Caboolture Special School Newsletter Week 10, Term 3

Principal News

Dear Caboolture Special School community members

We have had a strong finish to Term 3 of 2023, with students continuing to make pleasing gains in their individual learning journeys.  Thank you to staff, parents and carers for their ongoing work, united in supporting our amazing students of Caboolture Special School.

School and Home Partnerships

It has been pleasing to see the parent and carer engagement in recent teacher and parent/carer meetings at our school. 

Parents and carers are invited to meet formally with teachers at our school twice per year.  These meetings occur during weeks 9 and/or 10 in Term 1 and Term 3. During these meetings, teachers share observations and information about student progress and individual student curriculum access points. Teachers share the upcoming context for learning and the assessable elements for the semester, including individual goals for writing, literacy, mathematics and communication. Adjustments and strategies are also shared, including communication tools, with the opportunity for the school and home strategies to complement each other.

Meetings required in addition to these processes are negotiated on a case by case basis.

Dance Incursions

I have been hearing amazing feedback about the current dance activities that are occurring over a number of weeks at our school, supporting our celebration of physical activity and The Arts.  Thanks to organiser Katie R and to our enthusiastic students and staff supervisors.  Consideration is being given to increasing the frequency of such experiences into 2024 for our students.

School and Police Partnerships

I had a very productive meeting recently with Assistant Commissioner George Marchesini (Head of Youth Crime Taskforce) and Superintendent Rob Fleischer (Youth/Police Programs) on strengthening school and police partnerships, both locally and across Queensland.  I will keep stakeholders updated on developments.

2024 classes

Work is already underway drafting initial staff and student class placement proposals for 2024.  We have many weeks of rigorous processes in place that ensure well informed decisions are made with regards to class placements.  Parents and carers will be invited to share any thoughts with regards to their child’s 2024 class placement at the start of Term 4.

2024 Annual Implementation Plan (AIP)

Stakeholder priorities are being sought for consideration for inclusion in our 2024 AIP.  Our school’s AIP outlines major focus areas for our school throughout 2024.  Do you have any ideas about school improvement that you would like to share?  Please email me directly on sbola5@eq.edu.au

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Caboolture Special School Partnership Work

Dr Stacey Campbell from QUT is working with school stakeholders in ongoing partnership work as we ensure our high standards of research supported approaches are maintained and enhanced wherever possible, for the benefit of our learners.

2024 Student Transitions

Our staff are working with parents/carers, third party specialists and staff from other educational centres to ensure student transitions into both Prep Year at our school and Year 7 into secondary school for 2024 support students as much as possible, as they continue their successes in a soon to be different educational environment.

Book Week and Book Fair

We have enjoyed both Book Week and Book Fair initiatives at our school recently that celebrate the wonderful world of literature.

Sports Day

Students, staff, parents, carers and school community members turned out in big numbers to attend our annual Sports Day.  Thanks to all involved for their support and a special mention to person in charge Mel D, for her work.

Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson (ABCSL) – Daniel Morcombe Foundation

A number of our senior students participated in the filming of this national child safety initiative.  I represented our school community at the livestream launch of the ABCSL on 5 September at Ferny Grove.  Many thanks to Chela M who facilitated a special acknowledgement for our students on our school site on launch day.  The ABCSL is available via:- https://danielmorcombe.com.au/

Assistant Director General (ADG) meeting

I met with Chris Lassig (ADG) on 5 September, continuing to advocate strongly for Caboolture Special School and the Special School sector.

School Reviews

Queensland State School Principals may be invited to actively participate in Department of Education School Reviews in the role of Peer Reviewer.  As part of the Department of Education’s quality assurance measures, all State Schools across Queensland participate in school reviews.  

Typically, I am involved in the school review process in the capacity of Peer Reviewer once per term. 

I recently had the pleasure of participating as Peer Reviewer at Geebung Special School from 11-13 September.

Public Holiday – 2 October

A reminder that the King’s Birthday Public Holiday is on 2 October.  No school on this day.

I wish you lots of fun and laughter on the upcoming school holidays.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy the extra time with your children.  School resumes for Term 4 on TUESDAY 3 October.

Best wishes and regards

Mr Sheldon Boland

Principal

Deputy Principal

Dear Families,

Term 3 continues to produce many celebrations of learning for our students. Students have enjoyed opportunities to engage with their peers, families and wider community in events such as Sports Day and the Year 6 Transition Day visit to Lee Street State Special School.

These events were very successful and a lot of fun was had by all. We thank all the people involved in making these events so memorable for our students.

Sports Day

Deputy Principal 

Kerry Gilmore

Year 6 Transition Day Visit

From both Kerry and myself we wish you all a very safe and enjoyable holiday break and we look forward to seeing you all back in Term 4.

Deputy Principal 

Sheree Carter

End of Term Thanks

End of Term 3 has come around quickly, it has been a busy time with playgrounds being assessed for work to commence in the holidays around shade for the up coming season. New pathway signage is also being looked at by the PBL Team to enhance the school.

 Thank you to our Teacher Aides and Cleaners for a very busy term. Hope everyone has a restful break and see you next term.

Margaret Waite

Acting Business Manager

Curriculum Corner - Dance Workshops

This term students have been engaging in the Arts – Dance Curriculum. Our students often enjoy music, songs and movement so exploring dance has seen many shine and show us hidden talents! To support teachers in the implementation of the curriculum we had Miss Maddy and Miss Ava from Red Music and Dance Company come in and run some workshops. The success of these workshops can be seen in the faces and actions of the students in the photo gallery below.

We are looking forward to further investment in workshops with Red Music and Dance to provide more valuable experiences for our students.

Dance Workshops

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Katie Rogers 

Head of Curriculum 

Sharing expertise at CSS

On Wednesday 6 September we had the pleasure of having Stacey Campbell, Senior Lecturer and Course Co-ordinator of the Early Childhood Master of Teaching Program at the University of Queensland as well as Researcher in Early Years Literacy, Language, English and Literature visit with us to provide guidance on our Comprehensive Literacy approach.  She spent the day with myself and other members of the Leadership Team analysing student data and discussing ways we can improve our practices in regards to providing high quality literacy instruction.

We are looking forward to furthering this partnership with Stacey and taking onboard her expert knowledge as we head towards continuing our commitment to engaging all students in literacy in 2024.

Tanya Jolly

Head of Department - Pedagogy.

Holiday Activities

Holidays can be fun but they can be long. Organizing activities can make your child’s holiday something to look forward to.  It will also make the holidays fly by.

Try to plan 2 activities each week.

 Here are some tips:

• Plan inexpensive things to do (free if possible) – take the kids to the park (or the backyard) and have a picnic. For the young ones bring the dolls and teddy bears too.
• Go for a swim and picnic.
• Visit the museum and art galleries.
• In this heat shopping can be cooling but it may prove expensive – avoid if you are trying to save
• Pack a lunch and go on a mystery walk – get the kids to organize it for you
• Take a train trip to anywhere – get off and walk around – hop back on.
• Go to the closest mountain and climb it.
• Do some art work
• Cook together – but get the kids to do most of the stirring and measuring.
• Have a movie afternoon with popcorn

Remember just doing things with your kids will be both fun and memories last forever. Have a great break.

Guidance Officer 

Asha Kumar

Book Fair Success

Pirate Ahoy! Thanks to all those that supported Book Fair and found some amazing treasure in books! We had a successful family event where many a treasure was found.
Overall we made $1112 in book sales, which results in $458 in new books for the library!

Star Students