newsletter...morgan -ryan, stella and chloe it has been an exciting couple of weeks in the morgan...

Newsletter

Wangaratta District Specialist School

Date 24/11/’17 Ph. 5721 7424

[email protected]. Fax. 5721 8601

Dates to Remember

O.T. - Paula - Monday to Thursday Speech - Shannon - Monday to Friday

School Leavers Dinner - Friday 1st Dec. State Wide Transition Day - Tuesday 12th Dec.

End of Year Concert - Tuesday 19th Dec. 11.00am Last Day of Term Wednesday 20th Dec.

Principal’s

Awards

Chris Harvison

Principal

Debutante Ball

Our 3rd Debutante Ball was held on Saturday 20th of November and those of you lucky enough to be in attendance

will agree with me when I say it was a simply beautiful evening. We are incredibly proud of all our students who

worked so hard over the past 10 weeks with weekly dance practice to learn the steps and the evening’s routine. As

always there were tears of joy, much laughter and a room literally full of smiling faces. The Deb Ball is a real high-

light for our school and would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our staff who, led by Elise

Aggenbach, have worked tirelessly to make the night such a success. I am sure you will join me in thanking Elise

and the countless other staff who pitched in this year to make the night such a success for our students.

2018 Transition

Began officially this week – Wednesday saw 9 students spend time transitioning into our school and Thursday saw 5 brand new Foundation students spend their first day at school. It is always a real buzz to meet our new students as they get to know our school, and it is particularly heart-warming to see how welcoming and considerate our existing students are when showing new students around our school. We have a total of 19 new students confirmed to com-mence with us in 2018 which is very exciting and one of our largest intakes in recent years with more calls every week. It is reassuring to know that the community has such respect for the work we do with students at our school, please keep spreading the good word! I would also like to thank Suzanne Sinclair, who manages to make the mas-sive task of co-ordinating the transition of all new students into our school look easy, and for always making sure our new families feel welcome.

Remembrance Day

On Saturday 11th November I attended the Remembrance Day service at the

Wangaratta Cenotaph. I was accompanied by our 2018 School Captains Sa-

rah Lord and James Elkan who laid a wreath on behalf of our school. All

Wangaratta schools were in attendance, and Sarah and James represented our

school proudly, paying respect to those men and women who have given

their lives in service to this country.

James Elkan and Sarah Lord for representing our school at

the 2017 Remembrance Day service

Gabby Tate for using wonderfully descriptive language in a

persuasive writing piece

Charlie Hearn for being a great sport especially when beat-

ing Harvo at Table Tennis

Aiden Fallon for doing a terrific job selling lettuce from the

garden

Together We Will: Be Learners. Be Safe. Be Respectful.

Stirling - Jacinta and Emily

Buller - Kellie, Mab and Sheydin

The girls have been busy in the garden!

We have been potting lots of different seeds, including sweet corn and pumpkin seeds and are eagerly

awaiting little plants to poke through the soil. Our gardening activities have also carried over into our sci-

ence lessons, we planted seeds in soil that we had placed inside 600ml water bottles, with the lids on this

created a little hot house effect, the girls are monitoring these for any signs of sprouting as well. The Buller

girls certainly have developed green thumbs with all the gardening that’s been going on.

We are already half way through term 4! Stirling and Buffalo students were lucky enough to go visit the Life Education van and Healthy Harold. We were able to see Harold head to school and learn about what makes a great friend! It was enjoyed by all!


Cobbler - Sarah and Alicia

Stanley - Renee and Simon

The Stanley Crew

would like to con-

gratulate our Debu-

tantes Will and

Kortney. Both were

outstanding on Sat-

urday.

We are all very

proud.

In Digital Technology we have been learning how to make our writing look more

interesting in Word and Publisher by changing the font, font size and colour.

Look what we can do!

Daniel– I like swimming.

Jayden– In the Life Ed van I saw Harold.

Brandon– I like cooking everything.

Matthew– I like cooking mac and cheese and cake.

Aidain- I like shopping.

Logan– I like swimming.


Mt. Beauty - Kate, Tina and Sarah

Hotham – Dave, Chris, Lea & Jody

As part of our travel training programme, Hotham students completed a train trip to Albury. This involved

reading time tables, purchasing tickets and visiting train station prior, observing seat allocations and the actu-

al train trip. Students, staff and parents had a most enjoyable day.

It was Thomas’ first train trip and he smiled all the way there and all the way back.

In Mt. Beauty this week we have enjoyed making things! Chris and Noah have been making some wood-

work in art. Jack used watercolours to make beautiful colours in art. Kingston has made painted pots to put

plants in. Jason has been making use of this beautiful weather by relaxing outside. Paddy and Aaron made

brilliant burritos in cooking.


Feathertop - Kate E, Belinda and Fiona

Morgan - Ryan, Stella and Chloe

It has been an exciting couple of weeks in the Morgan classroom. A small group from Morgan and Bogong teamed up for an excursion to Ryan’s Look out. Here we were treated to some beautiful native plants, birds and some wonderful stories from Mike our wonderful volunteer. Great experience for the students getting to see some of our local bushland.

We were also been treated to some animal experience in the classroom, as part of our study on animal life cycle and habitats. Morgan student Kane brought in his pet baby rabbit to share with the class as we learned about the rabbit and its habitat. It was greatly enjoyed by all staff and students in Morgan.

Feathertop class went to the RSPCA to see what a wonderful job the RSPCA do with rehoming dogs and cats.

Feathertop class are washing, drying and putting the dishes away after cooking apple crumble to keep our kitchen clean and tidy.

Aaron was focused on his phonics. He was learning about the ‘c,’ ‘k’ and ‘ck’ sound.

Taminick - Lisa, Lis and John


Buffalo - Phillipa, Lori, Andrea and Lisa C

Students in Taminick have been busy practicing for our concert item for the concert later this term. Everyone is

doing a great job and have heaps of good ideas on how to make it enjoyable and unique to our class. Below is a

sneak peak on what is sure to impress! Our regular choir attenders – Shaneevah, Aiden F and Toby are also

practicing their choir items for the concert and sound fabulous! Have a great week, from all in Taminick

Following on from our visit to the Wangaratta train station two weeks ago when we got the timetable to find out the times of the trains coming through Wangaratta. We were lucky enough to work out a time that coincided with our community access time and got to see the XPT train pass through Wangaratta! We were so lucky that the train driver spotted us waving and pressed his horn and waved back at us as they left the station!


Mt Pilot – Jacqui, Allan, Sharon and Molly

The last two Tuesdays has seen the Mt. Pilot girls out and about at the local splash park. There are rocks to climb, tunnels to crawl through and water cannons to shoot. And of course there was a lot of squealing when the water bucket finally came down! So much water fun. The last two weeks has seen us cooking up a storm and making our own pizza dough. We rolled it out and topped it with delicious toppings. This week was an old favourite, fried rice. So good. The students are really getting the hang of using the kitchen equipment and trying out recipes that they can make at home with the family. Next week we are off to the Mansfield Zoo for a day trip which we are all really looking forward to.

Each week on a Thursday the boys from Mt Typo participate in Community Access. We go food shop-

ping, play in the park and love to go to Kmart. The Boys Favourite thing to do on Community Access is

the Ford Shop. Whether we do a drive by or stop and have a look around, the boys enjoy seeing the mus-

tangs.

Mt Typo Brittany and Ranni


Stanley - Renee and Simon

Kosciusko - Matt and Luke

Mt. Emu - Frazer and Jack

The boys in Mt.Emu are doing an excellent job as we are closing in on the final term.

We have been working very hard during our writing sessions, completing our ‘Inventions’ projects. Some of

the amazing new invention ideas included a robot that can change the weather, a self-driving car and walk

through glass walls!

As the weather begins to heat up, we are also making the most of it, getting outside in the morning session on

Thursdays for a short bike ride

It has been a busy couple of weeks in the Kossie classroom. We have been working hard on the Car Wash

Enterprise and have enjoyed learning new skills such as checking the oil and water in the cars that we wash.

We have also enjoyed the “board meetings” we have each Friday which every member has an opportunity to

put their ideas forward. In Literacy we have been reading and writing about the 5 senses. The sense we en-

joyed exploring the most was testing the sense of taste. We tasted a range of different foods such as lemon

peel, anchovies, lollies and macadamia nuts.


Warby - Judd and Lizz

This term we have been using Google Classroom on the iPads to do our school work. We have done projects on how to be safe on the internet and being sun smart to protect our skin. In Google Drive we have been creating folders for Maths, Writing, Spelling and Reading to help us be more organised and easier to access. I like Google Classroom because it is easy to use and we can access it from home. – Tim

Last week we joined up with the Mor-

gan class to visit the life ed van. We

learnt about how to be safe online and

to be careful about who we add on

facebook and twitter and Instagram.

My favourite part was getting to give

Harold the Giraffe a pat. - Sonia

Mid -Term and we are firing on all cylinders in the Art room.

In preparation for our Senior and Junior Murals students have been

practising their Graffiti style lettering as well as experimenting with a little optical art. The work these students are producing is AMAZING.

Junior students have been making their own Crocodiles and Lady Bug houses which we will put in our school garden to try and attract some good lady bugs to the area.

ART with Jodi


VCAL - Rosie, Jodie, Adrian Ashley and Chris

Chrismont Winery Visit

On Tuesday 14th November, some of the VCAL students had the opportunity to visit Chrismont Winery in Cheshunt. This was to celebrate their commitment to James’ Place Restaurant earlier in the year.

All of the students enjoyed some time sitting out on the balcony and taking in the panoramic views that sur-rounded them. The students were accompanied by Ali Alexander from Café the Pre Vue and Shane Crispin from NE Tracks LLEN, along with VCAL staff Hilly and Jodie.

Ali took the time to explain the menu to the students, and it was agreed that we would all share some of the dishes together. The most popular dishes were by far the Salt ‘n’ Pepper Squid and the Italian Pork Meat-balls.

All the students tried something ‘new’ – ranging from raw cured beef to rabbit and octopus. It was a great day out and a huge thanks goes to Ali for organising it.


Bogong - Leanne and Tyler

Bogong students have been

very busy. All students have

been assessed for their learn-

ing. All students have gone up

in reading levels, what a fan-

tastic effort! As part of our

Music electives the Bogong

and Morgan girls have been

making their dance outfits for

our Christmas concert, you all

will be amazed to their skirts

at the concert. In addition, the

girls helped to make the Deb

corsages and bouquets for the

thirteen girls. The learning

intention was for the girls to

hand sew the heart netted fans.

I am so proud of all the fantas-

tic efforts the girls put into

helping with the Deb ball.

MUSIC NEWS

With Robyn

On Wednesday night, the Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre was filled with the sound of wonderful music being performed by students from Wangaratta High School and the Combined Primary School Band. It was great to see Logan on stage perform-ing with approximately 50 other students. Unfortunately Lucas was unwell and could-n’t take part on the night.

The band played three songs, “When the Saints”, “Hard Rock Blues” and “Let’s Rock” and did an awesome job. I was blown away by the amazing talent of the students!

It would be great to have more of our students join the band when it starts up again next year. It’s a terrific program and a great opportunity to learn a concert band in-strument, there are so many to choose from! Our students might remember when the High School came to entertain us a couple of months ago and all the instruments they brought!

Classes are busy practicing their performance items for the End-of-year Concert to be held on Tuesday 19th December, starting at 11.00 am. SAVE THE DATE!! This is a free community event, so no need to book a seat. Bring family and friends and lets fill the PAC!

newsletter...morgan -ryan, stella and chloe it has been an exciting couple of weeks in the morgan...

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