SOUTHERN CROSS 20th February 2015

Dates to Remember

P & C Family Fun Day June 4 – Sunday 1.30-4.00pm at Clarke Road School Year 11 & 12 Vaccinations June 6 Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday June 8 – School Closed

Dear Parents, Carers and Community members,

We are certainly noticing the change in the weather here at school. Our

general practice here at school is to call for inside duties if the weather is not

suitable for students to be outdoors. This may be due to rain, wind or general

extremes of warm or cold. Currently we have been experiencing challenges

with our reverse cycle air conditioning systems. The NSW Department of

Education has purchased and installed alternate heating systems whilst our

air conditioning systems are being repaired. We are very appreciative of

their support on this issue.

The NSW Department of Education has released a new “School Community

and Consumer Complaint Procedures”. I would like to let our families and

community members know a little about the procedures. This procedure

outlines how complaints will be handled by the Department of Education

(the Department).

Our complaint procedure is intended to:

enable us to respond well to complaints

resolve complaints in a timely, fair and helpful manner

give the public confidence in our administrative processes

provide information to enhance our services, systems and complaint handling, and

prevent complainants or students from suffering detriment because a complaint has been made by

them or on their behalf.

P.B.E.L. NEWS Fire Brigades, Craft, Special guests and Jelly!

Wow, we had a super Red Day earlier this term!

Being Safe is a concept that is important to all of us, having a special Red Day was a great way to teach

specific behaviours that will help to keep our kids safe. We had an action packed day which included

participating in some great active learning games:

ROAD CROSSING: Where we drew a full sized pedestrian crossing on the ground and

visiting Barker students pushed around little cars so our students could practise STOP,

LOOK, LISTEN and THINK before crossing the road.

RED LIGHT/GREEN LIGHT: Where we practiced

watching the lights and responding to the colour.

HIDE and SEEK: Where the students had to find and match

signs related to safety

Thanks to our Barker Buddies for coming along to support our day. It was lovely to

see the students from different schools sharing the experience and learning from

each other!

Thanks also to the Westleigh Fire Service for joining in the fun! Some of our newest students giving the fire hose a go!

SCHOOL NEWS 02 June 2017

48 - 58 Clarke Road Hornsby 2077 P: 02 9487 2652 F: 02 9489 2997 E: clarkerd-s.school@det.nsw.edu.au W: www.clarkeroadschool.com.au

The procedure is as follows 1. Acknowledge the complaint (3 working days) by email, telephone or in

writing. 2. Assess the complaint and clarify the complainants expected outcome. 3. Gather information to

allow a thorough assessment of the concerns 4. Resolve and advise of the complaint outcomes (to be

completed within 20 working days). We aim to support and resolve any concern a family may raise

promptly and effectively. Our preference is for any issue to be dealt with directly with the school, so as the

most efficient outcomes can be resolved. The Department of Education have also released guidelines for the

management of unreasonable conduct by people making complaints. Where a complainant behaves with

unreasonable behaviour or is threatening, workplace managers have been advised to escalate the matter to

health and safety Directorate or to the police. At all times, NSW schools will prioritise what is in the best

interest of the student. We value strong and efficient schooling systems and will continue to work alongside

families to deliver that. Remember clear and early communication can usually address most concerns that

families may have. If an issues arise whilst students are on Assisted School travel, please ring 1300 338 278

for advice.

Students going on Holidays during the school term- It is critical that families inform the school at their

earliest convenience if you are planning to take a student out of school on a holiday. From the beginning of

2015 family holidays and travel are no longer considered under the “Exemption from school procedures”.

Travel outside of vacation period is now counted as an absence. Where the principal considers that the

travel is appropriate during the school term, an application for extended leave- Travel needs to be

completed and the absence is recorded as “L” Leave. Principals need to have copies of travel documents or

a travel itinerary in this instance.

We are going to be stars! (we think!). Next Monday 5th June, a NSW Department of Education film crew

will attend Clarke Road School from 8.00am till 12.00 noon to film our students for possible inclusion in

the NSW 2017 Education week launch film. Your will have received information and a permission to film

consents by this time. IF NOT PLEASE COMMUNICATE YOUR WILLINGNESS TO HAVE YOUR

CHILD POSSIBLY FILMED IN THE COMMUNICATION DIARY. It will be a spectacular opportunity

to share with NSW and Australia the great work of our students and teachers and to showcase what high

standards of teaching occur for our special students. They say school culture is established through the

stories we tell, well let’s make this an awesome story! PLEASE HAVE ALL STUDENTS IN FULL

SCHJOOL UNIFORM and looking wonderful! We want our kids to shine! How exciting!

Our teacher selection panel is locked away today making decisions about our new teachers to be! Thank

you to Patrick Stanford (Eleanor’s father), Catherine Treay (panel convenor) and Rebecca Saunders

(teacher representative). What a tough job.

This week we were absolutely delighted for Kavi Razzaghi-Pour to represent the

NSW Special Educators at a national Curriculum symposium in Canberra. Kavi

joined educators, Professors of special education, heads of national curriculum,

state curriculum consultants, teachers and leaders to discuss and collaborate on

the delivery of curriculum to students with disability and special learning needs.

Kavi stated that the day was a remarkable opportunity to discuss and understand

what each of the states and territories are doing to deliver curriculum to our

students. Kavi was able to present the curriculum work of Clarke Road School

including the “In the Zone” and “Creating a Voice” project. Thank you Kavi for

flying the flag high for our students and their rights to have the very best of

educational programs.

This weekend is Family Fun day- Sunday at Clarke Road School starting at 1.30pm. Please come and

support our P&C and have the opportunity to meet other families. The great benefit for our students is that

they are playing in a school area they are very familiar with and you get to share stories and good times

with some fabulous people. COME ALONG ALL.

There is a myth that exists that teachers work 9 to 3! Lol! Last week at professional learning Rebecca

Saunders took us through a wonderful training session looking at the behaviour forms that go home to

families and that assist the school to improve our response and planning around students who have some

“tricky” behaviours. There is no amount of effort spared in trying to navigate behaviours that challenge us

and in trying to put new approaches and responses in place. We aim to assist students to develop skills that

regulate their behaviours and for students to learns skills appropriate to engaging with everyone. This

ensures they have a sound future and the best chance of fully accessing the community and other important

life options. It is an art, even a science unto itself! Staff projected themselves into the shoes of parents, staff

and leaders in ensuring the purpose, function and value of behaviour reports. Here they are hard at work

Kind Regards

Diane

Creating a Voice (CaV) Project The focus of this project is just as the name states, to help create a voice for every child and young

person at our school. To achieve this we are using The Communication Passport© developed by Ylana

Bloom and The Hills School. The Passport is helping teachers and SLSOs to recognise how each child

communicates and understands their world. It, then, helps us to personalise programs across the day

that are at the right level for your child, thus growing each child’s unique ways of understanding and

expressing themselves in the world.

An integral part of understanding The Communication passport is mentoring between CaV teachers,

teachers and SLSOs, professional learning sessions and then the implementation within classrooms. To

assist teachers we have been attending brainstorming sessions with Ylana Bloom (Academic partner to

Clarke Road School). During the last 2 weeks, teachers have been having in-depth discussions about

students and their learning. Over the next few weeks and months these ideas will be developed and

implemented within all our classrooms.

Thank you to our CaV teachers: Verney Diamantes, Amy Owen, Carol Cleasby, Nina Hayward, Kelly

Rooney, Rebecca Saunders, Tanya Townsend and Kavi Razzaghi-Pour (Team Leader). And welcome to

our newest member Aimee Firkins (Colo SLSO). Thank you to these staff members for working hard

towards our school goal of transforming learning for all our students.

From The Communication Passport©

This section is taken directly from the Social Skills domain of The Communication Passport©. There are

four domains in The Passport, they are: Cognitive Skills, Receptive Language Skills, Expressive

Language Skills and Social skills.

Where would you place your child/young person on this continuum?

Social Skills: Question 3. Can the student use pretend play?

Blue Purple Red Brown Orange Yellow Green Is

developing

their

awareness of

people and

objects in

their

environ-

ment

Responds to

familiar

people’s

attempts to

interact

Engages in

manipulative

play/inter-

actions (Will

explore

objects and

enjoys

exploring the

environment)

Shares

something to

eat (not

pretend)

Hugs a doll

Uses objects in

pretend play –

will pretend to eat

from spoon, drink

from a cup etc.

Starts to use

pretend play with

others.

Starts to

sequence play

(e.g. feed doll,

put doll to bed,

put on a blanket)

Symbolic play is

emerging

Pretend play involves

doing things with

others.

Can get involved in

more complex

pretend play e.g. A

block is used both for

a phone and a bottle

Uses imagination,

memory and

reasoning to plan and

make things happen.

(E.g. will line up toys

and read a book to

them)

Imaginary

friends emerge

Fantasy play

(imaginative

play) emerges

e.g.

pretends to be

a fairy

Tip: The

student is not

quite sure

about real vs.

imaginary

Plays dress

ups and

other

imaginative

games

(dramatic

play)

Knows the

difference

between

imaginary

and real.