Yandelora School Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

NAPLAN at Yandelora School- many of you may have other children in other schools sitting NAPLAN this week. I felt it would be a good opportunity to share with the community what happens at Yandelora School. All of the students at Yandelora are exempt from NAPLAN. A note goes home to families to inform them that their child will be exempt and the families are asked to sign and return the note to the school. This exemption is kept filed at the school until the students are 25 years old. NAPLAN does not have any links to funding attached to students at the school, therefore our students participating and not getting a good result does not mean they will receive extra funding in this setting. Rather we complete our own internal assessments and data collection based on each students Personalised Learning Plan, and using these strategically planned assessments we track students personal progress. This is much more meaningful for our students as they travel along their personal learning pathway.

Excellent school attendance is a priority for all schools and all students. Attached to our newsletter this week is a document from the Department of Education that outlines the impact of non attendance at school. One of the areas that has significant impact on attendance is late arrivals and early departures. For some families an early departure has been negotiated. If a student misses 15 minutes of learning a day, it adds up to one hour and 15 minutes a week, 5 hours a month (or a day of learning) 3 days a term and 12 days a year! This is quite significant! Students leaving early or arriving late at school are marked as having and unauthorised absence in the schools roll collection programme.

Therapy Programs at Yandelora School are very important in supporting students engagement and access to learning. With this in mind all therapists who attend school to work with students through their NDIS are expected to work in classroom with the students, if they take them out of the room students can miss out on vital learning opportunities, so taking students into another area for therapy is discouraged. Teaching and Learning at school is the priority ensuring that students access curriculum outcomes and therapy supports students learning, rather than removing students from classes and learning opportunities.

Yandelora School is working towards becoming a sustainable school. We work hard to be responsible stewards of resources. As a school we have implemented many forms of communication such as the schools webpage, SeeSaw and the P&C initiated the purchase of Skool Bag. All school information will come thorough these means as we attempt to save on paper and printing. If you particularly need paper copies of notes please let the school office know.

Warm regards

Jacquie

Frog Class consists of seven amazing students in Years 8 and 9, and we are all keen learners. There has been a big focus on developing independence in our students, much of which has been generated by the wishes of the students themselves. The students start their day by following an individualised work schedule to complete a set of tasks, much like they would in a workplace. The students have taken to their work schedules with enthusiasm and maturity, and a great sense of pride in their work. The morning also consists of ‘Breakfast Club’. This is a short activity where students are given the opportunity to make themselves a piece of toast and spread their favourite topping to eat. They then wash up their plate and return to class to start the rest of their day. A big thank you to Baker’s Delight in Narellan Town Centre for sponsoring this program by supplying the students in F block with bread three times each week. This is also a terrific activity to practise communication skills. There has been a wonderful growth in the students’ independence, and their ability to request help when they need it. 

This term has also seen the students work on their money skills in mathematics. We have been following the Clarke Road Money Program, which is designed to meet the needs of all of our learners, and helps to build their independence to use money when in the community. We are getting very good at listening for the dollar amount in a price, and working out how much money we need to give the cashier to buy an item. We are very excited to start practising these skills at the shops, as we begin regular visits to the supermarket this week. 

Our students have been trying so hard to improve their communication, using a variety of methods, such as switches, Proloquo2Go, speech, and Key Word Sign. Their opinions and ideas have been amazing, and funny, inspiring and cheeky. They show a terrific amount of empathy for each other. Well done to all of the students in Frog class.