Heating Student Lunches

A friendly reminder that we are unable to heat up food for students at school, including in the microwave or by providing boiling water for cup noodles.

For students who like warm food, especially during the cooler months, please send this pre-heated from home in a thermos, or provide alternative food.

ANZAC DAY APPEAL

In the lead up to ANZAC Day, we will be selling appeal badges and other items at school on behalf of the Buninyong RSL. These range in price from $1, $2, $4 & $5 - see picture.

There is also a donation box for anyone wishing to make a contribution. All of these funds will be forwarded to the Buninyong RSL.

Items are available at the office and the fundraising team will be selling them to students when they go around to classrooms.

Thank you for your support.

Reminder: Excursion Deadlines - Payment & Consent

While at times we have been flexible with deadlines for excursion consent and payment, moving forward, we wish to inform you that this will no longer be possible.

The Department of Education requires schools to plan for and safely undertake activities as outlined in the Excursion policy.

As part of our ongoing commitment to student safety and to ensure the successful and safe operation of our activities, all consent forms and payments are to be received by the specified deadline.

Unfortunately, students who miss the due date will be unable to participate.

We understand that unforeseen circumstances may arise, and if you require financial assistance or support, please contact the school office to discuss available options.

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to the school office.

Congratulations Ida!

Well done to Ida in year 3 who is currently leading the 9 girls in the national series after taking 1st in round 1 in Brisbane and first in both rounds 2 and 3 in Adelaide on the weekend.

Ida heads off to race the BMX world championships in the 9 girls in rock hill South Carolina, USA in May after getting world 7 last year in Glasgow.

We are excited to follow your BMX journey and wish you all the best!

Celebrating Autism Inclusion in April

Autism Acceptance Month is about raising awareness, acceptance and inclusion of autism. More than 205,000 Australians are autistic and 1 in 4 Australians have a family member on the autism spectrum.

At Buninyong Primary School we are proud of the inclusive environment we have created for our students, staff and families. Autism Acceptance Month is a time to celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of individuals on the autism spectrum. To celebrate this month, I thought it would be important to share some resources that might be worth exploring to assist our school community with supporting students with ASD.

If you have any questions around supporting students with autism, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself at Jarrod.Rodgers@education.vic.gov.au.

Websites:

https://www.amaze.org.au/

Website to support students with autism

https://www.yellowladybugs.com.au/ -

Creating a inclusive world for autistic girls, women and gender diverse individuals

https://the-art-of-autism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/UnderstandtheSpectrum.pdf

Visual that represents autism spectrum disorder

https://www.autismactually.com.au/

Autism Actually

https://www.aspect.org.au/

Autism Australia

www.suelarkey.com.au

Sue Larkey’s website

http://www.ballaratautism.com/

Connect with the Ballarat Autism network for support, resources and workshops.

Apps:

Various apps are available for children with autism. An App Guide can be found on Best Autism Therapy website.

http://www.bestautismtherapy.com.au/AppGuide/AppCriteria.php

Videos:

Books:

https://www.autismawareness.com.au/resources/read

List of books to look through that have been created to support our neurodiverse students.

The Green Zone Conversation Book & Conversation Train by Joel Shaul. The Green Zone book provides a simple visual model to help children experience more success in finding common ground in conversation. The “Green Zone” is a visual representation of finding common ground between one person (blue) and another person (yellow) to create a “green zone” that represents the pair’s shared interests.

The Conversation Train uses the metaphor of a train to teach basic conventions of conversation to children with ASD. As well as attractive colour photographs of trains, the book contains engaging photocopiable worksheets and colouring pages to help promote skill generalisation. For ages 5-13 years.

The Red Beast 2nd edition- Helping Children on the Autism Spectrum to Cope with Angry Feelings by K.I. Al-Ghani. A characteristic of autism is to be a visual learner. The concept of an internal Red Beast provides an effective visualization to explain and manage anger. This book will “tame the beast” and everyone will feel safe and calm.

All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2006) Kathy Hoopmann

All My Stripes: A Story for Children with autism (Magination Press, 2015) Shaina Rudolph and Danielle Royer

Can I Tell You About Asperger’s Syndrome? (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2003) Jude Welton

My Brother Charlie (Scholastic Press, 2010) Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete

Since We’re Friends: An autism Picture Book (Sky Pony Press, 2012) Celeste Shally and David Harrington

Regards,

Jarrod Rodgers

Disability Inclusion Coordinator

Buninyong Primary School

Grade 3 Scratch & Patch