HELLO and welcome to this week’s newsletter OUTSTANDING ACHIEVERS FOR TERM 3- Being SAFE - Felicity Ibbotson Darcy Mullenger Brodie Stewart –Swaeney Being RESPECTFUL— Xavier Van Taarling Antwan Dowell McGee Natalie Hughes Being RESPONSIBLE - Joshua Kauter Tristan Fothergill Ashlee Hadden Being a LEARNER - Ryder Vanderdonk Tyler Boschetti Caleb Johnson -Brown Kiwanis Award - Ashton Lay Elijah Burr Beyatrise Ndikumwenayo MUSIC– Thomas Butts PE Georgia Still ART– Jayden Scott PLANNING FOR 2020- Currently we are looking at class placements for next year. This process is quite involved and we take a lot of things into account. This year I am keen to hear from parents/carers about any particular requests they have regarding the class their child is placed in next year. If you have anything that you would like us to take into consideration when forming classes for 2020, please contact myself or Carolyn West before Friday 8th November.

SUCCESSFUL APPLICATIONS FOR FUNDING- We received great news at the end of last term, with two applications for funding being successful. We received $5,500 from the Greater Shepparton Foundation to purchase an interactive acoustic tactile wall panel, which will benefit students with sensory challenges, enabling them to engage with their environment through touch, sight, sound and movement, creating body awareness. We received $5,800.65 from the Honda Foundation to go towards the purchase of three specialised tricycles, one 16” and two 20” trikes. Many thanks to Jason Sherlock from Darryl Twitt Honda for signing off on our application.

AWARDS SEASON– The next few weeks will see staff attending three different awards nights. Thursday, October 24th is the Apprenticeship Factory Awards Night, our 5 trainees have been nominated for various awards and we wish them all the best.

Our Communication Team has been chosen as a finalist in the Outstanding Inclusive Education category and will attend an award presentation ceremony on October 25th , 2019 at the Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne where the winner will be announced.

And on Friday, November 1st staff will attend the 2019 PASS Annual Awards Dinner at The Parker Room, Marvel Stadium, where Merryn Saraiva has been short listed for the Most Outstanding Leading Teacher/ Learning Specialist Award. Congratulations to everyone who has been nominated, it’s great to be acknowledged for all the great work you do for VRS! DAY IN LIEU AND MELBOURNE CUP HOLIDAY– There will be no school on Monday & Tuesday, November 4th & 5th, please enjoy this mid-term break!

Angela Buxton

Principal

UPCOMING EVENTS Thursday, October 24th…………………………………………………………...Apprenticeship Awards Night

Friday, October 25th………………………………………………………………..Victorian Education Excellence Awards

Friday, November 1st………………………………………………………………..PASS Annual Awards

Monday & Tuesday November 4th & 5th…………………………………………Melbourne Cup Holiday– No school

VERNEY ROAD SCHOOL All students enrolled at VRS have a right to feel

safe and be safe. The wellbeing of children in our care will always be our first priority and

we have zero tolerance to child abuse. We aim to create a child safe and child friendly

environment where children feel safe and are free to enjoy life to the full without any

concern for their safety.

NEWSLETTER ISSUE #16 October 18th , 2019 Principal: Angela Buxton Assistant Principal: Carolyn West Website: http://verneyrd.vic.edu.au Email: verney.road.sch@edumail.vic.gov.au

PO Box 1551 Shepparton 3632 Phone 5821 8185

Fax 5822 2915

DISCUSS THIS...

STAYING SAFE ONLINE We have been living in a digital age for quite a while now and it is something that I am going to have to get used to and accept as the norm. Whilst it is the norm and a fantas-tic resource that definitely can make life simpler, quicker and cheaper there are still many hazards that needs navi-gating.

One area I want to highlight is staying safe online. As parents, we have an obligation to our children to keep them safe. If you are going to give them a device that is capable of sending images or information on the digital highway – then you need to be in that car with them. A learner driver needs to log 120hours of practical driving experience under the supervision of an adult in all kinds of conditions before they can apply for their licence. Unfortunately, there are many children/young people who have access to the internet and mobile data, re-main unsupervised for hours at a time and potentially preyed upon by people pretending to be someone they are not. Below are 10 non-negotiables that should be in place so that your kids can build healthy online habits. 1. Do not post any personal information online – like your address, email address or mo-

bile number. 2. Think carefully before posting pictures or videos of yourself. Once you have put a

picture of yourself online most people can see it and may be able to download it, it’s not just yours anymore.

3. Keep your privacy settings as high as possible 4. Never give out your passwords 5. Don’t befriend people you don’t know 6. Do not meet up with people you’ve met online. Speak to your parent or carer about

people suggesting you do 7. Remember that not everyone online is who they say they are 8. Think carefully about what you say before you post something online 9. Respect other people’s views, even if you don’t agree with someone else’s views

doesn’t mean you need to be rude 10. If you see something online that makes you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or worried:

leave the website, turn off your computer if you want to and tell a trusted adult imme-diately.

Any rule that you have in place is only as good as the supervision it is given. While they are ‘surfing the net’ you need to be shoulder surfing and ensuring that what they are looking at or sending is appropriate – not all the time but at least randomly. As a final heads up, this is easiest to do when they are in a public family space and not their bedrooms. Bedrooms are for sleeping.

Darren

DARREN MILES

SOCIAL WORKER

with D.J. Miles

Our Communication Team has been short-listed as a finalist in the Outstanding Inclusive Education category. Here is part of their submission.

‘Every child will have a voice’ is the mantra of staff at Verney Road School in Shepparton. The school provides the best opportunity for all children to have a meaningful and worthwhile educa-tion. Staff optimise communication, abilities, independence and enhance self-esteem and pre-pare each individual for a purposeful pathway into adulthood. Verney Road School began a change process in 2016 aimed at making learning accessible to every student. Led by the communications team, the school implemented Augmentative and Al-ternative Communication, introducing the use of a variety of methods and tools to make it easier for students to communicate. This communication program has expanded across the whole school. The change program has continued to be implemented in a number of stages including whole-staff professional learning, development of AAC tools and resources and one-on-one consulta-tion with staff and parents. This year a ‘Communications Champions’ committee was introduced to further promote and support use of AAC across the school. The program has yielded positive results, with improvements recorded in a number of areas in-cluding student cognitive engagement, student voice and agency, and attitude to school. The team has also been able to offer support to other schools and to speech pathologists who have visited the school to observe this program.

GOOD LUCK FOR OCTOBER 25TH!!!!

allied healthcare team care and support for all

Developing a Pencil Grip

Pencil grip is a component of handwriting. Sometimes children don’t naturally develop a pencil grip that is comfortable for them nor allows them to develop writing skills. A good seating position is also essential for handwriting. There are ways to help encourage your child to hold their pencil in a way that allows them to write and draw. General guidelines include:

Hold the pencil in a stable position between the thumb, index and middle fingers Place the ring and little fingers bent and resting on the table. The index finger and thumb form an open space The wrist is bent back slightly and the forearm rests on the table The pencil is held about 1-2cm from the tip.

Below are some examples of an appropriate pencil grip and seated position for writing.

Helpful Strategies

Show your child the correct finger and thumb position and help them place their fingers and thumb in these positions

Try a pencil grip that you can purchase from any stationary shop. The school also have access to many types of grips, ask Courtney.

Encourage your child to practice for a few minutes each day until it becomes automatic. Encourage your child to do lots of fun and interesting writing and drawing activities with different pencils,

textas, crayons and chalk to help keep them motivated.

Courtney Simpson Occupational Therapist

During Term 3 there was so much to see! We enjoyed trying new things and look forward to what Term 4 brings. We are excited about what we have achieved and look forward to seeing everyone succeed!

During this year a number of Middle Year students have participated in the Cheer Program as part of ‘Up and Out’. Students have been training hard every

week and have been able to learn a 3min routine to perform at the 2019 Cheerleading Championships.

On the 22nd of September students travelled down to Melbourne to compete against other “All Abilities Cheer Teams” at the State Cheerleading Champion-ships and were lucky enough to come home with the gold. All students received a medal to take home and a trophy which is currently displayed in our foyer at

school

Students will now go on to compete in the National Championships in Melbourne on the 1st of December against teams around the country.

We wish all students involved good luck and the upmost success for the Nationals Competition.