout the semester the students will make more reports in different programs and also hand written, following more structured guidelines and advice.  We also use the laptops to practice and reinforce math concepts and skills, with interactive online activities. 

For Physical Education we have already begun our games, playing against the other students in Secondary Sector.  At break times, there has been a continuation of this theme, with structured game play, including ‘Ping Pong Stuck in the Mud’ – shooting friends with a ping pong ball when they can’t move their feet, simple throw and catch, and lots of other fun games.  We are focusing fair play – what it is and isn’t, following rules and the implications and consequences of these - super important life skills and concepts to help them cope in society.  Thanks for reading, Andy, Chrissie, Bernadette, Sabana and S4 students!

Term 3 has been very busy, some of us have been to play in a soccer tournament in Maryborough.  Our fastest runners and athletes have been to District athletics.  

We have been busy learning about information texts and are learning about Australian animals.  We have been researching environments, diet, habitat and appearance of some animals.  Our favourite so far is the platypus.

We are learning about time in maths and learning to read a clock.  We are also working on our numbers and addition.  We are checking off days on the calender and eagerly counting down to camp.  We are VERY excited to be spending the night at the Sunshine Coast Recreation centre. Please make sure you return your child’s permission form and make payment. 

We joined secondary 1 to plant a tree for the school tree day, we watered it and will now check on it each week and make sure it is watered.   

We have had lots of nasty bugs so thank you to those who have kept their children home when are feeling under the weather, it prevents it spreading to everyone, and keeps us all keen learners.

Until next time

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

Welcome to Term 3!! The weeks are already flying by with only 106 days till graduation 2024.  The students have been settling back into their routines and into their new units of learning. It is amazing to see so many of our graduating students out on work experience, gaining new skills for their future.

Crafting success

Students have been busy creating amazing items ready for sale at markets and we even held a stall at Bunnings where students made $141 in sales to go back into their enterprise. We have candle making to look forward to, special character pot plants and have successfully created some beautiful earrings. We just love our Wednesday’s.

Literacy

Students have been looking at character traits and have continued to look at a different book of the week. Individual reading and comprehension are a priority in our literacy program and we are now incorporating Harry Potter themed learning as this will be our theme for our up-and-coming book week parade in week 7. We are all very excited, so start thinking of your dress ups for that week.

Numeracy

Our main focus in numeracy is continuing our work on mental and written strategies when calculating addition problems. Students enjoy Friday numeracy as they take turns being the teacher, this strategy has proven to be successful when students are participating in peer mentoring. Students have been recognising the value of money and recognising notes and coins in the Australian monetary system. Students are beginning to understand the meaning of budgets and what the purpose of money is.

The Art of Conversation

Students have been undertaking learning around the importance of 2-way communication and what are the key fundamentals around communication. We have created group poster and participated in a lot of games where students have been immersed in 2-way conversations.

Respectful Relationships

Students have been learning about the importance of correct body parts language and where this language is used. We have also been discussing how to keep our body safe and recognising signs of uncomfortableness.

Sport

In Senior Sport and our session with Coach Tim, the whole Sector have been learning Soccer skills and participating in new group games which require teamwork, coordination and memory. The Olympics has also been a popular topic of conversation, particularly in our theory lesson of Sport. The students have observed and analysed skiing, equestrian, gymnastics, swimming and ninja warrior by watching videos, identifying strict rules and discussing the difference between a competitive sport or participating just for fun. We also made the Olympic rings in a fine motor activity!

Photography

Lastly, the photography elective has encouraged lots of different learning experiences and the students are creating a portfolio of all the images they take and edit along the way. There is lots to look forward to in the remainder of the term!

Hi, My name is Nicole Shannon and have recently been voted the Gympie Special School P&C president.

My son Marcus is currently in year 10 and has attended Gympie special school for 2 years. Before this Marcus spent time at Nambour special school.

I have a passion for supporting the school and the school community. I want the best for all our children enrolled at the school and have wondered for a long time how I can assist with helping Gympie Special School's students and families. 

This opportunity allows me to be a vital part of Gympie special School and ensure we provide the best opportunities for all our children.

This term we are looking at different materials and how they can change when heated, cooled or combined in different ways.

The secondary students froze milk to make ice-cream, the primary classes looked at what will dissolve in water and the early years have had tactile experience to explore the properties of different materials.

The Visual Arts lessons have been focused on expressing feelings using colour and line. Senior and Primary students have experimented with mixing the Primary Colours red, blue and yellow to make orange, green and purple. They have also completed a warm / cool colour wheel and identified where they would find cool colours within the school and classroom.

The early years students have been working hard on colour recognition and matching colours through games and team activities. They have explored lines and feelings, such as simple up or down curved mouths for happy and sad.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 3 at Gympie Special School! As we embark on this new term, we are excited to continue our focus on enhancing our students' language skills for both social interaction and learning. Whether through Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) or verbal communication, our dedicated staff is committed to fostering effective communication skills in every student.

Our teachers and teacher aides consistently model robust communication systems throughout the school environment. This ensures that students can both understand and be understood as independently as possible. You will always find our staff equipped with their PODD or Proloquo2Go devices, ready to initiate and engage in meaningful conversations.

Spontaneous communication thrives within our classrooms, where students use a variety of methods to interact socially and participate actively in the curriculum. To further support our efforts, we kindly ask that parents and carers also model the "Word of the Week" at home. By reinforcing this practice, you help highlight the importance of modelling communication and using the word in diverse contexts to expand our students' vocabulary and communication pathways.

We believe that communication is the cornerstone of our students' future success. We extend our gratitude to our students, teachers, teacher aides, parents, and the wider school community for your continuous support and dedication to modelling effective communication.

Thank you for your ongoing collaboration. We look forward to a fantastic Term 3!

Kind Regards

The Communication Team

A huge thank you to Natives 'R' Us Nursey who kindly donated trees for our students to plant on School Tree Day.

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