the

red hillQUARTERLY Red Hill Special School’s Newsletter

From the PrincipalIssue 46 September 2016

Points of Interest

School resumes –

Tuesday 4th Oct

Labour Day - 3rd Oct

Pupil Free Day - 17th Oct

Last day of term - 9th Dec

Inside this Issue

1 Principal News

3 School News

5 Classroom News

5 ECDP

6 Early Years 1

7 Early Years 2

8 Early Years 3

9 Middle 1

10 Middle 2

12 Middle 3

13 Junior Secondary 1

14 Junior Secondary 2

15 Junior Secondary 3

16 Senior 1

18 Senior 2

Dear Families

Whilst we hoped that students and staff would return to school well and refreshed, it was not the start we wished for. Many students have had several days away from school and the staff has been equally unwell. There was one day where the class teacher and teacher aides were all unable to be at school. Thank you for keeping your child home if not well and your understanding if we have needed to call you if your child has become unwell at school.

I would also like to express our gratitude for your support in phoning the school and advising if your child is unwell or late to school due to appointments. As per correspondence forwarded earlier this term, it is a requirement that schools be advised prior to school commencing (8.45am). We cannot accept messages from bus drivers or taxi drivers. Where your child is absent from school, unexplained, you will receive a call /text requesting a reason. This is in accord with Departmental guidelines. Families of Red Hill have generally been very good in advising us of absences and the introduction of this requirement by the Department should not impact greatly on you.

Our Danish students are being missed by staff and students. We have come to rely upon their support within educational programs. They provide additional professional boosts to our staffing and usually are dynamic and enthusiastic in their approach to working in our school. At this stage of the year it is not likely that we have students for the beginning of 2017 either.

Families that ordered school photos should have received them by now. I am sure that you will be delighted with both individual and class photos. Mel spends great time in attempting to snap the best photo of your child. Often she returns to school if she feels she can get a “better shot”. The photos this year are once again beautiful. The students enjoy looking at all the class photos, finding themselves and their friends.

Over the June /July holidays four of our staff attended a “Literacy Intensive” week. This 5 day program was initiated through AGOSCI, held at Red Hill and open to 46 people across Australia. Our staff has been so excited to have had this opportunity

learning for life E: admin@redhillspecs.eq.edu.au | W: www.redhillspecs.eq.edu.au

and are energised and enthusiastic to introduce more strategies to support Communication /Literacy in our school. Jane Farrall and Dr Sally Clendon facilitated the program for participants.

A further Literacy Intensive week is planned for 5 days over the Easter Holiday period in 2017. Jacinta Xavier from our school and Rachel Dougherty from Mitchelton Special School are planning this on behalf of the Metropolitan North Special Schools. It is hoped that more of our teachers will be able to take up this opportunity. Jane Farrall & Dr Sally Clendon will again be the presenters.

All activities within and external to school provide communication opportunities for your children. This was evident at the recent Darling Point Fun Run (wheel/stroll) where staff used PODDs or Proloquo2go to engage students with vocabulary related to the activities. This again occurred during a circus activity presented by Ferny Grove SHS students to some of our classes in the under covered area. Podds, Aided Language Displays etc can be found in all areas of the school – including playgrounds and toilets! It is wonderful to see students initiating conversation and being modelled communication across the school day. At this stage of the year, planning is occurring for the 2017 school year. It is anticipated that there could be student growth to approximately 70 enrolments across the prep to year 12 programs. This year we started enrolments at 59.

As a school we have been looking to our future and the Department has recently purchased NO 17 Lintern Street. This house borders our school. Settlement is due September 2nd. It is hoped that there will be capacity, in the short term, to modify the house for a senior program. Obviously much planning will occur throughout term 4 to identify capability of the property for the 2017 school year.

Over the next weeks, possibly early term 4, all the shade cloth in front of the school will be replaced. The shade cloths are beginning to show signs of both age and the elements. A new shade was erected earlier this year to provide shade in a previously unshaded area. These upgraded cloths will provide better shade for your children when outdoors.

To all our families, I truly hope that as you go into the holiday period you and your children will have good health. I am looking forward to my leave and to seeing you in term 4.

Remember, school resumes on Tuesday, October 4th. Monday is a public holiday!

Pam StackPrincipal Red Hill Special School

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School News

P&C News

Thank you to all families that supported the recent Red Hill Kindy Fair in Woolcock Park. Our raffle, supported by the general Red Hill community and our school community, raised approximately $2,500.00. Winners of the raffles were publicised through the school website. One of the lucky winners was a family from school. They very kindly donated back the Ashton Sims framed, signed jersey to hopefully support the P&C further. Thank you also to the wonderful parents that provided time on the day to set up the stall, sell tickets and pack up at the end. This made for a smooth day and was not onerous for anyone. The ticket selling skills of some were most impressive!! Lots of fun too.

The Broncos Leagues Club continues to support our school community through donating tickets to games for raffles and through providing a room and support for the annual graduation of senior students. On the 11th of August a couple of senior students collected a signed BRONCOS jersey from the Club. This was donated to us for future fundraising activities.

We have continued to support camps that have been planned for 2016. We have supported the school with co-funding a pizza oven for use by the senior students in their Hill Tops Pizza venture. We believe that Friday Pizzas are well supported by students and staff at school. We have also supported some professional development activities for staff, either through support for accommodation or air fares. This professional development supports the range of programs developed within our school for our students.

At our next meeting we will be addressing future fund raising activities of the P&C. Already we are looking toward the planning of our 2017 major fund raiser.

Thank you for supporting your P&C.

Emma O’DonoghuePresidentRed Hill Special School P&C

Transport Reminder

Many of our students have been approved transport to and from school. This is predominantly provided via Townsend Bus or Taxis to our school. This transport is not the responsibility of the school. Our responsibility within the process is to make application on your behalf for transport support or to make amendments if you change address, days of transport or require transport due to accessing respite.

Where transport has been approved it is a requirement that:

• You notify the transport provider if your child is not requiring transport morning or afternoon due to illness or appointments

• Any changes to approved arrangements (drop off or collection addresses; days required or respite transport needs) cannot be arranged directly with the Bus or Taxi driver. Application for any changes need to be made through the school. Changes are unable to be made without approval through the school to the Transport Dept. It is important that at least a week’s notice be given in order to for such changes to be approved. Transport providers are not able to undertake arrangements without prior approval. Sometimes such changes may result in a different bus /taxi or transport method.

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Master Teacher News

This term I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work in the master teacher role at Red Hill Special School. During this time I have had the pleasure of working with four classes in the school in the area of emergent literacy. The focus of my role has been working to develop the writing skills of our emergent literacy learners within the Balanced Literacy Approach. Together with the teachers and aides in the classes I am working with, we have explored the various forms and functions of writing, and it has been exciting to see the writing activities being undertaken in the classes.

Writing is a very complex task which comprises several skills including the generation of ideas, using language to talk about these ideas, spelling, transcribing and/or selecting letters. For the students we are working with, this often means that their skills development must be facilitated by the use of AAC (e.g. PODD) and alternative pencils (e.g. alphabet flip charts).

In our classes students are engaged daily in writing activities such as Predictable Chart Writing (PCW), morning messages, daily sign in, writing without standards (independent writing) and alphabet activities. Opportunities are given for students to receive modelling of writing practices, to learn about the function and purposes of writing and to practise their own skills in generating ideas and letters.

At Red Hill Special School, we are using the following questions to guide our practice in emergent writing instruction:

• Are you giving your students lot of opportunities to learn the function of writing without focusing on the form e.g. following through on notes handed to you, writing yourself reminders and then using them, writing a morning message?

• Do they have daily opportunities to write without standards using a pencil with access to all 26 letters?• When they have finished writing do you say “now let me show you how I would write it” and model writing

rather than interrupting them during the writing task or putting demands on their writing?• Are you offering them a range of writing tasks, such as writing about personal experiences, high interest

topics, classroom topics, letter writing, signing in?• Are you following through on writing tasks e.g. posting letters?• Do you have a daily or weekly shared writing activity, such as predictable chart writing?

Further information on writing and literacy is available on Jane Farrall’s blog: http://www.janefarrall.com/literacy/writing/

Some examples of our wonderful Red Hill Writing below!

It has been a very exciting and rewarding experience to work in this capacity with the students and staff, and I look forward to carrying on with our great work next term. I hope that everyone has a happy, wonderful and restful break. I look forward to seeing you all in Term 4!

Kate LonneMaster TeacherRed Hill Specil School

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Space was our theme this term in the ECDP!!

Classroom News

ECDP

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 …. BLAST OFF!

Our ECDP classes have been having fun with our space theme this term. We have been reading a number of Space themed books and our favourites would have to be “Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer” and the “Aliens Wear Underpants” Series. If you walk past our room, don’t be surprised to see us all wearing undies on our heads or a washing line full of underpants (clean of course)! The washing line activity has provided a great opportunity to participate in the fine motor activity of pegging while also discussing colours, patterns, size, same and different as well as counting and sorting. Hopefully you will have a few more helpers when it comes to doing the laundry now!

Developing communication and language has been one of our primary focuses this term and it has been exciting to watch how well the ECDP students have embraced the use of the PODD. Whilst the PODD is primarily modelled by the teacher and anyone assisting in the room it has had an amazing impact. Verbal students have used it to extend their “voice” and the picture symbols have given others the confidence to talk about a wider range of topics. To see three boys self-initiate a discussion with the PODD during free play time about what they did on the weekend was truly inspiring.

Of course we cannot understate the value of play within our program and the communication and learning opportunities that occur as we travel to space in the Sensory room, play with moon buggies in moon sand and build aliens out of playdough, providing endless amounts of fun for students and adults alike. ECDP welcomes Caron’s new students Danish and Beatrix in the Wednesday and Thursday group, Playgroup has begun on a Wednesday morning with Kelsey, David, Lilly and Caleb and we have a brand new Pre-Prep group that has started on a Friday with Kian, Wijaya, Anna, Joshua and Harvey soon to join us! They are all so adorable and it makes our day to be greeted by such wonderful warm smiles.

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This term we said goodbye to our fabulous Teacher Aide Brooke as she returned to her home town to study and while we all miss her dreadfully we are excited to have Shelley back in the ECDP room working Monday to Wednesday and Jess working Thursday and Friday. Both ladies are so incredibly wonderful and their energy and experience is an incredible addition to our room.

Many of our students are preparing for a transition to a Prep Program next year and the team will be working hard in term 4 to ensure that this process is as smooth as possible. Learning through our “Under the Sea” theme we are looking forward to enjoying the beautiful sunshine with lots of water based activities… so be prepared to hear more squeals of delight from the ECDP playground…and things may get wet and messy!

Finally … a special Thank you to our ECDP parents for sharing your beautiful children with us each week.

Teachers: Cathy and CaronTeacher Aides: Shelley and Jess

Recieving a letter in our mail box is always exciting!

Susie and Zenon enjoy the see-saw with Kate!

Early Years 1

Wow, it’s hard to believe another term has flown by already! Students in EY1 have been busy learning and playing!

This term the students’ goals have continued to be focused on the development of their communication and literacy through the implementation of the Balanced Literacy Program and through modelling language and vocabulary with the PODD book. We have followed the theme of under the sea and have enjoyed learning about lots of different sea creatures by reading a range of books. Next term we will visit Underwater World to further our learning even more. During predictable chart writing we have been creating sentences around “I can see”. We have started to write letters to our classmates and post them in our EY1 letter box. It is always exciting to receive a letter in the mail! It has been encouraging to see that with the consistency and predictability of the program, students are beginning to show progress in their communication skills and the early literacy activities.

One of our highlights this term was the Darling Point Fun Run. We enjoyed leisurely strolling along the water, playing on the playground, eating lots of sausages and being with the wider school community. Our term has been overflowing with WOW moments and we would love to brag about our students and share some with you! Recently Max has begun eating more independently with the help of a spoon strap, whilst Paw Moon has shown improvement in following simple instructions. Santi has begun to talk in simple sentences, rather than one word utterances and Zenon’s talking has sky rocketed as well as beginning to show reading skills during predictable chart writing. Susie has demonstrated an increase in her ability to focus during group and individual sessions and continues to show an interest in using her PODD book to communicate. As you can see, everyone has been working so hard!

We have continued to participate in weekly activities such as horse riding, play time at the park, Music with Tara and swimming with Jo and Adam.

Thank you to all of the wonderful staff that work in our room. We so appreciate everything you do to help the students achieve their goals.

Max steering the playground ship.

Paw Moon goes down the slide at the Fun Run.

Santi enjoying climbing at the fun run.

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Early Years 2

We must be having too much fun working on our Ocean theme, because Term 3 has flown! We have really been enjoying reading about the ocean, and all the creatures in it, as well as what activities people do at the beach. Some books we have read are; Commotion in the Ocean, Smiley Shark, and Magic Beach. We have been writing about all things ocean, including our favourite sea creatures. We have published some of our writing by turning it into a class book using the computer. When it’s finished we use the switch to turn the pages and read our story as a class – that’s the best bit. We love it when we recognise our own sentence in the book.

There is some fantastic artwork on display in our room, such as some scaly fish and smiley sharks. We like exploring with paint, and most of us enjoy exploring in the sand too. We have been using the sand to help us explore some maths concepts such as full and empty, heavy and light, and even finding hidden creatures and shells. We then count them and compare sizes. We liked comparing our own heights by pretending to be pirates and putting our names on the pirate height chart. We took turns at ‘walking the plank’ from shortest to tallest.

Also in maths we have been sharing things out and adding groups together. This is tricky, but we are getting better. We like it best when we do number songs on the interactive whiteboard, and are only adding one

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more at a time. We like to select the numbers to make an addition number sentence too (e.g. 4+1=5).

Ferny Grove SHS students visited our school this term to give us a circus performance. We very much enjoyed this, and liked showing off the circus skills that we remembered from our own circus performance last semester.

Week 7 was book week, and we loved sharing our favourite books with our class mates, and dressing up as our favourite book characters on the Friday. Our book choices definitely reflected our personalities. Now it’s time to enjoy the 2 week break from school, and have a safe and happy holiday. We look forward to term 4, especially our sleepover camp at the end of week 2.

We had a wonderful day out at the Fun Run!

May you all have a refreshing break!

Teachers: Caron and AmandaTeacher Aides: Belinda, Helen, Rachel, Michelle and Sol

Indiana painting the ocean for our wall display.

Charlotte using a textured pad to paint a crab.

Max using playdough to show an addition number sentence.

Charlie using the scales to weight some sea creatures.

Katie using the computer to publish her writing work.

Fareed ‘fishing’, and matching number of scales to the

numerlas.

Early Years 3

Wow, what a busy term that term 3 has been in Early Years 3! So far we have had many changes, with Kate taking on the Master Teacher Role in the school three days a week, and having a new Teacher, Steph and a new student, Owen! Kate is enjoying her new role, and Early Years 3 is lucky enough to be a part of her Emergent Writing program. We are quickly becoming writing stars! We have been focusing very hard on Communication and using the PODD to write and talk about our ideas.

Our new theme for this Semester has been the Ocean and it has been exciting immersing ourselves in all things Ocean and creating amazing artworks to decorate our room! We have loved reading stories about Ocean Animals, Pirates and the Beach. We have

Charlie, Max, and Fareed throwing bean bags at their sight words.

also been writing letters to our friends in Early Years 2 about our favourite ocean books, and our favourite ocean animals. We love checking our class mailbox and replying to letters, using the PODD to come up with our responses. We have created some exciting Predictable Charts about our books, sensory activities and even ocean videos. We have spent a lot of time turning these sentences into class books and we enjoy reading them in our self-selected reading time.

The Darling Point Fun Run was a great day. We ‘strolled’ half way along the track and enjoyed the breeze blowing on our faces and being in the warm sun. After the walk we kicked back in our bean bags and enjoyed lunch with lots of our friends in Early Years and Middle Years. We got a certificate for completing the fun run and some of us slept on the bus on the way back to school after a big day. A big thank you to our Parent helpers on the day, Sharee and Sarah – it was great to have you both come along! Book Week was also lots of fun, our whole class dressed up as lots of different characters from our favourite books. Corey was a Storm Trooper from Star Wars, Hannah was Supergirl, Zoey was the Princess from ‘That’s not my Princess’, James was the Red Wiggle, Owen was the spider from ‘Miss Spiders Tea Party’, Steph was the old lady from ‘There was an old lady who swallowed a fly’, Kate was Hairy Maclary, Sue was Minnie Mouse and Maureen was a Wizard. Of course we have still found the time to participate in other activities such as Music Therapy, the Sensory Room, visits to the Playground and even a Numeracy Program with Cathy. We enjoy having ‘Go’ on our switches and telling Tara to start the music and play on our instruments. We have also used the Switches to say ‘Go’ and ‘More’ in numeracy, sometimes our numeracy lessons with Cathy can be messy but we have loved all of her fun activities. Friday’s at the playground have been quite the adventure and lots of our friends in the other Early Years and Middle Years classes are there to chat and read stories with us.

A big thank you to our wonderful Teacher Aides; Nerida, Megan, Ashley and Maureen. Our special helpers always make the day run smoothly and fill our days with lots of smiles and laughter. Kate and I are always grateful for the constant hard work and support. We are loving teaching together and it has allowed us the chance to run so many exciting activities and write many amazing pieces of work.

Watching the Ferny Grove SHS students perform their circus act.

Teacher: NicoleTeacher Aides: Tina, Aimee and Holly

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Zoey smiling in Music Therapy! James loving time in the Sensory Room.

Book Week celebrations. (Left to Right) Hannah, Corey, Sue, Owen, Steph, James and Zoey. (Missing) Kate and Maureen.

Owen enjoying Numeracy with Cathy – Ice Painting!

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Hannah enjoying a rest in the playground.

Corey excited for the Fun Run, listening to music.

Beautiful day at the Darling Point Fun Run. (Left to Right) Corey, Steph, Hannah, Zoey, Sarah, Owen and Sharee. (Missing) Nerida.

Have a great holiday!

Teachers: Kate and StephTeacher Aides: Nerida, Megan, Ashley and Maureen.

Middle 1

Term 3 has been full of fun and learning for Middle 1. We learnt about “Jungle Animals” and read different stories about them. We researched the habitats of animals, did role-plays, learnt new words related to animals and learnt more about their body parts.

We have also been choosing our favourite characters in the story and writing sentences about them. We have learnt new sounds. (Example: Making as many words as we can from “Cr”).

We have also been learning about “Time”. We played games to tell the time and our favourite game has been “What’s the time Mr. Wolf?”.

Communication has been one of our main focuses. We said hello to friends and greeted them in the morning. We also used the magic words: Please, Sorry and Thankyou.

Every Tuesday we have enjoyed going to the YMCA Gym at Bowen Hills. Students have worked on developing skills like balancing on a raised wooden beam, swinging on rings and launching themselves into the foam pit below. We have also been getting more confident in using the gym equipment more independently. We have also learnt to wait for our turns, follow instructions and become physically active.

Middle 1 enjoying after the Fun Run.

Happy Holidays!

Teacher: KetkiTeacher Aides: Deb Aimee, Mary and EllieVolunteer: Rosie

Middle 2

Marcus, Maddy, Joshua, Flyn, Angus and Harry have loved our literacy block ‘Message Me’ this term. Writing and receiving letters from other RHSS friends and staff has been a highlight. We even received a number of entertaining letters from a ‘Monster who writes letters’! Visiting the library and sharing self-selected books with friends and family has been a favourite activity and everyone has been very proud to have their own box of books.

This term we also had the “Fun Run” at Darling Point. We completed the whole run and later had sausage sizzles. It was very tiring but we all enjoyed it a lot. We have had Music every Wednesday with Tara. She played beautiful songs for us and this term she played songs about Jungle Animals.

We also celebrated “Book Week” this term from 19th August to 26th August. We read our favourite books and on the last day of the book week we dressed up as our favourite characters and had a party with Middle 2. It was lot of fun.

Every Friday Keanu has started helping Dave, our OT to do some school jobs. It has been a great experience for Keanu and he enjoys it a lot. Thankyou Dave! Jo is doing a reading program with Middle 1 where she takes one-on-one session with the kids. The children enjoy it a lot. Thanks a lot Jo!

Thank you to all the teacher aides that have worked in our room this term. We have had a great term. Have a lovely break everyone. Hope you all enjoy the holidays. Looking forward to seeing you all in Term 4.

Marie-Louise enjoying the yummy food.

Keanu loves to play outside.

Alan doing some counting. Kyden is happy after doing some nice work.

Abishek busy learning new maths skills.

Amaya loves cooking!! Thomas busy at work.

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Thank you to parents for your efforts in helping Harry Potter, Spiderman, The Pirate, Elsa, The Mad Hatter and The Basket Ball Player bring their characters to life for Book Week in August. Dressing up was a fabulous way to celebrate our love of books and everyone looked amazing in their costumes. The festivities included a party with Middle 2 and much laughter.

Class computers have been used daily in Middle 2, for writing, research and programs such as Sunshine Online. It has been incredibly exciting to see keyboarding and computer skills improving. The Clicker7 program in particular has been a great tool to support writing. The students loved typing sentences in this program, especially because it read their text back to them.

“What’s the time Mr Wolf?” The ‘timeless’ game of Mr Wolf has encouraged numeracy learning, centred round reading hourly and half hourly analogue time. We also had lots of fun measuring time by setting up our own mini Olympics and timing races.

Soccer has been our focus sport for Term 3 and our budding soccer players have continued to improve their team skills each week. We were super excited when we acquired soccer balls for the class and Deb and Tim put on their coaches hats to teach soccer drills and sportsmanship. Each Thursday we went to the park and put our skills to the test with a game. Our teams became very competitive as their matches improved and included team chants to start and end the games.

From sport to art; we used clay as an art medium for the first time and made beautiful clay pots for Father’s Day gifts. The process of rolling ‘snakes’ and coiling them into a pot, took many sessions over several weeks and our budding sculptors were extremely proud of the finished products.

We have been lucky to be involved in many fun outings this term including a sport day with the Queensland Bulls cricket team and the annual Fun Run at the bay. These outings have been a wonderful way to meet other students and community members and share new adventures with our classmates.

Term 3 has been a term of excitement and celebrations of progress made. Thank you to our class members Marcus, Maddy, Joshua, Flyn, Angus and Harry for their hard work this term and for the friendship they

Angus the Pirate at Book Week.

Flyn as Harry Potter for Book Week.

Goalie Marcus!!

Joshua singing some tunes with Tara.

Maddy working out at the Fun Run.

Middle One and Two with QLD Bulls!

Middle 3

Flying around like cockatoos, jumping up and down like kangaroos and rolling around like dingos is just a snippet into our Term 3 adventure! You guessed it, Fred, Isla, Louis and Darbi have been finding out about Australian animals and we have had a blast doing so. Term 3 has been a busy one with the Darling Point Fun run, excursions and book week!

Our Australian animal discovery took us to Walkabout Creek where we got up close to some of the Australian wildlife. We watched a platypus at meal time, Louis took some pictures of the kangaroos and we even got to meet Lucy the blue tongue lizard. We were lucky enough to have Liesl come along for the ride and as a class we wrote her a letter to thank her for coming with a few of our favourite snaps. Darbi in particular has LOVED writing letters on the computer to her family and telling them all sorts of interesting things. My favourite was when she chose to tell her mum that she wanted a turtle.

MasterChef Isla cooking up a storm!

Admiring Billy the Wombat. Darbi balancing at Walkabout Creek.

All dressed up for book week.

Fred having a great time at the Fun Run.

Middle 2 enjoying the Fun Run.

have shown to each other. A big thank you as well to all the staff who have so cheerfully supported us; especially Tim, Bec, Shelley, Jessica, Maureen and Mary. Farewell to the wonderful Bec who has gained a permanent role as an ESL teacher and while we are sad to see her go, we are very proud of her achievements and wish her all the best.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

Teacher: DebTeacher Aides: Tim, Bec, Shelley, Jessica, Maureen and Mary

Hallway sanctuary.

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Louis having a climb at the Fun Run.

Literacy and communication continues to be an important focus in our class and it has been incredible to see the students engage more with the PODD and use it to make choices during writing sessions. Each morning, as part of their routine, the students sign their name to show who has come to school today! It has been wonderful to see their progress and willingness to do this each morning.

Our weekly timetable continues to be choker block with fun, from cooking to Australian animal themed art and craft, music, swimming, gym for Louis and horse riding for Fred, Isla and Darbi. Louis has really enjoyed heading along to the gym with his middle 1 friends on a Tuesday afternoon. Ash – our lovely teacher aide who has joined us this term – continues to be impressed by Louis’s efforts at the gym and each week he joins in more and more with the activities.

This term we have put our chef hats on and thanks to a little healthy competition we have started a cook off with our friends in middle 2. We haven’t had much success against our friends next door but we’re always up for the challenge – Pip more so than the students. Fred and Isla are two that really enjoy our cooking classes – Fred is very much our taste tester and has a go at all of the different ingredients and Isla is our little MasterChef, she loves to do the mixing.

We have had an AWESOME term and the students of middle 3 have continued to blow me away! A massive thank you to wonderful, patient and caring teacher aides, Ash and Amelia. Middle 3 and particularly Pip would not have survived without you and your continuous enthusiasm and support. Wishing you all a lovely and relaxing break and I’ll see you all next term!

We can sign our name!

Teacher: PipTeacher Aides: Ash and Amelia

Junior Secondary 1

In Junior Secondary 1, we have been busy learning about concepts of movement and transport for our unit ‘I Like to Move it’. We have been out and about in the community investigating different modes of transport. Students enjoyed our visit to the car park where we explored a car and a ute. It was a very noisy day with radios and horns blasting! We had a fun day out at the Rail Museum and had a fantastic time at New Farm Park cruising along on the Citycats.

This term communication continues to be a major focus. Students are using a multi-modal approach of signing, Proloquo2Go and PODD. These systems continue to be modelled, modelled, and modelled! I have definitely noticed increased levels of engagement when students are able to use their communication systems for all communication purposes including directing, commenting, responding and requesting. Gus loves having one on one chats with the PODD, George enjoys asking for his favourite activities, Maisie loves chatting about her friends, Will talks about the events of the day, Leah likes asking for her favourite games and songs and Madi just loves to chat! This term we have also been working hard on our reading and writing. Students have enjoyed making and reading books about all of our excursions and the experiences that we have been involved in.

Horse riding continues to be the highlight of the week with students enthusiastically using their communication devices each Monday morning to remind me that we are going on the bus to horse riding! Everyone is making great progress on their individual goals. Maisie, George and Will are steering their horses and Madi and Leah are working hard at holding their reigns with two hands. We have also enjoyed swimming, bike riding and dancing sessions. These activities form the basis for our reading and writing activities.

Students have worked incredibly hard this term and should be so proud of the progress that they have made. You are all so clever! I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of our dedicated team; Aimee, Tat, Tim, Rachel and Helen. You are truly amazing! I wish all of our families and staff a safe and happy holidays.

Junior Secondary 2

Hello from Junior Secondary 2 as we reach the end of another busy term. This semester along with our friends in JS1 and JS3 we are investigating how things move and change. Over the past 10 weeks we’ve read lots of unit-related books, messaged our friends with all sorts of information and written our own stories. At our Car and Ute day in July we learned about different vehicles while sitting in the driver’s seat, beeping the horn, turning the lights on and off, playing the radio very loudly, buckling up the seat belt and making the wipers swish...even though it wasn’t raining. As a class we’ve also played games on the whiteboard, cooked healthy treats with our friends from JS3 and enjoyed music therapy with Tara.

This term as part of our unit of work we visited the Ipswich Workshops Rail Museum. At the museum we took a guided tour of the venue and saw the largest model railway in Queensland. We also saw a steam engine, diesel locomotives and a full size tilt train carriage. In August we went with our Junior Secondary friends for a trip on the Citycat. After enjoying morning tea in New Farm Park we boarded the Citycat and travelled to Hamilton and back. The trip took an hour and along the way we saw lots of sail boats, motorboats and ferries. Both excursions were heaps of fun and gave us plenty of opportunities to interact with each other while experiencing the wonderful world around us.

The Rail Museum.

New Farm Park.George dressed up for Book Week.

Will checking out the trains.

Leah dressed up for Book Week.

Maisie and Gus getting ready to go on the City Cat.

Gus at the park.Madi riding her horse.

Teachers: Jess and NickiTeacher Aides: Aimee, Tat, Tim, Rachel and Helen

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Finally, a big thankyou to all the staff who work in Junior Secondary 2. Your focus on the students, dedication and hard work are a vital part of what makes our classroom a successful and happy place to be. Thankyou everyone.

Have a great holiday!!

Teacher: TracyTeacher Aides: Lisa, Danya, Maureen and Sonya

Haelee having fun with Libby. Jenita wearing safety goggles on the Workshops tour.

Jess reading with Sonya. Lydia at the Rail Museum.

Seth making music with Tara.

Junior Secondary at North Ipswich.

Junior Secondary 3

Can you believe that it’s the end of Term 3 already!!!! What a fantastic time we have had...exploring movement with our unit I like to move it move it!!! Transport has been our main focus of learning this term and we have had so much fun exploring every component of it! We have checked out cars and all that turns ‘on’ and ‘off’ in them. Most of us loved hitting the horn and hearing the noise that it made, we also enjoyed turning the music up and down and having a little dance in the car.

We were also lucky enough to visit the Railway Museum in Ipswich, and take a ride on the Citycat with JS1 and JS2. During our guided tour of the Railway Museum we saw many old train and lots of different memorabilia. After lunch we all explored the museum with our friends, taking turns on the simulator and also driving toy trains around their tiny towns. We had a fantastic day out! Our other excursion this term was a trip on the Citycat. We went under the Gateway Bridge and we even got to see the ‘sling’ that they use to get the city cats out of the water. After our trip we had lunch and explored parts of New farm Park, another brilliant trip.

Finally I would like to say a very big thank you to Jess, Tracy, Steph and all the staff who work in JS1 and JS2 for all the hard work you put into all of our activities. To all the volunteers that have given up their time to come on excursions with us, without them our fantastic trips would not be possible. A special mention needs to be given to Dave and Harry from Townsend buses who have helped by driving us to and from each of our chosen destinations. Finally I would also like to say a big thank you to the staff and students in Senior 2 who are always there to help when we need it.

Fun times on the CityCat.

Abbey driving the trains

Having a ride on the CityCat.

JS3 at the rail museum.

Darah and Lily have a turn on simulator.

Senior 1

Term 3 has flown by as we start our new Unit of Work “Celebrations!” We broke this theme down into two main areas, firstly how we celebrate ourselves and our friends, and secondly, learning about celebrations in our community. Our theme was based around the song for the Paralympics this year, proving to others that ‘yes we can’.

We started Term 3 with a huge celebration on the calendar, Luanna’s 18th birthday! She was very excited about her yummy cake (and so were her teachers). Then whilst away on camp, we celebrated Troy’s 16th birthday.

In exploring ourselves and our abilities and interests, students and staff participated and enjoyed Yoga one day a week. This could not have been possible without the help of our very knowledgeable and wonderful Yoga teacher, Michelle McLeod. All the students have been practising the ‘tree pose’, ‘downward dog’, as well as many other poses and relaxation techniques. Can Senior 1 do yoga? ‘Yes we can’.

Students have also been ten pin bowling each week and are doing very well, even getting a few strikes each game. With each and every week students understand what they need to do and achieve. All students are able to push the ball down the ramp independently. Students are celebrating with their friends by cheering, clapping, reaching out and smiling. We are now breaking through the 100 point barrier. Can Senior 1 ten pin bowl? ‘Yes we can’.

Celebrations within our community have seen us learn and participate in events to do with the Paralympics. We have been practising our shooting, swimming, cycling and throwing skills. Through our AAC systems, students have been telling us their opinion of these games. Their favourite is swimming and cycling. We have watched and discussed the amazing abilities of the Paralympians and this has certainly encouraged the attitude that ‘yes we can too’.

This great attitude will lead us into the last celebration in Term 3, ‘disability week’. This celebration gives us a stage to showcase Senior 1’s amazing abilities. We constructed posters that showed pictures of each student’s talents, interests and abilities. Importantly, we celebrated each other’s interests and abilities Teacher: Libby

Teacher Aide: Stephanie

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Will doing the butterfly move in yoga.

Luanna shows us how it’s done, Ten Pin Bowing pro.

Troy showing us how a book should be read.

Will completing a brilliant “downward dog”.

Seth going for a ride on the motorbike.

Isabella doing the “tree pose”.

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and made sure each and every one of us, came away thinking ‘yes I can’.

We celebrated our friendship as a group when we went on camp for a week. What a week we had at Caloundra – riding motorbikes, exploring Underwater World, playing on the beach, exploring the shops, walking along the boardwalk, swimming and relaxing. Students and staff had a fantastic week. A huge thank you to the staff who volunteered their time.

Throughout all activities there has been a very direct focus on increasing Communication, both expressively and receptively. During all activities, students are communicating with others, using many modes of communication. In particular we have been pairing activities and conversations with the PODD, picture representations, signing and gestures. This consistent approach has seen some lovely progress with communication for each of the students.

Luanna and Will Henwood have been exploring options for next year. Will Henwood has been visiting the RSPCA at Wacol. Luanna has visited a post school service Cascade Place at Redcliffe. Both have enjoyed exploring these options.

Of course we have continued to enjoy other programs such as music therapy, maths in the sensory room, Interactive Whiteboard games sessions and reading books with our friends.

Our literacy program has focused on students initiating, commenting, making choices, making requests and using symbols. Book week saw us celebrating and reading our favourite books throughout the day. A special mention goes to Seth who dressed up as Elmo and Will Henwood who was a great Old Macdonald.Students have also participated in an enterprise program making some yummy hommus for staff to buy. Students caught public buses to the shops and bought items for the hommus as well as items requested from home. This enabled them to make the hommus and deliver it to the staff room for eating. Money raised went towards the students activities on camp.

A big thank you to all our amazing teacher aides who work with our students, what a full and wonderful term we have had. Have a very happy and safe holiday.

Will making friends in Southbank.

You just relax Isabella!

Total bliss on the beach at camp!

Having a great time at UnderWater World.

Teachers: Therese and EricaTeacher Aides: Jenne, Julie, Keiki, Deb and MaureenVolunteers: Faye and Jane

Senior 2

Term 3 was all about transferring work skills developed in the classroom, into the community and into work-style programs. Senior 2 students have enjoyed working at Kingfisher Recycling Centre where they have followed procedures to crush cans, remove lids from bottles and jars, crush glass bottles and remove stamps from envelopes. All students participated with enthusiasm and showed they have a good work ethic. Hilltop Pizzas made its debut this term with students making pizzas for the school each Friday. Students work in this program from Wednesday to Friday. They collate orders, make shopping lists, sort and count money, shop, make dough and bases, prepare toppings, make and deliver pizzas. Each student plays an important role in the process and the skills they are developing are easily transferred to the home and work environments. A big thank you to Jenny and Graham of Baker’s Crust for donating pizza bases. They were

delicious and saved us a lot of time. Another big thank you to Dave of Complete Janitorial Supplies, who has donated paper bags and plastic plates, which are sturdy and easy to use.

Another work program is the staff snack program where the students shop, sort and collate, price tag, stock the fridge, write and collect debts for staff snacks. Students are working well and enjoy sorting the chocolates the most. They do very well not eat the supplies.

The highlight of our week is sailing at Shorncliffe each Monday. David our bus driver is a great help and we thank him for getting us there safely each week as well his support during the morning. All students are participating in the activity and some of them have begun to steer the vessels with the support of the Sailability support person. Each week we get to know the other sailing participants a little better and the students are starting to spend more time socialising.

I would like to thank Miho, Alyssa and Linda who have supported students working towards their goals. Their help and support implementing the programs is invaluable.

Lyam making pizza.

Jazper crusing cans. Kodey at sailing.

Kyle in the power chair.

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Clay cutting mushrooms.

Jazper sailing.

Jordan sailing.

Lyam sailing.

Kodey recycling.

Jordan recycling.

Hope you all have a great Spring break and we look forward to more work programs next term.

Teacher: YolandaTeacher Aides: Miho, Alyssa and Linda