In our Support Unit classes
A successful term
Term 2 in the Support Unit of Cecil Hills High School has been eventful and we can hardly believe that the term has come to an end! We started the term doing online study and transitioned back to face to face teaching as the term progressed.
This week, we celebrated Serena's 16th birthday. Thank you to all the staff and students who helped celebrate her birthday!
On behalf of Serena - thank you for your company, for calling in to see her, for the gifts, for singing to her, for sitting and talking to her and most of all, for your kindness. Her smile was was just priceless, all day!
Thank you Year 12
A group of Year 12 students from our mainstream classes studying Family and Community Studies (CAFS), recently spent some time in the Support Unit classes, obtaining first hand experience of how to work with children who have special needs.
One of the components of CAFS focuses on people with disabilities and we were delighted to provide these Year 12 students the opportunity of gaining this experience. Our students and staff were happy to see you in their classrooms!
From Alana Grech - Year 12
As a part of one of our units in Community and Family Studies (CAFS), we are learning about Specific groups within the community and one of those groups is People with disabilities. Over the past two weeks, our class has been doing visits to our Special Education unit in small groups. During my time visiting the special education unit, I learnt about how the teachers educate each student and how the teachers and students communicate with each other. My time over there was very enjoyable. I was located in the green room, the students in this class were very friendly and happy to introduce themselves to me. This was definitely an eye-opening experience to see how these students with disabilities cope with work and social skills. I will be returning on my free periods to understand more about them and how they learn.
From Katherine and Jennifer - Year 12
On Friday we went to observe two different support unit classes to see what and how students with disabilities learn in comparison to students in mainstream classes. During the period, one of the classes was completing an English lesson where we watched them take a spelling test, write sentences, practice their handwriting, fill out their personal details, and work on their literacy. Each student was described to be on a different year level with different learning capabilities. We worked with one student specifically and helped him with writing his sentences and going through the alphabet with him to make sure he was writing his letters properly and that he wasn’t missing any. We can see that the learning experience for students with disabilities is extremely different to the learning experience of mainstream students.
Music performance
We were also honoured to be the audience for our Year 12 HSC Music students who entertained our students and staff with their wonderful musical talent as part of their HSC exam preparations. It was lovely to hear the fruit of their hard work and we had a great time watching and listening!
Exchanging ideas
We were recently given the opportunity to form a network group with Fairvale High School's Special Education Unit. We believe that mentoring and working together, through the implementation of team teaching, exchanging ideas and learning programs, students will benefit - allowing them to make a successful transition post-school. Our dedicated staff members are committed to providing students with the best possible learning opportunities.
Safe holidays
Our staff and students continue to practice social distancing and good hygiene measures throughout the day so as to protect ourselves and those around us.
Students behaved respectfully and responsibly. On behalf of all the staff in the Special Education Unit, I hope you have a safe holiday and we look forward to seeing each and everyone of you in Term 3.
Mrs M Lukose
Head Teacher - Special Education