From the Principal 

Dear students, families, staff, carers and community,

There have been lots of exciting things happening at Yarrabah over the past few weeks. Some of the highlights for me were the parent expo, the school reptile incursion, the news of activities and positive experiences from camp and the variety of lessons I have enjoyed watching across the school.

School Council 

School council met this week and we discussed some other exciting parent activities and whole school events. One of these will be the end of year whole school ‘End Of Year’ Celebration. This will be an event we hope as many families, siblings and staff can attend together to help celebrate the year of 2021.

Council are also discussing the possibility of establishing a sibling event. We discussed the possibility of establishing an event for neuro typical siblings. This is something the school council will continue to discuss and support for the school community.

Council also discussed the hiring of school facilities. School council is keen to hear from groups who might be interested in hiring specific school facilities. At this stage Yarrabah council is discussing the requirements for hiring facilities out to the public. 

Volunteering

Yarrabah has always been so thankful for the contributions and support that families and our community provides. We are particularly thankful for those that have volunteered their time to support the school initiatives and activities over the years. One of these has been the response to gate duty. Thank you for those who have expressed interest in gate duty at the beginning of the day and end of day. This duty allows other staff to get to classes and plan exciting activities and support for students. If you are able to support us on the gates at the beginning or end of day, please contact the school.

If you would like to help us in the breakfast program each morning, we would love your support. The breakfast program provides students with a breakfast to kick-start their day. We do this in each of the section common areas. If you would like to volunteer some time to prepare breakfasts and areas for student breakfasts in the morning, let the office know.

Working Bee

We are also really excited to run our first working bee in 2 years. Back in 2019 we ran a working bee and a number of families were able to help. Coming up on the 22nd of May, we invite you to help us prepare the back oval for students to use for the first time in 3 years. In fact, we have never had full access to an oval. We hope to work together to remove some un wanted equipment and material, erect a fence and move some playground equipment to locations that will ensure greater student safety. If you can help us, let the office know or complete the Google form. We would like to know who is able to attend so refreshments and lunch can be provided.

Fundraising / Grant Writing and Donations

The school is almost complete. We now have some wonderful learning and play spaces that will be enjoyed by students and staff for many years to come. 

There are still spaces that we need to develop, that were not included as part of the capital works project. These spaces include:

• the middles playground
• outback courtyard shade
• Upper Junior side courtyard area
• School Horticulture space
• Parent/Community Hub
• Boundary fencing
• door fobs for every external door

The priority for the school is outdoor learning spaces. These spaces are essential for supporting students that need to be outdoors learning, playing and regulating.

The first space we would like to develop is the middles playground and outback courtyard space. Currently these spaces are void of permanent equipment for students to play on. We have added some equipment (Trampoline) and musical instruments for the students however permanent playground equipment and soft fall (rubber) areas are needed. Fortunately the school has most of this equipment waiting to be installed, it’s just that we cannot afford the cost of installation at the moment. That’s why we want to start a committee to help write grants, advertise or seek donations and raise funds towards the development of these important playground space.

If you would like to get involved in this committee, please contact me directly. Together we can establish an amazing space for the students in the middle school. 

Education Week

Now in its 77th year, Education Week aims to positively profile and celebrate the strengths and achievements of Victoria’s government education sector.

We will be celebrating education this week by inviting families to ‘Come and See’ their child at school in a program. We will also be inviting a number of local community organisations to come and celebrate the week with our students.

The theme ‘Building Connection’ celebrates the important role that the local community can have in our lives. Community organisations can provide a support network, support learning and development and enhance social inclusion.

Join the celebration from Sunday 23 to Saturday 29 May. 

Kind Regards,

Matthew Harris

Principal

Yarrabah School

Student Survey

WE WANT OUR STUDENTS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK! 

We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing, and quality instruction, and are conducting a survey to find out what your child thinks of our school. 

The AtoSS is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist our school to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Students will be asked about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer relationships, bullying and life in general.

Students from Middles to Upper Secondary at our school will participate in the survey. Your child will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose built secure online survey tool that has been adapted to support the student respond to questions of the survey in an accessible way.  It is important to note that we are not in any way “testing” your child. Your child has the right to refuse or withdraw from the survey at any time. 

Your child will be provided with a unique login to complete the survey. The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used to link data for statistical and research purposes only. All responses to the survey are kept anonymous in the response file. Personal identification data will not be recorded in the survey response file. This ensures that the confidentiality of your child’s responses is protected at all times.

This year the Attitudes to School survey will be conducted at our school over the period Monday the 17th of May – Monday the 31st of May. The survey takes around 20-45 minutes to complete and occurs during your child's class time.The survey results will be reported back to the school in an aggregate form throughout the survey period. All survey data that is made available in reports are for groups of students only so that no individual student can be identified. Data suppression rules are used for schools with low student numbers per year level.

If you would like more information, please speak to your child’s teacher or visit: https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/data-collection-surveys/guidance/attitudes-school-survey