Learning for Life

Athletics Carnival Day

18 students were selected to represent Yarrabah School in the ‘SSSSA Athletics Carnival Day’ held at Ringwood Athletics track against other special and SDS schools. The weather held off during the track and field events but poured down when it came to the relay races. The students showed great sportsmanship and tried their best in all events. A special mention to the below students for their outstanding achievements on the day. 

Bailey C: 1st in 200m, 2nd in hurdles

Paige : 2nd in hurdles, 3rd in 100m

Josh F: 1st in 200m, 2nd in hurdles,

Nelson: 1st in 100m, 1st in 200m, 2nd in hurdles

Athan: 2nd in 100m

Hau-Jin: 3rd in 100m

Yasmin: 2nd in 100m

Annie: 2nd in 200m

Wednesday Travel Education and Community Access

Wednesday in the Senior section is a very busy day for all our students. Students are assigned to groups that best meet their current needs. This means that 4 groups run every Wednesday with a diverse range of goals and focus activities.

Students in Michael’s group take turns each week to organise an activity for the group to participate in. The person in charge works with Michael to find the best way to get to the activity on public transport. On the day, the person who choose the activity leads the group to the destination. The students have attended a diverse range of activities so far this term including: The Shrine of Remembrance, Fire Museum, Tons of Fun, mini golf and La Porchetta.

Lisa’s group combines the Meals on Wheels program with a trip to a local shopping centre. Meals on Wheels is an excellent opportunity for students to practice communication skills with members of the public as well as learning to follow a work process. Whilst shopping the students have the opportunity to make a food purchase allowing them to use money skills in a real world situation.

John’s group has a focus this term of using different modes of transport to get to a destination. The program aims to teach students the rules and etiquette whilst using transport and being in the community. As with all programs in the senior section, we want the students to be as independent as possible whist under the supervision of staff. So far this term the group has visited Frankston, Southland and Oakleigh.

Siobhan’s group attend Cornish College to participate in a drama group on Wednesday morning. The students from both schools are currently developing a play about climate change to perform at a festival in late November. After the program our students have the opportunity to access the local community and purchase lunch.

Annual Snow Day  

On Wednesday 14th August, Inters and Seniors students and staff woke up at the crack of dawn and travelled to Lake Mountain Alpine Resort for the annual Yarrabah Snow Play day.  With a bumper season in the Alps and ideal conditions, the Yarrabah crew were as keen as mustard to let the adventures begin. 

After getting suited and booted we hit the slopes – there was plenty of snow, and toboggans started flying down the mountain.  Next thing you know, snowballs started flying around, and that’s how it went for the next hour and a half!  All students and staff were having a ball and the smiles couldn’t be hidden.  With so much snow about, some students took to building snowman and were very creative.

After a nice warm lunch in the café, it was time to hit the slopes again – this time on a different run, a little steeper and longer.  It wasn’t long before races started, it was so much fun.  It got quite competitive which just made for more laughter.

At 2:30 it was time to call it a day – exhausted.  Our students did an amazing job having new adventures, being exposed to new environments, showing independence and most importantly having a great time.  Thank you to all staff for your hard work ensuring a fantastic trip and making lasting memories.

EEP - Learn to Play in Room 2

In a recent Learn to Play session, we pretended to call an ambulance. We watched Doctor Brown Bear and the Ambulance on You tube and then we introduced our own Ambulance. Alison and Anna acted out a play scenario - Alison and Humpty were playing and Humpty fell off the wall. Alison called an ambulance on her cardboard phone and Anna the ambulance driver answered. She came straight away and bandaged poor Humpty’s arm. The children then took it in turns playing Ambulances. In the photos you can see Taesha was with Humpty and Lenny was the Ambulance driver. Then Lenny was calling Finn the Ambulance driver. Followed by Bella and Harper calling the ambulance. Harper wanted to call the ambulance for the Donkey, she particularly liked using the phone. You can also see Isaac acting out an Ambulance scenario with Alison at the table using Peppa Pig and the small ambulance. It was a great session and I am sure we will see an increase in popularity of cardboard phones.

Lower Junior

Lower Junior have been working really hard on our school rules and understanding emotions. Students have been learning about each of the school rules and different emotions each day through timetabled explicit learning and whilst at play and through check in. If students are caught displaying a school rule they are given a smiley face to go towards a special prize. They can either have time on the swing, lunch in another classroom, prize box or other activities of their choosing. 

Students go to English and Maths learning groups three times a week. Students are really enjoying the diverse range of hands on activities mixed with songs and table top work. Core vocab boards are used in each classroom to support communication and build up student vocabulary. They have been very successful to support the development of communication among our students. Over the past couple of weeks, students have been assessed on reading, letters of the Alphabet and money. This data is collected to inform the teaching and learning programs for our students and to track their learning.

Lower Junior have had a fantastic Term 3 and are very excited to move into our new classrooms and start Term 4 off with a bang!

Upper Junior

This term we have our last swimming sessions for the year over a six week period. Students thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to both visit the local pool and travel via bus for these lessons, practicing travel training skills such as sitting with seat belts on. We have also started exploring the theme ‘Celebrations Around the World’. Each week students learn about the location, traditional dress, famous foods and people of different countries around the world- also participating in craft and cooking activities related to this learning.

Transitions - Travel training

Yarrabah Music Festival - August 15th, 2019

On August 15th, our school performed in the Southern Special School Music Festival at Moorabbin Town Hall. The choir have been rehearsing Shot Gun by George Ezra and Wonderwall by Oasis consistently leading up to performance. It has been a pleasure to see the confidence and creativity grow in our students as they made up choreography to complement the lyrics. Our students were outstanding on stage and performed with enthusiasm and grace. Thank you to the parents and families that supported the choir and came and watched on the day.

Sport in Term 3

It was an action packed sporting calendar for term 3.  Our weekly sports were soccer and hockey.  Over  23 Yarrabah Inters and Seniors students competed against other schools and had a wonderful time.  It was great to see the improvement in students skills and the sportsmanship shown during and after the games.  On Friday 6th September we had a round robin final series and our no. 1 soccer team won the final.  A fantastic effort by the students.

On Friday 13th September our students competed in the SDS Vic Health Cup which involved 4 games of basketball on the one day!  Our students performed admirably and did the Yarrabah jersey proud.  Both teams finished 3rd, a fantastic effort.