Rata Syndicate Newsletter

TERM 3, 2015 (20 July – 25 September)

Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Welcome back everyone! We hope you all had a great holiday. We would like to welcome our new teachers to our team, John Ward in Room 12, who is Bryn’s new class teacher and Tracy Findlay in Room 9, as Rhys’ new class teacher.

Some important events in Term 3 (10 Weeks)
• Week 6 - Production - for Room 7,8,9 students
• Week 10 -22 September - students remaining at the CEU or who have not had delayed IEPs due to absence. (For our leaving students - Term 4)
• Week 10 -25 September - Last day of Term 2 (finish 2pm)

The Learning Focus: Our Big Learning area of study for term three, will be The Arts (Music, Visual Art and Drama). Our topic is “Being a Creative Kiwi -Investigating Kiwiana in New Zealand and using concepts to influence in our own artistic creations and processes.” The students will be inspired by Kiwiana objects, discussions, video clips, and music excerpts and planned first-hand experiences. To make our learning more successful, we would like some input from you. We will let you know areas where you can help as the term goes on. Students will also be participating in other Big Learning topics in their mainstream class and will therefore complete Big Learning activities in these classes also.

 Swimming for/with our students; In term three we will have a swimming session trial period, once a week on Tuesday during the middle block. More details will be sent home shortly.

IEPs: This term, for our leaving students, we will organise a range of school visits and changeover meetings .We will also invite and involve potential teachers from the new schools to take part in the IEP meetings (in term four) for these students. Some of our remaining students will have their IEPs on September 22 this term. We will confirm with you when your child’s IEP will be held.

Assessment/portfolios: We will assess your child’s abilities using the Expanded Curriculum Framework or/and the National Curriculum. We will present short learning stories and samples in their portfolios so you can see your child’s work habits and some enjoyable moments during their day. If you have any concerns about your child’s development in any areas please talk with us.

Homework: The learning experiences of our students are very important to us. Thank you to those families who made a contribution to your child’s learning through discussion and extra sharing at home. They learn so much from you and enjoy bringing these ideas back to school to share with the rest of our students and staff members. Please feel free to discuss with us what works best for homework for your child.

Personal/Medical Details: Personal details: Please let us know if there has been any change in your personal contact details e.g. new mobile phone numbers or the times of medical appointments for your child. It is important that we have up-to-date information in case we need to urgently contact you regarding any issue concerning your child during school time. Change in the medication routine; Please let us know if you have made any changes to your child’s medication e.g. when your child has seizures or needs pain relief and any extra care.

Health checks; We also would like to ask you for a copy of any new orthotics, visual or hearing reports to help us plan your child’s future development.

Sick students: We ask that you DO NOT send your child to school when he/she is unwell, as this might result in the infection of other students and staff members in the Unit. It also goes without saying that a child who is unwell will not be able to concentrate on tasks or enjoy school activities. If your child comes to school and is unwell, you will be contacted and asked to come and take your child home.

Please Remember to Bring: Tissues: Once again, we would like to ask you to join our staff members in donating a box of tissues to the Unit beginning each term.

Clothing: Please ensure your child has some extra clothes and a SUN HAT/HAT in their bag so we can still go outside. Please keep a spare set of clothes in your child’s bag in case of any accidents.

We look forward to working with you and your child this term. Please come and talk to us if you have any concerns, questions or comments about your child.

The RATA syndicate:
Livia, Stacey and David