29 September 2017

Newsletter Articles

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

End of Term Assembly

Our end of term assembly was held yesterday with students receiving numerous types of awards, including Merit, Leadership and achievement and congratulatory awards. Well done to all those students who were able to come forward and receive these. Congratulations also to all of those students throughout the year who have had the honour and been able to display the courage to stand in front of the whole school and give a Welcome to Country address. Standing in front of the whole school is a lot harder than it looks.

Congratulations to the following students for winning Values Awards:

Year 7 – Tiler for teamwork, responsibility, respect, care & compassion.
Year 8 – Banjo M for resilience.
Year 9 – Aaron for teamwork.
Year 10 – Pearl for resilience.
Year 11 – Ben for responsibility, resilience.
Year 12 – Simba for teamwork, responsibility, resilience, respect, care & compassion.

T/EAPs - Transition/Education Adjustment Plan review meetings

T/EAP Review meetings will begin on 23 October (week 3 of term 4). Teachers will make contact with Parents/Guardians over the next few weeks to book in an appointment to review students T/EAP’s. These meetings will generally last around an hour and how well a student has achieved this year’s goals is discussed, suggestions for the student’s goals for the following year can also be suggested. The T/EAP meetings will continue for a period of 3 weeks, if you cannot attend on the day for any reason please notify the school promptly.

Clarification Forum for Stage 1 and Stage 2 Modified Subjects

Over 20 teachers of all Stage 1 and Stage 2 Modified Subjects participated in a Clarifying forum conducted at Henbury School on Tuesday of this week. These were from Centralian in Alice Springs, St Joseph’s and Kintore Street in Katherine, Taminmin and Palmerston College, O’Loughlin College and Henbury School. The forum was designed to:

• Share and discuss Learning and Assessment Plans, assessment task design and determine if the course/task provides students the opportunity to achieve at all grades
• Share and discuss samples of student folders to consolidate understandings about appropriate evidence of learning (benchmarking)
• Ensure that NT teachers are applying the assessment criteria appropriately prior to the Modified Subjects Review 22 November 2017
• Provide professional learning and networking opportunities for teachers.

MAPA Training

11 staff members underwent advanced training for Management of Actual and Potential Aggression on the 14 September. This was a 6 hour training session that will assist staff in keeping students and themselves safe.

Rod Opie
Assistant Principal

SANDERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL OUTREACH

At SMS outreach, we have had a great start to Semester 2. Most of the students have been engaging into activities to achieve their annual EAP targets while providing feedback on their learning.

In Term 3, Family Night was themed as a curry night, which fitted really well with our Unit of Work as we are learning about World Cultures. Our class made a yummy curry to compliment the day. The Cupcake Master’s, with the help of their teachers, made lots of yummy cupcakes to be sold on the night.

The SMS outreach boys participated in the “Kids Teaching Kids” workshop to educate the younger kids from primary schools about sustainability and recycling. We are privileged that one of the SMS outreach students, Alexander Abbott, will be representing Henbury in Melbourne for a 4 day conference on Environmental Sustainability, in October.

SMS outreach will be welcoming two students from Nemarluk School as they will be transitioning into our class in Term 4.

SMS outreach have had a great Term and are hoping the same for the rest of the Semester. Have a great weekend, from Sanderson Outreach.

PURPLE 3

Another busy but fun term has all but come to an end. In Term 3, we have been out and about around the city during our community access Mondays. We’ve checked out the RFDS centre, the wharf and City Esplanade, the Military Museum, the Cyclone Tracy Exhibition at the Museum, Aboriginal Art displays at Esplanade and just had fun at Planet Tenpin Bowling. Being out in the community is a great way to learn about our history in Darwin.

We’ve celebrated some great teamwork by winning the Science Quiz and presenting to other schools during Kids Teaching Kids. We began learning about bucket drumming and how to make different sounds with our drum sticks.

Nicresha joined our class midterm and we’ve all had fun sharing our learning with her. We are all looking forward to the short break over the holidays and are ready for term 4.

Swimming in the pool

VISIBLE LEARNING AROUND HENBURY

Learning Intentions (LI) and Success Criteria (SC) are used around the school to communicate to students what they are learning and what the steps are in the learning process. There are many different ways LI and SC are communicated to students. Below are a few examples of LI and SC in action in different classrooms.

Enterprise Education

Learning Intention

• I am learning to use scissors safely

Success Criteria

• Hold the scissors with the correct fingers
• Cut along the line

Deacan and Fu Seng cutting out denim aprons

Bicycle Maintenance

Learning Intention

• I am learning how to pump up a flat bicycle tyre

Success Criteria

• Check which tyres are flat
• Connect the pump to the tyre valve
• Use the pump until tyre is firm

Geoff and Adrian using foot pumps to pump up flat bicycle tyres

Sensory Room

Learning Intention

• I am learning to use sensory equipment as a calming strategy

Success Criteria

• Explore the equipment in the Sensory Room
• Choose preferred equipment that helps you feel calm
• Use equipment safely

Tom and Peter exploring the Sensory Room equipment

Alert Program

Learning Intention

• I am learning the language of the ALERT Program

Success Criteria

• Describe what your engine running High means
• Describe what your engine running Just Right means
• Describe what your engine running Low means

Justin and Jeremy sorting Engine pictures

Library

Learning Intention

• I am learning to read books for enjoyment

Success Criteria

• Choose a book from the shelf with interesting pictures or title
• Read the story or look at the pictures
• Share what your book was about or what you liked about your book with your classmates

Isiah and Anastasious reading

T-BALL SKILLS

During Weeks 7 - 10 students from Yellow 2, Yellow 3, Yellow 5 and Purple 3 joined with SEDA students to learn T-Ball skills on Wanguri School oval each Wednesday morning. This was a fantastic opportunity for students from both schools to learn more about teaching and playing T-Ball. SEDA students are commended on their friendliness, ability to engage our students and host a fun 4 week program. Henbury students greatly enjoyed getting to know the SEDA students and learning the skills and rules of T-Ball through different drills and games. We thank Softball NT for lending us their equipment and the SEDA students and their teacher Sally Riley for their time and fantastic program.

UPCOMING EVENTS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

OCTOBER

Kate – 2nd
Travis B- 6th
Melissa – 8th
John – 10th
Rosemary – 14th
Igen – 15th
Aaron – 23rd
Andrew – 23rd

COMMUNITY NOTICES