Dear families,

What a pleasure it has been to welcome students back to school and start an exciting new year. We do ‘professional learning’ over the two School Development Days and the school just wasn’t the same without the students!
We covered some practical professional learning such as CPR and healthcare advise, but much of the time was used to commit to online learning and classroom preparation.

The media unit approached us over the holidays to celebrate our new school crossing- the first in NSW within a public-school campus. Although it is early in the term, the students were amazing, and I was so proud of them. We showed Mike Dalton the new road crossing, the Immersive Classroom and the new path on the oval. They wanted a focus on life-readiness, so we duly showed the cameraman how we practice crossing a road, experience different road situations, and practice work experience (dog walking and leaflet delivering). We will share the links on social media when we have them, but potentially the edited footage went out today 09.02.2024 at 4pm on Channel 9.
The oval path was finished over the holidays, so we now have a complete circuit to use for teaching purposes. Sandstone blocks have been positioned to give students rests, but we are keen to prompt dog walking, leaflet delivery, fitness programs and go-kart racing on-site. Look out for upcoming photographs.
Two Epping Club board members came out to our school on Tuesday with a professional photographer in order to capture great photos of our road crossing in use. We got permissions from a range of families and took active photos of the crossing use, and of us thanking the Epping Club, who contributed 50% of the cost to the installation.

Mini Woolies will be launched on Tuesday February 13th 2024 at 10am. This is a new initiative for our school, and we are so proud to work with Woolworths to set up a small ‘replica’ shop on our site. It has the racking, pricing, tills etc just like a regular store and we have opportunity to have students learn to staff and sell produce as well as an on-site opportunity to use a basket to shop, browse and purchase items for cooking programs and school use. We are still navigating how this will be used- particularly in the current climate where money is rarely used yet students would not have smartphones or watches to practice purchasing… watch this space. You are all welcome to attend, as part of the Karonga community, and we will enjoy a morning tea courtesy of Woolworths at the conclusion.

Annual ‘voluntary school contributions’ are a feature of all public schools across New South Wales. We have previously asked for voluntary contributions $90 to support the resources we use with the students. This year, given the current economic climate, and appreciative of the rising cost of living impacting so many families, we have decided NOT to ask for any contributions.

Regards

Dipti and Sujung

Welcome back to 2024. Room 8 have had an enjoyable first week in their new class. We have been learning all about our new friends and learning how to play together.

The immersive classroom has been a favourite, with students who were really interested in looking at the school layout and the shopping centre as well as finding different letters in the alphabet. We also enjoyed looking at the lights and pressing the buttons to make sounds in the sensory room.

We are an active class who show interest in our outdoor learning area, playing with balls, swinging on the swing and learning to jump safely off the climbing equipment.

This term we are looking at different types of houses, living and nonliving things, celebrations and shapes. We will be completing these activities via worksheets, art and premade activities.

We have completed art in the classroom as well as with Lissette the Art Therapist. Lucas showed enjoyment while manipulating the clay during art lesson. Lucas T and Issa focussed on their painting of the Chinese lantern for Luna New Year.

We hope you enjoy our photos.
Regards Lowenna and Laurie.