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It has been very good to share professional practice with the pre-service teachers from the Australian Catholic University. I interviewed them all at the conclusion of their 20-day placement and they all benefitted from the coaching and mentoring they received from our teachers, and thought that they had really benefitted from their time at Karonga.
We had an unexpected school closure on Wednesday November 27th, when we had a power outage in the local area. I liaised with the Director of Education & Learning who advised that our school was considered non-operational, as we had no working filters through the air-conditioning units (with poor air quality from bushfires), and poor lighting in classrooms -meaning that students and staff were compromised for Health & Safety reasons. Thank you for your understanding, and further to the letter I subsequently sent out, note that we will use texts to primary phone contacts to communicate with families if we have a whole school emergency, alongside alerts on social media and our website.
The Samuel Gilbert band gave us an impromptu concert on Thursday November 28th when the whole school gathered in the hall to enjoy live music and high school enthusiasm. We do appreciate being remembered by our local mainstream counterparts, and an understanding that them coming to us makes all the difference to anxiety levels and is least disruptive to the Karonga school day. Reverse integration at its best!
On Tuesday December 3rd we had an Orientation morning organized by 3 of our teachers when we had the 8 new 2020 starters visit our school from 9-11am. It was a great opportunity to meet our new students and make informed plans around which class would suit them best for the upcoming new academic year.
It was lovely to meet with so many family members and members of the community at our annual Celebration of Learning. Staff had all voted on the students who had exemplified the qualities of the awards, and the whole school was well represented.
We have, this week, finalised the staffing to complement the classes for 2020. Next week we will send home details of staffing for your child, and include photographs where we have them.
Finally, the Department of Education has advised all Principals that the air quality will be compromised for the rest of the school year and they advise us that students should not be in playgrounds at break times. As a consequence we will be having indoor duties for the concluding weeks and set up our hall and lunchroom spaces with balls and play equipment so that students have spaces to burn energy and run around.
Warm Regards, Ruth Rogers
Recently Karonga School was successful in being awarded a Federal grant from the Department of Veteran Affairs to create an Anzac Garden that would be both a memorial to Australian service men and women and a new teaching space, outside the library.
Being awarded this grant was an acknowledgement of the excellence and significance of the history teaching program at Karonga School taught in the library.
The opening ceremony took place on Wednesday 13th November and was a very special event with a catafalque party from The School of Military Engineering at Holsworthy Barracks in attendance together with a Scottish piper from The Castle Hill RSL Pipe Band.
Corporal Raccosta, father of our Yr12 student Joseph commanded the catafalque party which gave the ceremony even more significance.
The Karonga School Anzac Memorial garden is both an historical and a sensory garden to cater for the learning needs of our students and includes;
- large sensory pots with raised pattern to simulate the ocean, (to represent the landing at Gallipoli by boat)
- roses - Gallipoli Centenary rose (red) and Peace rose (Armistice)
- Gallipoli rosemary (propagated from rosemary from the Gallipoli peninsula, for remembrance)
- a Lone pine, propagated from the Lone Pine at the Australian War Memorial, originally grown from a pine seed from Lone Pine at Gallipoli
To add a further sensory dimension to the Anzac Garden, there were two poppy installations in the garden space of 4.000 knitted poppies that were on display in 2018 on the front lawn of the Australian War Memorial and the forecourt of the Houses of Parliament, Canberra (donated by 5000 Poppies Project).
We have also been fortunate to have The Epping RSL Sub-Branch donate six Anzac Bears from the National ‘Bears to School’ project. Each bear represents a soldier or nurse who served in WW1 and has their story attached to them. They will form the basis for sensory story boxes to be used in lessons to be held in the Anzac Memorial Garden.
Janelle Simpson-Goodwin, Assistant Principal/Teacher Librarian
Aboriginal Education and learning about indigenous culture is an integral part of the Karonga School curriculum. The students actively participated in two incursions in Term 4, which provided them with an experience of the richness of Aboriginal culture.
The first incursion was in Week 4 through ‘Cultural Infusion’; who put us in touch with Walangari, a traditional Aboriginal artist. He took our students on an experiential journey through song and dance, weaving into the music, a Dreamtime story. Next he presented the students with samples of bush tucker and bush medicine, making this a sensory experience, which many of our students were able to relate with positively. Then, Walangari introduced the students to a variety of Aboriginal artefacts and tools. Most of our students attended well to Walangari’s demonstration of the use of these tools and artefacts by indigenous people. The forty-five minute activity for each group concluded with dance moves imitating an emu, an eagle, a kangaroo, a snake and various other animals.
The second incursion took place in Week 6 and involved a different experience of Aboriginal culture for our students. Run by ‘Uncle Chris’ through the Parramatta Heritage Centre, this experience was presented to three smaller groups of students. Uncle Chris commenced the activity for each group with a ‘sprinkling’, using gum leaves and water. He then proceeded to teach the students how to crush ochre in small wooden bowls with pieces of rock and dowel, mixing the crushed ochre in water to create a paste / paint and then applying the paint in a ‘body-painting‘ exercise. There was also an opportunity for each class to create canvases using the paint. These are now proudly displayed in our school hall.
It was quite special to have Aboriginal people introduce the events with the ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ (Week 4) and ‘Welcome to Country’ (Week 6).
Given both these whole school events involved a significant variation to our daily routine, the students managed extremely well. The Karonga staff and volunteers pulled together as a team to make the event a success for our students.
Special thanks to: Jim and John for setting up the hall, Karen and Mandy for successfully applying for a grant to cover the costs, Emma for liaising with Special Olympics swim staff, Jann and Mel for coordinating the sound system, Roseville School students for their assistance, Suzanne for volunteering her time on both days, and to all classes for putting up some fabulous Aboriginal art displays in the hall.
Sabrina and Mandy - Organising committee
This year the Science program includes a ‘Science through Literature’ module for our Junior school with a focus this semester on students developing an understanding of the observable features of birds.
We have been investigating birds that they will encounter in their everyday lives and the familiar environments of home and school. In particular, students have been encouraged to increase their knowledge and engagement with the chickens in the school environment.
Lessons have included the use of picture books, non-fiction books, songs, online stories and videos as well as sensory resources to support learning.
The arrival of the ‘Australian Museum in a Box – Birds’, has been very exciting. Students have been fascinated by, and enormously engaged with, the range of resources including the specimens of bird beaks, wings, penguin flippers, and eggs.
Reading for pleasure is also an important focus and all students have the opportunity each week to explore the diverse library collection and choose and borrow a book.
A big thank you to the Karonga P&C who every year donate $2,000 to our school library so that we can have a diverse book collection to cater for the interests and learning needs of our students.
The Science program focused on the topic of birds which has been highly motivating for our students’ learning and has made important connections with the students' lives both at school and as Australian citizens.
Janelle Simpson-Goodwin, Assistant Principal/Teacher Librarian
Kimberley embodies a strength of character, persistence, intrinsic motivation and organisational skills. Her keen interest in first aid and concern for others has been a salient feature of her personality, as has been her special interest in the healthcare for Karonga’s younger students. As a school leader, she has warmly welcomed many visitors to Karonga School and has played an important role in presenting awards at assembly and at special events throughout the year. Kimberley has adapted her manner to assist and support the younger students during Karonga’s Science and Peer Support program. During her time at Karonga she has been an active member of both the signing choir and dance group. Karonga staff wish her all the best on the start of an exciting new chapter in her life!
Sherie Anderson, Class Teacher
In his role as a school leader, Jacob has been an excellent ambassador for the school as he has warmly welcomed visitors and school students throughout the year in addition to assisting at special events and formal school functions. Jacob is very social but has also displayed his caring side as he has helped many of the younger students in the peer support/science program. Jacob is highly creative individual and enthusiastic in all areas of creative arts including dancing, music and visual arts. Jacob enjoys world music in particular and has been noted for his skill with improvisation on the drums. Jacob has been an active member of both the signing choir and dance group. Jacob’s enthusiasm for life is contagious and am certain that Jacob has helped to teach all of us to be an active participant in our lives. Karonga Staff wish him all the best on the start of a new and exciting chapter in his life!
Sherie Anderson, Classroom Teacher