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| Monday 8th May | Week 2 Swim School Program (K-6) |
| Wednesday 17th May | P&C Meeting 6.45pm Karonga Meeting Room |
| Tuesday 6th June | Y10 Vaccination Meningococcal ACW and catch up Year 7 due single dose of HPV if needed |
| Monday 12th June | Public Holiday - King's Birthday |
| Wednesday 28th June | End of Term Assembly |
| Friday 30th June | Last Day of Term 2 |
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to Term 2. We enjoyed fabulous weather during the vacation period and week 1 of the term- long may it last.
We returned to a very busy week last week- with School Development Day and additional professional learning for staff on the Monday. Staff attended a mini-conference about Autism for 3 special schools. It was delivered by Sue Larkey, a renowned speaker on the subject who took us through the latest research and strategies.
On Wednesday, our first day back, we recognized Anzac Day with a walk through the school concluding at the Anzac Garden. A Scottish bagpiper played the pipes as he accompanied Massa and Oscar, the senior and primary school captains along with Tess, past all classrooms. Around half the school joined together at the garden and held a minute’s silence, and planted hand-made poppies.
Friday, of course, heralded the school photographs. There is always an equal measure of anxiety, joviality and tissues to wipe faces. The sun shone, so we were able to have group photos taken outdoors, and we used the revamped garden beside the ramp to gather classes, school leaders and school leavers. It is invariably the end of the term before photographs are returned to us, but we will send them out as soon as they are delivered to us.
Swim School is going well. This is an annual, government-funded accessible program. Staff are truly exhausted from all the changing and tight time frame needed, but we already see the progress that students are making. We are half-way through, returning to regular swim sessions throughout the school as soon as we are able to.
The Kings School in Paramatta offered a volunteer day of ‘service’ to our school this last week. 10 boys are going to come to our school for 9 service days over the rest of the year. We have assigned them to playgrounds and classes in pairs, and it was a really positive experience. They enjoyed music therapy and art therapy as well as joining our younger classes in pairs.
Now that the weather is turning cold, a reminder that you need to label items of clothing so that if layers are removed, we can return them to the rightful family.
Welcome to Term 2! We are only two weeks into the term, but the days have been filled with many activities in Room 3.
Week 1 was a short and busy week with an ANZAC Walk on Wednesday and school photos on Friday. Yeting, Brendan and Jayden joined the ANZAC Walk and followed the bagpipe player through the school grounds to the ANZAC garden. Every student painted or coloured a poppy, which are now on display in the windows. Eli painted with a roller whilst Brendan used his handy helper to colour the poppy with watercolour crayons.
Eli and Yeting enjoyed a music session with Jack and Ty in Maxi’s Playground. Yeting particularly liked ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ in Mandarin and Eli listened to a friend from another class playing the guitar.
Room 3 received some special deliveries with fantastic furniture and resources. Jim helped putting things together, and Yeting and Lachlan observed with great interest. The new beanbags are super comfy.
Week 2 and 3 are swim school weeks, and Eli is having a great time in the pool. He loves his daily splash and improving his swimming skills. Brendan created a spectacular piece of art during art therapy with Lissette.
Last but not least, Room 3 would like to show you some beautiful pictures of an activity that the students did together with Room 4 at the end of Term 1. Linked to the literacy unit around the book ‘Owl Moon’, the students went into the immersive classroom and experienced a winter wonderland. It was freezing, but Karen provided beanies for everyone and there may have been even a snowball fight. Thank you, Karen, for providing this special sensory experience for the students of Room 3.
Janina & Barbara
Room 14 has returned to school for Term 2 after a well-earned break and we can now reflect on our last 10 weeks of school.
We have all relished our weekly music therapy sessions, and Sadev has shown a great interest in guitar, regularly walking over to pluck the strings himself!
Julian can't wait for swimming each week and always has so much fun splashing around with his friends!
Room 14 has resolved to start working on our back garden to make it a more accessible and functional space for everyone. Titan made a great effort with the rake to get our tidying efforts underway.
Hannah has been tackling new communication opportunities and has been so focussed when asking for preferred activities. You can see just how proud she is when she knows you have understood her requests.
In week 1 this term we acknowledged the sacrifices made by the ANZACS during our school march to our ANZAC Memorial Garden. Sarah participated in the march, following the bagpipes player, and placed a poppy in remembrance.
Perhaps our biggest news in recent weeks is Gianni's birthday. He turned 18 over the break during a family holiday. Happy birthday, Gianni!
That's all from us for now.
From Liam and Michelle
Dear Parent/Carer,
NSW School Vaccination Program 2023
From 2023 you can provide consent online for your child’s routine school vaccinations. The following vaccines are offered free to students at school:
- in Year 7 - diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) & human papillomavirus (HPV)*
- in Year 10 - meningococcal ACWY vaccine
Vaccination will only be provided at school if consent has been received.
To provide consent for vaccination online go to https://nswhealth.service-now.com/school, you will need:
- your ServiceNSW log-in details, or to create an account with ServiceNSW if you don’t already have one
- Medicare details for parents/carers and your child
Benefits of online consent for parents/carers:
- SMS notifications when vaccinations are given
- easy updating of your child’s details online
- faster upload of your child’s vaccination records to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR)
If you or your child do not have a Medicare card, consent can still be provided by requesting a paper-based consent form directly from our school.
To help answer questions you may have regarding providing vaccination and online consent, please visit the NSW Health on www.health.nsw.gov.au/schoolvaccination.
NSW Health is waiting on the outcome of a review by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) on Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination schedule. International evidence indicates that one dose of HPV vaccine provides equivalent protection to two-dose. If a one dose-schedule is endorsed NSW Health will contact all parents of students who have been consented for two doses of the vaccine and also parents of students who have received one dose of HPV vaccine (to advise that they are up to date and do not require any further doses).
School Uniform
Stock up on Winter clothing – Don’t forget to use your Back to School Vouchers
Back to school vouchers are only valid to 30th June.
If you have not used your 3x $50 Premier’s Back to School vouchers yet, consider stocking up on uniform items, especially as the weather is getting cooler.
We aim to keep reasonable stock for each item. If sales are popular new stock may need to be ordered and this can take 2-3 weeks. Please let us know if you intend to place a large order.
P&C Meeting:
Our next P&C meeting is on Wednesday 17th May at 6.45pm in the PL room. Come and discuss ways in which we can support our students. If you are unable to attend in person, and would like to join via Zoom, please email us at Karongapc@gmail.com so we can arrange a link.
Yee-Foong Stone
Karonga P&C President
Allowah MyTime Parent & Carer Support Group
MyTime is a peer to peer support group for the parents and carers of children up to 18 years of age with a disability, developmental delay or chronic health condition.
The group meets every Tuesday during the school term from 10.30am till 2pm, below is a list of activities and speakers scheduled for this term.
