Hearing Unit Newsletter Term 3, 2018

Yarra Valley Grammar Hearing Unit Newsletter www.yvg.vic.edu.au

Telephone: +61 3 9262 7700

Facsimile: + 61 3 9876 1077

Term 3

Email: reception@yvg.vic.edu.au

September 2018

Hearing Unit Citizenship Award recipient, Abbey Gartlan, with Ms Wilson.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: FROM THE HEARING UNIT ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 SPEECH SPOT ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4 YEAR 5 ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 YEAR 5 CONTINUED… ................................................................................................................................................................ 6 YEAR 5 again ............................................................................................................................................................................. 7 NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS........................................................................................................................... 7 PREP ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 YEAR 1 ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 BUTTERFLY BADGE SALES ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 YEAR 9 DIVERSITY WEEK .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 HEARING AWARENESS WEEK STEAM ....................................................................................................................................... 12 JUNIOR SCHOOL HEARING UNIT AND SPECIALIST ASSEMBLY.................................................................................................... 13 JUNIOR SCHOOL FRENCH DAY ................................................................................................................................................. 14 YEAR 3 .................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 YEAR 3 CONTINUED… .............................................................................................................................................................. 16 YEAR 1 .................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 BIG KIDS, LITTLE KIDS............................................................................................................................................................... 17 HEARING UNIT TERM 3 INFORMATION EVENING ..................................................................................................................... 18 THE HEARING UNIT IN ACTION ................................................................................................................................................ 18

FROM THE HEARING UNIT Wow, term three was certainly jam-packed! The term commenced for me during the second week of the July school holidays. I was fortunate to attend the Australian and New Zealand Conference for Educators of the Deaf (ANZED), hosted by the South Australian members of the Australian Association of Teachers of the Deaf association (AATD). This was a great opportunity to learn about latest research and network with other teachers in the field. I always come away from these conferences energised and passionate about what changes I can make to improve outcomes for our students. The presentations were focussed on Innovation and Transformation, ranging from technology advances, to current issues facing Deaf and hard of hearing students.

We were fortunate to have three placement student teachers join our Hearing Unit team for three weeks this term: Nicole Barrow, Danyelle Stoneman and Lynette Sommer. These three ladies were an absolute asset to have within the Hearing Unit. They are currently teachers who are enrolled in the Master of Learning Intervention (Hearing Impairment) course. This is a specialist Postgraduate qualification for teachers who are looking to upgrade their skills and knowledge in the Hearing Impairment area. Once graduated, they are able to work as Teachers of the Deaf within the field.

On Tuesday, 31st July, The Hearing Unit welcomed The Beth Maclaren Smallwood Foundation Directors, Ms Ruth Bunyan and Mr Robert Evans to our school. The morning commenced with Ruth and Rob having a tour of the Junior School Hearing Unit rooms and seeing the soundfield systems in action. Ian Saynor was invited to unveil the Beth Maclaren Smallwood plaque, in honour of Beth’s contribution to our students’ education.

Following the unveiling, Ruth Bunyan addressed the students with an inspiring motivational speech, in which everyone was captivated. The formalities of the morning were followed by a sumptuous morning tea, whereby the students had the opportunity to individually speak to Ruth and Rob. On Friday, 3rd August, we hosted the leaders from the Victorian Deaf Educators Network (VDEN), along with representatives from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) and other special invited guests from within our own school and other schools across Victoria. VDEN is where all the leaders in Deaf Education meet twice a term to discuss issues relating to Deaf Education. The reason we hosted the meeting at our school, is due to the launch of the English as an Additional Language (EAL) package that the staff at Yarra Valley Grammar School Hearing Unit have been involved in with Boobook Education and The Deafness Foundation.

Our Hearing Unit Information Evening on Thursday, 9th August consisted of both our secondary students and parents, as they listened to Sam McLarty speak about life after high school. Sam explained how he has balanced university studies and being a player for Collingwood Football Club. He spoke about how he has needed to advocate for himself in many different environments since finishing school. Sam reflected upon the support he received from the Hearing Unit at school and how important this was for him. What a fabulous role model Sam is for our students.

On Monday 13th August we had our Hearing Awareness Week Assemblies in the Junior and Senior School.

Senior School Hearing Awareness Week Assembly: The Hearing Unit citizenship award is granted to a Hearing Unit student who in the view of the teachers has demonstrated a willingness to serve others and be an excellent role model to other Hearing Unit students and their peers. The winner of the award this year went to Year 8 student, Abbey Gartlan. Abbey is a person who is an excellent leader within the school. She is always friendly, approachable, kind, considerate and humble. Abbey is always willing to offer assistance where required and she has an organised, dedicated approach to her studies. She continuously strives to do her personal best. Abbey displays confidence in all aspects of her life and approaches everything with a smile. Congratulations Abbey!

To combine The Hearing Awareness and Arts Weeks Assembly in the Senior School, we invited Nick from Blamey Saunders to speak to the students about the Top Design Award Winning Hearing Aid that Blamey Saunders helped create. Nick was an engaging presenter who also spoke to the students about the impact of listening to music too loudly on their devices and how to protect their hearing.

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Junior School Hearing Awareness Week Assembly: One in six Australians have some form of hearing loss with this number expected to rise to one in four by 2050.

This number is greatly increased in older Australians. The technological advances with hearing aids and cochlear implants continue to improve with each passing day, however there are times when something else is needed.

This is where a Lions Hearing Dog helps!

For our Junior School Assembly, we were fortunate that Katrina, a hard of hearing adult was able to come to our assembly and introduce her Lions Hearing Dog, Audrey. Katrina explained and demonstrated how Audrey notifies her if there is a knock at the door or if the phone is ringing. Many of the students had never heard of a Lions Hearing Dog and were fascinated by Audrey.

Activities During Hearing Awareness Week: The butterfly badges were back for Hearing Awareness Week and were sold in the Junior and Senior School. There were gorgeous butterfly cupcakes sold in the Senior Hearing Unit to raise money for the Lions Hearing Dogs. They were kindly donated by Kathie Pearson from Kathie’s Cakes. We facilitated Speech Perception/Hearing tests in the Senior Hearing Unit using Blamey Saunder’s online hearing test. It was another way that we were able to spread hearing awareness amongst the community.

Secondary Deaf Sports Day was held at the Melbourne Aquatic Centre on Thursday 23rd August. This was a fantastic event, where Deaf and hard of hearing secondary students across the state came together to participate in many different events e.g. Soccer, basketball, table tennis, etc. The students from the Senior Hearing Unit came away from the event having reacquainted with old friends, along with developing new friendships.

As always, there have been many wonderful achievements from our students this term. We had four boys head to the Nationals cross country in Queensland: Riley Gurry, Remington Hobday, Lochie Baulch and Ben Baulch. It is such an achievement to represent your state and the boys certainly did us proud. The individual results for their age groups were as follows: Ben came 4th, Lochie 9th, Remington 6th and Riley 12th. Ben, Lochie and Remington also competed in a relay and they came 3rd, and overall their age team came in 3rd and so the boys received two bronze medals - a sensational effort!

We are extremely proud of Riley Gurry who has made it through to the state finals for the National History Challenge. The requirement of the challenge was to highlight a turning point in history. Riley chose to present on the Cochlear Implant, an advancement that has certainly made an impact. We wish Riley the best of luck at the State Finals.

On Thursday, 13th September, Hamish Dickins will be presenting to Taralye parents about ‘Life after Taralye.’

Hamish was absolutely thrilled to be asked by Taralye to speak to the parents on this evening. What a fantastic experience for Hamish!

On the very last Friday, we will be welcoming back our Hearing Unit Patron, James Calvert-Jones to speak to the staff and students. We are looking forward to sharing with James all the wonderful events we have been involved in this year and our plans for 2019. Also, on the last Friday, my predecessor, Mr Ian Saynor, will officially be retiring from Yarra Valley Grammar School. As I’ve mentioned before, I feel so fortunate that I have been able to have such an excellent transition into the role this year, with Ian working in terms 1 and 3. We wish Ian all the very best in his new chapter of retirement, where he will have valuable time with his family, especially with his cherished grandchildren. I am sure that we will have many return visits from Ian over the years ahead. He has certainly left big shoes for me to fill and I thank him for leaving such a fantastic Hearing Unit for me to look after.

Have a wonderfully relaxing Spring break with your family and friends everyone. Find time to relax, reconnect, rest and recharge together. Stay safe and we will see you in term 4.

Ms Rachel Wilson Head of the Hearing Unit

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SPEECH SPOT

Speech Pathology Week was held in August. This year the theme was “Communication Access for All�.

As we know, communication success is not always a given when you have a hearing impairment. So, I asked some of my wonderful Hearing Unit students what other people could do to help them communicate successfully. Here are their insightful answers:

Mrs Anneke Flinn Speech Pathologist

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YEAR 5 As part of their Immigration Unit the Year 5’s devised questions to interview migrants to Australia. Following the interview students used the information gathered to write biographies about the immigration experience. Below are some photos of the Year 5 excursion to the Immigration Museum.

An immigration story from Canada to Australia by Hamish Dickins Andrew Creighton’s immigration story began in 1988 when he emigrated from Toronto, Canada to Australia. He was only fourteen when his family made the adventurous move to the other side of the world. Canada and Australia are both in the Commonwealth and have similar cultures. This made Australia a more appealing country to move to. Andrew liked the idea of living in Australia because of its warmer weather.

The move to Australia was a big step for Andrew Creighton and his family. He traveled with his Mum, Dad and his two older sisters. They left everyone else behind which made him feel sad. Their family brought clothes and antiques but left most other things behind. This left him with mixed emotions as he was excited to explore Australia but it was very hard to leave behind his pets.

Andrew Creighton faced some challenges when he arrived in Australia. One of the difficulties was meeting new people. Once he arrived in Melbourne he began attending Heathmont College but he was younger than his classmates. Andrew was smaller than his peers and found it hard to fit in. Also, he was the only one that took an interest in ice hockey and he had no one to play it with. One of the biggest differences between Canada and Australia is the temperature. Andrew liked the warm weather in Melbourne. He didn’t encounter much racism but more bullying because he was shorter than other classmates.

Andrew Creighton feels that Australia is home. After 6 months he started to make friends and feel accepted.

Andrew became an Australian citizen after 2 years of living here. When he returned to Canada he was happy to see his friends and family again but Australia had become home.

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YEAR 5 CONTINUED‌ In their unit investigating Australian Explorers, Year 5 students wrote a journal from the perspective of a made-up explorer. Lochie wrote about Lochlan Pinnacles, who crossed Australia to discover the west. Here are two entries from his journal.

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YEAR 5 again Explode the moment During Hearing Unit sessions, Ben has been experimenting with using his senses when writing to produce clear imagery in his descriptions. Read the following paragraph and see if you can spot the use of the five senses.

As I place the final piece on to my Lego fire station, I hear the downball come into my room and collide with my lego set. The lego explodes into millions of pieces that land on the ground with a click, clack, click, clack. I saw the Lego flying everywhere in my room. I could see the lego station was destroyed. My brother peeped through my doorway with bulging eyes frightened of what would happen next. I felt the lego hitting me. I felt the ball hit me in my stomach and left a bruise for three and a half days. I looked at my Lego and slowly looked up at my brother. I felt the anger raging inside me. I started to yell at my brother. Then I could smell the puffy dogs cooking in the kitchen. I looked at my watch, it was lunch time already but I knew what I would have to do after lunch.

NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS From 24th to 27th August 2018, Riley Gurry, Remington Hobday, Lochie Baulch and Ben Baulch all competed in the Australian Cross Country Championships at Maleny Golf Course in Queensland.

Riley came in 12th in the under 16s boys 3km run.

Remington came in 6th in the boys 2000 metre run.

Ben came in 4th in the boys 2000 metre run.

Lochie came in 9th in the boys 2000 metre run.

Remington, Lochie and Ben were awarded a bronze medal for the relay and a second bronze medal for their age team as well.

We congratulate all four boys on their outstanding efforts.

As I walk up to the start line with everyone else, I feel very nervous and extremely proud that I have made it to nationals for cross country. As the starting gun fired, there was a roar from the crowd. As I was running, I couldn’t believe how many hills were waiting for us! My fellow competitors were huffing and puffing around me. All I could feel was a stitch in my side that got worse at each hill I faced. The biggest hill was at the end of the race. That hill really tested all of us but the relief came at the top where I could see the much awaited finish line. It was such a challenging course but I am so proud that I achieved it. By Remington Hobday 6m

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PREP

The Preps have been learning about food. They have been food scientists, making observations and recording them as they watch different foods change. Here is Gaurvi’s record of observations for popcorn. She has recorded that the kernel is hard and is in the shape of a balloon. After heating, the shape changed to look like an ear. Finally, the catalyst for the change was heat.

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YEAR 1

In Year 1, the students have been learning about toys. Indi has written about some of the differences between toys of the past and current toys.

Fabien wrote the instructions for his group’s arcade game.

One afternoon the Preps and Year 1 parents came to play the arcade games the Year 1s had made.

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BUTTERFLY BADGE SALES

Butterfly Badge Sales The Hearing Unit has been busily fundraising for Deafness Foundation again. Yarra Valley Grammar Hearing Unit students have been selling badges for over ten years. Did you know that with the support of the Yarra community, we have raised over $17,000 in that time?

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YEAR 9 DIVERSITY WEEK

During Diversity Week, the year 9s visited the city of Melbourne to learn and explore about what diversity meant and what it was about. The four activities I enjoyed was the Urban Seed, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, LOTE Lunch and Hellenic Museum. About the Urban Seed, it was talking about homeless people and how they survive and what they look like, what they usually do while living on the streets and what happens with them as it was a program for the homeless. The ASRC was a place for people who had to look for safer shelter when they had to flee away from their country whenever a danger was approaching like a war or a bomb.

The LOTE Lunch was to have lunch in different cuisines depending on the language you normally do at school. I enjoyed going to Bon Ap restaurant because it was a French restaurant with all food that are French. I had a beef casserole for main which was really good and yummy along with dark and white chocolate mousse for dessert, although I didn’t eat the snails because it was all green and looked disgusting. The Hellenic Museum was another one of my fav activities because it was an Ancient Greek Culture Museum. The Museum was full of Greek items and information that was used in the past, and showed interesting items like jewelry, for example on display were the big massive earrings that looked heavy and uncomfortable which all the women that had to wear in the past. This photo was taken at the Hellenic Museum of me and my working group sitting on the stairs.

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HEARING AWARENESS WEEK STEAM Some classes in the Junior School participated in a challenge. They were asked to design a way of waking someone up who couldn’t hear an alarm clock. No other person could be part of waking them up. There were some great names, a variety of ideas using senses other than hearing and lots of thought in how to make the device. Of the entries received the following were the winners: Bay (Prep)

Andrew, Gordon & Jayden (Year 5)

Arwyn (Year 6)

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JUNIOR SCHOOL HEARING UNIT AND SPECIALIST ASSEMBLY The Junior School Hearing Unit hosted the assembly featuring items from specialist classes and the Hearing Unit. Each Hearing Unit student learned a line in Auslan to ‘sing’ the first verse and chorus with the hymn singers. Each student also had a part in the assembly, providing information, introducing different sections of the assembly or promoting butterfly badge sales. They also got to introduce two very special guests: Katrina and her hearing dog, Audrey. We learned about how Audrey helps Katrina and how her life has changed since Audrey came to live with her and her family.

We were grateful for the time Katrina gave in coming and talking to us.

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JUNIOR SCHOOL FRENCH DAY

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YEAR 3 Earlier in the term, Amara and Matthew studied Melbourne culminating in a tour of Melbourne visiting many famous sites including The Exhibition Buildings, Federation Square, the Shrine of Remembrance, Eureka Tower and a boat ride on the Yarra. Year 3 invited Luke Cain from Year 1. Here some pictures of Matthew and Luke in Melbourne. Amara was sick and missed the day.

During the second half of the term, they studied cities of the world with Amara studying Athens, Greece and Matthew London, England. This culminated in an Expo and display of their research where family and friends came to view their great work.

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YEAR 3 CONTINUED…

YEAR 1

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BIG KIDS, LITTLE KIDS It is always so heart-warming to see the ‘big kids’ interact so beautifully with the ‘little kids’. The following photos were taken whilst the Hearing Unit students awaited their turn with Rebekah for their monthly Australian Hearing check-up last week.

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HEARING UNIT TERM 3 INFORMATION EVENING

Our Hearing Unit Information Evening on Thursday 9 August consisted of both our secondary students and parents, as they listened to former School Captain, Sam McLarty (YOG 2016) speak about life after high school. Sam explained how he has balanced university studies and being a player for Collingwood Football Club. He spoke about how he has needed to advocate for himself in many different environments since finishing school. Sam reflected upon the support he received from the Hearing Unit at school and how important this was for him. What a fabulous role model Sam is for our students.

THE HEARING UNIT IN ACTION

The unveiling of the Beth Maclaren Smallwood plaque 18

The VCE EAL listening to texts videos with captions package launch.

Emma Keeler with Janny McCurry from Boobook Education.

Joshua Randall at the Presentation Ball

Jaya Palmer, Nelson Vu and Riley Gurry at Secondary Schools Deaf Sports day and butterfly cupcakes for Hearing Awareness week.

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