This year has been one of great learning, celebration and success. The students have achieved excellence in school work, creative arts or sports; attended school every day; or represented our school.

The Family Advocacy group would have you belief that our setting is a segregated setting and students are shut off when they attend special schools or support units. Their paper on inclusive education includes their vision of an education system with a commitment to creating environments in which all students feel welcomed, accepted and honoured for who they are.

When I first read this, I thought they were talking about our setting. We know and value each and every one of our students and work daily to create a sense of belonging and connection. Our strong positive messages of kindness towards others, gratitude for friends and colleagues, curiosity about the things we learn about each and every day, and hope for the future keep as moving on a strong path towards excellence.

I continue to be proud of the student leaders we have across our school, ably headed by Jacob, Kiarra, Cody and Patricia in the secondary school and Thomas, Tarquin, Madisyn and Will in the primary school.

Our staff are a strong, professional team who I respect and love working with. I thank them once again for their incredible work focussed on helping students achieve their personal goals, as well as growing academically in their class work. I would like to personally thank Ms Jodie Pritchard who stepped into the role of principal while I was on long service leave this year and our executive of Mrs Julie Hudson, Mrs Jenny Rosser, Mrs Kari Priest, Mrs Jess Hodder, Mrs Kate Griffen and Ms Mel Gallagher who provide support and guidance for our staff and students.

I would like to thank a number of staff who will be leaving us this year and wish them well for next year - thanks to Mrs Catherine Thompson, Mr Matt Casey, Miss KJ Riles, Mrs Helene Uys, Mrs Alex Kinsey and Miss Amy Wilson. We will be welcoming back Mrs Mel Said, Mrs Billie-Jo Rutten and Mrs Elke Cunial from maternity leave in 2020. I wish Mrs Kiah Tierney and her husband all the best for the impending birth of their son in the New Year. Also congratulations to Miss Selina Harlum who has not only received a transfer to our school, she will be married next weekend and then heads to Canada on a year’s exchange. We are fortunate to be having an exchange teacher from Canada from a school similar to ours in 2020. Sarah Philpott has been a fantastic addition to our school as Speech Pathologist, but sadly she will be returning fulltime to Learn to Communicate.

Memorable moments

Tyrese’s art work being selected for Bear Cottage in Sydney.
Kiarra, Trae, Erjan and Tyrese receiving awards for NAIDOC in Dubbo.
Six shining stars Beatrice, Jacob, Aaliyah, Sophie, Shane and Shaun participated in Schools Spectacular supported by Miss Sarah Gilchrist, Mr Dion Corby, Miss KJ Riles, Mrs Callie Douglas and Mrs Trish Riley.
School Concert – always brings a smile to my dial and like past years I have to make sure that I have a pocketful of tissues.
There was a bumper harvest and new winemaker Dan Shaw came on board to support our Anson Farm partnership with Orange High School. Our new vintage will be released in the New Year at a big event in March, so watch this space.
Synthetic grass and playground area with new sandpit, cubby houses, giant games, outdoor gym equipment and outdoor table tennis.

Directions for 2020

New spa for therapy going in over the next few weeks.
Hopefully our front fence will be finished and our new electronic sign will be in place.
We will be putting some shelter over the new playground area.
Eye gaze technology to help students who have difficulty communicating.
Outdoor learning space and yarning circle in front of the Campus.
Native flower farm enterprise.

We started 2019 with 121 student and 20 classes and finish with 140 students across 22 classes. The main and campus sites have grown and flourished with plenty of good news stories and successes throughout the year.

A special thank you to the hard working members of the P&C who have met throughout the year and raised funds for the students. The P&C have contributed funds towards a number of playground/ sports equipment, provided blazers for school leaders and equipment for the spa just to mention a few. The ASSETs group equally have been a great support to the school, providing funds to enable us to lease a new Toyota Hiace and Kia Carnival.

Thank you to parents, carers, families and volunteers for your support of our school and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe holiday. School resumes on 29th January for students in Years 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12 with all students attending on 30th January.

Melanie Meers

Principal

Adjunct Lecturer CSU

DipArts (Music), GradDip (Education), GradCertEd (Pedagogy), MEd (Leadership & Management), GradCertEd (Learning Support), ProfCert (Positive Education)

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