PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Week 3 Term 1 2015
GEORGE BASS SCHOOL
Welcome I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our entire school community to the 2015 school year. A special welcome to all of our new students and their families to George Bass School. We have also welcomed a number of new staff to our team for this year. Joy Pulch is the new teacher for Kula class in 2015, Chloe McGeoch is relieving for Pamela in her absence and will be taking on our RFF role once Pamela returns. Emma Parks and Brownen Baxter are covering our RFF (release from face to face) teaching sessions initially in term 1. I would also like to welcome Paul Thwaites who joins us as a permanent School Learning Support Officer working on Wali class in 2015. Meet the teacher night. Meet the teacher night and BBQ this year will be held on Tuesday the 17th of February. All families will have the opportunity to meet with class staff and discuss the general organisation of their child’s class for the year. A note for this will be going home this week. I encourage each family to attend as it is a great way to find out about your child’s class for the year as well as meet other families. George Bass Car‐Park Our car‐park is significantly busier this year as many of you would have noticed. Please pay attention to the car park rules and do not enter the zone marked for assisted school transport. I also ask that everyone take extra care when driving and parking their vehicles, especially at arrival and departure times. School Hours A reminder that our school hours are 8.50am‐2.50pm each day. Any student who arrives late gets counted as a partial absence. Late arrivals can also be quite disruptive to the class routines and they can impact negatively on our morning programs. A majority of our staff also attend meetings in the afternoons in order to build on their skills and expertise. Please endeavour to pick up your child at the appropriate time. If you are aware that you are running late please contact the school and let us know as this will greatly help our organisation.
NEWSLETTER
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Assisted School Transport Many of our assisted school transport runs have changed in 2015. This may impact on the time your child is picked up and dropped off home. This is out of the drivers and the schools control. I would like to remind all families that this service is only obligated to wait for your child for 3 minutes each morning at pick up and that someone needs to be at home at the time that transport arrives at your home in the afternoon. On behalf of the Assisted School Transport Program I would like to thank everyone for their understanding of these requirements. 2015 Class Groupings You would have noticed that many of our class groupings have changed in 2015. When we consider groupings as a school we try to consider the students age and school year, as well as the level of support each child requires. The process of joining a new class for all of our students can be challenging. Please let your child’s teacher know if your child is finding this process more difficult, or if there is anything they can do to ease this transition. Class Staff 2015
Team 1 Years K‐1 Assistant Principal‐ Kristy Kirkham (rel) & Tara Dang
Team 2 Years 1‐6 Assistant Principal‐ Toula Finka
Team 3 Years 7‐12 Assistant Principal‐ Pamela Carter Catherine Edwards (rel)
Burru Class Wali Class Burra Class
Teacher:
Victoria Phan SLSO:
Hayley Jones Teacher:
Abhilash Mohan
SLSO:
Paul Thwaites Teacher:
Sarah Anderson
SLSO:
Matthew McMartin
Mogra Class Jirrabity Class Kirrawe Class
Teacher:
Frances De Bourbon
SLSO:
Kallyn Merritt Teacher:
Cassandra Zaronias
SLSO:
Shae Vanderwilt
Teacher:
Catherine Edwards
SLSO:
Vaioleti Foiakau
Kula Class Wugganjin Class Kung‐Gang Class
Teacher:
Joy Pulch SLSO:
Sarah Blume Teacher:
Courteney Sheehan
SLSO:
Karen Halliday Teacher:
Pamela Carter SLSO:
Aaron Beman
Karuk Class Bidjawong Class
Teacher:
Kristy Kirkham SLSO:
Joanne Mertens
Teacher:
Toula Finka SLSO:
Sarah Thompson
Peter Skinner
Principal
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KIRRAWE CLASSKirrawe has had a very busy and exciting start to the year! We have made new friends, met our new teachers and started some great programs in class. Kirrawe class is made up of Cat (teacher) Vai (SLSO) and students Matthew, Mahdi, David, Mohammed, Farid and Anne‐Marie and is George Bass School’s senior high school class. We are also lucky enough to have our senior school captain Mahdi Rezai in our class! We have just started our Accelerated Literacy unit for the term. We are reading the book The Rabbits by Shaun Tan and John Marsden. This book is about Australian colonisation and ties in closely to our COGs unit Connections with History. During this unit we will be looking at Australian history and how it connects to our everyday lives. Kirrawe has already started to enjoy our swimming program for the term and we have also learned to cook some great healthy foods.
WALI CLASS Wali class has had a fantastic start to the year! All 5 boys are settling in well, enjoying each others’ company and learning to work as a team. We are learning about ‘Growing and Changing’. Wali class is focusing on the life cycle of butterflies and ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ is our favourite book. Each morning in Morning circle we practice our literacy, numeracy and communication skills. We are focusing on the different ways of greeting by shaking hands, waving and giving Hi5’s. Other exciting programs that we participate and enjoy are swimming, cooking, sensory, George Bass Olympics, art and craft, gardening and Music classes. For Accelerated Literacy we are reading the book “ How the Birds got their Colours”. Abhi, Paul, Jawad, Moustapha, Chawkat, Rafay and Abdul Rrahman are having an awesome Term 1
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BURRU CLASS
Welcome back to another year at George Bass School. In Burru class this year we are excited to have Ziad and Maher who are back for another year and a very big welcome to Abigail, Georgia and Batool who are new to our school. The class has settled into the routine and is ready to get into learning! This semester Burru will be focusing on the book Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle for literacy. We will be looking at the different colours in the book and studying animals featured in the book and their life cycles. We have also started our swimming program; working on being happy and confident in the water as well as water safety. The class enjoyed their first lesson and is looking forward to the next one.
IMPORTANT DATES
16/02/2015 Zoomobile at George Bass 17/02/2015 Meet the Teacher night and BBQ 21/03/2015 Harmony Day 27/03/2014 P&C Meeting 02/04/2015 Last day of term 1