Hello everyone,

We have enjoyed some great weather, and some great experiences since the last newsletter 2 weeks ago.

Simultaneous Storytime, a national initiative, was held on Wednesday 24^th May at11am. This year’s book was ‘The Speedy Sloth’. Whilst the 11am timing never suits the rhythm of the Karonga School day, we nevertheless committed to watching the recording as soon as we could.

I am pleased to announce the permanent appointment of Dipti Jani to the position of Assistant Principal at our school. Dipti is an experienced special school educator, joining us from William Rose SSP in Seven Hills. She is the class teacher on Room 6 and is already making a great impact. Dipti was instrumental in having a Mini-Woolies installed in her previous school, so we are already asking her to liaise with Woolworths about a store opening at Karonga School in the near future. Watch this space.

Our grounds are looking very smart with the help of a landscape gardener refreshing our extensive acreage. Through him we had a timber decking installed as an outdoor learning space near the library and therapy suite, and he has revised the garden behind behind the office block giving a lovely reflective area. These refreshes help to create great learning spaces for our students – we are always keen to consider ways we can improve our facilities, as our students deserve great surroundings. Future projects include a functioning road crossing installed for our students to learn road-crossing in a safe environment, a path around the oval to practice dog walking and flyer-delivery work experience opportunities and additionally new sun shades over some of these spaces.

Within classrooms we have invested in some new furniture to meet the diverse needs of our students (check out the ‘sen sit’ seats next time you are in), 10^th Generation iPads across the school are imminent and Karen has been working with our OT to install personalised mini-sensory rooms to Rooms 3 and 4. We are fortunate to have a great sensory room, but as it was installed in 2012 it is now starting to look tired, so an upcoming project will be a revision of our well-used sensory room. These are all such positive initiatives for our Karonga youngsters.

Can you believe it is already halfway through the term, with only a few more weeks left of term two?

Room 2 have enjoyed spending time with their peers in room 1 and 4, gardening, cooking and playing music.

Music with Jack has been a highlight, especially since he brought in the electric cello. Timmie, Tommo, Harry and Shuyang all learnt how to move the bow along the cello while Ria plucked at the strings with her fingers. Felicia enjoyed playing the Lute with Jack.

During our walks around the school, we have been stopping off at the gym, Felicia and Shuyang have been enjoying going on the different equipment. Shuyang is on the bike while Felicia is on the treadmill.

We have been walking to the library, Tomochika is enjoying looking at a book. 

We have also been helping around the gardens, Felicia and Shuyang are moving mulch.

And, visiting the Immersive Classroom.

In the classroom we have been completing life skill activities, desk work and watching videos.

Lowenna and Rupak

Term 2 started in a busy way for many of Room 13, with swim school happening each morning for 2 weeks. It was great to see the students’ confidence increase both in getting into the pool and while they were swimming. Julie made impressive progress over the 2-week period. We are now back to our regular swimming session of once per week which Thomas is especially disappointed with!

We have been enjoying learning about the letter of the week, and Mason is the first one to remind us of the new letter on a Monday. Room 13 have also been enjoying reading books. We have taken a few trips to the school library and always come back with armfuls of books for our class bookshelf. Jedi has been enjoying Thomas the Tank Engine stories and Haley loves books about animals. We joined with our friends from Room 12 last week for National Simultaneous Story Time. The book was The Speedy Sloth. We listened to the story and did some craft activities. George enjoyed watching a video about real sloths where we discovered just how slowly they really move.

In science we have been learning about different types of animals and their habitats. We have used our new sensory table to sort animals into those that live in water and those that live on the land. This week we are going on an excursion to Featherdale Wildlife Park to see some other animals. We will share some pictures when we return!

Phew, it has been busy! Until next time.

Emma and Nicky.

Every year, the National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) takes place, where a picture book created by an Australian author and illustrator is read simultaneously across the country. This event is organised by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and has been running successfully for 23 years, aiming to highlight the importance of reading and literacy.

This year the National Simultaneous Storytime was held on Wednesday the 24th May and the story was The Speedy Sloth by Rebecca Young. A lovely book about giving things a go and being proud of your achievements.

Karonga students enjoyed listening to the book and looking at the pictures. We also did some activities aligned to the book. The students had a great time and were engaged in colouring, painting, and craft activities.

Until next time,

Kamaldeep Lamba

Assistant Principal

This week I have been helping our students learn to make choices with the help of our PECs boards placed around the school.

BUS DRIVERS NEEDED 

Do you know anyone who would be interested in driving a Karonga School Bus? Help us get Karonga students to and from school. Casual work available. For more information about requirements, contact our Transport Manager, Aruna Perera at karongatransport@gmail.com.

UNIFORM SHOP ORDERS

Just a reminder if you still have Back to School Vouchers to use, they will expire on 30th June 2023.   To use the vouchers on a Uniform Order, clearly record the voucher numbers on your order form and either email the P&C on karongapc@gmail.com or send in to the school with your child.

IMPORTANT NOTE: any amount outside the value of the voucher(s) must be paid online via the direct deposit account information on the order form.

Reminder - NSW Health Year 10 Vaccine Clinic this Tuesday

Just a reminder to Year 10 Parents & Carers to provide consent for your child’s school vaccinations online at https://nswhealth.service-now.com/school,  The next NSW Health vaccination clinic to be held at Karonga is on Tuesday 6 June for Year 10 students.

You can get free RATs at Service NSW service centres, mobile service centres and recovery centres. There is no eligibility criteria and free RATs are available to all customers.

How do I get them?

You can go to your nearest Service NSW centre, or participating neighbourhood or community centres to collect RATs.

Neighbourhood and Community Centres will only provide RATs to priority cohorts. If you are living with disability or immunocompromised, you or your carer need to tell the centre that you have a disability or that you‘re immunocompromised. You do not need to provide your name or personal details. Commonwealth Concession Card holders and those named on a holder's card must show the concession card to collect RATs.

How many can I have?

All customers are eligible to receive Free Rapid Antigen Tests (RATS) at Service NSW Centres, Service NSW Mobile Service Centres, and Disaster Recovery Centres.

The number of RATS you can have is at the discretion of the Service Centre and is based on availability and demand. As a consequence that number may vary between centres and visits.

For people with disability or immunocompromised, collection at Neighbourhood and Community Centres may vary depending on your need, but we recommend you collect up to 1 month’s supply, based on 2 RATs per week. That’s a total of 8 RATs per person per month.

If you have multiple carers coming into your home, you may require more RATs so that all your carers can test themselves before visiting you.

Concession Card holders can access 10 Rapid Antigen Tests over 3 months.

Why are these kits free?

The NSW Government is committed to protecting those most in need in our community by providing RATs to vulnerable people.

The Junction Works

School Holidays and Weekend Disability Programs:

The Junction Works will be offering School holiday Vacation care for School children with Disabilities aged 7 and above.  The vacation care program will run in the upcoming School holidays from July 3 to July 14, refer attached flyer for further information.