May 2021

News from the Principal

It is hard to believe we are almost half way through the year already ! Is it bad to say there are just over 200 days until Christmas. We have a jam-packed term this term with the 50^th Birthday celebration on Sunday 23^rd May. Please make sure you come along and check out some of the great history of the school and join in on some of the activities that will be about during this weekend. If you didn’t get to catch the famous Kate Hucker before she left to take up her new position, I can confirm that she will be making a guest appearance.

Variety Grant

You might have seen on DOJO recently that 8 of our students were successful in being awarded a bike through a combined grant through Variety and Toyota. We are very thankful for this opportunity and hope to continue work with these organisations into the future. Our lucky winners are:

Goutham Gudupu - Room 9, Rory Grice - Room 10, Ethan Dyer - Room 8, Khiann Guivarra - Room 2, Nicholas Holditch - Room 11, Ethan Lodder - Room 14 and Jayden Grice - Room 11

Kurt Fearnley

There was a successful meet and greet with Kurt Fearnley at the beginning of the month where we had a number of schools from the Gladstone region come along to have a chin wag and hear about the journey that Kurt has been on. Kurt is actually a PE teacher from a country town in NSW. He crawled the Kokoda track with all of his family and claimed that his family members cried more than he did. But this was definitely a soul searching opportunity for them all. Kurt discussed the struggles that I am sure all of you can relate to when dealing with Centrelink and NDIS and he encouraged parents to stick it out and don’t give up. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, I would highly recommend him. Thank you to the Gladstone Rotary for creating this opportunity.

Changes to Leadership Team

I would like to let you know that while we are currently waiting on the new Principal to be appointed we have the following staff filling the following roles:

Shelley Slade – Acting Principal

Dominique Colucci – Acting Deputy Principal

Tracey Davis – Acting Head of Curriculum

Tracey joins us from Gladstone State High School and has significant experience within the special education field. We thank her for taking time out of her school to come along to support our school while we are in this transition period.

Key for Lions Park Disabled toilet

I have been made aware that you can apply through Gladstone Council to be able to sign out a key to enable you to have access to the Lions Park toilet. This will be something that our school is going to apply for, to support students during our outings, but may also be something to consider if you use these resources regularly. Please contact the Council for further information.

Multiclass Athletics

If your child is interested in competing at Multiclass Sports events, please contact myself (Shelley Slade on sslad7@eq.edu.au) or the Multi-Class Manager, Emma Oliver (ecoli0@eq.edu.au). There is a lengthy process that we need to do to have students classified to be able to compete, so we are starting with Athletics this year but are hoping to do both Athletics and Cross Country next year. The Teams are split into two age groups, the first one being 10-12 yrs and the second being 13-19 yrs. Often the two teams compete on different days, but sometimes they will compete on the same days and combine the two events. Students are able to compete in Track Events such as 100, 200, 400 and 800 metre races against student who also have a disability. They can also compete in field events such as Shot Put, Long Jump and Discus. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to engage in school sport. Obviously given that they are a representative of the school, we expect that they can demonstrate positive behaviour at school prior to having approval to go to these events. The upcoming events are on during week 2 of Term 3, with the 10-12 yrs event being held on the Friday 23^rd July and the 13-19 yrs event being on Tuesday 20^th July. Parents are encouraged to attend to see their child compete in these events.

Administration News

50th Birthday Celebration

A very exciting event is coming up for the school. On Sunday, 23rd May we will be celebrating the school's 50th birthday. All past and present students and parents are invited to attend on the day between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm to take a look around and see how the school has changed and evolved over the years. If you would like to attend, could you please RSVP the school either by email to admin@rosellaparkspecs.eq.edu.au or by phone on 4976 8333 so we can have an idea on numbers for catering purposes.

Pie Drive

The P&C is running the annual pie drive. Order forms have been sent home with your student. If you would like to place an order for pies, please fill in the form and return to the school WITH PAYMENT by end of the school day on Friday 11th June. If you would like to pay using direct deposit to the P&C account, please use the following account number and BSB number and use your student's name as a reference. Pies are being ordered from the Family Crust Bakery.

Account No: 00902301

BSB No: 064-705

Ref: Pies - (enter student name)

No order forms will be accepted without accompanying money or banking e-receipt.

School Photos

The school photos for 2021 are scheduled to take place on Tuesday 8th June 2021 at the school. Please make sure your student comes dressed in full school uniform including closed in shoes. The order envelopes will be sent home as soon as we have received them from the photographer. Payment is made directly to the photographers, so correct money must be included with the order form.

School Uniforms

Please be reminded that Rosella Park School has a school unform policy. All students are expected to attend school in the correct uniform. As the weather is cooling down, a reminder that no hoodies or football jumpers are allowed. All jumpers/cardigans and track pants worn must be in line with the uniform policy i.e. Navy. Please refer to the attached flyer for further information or contact the school administration office.

Room 1 - Junior - Mrs Thomas

This term we have already seen an improvement in our fine motor skills, writing and letters. Room 1 are working on re-building their listening and focus stamina skills for the remainder of the term.  We are continuing to learn about daily and seasonal changes in our environment and the effects on everyday life in Science. In numeracy, students are engaging with 2D and 3D shapes; sorting and matching objects to their features. They are also exploring adding and taking away from a collection of objects. They are increasing their vocabulary in this area of math e.g. sharing, less or more. The students have engaged in play experiences which have assisted them in developing further their social skills while learning through play. They are learning to overcome problems with others, negotiate, problem solve, using their imagination, expressing themselves and exploring their world. They are communicating either verbally or non-verbally through their daily routine, set tasks and play. They are using their language skills to interact with and respond to books or requests from others during the day. The students are also communicating their needs, likes and dislikes throughout play interactions, set task times and play. The students have been completing assessments to assist with reporting for the end of term.

We hope all mums had a big huge Happy Mother’s Day!

From Room 1- Miss Colleen, Miss Tracey and Miss Julie.

Room 1

Room 2 - Junior - Mrs Wellsteed

I hope that everyone had a restful and enjoyable holiday. Everyone has come back ready to engage in activities and give them a go. It has been a busy start to the term. We have farewelled our principal Mrs Hucker and wished her well in her next adventure. This term we are trying to focus on experiencing being a writer and sharing books. We will continue working on our number knowledge and other numeracy skills. In all we do, we are modelling language and all the different ways to communicate. 

Room 2

Room 3 - Junior - Mrs Hayne

Welcome to the new term. We started the term with an Anzac story, making a wreath and poppies for the school service and to decorate the school fence. The students have participated in a variety of movement challenges in HPE which have seen them throw beanbags, roll balls, throw balls into hoops and on to targets on the floor as an example. As part of the Science Unit, within the morning session on a daily basis, we have looked outside to work out what the weather is like and then make choices based on the observations. The student have also had opportunities to choose appropriate clothing for a variety of different weather types such as what to wear for a sunny or a rainy day.

Our Health Unit has the focus on body parts and growing and what is changing from when they were a baby until now when at school. The students have enjoyed a variety of songs to help with identification such as "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "The Hokey Pokey" as examples. During Literacy, Room 3 students have become more familiar and engaged with using FLIP charts and are liking their personal photos as a stimulus for their writing. We are enjoying reading the personal class books written by them after completing the Predictable Chart Writing process. With pen in hand during Letter and Sounds segment, there has been lots of practicing of writing the letter of the week (D) which the students have enjoyed and have also been displaying their Lego Master skills with the creation of LEGO for the letter L.

Warm regards,

Leanne

Room 5 - Intermediate - Mrs Nash

Welcome back Room 5 to term 2.  We have been having a great time at swimming lessons on Tuesday afternoons.  The students are learning skills they can use to stay safe in the water.  It has been amazing to see the progress of some of the students; from being scared to put their eyes in the water the first week to now happily ducking their head under the water.

We are presently hard at work completing our assessment tasks for the semester.  You should be very proud of the effort they are all making.  Room 5 is presenting parade this week, so we have been practicing a song about the weather called “The deep blue sea”.  It has some fun actions, ask your child to show you 😊.

As usual please do not hesitate to contact me via phone, email or class dojo at any time.

Room 5

Room 6 - Senior - Mrs Buckle

Parents and Carers welcome to the May edition of the newsletter. We have started Term 2 with some acknowledgement days such as ANZAC Day, Labour Day and Mother’s Day.  The boys from Room 6 could not believe that boys as young as themselves were lying about their age so they could fight in World War 1.  Also they hoped you liked your Mother’s Day gift of the mobile phone holder.  

On a weekly basis we join Room 12 for PE.  We are practising fundamental skills of catching and throwing balls, scarves and frisbees. We also practice bowling by playing Bocce and sit down volleyball as you can see in the photos below. Everyone plays together respectfully and shows good sportsmanship by encouraging each other. 

In this month of May we will be starting assessments of our Learning Goals which have come from our Individual Curriculum Plans (ICP).  This week we are moderating our students’ writing against the Developmental Writing Scale as set out by the Literacy Centre for the Balanced literacy program.   Once we have a consensus of each student’s level, we know then what aspects of ‘writing’ the student should be working on to get to the next level in the 14-point scale.  When we have consultants like Jane Farrell visit, we learn a little more about how to fine tune our teaching of literacy practice to enhance the learning for the students.

As the cooler weather is coming upon us, please ensure any coats worn to school have your child’s name on them. As per usual please call or email to arrange a meeting if you are having concerns about your child.

Room 6

Room 7 - Intermediate - Mrs Thompson

Welcome back to Term 2.

Room 7 have been really busy this term as we have begun our Science and HPE assessments.

This means that we have had to remember lots of things we have learnt during Term 1.

We have also started our swimming lessons at the town pool where we are learning how to float on our backs and how to blow bubbles through our nose and our mouth. We are also getting to use kick boards and noodles but our best activity is diving down to collect the rings.

We really enjoy travelling down to the pool on the school bus because we get to sing “the wheels on the bus go round and round.”

Have a great Term 2.

From the students of Room 7.

Room 8 - Intermediate - Ms Schulze

Wow! what a start to term 2. We kicked off with swimming from the second day back and all of the students are really enjoying it. They have been learning to float on their backs and that raising one hand with fist closed is how to signal for help when in you are in the water. It has been great to see everyone having so much fun while they are developing their swimming skills.

In English we have been working on developing our reading skills, learning about how we can look at the picture to help us work out what the story is about to help build on our comprehension skills. We are also working on identifying rhyming words and writing one good sentence.

In Maths, we are working on a range of different learning areas which include counting to 20 and backwards from 20, understanding that adding makes the number bigger, identifying patterns with numbers and objects and sorting groups, shapes and objects by different attributes such as size, shape and colour.

In Science, we are still exploring the effect of the weather on the environment and looking at it’s impact on animals and plants. While in Health, we are starting to explore how we grow and change over time, discussing how our appearance has changed since we were a baby and talking about things that have changed like our hair, size and teeth.

Room 8

Room 9 - Intermediate - Ms Herberts

It has been an exciting beginning to Term 2 in Room 9 with the introduction of the swimming program. Our learners are loving the experience and enjoying the weekly opportunity to visit the friendly swimming instructors. We have also had our fair share of celebrations this term as we welcomed our friend Jack for a visit and celebrated Goutham’s birthday. After conducting further literacy assessment with our students, we have revised our daily literacy groups so as to best support their areas of need. For literacy groups moving forward, Room 9 with Miss Dana and Miss Kirsty will have Tyler, Lachie, Bella, Norman and Leona. This week in literacy groups, we are focussing on Mother’s Day and writing about all of the things our Mums, Nanas and carers do for us. In Maths, we have been focussing on weight measurement and practiced using different fruits. In Science, we have been learning about how we can take care of ourselves in particular weather conditions. In HPE, we have been making some wonderful timelines with the beautiful photos sent in by our families. We have been categorising the photos as ‘baby’, ‘toddler', or ‘child’ and talking about the differences between these life stages. We have also been learning some groovy dance moves!

Room 10 - Senior - Mrs Bickle

Welcome everyone to the news of room 10. Wow, we have most definitely been busy, awesome learners this term. The wonderful teaching staff in room 10 are so proud of all our students, their efforts, and some very amazing achievements so far. So, lets look at what we have been doing.

Design and technology has been particularly rewarding because not only has it been fun and creative, but tasty as well. Lots of discussions and research has occurred around where food comes from and with this understanding, the children have had fun researching then following a sequence to prepare healthy meals. This has included fruit salad, stir-fry, cumin chicken sandwiches and unique smoothies that were individually created with each child’s ideas.

Maths has been about 2D and 3D shapes. We learnt to spot them in our environment and then group, identify or separate these shapes with their characteristics in mind. Then we moved onto recognising odd and even numbers, and how to halve them. Because our students are thirsty learners and wanted more, we worked on the relevance of part and whole. Some of the students have had lots of practise with the concept of money. We thought up lots of different places or situations where we need to use money and where we don’t.

Health and PE has had a focus on movement and how we can change the way we move to be more efficient. We also started to discuss changes that we can expect to occur within our minds and bodies at different stages in our life, and how that may affect our choices, movements and our responsibilities.

Science has seen us outside with binoculars exploring the weather, changes that occur with it and the choices we make due to these weather changes - like what to wear and what activities we can or prefer to do in different weather and seasons.

I nearly forgot to mention that in English we have had fun writing and illustrating our own books. The children chose the topics that were of interest to them and are now sharing some fabulous books about crabbing, ballet, party decorations, nerf guns, fairies, and horrific monsters from the USA.

All of this and more while being amazing, respectful, positive and safe learners.

Room 11 - Senior - Mrs Dunstan

ANZAC Day

by Annabelle RM 11

The Friday morning before ANZAC Day the whole school went to a rock to put all the wreaths to commemorate the ANZAC's deaths.

The Year 10, 11, and 12 students wrote speeches about the ANZAC's and what ANZAC day is all about.

We had a minute silence and everyone was quiet. Our wreaths looked amazing in the sunlight.

THE CUBE - Physical Education

by Holly RM 11

One day in PE we filled a box full of plastic balls. In the game we had to put our hands in the box and try to scoop all of them out of the box.,

We had to do it in less than 15 seconds and we weren't allowed to pick up the box and tip it out.

It was really fun and very messy and we had to clean up the balls after which was not fun at all.

Room 12 - Senior - Mrs Ward

UNIFORMS

The days are getting cooler and students are starting to wear jumpers, sweaters and cardigans. Thanks to the wonderful parents and carers, every student in Room 12 has been wearing the correct colour (Navy).

Athough it is getting cooler, we all need to keep up with our fluids throughout the day. If you haven’t already done so, please provide a water bottle for your child. Fortunately we have access to a cold water drinking fountain, so their bottles can be filled on arrival to school and throughout the day as needed. Please ensure the water bottles are labelled with your child’s name.

MATHEMATICS

This term students have been working hard on their Maths goals. In Numeracy, students working at pre-Prep level are working on activities to demonstrate concepts of counting up to 10. The focus for students working at Prep level has been on numerals, quantities and number names up to 10. They have all been working on sorting objects and shapes.

Room 12

Room 13 - Transition - Mrs Oliver

We have had a busy few weeks. We have celebrated ANZAC day, we said a sad farewell and good luck to Mrs Hucker ☹ and we welcomed Jane Farrell to room 13 to work with the students which was an awesome experience for all of us. Room 13 have been concentrating on our answering ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to questions and have been working hard on using their looking skills to choose correct symbols when shown. Others have been working on moving their head in the yes and no motion and other students have been working on using their voice, some students have been working on all three areas. This is a huge step for our students to be able to make choices and have their own opinion and voice. We had one student distinctly choose a special mother’s day gift using ‘yes’ or ‘no’ symbols and eye gaze to choose the perfect gift. If you would like a copy of our yes and no symbols to have at home please ask a member of room 13 staff and we would be happy to give you a copy.

The students in room 13 have enjoyed listening to and talking about different books that we have been reading, we particular enjoyed listening to the Aliens Stole Underpants as you can see from the pictures some underpants fell on our head!!!

We also started swimming this term and we all look forward to getting into the pool for a splash on a Thursday!

Room 13

Room 14 - Transition - Ms Harris

Term 2 has kicked off with a big event as I am sure you all are very aware, Kate Hucker has left Rosella. The room 14 students were very proud to take part in the parade by helping to provide video for the parade, getting to present the card from all students to Mrs Hucker and helping set up the parade area. Students cleaned and then moved chairs to parade for the adults. I was very impressed how well everyone did and especially how they worked as a team.

Room 14 have also done lots of hard work in the Certificate 1 course and in all the other subjects. The students may be coming home tired. They have earned their afternoon rest with the hard work and good behaviour.

I am very proud of all the students and the way they are growing in resilience and problem solving this year. It is only May and already we have had so many improvements! Well done everyone!

As always if you have any questions please get in touch with me.

Room 14

Room 15 - Transition - Mrs Leeson

Well isn’t this year flying by! All programs run out of room 15 are progressing well. Our literacy group spent a week concentrating on Mother’s Day, reading and writing. I hope you all enjoyed your Mother’s Day and the treats brought home by your student. Maths lessons continue to focus on reading time and all time related concepts and working with money. By the time you read this newsletter we will have been to the Night Owl Centre twice. This is a valuable opportunity for your child to work on their real life money skills. Next week I will send home individual updates on their progress with a specific request to your child’s need. The year 12 students are busy organising a major fundraising event with SAFE HAVEN AACE as the beneficiary. We will be hosting a pizza and popper day in June as well as a public awareness campaign of the great work that Safe Haven do. Swimming is in full swing and appears to be going well. Until next newsletter, work hard and have a fabulous month.

Community News