ASPLEY SPECIAL SCHOOL NEWSLETTER - 1
Principal’s Update
Welcome to our first newsletter of the year. We have managed to cram in an enormous amount of learning experiences into the first five weeks of the 2013 school year. Students have settled into the school routine incredibly well thus far – this is a credit to them and the school team that have ensured every student has been provided with the support they have needed to engage in their learning program. Credit must also go to our parents and carers whom have played a significant role in nurturing and preparing their children in readiness for the new school year.
Whilst talking parents and carers… welcome to the 26 families that join our community this year. We are enjoying having your young people in our school and look forward to playing a significant role in building their independence and preparedness for post school life.
It was wonderful to see so many new parents at our recent P&C Meeting – we had 20 or so family members in attendance which is about 25% of our school population…. fantastic representation. The meeting included our AGM and the election of the P&C Executive for 2013. Congratulations to the following members of the Executive:
Sharon Cameron President
Nicci Pringle Vice President
Robyn Agius Secretary
Fran Williams Treasurer
Anthea Brent Uniform Convener
Gaynor Fleming Uniform Convener
Special recognition must go to Kerri Gorman our long standing Treasurer who after 5 years on the executive has decided it’s time to stand down from a formal P&C position. On behalf of our school community I’d like to thank Kerri for her extraordinary contribution to our school.
The P&C meeting included a presentation from YMCA regarding a potential After School Care Program for our students. As I noted in a recent letter home …
“there are limited/no after school care options for teenagers with a disability. This is the case for many reasons, but particularly due to the fact that to provide adequate care the costs of staffing appropriately make it prohibitive for organisations to provide the service and too expensive for parents to access it. Many special school communities have explored options in the past (including ourselves) and ruled it out primarily for this reason.
Thankfully, YMCA is willing to look at the service differently and is prepared to provide the program and run it at loss initially with a view of moving to a cost neutral model down the track. YMCA is able to do this as the organisation has a benevolent arm (as well as business arms) that invests in development of the community. Our Out of School Hours program would sit under this section of the organisation and therefore would not be expected to make a profit as such. As a result, the program would be staffed at the necessary staff: student ratios and still be affordable to families.”
I know there is a huge need for this program however this has not translated into a large return of the surveys that I sent out last week. I urge you to return this survey asap so that we can formally ascertain the need and progress with the next steps.
Being the start of the year, SET (Senior & Active Learners) and Individual Learning (Middle) Plans are being collaboratively developed between parents, carers and teachers. These plans map the learning future for each of our students and as such it is critical that families actively engage in the process through completion of pre-meeting checklists and attendance at the actual meetings. I personally provide feedback on and approve every plan and take on board the priority learning goals of every student – such is the importance of these documents. If you have not already had your meeting you certainly will have one in the next week or so.
For those of you who have visited this year you’ll know that we have moved into our beautiful new admin block. We are so lucky to have such a modern facility and the staff especially are enjoying their alfresco breaks on the deck, ‘happy days’ eating in the booth seating or reading the paper in the kitchen. Till next time, regards
Chris Lassig
Deputy Principal’s Update
A big welcome to 2013 to all our new students and their families and welcome back to all students, staff and families. We would also like to welcome two teachers, Kasie Shanahan, our graduate teacher and Bruce James who has joined us from Geebung for two days a week.
It has been a very damp start to the school year and we have been pleased and proud of the manner in which the students have responded to this. Outside activities have been very restricted and at times we have all suffered from a bit of “cabin fever”. Let’s hope it starts to fine up soon and we can all soak in a bit more sunshine.
This year there will be four Group Camps - Active Learners, Middle School, Senior Learners and Senior Earners. The Fishing Competition Camp late in the year will be for students who have earned the right to go (and are keen fisherman we hope!). Our first camp is next week March 4th – 6th. The Active Learners are heading to Mapleton for their three day camp and we are keeping our fingers crossed for fine weather!
As you all will be aware, this week has been our “Think Pink Week” to raise funds for the McGrath Foundation who are working to provide early detection in young women and more Breast Cancer Support Nurses around the country. This coincided with our pink rule week for - Keep the Space. Our assembly was a “sea of pink”
Thank you all for embracing this fundraising effort. The staff and students have been wonderful with their ideas and support, though it has been very challenging with so many options and managing money and choices for:
Pink Free Dress/ Pink Salad Wraps / Pink Hair Spray / Pink Milkshakes / Think Pink t-shirts / Pink bandanas / Pink Rosella Jam / Pink Rocky Road / Pink Coconut Ice / Pink Iced Biscuits / Pink Cupcakes and Lemonade. Wow – that’s a lot of PINK!
Unfortunately the wet weather has meant we have had to postpone the “Pink Stump Cricket” as we are keen to have spectators and the oval is just too wet. We will still be asking for sponsors and will let families know when we can reschedule.
This year we will be having our biennial fundraiser the Art and Wine Show. The date-claimer for this is Friday 13th September. This is the major Fundraiser for the P & C and we will be calling on parents to assist as we move into Term 2.
As Chris mentioned we have moved into our brand new Administration Block and are all feeling very spoilt. The rain has slowed down the completion of this project but hopefully next week the covered walkways will be completed. We have been very lucky to have had David Chown as our site manager. David has been very accommodating and understanding of our school and student needs throughout the term of the project.
Lastly I would like to stress to parents and carers the importance of Naming Belongings. As students move around the school from subject to subject, like other secondary schools, they generally have to take their bags with them. Please ensure ALL bags, lunchboxes, clothes and other belongings are clearly named. This would greatly assist the staff and your child if they have difficulty communicating their needs or recognising their belongings. Thanks for your help with this.
Cheers
Gayle Morton
Head of Curriculum Update
Term 1 is always a busy time on the curriculum front and this year is no different with our teachers rapidly engaging our students in meaningful learning programs and units of work.
We believe strongly in personalising the learning that occurs here at our school, and as a means of achieving this more effectively, our school has taken on an exciting new structure for 2013 with the formation of three cohort areas within the school; Middle School, Senior School and Active Learners. The Middle School and Senior School remain organised by the age of our students, with class groupings within these designated as ‘Earner’ or ‘Learner’ classes depending upon the individual needs of our students and their likely future pathway. Our Active Learner cohort accesses a curriculum which is highly individualised and supported based upon the unique needs of these learners.
This restructuring has enabled us to better meet the needs of our students by providing us with the ability to select and match the appropriate curriculum and resources, staff expertise and skill and general facilities and access appropriate to the needs of each of these different cohorts of students. The new titles and groupings may take some time to get used to but we are confident that these changes will help with the progress and development that our students will make here at Aspley Special. To help drive and support the needs of these cohorts, each area now has a coordinator and we’d like to congratulate Leena Sanderson (Middle School), Janine Hussey (Senior School) and Yolanda Fenton (Active Learners) for their appointment to these roles.
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Diagnostic and standardised testing, the use of assessments to identify the learning strengths and needs of our students, has become more widely used by our staff in the past two years and in 2013 we have expanded our assessment program across the whole school to gather data and information on student achievement in areas such as reading, mathematics, language understanding, communication and functional behaviours. With this information, teachers and our therapist specialists, are able to identify common threads of need and design suitable interventions to assist with our students learning in these important areas. We look forward to updating you on this progress through your SET plan and ILP meetings with form teachers.
Finally of particular mention, in the Middle School, our teachers are implementing the newly released Australian Curriculum materials from Education QLD which have been written by special education writers specifically for the needs of students with a disability. These exciting units of work take the appropriate level of content from the Australian Curriculum and combine this with meaningful life-skill and age-appropriate contexts suitable for students with a disability. We look forward to seeing our students excel in these units and can already see improved engagement and evidence of their learning so far this term.
Cheers
Carl England
Birthday Wishes
William 4th March
Natasha 9th March
Thomas V 17th March
Richard 20th March
Melissa 20th March
Lily 22nd March
Tammy 23rd March
Tanya 23rd March
Laura 25th March
Thomas A 29th March
Liam 29th March
Lachlan 29th March
Dates to
Remember
Active Learner Camp 4 -6 March
P&C Meeting 13 March 9:30am
Immunisation Year 8 27 March
Good Friday 29 March
School Resumes 15 April - Monday
From the Office
Welcome back!
Thank you to all parents/carers who have already paid the Voluntary Contribution to the school. We have close to 50% of payments already!
Payments for camps, excursions etc can be made to the school via cash, cheque, eftpos, or direct debit. If doing direct debit, please note the bank account numbers on the invoice as we have two accounts. If doing a Voluntary contribution (DGR account-tax deductible) it will be into the Aspley Special School DGR account.
Another option to pay Voluntary contributions is to pay fortnightly through Centre Link. If you have any problems or need any information, do not hesitate to call us in the office, we are happy to help in any way.
Aspley Special School collects 5cent pieces which we donate to the Fred Hollows Foundation ‘Indigenous Australians’ for the Jawoyn people who live in the region east of Katherine in the Northern Territory. We usually collect around $200 each year for this cause so if you would like to donate please send your 5c pieces into the school office.
Leanne, Beryl and Lea
Tips for Parents of Children with Asthma
Does your child have asthma?
If so, there are a few things you can do to help the school manage your child’s asthma.
— Provide an up-to-date colour copy of your child’s Asthma Action Plan.
— Tell the school and your child’s teacher about the signs and symptoms that your child might show when experiencing asthma.
— When your child is experiencing asthma symptoms, notify the school and discuss a course of action using their Asthma Action Plan.
— Provide a spacer and blue reliever medication for your child to use at school. Clearly label the medication and spacer with your child’s name.
For any other tips, or for more information about asthma, call Asthma Assist on 1800 645 130.
Recipes from the office -
Chicken Rice Loaf
4 cups finely chopped cooked chicken
2 cups cooked medium grain rice
1 cup soft breadcrumbs
½ cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped pimientos
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chicken stock
3 eggs, beaten
1. Peheat oven to 180°C. Combine Chicken, rice, bread crumbs, onion, pimientos, parsley, pepper, 2 cups stock and eggs in a large bowl and mix well.
2. Arrange extra pimiento strips in bottom of greased loaf tin. Add chicken mixture and pack firmly into tin.
3. Bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from tin. Serve with a salad and tomato chutney.
From the P&C
Welcome back to all the parents and a huge welcome to all the new parents, 2013 is a big year for the school with so much happening......
We held a very successful Xmas raffle and congratulations "Bea"( Skyes auntie) for winning the main prize...... thanks to all who bought and sold the tickets. We raised over a $1000 and the P&C have decided to spend the money on buying ALL graduating students a special graduation jersey to wear proudly around school/home and in the future.