3 June 2016

Newsletter Articles

Senior Teacher's Report

Dear Parents/Carers

Greetings to all who comprise our fantastic School Community. It's week 8 and the New School is nearing completion. The past fortnight has been a busy one with our Garden Crew hard at work; classes playing in a new basketball competition in Palmerston, Eye Gaze Technology assisting students to communicate and our school participating in the Soccer Gala Day run by Total Recreation.

Moving to new School

Approval has been given by the Chief Executive DoE and supported by School Council for Henbury School to move across to the new school Week 1 Term 3. Monday 25 July is already a Professional Development day for staff with no students attending both on and off campus.

For all students that attend Henbury Campus, Tuesday 26 July to Friday 29 July 2016 will be pupil free days to enable staff to set up and fully establish classrooms in the new school.

For students on campus, the first day back at school will be Tuesday 2 August, as Monday 1 August is a Public Holiday.

Vacation Care will operate for the pupil free week.

As a result of the move across to a new school and then settling in, a decision has been made to have no School Camp for 2016. If you allocated money from your Back to School Voucher, we will be in contact with you to see where you would like this money to be reallocated to.

Special Needs Transport - There will be no transport for students who attend Henbury Campus 26-29 July. There will be transport for students at Outreaches 26-29 July.

Reports are currently being read and will go home in Week 11, beginning 20 June.

End of Term Assembly will be held on Thursday 23rd June at 10:30am. CSC1 will be running this assembly which will be our final one in our current location. To say goodbye with style, a Lip Sync Battle competition will be held which will be fun for everyone.

Paul Drewitt
Senior Teacher

Henbury Father's – Drinks Evening

The mothers have their regular lunches so I thought it was time for the Henbury Fathers to get together, enjoy some food and drinks, relax, chat and quietly chill out.

Please join me (father of James in Year 8) at the Trailer Boat Club, 8 Atkins Drive, off East Point Road, Fannie Bay from 7.00pm on Friday 17th June 2016. You are welcome to come for a drink, some food or just to say hi!

In case you don't know it, please check out their website.

You will recognise me as the man with the green balloon on the table or by the photo below.

Please reply to my email address if you can make it or have any queries. Patrick.berends@gmail.com My mobile number is 0411 375 501

I look forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards,

DMS

Dripstone Outreach has had a very busy and productive Semester 1. All the students enjoyed learning about cyclones – from how they're formed, to being able to track them on a map, and how to get through a cyclone. They were interested in researching and learning about past cyclones and the destruction some have caused to the Territory and other parts of Australia. For the remainder of the Semester we are learning about the geography of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tsunamis.

Henbury School Staff Profile

I have a background of working in Theatre, Music and Hospitality and came to teaching by studying a Grad. Dip. Ed at CDU (then NTU). I worked at WoMAdelaide and Woodford Folk Festival for over ten years, backstage and am a Registered Civil Marriage Celebrant. My initial interest was in Indigenous Education and I worked throughout the Top End, including Gapuwiyak, Ramingining, Yirrkala, Anurugu, Nguiu, Wadeye, Maningrida, Milingimbi and Elcho Island. Previous to joining the Henbury Team I was working as an IT Technician at the Brisbane School of Distance Education, taught at Moil Primary School and Tivendale School at Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre. I started at Henbury last year in the Outreach Class at Casuarina Secondary College (CSC) and it's a marvellous position I am delighted to have landed. Staff and students have been welcoming and helpful and there is a very caring vibe about both schools (Henbury and CSC).

At CSC, I have been fostering positive relationships between our schools, the latest part of that has been to be a singer in the CSC All Stars band, where one of our students Richard is also singing and playing Congas. Our class is active at the Clontarf Foundation and they have been a valuable support also. I look forward to many more years of Teaching at Henbury School.

New School Update

The new school is nearing completion with our play equipment being installed last week which includes the climbing frame, liberty swing, trampoline and sway fun glider.

The expandable seating has been installed, walkway rooves complete and the pool is currently being tiled. The fabulous DMS bus interchange is also nearing completion.

View from admin to Blue and Green Buildings

RISING STARS BASKETBALL COMPETITION

The students from The Flat and C1 have just finished an 8 week basketball competition. Their team name was 'Henbury Highflyer", and they played their basketball games on a Thursday at Palmerston YMCA. They competed against students from HPA, Palmerston SEC, Carpentaria and Life Without Barriers.

The student's attended an awards ceremony at Cazalys Club on Thursday 3rd June where they all received trophys for their participation.

SCIENCE

Henbury School will hold our Annual Science Fair Event on Friday 17th of June which is week 10.

Mrs. Joan Ocampo, our Science Teacher is coordinating this event with education partners from CDU and DOE IT for the Robotics and Drones workshops that will be happening on the day. There will also be hands on activities, experiments and a quiz show.

The theme for this year is "Drones, Droids and Robots". In preparation for this event, we are fortunate to have an interactive and engaging MAKERSPACE learning experience. Students were fascinated with the "little bits", "robo tami" and "makey makey" electronic kits. They made amazing inventions by following the manuals and resources provided for them. We thank Monica Hilse, Senior Program Manager Technology Adoption and Innovation IT and Information Services, DOE NT for bringing the kits to us that gave our students an excellent sensory experience on "how to invent to learn.

Parents and families are most welcomed to attend the Science Fair and engage with our students' learning.

Soccer Gala Day

On the 4th of May, classes from Nemarluk, Humpy Doo Special Education Centre and Henbury School attended the Total Recreation Soccer Gala Day. Everyone took part in soccer games and skills sessions, then ended the day with a sausage sizzle. It was fantastic to see everyone working together to make the day a success. Well done to all who attended.

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

Thank you to everyone who shared a plate to support Australia's Biggest Morning Tea on Thursday 26th May. Through generous donations we raised over $200 for the Cancer Council. If you would still like to donate, you can do so by contributing to the Australia's Biggest Morning Tea donation box at the front desk.

G2

This semester, our students have been making everyone proud with their functional and social use of their Tobii eye gaze computers. In G2, Gage is one student who accesses his mobile Tobii at school all day. He has shown a fantastic aptitude for navigating the computer for all his lessons; to communicate how he is feeling or what he wants to do, plays music and videos, and best of all, he is making new friends in the playground. Once a week, a group of students who rely on this technology come together for an eye gaze café where they have a great time using their way of communicating to socialise and tell jokes. A few of our students also have access to this technology at home, communicating with their families and the broader community.

Upcoming Events

Happy Birthday

June

Paul – 2nd
Thomas – 20th
Georgiah – 15th
Jye – 14th
Geoff – 11th
Patterson – 12th
Harry – 15th

Community Notices