I would like to thank those parents/ families who turned up to the recent P & C meeting in the school hall. It is through the commitment that previous and current families have given, that changes around the school have been effected: the purchase of the original school buses which have now morphed into 6 extremely well-kept ones, generating significant funds for the school (directly paying for music therapy and swim support) and the building of our new classroom block less than 10 years ago. Don’t forget that there is no fund-raising associated with attending the P & C and you can be kept well informed about current projects.

I was able to share at this recent meeting that the P & C were successful in their application to the Paramatta Council to provide an additional accessible footpath to our orchard, for students to access a further outdoor learning space and potentially outdoor picnic area. School will supplement any shortfall in the project then add some covered outdoor seating and tables.

P & C meetings are generally in the PL room at school, near Maxi’s playground, on the third Monday of every month, unless it falls in the school holidays- please put it in your calendars now.

Reports will be sent out in Week 10 this term as usual but will take a different format. In alignment with the Department of Education advice it will take the form of a one-page report with the teachers comment, and additional report comments from the RFF teachers- covering Technology and PDHPE. As this has been a disrupted term/ semester the department generally has recognised that students have met a lot of their program goals with their parents present, and that there has been disruption to access venues important for program delivery.

Staff completed some on-line Professional Learning this week when we ‘virtually attended’ a zoom meeting with the AECG co-ordinator around Aboriginal Policy. This was a great opportunity to deepen our understanding about embedding and improving practice at Karonga as we have 3 students who identify as of Aboriginal heritage. It was noted that even on our website as well as to visitors attending our school, that the Aboriginal Peoples flag is flown beside the Australian one, and alongside the Torres Strait Island flag.

Warm Regards, Ruth Rogers

This term Room 3 has been exploring some Australian history. We started with remembering the Anzacs who bravely fought for our country. We then looked at Captain Cook and the journey he made on his ship the Endeavour. We followed his journey from England to the new land, inhabited by Aboriginal Peoples, which we now call Australia. We looked at maps and sailed our own paper boats. Lachlan, Elijah and Amy loved the water play and watching their boats float. Next, we explored the arrival of the first fleet and the reasons for the first European settlement in Australia. Brendan and Jayden enjoyed making their artworks of a First Fleet ship. Room 3 have enjoyed learning about our past and appreciating how different life is now.

Room 3 are happy to be back at school together. We miss Matilda and hope to see her soon.

Mary and Rupak

Room 4 have come back to school this term ready to work hard. We have been busy making choices using technology and BIGmack communicators throughout all of our learning. During Morning Routine, the students make a choice of two songs that they would like to listen to for each section. We use sensory objects in our learning throughout the day.

Leila is looking at and smelling the flowers during our seasons song.  Zena is communicating how she is feeling on the BIGmack communicators.

Even though music has been cancelled at the moment, room 4 have been enjoying listening to music and playing along to the beat using musical instruments in the classroom. Dakotah has been singing and playing on the piano to the music.

Jesse has showed enjoyment listening to the stories we have been reading for Premiers Reading Challenge.

We have been looking at a big science and geography unit on Biomes, Landscapes and Earth. We have used technology and art to learn all about what happens on our planet. Jayden is using the iPad to look at Aboriginal seasons and Leila is looking at a book about the rainforest and change.

Lowenna and Foozieh

It is nice to have all our boys back in the room. We have a new student, Genesis, from another class.  He has settled well into our room and is engaging with a variety of activities.

We have come back from our learning from home, with some new skills. Well done, boys for working so well. Timmy and Chris have both made noticeable improvements in their reading.

The students have been quite engaged with our new morning circle with a great deal more reading and some new activities.

We have noticed the students are becoming more independent in daily routines. They are all sitting and eating very nicely during our eating times and packing away after themselves. There has been a great deal more hand-washing with no complaints and all our old students are unpacking their bags on arrival without prompting and one student has been helping our new student to do it!

Aria likes to read stories to the class and has treated us to fantastic expression and enthusiasm. Jordan has worked with excellent focus in literacy and numeracy activities.

The students have engaged well with our on-line Zoom assemblies and enjoy receiving their awards and seeing their photo come up.

The boys in Room 13 are quite an active group enjoying lots of movement. We have been making great use of our new multi-purpose courts. We have used the balls and nets for volleyball skills and the hoops for basketball. The boys can run really fast in our class races too. The enclosed trampolines and bike-track have enabled our boys to use those large muscles and increase fitness levels. Genesis has worked hard to achieve his goals in climbing the equipment. Timmy and Geonwoo are  doing really well with running and using the trampoline. We are looking forward to being able to return to the gym for even more work!

During library we have all been sitting quietly for stories and choosing our own books to borrow. Science has been a lot of fun with experiments around our Material World topic.

Well done, boys.

Debbie and Su-Jung