We are very excited to offer new and revised programs at Karonga on a regular basis.

Last year the Library and the ILC (Independent Living Centre) were used by RFF teachers to give classroom teachers some study time. Although classes can continue to use these spaces, they will do so with their class teachers. This year we will be using the Swimming Pool and Technology Room to drive some great programs.

Utilising the RFF (Relief from face-to-face) time, each class will benefit from a weekly swim program, supported by AusSwim coaches or a physiotherapist -through funds made available via the P & C. This means that a permanent teacher- Debra Whittaker- will be attached to this program to assess and write related programs.

The second program is a Technology RFF, where we have benefited from the expertise of a newly recruited teacher, Kerrie Sheehan, to drive an innovative program at Karonga with respect to robots, coding and augmented and assisted devices. We are also making time available to Kerrie for her to go into classes to share her expertise and work alongside teachers embedding technology into classrooms. Classroom teachers are all very excited about these programs.

Thank you to all the parents who attended our ‘Meet-the-teacher’ event on Wednesday 26^th February. The power outage a week earlier forced us to change the date, but we were pleased that around 30 people attended and shared an understanding of their child’s class and teacher.

Tess, our Pets-As-Therapy Dog has needed surgery this past week. We are unclear how an injury occurred, but X-rays showed that she had a 30% compression of one of the vertebrae in her spine. The surgery has gone well, and as they chose to go through her throat round to mend her spine, the recovery should be quicker. We look forward to her returning to school in Term 2, though she may have to remain in an  office, and students come to see her initially.

Room 2 has had a very busy start to the year. With two brand new students, an unexpected arrival, and now a student from another class, things are never dull!

We are a very sensory based class. We enjoy feeling different tactile items with our hands and exploring what objects can do when squished, pulled, and tugged. We are also BIG food lovers and enjoy our mealtimes. We are learning to sit together as a class for mealtime and only eat our own foods. This is very hard when our friend’s food looks so delicious!

Our class needs lots of movement to help support our sensory needs meaning we frequently visit the gym, playground, Maxi’s, go for walks, or just generally move around the classroom. Our classroom swing is very popular with William R and Sidney, and an impromptu dance off will often be started by Meena!

Sarah is a very eager worker and loves to continuously work and complete tasks. William L is learning to complete more tasks in a sequence independently and has even mastered addition on the calculator! Christian always enjoys watching his peers and keeping an eye on all activities in the classroom.

Our class is busy and often dramatic but we wouldn’t have it any other way because this is who we are! We look forward to sharing more fun adventures throughout the year.

Mel and Sandiya

This year Room 7 students are  Raj, Harry, Om and Sunday. They have all successfully transitioned back to school and are  learning their new routines. A key focus is on developing successful strategies for learning through the Positive Behaviour for Learning expectations of Kind, Safe and Learn.

Our theme in Term 1, is “I am Australian Too” based on the Mem Fox book with the same name and is being explored across all Key Learning Areas.

The students are learning about the diversity of the Australian landscape, animals and plants and the people who live in Australia, with a focus on the concepts ‘same’ and ‘different’.

Banu and I are excited to see the students’ progress so far and to watch them continue to meet their learning goals.

Janelle and Banu

William joined us at the start of the year. William is an eager learner, who enjoys independently completing his tasks and celebrating with either a YouTube video or a walk to the playground.

William enjoys chatting with staff about his day and will remember an entire day’s timetable all in his mind!

We are very happy to have William join us at Karonga and look forward to watching him mature and thrive here.

William also joined Karonga at the beginning of the year. William is a very physically capable student, as has been demonstrated by his ability to complete all his usual tasks even with a broken arm in plaster!

William is a geographer at heart, and will search for his favourite places on Google Maps. He also enjoys lots of sensory activities and is learning to request verbally, saying “I want … please” to staff members.

William has been a great asset to our class and we look forward to having him at Karonga for many years to come.

Room 8 welcomes two new students to Karonga School in 2020.

Arthur (below left) who enjoys reading, listening to stories and playing with Lego. Arthur says his favourite things about Karonga are the blocks and the slide in Maxi’s playground.

Ma’afu (below right) enjoys climbing, running, using the Liberty Swing and learning ball skills during PDHPE.

We look forward to many enjoyable learning activities during 2020 and beyond.

Megan and Jennifer

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