Dear families, carers and school community,

With much excitement and anticipation, our wait for the return of 2021, within our new school at Yarrabah has finally arrived.

I hope you had a wonderful summer and managed to spend some quality time experiencing a feeling of freedom in your community. We are all so thrilled to welcome you back as part of our amazing learning community and I look forward to working with each of you and your children.

I would like to welcome our new families and students to Yarrabah. If there is anything that you need, please don’t hesitate to ask and know that Lauri and my door will always be open for you during your journey into school and through school.

Being here with you and your child is our preference and even though we did our very best in the lock down phases of schooling during 2020, nothing can replace the value of being together, developing close relationships and experiencing success at school. All signs point to another amazing year of opportunities for your children. Our enthusiastic admin team are registering new families, our new preps and EEP families have started so well. Our joyous and caring community has a set of very strong and common goals for nurturing responsibility, caring for each other and expecting high levels of student success.

The year ahead of us in terms of COVID is uncertain however we can be certain of one thing, Yarrabah will continue to strive to remain Tolerant, Respectful, maintain Integrity, and always Care and Support our community. To do this we will maintain some key messages from the previous year. We will:

regulate before we educate
- we know that before students can learn they need to be ready to learn
- we will maintain our 'Alert' approach
- we will implement School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support principles
- we will co-regulate
relationships result in learning
- we will build healthy, nurturing relationships with our students and families
- we will have FUN together at school- play, explore, listen and support
- we understand that healthy relationships will encourage students to achieve IEP goals
all behaviour is communication
- we will use visual timetables, Now and Next schedules for routine and structure
- we will use core boards and devices to provide students with a voice and support their understanding
- we will be making time to check in using visuals, in the morning and over the day

These values and messages will continue to guide our decision making ensuring all in our community are treated with the utmost consideration and respect, no matter their background religion, culture, creed or ability.

Our REAL philosophy is as strong as ever. Relationships will remain the heart of our work. Being a small school with a big heart requires maintaining positive and productive relationships with our students, staff and families. Teaching Explicitly is such an important element of our work. Yarrabah staff will continue to structure explicit learning programs for students that are both engaging and age appropriate. Focussing on Ability rather than inability is so important. Our staff believe your child has the potential to achieve and succeed. This year we continue to focus on stretching students to achieve. Learning for Life means that our curriculum is relevant, individualised, and supported by methods that help children to excel in their studies across the school.

New Staff:

This year Yarrabah will be recruiting a new member of the wellbeing team. The Department of Education have provided each secondary school throughout the state with allocated funding to employ a Mental Health Practitioner. Yarrabah looks forward to our new staff member joining the wellbeing team soon.

We are also looking to employ a Speech Therapist due to Mietta moving onto further studies. A new speech therapist will hopefully join our school this term to replace Mietta.

The Government has also allocated the school funds to employ a tutor or staff member that might serve to support students after the previous year. Yarrabah are looking closely at the best option for our students and are considering a new teaching tutor or therapist.

New facilities:

School success is more than bricks and mortar. It's the people that make a school. Yarrabah people make Yarrabah a great place to learn. But if it wasn’t only about people then ours would still be an amazing school. We now have the very best facilities a specialist school could ask for. We have a dedicated music facility, arts room, Life Skills area, hydrotherapy pool, playroom, hall, stage, canteen/kitchens, wonderful outdoor areas, playgrounds, landscaped gardens, student garden, dedicated staff car parking, administration wing, dedicated staff facilities, PMP facilities, Early education facilities, meeting rooms, Nurture rooms, dedicated wellbeing spaces, separate portable precinct, dedicated out of school care facility, large playing field, school bus area, etc etc. The list goes on and on. We look forward to showing you through the school in what will be an official opening and tour very soon.

Student Placement:

For the first two weeks students have been placed in pastoral care groups. It is likely that your child will remain in this group for the entirety of the year however in some instances the group or dynamics of the group may not be suitable. Over the next two weeks we will closely monitor your child's feelings, levels of happiness and overall wellbeing in the placement. If we believe it is in the interest of your child to be moved to a new group we will contact you and arrange for a personal meeting to discuss your child needs.

Once again, thank you for being so positive with your child to assist them in returning after the term break. Your commitment to Yarrabah School is awe inspiring. I eagerly look forward to working with each of you and your teachers this year in support of ensuring your child experiences the success and progress they deserve.

Kind Regards,

Matthew Harris

Principal

Yarrabah School

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