Hello everyone,

World Down Syndrome Day & World Epilepsy Day were both celebrated at Karonga over the past 2 weeks. Staff and students celebrated crazy sock day on March 21^st to acknowledge World Down Syndrome Day, and on Friday 25^th March we celebrated Epilepsy Awareness Day by wearing purple- even painting finger nails purple.

As per our Strategic Improvement Plan (formally called the School Plan) we are offering termly workshops for parents to attend to learn more about activities or initiatives we offer students at Karonga. We have inconsistent attendance, and hope to canvas families as to what you want so we can address understandings, concerns and needs. Watch out for a survey in second term.

The Parent Workshop we held on Wednesday was attended by a few parents where we shared an understanding about Positive Behaviour for Learning, widely used at Karonga, and exploring the See Saw app being used between class and home. Do take advantage of these friendly gatherings, and feel free to email us with suggestions for future workshops.

Clothes

Just a reminder, that we do not have spare clothes at school if your child needs changing. Keeping a spare set of labelled clothes in a bag at the bottom of the backpack is a solution for many, or sending in a seasonal set of clothes to be kept in the cupboard at school and sent home to be refreshed termly works for some.

We sell a great Karonga drawstring bag for only $5 through the Uniform Shop if you want to keep clothes together and dry.

COVID Update:

The above numbers do not necessarily reflect the numbers affected by COVID-19, as under the current rules, staff or students who reside with people who have tested positive have to self-isolate for 7 days and test negative before returning to school.  The above numbers also do not reflect staff employed through Assisted School Transport.

Social Media

Social media is one of the ways you can support our school. Melanie Currey does a great job at sharing images of school events through Facebook -  so look us up, join the community and like or share to raise our profile. A recent post elicited a member of the public responding “My beautiful D/S son is 45 he started school at Karonga on his 4^th birthday”... proof that relationships and connections are still evident 40+ years into the future. 

Parent/Carers Online Payments

If you wish to make a payment to the school, please refer to the attached flyer regarding the online payment system.

Room 2 students have settled very nicely into the year, coping with many changes and enjoying our activities.

Naya has discovered that there are many things similar about home and school, particularly in our bathroom! She has been telling us all about the things that she has at home that we also have at school. Maybe due to one of our predictive texts sentence “ At home I have……” Each afternoon we take turns to choose a picture. We have also made “ In my lunchbox I have…,” In my bag I have…. And In my body, I have…” sentences. Naya loves to cycle and learn on the class exercise bike. She has been doing lots of writing and cut and paste activities.

Shuyang is reading our sentences really well and loving music with Jack. Shuyang enjoys playing the drums and stopping when Jack’s music stops. Shuyang also enjoys cycling.

All our students are eating well and putting their lunch things away afterwards. Suzie is the star of organisation! …and yes, she enjoys cycling. I think we need more bikes!

Tomo has been putting everyone’s lunchboxes out ready for lunch and doing a great job. It’s lovely to hear the students saying thank you.

In science we are learning about living things. The students enjoyed looking at a little praying mantis that came into our room to visit and the chickens and frogs with Room 9.

Ria has been very excited in swimming with Deb W. and very vocal and active in our music sessions with Jack. She likes shaking the bells to the music.

The students have enjoyed the new Immersive Classroom during technology sessions with Mel.

We have been reading Harry Potter in English and learning about concepts of print. The students have focussed on a different letter each day, learning words that start with or have the letter in them, the signs for the letters and words and letter activities.

In Health we have focussed on healthy eating and healthy lifestyle, including sleep, drinking water, exercise and safety. Tomo has been very good at wearing his mask at school.

We have enjoyed some special days with crazy sock day for World Down Syndrome awareness and purple day for World Epilepsy awareness.

Well Done Room 2 students.

Debbie and Kerrie

As Term 1 of 2022 wraps up, Room 5 can reflect on a successful start to the year.

Timmie was a late arrival to our class and has settled in wonderfully. His enthusiastic participation in tasks around the classroom and school has been such a great help! All students have taken responsibility over assigned jobs to help our class run as smoothly as possible!

The students have loved a return to swimming. William loves being cheered on as he swims a few laps of the pool independently, while Gianni's playful approach to swim sessions provides us all with lots of fun and entertainment. 

One thing we've all missed is music therapy sessions with Jack! Room 5 have relished our opportunities to play music with our students using an array of instruments. Kugan has loved using percussion instruments in particular and smiles from ear to ear when Jack plays some of his favourite songs!

From Liam

Room 8 has 6 students, Ashton, Chris, Jordan, Timothy, Oscar and William. The boys have been working diligently towards achieving their learning goals, as well as having some fun.

Although we were confined to the classroom for a number of weeks, because of the inclement weather, the boys demonstrated excellent behaviour. During that time, we set up the train tracks each day. It was wonderful to see the boys building the track and problem solving together.

Another rainy- day activity was potting cuttings. Every student was engaged in this fun learning activity.

Science experiments have proven to be an engaging activity in Room 8. William, Ashton and Jordan have particularly enjoyed the practical aspects of the program.

Visual Arts has also been popular. The students created striking self- portraits, which adorn the classroom windows. Timothy, Oscar and Chris especially demonstrated attention to colour and detail.

We are looking forward to more learning in term 2.

After starting the year in Room 10, Titan, Sarah and Sadev have happily settled into Room 14.

We are fortunate to have two different outdoor learning spaces which are used to get "In The Zone" for learning.

Titan has space to bounce balls of various sizes and textures when he arrives in the morning and independently takes himself out for movement breaks during indoor learning time.

Sarah enjoys spending time in the courtyard. She bounces on the gym ball, engages with water activities, and relaxes in the rocking chair. 

Sadev enjoys the peace and tranquillity that the landscaped garden provides. He has shown his cheeky side by sneaking out and hiding amongst the foliage.

Kelly, Mary and Hyma are so proud of how well Titan, Sarah and Sadev have adjusted to their new environment and settled into routine. You are all Kind, Safe Learners, who make good choices.

We have officically opened our wonderful new immersive classroom!  A very big THANK YOU to The Epping Club for their incredible financial support towards making this new learnng space happen.

Our students can now access and participate in many different activities and virtual locations in a safe and comfortable learning environment.

We would also like to give special thanks to Mr Tony Hackett (President of the Epping Chamber of Commerce), Yee-Foong Stone (Karonga P&C), David Leydon (Director, Educational Leadership) and Paula Duncan for their continued support of our school's endeavours.

In conjunction with our School Photo Day scheduled for Friday 29th April (Term 2, Week 1), envelopes for ordering school photos were distributed this week.  The envelopes are named and coded individually for each student and classroom, and there are three payment options:

• cash (exact amount to be enclosed in the envelope)
• money order (exact amount to be enclosed in the envelope)
• online payment by credit card (use purple reference code on front of order envelope)

Envelopes are due back at the school before or by Thursday 28th April and can be given to your class teacher.  Please note, the Karonga School office is unable to accept payment for school photographs and does not keep spare change on the premises.  All payment is made directly with The School Photographer and they can be contacted on (02) 9674 9824 if you have any questions.

Below is an example of the ordering options, prices are included on the order envelope.

At the Annual General Meeting on 16^th March, a new executive committee was elected. I am pleased to take on the role of President for 2022 and look forward to working with Karonga families and the school to support all of Karonga’s students.

I am the mother of Brendan who has been attending Karonga since 2018. I work part-time as an Audiologist and when I get a moment to myself, I enjoy the challenge of jigsaw puzzles. I find them relaxing, though some people think that’s strange! I hope I get the opportunity to meet some of you face-to-face next term at school events.

I would like to thank Diana Farache and Linus Yong for their dedication and commitment to the P&C Executive. Diana has been President since 2015, and Linus has been Secretary since 2017. We are fortunate that they both remain as general members of the committee.   

Below is the new Karonga P&C Committee for 2022.

Our next meeting will be held on 27^th April 2022 at 6.45pm. See link for our agenda. Join us to hear the latest updates and be involved in discussions regarding therapy funding, transport and initiatives for our school and students. It’s also a chance to ask questions or share ideas.

If you cannot attend in person, a zoom link will be arranged. Please contact me at karongapc@gmail.com

Yee-Foong Stone
President Karonga P&C