Mt Richmond Special School Newsletter
August 2016
Kia ora, Talofa, Kia
orana, Malo e Lelei, Bula,
Namaste
Greetings to you all
School Roll 143
Message from the BOT
Principal: Kathy Dooley
The Board met on the 23rd August 2016
Contents
Page
Message from the BOT
1
and 2
Message from the school
3
Healthy Recipe and Activities
4
Rugby News
5
News from Room 1
6
Introducing our OT and
production news update
Advertisements
7
8
IMPORTANT DATES
School Production on
21 September, 6.30 pm at
Vodafone events centre – see
page 7 for more
NEXT BOT Meeting – Tuesday
13th September
Term 3 ends on Friday 23rd
September 2016 @ 1.30 pm
We are pleased to report that we have
appointed a new Assistant Principal Trish
le Roy in the vacancy created when Janet
passed away. Julie King is working with
our staff on the use of electronic white
boards and smart TVs to support the
classroom programmes. Our students are
very motivated by the use of this
technology in the classrooms. Last holidays
a number of teacher aides attended a twoday workshop on the Circle of Courage.
We have two major learning goals for the
students in 2016. The students have all
made good progress in the first two terms.
This is because we have a software
programme called BSq for assessment.
We can look at the results across the
whole school and work out the students
who are progressing very slowly and then
work out how we can give them extra
support. As everything is individualised
due to our students having special learning
needs, we cannot look at groups of
students at the same year of schooling and
have the same expectation for each of
them. In any year level there will be some
students with High Needs ORS funding and
some students with Very High Needs ORS
funding, some of these will have Autism
and some will have health problems.
All these aspects affect the students’
ability to learn. Now we have this data
system we can summarise individual
progress and show parents progress in
a way that is more relevant. We can
also use this to report to the Ministry
of Education
Mathematics Progress Terms 1 & 2
Expressive Language (Talking) Progress
Terms 1 & 2
Continued next page…..
Page 2 of 8
School Newsletter
BOT continued…
We have looked at all the students who made less than
5% progress and worked out the reasons for this and over
Terms 3 & 4 supporting these students will be a priority.
Some of our students have been unwell or had family
problems which has made it hard for them to make
progress. Teachers and therapists will be looking at ways
of adapting programmes to support these identified
students.
The Board has approved a number of Education Outside
the Classroom activities. John Hassall works tirelessly to
fundraise to ensure that our students get to camps and
play sports and Andrew Shiers our Physical Education
Teacher supports these activities and also organises our
Special Olympics programme and all the other sports and
swimming programmes around the school
The Ministry of Education is working on two significant
changes in Education. One is the idea of Global funding
where the school gets the money allocated for staffing
and operations and can make their own decisions about
how this money will be spent. There are concerns that
schools will choose to employ less experienced teachers
to save money. Our Board wishes to reassure everyone
that we will always employ the best teachers for our
students that we can find. Late last week changes to
Special Education funding was also announced. The
Ministry of Education wants to put more support into
Early Childhood Education which is very good. There is no
new money to go into this so they will have to take
money from other areas of Special Education. They want
to look at what is happening for students with ORS who
are at school between 18 to 21yrs. We believe that they
will find it difficult to take money from these students as
it will be very difficult for other providers or parents to
give the transition students the sorts of very good work
experiences and further learning in preparation for adult
life that they get in special school transition programmes.
We may be called upon to provide the Ministry with
information about what we are doing at Mt Richmond
with our transition students and they may want to talk to
parents. This will probably take several years so we will
let you know what is happening as the Board finds out.
Communities of Learning. Kathy has been attending
meetings with the Otahuhu schools as we explore the
idea of forming an Otahuhu Community of Learning.
This is about schools working together on areas of
common interest and importance and learning about
ways of using learning software in our class
programmes.
We will let you know more about this project.
Teacher shortages: Auckland is entering into a period
of teacher shortages as teachers move from Auckland
to find cheaper homes to buy. We are doing our very
best to find relief teachers to cover our classes when
teachers are away. If any parents know any relief
teachers amongst their family or friends who may be
interested in coming to work for us, then please get
them to call us. We may have to combine classes or use
our senior staff and specialists to help out so please
forgive us if your child’s programme doesn’t run as
normal for a day. We will let you know in the notebook
if that is the case. We will provide training and
induction for relief teachers who are not familiar with
working in a special school.
We received our draft report from ERO and we can be
very proud of the way they saw the school. The
reviewers particularly commented on the love and
caring for our students and the work being done in the
school. We are waiting for the final report and then we
will send it out to parents.
You will all be getting information about an activity fun
day out for special needs students. This is being held on
the North Shore. It is free and some of our staff are
associated with it through community groups that they
belong to so I hope that some parents will be able to
take their children to it. All the family are welcome and
we would like to thank these groups for providing this
opportunity for everyone.
Best wishes for the remainder of Term 3. We are all
looking forward to warmer and less wet spring days.
Arohanui
Kathy Dooley
Page 3 of 8
Message from the school
Kia ora whanau,
Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa
Let us keep close together, not far apart
School Newsletter
Zoo staff gave the students a tour of
the exotic animals and the students
had the opportunity to participate in
activities to support their learning
around animal behaviors’.
Term 3 is well underway and what a
busy start it’s been. Rehearsals for the
production continue and we are looking
forward to the costumes and props
being ready!
A small group of parents are currently
getting together once a week to explore
ways of using the Circle of Courage as a
framework for encouraging positive
behaviours from their children. These
people are enjoying this workshop so
much they have asked to continue
meeting regularly as a support group.
This support group will begin meeting
on Wednesday 14th September from
11am to 12.30. From then on the group
will get together once a fortnight to
share ideas, problem solve and
celebrate successes around meeting the
unique needs of their children.
There will be drinks and light savouries
available as people arrive and settle in.
All parents and caregivers are welcome
to come whenever they can. There is no
pressure to commit to coming every
time so please do come along and try it
out. Dad’s don’t be shy – we already
have two fathers in the group
Bairds Rd satellite class 1, Flatbush
Satellite class, and Room 7 all had a
wonderful day at Auckland Zoo being on
a Zoofari. A huge thank you to all the
mums and dads who came along to
support their tamariki and enjoy the
day.
Term 3 transition reviews for students
aged 21, are underway and students
are beginning their transition visits to
their post school programmes this
term.
As always, take good care and if you’re
around and about pop in for a chat.
E noho ra
Pauline
School Newsletter
Page 4 of 8
HEALTHY RECIPE AND ACTIVITIES
FUN ACTIVITIES
STICKY SPIDER WEB
Using cello tape and newspaper,
kids can create an indoor game for
themselves. They love throwing
paper balls on the sticky cello tape.
BEAN AND MINESTRONE SOUP
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 medium onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 cups pumpkin, diced
1 x 400g can chopped tomato
1 tbsp fresh herbs, chopped
1 x low sodium chicken or vegetable stock cube,
1.8 lt water
1 x 400g can cannellini beans, drained
1 cup small pasta shapes
In a large pan, add the olive oil, onion, carrot and
celery. Cook the vegetables on a low heat for about
5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the pumpkin, crushed garlic and chopped herbs
and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Add the diced tomatoes, the chicken stock and
water.
Mash half of the cannellini beans with a fork and
add to the pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for
about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked.
Add the pasta and remaining beans. Let it simmer
until pasta is cooked, adding more water if
necessary.
Once the minestrone is ready, check the seasoning
and adjust to taste. Add chopped parsley and
freshly grated parmesan, to serve.
Service Projects: Teaching our kids
about helping others, being kind and
respectful is very important. Take
them to help in church. They may know
others who require help. Some ideas
include raking leaves and for older
children let them bake or cook food for
needy people/and elderly care homes
or someone you know who needs help in
household jobs.
Page 5 of 8
School Newsletter
RUGBY NEWS
A wonderful photo…Jordan is always nagging me to put a picture of him in the school newsletter. Well I
had to put this great action shot in. Here he is showing the boys from Glendowie College how it’s done.
Jordan has been a wonderful captain of the team for the past few years. He still likes to ask me if our
school will retire his jersey.
After a very slow start, our season is finally getting busy with more games looming. The games versing
Glendowie College and Otahuhu College were very entertaining and well played. During our last game vs
Otahuhu College both Jordy and Sonny were tackled by girls…we can use that as their epitaph when
they’re older. In the dying minutes of our last game Darcy Harris, our very own Kieran Read, executed a
wonderful run up the side of the field with his teammates blocking the opposition out like they do in NFL
football. It was all quite inspiring as he got up, pulled himself out of a pile-up of bodies, brushed some
blood off and beamed with pride. This was his 2nd try of the season. Bruno and Selemaia continue to lead
by example with absolutely stellar play on both sides of the ball. Newcomer Matangaro, although much
younger and smaller than most of the boys, has been just fantastic. The team continues to train. It has
been a pleasure to watch our new young recruits…Matthew, Matangaro and Tyronne. We also welcome back
our speedy winger Juan who was injured in our game vs Hauraki Plains College. Juan has always been one of
our top players. Thank you to the Trillian Trust and the Akarana Community Trust for paying for rugby
trophies and new equipment. Our annual rugby team prize giving is scheduled for Friday Sept 23rd at 11am
at Mt Richmond Special School. THERE WILL BE FOOD. Parents/caregivers it would be wonderful if you
could attend the prize giving.
Page66of
of88
Page
Hard work pays off!
School Newsletter
School Newsletter
We help where we can!
Keep on smiling!
Page 7 of 8
School Newsletter
Hi, my name is Kate and I am an Occupational
Therapist at Mt Richmond Special School.
I am from Auckland and trained at Auckland
University of Technology at Akoranga, North Shore.
I have always enjoyed working with young people. I worked in the UK for
three years at a charity called Youth Access and Action for Children. It
was working here that I was introduced to Occupational Therapy and
returned to NZ to retrain! I am so excited to be working with the amazing
team and students at Mt Richmond. As an Occupational Therapist I am
focused on helping the student’s engage in their daily activities
(occupations) including play, self-care and learning through a variety of
therapeutic approaches.
PRODUCTION NEWS UPDATE
Mt Richmond Special School Presents:-
Te Korowai
When:
Wednesday 21 September 2016 @ 6.30 pm
At:
Vodafone Events Centre Manukau
Free Admission – Donations Accepted
PARKING is $5.00 or contact the school and we can provide a ticket
Come and celebrate with us!
School Newsletter
Page 8 of 8
School
Newsletter
Newsletter
School Newsletter
School Newsletter
ADT Medical Alarms
We have been asked to provide this information, for a free service from ADT Medical
Alarms
Mt Richmond Special School
30 Albion Road
Otahuhu
AUCKLAND
Phone:
(09) 259 1425
Fax:
(09) 276 4328
E-mail:
[email protected]
Our students will be all they
can be
We’re on the Web!
www.mtrichmondschool.co.nz
A bit about us
Kiwi Concern is an authorised representative for ADT NevaAlone and we provide governmentfunded medical alarms.
Equipment
Our medical alarms are the state of the art, and made right here in Christchurch, New Zealand. They are
lightweight and slim, making it as unobtrusive and possible. It has a range of 200-300m from the house
and provides an alarm that sends a signal via the home landline or a version for over the cellular
network.
Alarm response
The response procedure is ADT Security which will call the client’s home first to determine
the nature of the emergency. The monitoring centre will then dispatch an ambulance or other
appropriate response service if necessary.
Funding
The process to apply for funding is very simple and will be assisted by the sales consultant. It is typically
funded by disability allowances.
1.
2.
The individual’s GP will have to approve the application, by completing and signing a set of
WINZ forms
These forms are then sent/delivered to Work and Income for processing (generally 2-4 weeks
to process)
We install a medical alarm once the doctor has approved, in order to afford the clients monitoring as
soon as possible. Please contact:-
Helena Greyling
Kiwi Concern Sales Consultant for ADT Medical Alarms
022 199 3914
Ann Cole
WESTPAC MOBILE MORTGAGE MANAGER
Tel: +64 9 263 3825
652 Great South Road
Fax: +64 9 263 3822
PO Box 76 595, Manukau
City
Mobile: +64 0274 400556
Manukau 2241
Email: [email protected]
Here are some of Ann’s handy home buying tips to help
you with your house hunt:
. Be ready to make a move with Westpac home loan preapproval. Give me a call today to arrange a suitable time to
meet. In some cases, I can even approve your loan on the spot!
. You can house hunt with confidence with Westpac’s HomeClub
– a hub of free property information and valuations, tools, tips
and advice.
. Remember to arrange your finances before raising your hand at
an auction – these sales are unconditional and legally binding.
. Make sure your solicitor checks your Sale and Purchase
Agreement BEFORE you sign it.
. It’s a good idea to set up your loan repayment date for a day or
two after pay day
. Consider splitting your home loan between floating and fixed
to get the best of both worlds.
. Pay off more if you can afford it – it’ll help reduce the term of
your loan and could save you money!
. There are loads of ways to get into your new home and we
have options to help you get there sooner – ask me today.
Page 3 of 6
All newPage
loans approved
3 of 6will generate a donation to Mt
Richmond School for the school pupils for equipment or
fundraising events.
Jet says……
Have a lovely weekend and relax with a cup of
tea…