As the curtain falls on a busy and productive Semester 1, I want to thank each and every parent and caregiver for their outstanding support in ensuring that their child was prepared for school; as well as for their understanding on the occasions where they needed to collect their child due to illness. The bugs have been plentiful and ‘friendly’ this winter haven’t they? We, like you, look forward to warmer times ahead.
Individual Education Plans (IEPs) Reports; Individual Transi on Plan (ITPs) Reports and “Big Plan” Ac on Plan.
This week a great majority of you will receive reports on your child’s IEP or ITP (for secondary students). As always I encourage you to closely review these and to make an appointment with your child’s teacher, early in Term 3, should you have any concerns about their progress.
This year, for the first me, the majority of our Year 10 to Year 13 students, along with their families, friends and key stakeholders (e.g. therapy providers, carers etc.), participated in Big Plan planning processes. Put simply, the Big Plan is a compelling and inclusive means of planning for a good life, both while our students are at school and then for their transition to a post-school world. The Plan itself is a form of Person Centred Planning; and our process involved a 2-3 hour meeting for the great majority of our Year 10 to Year 13 students, facilitated by our Deputy Principal, Marie Gardiner. Marie did an outstanding job of working through this process based on this crucial question:
“What would it take for this young man or woman to have an interesting, fulfilling life where they get to meet people who will become their friends and make their contribution to the community?”
Action Plans, summarising the goals that were identified in these individualised Big Plan processes have been prepared by class teachers. These will also be sent home this week, and some early in Term 3. These Action Plans outline the roles and responsibilities of all identified stakeholders and will replace the student’s current ITPs and semester reports.
Review processes for these Big Plans will be held in Term 4 this year and each and every year until the student leaves Kenwick School. Therefore, those families who participated in this process will need to thoroughly and carefully review the Action Plans and to contact their child’s teacher should they require any clarification or assistance with these.
Our Thoughts for Edie Alaniz and her family.
I must close with some very sad news. Our School community has been rocked by the tragedy that has impacted the lives of our beautiful friend, Edie Alaniz and her family. Edie has been a cleaner at Kenwick for over 14 years. Edie’s husband Hugo and her great-grand son Thyreese tragically perished in the house fire in their home on June 13. Hugo also worked for a period as the school’s acting head cleaner.
As has been widely reported, in addition to the unfathomable personal loss of her loved ones, as her home was not insured, Edie has lost all her personal effects. Friends of the family have established a GoFundMe crowd sourcing page. Should you wish to help, you can make a contribution by following this weblink to the site:
h ps://au.gofundme.com/alaniz-family-tragedy .
Kind regards,
Mark Watson
Principal
