Welcome to Shine 2024.

Today, I’m excited to share with you that after years of planning and construction, the NextSense centre for innovation is now seeing clients and has opened the doors to its new School and Preschool. The custom-built space, located at Macquarie Park, designed specifically for people with hearing and vision loss, is a new home for our national operations. It will be an important location for delivering services but will also better connect the work we do across our 20 sites nationally.

Your generosity has helped achieve many significant milestones over the last year and this new centre will allow NextSense to continue to expand collaborations, techniques, and approaches—meaning your support can go even further to assist children with hearing or vision loss, children just like Tiaré and Charlie, who you’ll read about in this edition of Shine.

Thank you for your ongoing support!
—Chris, Chief Executive, NextSense

Tiaré thrives in her NextSense School community.

Tiaré is a bright and sociable eleven-year-old girl who is making incredible progress at NextSense School. Thanks to you, Tiaré received expert support from a very young age and continues to work incredibly hard on her communication skills and visual abilities.

Since joining NextSense School, Tiaré has had so much fun connecting with others and loves the friendships she’s made here. And her mum, Tam, loves watching her bond with her classmates.

Her communication skills have come in leaps and bounds, and today she’s joking and laughing with her family and friends.
With your support, Tiaré has worked so hard to adapt to her vision loss and loves to communicate her dreams, thoughts, and emotions. We’re sure that you’re just as proud of her as we are!

Thank you for your commitment to helping children with vision or hearing loss, like Tiaré, access the support they need to thrive.

Tiaré recently enjoyed her first theatre experience as part of a NextSense School excursion. Teacher Jess (left) said ‘It was a really great and inclusive experience, and the first all-school excursion Tiaré has been on. Tiaré loved it and laughed the whole time. We are really hoping this will be the first of many experiences similar to this for Tiaré and students like her.’

Now, there’s nothing slowing Charlie down.

Charlie received his cochlear implants at just six-months-old, and combined with early specialised speech therapy, he has had a tremendous start in learning how to listen and speak. All thanks to kind people like you.

At the start of his journey, he had trouble producing sounds like ‘k’ and ‘g’. His NextSense speech pathologist, Hannah, tried several approaches without success. But one day, while practising the ‘skw’ sound using words like ‘squid’ and ‘square’, Charlie gradually took away the ‘s’ and the ‘w’ sounds until he said ‘k’. From there, his speech improved significantly.

Every child with hearing or vision loss has unique challenges, and you help them to get the personalised support they need to overcome them.

With you in our corner, more children like Charlie have access to this crucial and life-changing support.

Sue is a shining example of what your support can achieve.

Sue was the first person in NSW to receive cochlear implants, 40 years ago. She became deaf after contracting meningococcal meningitis in her twenties and received her implants in 1984. Sue was the first person in the world to answer a phone call with cochlear implants!

Now, Sue dedicates her life to giving back to others. She works for NextSense as a Clinical Support Officer, helping children cochlear implants, and making sure the technology is working at its optimum.

With the help of kind people like you, there was nothing Sue couldn’t achieve. Your support has and continues to do the same for so many children with hearing or vision loss.

Qantas Pathfinders is a dedicated group of volunteers consisting of current and former Qantas cabin crew, pilots, and ground staff. They have been passionately raising funds for NextSense for an impressive 57 years. Their commitment has fostered a variety of highly anticipated fundraising events.

For the past 50 years, one of the standout events hosted by Qantas Pathfinders is the Annual Revue. This event showcases the glitz, glamour, and hidden talents of Qantas staff. The Revue is known for its humour and irreverence, captivating audiences over a series of six spectacular shows. This year’s Annual Revue, held at Norths Cammeray.

In December, promises to be a special milestone celebration. Another Qantas Pathfinders signature event is the Charity Flight. Each year, a unique destination is selected, offering guests a memorable day filled with sightseeing and culinary delights. This year’s charity flight is scheduled for Saturday, 7th September, and will take passengers to the beautiful Norfolk Island.

Learn more about the Qantas Charity Flight 2024 to Norfolk Island.

If you have any questions on the Qantas Charity Flight or the Annual Revue, please reach out to Darren Parmenter, Community & Events Manager:

• Phone: 0455 067 908
• Email: darren.parmenter@nextsense.org.au