3 May 2019

Newsletter Articles

Acting Assistant Principal’s Report

Welcome to Term 2!

I trust that everyone enjoyed a relaxing and fun filled school holidays! It has been wonderful to see everyone settling back into their classroom routines and engaging with their learning.

I would like to thank all of our incredible teachers and SESO’s for their continued contributions to improving student outcomes.

Senior Staff Roles

I would again like to welcome Nicole Robson and Joan Ocampo to the Senior Leadership Team. Nicole will be Acting Senior Teacher Transition and Pathways (ST1 TAP) for Weeks 1-3 and 8-9. Joan Ocampo will also be Acting as ST1 TAP Weeks 4-8.

Paul Drewitt has won permanency as the Senior Teacher Curriculum and Reporting.

Year 12 TEAP Review Meetings

Year 12 TEAP Review Meetings are scheduled for Week 3. There are many exciting things happening for our Year 12s through vocational education courses, work training and other transition programs. Nicole Robson will be leading these meetings with stakeholders and continuing to facilitate a successful and student centered transition from school.

Eye Gaze Professional Development

On 30th April, four Special Education Support Officers, two teachers and one parent participated in a Communicator 5 Professional Development led by Amy Litton from Link Assistive South Australia. Communicator 5 is a software program used in conjunction with Alternative and Augmentative Communication devices such as Tobii Eye Gaze and other technologies. Tobii Eye Gaze has been used at Henbury School since 2015. This technology is currently used by five students within the school.

Arafura Games

The Crewz’n Brew team were at the Arafura Games to lend a helping hand in the canteen and provide a yummy array of food and beverages for guests and participants to purchase. We also had a number of students participating in different events including Igen M and Jye NS who won a Bronze medal in the men’s over 17’s multi class 100m freestyle!

In The News!

Henbury School’s Transition to Work Programs were featured in a two page spread in the Sunday Territorian. We are incredibly proud of the students and staff who work tirelessly to ensure these programs are possible and that all students of all ability levels are able to participate and develop skills for future lifestyles.

Henbury On Aralia

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, why not drop in to Henbury on Aralia for something special? There are a huge range of giftware and plants, all handmade or grown by our incredible students! Or perhaps you can arrange to have a coffee in the amazing café – you won’t be disappointed by the lovely array of food and beverages available.

Mother’s Day Stall

There will be a Mother’s Day stall held at Henbury School on Friday 10th of May from 9.30-11.00. Students will be able to bring in money to purchase a variety of student made creations. The Café will also be open as per usual 10.20-11.00. We hope to see you there!

Lauren Hofmeyer
Acting Assistant Principal

HELLO FROM DRIPSTONE MIDDLE
SCHOOL 2

DMS2 had a very busy Term 1. We focussed a lot on Team work while working together both inside the classroom and outside the classroom.

Students demonstrate their Teamwork by assisting their younger peers in certain learning areas and teaching other classes how to play basketball.

After such a busy and rewarding Term, Agnes planned an end of Term excursion. She booked the Movies and took the class to Lunch at Hogs Breath. Everyone had a great time and are still talking about the experience.

Term 2 has seen the class getting straight into their learning and discussing what our school values look like and how we can demonstrate our values when out in the community. We use our excursion time to work on our bus safety, demonstrating respect while in the community and handling money while ordering lunch.

Thanks for reading our article, and we hope everyone has an amazing Term ahead.

HELLO, FROM GREEN 2!!

Green 2 consists of five young men: Deacon, Hamish, Ken, Toby and Zachary. These five men have showed resilience, flexibility and acceptance during Term 1. They began the school year with Cherry as their teacher, until Brittany flew up from Adelaide, SA to begin teaching in week 7. The boys loved their time with Cherry and Brittany wants to thank her for beginning the year and establishing the routines in the classroom. Aminah and Maddy are the magnificent SESO’s in Green 2 who are always up for a dance or laugh with the boys.

You can often find Green 2 dancing, playing basketball, reading Dr Seuss or heading out on the bus for community access. We have “Fun Friday’s” where we go to different places in the community. A few of our favourite places are Kingpin, East Point and more recently, Henbury on Aralia (this is our new local for yummy treats).

This term, we will farewell Hamish as he moves on from his time at Henbury in to post-school options. We love having him in our class, causing mischief and also encouraging the mischief from the other boys. We wish Hamish and his family all the best for the future.

Please check out these photos to get snapshot of what we have been up to! What a fun and busy start to the year!!

WELCOME TO GREEN 4

Our class consists of six incredible and diverse teenagers, three of which are in year 12; Igen, Nathan and Fu Seng, one in year 11; Manoli and, two in year 10; Patterson and Thomas. Our major focuses include work training, life skills, communication, and wellbeing.

Our senior students are focussed on their transition from school and are progressing nicely. Fu Seng, Nathan, Igen and Manoli are all working offsite while the other boys are completing work skill programs on campus. Fu Seng and Nathan are working at the Royal Darwin Hospital in the laundry. They have recently increased their work hours from two hours to three and a half hours. Igen is continuing his great work at Helping People Achieve AusDesigns. Manoli started working with the Henbury Garden Crew and is enjoying the physical work. He also completed his Certificate I in Bakery in Term 1. He is using the skills he learnt to bake gluten and dairy free goods to sell at Henbury on Aralia (HOA). Patterson and Thomas are participating in a Recycling program as part of Henbury School’s Skill Sets. Nathan is extending on skills learnt whilst working with the Henbury Coffee Crew and has now completed a Barista course. With these new skills Nathan joined Crewz’n Brew and is working at HOA on Fridays. He will be travelling from home to work and back in preparation for finishing school and entering the workforce. Our class run a Coffee Crew training program on Monday mornings. Nathan is using this time to perfect his coffee making skills. Patterson and Manoli are learning to take orders and make tea. Igen is setting tables. Fu Seng and Thomas carry out the class grocery shopping. Next Semester the boys will swap jobs to learn new skills. We also run a class business called “Meaties Pet Food, Pleased to meet you, Meat to please you”. We are making and selling nutritional raw pet food and treats for cats and dogs. And finally we also make natural confetti which we hope to sell at HOA in time for Darwin’s wedding season.

In Green 4 we use a variety of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to support our verbal language including, sign language, Chat Boards, Proloquo2Go (P2G), Pragmatic Organisational Dynamic Displays (PODD) and Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Our students need to be able to understand and be understood. We regularly have conversations discussing our likes, dislikes, needs and wants focussing on effectiveness. If a message is not understood students are taught to find alternative ways to communicate their message effectively. To encourage communication students have created “Chat Books”. These books include information such as likes, dislikes, activities, recent news and the important people and things in their lives. These are a great tool to encourage conversation while developing our recall and use of descriptive language.

In Green 4 we like to fully embed mathematics into our life skills and work training programs. Each week students learn about money in relation to their weekly excursion. Students are learning to recognise the right notes and coins to use in a transaction, as well as the appropriate steps and effective communication when ordering and paying for an item or activity. So far students have ordered and paid for a juice, milkshakes and breakfast at Café Central and the Coffee Club. Mathematics is also being delivered in our daily morning tea preparation and Meaties Pet Food. Within these programs students are learning a range of mathematical concepts including units of measurement, number and place value and fractions and decimals. And finally in our Book Study program and Morning Meetings students are developing skills with timelines, days of the week and months of the year.

To keep our minds and bodies healthy we participate in weekly yoga lessons. And we are competing in the Rising Stars basketball competition. We have enjoyed creating some artwork in our spare time and we are learning a new line dance. Igen continues to participate in School Band and he is taking part in a music course at Charles Darwin University. He is also taking double bass lessons. So cool. Igen recently participated in the Arafura Games winning a silver medal for Triple Jump and helping with the medal ceremony. Well done Igen.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday to the following students who celebrate their birthday in May!

Maree B – 2nd
Latoya – 3rd
Toby R – 5th
Zac NT – 5th
Torie C – 13th
Aiden H – 15th
Kyle B – 16th
Lorenzo M – 17th
Keira B – 18th
Roanin S – 19th
Trinidey -19th
Julio – 20th
Deacon R – 23rd
Isaiah E – 23rd
Cloe R – 24th
Agnes M – 29th

UPCOMING EVENTS

COMMUNITY NOTICES