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MARCH | |
Tuesday 29th | Grade 7 & 10 Immunisations |
APRIL | |
Friday 1st | School Photos |
Thursday 14th | Student Free Day |
End of Term 1 for Students | |
Friday 15th | Good Friday - Public Holiday |
Monday 18th | Easter Monday - Public Holiday |
MAY | |
Monday 2nd | Term 2 Commences |
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 intervention blocks per week, where students are placed in focused groups, based on their learning needs. The staffing is outlined below.
Grade 7 - 6 classes - 9 Teachers, 5 TAs
Grade 8 - 5 classes - 8 Teachers, 2 TAs
Grade 9 - 6 classes - 10 Teachers, 2 TAs
Grade 10 - 4 classes - 6 teachers, 2 TAs
If a student breaks their leg while in the playground, we immediately put in place the appropriate supports to cater for their needs. Our intervention blocks work in the same manner. The support is purposeful, timely and targeted, with students having specific targets they need to meet. Please start having conversations with your child about their intervention blocks and the work they have been doing.
Impressive Start
We have had such an impressive start to the school year, with
students demonstrating a great commitment to their learning. Our focus value for this term has been “Responsibility” and the students have been demonstrating this value through their actions. This has been highlighted by them taking positive ownership of their actions and making the most of their opportunities. A calm working environment, where students are focused on continual growth in their learning has definitely had a positive impact. Keep up the great work.
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.
School Association
Our AGM is being held at Reece High School at 5.30pm on Monday 28th March at 5.30pm. If you would like to have a stronger connection with the school and have input into our policies and procedures, please call into our front office and complete a nomination form or fill out the form below and return to the office.
National Day of Action against Bullying
Friday March 18th is National Day of Action against Bullying. As a school community we will be focusing on the respectful behaviours that we expect to see each day. If students, staff and parents live these behaviours, then bullying won’t occur.
We will be asking our students some of the following questions.
- How can you show respect towards others?
- What body language would you show to others that is respectful?
- What language would you use that is respectful?
- How do you treat property respectfully; what would we see people doing in the classroom and in the grounds?
- How can you show consideration towards others?
- What type of behaviours do respectful people show towards those who are sharing their opinions, even if they do not agree with them?
Previously students outlined the behaviours they wanted to see at school in relation to our school value of “RESPECT”. This is outlined in the table below with our respect logo.
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As RHS students we… |
RESPECT Respecting ourselves, others, our past and our environment |
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Evidence Based Practice – Bullying
Attached to this newsletter is an evidence-based outline of how your child can deal with situations where they feel they are getting targeted, either online or in person. Jonny Shannon is an expert in this field and data has shown, that if people follow these steps, things will improve for them quickly. Please take the time to read the brochure and open a conversation with your child.
Messages to Students
I would like to thank families for their support in providing us important information in relation to COVID 19 and whether your child is COVID positive or a Close Contact. This information is imperative in helping us keep our community safe. Due to the increase in calls, our Admin team are having to prioritise this work, however, we have also had increasing calls at the end of the day with families asking us to pass on messages in relation to school pick-up etc. In the current climate our Admin Team are sometimes unable to get a message to the student prior to the end of the school day. We will always try our best, however, if families can ensure arrangements are made prior to your child coming to school, then this will ease the burden on our admin staff significantly. Thanks for your support.
COVID 19 Directions
Due to the recent increase in positive COVID cases in our community the DoE has ceased all activities across schools (e.g. Science and Engineering Challenge) and overnight School Camps (e.g. Outdoor Education - overnight bushwalk). Our Outdoor Education team are working hard to still provide these opportunities, but they will take place during the day and students will still return home to sleep. More detail will be sent out to families via a letter.
Congratulations Myha – Best Effort
Myha decided to step outside of her comfort zone and compete in the Melbourne Judo International Competition over the weekend. She was in the senior girls (12 -14 year old age group) under 48kg division. There were girls from all other states around Australia, competing for the major prize. As Myha moved through the rounds, she gained in confidence and eventually defeated the NSW state champion to win the gold medal. Myha managed to complete the tournament undefeated.
She has decided to commit 100% to the sport and travel to all parts of Australia to gain valuable experience competing against the best athletes in her weight division. Since COVID 19 has started she hasn't been able to attend competitions in the last one & a half years but is making up for lost time. This Melbourne international competition was the first time she was finally able to put her training into effect. We are super proud of her efforts and look forward to watching her achieve amazing things in the sport. Myha trains 3 days per week with her dad and also spends time in the gym or pounding the pavement to keep up her fitness. She loves the competitive side of the sport. Congratulations Myha.
In our last newsletter I mentioned Tyson’s effort at a mainland tournament. Tyson also competed in Melbourne and finished 3rd in his division. Congratulations again Tyson.
Congratulations Mia – Best Effort
Mia has been sailing for the Wynyard Yacht Club since 2019 and has developed a passion for the sport. Since starting she has completed her Tackers Course 1,2,3 and is now looking to complete her Instructors Course. This year Mia was selected to compete in her first sailing state championship race at the Wynyard Yacht Club. Mia came 3rd overall. Due to this outstanding result, she was invited to compete in the Women’s Keel Boat Regatta in Hobart, sailing alongside Ela Klinger who is a world champion sailor. Overall, they tied 2nd in their division. It is great to see Mia take an opportunity to learn a different sport that is not only tough physically, but mentally as well. Congratulations Mia.
First photo is Mia and Penny with their trophy at the Hansa State Championship coming in 3rd place. Second photo is Mia and Kyesha. Third photo is Mia and her crew at the woman's keel boat regatta.
Congratulations Pacee – Best Effort
We are blessed with having so many students who excel in their chosen sport. Pacee plays for the Alex Hotel Breakers in the Devonport Eight Ball Association. Pacee is the only Junior (Under 18) player to have played in the summer roster, consisting of 14 teams from Devonport, Sheffield & surrounding areas.
Their team has performed well all year, making the grand final playoff on Saturday. Playing against seasoned adults in a “high stakes” environment would usually unsettle a grade 7 student, however Pacee stepped up to the challenge. He won his individual game which helped the team set up a fantastic win. He received some fantastic feedback from the adult players all season and they were especially impressed with his game on the weekend. We look forward to seeing his continued growth in the sport. Well done Pacee.
The Grade 7s have been very busy in the past couple of weeks, and students have been making the most of their opportunities in the classroom and within the school community.
Some of these opportunities for the grade 7s have included:-
AFL Clinic
On the Friday afternoon of Week 4, AFL players and coaches from Hawthorn and Richmond visited the school to help with a football clinic hosted by AFL Tasmania. The purpose of this clinic was for the AFL to support a community engagement session in response to the Hillcrest tragedy.
Prefect Connection Day
During blocks 2 and 3 on Friday of Week 5, the RHS Prefect group ran some activities for the Grade 7 students. The aim of this afternoon was for the 7s to connect with the Prefects through the games being played. Students were placed in tribes where they worked with a lead Prefect to come up with a tribe name and a bandana design. The Grade 7s then tried to earn RAK points (Random Act of Kindness points) throughout the afternoon, and there was plenty of friendly competition amongst the tribes during the activities.
Questacon
During Week 5, 30 Grade 7 students elected to join the Questacon challenge, where they were instructed to design an object or invention that they believed would be useful in the real world. They were given only a few materials such as tape, cups, straws, paddle pop sticks and scissors, and were allowed 90 minutes to design and build their invention.
Grade 8 Maths
This term students have been learning about finance with units of work in both Maths and Intervention looking at fractions, decimals, and percentages. Students have been learning about percentages, profit and loss, percentage change, interest, and best buys. It has been great to see students transferring and applying this learning to real-world scenarios. Next week we will begin a new unit of work focusing on integers included directed numbers.
Grade 8 Science - Questacon
On Wednesday the 9th March, 17 students from Grade 8 were given the opportunity to attend a virtual Questacon experience. The experience was held on a zoom call hosted by two people who work at the Questacon facility in Canberra. The students learnt about how to think with a creative a mind and think of things outside the box. To warm up their creative minds they had to think and name the properties of any object in front of them. Some students had a desk as their item and came up with words such as hard, glossy and sturdy. The main task they were set with was to think of something they could make with straws, cups, sticky tape and rubber bands. The thing they made had to help to make their least favourite chore better by incorporating their favourite hobby. Some of the inventions were shoes that were made to clean the floor. The hobby the students liked was running. The inventions the students made were super creative. This experience helped better the students creative thinking and was something they found lots of fun.
Samuel
Last week students from across the school had the opportunity to take part in the Questacon Strange Devices workshop. In Grade 9, 32 students completed the workshop and worked together to build their own strange inventions! The idea was that we put together our most hated chore and our favourite hobby to build a prototype machine that combined both ideas. Some standout inventions were the remote-controlled lawn mower, the virtual reality vacuum, and the washing basket-basketball!
Well done to all students who completed the workshop!
Questacon will be coming to Ulverstone to run another program called the Invention Convention. The program gives students an opportunity to create a prototype about something they care about. They will be bringing a mini-workshop and a teams worth of varied experience to help students build their prototypes.
If there are any students between the ages of 14-18 who would like to attend the Invention Convention or you would like to know more information please feel free to have a look on the website.
It is hard to believe that we are already in the second half of Term 1!
Students have been busy in their core classes over the past 5 weeks. Our first units are now coming to a close, and students are showing what they have learnt through different assessment pieces. We have been impressed with the way Grade 10 students have shown our focus value of RESPONSIBILTY by submitting their assignments in on time, as well as giving their BEST EFFORT by seeking feedback and acting on it.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will start our new units of work. The focus units for the second half of Term 1 are:
- English – Responding to Literature
- Maths – Surface Area
- HASS – World War 2
- Science – Energy
We encourage parents to get in contact with their child’s principal teacher if they have any concerns about their child’s attendance, wellbeing or work. The easiest way to do this is via email. Please see email addresses below.
10A: sarah.j.elliott@education.tas.gov.au jesse.connors@education.tas.gov.au
10B: stuart.crabtree@education.tas.gov.au
Realising Potential - Wearable Art
This year a new option called Wearable Art has been running on a Monday Block 3. This class aims for students to explore ways to create wearable art. Our first unit has been experimenting with manipulating paper and Grade 8s have used newspaper to create paper fashion using mannequins in small groups.
It has been fantastic to have such engaged and enthusiastic students collaborating.
National Close the Gap Day is observed on the third Thursday of March, falling on March 17 this year, and advocates for health equity of Australia’s Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people and educating the public about the health issues and barriers to well-being faced by them. Since 2007, National Close the Gap Day brings together Australians from all over the country to advocate for health equity and take meaningful action to create better and more equitable conditions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The campaign encourages people and organizations to plan events that draw attention to the health issues of Australia’s Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people and to support legislation and programs for the improvement of their conditions.
Feel free to check out the website links below FYI
NATIONAL CLOSE THE GAP DAY - March 17, 2022 - National Today
Extra Guidance for Schools | ANTaR
Gill Brazendale | Aboriginal Education Officer | Aboriginal Education Services
Department of Education | Reece High School, 41-43 Middle Road, Devonport
64 20 8100 | Gillian.Brazendale@education.tas.gov.au