As the Term draws to a close, I would like to celebrate the fantastic work students and staff have achieved this term. I have been spending time in classrooms, observing lessons and seeing the great work happening across our school. It has been a fabulous term of learning!

Week 10 Term 3,  always makes me think how close we are getting to the end of the year, because from the start of Term 4, the leadership team will start planning for 2025, whilst still completing the planning and improvement strategies put into place for 2024. Term 4 is always a busy, exciting term, filled with events.

This year, Term 4 is an 11-week term. We will be completing normal school events and routines during the first 10 weeks of the Term. Week 11 will be set aside for some alternate programming and we will let families know closer to the time what this will look like. 

Term 4 sees us:

• Conducting our Colour Fun Run – have you registered your child yet?
• World Teacher’s Day
• Daniel Morcombe Day
• Celebrating the Year 12 Graduation
• Celebrating the Year 6 graduation
• Awards Presentation Morning
• Celebrating our end of year Whole School Rewards Day
• Swimming for Early Years and Primary each Friday
• Assessing learning and writing and sending home Semester 2 Report Cards

In addition, we will be:

• looking at classes and staffing for 2025
• finalising 2025 Booklists
• planning our improvement strategies for 2025
• transitioning students into Prep, Primary, Secondary and Senior

Teacher Aide Appreciation

A huge shout out to the fantastic group of Teacher Aides we have at Gympie Special School. Our Teacher Aides work hard with our students and staff all day every day, ensuring students are supported with their learning needs and personal and health care needs. As a principal, I am so grateful for the dedication and support offered by our Teacher Aides. The strong work ethic, commitment to communication and collaboration with other staff, and solution focussed approaches to problems make all the difference to the culture of our school. The extra mile our Teacher Aides go to in supporting our students, teachers and admin is remarkable.

Thank you to all of our Teacher Aides. You are a wonderful and amazing asset to our school.  

P&C

Our new P&C committee is off to a wonderful start and have been working together fundraising for our school and ordering new uniforms ready for 2025.Pie orders will be delivered this Friday so if you have ordered pies, please be ready to come into school to collect these.  If you are interested in being a P&C member, please come along to our next meeting on MONDAY 14^th October, at 3pm in the admin building. Your child is welcome to stay during the meeting.  

Our school communicates with families using a range of communication strategies. We rely on you to engage with these to ensure YOU are up to date with what is happening at your child’s school.

• Term Calendar
• Facebook posts
• Communication Books
• Notes and letters home
• SMS messages

Please keep an eye on the Term Calendar which is sent home in Week 1 each Term, 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.  

I wish all our families a safe, refreshing Spring break and look forward to welcoming our students back to school for the start of Term 4 on Monday 30^th September, for a fantastic term of learning!

As we slowly move towards term 4, I can reflect and feel very proud of the school’s achievements so far in 2024!

What’s Coming Up!

PBL Rewards Day – Friday 13^th September 2024

Our PBL committee has ensured that the Student Council requests for PBL Rewards day are met! Students will participate and rotate through an Arcade setup in the PAR room, some examples of games will be Mario Kart, Mario and iPads! To top this off, every student will receive a portion of delicious hot chips!

Gympie Special School’s 2^nd Colour Fun Run – Thursday 7^th November 2024

Get ready to put on your running shoes, don your most colorful attire, and join us for an exhilarating and vibrant event that promises fun, fitness, and a kaleidoscope of colours – Gympie Special School’s, Fun Run’s Crazy Colour Day!

Mark your calendars because on Thursday 7^th November 2024, our school grounds will be transformed into a canvas of colours. The event aims to promote health, wellness, and community spirit while having an absolute blast!

This will be our major fundraiser for the year, and we’re raising funds towards our new school bus! Sign up at funrun.com.au today to get involved!

Remember you are welcome to come along and get colourful! Get ready to make memories with your kids, while they run, laugh, and get drenched in a spectrum of colors! A timetable of when your child will be running will be sent out soon, so keep an eye out!

Thank you for fundraising for our amazing students!

Professional Learning Week (Term 4, Week 4)

This week is an opportunity for our teachers and teacher aids to share their knowledge across the school. Staff will have the opportunity to observe one of their peers in order to improve their own practice. By asking a trusted colleague to observe your practice, you can gain a more objective view of your strengths and areas for development. Alternatively, you may wish to observe a colleague's practice and take note of areas where you would like to emulate their practice, or areas for improvement which you can work on together.

Hope you have a fantastic break and we will see you for term 4!

Phil Whatt

Dear Parents and Carers,

I can't believe how quickly this term has flown by! It feels like we’ve just started, but here we are at the end of Term 3. This is always a positive sign, showing that there has been a lot of fun and learning happening throughout the term.

This term, the leadership team had the honour and privilege of observing lessons across the school. It was inspiring to see the great work happening in our classrooms. The level of student engagement and the practical applications of learning were evident in every observation.

We were also fortunate to have Coach Tim with us, coaching all students from Prep to Year 12 in soccer. This was a fantastic addition to our HPE unit, where students learned how to play games with rules, interact with peers, and work as a team. The skills they have developed will undoubtedly benefit them both in and out of the classroom.

All sectors have been involved in planning days, focusing on ensuring our students achieve the best possible outcomes as we head into the final term of the year. These collaborative sessions have been invaluable in preparing for a successful Term 4.

I also want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all parents who actively participated in their child's Individual Curriculum Plan (ICP) meetings. These meetings are a crucial opportunity to discuss and understand what your child will be learning, and they provide a chance to have in-depth discussions with the classroom teacher. Your involvement is greatly appreciated.

Our Year 10 students have also made significant progress as they have started their PATH plans. It has been exciting to see them prepare for their final two years in the senior sector, and the plans they are developing are setting a strong foundation for their future.

As we wrap up Term 3, I wish you all a lovely holiday break. I look forward to seeing everyone back refreshed and ready for the final term of the year.

Kind regards

Kate

We will finish the term with a fun day dressing up like pirates on Friday. Prior to the day we’ll read pirate stories and do some pirate related craft activities. We have a pirate flag and will turn the playground fort into a pirate ship. Join us if you can from 8.30-9.30 but watch out! You might get made to walk the plank!

In literacy this term, the books have been about Australian animals. We have really enjoyed listening to them and doing artwork related to the stories and playing with the plastic Australian animals.

On Tuesdays we have been developing our kicking skills with Coach Tim. We are getting better kicking along the ground, kicking into the goal and stopping the ball. Other important skills we’ve been practising are waiting our turn and following directions. Phs.Ed next term is swimming, starting in Week 2. Those skills will be extra important for this activity.

Book week was a fun time. Outside our room was decorated like the Magic School bus. Kate did a great job and the children did some lovely painting. It was great to go around the school and look at the other classrooms and vote on which one we liked best. We also had so much fun at the Book Week parade, showing off our costumes and watching the other classes parade around in their costumes. At the parade the winners of the decorated doors were announced and we were very excited that Early Years 1 won the prize for the Early Years classes. We were given a lovely book as a prize to have in the classroom.

We are working hard to reach our silver Ardy awards, by trying to follow the school rules of being safe, being respectful and being a learner. As the weather is warming up again and as we love being out in the playground, it is so important to remember the school rule to wear our hats. It’s also a good idea to drink plenty of water.

Kate and I wish you all a safe and happy holiday. Thank you for your continued support during the term. We look forward to term 4 and lots more learning and fun.

Kate and Lynne.

Wow! Time flies when you are having FUN. I can’t believe  we are at the end of term 3

EY2 has worked so hard this term and have made excellent progress on so many levels.

This term we have looked at very humorous story books that centre around Australian animals. Our favourite so far has been There Was An Old Bloke Who Swallowed A Chook where we stuffed the chook, galah, goanna, wombat and possum into the old blokes mouth and took turns using the switch to make the old bloke burp.

During book week we had fun dressing up as our favourite book characters and decorating our classroom door. EY2 looked at The Very Hungry Caterpillar where we fed the caterpillar all the yummy foods and made a caterpillar craft eating out favourite foods.

In maths we have been exploring number, creating quantities and connecting them to numerals; and in HPE we have been enjoying visiting Coach Tim for weekly soccer skill sessions.

I hope that everyone has a great holiday, a time to rest and enjoy the fine weather.

See you all in Term 4

Miss Erin, Miss Kelsey and EY2 students

Welcome to our final news update of Term 3. The early start to spring weather has made for wonderful mornings learning ball safety and soccer skills with Coach Tim on Tuesdays, hanging out with horses on Wednesdays, exploring popping corn kernels in science and taking full advantage of our interactive playground environment at break times. The students have loved the water play station and investigating what happens when sand and water are combined in different amounts. Our daily shared reading lesson has entertained us with funny stories that include our unique Australian wildlife and students have become quite competitive at being the first to find the animals on the PODD page.

Thank you, families, for sending at least one piece of fruit in each day. We are really enjoying the 10-minute fruit snack break at 9.15 and we are noticing that some students, who previously chose not to eat their fruit when it was part of our main break, are making different choices when it is the only option. With wobbly teeth in the past few weeks, bananas are definately a crowd favourite.

Since our last update we have reconfigured our room to make spaces available that tie in with the zones of regulation program. Each morning we remind ourselves that our feelings change throughout the day and use the different colours to help us identify how we are feeling at check in. Since the Book Week Parade the “Yellow Zone” has been a busy space for dressing up and being a little bit silly, while others have chosen to spend a few minutes in the “Red Zone” (angry, out of control) to read a book or cuddle a soft toy in a quiet space. Jack chooses “angry” to describe his feelings every morning, gives us a scary frown then laughs all the way to the Red Zone to read a book for a few minutes of “me time”. The “Blue Zone” located near the “Green”, Ready to Learn space, allows students who are sad, tired or overwhelmed to rest while still participating. This is Indi’s favourite place and she is using it to draw wonderful characters on a mini whiteboard between floating to and from learning activities.

The upcoming holiday break is the time to take stock of supplies needed for water safety for swimming lessons next term. Consistency is so important for our students. If they’ve had a growth spurt, try to familiarise them with new togs, towels etc. over the break, and, if they use arm bands, life vests or swim caps we encourage you to send them in to help make the swimming education program a positive one for all.

Stay safe and stay tuned for more news soon from Miss Jodie, Miss Nairda and the EY3 teaching and learning crew

It is nearly the end of term three and the school holidays are fast approaching!

Well done to Oliver and Harrison who received their Ardy Gold awards and well done to Isaiah who earnt a student of the week award.

Book week was great fun, with all the doors in school decorated. We toured the school as a class practising our communication skills as we described and commented on each of the amazing designs. The dress up parade was entertaining with all the staff and students dressed up and the music playing, well done to Oliver for winning best dressed in Early Years.

Coach Tim teaches soccer each Tuesday and Oliver and Harrison are learning to kick the ball without picking it up in between each kick. Isaiah and Elliot are learning the kick action and balancing on one foot while kicking. Elliot had a great interaction with coach Tim, Tim said hello on Elliot’s Proloquo2Go and Elliot looked at Tim and pressed ‘something is wrong’ on his speech device. Trista said to Tim you look different today! Tim showed Elliot where he had left his hat. Elliot looked at the hat then Tim multiple times until Tim got the hat and put it on, Elliot then smiled broadly and walked away satisfied. As a footnote – Coach Tim always wears his hat and this was the first time the students had seen him without it!

Coming up in term 4 is swimming lessons taking place from week 2 to week 9. We will have our lesson between 11am and 11:45am each Friday. Please remember to supply your child’s water safety items, board shorts, rash vest and a towel and any student who is not toilet trained MUST supply and wear a swim nappy.

Have a great holiday and we will be excited to see you all for term 4

Trista and Codie.

These past few weeks we have seen some amazing things happening both in our classroom, and within our school.

In Maths we have continued our focus on time, looking at events that happen throughout the day, both in school and out of school. We have also have had a focus on number and numbers, through watching songs, counting and manipulating numbers, our students are showing us how amazing they are getting with their number work.

We recently had book week, this allowed our students to get creative and decorate our door for the school annual best door competition. Although we did not win this year, our students can be proud of the excellent art work they created for our door. We also had our parade that allowed students to dress up and experience the ‘Magic’ of books.

And so, we have come to the end of Term Three…wow!!! P2 students have worked so hard this term and have made excellent progress on so many levels.

We are working hard at applying our learnt phonics skills to sentence writing and other English activities. During Shared Reading time we have extended our knowledge while working with informative text, on Piranhas, Turtles, Forests and other topics.

We are learning about daily, seasonal and yearly events and how to apply them to our every day lives during maths time. The students enjoy listening to number songs and applying their number skills to individual and group activities.

Book Week, what a great success and fun we had!! A big shout out to Skylah for getting first prize in Primary Sector for her lovely Hungry Caterpillar Dress up costume. Also, P2 has won the prize for our door decoration. The students all loved planning, decorating and painting.

We wish you all a great holiday, a time to rest and re-connect.

See you all in Term 4

Carina, Andrea and P2 students

We have been so busy in P3 this term.

We had a great time at our Book Week parade and putting together our door display. It was wonderful to see the effort the students put in to creating our door display.

In English we have been busy learning about animals and practicing labelling parts of animals. We are practicing our phonics and reading and writing CVC words. It is fabulous to see the progress students are making.

In Maths we have continued looking at time, focusing on events that happen throughout the day, both in school and out of school. We have been learning how to tell the time to the half hour. We have also have had a focus on number and numbers, through watching songs, counting and manipulating numbers, our students are showing us how amazing they are getting with their number work. We are beginning to work with addition and subtraction to 10.

It seems like only yesterday that Ms Deb left on her exciting holiday, and that I, Mrs Gaelle had the pleasure of teaching this wonderful class….and the weeks have flown by!

During Week 6, we embarked on our first journey, looking at piranhas and their fearsome teeth, through our book of the week ‘Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas’. We even made piranhas out of salt-dough. For Mathematics we put on our new Maths Magicians’ capes and performed counting tricks. We love numbers! We began painting our Magic Box for Book Week and it was a glowing experience, enjoyed by all. For Health, we learned all about My Body, My Rules and how to be assertive and safe.

During Week 7, Big Croc came to stay. He was part of our reading experience of ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ by Roald Dahl. We emersed ourselves in learning all about crocodiles, the dangers and the conservation of these living dinosaurs – Be Croc Wise. The Irwin Family helped us in knowing how to safety wrangle a crocodile. This became our theme for Book Week, as we came dressed up as the Irwin Family. We finished the week by cooking some Crocodile Apple Puffs and they were delicious.

During Wonkey Week 8, we engaged with our book of the week, ‘The Wonkey Dondey’. We discussed the importance of vowels, a, e, i, o, u and y and continued working hard on our reading and spelling. By this stage, the sewing of our felt hens was over and we were ready to glue on some feathers. Our hens were looking spectacular!

During Week 9, we embraced the humble egg through our book, ‘The Little Red Hen’. We completed sequencing activities and even made a bouncy egg! But don’t bounce too high or it will go SPLAT! We cracked some eggs and discovered what was insid and emersed ourselves in the life of our famous monotremes, the echidna and the platypus. To complete the week, we cooked some delicious Yoghurt Cake, just like the Little Red Hen! ‘Who will help me eat the cake?’.  ‘I will!’, we all replied.

During Week 10, and still full of energy, we loved the book ‘Alpacas With Maracas’. We used a Venn diagram to identify the similarities and differences between alpacas and lamas. We joined Darren’s band as he played the ukulele and we accompanied with our ‘tika, tika, cha, cha, cha’  maracas. The day will be complete after we make our burgers and enjoy our hot chips. Aaargh Matey! What a day we will have!

Here is wishing everyone a very happy holiday and a great big WELCOME to Ms Deb as she returns for Term 4,

Gaelle and Darren

Wow! The last week of Term 3 has certainly crept up on all of us and what a great term it has been. After a busy couple of days at camp in Currimundi the students have settled back in to school with a refreshed attitude to their learning.

S1 has been continuing with their focus on reading and writing informative texts about animals. They have been learning about different animals, their subgroups, diet, appearance and habitat in preparation for the writing of their information reports. The students have spent time decorating the classroom learning wall with facts about different animals and questions to help them with their research.

The students are progressing well with their knowledge of telling the time using an analogue clock. Most can tell the time half-past the hour and are working towards the goal of recognising quarter-past and quarter-to.

The Wednesday soccer HPE sessions with Coach Tim have been a blast, beginning with ball drills and ending with a competitive game of soccer sometimes with teachers joining in. Our Friday HPE sessions have been focusing on a variety of different games that require the students to follow rules and work as a team. The theoretical side of HPE has continued its focus on anatomical body parts, respect and consent.

Overall it has been a very exciting and busy term filled with learning and the organisation of camp. We hope you have a safe and relaxing break and looking forward to seeing everyone again in Term 4.

Kind Regards,

Mr. Declan, Mr. Josh, Azalia, Bek, Jaxson, Locklan, Mason, Ryan

Mason has been engaging well with the VTQ program.  He has completed a second Literacy workbook already this term. In Science, he has enjoyed the experiments and learning about the Scientific process.

Eli has been effectively communicating his preferences using the PODD book (AAC). By pointing to the correct symbols, he accurately requests playground, swing, push me, sandwich, yes/no, and toilet.

Andrew Stokes (Class Teacher- VTQ Mentor)

We have had a very busy last few weeks of term. In Week 7 we celebrated Children’s Book Week with the theme, ‘Reading is Magic.’ As we have been studying Informative texts and comparing them to imaginative texts, the theme we chose for the Best dressed Door Competition was, ‘Imaginative and Informative Texts are Magic.’  It depicted Tiddalick (The frog that caused a flood, an indigenous story) with many other insects and animals that we have studied this term. It was a very colourful and creative work, which our class was very proud of and guess what? We won the prize for our sector!!

In the mean time we have been working hard on our literacy skills, punctuation, spelling, reading and writing. We are researching animals to create our own informative texts and looking at their appearance, what they eat, their habitat, whether they are endangered and their life cycles. Once we write our drafts, we make a power point with these facts and appropriate labelled illustrations.

In Week 9, we went off to camp, some of us a little nervously. However, we surprised ourselves when we took on the Giant Swing, all of us having a good go! Riley even went first, followed by Laila, Thomas and Cody, who also enthusiastically accepted the challenge. Some of us went right up to the top! Even Libby and Jas had a go and we all shared our experience and feelings afterwards! We enjoyed archery and some of us even hit the bullseye! On the second day, we made our own catapults, learning to tie knots to put them together, then filling the large sling with a tennis ball, pulling it back and letting it go. They went really high, usually over the target, so other students could attempt to catch them on the way down. Our final activity involved making our own kite and testing it out. Luckily there was a strong breeze and we all got them off the ground! We had a great time, though most of us came back pretty tired!

Hoping you all have a safe and happy holiday,

Warmest regards,

Libby, Jas, Laila, Riley, Thomas, Cody and Tyler

What a busy and fun packed term it’s been including Soccer with Tim each week, Book Week and Camp.  The students had a great time at the Book Week Parade and walking around the school checking out other classrooms’ door displays, especially the Seniors ‘Harry Potter’ theme.  We made our door based on the book series ‘The Super Happy Magic Forest’ as the theme was ‘magic’.  Braydan won best dressed for the Secondary Sector as a Police Officer, receiving the prize of a book – well done Braydan! 

After Book Week was Camp which was a roaring success, although I’m sure everyone was deliriously tired after it.  The activities were a hit, with everyone loving the kite making & flying, archery, team work games and the caves.  The caves were quite challenging and I found them a bit scary as we had to squeeze, climb and manoeuvre through small spaces, but not for Amber and Angelina who didn’t want to leave them! 

Get ready for another big term after the holidays as we will be doing basketball with Tim, we have the Swimming Carnival and the Colour Run, not to mention getting ready for Christmas - I can’t believe it’s approaching that time already!  I hope you all manage to get some rest or do some fun things over the break. 

Andy, Chrissy, Bernadette and Sabana

Term 3 has come to an end so quickly.  We had our much anticipated, Secondary School Camp and had so much fun.  Some of us explored caves, and others the big swing.  Some of the teachers even had a go. It was quite a lot of fun and certainly got our hearts racing.  We made and flew kites and increased our archery skills.  We even built and shot a catapult.  We enjoyed having our meals together and all the fun of sleeping with our friends.  Although I am not sure we all slept that much. 

We have been learning about Australian animals and improving our computer skills writing information reports including the animal’s habitat, appearance and interesting facts.  

We have enjoyed soccer with Coach Tim and are looking forward to next term’s focus which is basketball.  We are looking forward to PBL rewards day on Friday where we dress up and talk like a pirate!

Until next time enjoy your school holidays and see you for Term 4.

Miss Karen and Miss Michelle

This term has flown by and we all can’t believe its almost the school holidays again! We have had some great excursions this term and look forward to what Term 4 holds. Graduation tickets are available so please start thin king of purchasing these as the cut off to purchase is 28^th of October.

Work experience and transition preparation has been going well with most of the Year 12’s out in the community. Not long to go until they fly the nest of school and enter the big wide world! Book week was lots of fun this year with Seniors winning best door in the Sector and we had so much fun dressing up as many different Harry Potter characters. PBL rewards day is coming up on Friday, the students are excited to be playing some awesome arcade games and feasting on hot chips!

We wish all of our students and their families a safe and happy holiday and we can’t wait to see you all in Term 4!!

Literacy

Students have been building their knowledge of characters and setting, with the last few weeks focussed on character traits and using different kinds of language to describe the setting. I can’t wait to see the fairy tales they create in Term 4.

Maths

We have still been focusing on honing our skills with the Australian Monetary system and learning about purchases and change. Number has been a focus and the students have learnt different ways to represent numbers using concrete items.

There has certainly been a lot to reflect back on throughout this busy but brilliant term, especially a lot of new experiences and special memories. We have had many events on including markets, Father’s Day Stall, Book Week and the Gruffalo Show excursion. Our normal teaching and learning has continued and all students are well on track with completing their individual learning goals for QCIA. Our Senior Drama group have been rehearsing their Shrek performance weekly and the students have been excited to put their costumes together and give one another feedback on character development, stage directions and voice control. This performance will be next term – you will find the date on the Term 4 calendar. The Seniors have improved out of sight with their coordination, skill development and teamwork during Coach Tim soccer sessions and group game sport sessions. Students have been building their resilience and social skills, learning new tactics and strategies and broadening their horizons with different games to play with their peers. We are thrilled to be under way planning and organising our Year 12 graduation for our 10 graduating students this year! Term 4 will definitely be a lot of fun. Have a very safe and happy holidays everyone.

Crafting Success

A big thank you to all of our students for attending the Duck Pond Markets, our enterprise made a total of $205.50, which will now be used towards our next project and the materials needed. The day was very successful and our students enjoyed the experience.

Art of Conversation

We have moved into the café to experience simple cooking tasks and soon enough we will have customers to practices our customer service skills with.

SS3 News

There has certainly been a lot to reflect back on throughout this busy but brilliant term, especially a lot of new experiences and special memories. We have had many events on including markets, Father’s Day Stall, Book Week and the Gruffalo Show excursion.

Our normal teaching and learning has continued and all students are well on track with completing their individual learning goals for QCIA. The Year 12 portfolios are finalised! Our Senior Drama group have been rehearsing their Shrek performance weekly and the students have been excited to put their costumes together and give one another feedback on character development, stage directions and voice control. This performance will be next term – you will find the date on the Term 4 calendar.

The Seniors have improved out of sight with their coordination, skill development and teamwork during Coach Tim soccer sessions and group game sport sessions. Students have been building their resilience and social skills, learning new tactics and strategies and broadening their horizons with different games to play with their peers.

We are thrilled to be under way planning and organising our Year 12 graduation for our 10 graduating students this year! Term 4 will definitely be a lot of fun. Have a very safe and happy holidays everyone.

We held our biennial Art Show and Auction on the evening of the 29^th August 2024. This a major fund raiser for the P&C and helps offset the cost of experiential activities such as camp for the Senior students.

We were honoured to have Mayor Glen Hartwig and his wife Talitha, and the State Member for Gympie Tony Perrett attend on the night. Thank you to our auctioneer on the night,   Simon Jago, who kept the bidding fast and competitive. It was wonderful to see GSS families, staff and friends of the school come along and participate in some spirited bidding for the amazing items on offer.

There are some very talented people from the Sunshine Coast to Gympie who kindly donated their works to support our school and our wonderful students. So far, the amount raised stands at $3908 and the P&C will gladly accept donations from those who still may have a little left in the bidding account they didn’t spend on the night and take the total over $4000. Thank you all.

Gavi and Liz.

The Early Years students were fascinated to watch a kernel of corn heated in the popcorn machine change its state. They were delighted when fluffy while corn came cascading into the bowl. It looked different, felt different, tasted and smelled different. Of course, they taste tested it, before pasting it onto card to make a Father’s Day card.

The Primary grades are looking at what happens when different materials are combined. Some substances dissolve in water, some become soft or soggy, while others don’t change very much at all. We tried various combinations with water, oil, food colouring, paper clips and other classroom items.

The Secondary students are experimenting with creating a chemical reaction by combining common kitchen substances, like bi-carb soda and vinegar to make carbon dioxide. We made raisins ‘dance’ in the mixture, watching the fizzy bubbles attach to the dried fruit and take it for a ride to the surface, dropping back down as the bubble burst at the top.

Since last meeting, videos have been made to demonstrate the pathways to locate the Core Word of each week in both PODD and Proloquo2Go (Augmentative, Alternative Communication.) You can find the Core Word on the parent calendar for that week. The video of the Core Word for each week is shown on parade to extend the student’s capacity to use AAC. Extra communication iPads have been purchased for use in classrooms to supplement the existing ones already in use. This gives everyone more opportunity to have access to and to use AAC.

Staff are still learning and developing their skills with PODD and Proloquo2Go and are recognised for their efforts with a “staff shout-out” board in the staffroom.

Keep communicating everyone. Don’t let them sit in silence.

Till next time.

The Communication Team.

The Early Years, Primary and Secondary students have been very creative over the last 3 weeks expressing emotion and events through line and colour. Primary and Secondary students have explained their line choices and discussed their use of colour with their classmates.

Students have also listened to a story read aloud and then chosen their favourite part of the story to recreate as a collage using pictures of animals as the characters form the story. There have been some interesting descriptions and choices made during these activities.

Early Years students have been making links between feelings, colour and line through the use of Augmentative and alternative communication systems and classroom posters. They then had fun recording their ideas on the touch screen television.

Have a safe and relaxing break. Mr Gavin

What an amazing term we have had in Technology!

It consisted of heaps of building, painting, decorating and messy play. Early Years and Primary students had the opportunity to make their very own toy out of recycled goods whilst Secondary were given the opportunity to make a Father’s Day gift out of recycled objects. The student took the opportunity in full stride and made some amazing creations from robots and cars to spinners and shakers.

We had an absolute blast this term and can’t wait to see what next term has in store for us.

Riane