31 July 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

We are certainly getting our share of cool dry season weather this year! I have been noticing it in the buildings and needing to throw an extra layer or two on to be comfortable. Our students are also noticing it so please pack in an extra layer for your child if they are not already wearing one to school.

I would like to congratulate Lauren Hofmeyer and David Panjer who were successful in winning their roles as permanent Assistant Principals at our school. Both David and Lauren have extensive experience in special needs schools and will continue to be an asset in driving quality education for our students. This Term we welcome some new staff to Blue 9. Emma Zaymond and Mitchell Opie as SESO’s and Jodi McDonald will join Andrea White as the teachers of this class. Charli Gageler will remain in Yellow 2 for the remainder of the year. Nim has taken on the position of Performing Arts teacher and will be working with a variety of different classes. Ted Chirema will remain in Yellow 4 for the remainder of the year and Fleur Radovic will be supporting our Work Training program.

Tuesday we had all the year six Nemarluk students visit for a tour of the school. They and other students attending Henbury School next year will continue to have transition visits until the end of the Semester. For those current students who need it, we will be conducting more lengthy internal transitions for students who will be moving classrooms in 2021. Thank you Lauren Hofmeyer who is coordinating this process.

David Panjer will be coordinating the transition for our middle years outreach students who will be moving campuses to a senior years class. This will incorporate the Balance Choices program which has been a great success the past two years.

Staff are looking forward to increasing their knowledge around Structured TEAACHing during our whole school professional Development day on Monday the 31 August.

What is Structured TEACCHing?

Gail Preston, certified practitioner in Structured TEACCHing, will be visiting Henbury School to provide the training to our staff.

The intervention approach created by TEACCH is called Structured TEACCHing (see Mesibov, Shea, & Schopler, 2005). Structured TEACCHing is an array of teaching or treatment principles and strategies based on our understanding of the unique cognitive abilities, learning characteristics, and social-communication abilities associated with ASD. Structured TEACCHing recognizes the unique strengths and challenges faced by individuals with ASD including difficulties with attention and executive function and strengths in visual information processing.

Given this unique profile, Structured TEACCHing includes:

• External organizational supports to address challenges with attention and executive function
• Visual and/or written information to support verbal communication

Structured TEACCHing is not a curriculum, but instead is a framework within which educational and therapeutic goals can be achieved. This framework includes:

• Physical organization
• Individualized schedules
• Work systems
• Visual structure of materials

SRA@H will be open that day if you require care for your child. Please contact Sam Rayner on 89977077.

Café on Henbury (at Henbury School) is open again for visitors on Friday’s. Our new team of students have been working hard to build their skills in barista, cooking, order taking, handling money and serving our customers with a smile. The café is open from 10:20am until 11:00am. Please follow all COVID procedures of signing in and applying hand sanitiser as you arrive.

Our next school council meeting is week 4, Wednesday, 12 August. Please email myself sarah.corry@ntschools.net if you have any items you would like addressed by our school council.

This year we are trialling having our Educational Adjustment Plan review meetings in Term Three. These meetings are being scheduled from 1 September and will run for 4 weeks to cover each of our students and their families. Teachers will contact you in regards to a suitable time. It is important to invite all relevant stakeholders to these meetings so please advise your child’s teacher if you require additional attendees to be invited.

To ensure that we maintain a safe learning environment in our school, we ask that you all continue to practice and promote good hygiene and respect the guidelines that we have set in place including visitors to schools – please see attached or refer to this information online.

If your child is unwell they must remain at home and parents/carers should notify the school.

You are asked to notify the school if your child has been directed by the Northern Territory Government to self-quarantine at home or enter mandatory quarantine at a government facility. The school will provide the student with learning from home materials to ensure that they can continue to learn during this period.

Students who have been required to quarantine, will need to provide the school with a letter of clearance from the Northern Territory Government, prior to their return to face to face learning.

This is about schools minimising the risk of the spread of the virus and giving reassurance to other students, staff and the community, that it is safe for students who have been quarantined to return.

Please note that all school staff who have been required to undertake quarantine, will also provide the same clearance letter before they return to school.

Have a safe and enjoyable long weekend!

Sarah Corry
Principal

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy.

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal.

If you have any questions about the NCCD, or wish to opt out, please contact Lauren Hofmeyer on 8997 7077 or email lauren.hofmeyer@ntschools.net

Purple 2

Hi and welcome back to Semester 2.

NO ACTUAL WOMBATS WERE HARMED IN THE COMPLETION OF THIS UNIT OF WORK!

Purple 2 has been learning through literature. One book we studied was the Australian classic Wombat Stew.

After reading the book we made wombat stew jelly and an actual wombat (beef) stew.

We also completed art activities including a whole class collage.

Hello from Purple 3

Purple 3 is now a class of six students with the welcome arrival of a new student this Semester, Zacharias A. Zachy has moved here with his family from Alice Springs. We welcome Zachy and hope that he enjoys his year and being in our classroom.

We are at the beginning of a new Semester and ready to go after a good break. In Semester One we discovered that every member of the class loves animals. We enjoyed regular visits from Mind Your Paws, with dogs being a popular subject for conversations and artworks.

Building on this interest, this Semester, Purple 3 students will be learning about animals in the Northern Territory. We will be researching mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians, and insects. Students will present their findings in a PowerPoint later in the year.

Purple 3 students have also experienced the tactile qualities of clay. They made tiles, pots and small sculptures. We will continue to work with clay this Semester, as well as draw and paint. There are some very talented artists in our group.

Early in the year we were able to visit the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory and Casuarina Square. After a long break from our Community Access program, Purple 3 is looking forward to visiting Territory Wildlife Park in the near future and visiting some other locations around Darwin.

Scholastics - Issue 5

Scholastics Issue 5 is now out with heaps of specials and books under $5. Hard copy catalogues were sent home this week. Don’t forget that our school receives bonus points to purchase books with every purchase that our parents make. Click on the link below to go to see the electronic version.

Orders to be in by Friday 21st August

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to the following students that celebrate their birthdays in JULY:

July

Leigh – 2nd
Banjo M – 3rd
Manoli – 4th
Jordan – 4th
Antonia – 4th
Hannah Z – 5th
Michael – 7th
Tiler – 14th
James – 22nd
Thomas – 27th
Emily – 28th

UPCOMING EVENTS – Term 3