Newsletter Term 4 Issue 2
Principal's Report
Hi everyone,
We are past the halfway mark for Term 4, with staff busier than usual getting everything ready for our end of year events, and teachers in the process of completing our students reports. I am looking forward to reading all about your child’s progress and achievements this semester, as I am sure you are as well😊.
Following on from my previous newsletter regarding some temporary changes in school administration, please note that Lara Hosking, has stepped in as acting Deputy Principal. This role will continue into 2025. Although Lara is literally a part of the furniture at Burbridge School, she has written a little blurb about herself in the newsletter, for the benefit of those who do not know much about her background in Education Support.
Some other updates: Our senior playground, now boasts a new garrison fence which has vastly improved the designated boundaries for different activities such as sensory play and bike riding. This has boosted both the safe use and the functionality behind features. Our application for a grant for solar panels has just been approved and these will be installed within the next six months. With respect to a long-term project, the Department has recently done a feasibility study on upgrading our student toilet blocks. Although this is still pending finance approval, we are keeping our fingers crossed for a positive outcome.
On a day-to-day level, we are currently looking into addressing some parent/carer concerns around ongoing weather related and generic parking issues. We have commenced a trial for designated parent/ carer drop offs, to be in the bus bay area rather than in the general car park, particularly for our students with complex medical and mobility needs. The goal is to develop a smoother system for drop offs and pick ups for everyone. More information about what this might mean for your own child’s pick ups and drop offs will be forthcoming soon. Thank you for being a part of our amazing school community and I hope to see you all at our next school assembly on Friday the 22nd of November.
Selvarani Bird – Acting Principal
Acting Deputy Principal
Hi, I am Lara and I have recently stepped into the Deputy Principal role at Burbridge. I started at Burbridge School 13 years ago as an Education Assistant and in 2019 qualified as a teacher gaining my first teaching job at… you guessed it, Burbridge. Watch out Jo the Principal job might be next!! Prior to working at Burbridge I worked at an Adult Respite centre and a variety of group homes. This puts my experience of working with people with additional needs at 23 years altogether. I love my job and am passionate about AAC and communication. I am eager to learn new things and am always trying to find ways to develop a sense of autonomy, purpose and value for our students. It has certainly been an interesting learning curve so far, but I am excited by the potential of what is to come for the remainder of this term and for the first Semester of next year.
Lara Hosking - Acting Deputy Principal
Swimming Area B
Each Friday the Area B students head to the swimming pool. First, we get changed and have a quick rinse off (we can get pretty messy in Area B, especially with our increasing mealtime independence!) Then, we make our way into the pool with Nat and Yolande for our lesson with Vaughan. During our lessons we are working on our water familiarisation and learning how our bodies move in water. We have explored moving through the water, pushing off the wall and floating. Of course, it is all accompanied by lots of laughs! Afterwards we have another quick shower, get dressed and head back to class for lunch. We are generally starving by then!
Sarah Sansom - Area B Teacher
Hydro Fun
Story Dogs
Area A, B and D have been having a tail-waggingly good time this term with our Story Dogs reading sessions, featuring friend, Mwokozi! Every week, we go on exciting adventures with our sensory board books from Touch and Tell tales, and recently we’ve been transported to the beach, feeling the sand on our fingers, hearing the noisy seagull go squawk, and smelling the delicious vanilla ice cream – yum!
Our classes LOVE using their PODD books and AAC to chat about the stories. With a simple press of our switches, everyone joins in to make the stories come alive—even Mwokozi had a go at pressing the switch!
Here's what some of our friends think about our adventures:
"My favorite part is when I, help, you tell the story!" Rema, Area D
"I think Mwokozi loves toilet, beach, OMG!" Hudson, Area B
"The noisy seagull is great, naughty” Cameron and Baily, Area A
"The vanilla ice cream smells cool.(Sam, Area D) Patrick’s turn, eat, icecream, vanilla"(Patrick, Area B)
"My best part of the story is when we feel the story!" Olivia, Area A
“Story Dogs is fun because go, beach” Heidi, Area A
Thank you, Mwokozi, for making reading so paws-itively fun!
Teonie Jugg - Area H Teacher
Story Dog Fun
Area H - Burbridge Bites
This term Area H have been cooking up something salty - Shaylee in our Burbridge Bites program! First, we got to design our own shopping bags.
Our bags looked yummy – Abbie and totally cheeky, like - Tylar! We chose grey - Shaylee yellow -Tylar and rainbow - Abbie. We chose checked – Shaylee and hearts - Tylar for designs. “You can use yours” – Tylar.
Next we wrote our shopping lists. We had to think about all the ingredients we needed to make our delicious fried rice - Shaylee. My list had peas – Shaylee, breakfast - Tylar. Writing out the lists was yummy – Shaylee but we nailed it!
Then we hit up Burbridge Woolworths. Shopping as a team was cheeky and crazy – Denishar, cute and beautiful – Noah, good fun! It was clever - Mayank. We walked around the store, checked our lists, and counted out the ingredients. I was in charge of finding the meat, bacon – Denishar, egg, snacks – Noah, fruit - Mayank) – it felt like a treasure hunt as we made sure to only pick out the best. We event learnt to pay, and say Hello – Noah and please, thankyou, goodbye – Denishar and Mayank to the cashier.
Afterwards we got took orders from teacher, assistant, class - Denishar. We said “Hello Assistants” – Noah. It was busy like a music concert – Denishar because we had to get everyone’s orders right. It was excellent – Mayank to see all the different choices people made.
The best part? Stirring the fried rice – Denishar and Mayank. We had to find the ingredients - Noah and cook them just right. It smelt so spicy - Mayank and we loved getting to wash – Mayank everything. Yum! “Can I have a taste? – Noah”
At the end, we delivered the food to Yvette – Shaylee, and Teachers - Tylar. They said the fried rice was sweet – Shaylee and Tylar and gave us a clap – Shaylee,and push to staff room - Tylar.
Burbridge bites was truly a vibe this term, and we can’t wait to do it again!
Teonie Jugg - Area H Teacher
Burbridge Bites
Christmas Raffle
2024 World Festival of Magic
MAYOR’S CHRISTMAS APPEAL 2024
Each year the City of Wanneroo conducts the Mayor’s Christmas Appeal to assist members of our community who are facing hardship. In previous years the Appeal has received a remarkable response from the Community, with many local schools, community groups, businesses and residents donating generously. You can help by donating toys and/or non-perishable food items. All donations received will be distributed to those less fortunate within our community.
Examples of non-perishable food items for you to donate are:
Nuts, crackers and chips Rice and noodles
Pasta and sauce Cereals
Tinned foods (sweet and savoury) Cake mixes and biscuits
Jams and spreads Tea, coffee and sugar
You can donate your items to the wheelie bin in the reception area. The appeal bin will be in the front office from until Monday 25th November 2024.