What we've been up to...

Father's Day

Happy belated Father's Day to all our wonderful RNSS Fathers & Father figures.

Colour Run Fun

Thank you to our P&C for organising our Colour Run on Thursday 31 August!

Sports Day

Thursday 31 August.

Sustainability

Congratulations to our Senior Secondary Students who recently entered & won the Rockhampton Regional Council's Sustainability in Action Photo Competition. Well done!

Deaf Camp

What an amazing camp Deaf Camp 2023 was.  Who knew what a wonderful opportunity was right here in Queensland waiting for deaf and hard of hearing students in the state to experience, and our student, Ryan Van Der Walt got to experience all the excitement of Deaf Camp at Camp Warrawee.  From the beginning I could see Ryan's curiosity growing. What is this?  What is going to happen?  Who am I going to meet?  When is it going to happen?  Why did I get to come?

First stop was the giant swing, Ryan was keen and very excited to give this a go.  We had to pull the rope on the ground like a tug-of-war to lift the other safely harnessed students to the treetops.  Each student let us know how high they wanted to go.  Ryan went super high and the students in his group cheered by raising their arms and waving their hands in a flapping motion.  Those of us who could yell loud did so and we also waved our arms. This was the first of the EXTREME activities Ryan got to experience.

Next, we headed to the High Ropes.  This was a long walk up a very steep grassy incline. We stopped at the top and enjoyed some fruit and cinnamon cake for afternoon tea.  When we entered the large shed like building, we could see a very high obstacle course positioned very close to the ceiling of the building.  Ryan waited patiently for his turn.  He had one of the professional climbers assist him in the high rope activity.  As Ryan reached the platform of the high ropes all the onlookers cheered in Auslan and congratulated him on his incredible, fearless and brave attributes that he showed in this EXTREME activity.

Day 2 at camp, Ryan made damper on a stick and got to cook it on an open fire in the bush, all the instructions were given in Auslan with an English-speaking interpreter.  I then would interpret all instructions back to Ryan in Auslan and spoken English.  He tried the golden syrup but decided it was better without.  He lit his own fire with a flint and cotton ball and watched the other students in the red group make their fires, but also watching and learning new Auslan signs from native Auslan users.  This is the best way to learn new signs and how to communicate in Auslan.  After some fruit and biscuits, we moved onto the next activity which was an orienteering race.  The students were divided into groups to compete against each other, and each group had to hold onto one hula-hoop while they raced around the campgrounds looking for hidden orange tags which had a hole punch attached.  They had to hole punch their paper on the correct number until all numbers had been completed.  This challenge took around an hour and a half to complete and was so much fun. Some groups ran the course but missed tags and were fast, and other groups walked and didn’t miss any tags but took a bit longer.  Who would win?  After the excitement of the race the students were famished and were delighted in the prospect of crumbed chicken, salad and cheese wraps for lunch.

Day 3 of camp was hosted by Deaf Connect and run by Vanessa Alford.  Vanessa is in many signing videos for various apps and companies, and yes, I am a huge fan!  It was an innovation day that consisted of brainstorming ideas, developing and presenting a product, and finally pitching the product to the Deaf Connect organisers. All the students were given a budget, a topic, a choice of products, such as, a tote bag, a magnet or hat etc. They had to come up with a design that promotes Deaf Awareness and how proud they are to be deaf or hard of hearing. Ryan and I got to use Proloquo2go to come up with ideas and we got to show and explain to Vanessa how Ryan chose ideas from alternative communication, and we got to discuss the uniqueness of Ryan’s communication abilities.

So, imagine being deaf or hard of hearing.  Imagine being at a Deaf Camp.  Imagine being only receptive to basic key sign.  Imagine not being legible as a signer.   Some of the deaf people at camp could lip read minimally or hear a little with their hearing devices.  I would interpret to Ryan what was being signed to him and I would interpret back to the person signing or speaking to him.  Ryan and I used our interpreting skills to get the story, understand what was going on and meet amazing people who will live in our memories forever.  As time went on at camp Ryan started very confidently using sign more and more. Ryan’s ability to recall signs was outstanding.  Some of Ryan’s favourite people at camp were Bev Muir-Payne (Principal Advisor Auslan), Craig Frazer (Deaf ALM Townsville), Tony Moore (Deaf ALM Mackay), Cameron Miller (Deaf Trainer), and Dustin Minchin (Deaf ALM).  There were also lots of deaf students Ryan made friends with and they all sat together at meal times.  These are just some of the names of students that Ryan became pals with, Zeimel, Kristophere, Ellisha, Lilly, Luke, Fabian, Nadal, Ariana, Will and Miah.  They were all great students and made Ryan feel very welcome. 

Lastly, I will touch on a couple of highlights from Deaf Camp.  The first was meeting Sally Strobridge!  Sally works for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services QLD AND she is also the STAR from the deaf children’s TV show ‘Sally and Possum’!!!  Ryan and I were fanning big time!

Also, Ryan got his first ‘sign name’.  This can only be given to you by a deaf person and cannot be asked for.  Tony Moore and Craig Frazer, two deaf ALM’s from Queensland came up with the most special and ‘very Ryan’ sign name that could be created.  Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what it is in this reflection, so you will have to ask Ryan to show you.

Last of all Ryan went to the EKKA on the Thursday with Deaf Camp.  It was very exciting, travelling there on the top deck of a double-decker bus.  All the students got to have one ride paid for by Deaf Camp and lunch, morning and afternoon tea was brought to the EKKA by Deaf Camp.  Ryan fed the goats, watched a dog show, went on the dodgem cars and watched a horse show in centre ring.

From my point of view and from being a minority (hearing person) at Deaf Camp, everyone was so friendly and helpful.  There were times when the signing was so fast that I had to ask someone to interpret for me and anyone I asked was always happy to do so.  It was fantastic and eye opening to experience life from a different perspective and continuing my Auslan learning journey has only been validated.  Helping deaf students achieve their dreams and goals, telling them, they can do it, and opening up every opportunity available to them, is not only my work but a part of my life now.

Thank- you to everyone who made this possible for Ryan.

Sandra Flint

Educational Assistant-Educational Interpreter

Rockhampton North Special School