Newsletter Wangaratta District Specialist School

Date 29/03/2019 Ph. 5721 7424

wangaratta.ss@edumail.vic. Fax. 5721 8601

Dates to Remember

Friday 5th March - Last day Term. School finishes at 2.00pm . All bus times will be 1 hour earlier

Tuesday 23rd April - First Day Term 2 Thursday 25th April - Anzac Day

Baby News:

Congratulations to both Meg Rickard and Kate O’Keeffe whose babies have arrived safe and healthy! Kate and her

husband Kaz welcomed baby boy Mac Stephen into the world on the 11th of March, weighing in at 8lb3. Meg, hus-

band Waz, and children Sophie and Max were excited to meet Billy Jack who arrived on 21st March weighing 8lb

14.

Scarfs and Socks at WDSS:

A double reason to dress up on Thursday 21st

March. A fundraiser was held for the school

titled “Wear your scarf to Work” and both stu-

dents and staff dressed up in their much loved

footy jerseys and scarfs to mark the start of the

AFL footy season. Thursday was also World

Downs Syndrome Day with the theme of ‘Lots

of Socks’ and there were lots of colourful odd

socks around the school.

School Captains:

It is that time of year again when we announce the School

Captains for 2019. This year we can congratulate Liam Mos-

sop and Jessica Elkan for being elected by their peers. They

are great role models for our school and I’m looking forward

to watching them grow and develop in their role as School

Captain.

School Uniform:

As the weather is turning cold the need to wear long sleeves, jumpers and pants is becoming a necessity. It is great

to see students wearing their school uniform jumpers and black pants. This helps with their identity to the school

and they can be identified as a group when they go out on community access. Could you please ensure that your

child is wearing their winter school uniform every day to school. As your children grow it is understandable that

they might have grown out of their black pants and jumpers. Wangaratta Uniform Zone (Steers) are ready to help

you with any new winter purchases, and if you have any issues please don’t hesitate to contact the office or our

Wellbeing Team for support.

Kosciusko - Matt and Jilly.

Last Friday the Kossie boys used their community access to go to the store

sale at the Wangaratta Sale Yards. The boys really enjoyed the sounds, sights

and smells of the Sale Yards. A highlight was when a farmer allowed Janda-

marra to bid on a pen of 12 cattle, which he purchased for $580 a head.

The Kossie crew have really enjoyed their buddy program with Mt Beauty.

Last week the students thought it was too hot for the classroom so instead

enjoyed some water and bubble play.

This weeks “photo of the week” for the photography elective went to James,

who took and edited a stunning photo of a vineyard full of grapes.

End of Term 1 and beginning of Term 2:

Next week marks the last week of Term 1! What a busy first term. Thanks to those parents who met with class-

room teachers for SSG meetings (parent meetings), goals are now set and students are already making progress.

Students finish an hour earlier on the last day, 2:00pm on Friday 5th of March so please make sure that

arrangements are made to account for this change.

Term 2 starts back on Tuesday 23rd of April, and we have a very short week with Monday being a public holiday

for Easter Monday, and Thursday 25th of April being ANZAC Day. It will be a pleasant beginning to what I’m

sure will be another busy term.

Alysha Jackson

Assistant Principal

Feathertop - Sarah, Ranni and Sam

Taminick - Phillipa, Kara and Fiona

Our resident chef Aiden

making muffins.

Darren thinks it’s hilarious when Humpty falls off the ball!

Francis reading his ‘Student of the Week’

award at assembly to Harvo.

Alfresco Afternoon Tea session.

Jason enjoying a story with Kara.

It has been a busy couple of weeks with lots of learning, communication, play and movement happening in

Taminick.

Callum loves working for the

new Disney tiles.

This term we have enjoyed lots of success and we look forward to making

more next term.

Ryan hosted senior assembly without a running sheet or support.

Locky earned a Principal’s Award for bouncing back.

Ewan has learned lots of new names and is beginning to use them.

Brandon A earned a Principal’s Award for great writing.

BJ earned a trip to Beechworth with Matt’s class for his great

choices in the classroom.

Shannon participated in athletic trials for the school.

Jessy has starred in the recess football games.

Zac has done great work in the social group with Lilly.

Stanley- Bridie and Simon

Buffalo - Leanne, Shannon, Jill and Lisa

Over the last couple of weeks, Stanley students have begun work on our vegetable garden. During a recent outing,

we visited Bunnings to purchase our plants. We will be planting broccoli, carrots and lettuce. Wish us luck!

We have also enjoyed exploring the Spheros that the school has been lucky enough to borrow. Students have loved learning how to change the colours, program them to do tricks and learn how to move them through and around obstacles.

The days are flying past as we work through the second half of

Term 1. Our friendships are growing stronger and our learning

and attention to routine is developing strongly. We have enjoyed

celebrating birthdays, outings on the bus, a highlight included a

trip to the park where we had so much fun and so many fun activ-

ities in class.

We have the best people come in the class room to help us, Mike

helps us with our learning and Jilli helps us relax. We thank you

both for all the hours of volunteering you provide our school.

Mt Beauty - Chloe and Lea

Frazer and Emily

We have had a busy few weeks in Warby. We have started our gardening program and planted all of our

plants, our students chose everything from some sunflowers and pansy's to veggies that we can then sell. It

looks great!

We have also had the spheros in our class. Spheros are little round robots that can be controlled by our one to

one ipads. We practised using them and then played a game of gang up tiggy.

Two of our students have been lucky enough to secure employment! Zack Holmes and Dakoda Leavett-

Brown. The boys are both working at McDonalds here in Wangaratta and we are all extremely proud of them

both!

Zack competed in the CFA competition over the weekend where he won four medals including 2 gold!

We have certainly been busy over here in Mt. Beauty the past couple of weeks. During our cooking program,

we have cooked spaghetti bolognaise and quiche which we all enjoyed! The students practiced setting the

table and table manners as we ate our meals. We even put on some Italian music to go with our Italian dish!

We always enjoy sensory play and painting. We have some great artists in our room. A special mention to

Sam and Corry who had their birthday’s at the beginning of March. From all of us here, we wish them a very

happy birthday!

VCAL 1 and 2 Jodi, Rosie, Adrian, Hilly and Ash

Work Related Skills.

The students in VCAL participate in the subject, Work Related Skills. They have explored and brainstormed

what skills are important when you first start work!

Students have also spent a lot of time discussing ‘Young Workers’ and the reasons that they are more at risk of

accident or injury in the workplace.

The mentality—that I’m invincible and it won’t happen to me!

The lack of training OR lack of proper training.

Young workers not knowing their rights and responsibilities in the workplace.

Buller - Kate, Leanne and Belinda

In Buller room we have different learning spaces. Some of the learning spaces involve students working to-

wards their individual learning goals independently with little or no teacher help. We have teacher directed

areas where students work one-on-one or in little groups with the teacher or E.S. staff member. We have an

area where students sit in front of the whiteboard and practise conversations or other activities with the

whiteboard. Students move independently to the various areas according to what is on their individual learn-

ing schedules.

Mt Typo - Ryan and John

The boys in Typo have had an eventful past few weeks! The boys were joined by some middle school students and neighbouring classroom, Cobbler, for an expedition in to the wilderness at Merriwa Park. They boys were treated to some local wildlife, beautiful scenery and showed off their keen sense of adventure. The fellas have also been working hard on their independent living and culinary skills, showing their abilities by being safe in the kitchen, following instructions and making some delicious meals along the way. A top effort for a top fortnight of learning, being safe and respectful!!

Mt Pilot - Jacqui , Kara and Sharon

Mt. Emu - Lisa, Lori and Jack

Most mornings the Emu boys have some kind of morn-

ing fitness. On this particularly crisp clear day we had

Down ball. A game very popular with the boys.

On Monday we go on community Access. We

often squeeze in a trip to the Library and a visit to

the shops to buy groceries for our cooking pro-

grams. This week Lori split the nine students into

three chef groups. The Jamie Oliver's, The Curtis

Stones and the Gordon Ramsey crew. This week

Tacos were on the menu.

Each Tuesday the Mt. Beauty and Mt. Pilot students go to the Appin Park Library. We read a story at the begin-

ning of the session and then the students spend the rest of the time enjoying the books on their own or with a

friend. We also have writing and drawing materials out for those who want to draw or write about a book. This

is a great time for us to practise our listening skills and modelling how we use a quiet voice when we are in a

library. We all look forward to Tuesday afternoons.

Stirling - Lee, Lis and Stella

Hotham - Jordan and Alicia

What a busy time it has been in Stirling in the last fortnight. We have been to the Splash Park twice as part of

our PE program and even took part in a water safety course last Friday.

On Friday at the water safety course the students learnt how to keep themselves safe in the water. They had the

opportunity to use snorkels, life jackets and goggles. They also had the opportunity to take part in a mock res-

cue. Shaneevah learnt how to keep herself safe, Jasmine learnt how to rescue someone if they are drowning.

Jack H learnt how to use a life jacket and Milly learnt the importance of a good fitting life jacket, Matthew

enjoyed using the snorkel and goggles and Jordan learnt about saving her friends and herself.

We have been working on our team building skills by doing a variety of activities. One such activity included

doing a giant puzzle together. This took a great deal of cooperation on everyone’s part. As part of our relaxa-

tion of an afternoon we have also been playing quiet cooperative games. One of our favourite activities is to all

gather around the car mat and so some imaginative play with the cars. Everyone has been getting involved, and

just quietly, the girls seem to be enjoying themselves the most!!

This term we have been incubating eggs in Hotham and this week they have hatched! We have around 15 ba-

by chicks that we have helped grow over the last 3 weeks.

We have all helped keep the humidity in the incubator at a certain level by pouring water in when it needs, we

also watched them hatch and took out the chicks when we could tell they were fluffy and moving on there

own. We have kept water and food in their home for them as well.

We have spent some time with them over the last week before they leave and we have loved having them to

hold and play with, during relaxation.

Morgan - Daine and Sheydin

Allied Health Team—Paula, Lily and Tina

This last fortnight Paula has been working with students to improve their upper body strength. These activi-ties assist with coordination, core strength and fine motor skills as well as being lots of fun to do.

Two more signs we have been practicing in Key Word Sign Groups are:

We have experienced different places surrounding Wangaratta for our community access sessions. After visiting

Benalla and Glenrowan earlier in the year we visited Sebastian’s home town of Myrtleford last week. The kids

are enjoying seeing different towns. Some photo’s of the students during our recent trips are below.

Seb and Daniel on the

tyre swing at a park in

Myrtleford

The boys enjoying the view at Gapsted

The class in Glenrowan

with Ned Kelly

Bogong - Renee and Lizz

We have been super busy in Bogong the last two weeks with lots of fun learning activities and programs! Our photography group have been on school excursions the last two weeks, to enhance their photography skills. Shalah, Jemma, Mia and Montana were lucky enough to go to local secondary school Galen Catholic college to have a look at their photography facilities and ‘dark room’. They were taught how to produce and develop films on photo paper and had a look at some old cameras. It was a wonderful learning experience.

Our champion swimmer Olivia Miller competed in school sports victory meet in Wodonga during the week, along side senior student James Young. Both won Gold in 50mt free-style, backstroke and breaststroke. They are heading to school Victoria state swimming finals on April 24. Congratulations Olivia & James!

Jemma Bailey took out another ‘photo of the week’ this

week, with her amazing photo of the Old Flour Mill in

Oxley. Well done Jemma!

Mt. Cobbler - Dave, Lachie and Luke

Last Friday the Mt Cobbler boys went on a road trip to Myrrhee, which is only a short 30 min drive from

Wangaratta. Lachie currently lives in Myrrhee and wanted to show the boys a special cabin (built by his father in

-law) up above his house. The hut had an awesome view overlooking Milawa. The conditions were perfect and

the view was awesome. The boys even had time to sneak in a quick game of chess while they were there.

We also visited the Myrrhee Primary School where Principal Ash Graham gave us a tour of their school facili-

ties. We met some new friends and had lots of fun. They even had a drum kit in their classroom. Everyone had

a turn of playing. It was awesome. On the way home we pulled into the Moyhu general store where Lachie

shouted everyone all an icy pole.

We’ve been having fun making our own musical instruments. Students have been making shaker bottles, filling plastic bottles with rice, pasta and dry soup mix. It has been interesting to discover the different sound that each filling makes. Pasta makes a loud sound whereas rice is much softer.

Spray painting the bottles is great fun and the finished product looks fantastic! Well done Ty-po, Pilot, Stanley and Buller students.

A big thank you to Breanna in VCAL for donating to the Music Room a guitar, and stand, and a tambourine. It was very thoughtful of you to think of us in your recent clean up at home.

Have a safe and enjoyable term break everyone!

ANZAC DAY

LEST WE FORGET

ART with Jodi & Jody

Lest We Forget

Changes to your normal bus arrangements

Our school buses now operate on a system whereby students are electronically tracked when boarding/alighting. This allows the bus company and the school to know where the student will get on/off the bus on any given day. It is a safety requirement instigated by the government.

If you require your child to be picked up/dropped off at a stop other than their usual nominated stop, you MUST let the school know by 2pm that afternoon. This allows time for the staff in the office to make the changes. The office is extremely busy from 2 pm onwards so changes are unable to be made after that time.

In the event that the changes have been unable to be made by the time the bus departs school because insufficient warning has been given, the bus will drop the students at the normal stop.

To request a change to the normal bus stop:-

please ring the office on 57 217424 before 2pm state the child’s name bus they catch the normal stop the stop to be changed to how many mornings/nights it will occur for before reverting to the normal routine. write it in the communication books so the classroom staff know as well

You can verbally relay the message to the bus staff as a matter of courtesy but they are unable to make the changes to the system.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter, our aim is to have all students arrive at school/arrive home safe and accounted for.

Suzanne Sinclair

Bus Coordinator