School Improvement

Each year our staff work tirelessly to make sure we are doing everything possible to ensure we are making the greatest possible growth in student learning. If a student doesn’t understand a concept, then we put in place the appropriate support to give the student the best possible chance of educational success. We have put an extensive number of resources into staffing two WINN blocks per week, where students are placed in focused groups, based on their learning needs. WINN stands for What I Need Next/Now.

The staffing for WINN in 2025 is outlined below.

Year 7 - 6 classes – 12 staff

Year 8 - 5 classes – 12 staff

Year 9 - 5 classes – 11 staff

Year 10 - 5 classes - 11 staff

NAPLAN

This week has seen the start of the two-week testing period for NAPLAN. NAPLAN is a nationwide measure that supports parents/carers, teachers, schools, education authorities, governments, and the broader community to further develop an understanding of the progress in literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community. Our students in years 7 and 9 will participate in four tests across the two weeks. Our biggest focus over this time is for our students to give their best effort during the tests to ensure they get a clear understanding of their learning progress in this space. Along with other regular formative and summative assessments, NAPLAN helps our teachers understand what our students need now, and what they need next.

SURF CARNIVAL

Week three saw our whole school Surf Carnival. This is a culmination of our “Beach Week and Water Safety” program in HPE. It was great to see so many students giving their best effort, stepping outside their comfort zones, being inclusive of others, and just having fun. A big thank you to our HPE department for all their work on both carnival day and its preparation, as well as for the fantastic learning opportunities they provide throughout the entire program. We live on an island state, with water safety knowledge such an important part of our lives.

PROGRESS REPORT

A Progress Report will arrive home towards the end of term. The purpose of the report is to inform parents about how their child is settling into school and to advise them of any early areas of concern.  We are dictated to by the reporting template in how much information we can provide. If you would like to discuss information from the report, please contact the office and organise an appointment with your child’s teacher. 

CAMPS

School camp season is well and truly upon us. Things kicked off last week with year 10 Outdoor Education taking an overnight trip to Narwantapu National Park. The group trekked over 20km from Greens Beach to make their campsite. Talking with some of the students on their return, they were clearly very tired but had such a sense of achievement in what they had accomplished. Final preparations for the year 8 camp at Port Sorell are taking place as they head out early next week to Camp Banksia. We look forward to all the great things that they have in store. Week 9 will see the year 9 Outdoor Education class head out on their first camp of the year at Kelsey Tier. Finally, in week 10, year 7s head to Camp Banksia for their camp, where the Prefect Board will also support them.

Camps provide so many amazing opportunities for learning, connection, fun, and new experiences. I am extremely grateful to our teaching staff for all the time and effort they put into organising and running these camps for our students.

Australian Government School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) over the NBN

The Australian Government has made a commitment to deliver access to free broadband for up to 30,000 families with school-aged children who are not connected at home currently via the NBN network. SSBI is a targeted affordability measure to help boost education opportunities.

To be eligible for the SSBI, families must have at least one child studying in a Tasmanian school in grades K-12 and live at a premises with no active broadband service over the NBN network.

The NBN will install connection equipment at the premises of the student. The internet connection will be a standard unfiltered NBN internet connection, which will need moderation of use by the student by their parent or carer.

The student will need access to a device for use on the NBN service. This may be a device 'loaned' to the student from their school where available.

Information to include in newsletters for parents and families is attached.