Dear families, carers and school community,

The past few weeks have indeed been eventful for families and students attending Yarrabah School. We have all returned to the school routines of getting ready in the morning and coming home at night only for it to be interrupted with a snap lock down, of which has proven successful and hopefully well worth the effort.

Many of our students returned on Thursday and once again showed how happy they were to be at school. The mood around the school on Thursday morning was one of relief and contentment. Our staff really did make it a happy and safe place for returning to learning.

Last time I spoke about the importance of maintaining some key messages throughout the year. Those were:

regulate before we educate
relationships result in learning
all behaviour is communication

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.

Some of the school objectives for 2021

This year a number of ambitious targets have been set to enable recalibration of student and school outcomes after last year. These include:

In 2021 the percentage of students, demonstrating learning growth from Term 1 to Term 4 in both English Level assessments and the communication data wall will be 25% or more.
In 2021 the proportion of students doing physical activity for an hour a day, five times a week, will grow by 20%.
In 2021 the number of staff and families that can articulate the school wellbeing priorities will increase by 50%.
In 2021 all families will be connected to the school's new Compass and Seesaw communication channels or have access to online portals for remote and flexible learning and communication.

We have also set ourselves some targets in Mathematics for both the students working from Vic Curriculum level A-D and those working from F-3. In particular, one of these targets includes:

50% of students identified in the F-3 cohort will have demonstrated gains from the beginning of the year based on pre and post assessment data.

Other curriculum focus areas:

This year we have introduced the Life Science specialty area. Students from across all the primary years will be involved in the Life Science curriculum being taught by Iroshi. Iroshi is setting up this specialisation in line with specific curriculum objectives with the support of our Science coordinator.

Life Skills

Life skills continues to be a major focus for our teaching and is linked to the areas of Personal and Social Capability. This area is so important for students to access the curriculum and is one of three goals within the IEP. The Occupational Therapists work closely with the section teachers and staff to ensure that levels of prompting are considered to support your child achieve greater independence in life skills. Therapists not only support students in small groups but also provide training and work environmentally across the school.

Communication

Communication is also an essential capability for accessing curriculum and becoming independent. Communication is listed as a goal in the IEP. Our therapists have been working environmentally with teachers and students to share best practice in making communication accessible. Yarrabah provides environmental speech therapy. This model serves the broader community and provides staff with the expertise to work individually with students during periods of the week, using a speech lens. Therapists are also involved in the assessment, reporting and training of staff. Therapists also work closely with small groups of students in the classroom, during meal time assists, and during outings.

IEPs

Some of our newest students have yet to be provided an IEP or SSG meeting with the teacher and support staff. IEPs for new students and meetings with their families will be scheduled for this term. We are developing a new IEP format that will be rolled out using Compass. All existing students from last year will have maintained their set of goals from last year’s IEP. Unless you would like to modify these goals, they will remain in place and be reviewed / modified at the end of the second term this year.

Come and See your School

One of the highlights at Yarrabah for families is being able to come and visit their children in the learning environment for particular curriculum learning sessions. This year we hope to resume the Come See sessions for families. We will notify you soon of the upcoming Come See sessions and hope that you can come along and support the learning that occurs at school with your child.

Reading Program

It has been a while since we have been able to draw on the resources available to the school, given the building works and storage of curriculum resources. We are undertaking English and Reading assessments with students in a gentle manner using formative and supportive approaches. These assessments will provide a snap shot of your child’s reading level or interest in reading material.

Some students will be able to read according to a reading level, some students will be learning about the concepts of print and others will just love the idea of taking home a book of interest to show someone from home. The reading program is not a homework approach but a link between what can be learnt from home and school. It is an extension of the LinkIT program in text, pictures and ideas and as such will require some voluntary support.

Volunteers

We are always looking for people who can commit to regular volunteering. The programs for volunteering include:

Gardening and school grounds
Reading Program
Morning play and lunch time support
Sewing
Making resources
Pop up shop
Grant writing
Curriculum intervention

If you can commit to a regular day or part day during the week or fortnight, we would love to hear from you. Regular support for the reading program and potentially other curriculum intervention programs would be fantastic. A volunteer needs to have a working with children check, other ID, sign a confidentiality agreement and abide by the schools code of conduct at all times.

As a volunteer, you will be invited to any of the professional learning our staff undertake, be provided regular breaks and spaces for your break and not be expected to participate in student toileting or meal time assist programs.

If you are interested, then please speak to the office and we will take your details and get back to you shortly.

School Council

Our school council meeting is scheduled for next Monday. Unfortunately we had to postpone our last meeting due to the lock down. There will be some vacant parent positions available this year. If you are interested in supporting the school and its progress into the future, please consider applying for school council.

Always Available

If you have any concerns, feedback, comments or ideas that you need to discuss regarding the general well-being of your child, please make a time to speak with either, your teacher, your child's section leader or Lauri and Myself. We chose teaching and education to make a difference in the lives of young people and want to ensure Yarrabah remains the best place for your child's learning and development. Working collectively and by maintaining a positive working relationship that is open and honest will help us all to do just that.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Kind Regards,

Matthew Harris

Principal

Yarrabah School

News from Nurse Jess