2021 Staffing

We are currently working on our timetable for 2021. I would like to thank our leadership team for their support in making this happen. We will hand out the first draft to teaching staff this week.

2021 Leadership Team

Our leadership team will be as follows next year:-

Principal – Mr Grant Armitstead

Assistant Principal – Mr Franks (Senior School)

Assistant Principal – Mr Murray (Junior School)

Instructional Coach (Literacy) – Mrs Thomas

Pedagogical Coach – Mrs Hizartzidis

Grade 7 Team Leader – Miss Knight

Grade 8 Team Leader – Mrs Hess

Grade 9 Team Leader – Mr Davies

Grade 10 Team Leader – Mrs Elliott

11/12 AST – Mrs Hawkes

Grade 10 Maths PLT and My Education – Mrs Moore

HPE Team Leader – Mrs Rataj

School Business Manager – Mrs Hicks

Transition Day

We had our transition day on Tuesday 1^st December. Grade 10s spent the day at Don College, while all the other grades spent the day with their teachers for 2021. We are looking forward to working with our new Grade 7 students and are pleased to announce that we will have 6 classes next year.

2021 Principal Teachers

Farewells

At this stage we are fortunate enough to have most staff continuing in 2021. However, we will be farewelling 2 staff.

Manassah Dare-Bonnici
Manassah has been with us for the past 4 years as a HPE Assistant. His positive attitude, great sense of humour and ability to relate to students made him an asset to the HPE team. Manassah will be in his last year of University studying HPE. Hopefully we will see him back as a teacher in the future.

Karen Ralston
Karen has been a Teacher Assistant for the past 10 years, starting in 2010. She has decided to retire from education and explore other opportunities. Karen has had a positive influence on a number of students at Reece High School and will be missed by students and staff.

New Staff

We have been fortunate enough to pick up 2 teaching staff in recent weeks. Mrs Sandra Farr is an experienced Maths/Science teacher who is coming to us from St Brendan Shaw College. We welcome Sandra to our Grade 9 team.

We recently advertised a Support Teacher position which was won externally by Karla Reeves. Karla comes with the highest of recommendations and we are very fortunate to have her as part of our team.

School Association

We held our last School Association Meeting for the year on Monday 30^th November. I would like to thank all our representatives for their support this year. We took the time to celebrate our current data and were able to reflect on all the exciting work that has happened inside and outside of our classrooms. If you are interested in becoming a member next year, please take note of information via FB and our newsletter in early 2021. You can also talk to Mrs Benson in the front office if you require any more information about the role of our School Association.

Uniform Items

If you have any uniform items that you no longer need, especially Grade 10 students, all donations will be greatly accepted. Although we don’t run a second-hand shop we do at times find the need to access second hand uniforms/items.

Orientation Day

On Tuesday we held our orientation day at RHS. It was great to meet so many new students and to see them getting along so well. One of our values is “Best Effort”. They definitely lived this value by giving their best throughout all of the activities throughout the day. If your child is nervous about attending high school, please reassure them that there is a number of supports in place at Reece that will help to ensure a smooth transition. Please encourage your child to talk to us if they have any questions or concerns.

School Improvements

Pump track – we have finally been able to see some progress with our pump track. The $130,000 project has been a long and exhaustive one, however, it is now looking amazing, with the formation of the track taking place. I would especially like to thank Kylie Lunson (School Association Secretary) for her support in making this vision a reality. Without her support, we wouldn’t have been able to progress the project. The Grade 10 boys in the picture below are excited, but also upset that they won’t be able to use the track at break times next year.

Major Events to Come

Tuesday 8^th December                          Presentation Assembly

Friday 11th December                           Reports home

Monday 14^th December                         Year in Review Assembly

Tuesday 15th December                        Walkathon/Picnic at the Bluff                

Wednesday 16^th December                   Grade 10 Celebration Assembly and Dinner
                                                          Grade activities – Block 2 and 3

Thursday 17^th December                      Activities Day Grade 7 to 9
                                                          Last day for students

Annual Review

Our staff have been completing a thorough Scan and Assess of our 2020 School Improvement Plan.

The data and evidence is outlined in our 2020 Annual Review. This has been given to our School Association Representatives.

Pay It Forward

In relation to our school value of “Inclusiveness”, prefects have expanded on the idea of “pay it forward” by asking students to do a good deed for adults, the elderly or just others outside of our immediate school environment. Once they do this, we ask that the adult inform us by sending through an email or text, acknowledging the good deed.

Prefects have created a video for community members to watch which went out on Facebook.

The cards were given out early last week.

Interhigh Athletics Carnival

On Wednesday we had approximately 60 students take part in the Interhigh Athletics Carnival. It was great to see students from across the North West Coast giving their best for their school. I would like to thank Mr Wilson, Mrs Armitstead, Mr van Essen and Manassah for supporting the students on the day. A lot of people took part in multiple events and would definitely have slept well on Wednesday night. We can rightfully be proud of the efforts from our students.

Best Effort

We are constantly amazed by the talents of our students. We love to recognise those students who excel inside and outside of school. Nic is an upcoming cyclist who is starting to turn some heads in track cycling. The first carnival of the year was held at Georgetown. In one of his races, he was involved in a crash with a couple of other riders but jumped quickly back onto his bike and managed to get back into 4^th place.

For the Georgetown Wheel he raced amazingly well and finished second. The photo below shows him receiving his prize money. I am hoping that he puts the money towards buying a present for his principal at the end of the year.

Great work Nic, you should be proud of your efforts. Hopefully we will see you in the Tour de France one day!!.

The Department of Education recently announced that we would be expanding the Student Assistance Scheme for 2021.

Parents who have a current concession card as listed below can apply for dependent students for assistance under the STAS:

     *  Service Australia - Centrelink Health Care Card
     *  Service Australia - Centrelink Low Income Health Care Card
     *  Service Australia - Pensioner Concession Card  or
     *  Department of Veteran Affairs  - Pensioner Concession Card

Please note that if you are already receiving student assistance you do not need to complete a form.

For 2021 a new on-line form has been developed to assist with processing applications for new applicants.

The online form can be completed here: https://stasonlinesubmission.education.tas.gov.au/ 
The form will be available for public use from the 10 November.

Once a validated form is completed the Department of Education will confirm the outcome of your application in writing, this process takes approximately 14 days.

We understand this online option may not be possible for all families, so if you require a hard copy form please contact your school or the Financial Assistance Unit on stas@education.tas.gov.au or 1800 827 077.

On Tuesday the 1st of December, Reece High School welcomed around 135 year six students from various primary schools to participate in a transition

program for the day. The day was designed to help students become familiar with a high school setting and get to know some of the structures and features of Grade Seven at Reece. The students got to know some staff members that they will be working with next year and participated in a number of team building activities designed to help students get to know people from other schools. The day was a great success. The staff were extremely impressed with how the students transitioned to Reece for the day. We are looking forward to seeing everyone next year.  

During Term 4, Grade 9 students have been learning about micro-fiction. A micro-fiction narrative is a story that has a small word count. Students were challenged with writing their micro story to include no more than 300 words.

Below are some of the students' stories:-

As she stood in the woods, her cheeks shone bright red where the hot sun touched her skin. Her eyes began to sting; a lump in her throat choked her... gasping for air she watched the little green caterpillars squirm in her hands. Her mind filled with pictures of her sister. Squeals as the caterpillar’s crawl over their feet in search of food; not knowing what the future held. The negative memories came with a cost, as addictive as they felt, there was nothing in them of value. The positive memories came like a friend with a picnic basket, they were good and nourishing, supportive and kind. As the cool breeze blew small wisps of hair out of her ponytail and tickled her neck, she realised like all things she loved, she must let them go. Back to where they were safe and had everything they needed to thrive and become beautiful butterflies.  

"She never had a chance to grow her wings and fly before the accident." 

 A shiver ran down her spine as she stood in the hot sun. Head beginning to whirl, she felt trapped; as if she was in a cocoon trying to emerge but couldn’t. 

 "What if giving them up wasn’t the right thing to do?" 

"There are so many things out there that could hurt them." 

"What if it rained and they drowned; what if they get eaten by a bird?" 

 To let go was one her biggest regrets.  

"Why is this any different?" 

"What stopped fate from deciding to be cruel?"  

She couldn’t make the same mistake twice; not after it left her wings broken.   

By Seche 9B

The little boy snuck out to find his friend by the river. His steps were like cotton on your cheeks. The little girl was crouching. But like every night before bed they go down there. 

Splish, splosh, splash. 

He threw with all his might. But the third rock came skipping back.  

 They were confused at first, so they throw it back... it came back again...she gasped. They looked at each other with shock they didn’t know what to think or feel. The little boy was crouching to find another rock. When suddenly there was a screeching sound. He turned around to find she was already gone!!!!

"HELP ME JACK! HELP ME!" SPLASH....  

 He screamed in fear not knowing what happened. He ran. And kept running into the dark night sky. You could see his heavy breathing into the fresh cold air. The air was so cold it was making his lunges tighten. He starts to feel himself getting weaker and weaker. His steps where getting slower and slower... his steps were getting heavier and heavier.  

 He could her his heartbeat. It was getting louder. Pumping harder than ever. He just stops at the end of the road. He finds himself back at home. His soft silky sheets were getting soaked with warm salty tears. He hadn’t been back down by the river in years. A few years later he found himself back by the river. He noticed a shiny little chain half under a rock. He goes to pick it up. Its Hailey's necklace... 

By Khloe 9E

It was a perfect lift off.

Smoke billowed from the bottom of the house. night surrounded it like a long black cloak. The floor beneath us was blazing with the light from the jets, every crack in the boards exposed. Passers-by stopped and gawked jaws open at the house that had ripped up from the ground and blazed into the sky. My younger brother amused by the site waved to them out a side window.  people continued to look as if they were deer caught in head lights as the smoke engulfed house. 

It was perfect a masterpiece, with this as my entry I was sure to win top place and all my hours of tinkering with gears would have paid off.  I’d finally prove I wasn’t just some nobody from 6th grade I would finally be something. The bell rings and I dread having to show my work to the entire school. I hurry to class. 

"Hey Mike is that your entry for the science fair?" someone says but I pass them.  I stop at the gym door and walk to the only table left.  I make it just in time as other students start flocking through the doors. They all pass me without a glance at my project. Except jimmy and his gang of thugs. They stomp right up to my table.  

"Ha what's that a hunk of metal!" One of them brawls
"You got your mum to buy you a toy for your project."  

Jimmy lunges at my project.

"Hey stop." I mumble a weak protest. 

Jimmy throws my project to the ground by and crushes it with his scuffed boots, my hard work  sprawled all over the floor. Only now do people flock to my table to laugh at the helpless nerdy boy being shown his place by a gang of bullies  

I run out of the gym tears rushing down my face.  

”Nerd!” 
”Freak!”   
”Weirdo!” 

Shout the laughing crowd behind me. The only thing I can think is one day they will be sorry one day I’ll show them all.    

By Gemma 9A

Last week was exam week for Grade 10 students. The exam process gave students the opportunity to learn about how to study for an exam and the expectations for sitting a formal exam. Teachers use the examination process to find out what students have learnt and use the results to determine student assessment. All students did an excellent job with their exams and should be proud of their efforts.

On Tuesday, students spent the day at Don College for Taster Day. Students were given the opportunity to ‘taste’ the subjects they had previously enrolled in and meet new teachers and students from local high schools.

A letter will go home this week with information about the final week of school. It is important that you are reading the information and are familiar with expectations for these activities, especially in relation to COVID restrictions. Important dates for you to remember are:

Thursday 10^th December        - Celebration Dinner RSVPs are due

Tuesday 15^th December         – Launceston Trip

Wednesday 16^th December   – Grade 10 Assembly starting at 9:30am

                                               - Celebration Dinner starting at 6:30pm

If you have any questions about the information above, please contact the school on
6420 8100.

Sarah Elliott
Grade 10 Team Leader

All library books must be returned to the Library as soon as possible please

NAIDOC Week 2020 competition winners are:

Grade 7              Caylum              222 coloured grubs

Grade 8              Ben                   106 coloured frogs

Grade 9              Jacob                 91 coloured snakes

Grade 10            Julian                 183 witchetty grubs

Staff                  Kaylah                175 mix of above

Thank you to who participated.

Winners can collect their prize from the library; please see Gill or Pennii

Gill Brazendale | Aboriginal Education Officer | Aboriginal Education Services
Department of Education | Reece High School, 41-43 Middle Road, Devonport
64 20 8129 | 0436 865 025

Gill Brazendale | Aboriginal Education Officer | Aboriginal Education Services
Department of Education | Reece High School, 41-43 Middle Road, Devonport
64 20 8129 | 0436 865 025 Gillian.Brazendale@education.tas.gov.au