Newsletter of the Claremont State Special School Community
Respect Independence Communication High self esteem
Claremont News
136A Robertson Road
Silkstone. Ipswich. 4304
Ph.: 07 3813 5333
Fax: 07 3813 5300
Newsletter Number: 16
Principal: Trish Thiedeman
Webpage: www.claremonspecs.eq.edu.au
Email: admin@claremonspecs.eq.edu.au
P&C President: Bryony Churchill
Date: 26 October 2015
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S PEN
Dear Parents and Carers,
It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of October! Being the last term we are all very busy
finishing assessment, arranging class end of year excursions and getting ready to discuss what 2016 may
include.
Over the next few weeks you may receive extra letters, fliers and pieces of communication than normal,
please take the time to read through and if you require any clarification please contact class teachers or
administration.
Just to get you started I have listed a few things that we have going on in the Claremont Community over
the next two weeks.
Day for Daniel - Thursday 29th October 9:45am in the Quadrangle
Yearly we take the opportunity to remember Day for Daniel. This Thursday we ask that all students wear a
red item of clothing and participate in our special program for Day for Daniel. Parents are welcome to
attend.
World Teacher’s Day – Friday 30th October
Friday we celebrate the wonderful efforts of our teachers. We appreciate all their hard work and
commitment to our students and look forward to celebrating them on this day.
Superhero Day – Friday 30th October
Everybody dreams of being a superhero! Friday we would like to see the students (and staff) dress up in
their best superhero costume!
Roadworks – Monday 2nd November
Please refer to the extra information that has been provided by Ipswich City Council in relation to
Roadworks that will be commencing in front of the school.
School Expectations: I CAN LEARN, I AM RESPECTFUL, I AM RESPONSIBLE, I AM SAFE
Newsletter of the Claremont State Special School Community
Respect Independence Communication High self esteem
P&C Disco – Friday 6th November
P&C will be hosting a Disco for all students. Students are required to be supervised by parents. The night
of fun, dancing and hanging out with one another will start at 5pm. Entry to the Disco is $5.00 each and will
include a packet of chips and a popper.
Hope you have a great week and we look forward to seeing you around the Claremont Community!
Melissa McLaren
Acting Principal
Dates to remember:
 End of year concert Tuesday 1 December
 Special School Showcase Thursday 3 December
 Senior graduation dinner and awards Tuesday 8 December.
DONATIONS NEEDED
As part of our P & C fundraising we will be running a Christmas Hamper raffle. Donations of non
perishable food items and general gifts would be greatly appreciated. All items can be left at the
office.
KERB AND CHANNEL CONSTRUCTION WORK
On Monday, 2 November 2015 construction work will commence on Robertson Road (east of South Station
Road) for an approximate period of seven weeks. During this period there will be no parking on the
roadside. This work consists of new pavement, kerb and channel, new footpath and drainage. Parents
dropping off and collecting students will still have access to the front of admin.
I can learn
I am respectful
Sarah W
Dominique C
Oisin
Peter
Madison
Charley
Alex
Griffith
Jarrod
Ryan
Sarah W
Dominique C
Oisin
Angela
Warwick
I am responsible
Sarah W
Dominique C
Oisin
Emma
Hayden
Eli
Moses
Shawn
Andrew
Eric
Sueandra
Tyler
PRINCIPAL’S AWARD
I am safe
Sarah W
Dominique C
Oisin
William
School Expectations: I CAN LEARN, I AM RESPECTFUL, I AM RESPONSIBLE, I AM SAFE
Newsletter of the Claremont State Special School Community
Respect Independence Communication High self esteem
QUEENSLAND FIRE SERVICE VISIT
On Friday 22 October, officers from the Queensland Fire Service came to visit
Claremont to talk about Fire Safety. Students from Junior and Middle School
were able to explore the fire trucks, use the fire hose and talk to the officers from
the Ripley and Yamanto Fire stations. We look forward to this valuable
presentation every year and this year we were lucky enough to have two fire
trucks in our school driveway with lights, siren and water hoses.
FOUR BLOCKS - D1
Recently we were lucky enough to have Jane Farrell
revisit D1 to see how we are progressing with our
four blocks curriculum. On a daily basis D1
completes; shared reading, working with words, selfselected reading and writing. D1 is doing a fantastic
job and we are all very proud of them.
FOUR BLOCKS – B2
Jane Farrall visited Class B2 last week. We showed her how hard working we all are in our literacy groups.
The literacy groups focus on Working with Words activities. Ms Jodie was working with Kaytee-Roze and
Ryan. They were working on their letter recognition, practicing writing letters, word puzzles, and word sorts.
Ms Rachel was working with Moses and Amy. They were working on word puzzles, word sorts, practicing
writing letters and making words with magnetic letters. Ms Brooke was working with Anthony and Heath.
They were working on word puzzles, word sorts and a word family activity.
Jane loved the way the students were focused on the tasks and she was impressed by how much effort
they all put in while completing the different activities. Class B2 engage in literacy groups twice a week.
School Expectations: I CAN LEARN, I AM RESPECTFUL, I AM RESPONSIBLE, I AM SAFE
Newsletter of the Claremont State Special School Community
Respect Independence Communication High self esteem
VISIT TO MALKARA AND WILLANS HILL
By Tanya Jolly H.O.C.
Last week I had the pleasure of travelling to schools in Canberra and New South
Wales with Ms Kristy and Ms Annalise to work with teachers who are doing a great
job implementing the Four Blocks literacy approach in their schools. We had
heard so much about these schools and with Ms Trish’s support off we went to
search for new ideas and resources that we could use here at Claremont to keep
doing the great work that we do with our learners. We were welcomed at Malkara
Special School and Willans Hill Specialist School with open arms and got to see
heaps of literacy being taught in a number of different classrooms.
The other purpose of our visit was to learn more about
PODD and communication supports used in other specialist
settings. We saw a lot of fabulous visual supports and students using their own
communication systems to communicate with staff. We are excited to be given the
opportunity to partner up with these schools and will be sharing all of the great, new
ideas with the team here at Claremont.
WHEN JANE CAME TO CLAREMONT
Jane is a very passionate Speech Language Therapist who has been supporting
Claremont with the implementation of the Four Blocks Literacy approach since
January 2014. She came and visited us last week and spent 4 days in classrooms
observing and providing feedback and sharing her wealth of knowledge with our
team. Jane was very impressed with our progress and will return to work with
Claremont again next year.
School Expectations: I CAN LEARN, I AM RESPECTFUL, I AM RESPONSIBLE, I AM SAFE