Welcome to the last Newsletter of the Semester- and what an odd Semester it has been! I am so humbled by the response from families who have made the best of such an unusual situation, and taken on responding to communications from school and delivering learning opportunities at home.

We have settled now into a more familiar pattern of a school day, though we are mindful of social distancing advice and have still held school gatherings in the hall, and used online platforms for assemblies.

Next term we plan to have a return to the full use of facilities at Karonga, including Swim sessions. These are such enjoyable sessions for our students that we anticipate lots of smiling faces. Term 3 also heralds a return of External Therapists to school, where this is unable to be accommodated at home (and agreed by the teacher), and our SRE sessions delivered by a local church.

Please be assured that we will continue to remain vigilant around hygiene practices, including calling families whose child presents with COVID-19 like symptoms. We do this in everyone’s best interests.

We have been trialing a change in school timings at Karonga. This means that our afternoon session is now significantly shorter, but we have been gauging the impact on teaching and learning practices and we plan to keep these changes going forward. There are so many benefits, not least that teachers may now take classes into the community in the middle session as it is now of the same length as the first part of the day.

Swim School at Karonga will not be happening this year for our junior aged students. Sadly, although the program will be operational from this semester, they are not recommencing the program until half-way through the term. On balance this is just too disruptive for all the Karonga students. Having been denied access to the pool for so long due to COVID-19, we really do not want to distress students by starting swimming sessions again then suspending them for 2 weeks while Swim School is on. We will be included in the 2021 Swim School program.

The next P&C meeting will be held on the evening of the School Development Day: Monday July 20^th at 7.30pm. Do come along and join other families in supporting Karonga and having a say in your child’s school in the future.

Room 6 has had a busy term easing back into the swing of regular school.

This term Room 6 have been making great use of Karonga’s multi-sport court for PDHPE while the gym has been closed. Sharon has greatly enjoyed developing her aim when throwing basketballs into the hoop.

As we move into winter, Room 6 have engaged in some seasonal artworks resulting in some beautiful displays for our classroom window. This included each student gluing and pasting cellophane, and sprinkling glitter to decorate a snowflake and using foil to create a shining border around it. Gordon was very focussed on his artwork and did a fantastic job.

Room 6 has also been making progress in our learning programs. Bavan and Hannah have been creating great recounts of their school days by using visuals. Omar has enjoyed creating structures using magnetic shapes, using a single picture as reference for colour and size.

From Liam and Craig

Room 11 have completed several interesting art projects this term. We have been continuing our theme Ancient China and have completed craft such as bicycles made from rubber. We have also been reading about the weather in China and the cold winters they experience and have made some winter craft to support these books. Ria made a fantastic snowman.

Room 11 has also continued to progress in their learning programs. Naya and Anita have been working with Australian money and are able to recognise the coins and sort them.

Room 11 have been learning to use the gym equipment safely . Suzie particularly likes using the bike and has been working towards gradually increasing her exercise time to 5 minutes .  

Looking forward to the return of Louisa in Term 3 and hoping everyone has a healthy and safe holiday.

Michell and Wendy

We would like to thank Susan and Yvonne from the Carmen Drive Community Pharmacy, located at Carlingford, for their generous donation of surgical masks for use by our staff.