7 April 2022

Newsletter Articles

Important Dates

From the Principal’s Desk

It has been a term like few others. I would like to acknowledge everyone – students, staff and the community for doing their very best to keep the school and our programs running. The well-being and learning of students have been and will always be at the centre of all we do. Staff have worked incredibly hard, with some taking on a critical worker role and being adaptable to the many staff absences during the weeks. The students, by and large, have done very well keeping their masks on, washing their hands and keeping their social distance.

I am aware of how the COVID rules and guidelines seem to change weekly, but I can assure you our school has kept up to date with all the changes. I try and keep everyone informed via our school Connect or website or SMS. I appreciate it can be overwhelming, but it is always best we try to keep you aware of the current health and school operating procedures. Again I would like to thank parents/caregivers for keeping us up to date with test results or close contacts. I have attached a letter from the department on close contract tracing to this newsletter. We do not need to be notified of any COVID related issues during the holidays. I hope we all have COVID free holidays with no RAT in sight.

We decided against having our end of term assembly given the current circumstances. Next term, some restrictions will be lifted, and we hope to have regular assemblies, more excursions and workplace learning. Congratulations to all the merit award winners and a special acknowledgement to our school councillors for 2022. A complete list of winners is published later in the newsletter.

All families should have their sons or daughters' IEP/ITPs. We will be working with therapists to ensure the plans tie together and time is not wasted. Our processes are similar to NDIS and form part of our person-centred planning ethos.

The School Board has already met twice and has gone over the Funding Agreement, The Statement of Expectations and discussions with the City of Canning, to name but a few agenda items. We welcome Mrs Sorenson and Dr Smith to our Board as new parent representatives. We have ten passionate individuals on our Board, all dedicated to making a difference in our school.

I wish everyone a restful and rejuvenating holiday period – remember to honour the ANZACs and enjoy your Easter treats.

Andrew Wilson

Please click on the following link for information regarding COVID-19

End of Term Awards

Merit Certificates

2022 Student Councillors

Congratulations to the following students:

Class Updates

7D

Term 1 has almost come to an end! The students in 7D have been doing fantastic work. Students have been participating in ASDAN lessons during the last couple of weeks. ASDAN is an engaging life skills curriculum that prepares students for life beyond school. This term, our ASDAN has been about identity. Students have been reflecting on themselves and discovering the skills, qualities and values they have within. Here are some pictures from our lessons.

On behalf of 7D, we wish you all a wonderful Easter and happy holidays. I hope the Easter bunny is good for you.

Deearna Holmes

7M

We would like to welcome Basma Younis to 7M. Basma has made a smooth transition and is eager to form new friendships.

During literacy, Miss Holmes, the other year 7 teacher, and I have created a literacy program tailored to the individual student and their abilities. We hope to have a few groups focusing on spelling and then comprehension. If all goes well, we will commence a numeracy program during term 2.

Students have been working on handwriting, predictable word charts (writing a basic sentence), form filling and weekend recount, to name a few.

During numeracy, some of our students focus on number tracing, adding, subtracting numbers up to 20 and identifying time to the hour and half hour.

During cooking, our students made some delicious pancakes and pizza. It is good to see all our students engaged and assisted in cleaning the kitchen.

Enjoying cooking

During Ignite, our students completed their leather bookmarks.

Oviya is working on her leather bookmark

During STEAM, the students focus on natural disasters. They took part in an art activity to illustrate what bushfires look like.

Dylan and Jordyn painting a natural disaster fire

Well done to Akbar and Ken for submitting their art piece in time to compete in the upcoming ESSN art competition. Best of luck to both of you.

Mustafa Hussein

Akbar and Ken with their artwork

8C

Exploring a range of natural disasters during the weekly STEAM lesson

Feeling the burn!

Brendan Cunnane

8P

Our literacy lessons have seen students develop and improve their comprehension skills and spelling ability. The focus has been on reading comprehension, which assists students to understand the meaning of what they are reading with both literal and inferential tasks. Students have used a combination of handwritten and online quizzes to help them understand. We have also just started Wingaru Kids, an Aboriginal education program that helps students build the shared knowledge needed to understand and respect the world’s oldest continuous living culture. This program encompasses both digital activities and printed classroom resources.

We focused on money during numeracy lessons, learning to identify coins and notes and how to calculate change when given a scenario extended to independent living where we created a shopping list for a dessert. The students were given the scenario of if they had $20.00, could they purchase all the ingredients, and how much change would they receive, or how much more was required if they didn’t have enough? Using Coles online shopping website, they worked out the costs of the ingredients, an important lesson in determining if they could afford the dessert recipe they chose and, could a cheaper ingredient work just as well as a name brand, what volumes to use (250g or 500g).

8P has been busy designing and creating our Pet Rocks in enterprise. We still have more to do, but the effort has been great, and some creative designs are being made. Next, we will begin tie-dyeing which everyone is looking forward to.

Pet Rocks

During cooking, our students made some delicious muffins and pizza. Good to see all our students engaged and assisting in cleaning the kitchen.

In art, it has been a hive of activity with students completing art pieces to submit for the ESSN art competition. There has also been an activity creating art pieces in our spare time, including an Easter egg basket.

Warren Preece

Preparing entries for the ESSN art competition

Easter in our class

9H

For Clean Up Australia Day, students from 9H readily picked up their garbage bags and collected litter around the school garden and part of the oval with gloved hands. We had quite an assortment of waste, and students encouraged each other by comparing their waste collections to see who picked the most litter. Before beginning our mission, we discussed what Clean Up Australia Day was about and how we could do our bit by keeping the environment around us neat and tidy.

Clean Up Australia Day

Students celebrated Harmony Week by creating a meal inspired by India during cooking class. They cooked butter chicken and had it with pita bread. They watched a Bollywood dance video in class whilst enjoying their meal. Students also created a peace sign display and used skin-coloured crayons to colour in their handprints. We read the book “Whoever You Are” by Mem Fox to discuss and celebrate the differences we observe in the world around us. Some students and staff wore orange coloured clothing as traditionally the colour orange relates to social communication, stimulating two-way conversations. Summer wore traditional Scottish clothing to celebrate her heritage. We discussed how celebrating our heritage keeps our communities together as we share each other’s values and traditions.

Harmony Day class photo

Students have been working very hard to collect tokens to receive their positive behaviour support prizes. They choose their prize and work very hard towards earning tokens to meet their targets and receive their reward. Students receive tokens for class participation, engaging in group discussions, following school and class rules, finishing their literacy and numeracy related work, doing their best during sports etc. PBS tokens are used to encourage students to try their best and persevere.

Princy Heald

Robbie receiving his PBS reward

9S

It has been a fantastic term for us in the 9S classroom. Though we have had a few obstacles in our journey this term, we have all worked together to accommodate the changes, respect one another, and create an awesome learning environment within our classroom.

In STEAM lessons with Miss Laudehr, we are learning about natural disasters like earthquakes, floods and bushfires through informational videos and exciting activities. We enjoy completing different hands-on experiments and activities during these lessons and then work together as a team, using our inquiry and processing skills to understand the experiment's outcome.

Completing bushfire art

On Thursdays, we are learning Key Word Signing with Mrs Martlew. This term, our focus has been on learning to sign “Acknowledgement to the Country” and fingerspelling our names and other high-frequency words. Mrs Martlew is very proud of our progress. Mrs Martlew also has art lessons with us on Tuesday. We have completed two art activities so far this term. The first one was a split-face self-portrait. One side of the portrait is realistic, and the other side is abstract, showing who we are, our interests and our skills. The second art project was a 3D optical illusion hand art that looks beautiful, and we are all proud to see our completed artwork displayed in the classroom.

In HASS lessons, we have been focussing on Aboriginal studies. We learn about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, their colours and their symbolic meanings. We have been learning about the history of the Aboriginal flags through informational videos and class discussions. It has indeed been a busy term.

Aboriginal studies

The term has gone quickly, and the holidays are just a week away. We have all worked very hard and are looking forward to a well-deserved holiday.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday!

Susan Solomon

10S

Here are some reflections and highlights of the term:

Happy and safe holidays to you all.

Pat Spadanuda

10W

This term has been so busy that it is hard to believe it is almost over. Our class has been busy doing diagnostic testing with Key Maths, OLNA and spelling assessments. We have also had our ITP meetings, and our ITP documents were sent out during week 8. If you haven’t had a chance to look at them, please do; they are in your child’s flexi class on Connect and make an excellent basis for planning and working towards goals, both at home and school.

We finished our five-week visit to Zone Bowling and enjoyed learning and improving our bowling skills during recreational pursuits sessions. Next term, we will be attending lawn bowls in Victoria Park, which will allow us to learn a different style of bowling and compare it to 10 pin bowling.

In community service, we have been learning what makes a good community and how to increase our sense of community when most of us live in urban areas. We have learned how people in rural areas often look out for each other and support each other during times of crisis – such as in the recent floods in NSW. We can identify the different aspects of a community that improve it for its citizens. Next term, we will start looking after the Wharf Street Basin as part of the Adopt-a-Spot program to increase our community service hours.

Students have been researching different projects that might be good to sell on market day in art. They have come up with some excellent ideas and are keen to explore them in the coming weeks, including pouring art projects.

On Fridays, the year 10 students are separated into boys and girls groups and learn how to maintain mental health, hygiene and puberty.

Mrs Whelan is currently negotiating with three employers to arrange Workright Industry visits during terms 2 and 3. It is hoped that there will be three opportunities in different contexts where students can go for three or four weeks to ‘taste’ the different types of work that would be required if they worked there. Possibly a library, a plant nursery and a warehouse. Watch this space for more information. We have also been learning what to do in an emergency, both at work and in school. We did an emergency procedure audit in the school to locate evacuation plans, fire extinguishers and blankets. We also practised what we would do if we heard the fire alarm at school.

Finally, it has been an activity-packed term filled with learning experiences and curriculum requirements. 10W should be congratulated on settling in with new staff and curriculum. Each child has earned a well-deserved break at term-end. Rest up and come back ready for another busy term!

Rhoda Whelan

11F

We have some exciting news leading up to the school holidays. Henry Mippy will be representing WA in the Under 20s basketball team at the Ivor Burge Championships in Mackay, Queensland. He is flying on his own on 17 April for a week. These games will be aired on TV, so keep a lookout on Connect and TEAMS for the dates he will be playing.

Henry is also playing during the Perth Wildcats game half-time against Melbourne United at the RAC Perth Arena on Monday 4 April at 6:30 pm.

Annie Foyster

11G

Our students had a great time during Harmony Day celebrations, learning about different cultures, enjoying new foods, and listening to different types of music and activities.

We have an excursion to Cottesloe Beach booked for 4 April; this will complement our theory lessons during ASDAN, where we learnt practical first aid skills and how to identify risks.

We have focused on fitness activities this term in HPO, and each student has set themselves a fitness goal that we work on each week in the school gym. During water-polo and basketball team games at the Leisureplex, we are learning basic game tactics, improving our skills and fitness. It is also exciting to see students heading up to Kalamunda to play basketball after school on a Wednesday night.

In maths, the students have started completing Mathletics tasks weekly, using timetables to plan journeys in the community, and all enjoy counting their frequent flyer tokens and claiming rewards.

In English, we are completing our blogs on being a new senior school student, and we are about to start work on a “Ten Top Tips for Healthy Living” poster.

Most students have commenced ADWPL and travel into the community to various locations with minimal fuss. It is exciting to see some students complete their placements and start new workplace journeys.

In electives, we have visited some nurseries and are learning about correct manual handling techniques and how to minimise risk.

Dwayne Griffin

12G

As we head toward the end of term 1, the students are still full of energy and enthusiasm. They are working extremely hard in class to complete their work before the semester's end, and all are making fantastic progress.

ITPs are completed and on Connect for parents, caregivers and students to read. We continue to make massive achievements with our PBS, and most students have received enough tokens this term to earn themselves a cafeteria voucher – all of which buy hot chips on Wednesday at lunchtime!

Unfortunately, some of the students’ work placements have been put on hold for the remainder of the term. However, we hope that those students will be back at work on Thursdays next term.

The Beach Safety program at Coogee Beach and Cottesloe Beach has now been scheduled for Monday, 4 April, which is excellent news, and the students are all looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the original excursion had to be postponed due to Surf Life Saving WA lifesavers being in isolation.

12G has been practising independent living skills by cooking in the business centre kitchen. So far, we have made healthy fried rice, and our next adventure in the kitchen will be spaghetti bolognese.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Easter and school holidays. See you all next term.

Cindi Griffin

12J

It has been a jam-packed term, and the holidays are nearly here.

The students were instrumental in setting up and participating in Harmony Day. It was great to see so many students wear their national dress and cook their traditional food. Thanks to Reece and Daniel, who cooked nearly 200 sausages for the school.

Reece and Daniel

On Monday in week 10, our students took part in two beach safety programs. One was held at Cottesloe and the other at Coogee Beach. The excursions' purpose was for students to learn all about safety in the water and to identify dangerous hazards. It was fantastic to see the students swimming and having fun in the water.

Congratulations to Aaliyah Bright and Brianna Exell for achieving the 12J term one merit certificates. Both students have worked extremely hard to complete work of a high standard. Well done, girls!

Well done!

Meet our new year 12 Student Councillor, Aaliyah Bright! Congratulations on being voted as our representative for 2022. Aaliyah is a worthy candidate who will represent our students diligently.

I would like to wish students and their families a very safe and Happy Easter. It has been a rewarding term, and I look forward to seeing you all back safely in term 2.

Judi Janes

Pathways M

As we approach the end of the term, things start to settle down in the class. Our thoughts turn to the fast-approaching end of term holidays, a well-deserved break for the students after a very productive term.

As part of the Ready for Work modules, students who participated in the EDGE Workforce Ready seven-week course have completed this program. At the same time, other students who were attending two days of workplace learning each week have completed an impressive fifty hours of work experience over the term.

In addition, as part of our Independent Living modules, our class has planned and prepared a variety of dishes, including Chilli Con Carne, pizza (including making the dough), Thai green curry and chicken and cashews. They have also baked a birthday cake for our much-loved education assistants, Mr Downing and Mr den-Otter, which has allowed us to learn some valuable cooking skills and explore different customs, music and geography. Happy holidays!

Ryan Michael

Design and Technology

Ken became a change-maker this week when he brought in two big bags of containers for our Containers for Change recycling program. 7M has worked hard to process donated containers into different categories every week. Most containers are found on the school grounds and surrounding car parks. Please encourage your student to be a “change-maker” by sending your eligible containers to school and placing them in the green bag in the school garden. The money students earn will go towards a charity of their choice at the end of the year.

Ken with container donation

Our year 10 DFES students were given a team-building challenge that involved electing a leader and making group decisions. The challenge set was to pick up and carry a $4000.00 hobby craft without touching it for about 120 metres! The only materials supplied were six lengths of nylon rope. The staff looked on as a roller coaster of student discussion went from an impossible mission to an easily achievable goal.

Mark Arrantash

DFES team building

Workplace Learning

Workplace learning in the second half of this term has been trying. To the students’ credit, they have been attending regularly when they are able.

Staff, students and workplaces have all been affected by COVID. Some of our employers have taken the time to thank our students who have been working extremely hard to help where there are staff shortages.

Congratulations to Jasmine Robinson and Cameron Banks for graduating from the EDGE Employment Solutions Charged Up for Work Program. This program has improved their confidence, and EDGE will be working with both of these students for the next twelve months, helping them achieve their employment goals.

Thank you to all staff and students for your patience and support throughout the term.

Carollyn Pears and Vera Edwards

Cameron and Jasmine

Student Services Update

Please click on the following:

Harmony Day

Harmony Day celebrates Australian multiculturalism and the successful integration of migrants into our community. Harmony Day is about inclusiveness, respect, and belonging for all Australians, united by core Australian values regardless of cultural or linguistic background.

On 16 March, our senior students, in collaboration with Sevenoaks Senior College, participated in various activities and food stalls celebrating the diverse cultures of our schools. A big thank you goes to Reece Wilkie and Daniel McBlane, who led a group of staff and student volunteers and made the occasion such an enjoyable occasion.

Students at our middle school had the opportunity to purchase multicultural foods from the canteen and dress in cultural clothing or orange, which is the official colour of Harmony Day.

Introducing our Student Services Coordinator

Tena koutou te whanau o Cannington Community Education Support Centre. Greetings to you, the Cannington Community Education Support Centre community.

My name is Terri Te Kani, and I am the new Student Services Coordinator.

I am a proud māori woman from Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the first place in the world to see the sun.

My tribal links and connections are widespread throughout New Zealand, but my direct connections are Ngati Porou, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Rongowhakaata, Ngai Tamanuhiri, Whakatohea and Tuhoe. I come from a very special and unique family dynamic, with 27 siblings, over 90 nieces and nephews and 112 grandchildren. In short, I was raised by the village and wouldn’t have it any other way.

For the last twenty years, my career has involved working in a youth space as a mentor, youth coordinator, behaviour manager, trauma and mental health coordinator, sexual and relationship health educator, and suicide prevention coordinator.

I have lived in Western Australia since 2017, based in Merredin in the Wheatbelt, and was fortunate enough to work at the local college there as the Student Support Officer, where I was based for six years. The relationships, opportunities, experiences and skills offered and shared with me at Merredin College were truly amazing and have added pure magic to my career. I was very graciously nominated by the Merredin community and college in the WA State Education Awards 2021, where I was runner up for Student Support Officer of the year. An opportunity presented for a Student Support Coordinator at Cannington Community Education Support Centre, which involves programs and target groups that I have aspired to work with.

I look forward to working alongside all staff, families and students and aspire to be an integral, supporting, positive part of this amazing school and community.

Nga manaakitanga-best wishes,

Terri – Ms T

Office Information

Payments

Thank you to everyone who has paid their contributions—just a reminder, you can pay your contributions by EFTPOS, direct debit, on our website – parent payments or by payment plan. Please contact the office to arrange a payment plan.

All charges for years 11 and 12 students are compulsory. If charges are not paid, the school cannot subside your child’s excursions.

Middle School Parking

Please note that parking is not permitted in the driveway at the school’s entrance, as indicated by the ‘no stopping’ markers and yellow line, as this causes a traffic jam on Wharf Street and is dangerous for students. The disabled parking bays are for people displaying an ACROD sticker only. Your cooperation would be appreciated. Parents are welcome to park down the side of the school near the bus bays. Parents picking up children from the bus bays need to arrive early before the buses.

Visiting the School

All visitors must sign in at Reception/Business Centre and receive a yellow visitor label.

Tanya Buchan

Harmony Day Celebrations