Hello everyone,

I recently attended a network meeting for schools in our area, and one of the talks being from the Media Unit from the Department of Education led them to call me on the Monday of week 7 to ask if we would like to showcase our school on TV.  We jumped at the chance to highlight our amazing students – and perhaps it was a good thing that we did not have a long time to think about it.  We did 2 segments: one at 10.30am showing Room 8 enjoying Music Therapy, and one at 11.10am for a range of students accessing the Immersive Classroom.  Please view these videos on the Karonga Facebook page, or on our website.

We are excited to begin Work Experience at DSA (Disability Service Australia) in Seven Hills in Term 3. This is an important part of the work preparation that we do, or need to do for our students. A group of 6 students with 2 staff will access DSA on Fridays- look out in future newsletters for updates and photographs.

We have recently engaged an IT company to support our staff and students with software and hardware usage. We have recently ordered a further 30 iPads, and plan to order a further 2 eye-gaze devices for use at Karonga, which complements the range of existing devices we have. Weekly visits from JTC means that assistance in classrooms can be made possible- which is a great benefit in this everchanging landscape of technology.  

We have recently met with Transport for NSW and departmental delegates about installing an authentic functioning road crossing within our school site. As we complete risk assessments for taking students into the community, we have become aware of the need to break down safe road crossing into teachable moments within a safe setting. We seem to be the first school to have installed this provision and it has gained a lot of interest from various agencies in its potential use. We plan to have it installed over the September/ October holidays to be least disruptive to students and ASTP transport. We plan to have a launch of this provision once installed, and to publicly acknowledge the financial support that the Epping Club has given us to make this teaching opportunity a reality.

The King’s School visited yesterday for the last time this semester. It has been very insightful to listen to their reflections before they return to their school, and the Karonga teachers have been overwhelmingly positive about the contribution they make- on the playground, within classrooms and socially.

Some further photos from our Studio 10 visit...

Students in Room 7 have been very busy doing pre-literacy and pre-numeracy work. They have been developing their visual discrimination skills, play skills and learning to manage emotions. We have explored patterns through bead threading and tower building with Duplo blocks.

We have been exploring push and pull forces through actions with toys and playground equipment.

Our juniors made wonderful progress in the special swimming program and all students are doing great things in our weekly class sessions.

We have been taking advantage of the unseasonal winter weather on our walks across the oval. The students enjoy moving in the fallen Autumn leaves in one particular spot. They are learning to wear a hat outdoors when they are with the class.

We have focused on developing independence in daily routines and achieving our personal goals. The students have progressed very well in their communication and work skills. We have enjoyed the different learning spaces around the school, with outdoor picnic lunches being a highlight.

Art therapy with our therapist, Lissette, has been a relaxing and therapeutic activity for our students. Music is active and creative with Jack allowing the students to take the lead and creating songs with them around their interest.

Deb & Cassie

Students in Room 8 have continued to strengthen their relationships with each other by confidently exploring and engaging within social and physical environments. This is observed in their progress in learning in small groups. Christopher and Timothy have taken the lead to sit with William, Mark and Jordan and read English Readers to them. This has provided an opportunity for Christopher and Timothy to build their leadership skills and sense of responsibility within Room 8, while their peers look up to them for direction.

Room 8 has also progressed towards developing relationships through sport with students in the Pennant Parade Tutorial Centre (PPTC), each Tuesday morning at the Karonga Oval. In their first gathering, the students of the PPTC demonstrated, and then assisted all students of Room 8 to learn Golf. This was further reinforced with classroom lessons on how to hold the golf stick and position oneself.

Further opportunities to work collaboratively were enabled through Art Club sessions, aptly named Art-Attack.  During this time, Farhan was observed to learn painting collaboratively, with students from The Kings School.

Communication between the students of Room 8 has further improved due to the use of communication devices with the application software, LAMP and Proloquo2Go. In addition to communicating with the teacher, Farhan recently conveyed to Jordan to ‘drink water!’ using his recently acquired communication device. Jordan has used the communication device to let his teacher know his preferred colours for art, while Mark used it to convey “I am eating grapes” during morning tea.

By learning collaboratively, students of Room 8 will continue to build their communication skills, and progress towards initiating conversations that will contribute to building relationships with each other.

Hettige and Kerrie

School Holidays at Allowah

Allowah Children's Hospital is offering vacation care programs for the upcoming Winter school holidays

Roll up, roll up....Circus Quirkus is coming to town!

Hosted by the Ryde Club of Rotary and sponsored by the local business community, Circus Quirkus presents two shows (11am and 1pm) on Monday 17th July, 2023 at the Blacktown Workers Club Diamond Showroom and are offering families & carers of Karonga School tickets.  

If you would like complimentary tickets for either the 11am or 1pm show, please email the school on karonga-s.school@det.nsw.edu.au, no later than Wednesday 21st June, with your name, contact number and the name of all adult & children attendees.  

(Please note, Monday 17th July is the first day of Term 3 and is a pupil-free day).