Term 2 2022 Newsletter
- MOSS Acknowledgement of Country
- A Message from Steven Roberts - Acting Principal
- NEW Library Mural - Learning on Country - painted by two Indigenous artists - Alliyah and Olivia
- ECDP from Katie Bartholomaeus - A/HOSES
- Curriculum: Chrissy, Mike and Karen - Deputy Principals
- Some Holiday Activies for Kids
- From Kerrie Reid - Education Program Officer (EPO)
- From our Chappy Bill
- From Emma Reid and Colette Andersen - The Arts
- From Nicky Champeaux - HPE
- From G Hub
- From D/E Hub
- From A/B Hub
- From C/I Hub
- From J Hub
- 2022 School Calendar
MOSS Acknowledgement of Country
A Message from Steven Roberts - Acting Principal
Dear parents and carers, The end of Semester One represents the halfway point in the year and the end of a teaching and learning cycle. Student reports, emailed to families this week, are an important way of capturing student progress. The reports are written in relation to the goals detailed in each student’s Individual Curriculum Plan. These plans are reviewed at the beginning of Semester Two in preparation for the beginning of another teaching and learning cycle. I encourage families to take the time to read the comments in the reports and celebrate with your child their learning. I also acknowledge that there are often other areas that may not be captured in the school report that should be celebrated. These areas can include things like your child’s willingness to come to school, their engagement with routines and structures, their engagement with other people and their ability to regulate emotions. Accordingly, I also encourage families to take a moment to reflect on these other important areas of student growth as we pause before Semester Two.
This newsletter also provides an opportunity for us to celebrate the broader work of our school community. Enjoy reading about the many different aspects of the school, the staff and the students.
Finally, it has been a tremendous privilege to spend the last half of Term 2 with the MOSS community. I take many new ideas back to Kuraby Special School and look forward to sharing my experiences with the Kuraby community. Thanks to all for welcoming me to your wonderful school. I wish all staff and families a safe and happy holiday break.
Kind regards,
Steve
NEW Library Mural - Learning on Country - painted by two Indigenous artists - Alliyah and Olivia
ECDP from Katie Bartholomaeus - A/HOSES
Term 2 has been a very busy and productive term at ECDP. The children have been very busy engaging in the learning opportunities available through play. They have been loving playing outside in the sun on the gorgeous winter mornings after the prolonged periods of rain.
The ECDP team presented two Prep Information sessions and the families have been busy exploring all the options available for their child. We hosted a ‘Understanding Behaviour’ for Autism Qld Early Days program and the families who attended all reported that it has helped them to understand and given them practical strategies to use with their children. We hope to do more of these in the future.
Semester 1 has been a time of major growth for the ECDP. We started the year with 54 children and currently have 95 children with 19 applications awaiting approval. It has been wonderful to welcome so many new families to ECDP. The teaching team has enjoyed getting to know everyone, collaborating with new kindergarten programs and therapists and of course writing IEPS.
We hope you all have a wonderful break from packed lunches and ECDP routines and we look forward to working with you again next term.
Curriculum: Chrissy, Mike and Karen - Deputy Principals
To all our parents and carers who have received and read their child's end of semester reports: we have thoroughly enjoyed reading through these reports, which acknowledege and celebrate the learning that your children have achieved with their class teams across Semester One. Across campus and from all classes, these reports are of a high standard and show us the deep knowledge that teachers and our support staff have developed about their students, and not just in relation to their academic progress. These reports capture a story that started at the beginning of the year, with planning through each student's Individual Curriculum Plan, to teachers working to provide engaging activities every day, to assessing that learning in adjusted tasks, meeting to moderate their judgements collaboratively and finally, writing these reports that are due home this week. At the end of every semester, teachers and the leadership team share a common hope, that you will enjoy reading and appreciate the work that has been done together for and with your child.
Next semester, we will be introducing an approach that captures the personalised learning goals that we know historically are highly valued as learning priorities by our parents and carers. We will keep you informed about what this will look like, how your class teacher will help you to plan for this and what you can expect to see at the end of next semester in the reports prepared at that time. Please keep your eye out for references to new "Value Added Programs" around the skills for living and communication that are so critical to our student's participation in the world and their developing independence. Kind regards, Chrissy, Mike and Karen
Some Holiday Activies for Kids
From Kerrie Reid - Education Program Officer (EPO)
Mama Dojo
It was an absolute honour and pleasure to welcome practitioners Sean Murphy and Alison Joyce from Mama Dojo for an interactive drama/dance/art ‘artist in residence’ week long workshop. Students from the Junior and Senior Secondary years were invited to participate in this engaging and fun experience based on the colour, songs and symbolism of Papua New Guinea. Partnering with Open Theatre (UK), Sean and Alison will build on the experience gained from the workshop at MOSS to enhance their show Wantok, being performed at the Birmingham 2022 Festival. As special thanks for their time and effort in creating this terrific experience we offered Sean and Alyson a free shopping session at the MOSS Oppy Shoppy and morning tea at the Curlew Café. We look forward to welcoming Sean and Alison to MOSS in the future and wish them the best of luck at the Birmingham Festival. To view the video of the workshop, please click on the link below or visit the school YouTube channel.
Rocks Community Garden
We continue to be part of the wonderful community that is the Rocks Community Garden. As part of their Community Access Program, students in J2 visit the garden weekly complimenting the English, maths, science and HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences) curriculum areas. Students recently planted seeds and are already excited about visiting the garden plot next term to see what has grown!! We owe a special thanks and shout out to our amazing volunteer Gary H who tirelessly tends to the garden on the weekends. Thanks Gary, your efforts are greatly appreciated.
MOSS Oppy Shoppy
On Friday the 17th of June we had our last MOSS Oppy Shoppy opening for the term. Word travelled fast about our “fill a bag for a fiver” offer with a larger than expected turn out. Thank you to our wonderful community for your ongoing support. MOSS Oppy Shoppy opening dates/times for Term 3 will be sent out via Facebook – watch this space 😊
Book Donation from Jeffery E Doherty
MOSS was very excited to receive a collection of books from Australian author Jeffery E Doherty. These wonderful books tell stories of young people with a disability and overcoming adversity. Thanks to Jeffery for this wonderful donation and we look forward to sharing these stories with our students.
Teddy Bear Donation
Friend of MOSS Marion H has very kindly donated some beautifully hand knitted bears for our students. These lovely keepsakes will be offered as prizes for students who have completed their PBL awards, to support storytelling in the library and classrooms and to help engage students in communication.
One special little bear even made his way onto a Sunshine Bus as bus mascot!!😊
Junior Rotary Award
We are pleased to be offering five students in Year 6 the opportunity to participate in the Rotary Junior Award for 2022. Students will develop and enhance their skills across four activity areas including Community Service, Physical Recreation, Social Experience and Skills.
We look forward to welcoming members of the Brisbane Centenary Rotary Club to MOSS in Term 3 to support our students in achieving their award.
From our Chappy Bill
Over the past few months there have been events which have made life pretty tough for quite a few people. It never ceases to amaze me just how resilient people seem to be, even though deep down they may be hurting. As I visit various classrooms to drum with the students, or just be there to be a part of their lives, these very same people always greet me with a smile. I watch and take note of just how much care is taken with each student, how each one is treated with the utmost kindness and dignity. These amazing people who set themselves aside to do not just a job but to be part of something greater than just feathering their own nest are part of what makes me so grateful to be part of this amazing team at MOSS. I’ve been a chaplain in special education for close on 10 years now, and I am in awe of each and every one of you and hold you all in high regard for your dedication, compassion and care that you are still able to show, to each and every one of our students, when life may be getting you down. It really is an honour and a privilege to serve alongside you. Thank you, Chappy Bill.
From Emma Reid and Colette Andersen - The Arts
The Arts were offered to the Junior Secondary classes as a specialist program this semester. During visual arts sessions we created pieces based on the theme “Sky and Ground and Me”.
In drama, we played with all kinds of skills and had all sorts of fun.
What a delight to explore the creative arts with CI Hub!
From Nicky Champeaux - HPE
HPE - Soccer
As part of their HPE curriculum this term many students have had a wonderful soccer experience either playing other schools in the interschool carnivals at Ipswich or participating in the incursion at MOSS.
HPE Swimming
Many of our students finished their semester of HPE with swimming this term. The pool is a motivating place for building confidence, practising swimming skills, exercising, stretching and communication. Students enjoyed aqua exercise programs, dancing, ball games and underwater swimming.
From G Hub
We have been enjoying the beautiful winter weather in G Hub. The children have been eager to greet each other and their teachers every morning. It has been lovely to see the children using the names of their teachers and peers as they become comfortable in their school environment.
Many special occasions have been celebrated this term. We enjoyed story time with our acting principal Steve reading the book “Give me a Home Among the Gum Trees” for National Simultaneous Reading Day. Most recently we have participated in activities to celebrate National Reconciliation Week. The beautiful blue hearts we decorated will be used to make a school mural about the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Our focus in maths this term has been positional language. We have had a lot of fun learning about this through play and cooking activities. One of our favourite activities was a hub obstacle course set up on our deck. The children enjoyed crawling through tunnels, hiding in boxes and climbing over frames. We also practised our positional language during cooking activities, spreading butter on toast and putting ham on top to make our sandwich. It has been lovely to see the children smelling, touching and even tasting some new foods.
It has been a very busy term and we have shared some really special moments together.
G1 Gallery
G2 Gallery
G3 Gallery
G4 Gallery
From D/E Hub
As with everyone, we have had a busy but bumpy term due to the weather and illness. Students across the hub have been working hard using their individualised communication systems including speech, PODD, Speak for Yourself app, Proloquo2Go and informal behaviours, and traditional and alternate pencils to express themselves. Magnetic letters, alphabet charts, keyboards, pens, paint brushes and fingers on the interactive whiteboard have been used to write/draw in response to a range of books from Indigenous & Torres Strait Islander and other Australian authors, videos, and hands-on experiences.
We have had a lot of fun exploring familiar places e.g. our homes, the school and the local area. Using construction toys such as Duplo, wooden and magnetic blocks and dolls’ houses challenged our imagination, planning and problem-solving skills as we represented our knowledge of familiar places and their features by building models and playing dramatically. Pictures, symbols and photos we took on the iPad were used to create ‘maps’ of both real and imaginary communities. Students also designed their preferred special places e.g. a bedroom, classroom, backyard and/or a beach with pictures. These were also fantastic opportunities for working together and communicating our thoughts, opinions and feelings.
Exploring digital technology resulted in highly engaging learning activities in literacy, maths and HASS. The interactive whiteboards were used for reading and viewing texts, writing and illustrating personalised texts, e-learning, interactive activities such as pirate’s treasure hunts to locate objects, choice making communication activities, and cause and effect experiences. iPads were also used for a variety of purposes, the three most popular being; communication, taking photos and playing educational games. Using the school robots to explore positional language and familiar places was very motivating, with a lot of chatter, smiles and giggles as we increased our skills and knowledge. Students also identified digital devices and communicated their uses/purposes.
Throughout each school day, we have been developing our social knowledge and skills both during play and more structured learning times. Initiating play, sharing, waiting and turn taking have been focuses across the hub. These can be tricky for some of us but we are improving.
We are very proud of everything the students have achieved this term, and we look forward to more exciting adventures, activities and interactions next term. Have a relaxing holiday.
D1 Gallery
D2 Gallery
E1 Gallery
E2 Gallery
From A/B Hub
Another term had flown by, in a blink of an eye. That being said, it is safe to say that it was fun, happy and productive term for all students in A and B Hub. The burning question, what have we done? Reflecting upon it all, we had done a lot. We dove deep into the school’s swimming pool, learning to navigate it and working on our kicking and strokes. We participated in the largest ever National Simultaneous Storytime with all students around Australia; cheers, laughter and intrigue plague across the hub. We also competed against other special schools in an inter-school soccer carnival (“Go Team MOSS!”). Despite some 4 day weks, students worked hard everyday on various literacy and numeracy activities – for some traversing around the whole school, and for others, hands deep in slime and other sensory activities. We have swum, kicked and climbed our way through another wonderful term. We will miss the laughter and joy that echoes from each of the four classrooms in A and B Hub, but we know it won’t be long before we are all back together again. Have a safe, restful and healthy holiday. We look forward to welcoming all students back for another exciting term and semester. Term Two out.
From C/I Hub
C1 Classroom
It’s amazing to think we are already halfway through the year! This term our students enjoyed enhancing their understanding of being safe, responsible and respectful. We particularly focussed on using space to return to calmness and generally understanding that our emotions and experiences can change when we start doing activities to help us ‘reset’ or feel ‘calm’. One of our students explained to staff that a photo of a preferred activity would help him feel happy each day. Also, to know that the toys were safe was important for him, as it would otherwise cause him to feel ‘upset’. It was an excellent suggestion and use of initiative that we loved celebrating. It was important for us to work on our communication and understanding the patterns of conversations, such as acknowledging each other’s messages and turn-taking. This was supported by quality Intensive Interaction sessions with a range of staff to build great rapport. We enjoyed participating in a range of engaging activities such as swimming, obstacle course, recycling, science experiments and art activities. Staff worked closely with the school physiotherapist to incorporate resources for obstacle course activities to build and extend engagement and motivation. One of our favourite moments was watching our students interact with each other without the aid or assistance of staff. We created some lovely moments and 'wins' this semester which are goals that we look forward to in all our learning. Whether it be developing a stronger understanding that our communication systems are our voice, learning new ways to calm and reset or simply working as a team.
C2 Classroom
This term, students in C2 have enjoyed exploring a range of ways participating in a range of learning experiences, including the subject areas of English, maths, HASS and health and physical education. As well as swimming, drumming, obstacle courses, bike riding, recycling, science experiments, art and games (Pop the Pig is still the favourite!). Students demonstrated their communication and social skills though building Lego and playing with dolls, cars, trucks and trains together. We have continued to explore a range of ways we can be safe, respectful and responsible within the classroom and around the school community. Students have been working hard to identify their feelings and what they can do to help themselves or ask to help from staff. Students participated in a drama workshop run Mama Dojo this term, where they explored the New Guinean/Torres Strait Islander culture through art, music and dance. Discussions of different places and how people are connected to these places remained a popular topic of conversation for students as many have plans to travel locally, nationally and internationally over the holidays and later this year!
C2 Gallery
I1 Classroom
This term has been a busy one for I1. We started our swimming program with Nicky and the boys really enjoyed going down to the pool each week. It was a joy to see them engaging in the wonderful program Nicky had created for them.
We continued our work with Aboriginal and TSI stories in English and all the boys enjoyed exploring the texts through our ‘book club’. Opinions were offered and debates had. We explored various familiar locations around the school to work on our mapping skills and worked on a picture book about ourselves and our friends. All of this was done with a focus on AAC and it was a pleasure to see all the boys engaging in communication during class activities, even if they offering opinions about their program and lessons 😉
Margaret and I want to thank all our parents for their support and awesome work with their boys this semester. We look forward to working with them all again, next semester.
I1 Gallery
I2 Classroom
Term 2 has been a successful term as far as seeing a growing connectedness across the classrooms in our Hub. More and more we are seeing students joining other classrooms at break time, playing together in the main playground, riding bikes together under J block, going to the library together and spending time doing whole hub learning experiences.
This term has seen the start of ability reading groups across the hub with students moving to other classrooms and working with other staff. We have also started drama lessons this term, where 2 classes at a time work together in the MP Hall and finally the start of whole hub science experiments, which is a wonderful example of outside learning during these cooler months.
To be able to join together like this is a testament to the work staff have been doing to assist students with their own emotional regulation and the regular practise of school expectations around safety, respect and being your best.
Within I2, our students have been working well as a unit and have been able to deepen friendships with one another. Weekly boardgames have been a great way to ensure a joint task that is fun which greatly aids relevant and ‘in the moment’ communication with one another.
The practise of strategies around emotional regulation has seen a marked improvement, with students actively considering and self-choosing options available to them to get back to the Green Zone. The main indicator is their recovery time between being dysregulated to ‘good to go’ again. It is quite empowering for a student to be able to independently work through their emotions in this way.
Some highlights around curriculum this term: students interviewing one another as part of our learning about self and friends; making maps and models of our classroom, giving opinions about shared stories (some are quite good at being opinionated 😊) and giving directions to get another student from A to B.
I2 Gallery
From J Hub
J2
This semester as part of HASS and literacy J2 has been making weekly visits to Rocks Riverside Park to work in the community garden. Students used their senses to observe their surroundings, discussed how we can care for and use the land and the people who lived there first. We cleaned out the garden by picking weeds and pulling out plants that we no longer wanted. After some research we decided to plant snow peas, zucchini, beans, parsley and basil. Students felt these were all ingredients that could be used in the Curlew Café. Fingers crossed next term you may see some of our harvest! While at school students had the opportunity to choose between working in the Op Shop or cooking in the kitchen. Students continued sorting, folding, organising and planning for our fortnightly Op Shop opening. This culminated in our biggest turn out ever on the 17th of June.
J2 Gallery
J2 and J4
This term, J4 have been busy practising their communication and team work skills. They have especially enjoyed working alongside their J2 peers.
VET Program
Students enrolled in Certificate I in Active Volunteering and Access to Vocational Pathways have been learning about the importance of working safely. They have followed workplace health and safety by wearing PPE, learning all about hazards and who to report them to and how to work safely in the hospitality kitchen.
Curlew Café
The Curlew Café program provided students with the opportunity to demonstrate their communication skills when they communicated with a variety of familiar and unfamiliar people. The program provided students with many opportunities to learn basic hospitality and customer service skills.
Mama Dojo
Students really enjoyed participating in the week-long immersive arts program presented by Tom and Alyson from Mama Dojo. Each session was filled with culture, music dance and vibrant coloured artefacts and masks. Much fun was had by all.
Lids for Kids
Students have been sorting a variety of plastic lids into colours for the Lids for Kids recycling program. J4 would love you to collect and send in your plastic lids to support their program in Semester 2.
VET Program Gallery
Curlew Cafe Gallery
Mama Dojo Gallery
Lids for Kids Gallery
