Te Whare Ako Newsletter, Edition 3, 2024

Nearing the halfway point of Term 3 students in TWA continue to model excellent classroom learning and behaviors! This year seems to have gathered up a full head of steam and is racing toward the end of the year, but as we brace for the upcoming rigors of school life so many great things have happened.

Our students in TWA have competed in two South Canterbury Special Olympic events. Firstly, we sent two teams to the annual soccer tournament. Our students represented themselves with pride and made the school proud. We had smiles and an excellent display of teamwork. Both teams finished 4th and 5th in the tournament. Secondly, we were able to take part in the Special Olympics Basketball Have a Go day. Here the students learned new skills and developed new relationships with other school Special Olympic athletes. The opportunity to play on teams with students outside of Geraldine was a great pleasure to see. The students are really looking forward to competing in a basketball competition with their new appreciation for the sport of basketball.

At the start of this term, we've had two of our students begin a new journey of work experience out in the community. FreshChoice supermarket has provided our students with valuable learning experiences in unpacking new stock and restocking shelves, checking dates on food to ensure that nothing is past its best-before date, and interacting positively with the community.

Our students in TWA have recently had great acknowledgment of their learning as they sat in front of schools around the nation proudly showing off their digital portfolios for the SPEC qualifications of Skills for Living for support learners and Foundation Skills level 1. The positivity was noted from all area schools on the impressive display of learning from our students.

We look forward to continuing the great learning throughout the remainder of the term and know that there will be many more successes to celebrate.

Ngā mihi,

Mr. Ducher