Term 4 2021 Newsletter
- MOSS Acknowledgement of Country
- Message from our Principal - Wayne Wilkinson
- From our Head of Early Child Development Program (EDCP) - Sandra Schuptar
- From our Deputy Principal - Karen Walton
- From our Acting Deputy Principal - Christina Hamilton
- From A and B Hub
- From C and I Hub
- From D and E Hub
- From G Hub
- From J Hub
- From our Music Teacher - Stacey Farquharson
- Some Info from our Occupational Therapists
- From our Chappy Bill
- From our Education Program Officer - Kerrie Reid
MOSS Acknowledgement of Country
Message from our Principal - Wayne Wilkinson
This week you will have received your child’s Semester 2 report and PLG portfolio for your child’s personalised learning. I hope these reports provide you with valuable information about your child’s learning and progress. It is no doubt difficult to capture all that we do and learn in a semester on a state-wide reporting template. There are many things that we can celebrate and many things that we can reflect upon for future teaching and learning. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for the way in which parents and staff continue to together in this school to maximise learning opportunities for each of our MOSS students.
Along with your child’s reports is your child’s 2022 class group, Hub and teaching staff. It is natural that parents and carers will always have questions about class groups and staff. The process for class groupings for 2022 has been very detailed and there are always many variables that need to be considered. If you are at all concerned by any of the class group decisions, please contact me so that we can discuss our thinking and the planning behind our decisions.
I would like to thank our P&C for their great work and advocacy throughout this year. It has been a pleasure to work with our Executive team (Natasha, Michelle Julie and Ingrid). I would like to pay a special thank you to Ingrid who recently resigned from her role as Treasurer after 4 years of exceptional work. Thank you, Ingrid.
We have said farewell to a number of staff today. Classroom teacher Will is leaving us today to take up a teaching position in a primary school and we all wish him well in his new adventure. Classroom teacher Yvonne is taking a period of leave and looking forward to increased family time. Teacher aide Judith is retiring after 10 years at MOSS. We wish her well in her next chapter at Bribie Island. Teacher Aide Jack is moving to the Gold Coast and believes the daily travel back to MOSS may be too great. Of course, none of us think so but we wish him well. Teacher Aide Mark is also leaving us to take up a teaching position in a secondary school. We wish him all the best for his next teaching and learning adventure. All of the above people have been outstanding at MOSS and we wish them all the very best.
Every year brings changes and many people need to regularly reassess their personal circumstances and work life balance. Other leave changes may occur for 2022. I will continue to finalise staffing throughout the holidays. Staff will return to school on the 19th of January and students will return on Monday the 24th of January. I will confirm with our school community the names of all new staff and other changes that may occur when school resumes.
Finally, I would like to wish all students, parents, family and friends of our MOSS and staff a very happy and safe Christmas period. Regards, Wayne
From our Head of Early Child Development Program (EDCP) - Sandra Schuptar
The highlight of Term 4 in an ECDP is our graduation celebration.
This year was such a beautiful and special occasion as we celebrated the graduation of 50 of our ECDP children. On Tuesday 23rd, Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th November, our families and friends joined the ECDP staff to demonstrate their admiration and delight in the achievements of our children.
Our local community supported this events by making the following donations.
Bunnings at Oxley: helped us purchase the gift of a potted flower for each of our families.
Jackie at The Little Cupcakery: for supplying us with our own personalised ECDP graduation cookies.
Big W, Woolworths and Coles – Mt Ommaney: provided the afternoon refreshments for our celebration.
The Mount Ommaney P&C: provided a gift (book) for each of the ECDP graduates.
Our sincere thanks to each of the above community organisations for partnering us in this wonderful celebration. Your support is greatly appreciated by all staff and families.
Congratulations to all 50 of the ECDP graduates.
It’s time to say Good-bye, our year has come to an end.
We’ve made more cherished memories and many more new friends.
We’ve watched your children learn and grow and change from day to day.
We hope that all the things we’ve done have helped in some small way.
So it’s with happy memories we send them out the door.
With great hope and expectations for what next year holds in store.
From our Deputy Principal - Karen Walton
Grateful Thanks to our Community
Mount Ommaney Special School and the ECDP have been the grateful recipients of kindness and generosity from many, many people over the course of the last 12 months.
This thoughtfulness to our community directly benefits students and families through the provision of resources specific to particular programs and activities, as well as supporting the building of confidence and resilience through opportunities to learn about and experience different aspects of life in our complex world. We, along with our P and C, would like to take this opportunity to offer each of you below our sincere thanks:
• The Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia – for their generous donation
• Niagra Therapy (CT Healthcare) - for specialised equipment for our Resource Centre
• MyTime – for their ongoing support to our parents and carers
• MOSS parents – for their thoughtful donations of mobility and therapy equipment no longer required
• The broader community – for large quantities of high quality donated goods for our OP Shop (and then buying them back again!!)
Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant
We were so excited this week to have a visit from Adrian Homer from the local Centenary High School. He brought with him the first round of a large number of habitat boxes that are being built for our campus. Students in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme at Centenary High are making these boxes for us as a partnership with Mount Ommaney Special School. There are still possum and micro bat boxes to come. The boxes with the hole in front are bird boxes. The smaller boxes on top were built by their Year 7 students to house micro-bats and have been donated as a gift to our families and staff.
This has all been possible due to a successful grant application that came out of the combined efforts of Kerrie Reid (our Education Program Officer) and the MOSS/ECDP Sustainability Interest Group. We have worked on this project with the advice and support of staff from the Toohey Forest Environmental Ed Centre (thanks so much, Darryn).
One of the local tree companies have offered their time and equipment (hopefully now in the new year) to appropriately and safely mount some of these various boxes in trees around the campus. Thanks so much Brendon!
We are hoping that once these are mounted, we will be able to purchase a camera and attach it on an extendable rod so that students and staff can peep into the boxes during the day and observe the inhabitants quietly down on the ground, on a tablet.
If any families or staff would like to receive a microbat box to mount appropriately on their property, please email Karen Walton at kwalt26@eq.edu.au
We have 5 to give away…(thre have already been requested to go on properties in the local area)…this really is exciting!!
Donations of Christmas Groceries
Staff and families at Mt Ommaney Special School have continued to exercise their generosity towards others again this year. Towards the end of every school year, for a very long time now, we have collected donations of Christmas groceries and treats that are then distributed to local families.
Our donations were collected on Monday and will be delivered this coming Saturday. Many thanks to each of you who contributed this year. We think it was perhaps our biggest collection yet, with both the boot and back seat of the car being filled with boxes.
From our Acting Deputy Principal - Christina Hamilton
We have had some enquiries from parents about how to keep their child actively engaged in learning during the holidays. My advice is to focus on social skills, life skills and communication. This is the best holiday curriculum you can continue to teach your child! For example: activities like toilet training through to using the washing machine, taking turns and waiting in daily routines, going somewhere new, learning to play/’hang out’ with a friend/sibling including communicating a “yes” and “no” and initiating social conversations.
These are all skills that build confidence and positively impact the social and emotional wellbeing of your child and family. Here are some website and activity ideas for the holidays. Please take care and many thanks for your hard work in supporting your child’s learning this year.
Life Skills
Social & Emotional Learning
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)
This has been our first full year of implementing PBL practices at MOSS. The focus of this year has been about teaching and acknowledging expected behaviours across the settings in our school.
Students have responded well, gaining stickers for their charts and have really enjoyed the celebration and reward of filling their charts. We hope that the postcards home and photos on Facebook have given the opportunity to continue that celebration at home.
The PBL team want to thank the staff for their enthusiasm and consistency in using teachable moments to teach and reinforce expected behaviours, and for making their visits to the PBL prize area joyous for the students. It is great to walk into classrooms and see images of Rosie, Blaze and Buck on the walls, whether that be stickers on charts or surrounding a display about the behaviour that is the Focus of the Week.
PBL is known as a Tier 1 level of support, and next year we are planning to scale up Tier 2 and 3 levels of support, to provide more individualised support for some students.
From A and B Hub
A1
Term 4 has been a busy one for A1. Students have continued to work on their communication skills with both peers and with staff. Students have enjoyed our talking circle and it has been a pleasure to see their personalities shine through their conversations. Likewise, our daily writing task has been a great way for students to explore topics and increase their confidence in expressing themselves. Arts and craft were very popular activities and our room is always filled with beautiful works of art and some very brave creative choices. I am not sure who enjoyed the activities more, the students or staff. We also welcomed Adele and Lisa to our A1 staff for non-contact days and the students warmed to them quickly and the calm energy they brought.
We have really enjoyed using the new sensory room activities and getting out of the classroom for time in the garden or the playground. Students have impressed staff with their level of independence and willingness to engage in new experiences and activities. On behalf of the A1 teaching team we would also like to congratulate Liam, Katana, Levi and Max on their graduation.
A1 Gallery
A2
In A2 this term, we have soared across all areas of communication, academics and our physical skills. We’ve loved learning about money and reading rhyming stories every week, with our favourite being ‘Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy’. We finished our alphabet book which has taken us all year so we hope you love reading it.
Our teachers are so proud of everyone’s efforts to communicate more effectively and we have enjoyed socialising with each other and the hub more and more. We have loved the upgrades to the sensory room and library and enjoyed visiting these places once a week to wind down in the afternoon. It was also so exciting to go on an adventure to Centenary State High School to watch the Aladdin performance.
We have continued to enjoy craft and cooking with Lynne and made lots of delicious treats to take home and show our families. What an excellent year!
A2 Gallery
B1 and B2
This term has been a super busy one in B Block. Students have been working hard on their academic, social and communication skills through a variety of hands on, play based learning activities. Students have loved exploring poetry and rhyming texts, especially culminating all of their skills in a production of ‘Room on the Broom’ by Julia Donaldson. Students also enjoyed exploring money in maths, where we used our play based and imaginative skills to set up shops and cafés to practise using money in real life situations.
There has been an explicit focus on social skills and social communication with the classes working with Cristy (DoE OT) on how to negotiate play with peers. This was a wonderful time for students to practise playing together, problem solving, talking and negotiating with peers, and trying new games and activities.
Students continued to enjoy their weekly Life Electives classes with the Junior Secondary cohort. Fraser, Savannah, Ethan, Emma and Nick loved exploring drama through ‘Creating It’, working on their self-confidence and resilience through voice work, mime, movement, improvisation, characterisation, team work and a whole lot of fun. Charlie, Sam D, and Tyson loved developing their STEM skills through ‘Questioning It’, where they continued to use robots to explore cause and effect and spatial awareness and science experiments to make predictions, test hypothesis and discuss results. Lachlan, Sam O and Hayden worked on their life skills through ‘Living It’, where the focus was on cooking, art exploration and music therapy using keyboards, bells and horns.
Along with A-Block, the B-Block students also celebrated a variety of special occasions such as Day for Daniel, Remembrance Day, Ekka week, Aladdin Performance, excursion to Lorikeet Park, the yarning circle at Centenary State High School, and many birthdays.
We have had such a wonderful year in B-Block and it has been amazing to see the growth and progress in all the students. The teachers are extremely proud of all the students and we can’t wait to see what next year has in store.
Room on the Broom - The Play
As part of the Poetry and the Design Units the students from B Block studied the lyrical words of Julia Donaldson books, Room on the Broom, The Gruffalo, The Monkey Puzzle, Zog, Tiddler, Stickman and Snail and the Whale. They made beautiful puppets and students from B1 with the help of some of the students from B2 performed the Room on the Broom. The students had to study the script, audition for roles, practise their lines and perform in front of an audience. All students helped with the set and costume design and painted the props. Students who are not seen in the performance helped set up on the day and with sound effects. All the children enjoyed the process and did a great job on the day. Well done B Block. We were all so proud of you and look forward to seeing future theatrical performances.
B1 Gallery
B2 Gallery
From C and I Hub
C and I hub have been very busy this term. In addition to working towards our curriculum goals, we have had lots of extra curricula activities to participate in. On Thursdays the students participated in the elective programs and were part of either the drama, STEM, music or life skills group. The drama students have worked very hard on their play, when filming took place over a number of weeks. Emma Reid and Colette have done a wonderful job coordinating this production. The STEM students have been involved with basic robotics and science experiments. The life skills program has included cooking, art activities and movement, designed to build strength, fine motor and gross motor skills. Stacy has led the music program, teaching the students Christmas carols on a range of different instruments.
The students have been working on building communication skills. Some of the activities included being part of the Op Shop with the senior school, a morning obstacle course and other lunchtime activities. Students have explored social language through playing games, shared interests and other more explicit teaching within the classroom.
The students were also very fortunate to attend Centenary State High School to watch their drama performance of Aladdin. This was a wonderful opportunity to practice successful transitions in an unfamiliar context. The students all managed brilliantly and thoroughly enjoyed the show.
Our Hub has also continued with their commitment towards the environment when regularly recycling, composting and sorting lids for the Lids for Kids program. The school enjoyed celebrating Arbour Day to build upon the sustainability focus.
The Tiara of Anastasia - The Movie
C and I Hub Gallery
From D and E Hub
What a great opportunity I had this year to work with all students in D&E Hub and many other students at school!! I would like to thank teachers and teacher-aides for their wonderful support. This semester students in D&E hub enjoyed dramatisation of stories and science activities related to the unit, ‘We can Grow’. They saw photos of their classmates when they were little. We also planted sunflower seeds and students took a keen interest in this activity. They were able to observe that living things grow and they need food, water, love and care.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and relaxing time with their family and friends during this festive season!!
D1
D1 has had a busy semester jam packed with learning and play. The focus has been on learning about money, fractions and rhyming texts. Activities that the students have enjoyed included a pretend shop, cooking, a wide variety of multi-modal texts and interactive lessons on the whiteboard. In addition to literacy and numeracy activities, we have enjoyed growing sunflowers in science, library sessions, playing with robots in STEM, swimming, gymnastics and music lessons. The children have enthusiastically participated in each activity, often exciting staff with their progress. It has been a wonderful year for D1, forming special friendships and learning valuable life skills. Thank you to our teacher aides this term, Shabnam, Zac, Jess and Serene. We hope everyone has a happy, restful holiday!
D1 Gallery
D2
Suffice to say, when we start to feel the heat again, we know that the end of year is drawing close. Here we are cleaning the storerooms, taking things off the walls, and prepare to mark the closing of the year. D2 had a fantastic term, and more importantly, had a fantastic year. Most often, our room was filled with loud footsteps of running students and laughter that could be heard a mile away. If there was one thing we perfected this year, it was definitely how we could chase each other around. Though we travelled as a group, we had definitely each made our own unique mark on this year. Sometimes, you would sit there and watch and be amazed as to how quickly friendships formed and new games were invented. A characteristic of our little group this year has been the focus and dedication towards every academic task given to them. Each student tackled everything with joy, wonder and vigour. We were privileged to have everyone with us this year. We look forward to celebrate the many coming successes of each student. Have a wonderful and safe holiday! Thank you, always, for your support from home.
D2 Gallery
E1
What a fantastic year we’ve had in E1! As the classroom doors come to a close for 2021, we reflect upon the many achievements and experiences we have shared together. It was not a year without its disruptions, and with the support and communication from families, students repeatedly showed us their resilience. The E1 class team would like to say a HUGE thank you to the parents for all your support this year! This semester, students participated in sensory stories and dramatic re-tells of rhyming texts, using these experiences to extend their communication. Students worked together, using a their AAC to select animals and a series of pre-recorded BIGmacks to identify rhyming words, to create their own rhyming texts, following the structure of familiar texts – ‘Hullabaloo at the Zoo’ and ‘Oi Frog!’ These texts have certainly been a favourite in the classroom library!
It has not been all work, no play, with students participating in a Book Week parade, Hub Olympics, a shopping experience with the senior students, swimming, weekly drumming sessions, reading buddies with our Year 5/6 students and attendance at a drama performance at Centenary High. Students in E1 have made impressive progress on their communication, gross and fine motor skills this year, with a notable mention to the MOSS therapists (Mel, Cristy and Emma) who have assisted and supported the classroom team. It has been wonderful to see students develop friendships and interact with one another, with the garden always filled with smiles, laughter, and LOTS of bubbles! As our bubble mixture starts to run low, and sunscreen is lathering our faces, we wish a safe and happy holidays to you all. It has been a pleasure to be a part of the students learning journeys this year, and we wish them very best for their continued success in 2022. Stay safe and enjoy a restful holiday break! From the E1 Class Team – Ebony, Jordi, Taryn, Jess and Kate.
E1 Gallery
E2
E2 welcomed a new student at the start of this term. It has been a pleasure to see how our students have mingled well together as they forged new friendships with one another. They have learnt to turn take and share during interactive games and learning activities. At times, they have shown care and concern as they looked out for and helped each other. Our students have had a massive but fun-filled term as they participated in swimming, gymnastic program, drumming and music. They have learnt to work with unfamiliar staff and settings during these activities. In class, they have consolidated their learning in English as they explored rhyming texts and created rhyming words using pictures and word cards. They have applied the concepts of parts of a ‘whole’ and ‘whole’ during pizza making and when manipulating 2D prints of food items. As the year draws to a close, we have felt immensely proud of how far our students have come along in their own individual learning journeys. There were just so many things to celebrate about from their ability to transition from different activity/places, cope with anxieties, be on task, express with clarity in their language use etc. We wish each and every of our students the very best as we bid farewell to a tremendous year of very wonderful, awesome students of class E2, 2021! 😊
Sharon Tay (Teacher) & Jody Mayfield (Teacher Aide).
E2 Gallery
D and E Hub Group Gallery
From G Hub
G Hub - Togetherness
We have enjoyed watching our students share their own spaces and activities during unstructured play times more and more as the year has progressed. Whether it be sharing the birds nest swing, playing alongside each other with the same toy or shaving cream, these ‘parallel play’ interactions are critical to social development.
In the Early Years, the children learn so much through the wonderful interactions they have with staff during their daily routine.
The children have engaged in a range of play-based activities this term. We have learnt about money through roleplaying shopping experiences. Staff have modelled how to use symbolic communication during interactions in class toy shops, coffee shops, ice cream parlours and fruit and vegetable markets.
In Term 4 each class enjoyed baking Christmas treats together! Through these learning opportunities we have been learning about the maths concepts of whole and halves.
The excursion to Centenary State High to see the Aladdin performance was a wonderful way of developing independence, experiencing new and exciting environments and meeting interesting people. It has been wonderful to see how far our students have progressed this year!
G1 Gallery
G2 Gallery
G3 Gallery
G4 Gallery
From J Hub
Flower Arranging
Students in J4 really enjoyed a master class in flower arranging from Bettina. They used their newly acquired skills and knowledge to create stunning flower arrangement table centre pieces for Graduation.
Graduation
Year 12 students enjoyed a fabulous send off on Friday night at their Graduation Dinner.
They were presented their Graduation Certificates by Jess Pugh, Member for Mount Ommaney on behalf of Milton Dick Federal Member for Oxley. Sarah Hutton, Councillor for Jamboree Ward presented the Year 12 students with their Graduation folios.
The evening was magnificent, all the students looked amazing in their formal attire, posing on the red carpet for photographs.
Curlew Café
Students have been able to demonstrate all the hospitality and customer service skills they have acquired this year when the Curlew Café opened in conjunction with the Oppy Shoppy this term. Students enjoyed interacting and serving the customers the delicious food that they had prepared. During Term 4, Year 12 students enjoyed being peer mentors to Year 10 students. They relished the opportunity to pass on their hospitality and kitchen hygiene skills. Students have been able to demonstrate all the hospitality and customer service skills they have acquired this year when the Curlew Café opened in conjunction with the Oppy Shoppy this term. Students enjoyed interacting and serving the customers the delicious food that they had prepared.
Op Shop
This semester students were given opportunities to work in our ‘MOSS Oppy Shoppy’. We incorporated our numeracy goals of counting and using money into each activity as well as working on practical skills such as folding, sorting, hanging and washing clothes. We opened once a fortnight and students were seen engaging with members of the public, welcoming them into our school, helping them shop, packing away their purchases or serenading them with some live music. It was amazing to hear the feedback from the public on how hard working and focused our students were! We look forward to continuing to grow our Oppy Shoppy next year 😊
Numeracy
This term, students in J Block engaged in a variety of maths activities to learn about number, money and fractions. Students learnt about money while at the Op Shop, playing shopping games and using ChooseIt! Maker3 activities. We also learnt about ‘part’ and ‘whole’ while exploring fruit and vegetables, manipulating play dough and looking at whole and broken everyday objects.
Literacy
During Term 4 we continued to study poetry. Poems about spring, the beach and nonsense poetry were highly motivating for our students. While exploring spring and beach poetry, students used all of their senses to explore sights, smells, sounds and objects relating to the poems. Bird calls, flowers, sand and water were very popular. While exploring nonsense poetry, students enjoyed playing with sounds and words. Removing the need for poems to make sense allowed students to use their imagination.
Christmas Party
From our Music Teacher - Stacey Farquharson
Music at MOSS has been a fun journey through a variety of musical genres while discovering new ways of making music together. We have played everything from traditional nursery rhymes and Wiggles to Justin Bieber and Sheppard hits. Please click on the link below to enjoy a sample of our traditional songs that celebrate the festive season ahead. From all the Music students at MOSS…We wish you a merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!
Some Info from our Occupational Therapists
Rolling with Change during the Holiday Period
It’s that time of year again, when Term 4 is ending and the school holidays are upon us. Whilst the school holidays will no doubt be fun filled, they can also be a busy time for families, with new experiences, holiday events, unexpected changes and visits to new environments and people all part of the package. With this in mind, here are some tips for supporting your child to adapt to changes in routines and plans over the holidays, and to encourage them to have fun along the way:
• Maintaining consistent routines for your child over the holidays will create structure and predictability, and will let them know what to expect each day. This may look like completing the same ‘wind down’ activities before bedtime each night, and eating breakfast at the same time each day. If a change will be occurring, make sure you pre-warn your child to help them prepare and make a new ‘plan’.
• Talk to your child about new experiences and changes to help them know what to expect, including the location and the people they might meet. Highlighting what they may see, hear and feel in a new place, and how long they might stay for can help to increase the predictability of a new experience and reduce ‘unknowns.
• To help create routines as well as prepare your child for changes, it may be helpful to visually show your child what activities or tasks they might be able to participate in each day, and how long for. Visual supports can add structure to a typical day or increase the predictability of a new experience. Some examples of using visuals supports might be creating a calendar countdown (to show your child when a special activity or outing is occurring), using a visual schedule (to show them what is happening in their day) or using a visual timer (to show how long a task or activity will last for).
• Another way of preparing your child for visits to new environments or experiences (for example, a visit to the zoo) is by creating a social story/narrative that includes pictures or photographs of the place they will be visiting. Please see this link for some more information on how to easily create these:
• Where possible schedule ‘down time’ into busy days or during outings to support your child to remain calm and prevent them from becoming overwhelmed. Similarly, identify ‘safe places’ that your child can access when attending holiday events, and remember to provide them with tools or items they can use to regulate (such as noise cancelling headphones, or reminding them to take deep breaths).
We hope you and your families all enjoy the school holidays. We have had a blast working with the lovely students and teachers at Mt Ommaney this year, and are sure we will see many smiling faces return to us ready for a new year of learning in 2022.
From your Occupational Therapists – Cassy and Cristy
From our Chappy Bill
It’s that time of the year again when some of us feel that it’s come about way too fast. We may ask ourselves, where has this year gone, there is so much I’ve wanted to do and to achieve, have I done all that I set out to do. Are we prepared for the festive season are we ever prepared for what’s to come when life seems to carry us away in all manner of directions? Looking back over 2021, so much has been achieved, from our Year 12 students who have embraced their final year at school and matured into amazing young adults so quickly, down to our little one’s in ECDP who have settled in quickly, made good friends and put everything they could into becoming young learners ready to embrace grade 1 in 2022. As a chaplain, I am fortunate in many ways to share parts of peoples lives which would sometimes not be shared with others, I feel very honoured that throughout the year many students, parents and staff members have been able to confide in me in times of trouble and in times of celebration. 2021 has again been one of those years where we have all had to pull together as a team to support each other to the end. It’s been a difficult race for some, but I have noticed once again how the caring nature of our staff members has come to the foreground when taking care of our school family. I guess that’s what makes this school so amazing to be part of. I wish you all a joyous holiday break, a merry Christmas and wonderfully blessed New Year.
Chappy Bill
From our Education Program Officer - Kerrie Reid
Rotary Junior Community Award
Students in Year 6 have worked hard all year to achieve their Rotary Junior Community Award!! This fantastic non-competitive program is offered to students in Year 6 at local primary schools with Mount Ommaney Special School the first special school to participate in the award. Students worked through a number of activities designed to get them involved in the community and to increase their knowledge and understanding of community values. Students kept a diary of their activities that included making peace cranes for the Rotary Peace Pole initiative followed by an excursion to Lorikeet Park, Mount Ommaney where members of the Brisbane Centenary Rotary Club met with students to talk about the Peace Pole recently erected there. Students also visited Centenary State High School where they learnt about the meaning and significance of the recently completed Yarning Circle and also participated in a Rotary Club meeting, asking questions and learning how meetings run. Thank you to the Brisbane Centenary Rotary with special thanks to Di for supporting our students to complete this award.
Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant
As a result of a successful grant application earlier this year, MOSS now has a number of animal nesting boxes, classroom composting bins and most recently, worm buffets that will enhance student learning around sustainability and caring for our environment. The recent installation of the worm buffets in the garden outside the administration building will ready the soil for planting of a herb and small greens garden to be accessed by students to complement classroom learning across the STEM curriculum areas. A very big thank you to Woolworths and the Junior Landcare group for this great initiative and a special thanks to Adrian H and the Duke of Edinburgh students at Centenary State High School for making the nesting boxes.
CSHS Aladdin Performance
Students at MOSS were invited to attend a special performance of ‘Aladdin’ at Centenary State High School Performing Arts Centre. The sensory modified performance was a hit with staff and students who all enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm of the cast and crew. Students also loved meeting the cast at the end of the show with the high school students graciously posing for lots of photos!! Thank you to Mitch H and the CSHS Performing Arts Troupe for providing this opportunity for our students.
Sporting Schools
In Term 4, students in D/E hub were offered the opportunity to participate in a modified and differentiated gymnastics program through the successful submission of a Sporting Schools grant. Qualified gymnastics coaches from YMCA Jamboree Heights delivered this eight week program that saw students balancing, rolling and jumping their way through different courses and challenges. Students especially loved the ‘popcorn’ game at the end with the giant parachute and bean bags. Thank you to Sporting Schools for the funding to be able to run this program and to the awesome coaches from YMCA Jamboree Heights Yolande and Aneira for delivering the program each week.
MOSS Oppy Shoppy
This term we had the opportunity to welcome members of the public to the MOSS Oppy Shoppy. It was great to see some familiar faces who were regular visitors to the school Op Shop prior to the new J Block building being completed. On the 24th of November keen bargain hunters braved the weather to ‘fill a bag for $5’ and enjoyed coffee and cheesecake at the Curlew Café thanks to our senior students. We look forward to opening our doors on a more regular basis in 2022.
Jindalee Rotary Club
On Saturday the 27th of November, an amazing team of people from the Jindalee Rotary Club turned up and started painting our school library/resource centre 😊 The team filled holes, cleaned, sanded and then painted the walls leaving this great learning space looking fabulously fresh and bright!! The teams energy levels were kept high with a donation of Krispy Kreme donuts from our wonderful P&C. Thanks so much to the members of the Jindalee Rotary with a special thank you and shout out to John G who very generously donated the paint and organised the crew.
