The recent Orientation for 2021 Karonga School starters went very well. We sent students home with a range of resources and information packs to share with their families and they were very enthusiastic about attending the second of these Orientation Days next week. At a recent panel meeting at our network office a further 4 students were approved to enroll, so we have 5 Y12 school leavers, and 2 students moving to other schools for specific reasons, and 7 students starting.

All teachers worked very hard at the beginning of 2020 to align paperwork with new practices and expectations. It was a significant shift in expectancy and this was further compromised by COVID-19 hitting internationally and students working-from-home. This means that, on the whole, many students have not completed the program that their teachers had planned for them which is very frustrating. Whilst we consider staff changes on an annual basis- to refresh our teachers, and offer appropriate professional learning, in 2021, on the whole, we anticipate very little to change. Can I guarantee no changes? No. This is because we have 5 Y12 students leaving but no Y12 students starting, and we have other students moving academic stages, so we have had to adjust students in a few cases. We will confirm 2021 class groupings by the end of the term, but be assured that changes will be minimal and mindfully determined.

We have an Aboriginal Department of Education community liaison officer coming out to see us before the end of term, to help guide us going forward in a respectful and authentic way as to how we can embrace this important culture. Just over 4% of our students currently identify as Aboriginal and we want to ensure that we are doing as much as we are able to, to authentically celebrate this culture, not just during the recent NAIDOC week.

The Epping Club have generously supported Karonga School yet again! We have wanted to install a stimulating sensory space for our students who present with the highest needs. They had formally used the Sensory Garden area, but we wanted to rethink this provision and tailor an accessible space for them. The Epping Club contributed over $50,000 for this project, and I am sure you agree from these photographs that the space is being transformed. All students may access this musically-themed space at other times, but at break times it provides a safe, stimulating musical space for high-support needs students.  

Warm Regards, Ruth Rogers

Term 4 for Room 5 commenced with renewed focus on their individual learning goals. With reports due this semester, the students practised skills in all key learning areas and completing assessment tasks with minimal assistance, where possible.

We have been lucky enough to have a pre-service teacher, Taran from the Australian Catholic University helping us with our learning programs. Aiden has demonstrated his independence in completing his comprehension work. Massa continued learning her sight words and has shown remarkable improvement in her handwriting. Gianni is working on matching and sorting of numbers. Titan and William are working on their money skills.

There are times when we feel overwhelmed and sad but that’s ok, we are working on managing our emotions and remain calm by satisfying our sensory needs. For instance: by doing Yoga and sensory play with kinetic sand, coloured rice and shaving cream as we continue to reinforce the Positive Behaviour for Learning framework and its three mission statements of being kind, safe and a good learner.

Room 5 students really enjoyed participating in the Aboriginal performance we had at school. They particularly enjoyed learning indigenous dances and throwing spears.

Another highlight, has been learning about different cultures and their celebrations. 14^th November is celebrated as Children's Day across India to increase awareness of the rights, care and education of children. It is celebrated every year as a tribute to India’s First Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru considered children as real strength of a nation and foundation of society.

This year, Diwali was celebrated on 14^th November 2020. Diwali is a festival celebrated in India that signifies the victory of light over darkness and good over evil. It is acclaimed as the Festival of Lights. The students enjoyed doing Diwali crafts and painting activities.

We are looking forward to the last few weeks of the school year and building on the learning skills and friendships we have made throughout the year.

Until next time,

Kamaldeep, Emma, Wei and Taran.

Students in Room 14 were very busy during NAIDOC week this term. We completed Aboriginal themed arts and craft in class, and participated in games and activities from the country at the Aboriginal incursion. To complete the week, we made traditional Aboriginal tea from scratch. We picked leaves from the lemon myrtle tree on school grounds, and sorted and brewed them to make tea. It was a welcomed refreshment from the afternoon heat.

Shani, Abidemi and Anna

On 4^th November 2020, Karonga School organised a hands-on experience for our students in the form of an incursion, learning about Indigenous culture to celebrate NAIDOC Week.

Students were taught about Aboriginal artefacts, weaponry and history with some fascinating activities like throwing the spears and aiming balls into differentiated bags. Students were told how Indigenous Australians traditionally hunted for birds, by placing a net between the trees and throwing the boomerang up to catch them. They also were able to learn about different sounds and join into the performance by using the clapping sticks and dancing like emus, eagles and kangaroos. Some of our staff also joined in to encourage those of our students who were reluctant to do the same.

The students really loved getting to put ochre colour on their hands and face!  It is created by rubbing of two wet sandstones until you get the colour.

A big thank you to Gibberagong Environment Education Centre and Lisa for coming out to see us.

Can’t wait to see what we do in 2021 with another great experience for our students.

 Until next time,

Kamaldeep Lamba, Organising Teacher

We will be celebrating International Day of People with Disability on Thursday 3rd December, 2020.

Students will be able to wear mufti clothing or non-school uniform clothing.  We are encouraging our students to wear anything superhero related - costumes, pyjamas, t-shirts, capes - anything!

We would ask that if you are wearing mufti clothing that you bring along a gold coin to donate to the school.  All funds raised will go towards resources for our students.

We want to offer families more flexibility with their work commitments and child care arrangements and to create more opportunities across the whole community. Having Out of School Hours Care available at local schools is a great way to achieve this.

As part of the NSW Government’s $120 million Before and After School Care (BASC) commitment, parents at all NSW schools were recently invited to complete a Have Your Say survey. The survey asked parents to tell us how they are using Out of School Hours Care, how much it costs them, whether they plan to keep using it, and what difficulties they experience in accessing it. The survey results have helped us to better understand the needs of families and what’s important to them.

We are now asking all parents to complete a quick follow-up survey by Friday 27 November 2020. You can access the survey at https://surveys.education.nsw.gov.au/s3/OSHCParentSurvey. This information will help us to target the rollout of more before Out of School Hours Care services in the right areas

If your child does not require Out of School Hours care, we ask that you please still complete the first section of this survey as it gives us important information about the level of demand at your school.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the school on 9868 1920 or the BASC Program team by phone on 1300 244 145 or email at: BASCReform@det.nsw.edu.au

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