Mount Ommaney Special School eNewsletter

A Message from Mike Curtis - Principal

Reflecting on the past year has been a mix of gratification, pride, and, to some extent, relief in successfully navigating many challenges! While I acknowledge all these emotions, what stands out most is the pride and immense satisfaction in our achievements.

Entering the year, we faced significant staffing challenges due to a broader crisis within the field - there is a shortage of trained special education teachers. To address this, we have focused on upskilling our existing team. Katie, one of our Deputy Principals, has played a crucial role in organising weekly professional development sessions for both new and existing staff. She has utilised the expertise within our school to provide targeted support and training. Katie has also paired new teachers with mentors to ensure they receive regular guidance and development.

I am also proud of our commitment to leadership development. We introduced a coaching program for our executive and middle leaders, helping them build their skills to lead and support others in their teams effectively. The inclusion of hub leader roles this year has been instrumental in providing a new leadership structure that allows our Hub leaders to develop both operational and strategic leadership skills aligned with our values—teamwork, communication, trust, empathy, and respect. The contributions of our leadership team have been invaluable, providing a platform for these leaders to grow. As a result, several of our leaders have secured coaching positions for the next year, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to our team.

We have also expanded our team to include two Heads of Department—Emma Lancaster and Jenni Hakl—a Student Support Coach, Andrea Loyer, to lead tiered behaviour support and intervention, and engagement coaches—Louise Ruzic for students on a Highly Individualized Curriculum and Sharon Tay for students at different year levels. I am very excited about this team, as they bring significant experience, expertise, and a collaborative approach to their roles. With their contributions, we are well-positioned to achieve great things in advancing our improvement agenda.

I am particularly proud of how well we performed in our recent school review conducted at the end of last term by a team of four reviewers. The affirmations allowed us to celebrate our successes, while the recommendations set a clear and strong focus on our goals for the next four years. Additionally, I am proud of the engagement of our students in meaningful activities aligned with the curriculum. We have expanded our excursions and community engagement activities, thanks to a new bus, allowing students to experience a range of exciting and enriching activities — from camps at Tallebudgera to visits to Lone Pine, Dreamworld, museums, art galleries, and parks. These experiences provided rich contexts for what students are learning in class and offered an opportunity to generalise their skills in the community. I am deeply grateful to our staff for their hard work in implementing the new Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum. Their commitment resulted in engaging, exciting, and relevant learning activities for our students, which were inspiring to see.

Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to our families for their trust and partnership in providing the best possible care and learning opportunities for their children. I look forward to continuing this partnership in the coming year. I also extend my thanks to the P&C for their ongoing support and advocacy for our school community. I am immensely proud of my executive leadership team, whose support and mutual trust are remarkable. We bid farewell to many outgoing staff and warmly welcome our new team members. Thank you to all in our wonderful Mount Ommaney Special School community. Have a safe and happy holiday period.

Kind regards, Mike

A Message from Chrissy Hamilton - Deputy Principal

Free Apps to Enjoy these holidays:

Prep to Year 6

Years 7 to 12

Family

Wishing our families and carers a wonderful Christmas. Please enjoy these free apps. Kind regards, Chrissy.

A Message from Katie Bartholomaeus - Deputy Principal

At MOSS we love to celebrate the students as they work towards their goals. I would really like to shine the spotlight on our staff for a moment. This year we have offered voluntary Professional Learning sessions for our staff each Monday after school. It has been amazing to watch staff take these opportunities to add new skills and learning to their ‘tool kit’ as a teacher. Their engagement and dedication to the process of continuous learning is commendable.

Our Professional Learning Super stars who attended over 85% of sessions this year for the teachers have been Monique Meyer, Elizabeth Cavanagh, Louise Ruzic, Emma Lancaster and Sandra Hall.

Our Teacher Professional Learning Super Stars

And for our Teacher Aide super Stars are; Kate Huang, Kirsten Hohrmann, Anna Reynolds, Emily Muller and Janet Jordan.

Our Teacher Aide Professional Development Super Stars

Thank you also to the wonderful presenters! Andrea Loyer, Emma Lancaster, Chloe Stubberfield, Chrissy Hamilton, Emma Goldston, Vickie Saunders, Georgia Towler, Casey Hutchinson, Celia Hollands, Jessie Middleton and Nikki Webb. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience with other staff to build capacity and improve the outcomes for students. Your support is greatly appreciated.

I would also like to thank Emma Reid who kindly volunteered her time to video the sessions so that they can be available for all staff to watch at a later time.

We are looking forward to expanding on this next year. Have a safe and happy holiday.

A Message from Sandra Schuptar - HOSES - ECDP

ECDP GRADUATION CELEBRATION 2024

It was with great pleasure that the ECDP celebrated graduation last week.
53 of our little ones graduated and are now on the next step of their educational journeys to big school in 2025.

We want to send out a big thank you to everyone who helped to support the celebration to make it so successful and fun for staff, students, and families.

The staff at the ECDP would like to thank everyone for a wonderful year and wish everyone a warm and happy holiday break.

A Message from Caron Gabriel - Head of Department - Curriculum

Term 4 Highlights: Celebrating Success, Growth, and New Beginnings

As Term 4 draws to a close, it is with immense pride and gratitude that we reflect on the wonderful achievements and memories we’ve shared at Mount Ommaney Special School. This term has been filled with opportunities to celebrate our students, teachers, and the community who continuously strive to make our school a place of growth and belonging.

One of the most exciting moments was our school trip to Dreamworld, where students explored, played, and bonded over thrilling rides and animal encounters. The joy and excitement were palpable as students embraced this adventure, supported by our dedicated staff and parents who ensured every student had a day to remember.

Another special event was our Day for Daniel fundraiser, where the community donned red to raise awareness for child safety. The enthusiasm for this important cause highlighted the compassion and unity of our school.

Recognising Achievements

We are thrilled to celebrate the incredible milestone of five students—Milan Faoagali, Aahana Tiwari, Harry Gu, William Martin, and Isaac Haas—who achieved their Junior Rotary Awards. These awards reflect their dedication, resilience, and community spirit. The Junior Rotary program is available to students entering Year 6 in 2025 and to Year 7 students new to MOSS who haven’t previously completed it. We encourage eligible students to sign up and take part in this inspiring program next year.

Communication at the Heart

At Mount Ommaney, AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) remains central to empowering our students. Our deepest thanks go to Emma Goldstan and Vickie Saunders, our Speech and Language Therapists, for their outstanding leadership during AAC Awareness Week. Their creative ideas inspired the community to celebrate the power of communication tools. A heartfelt congratulations to all the students, teachers, and teacher aides who were GOTCH’D using their AAC devices—your dedication is truly inspiring.

Professional Growth and Collaboration

We were proud to host two Special Education Curriculum Cluster (SECC) events this term, where teachers from across special schools collaborated to enhance their expertise in moderation and assessment. These professional conversations deepened our collective understanding of curriculum in the special education context and culminated in comprehensive academic reports that parents will soon enjoy reading.

The completion of ROCC (Roadmap to Communicative Competence) profiles was another significant achievement. These profiles have guided the formulation of actionable communication goals for 2025, ensuring our students continue to thrive.
Celebrations and Farewells

The term’s heart-warming highlights included the Year 12 Formal and Year 6 Graduation, where we celebrated the many successes of our graduating students. These milestones were filled with pride and joy as we recognised their journeys and the bright futures ahead.

On World Teacher’s Day, we took a moment to honour our exceptional educators who work tirelessly to shape the lives of our students.

A Personal Note

As I prepare to embark on my next chapter as Acting Principal, I want to thank the Mount Ommaney community for the memories we’ve created together. The warmth, collaboration, and shared vision at MOSS have laid the foundation for this exciting new adventure. I am humbled by the opportunity and confidence placed in me and feel well-prepared by the lessons I’ve learned here and in other remarkable schools, both in Australia and abroad.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Wishing everyone a joyful holiday season and a successful 2025 ahead!

A message from Juliet Young - EPO (Education Program Officer)

Term 4 is one of the busiest terms of the year for events and this year was no exception. Thank you to everyone who helped to make these events possible by cooking, shopping, setting up, decorating, washing dishes, tidying up, moving tables and chairs and much, much more. Thank you also to all those who came along to these events to share in our community and see what we do and to be appreciated.

Carer’s Day

The school loves to acknowledge all the carers in our community who do an amazing job of supporting our students. Around 50 parents, grandparents, family members and support workers attended our Carer’s Appreciation Morning Tea with the opportunity to visit classrooms and enjoy a delicious morning tea afterwards. They also received a small, handcrafted heart as a token or our appreciation.

Bus Driver and Volunteer Afternoon Tea

Our school and students are fortunate to benefit from volunteers who regularly visit the school to provide additional support in classrooms. This support ranges from providing an extra pair of hands during excursions, reading and doing art activities or assisting during play time.

The drivers and carers from Sunshine Buses play an important role in the lives of our students also. Many of our students travel to school via bus and these amazing people provide a regular familiar face at the start and end of every school day.
The school hosts an afternoon tea every year to acknowledge all those who support our school and to say thank you with the presentation of a certificate. A huge MOSS thank you to all of you.

MOSS Family Fun and Christmas Markets

Over 200 families and carers attended our second MOSS Family Christmas event. This year we were very happy to host market stall holders from the Be Your Own Boss program and to welcome back market stall holders from last year’s event. The bake sale and sausage sizzle were very popular with around $1000 raised and everyone enjoyed browsing the market and bake sale stalls. Thanks also to the local choir and soloist who very generously donated their time to support our school with their fantastic voices. The highlight of course was Santa’s visit and we are very grateful to Santa taking time out of his busy schedule to visit MOSS.

Centenary State High School Performance (CSHS) - Seussical

Despite the challenges presented by torrential rain, our middle year students were able to attend this year’s annual CSHS performance ‘Seussical’. This much anticipated event is always enjoyed by our students, staff, parents and carers with the energy and talent of the performers being a real joy to watch. Thank you to CSHS students and staff for inviting us.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) at MOSS!

This semester students were explicitly taught and given opportunities to practice specific behaviours such as:
- I am ready to learn
- I listen to others
- I respect personal space
- I keep my hands and feet to myself
- I make good choices
- I use my voice
They were exposed to lessons, songs, social stories, role plays and other activities that were differentiated based on the learners.

Staff have really enjoyed bringing students down to admin to celebrate. As the year has progressed students have been able to predict and get excited for completing their sticker charts and receiving their PBL prize and postcard. Admin staff have loved celebrating with them. Here are some photos of students receiving their prizes.

Another delightful term in Drama! Watching students grow more comfortable and take creative risks in each session is so rewarding.

Some classes explored free-form, sensory-based sessions, engaging with playful props like satin cloth, torches, and sheer scarves to spark their imaginations and sensory awareness. Other classes focused on developing their performance skills by acting out simple, non-verbal scenarios and experimenting with a range of emotions and characters.

It’s wonderful to see students expressing themselves and discovering new ways to connect through creativity. We can’t wait to see what the next year brings!

Emma and Colette, Drama teachers.

G hub has had such a wonderful year watching our little people grow and develop into slightly bigger little people. We have played, we have laughed, we have loved. This term we have worked on developing the skills needed to achieve our Personalised Learning Goals, as well as, continuing our learning goals in our Individualised Curriculum Plans. The students have enjoyed engaging in their work through play and child lead activities. The teachers and teacher’s aides have worked tirelessly to create a meaningful engaging environment for our students. We have developed beautiful and fulfilling relationships with the students of G Hub and we can’t wait to continue to watch them grow and develop throughout all their future years at MOSS.

G1 Class

As we come to the end of a fantastic year in the D/E Hub, it's a time to reflect on all the incredible learning and fun our students have experienced! This term has been filled with exciting activities, growth, and plenty of joy as we wrap up our teaching and learning journey and dive into the festive season.

Throughout the year, our students have engaged in a wide variety of learning experiences, developing new skills, building friendships, and achieving successes. From hands-on science experiments to creative art projects, the D/E Hub has been buzzing with excitement and enthusiasm. Our teachers have worked tirelessly to nurture each child's potential, fostering a love of learning that will carry them into the new year.

Now, as the year draws to a close, we’re embracing the holiday spirit with fun-filled Christmas celebration! The school is sparkling with holiday decorations, and students are getting into the festive mood, enjoying themed activities and treats. Our Christmas celebrations have brought joy to every corner of the hub, with songs, crafts, and special moments shared together.

And what better way to beat the heat and enjoy the last days of the school year than with some water play! The students are having a blast splashing around in the water play set-ups, cooling off and making memories with friends. It's the perfect way to end an action-packed year on a high note, full of laughter and fun.

As we bid farewell to this school year, we want to thank all our students, families, and staff for their hard work, dedication, and support. We wish everyone a joyful, restful holiday season, filled with love, happiness, and celebration. We look forward to seeing everyone back in the new year for more learning adventures!

Happy Holidays from the D/E Hub!

Another term, another year, but where has the time gone? A/B hub wonders.

It has been an exciting term 4! We commemorated Day for Daniel by participating in activities in the Hall with Officer Ben. Students loved being dressed up as a police officer and having their photos taken! AB Hub also enjoyed participating in AAC Awareness week and Wear your Words Day, earning the most points for the school’s AAC Bingo competition.

With the arrival of warmer weather, the highlight of every week has been water play on Fridays. We enjoyed an excursion to the Centenary High School to watch the performance of “Seussical”, which was both entertaining and fun. The students showcased outstanding behaviour that aligned with the school’s expectations of being safe, being respectful, and being their best.

Another highlight of this term happened on Thursday, 28th November. The Year 6 students had their Graduation night before joining the Junior Secondary next year. The graduating students from our Hub were Nathan, Griffin and Vincent. The evening was wonderful, filled with socialising, dancing and singing, not forgetting a wonderful joyride around the school in an open Jeep! It was definitely a memorable experience for the students!

We celebrated the end of year with our Hub’s assembly over the progresses and achievements that our students had made.

We look forward to the coming festive season and the summer holidays!

A Block Gallery

Wowee! What a year!

This semester, K Hub students have made impressive progress academically and socially. We are so proud of everyone’s willingness to learn, play and have fun. Students have enjoyed maintaining friendships made within the year and are now comfortable with a range of peers and staff.

In English this semester, students have enjoyed learning about a range of animals. Students have discussed the appearance, habitat and diet of these animals, and been able to determine the difference between imaginative and informative text types. Students created fact files and informative books on an animal of their choosing using digital technology and were able to display their understanding in a range of ways. Students also participated in art activities about these animals, including creating habitat dioramas, collages, painting and drawing.

A highlight of the semester was the hub excursion to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Students participated in an educational session with a keeper at the sanctuary and got a close-up view of a leaf insect, blue tongue lizard and turtle. Following the session, students were able to see and pat a koala. Students were then able to see the sheepdog demonstration, feed the kangaroos and visit the other animals at the sanctuary. We are proud of our students for continuing to display the Positive Behaviour for Learning values at Lone Pine. Thank you to our parents and grandparents for joining us on this excursion, the staff at Lone Pine for making it a special visit for us, and Sunshine Buses for getting us there and home safely!

CJ Hub students can be proud of their efforts over the past weeks with completing assessment tasks for the integrated units. Our unit on Ancient Egypt culminated in publishing an information text on Ancient Egypt, or a related topic. Throughout the unit on Ancient Egypt integrating English, HASS, digital technologies and Auslan students have explored a range of digital resources. Students had the opportunity to build keyboarding skills, experiment with font colour and style and explore the use of images in their published work. Students used iPad apps like Book Creator and software such as Powerpoint. Writing has been a focus all year, so it was wonderful to share and celebrate our writing efforts, and reflect on individual writing goals.

Our learners extended their knowledge of the Ancient past and Australia’s natural history with a visit to the Queensland Museum to explore the ‘Discovering Ancient Egypt’ exhibition. Lazer projections of an Egyptian temple and other artefacts were particularly engaging, and students were able to view some amazing real artefacts, including mummies, stone carvings and hieroglyphics. We also viewed exhibitions about the Anzacs, indigenous art, natural landscapes and animals, pre-historic life and the Dinosaur Garden. Our students were absolutely enthralled and engaged!

The excursion also included a stop in at the State Library where students were introduced to the ‘Deaf in Dancing’ showcase – a photographic and video exhibition showcasing a deaf indigenous dance troupe. Our students heard how deaf dancers learn dances through vibration and visual cues and saw how a community uses Auslan. Students should be congratulated for their excellent manners and the way in which they listened so attentively on the day. Another highlight for some, was purchasing an ice-cream in the café. An experience that allowed students to communicate and use money in a real-life situation, while providing a little independence.

Our integrated math/science unit wound up after lots of fun hands-on science investigations, with students becoming scientists by posing questions and making observations to learn about forces. Students were able to apply their mathematical knowledge when making observations about how force impacts the movement and shape of objects. Our learners engaged in different hands-on experiments and investigations where force was applied to a variety of objects. Predictions and observations were made about the impact of force on a wide variety of objects based on size, shape and movement, to then sort objects. Mathematical knowledge was applied when making predications and drawing conclusions form investigations, related to size, shape, mass and length, and how these attributes might interact with, and influence the impact of force on objects.

CH Hub commemorated Remembrance Day on the 11th November with the RSL’s theme ‘Draw to Remember’. Students used chalk to colour and draw poppies down near the bus set down, to reflect, and remember the soldiers and their bravery in the past. Our students also made poppies and wreaths to show their respect on the day.

Students have continued to have lots of certificates awarded at our hub assemblies! Many students have been recognised for their consistent effort to display our school PBL values of ‘Be safe’, ‘Be respectful’ and ‘Be my best’. Every week our hub emphasises the school wide PBL focus, and places importance on explicitly teaching expected behaviours. Lower secondary students have obviously been listening! We have had a number of excursions recently. In addition to visiting the Queensland Museum and State Library, we have visited Centenary State High School for the Seussical Musical Performance and taken part in the AFL All Abilities sporting event in recent weeks. At every event our students have displayed exemplary behaviour in the wider community. For some of our students this would have been more challenging, but reflects students’ growing independence with using emotional regulation tools effectively. All students should be congratulated for their wonderful effort!

C/J hub joined the world in recognising the International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) by having students engage in creative activities including flag making, collage and creating portraits in our three classes across the hub. The stimulus for our portraits came after viewing the portrait artworks of the dancers in the ‘Deaf in Dance: Feeling the Beat Exhibition’ on our excursion to the State Library. This exhibition celebrates the Deaf Indigenous Dance Group (DIDG) which was created to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People who are deaf or hard of hearing. As well as videos, the exhibition provides the dancers with another way to demonstrate their connection to culture and country through illustrative and authored portraits. Dancers inscribed and illustrated images captured by photographers Sean Davey and Aishah Kenton, to create powerful portraits.

After viewing these artworks, students reflected on their own identities, key ideas and messages of personal significance to create unique, powerful portraits in a similar style on International Day of People with Disability. Students were encouraged to create text and illustrations to add to photographic images. Participating students did an outstanding job and we hope you enjoy viewing their work.

Hub staff would like to wish all our families a wonderful holiday. A sincere thank you to all our families for the support shown throughout the year and contributing so much support for the education of your young person.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and happy 2025!

We have so many wonderful memories from this term. The students in our Hub made social connections with their peers and staff in their class and across the Hub. Vocalisations, facial expressions, gentle touch, eye contacts and lots of different AAC systems were used to chat to each other about learning activities, their day and events from outside of school. The smiles on their faces are worth 1000 words.

The outdoor learning space has been the setting for lots of engaging hands-on experiences. Investigating shape, size, and different forces in our combined maths/science sessions was a highlight for everyone. Moving ourselves using bikes, scooter boards, swings, walkers and the trampoline developed our understanding of different forces, built up muscles and co-ordination, gave us opportunities to work together, and was so much fun. Ramps, slides, tables, target nets, switches and hairdryers facilitated our exploration of how different shaped, sized and textured objects. We threw, rolled, pushed, pulled and blew to move them. Our scientific thinking was developed through observations and discussions of what was happening.
Inside our classrooms have hives of learning. We continued to use informative texts to focus our learning in English, History and Digital technologies. Pretending to be mummies and archaeologists searching for Ancient Egyptian artifacts was fascinating. We expanded our vocabulary as we wrapped ourselves and dolls in ‘bandages’ and described the items we found. Exploring the Diwali celebrations, facilitated us learning about another culture using all of our senses. Making rangoli patterns was a fascinating way to discuss, match and sort shapes.

The end of the semester has been lots of fun. We have discovered the different ways people celebrate at this time of year.
We hope all of our students and families have a safe and joyful holiday. We look forward to seeing them all in the new year.

Who said anything about winding down for the year in term 4!! J hub has exploded with activity as the year comes to a close. Whether it’s Camp, Formal, Christmas celebrations, Graduation or achieving our individualised goals, we are finishing the year with a splash. Students have accessed technology, swimming, work experience and dance amongst our normal literacy and numeracy units. Our big focus as always in the Senior hub is to sample post-school options and develop independence – whatever that may mean or look like for each of our young people.

We wish our graduating year 12 students every happiness as well as exciting adventures as they prepare to transition from the MOSS community. We hope that we have helped build a bridge to their next phase and know that they go off into their post-school lives with so much love, well wishes and happy memories!

Camp

Graduates

Graduation

Technology

Work Experience

Summer School Holiday Activities

Brisbane Kids - School Holiday Activities Brisbane

Brisbane City Council - 7 Budget-Friendly Activities to do with Kids in Brisbane

Brisbane City Council - 12 things to do with kids in Brisbane for under $10

Best Things to do in Brisbane with Kids

Must Do Brisbane.com

Secret Brisbane - Things to do with Kids Brisbane

2025 School Calendar

2025_school_calendar.pdf

Day	Date	Event
Fri	13 Dec 24	Last Day of Term 4
Mon	20 Jan 25	School Office Open
Thu	23 Jan 25	Staff PD/Student Free Day
Fri	24 Jan 25	Staff PD/Student Free Day
Mon	27 Jan 25	Australia Day Public Holiday
Tue	28 Jan 25	First Day of Term 1
Fri	4 Apr 25	Last Day of Term 1

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MOSS Newsletter - Term 4 2024