Reporting

Our mid-year report will reflect the feedback your child has already received in class and will be in line with the information on the numerous assessment rubrics teachers are using with students in class.  Families should have received their child’s report on Wednesday and be busily requesting 3-way conferences through the online portal. The letter attached to the report gives a detailed outline on how families can book meetings. A reminder that this needs to be done before 9pm on Sunday June 26. This allows time to for staff to organise work samples and assessment rubrics for families. The dates and times for 3-way conferences are outlined below.

 Monday June 27                      3.00pm to 5.30pm
Tuesday June 28                      3.00pm to 7.30pm (Don College Staff available for year 10s)

Colours Assembly

On the last Tuesday of term at 11am, we will have our colours assembly. This is a celebration assembly to recognise those students that have performed extremely well inside and outside the classroom. Families will be contacted and invited to the assembly if their child is receiving an award.

All the students receiving colours will have their own individual story that would involve setbacks, but with perseverance and focusing on our school value of “Best Effort” have excelled in their chosen field.

The colours concept was engineered by a past HPE teacher in Derek Marsh. The idea for his concept came from a teacher exchange in 1987. Mr Marsh’s idea was taken from a High School in England which focused on recognising those students who excelled in different areas in the school and within the wider community. It recognises those students who have excelled in their area of expertise. It is great to see that Mr Marsh’s legacy lives on today.  There are specific criteria that have to be met in order to receive a colour, however, we encourage families to email Daniel Franks if they would like to put forward a nomination, e.g. State representative. daniel.franks@education.tas.gov.au

 School Hours

Since the weather has become cooler, we have had more student arriving late to school. Please ensure that your child arrives at school no later than 8.30am, as this ensures that they are organised and ready for first block. If your child arrives after 8.40, they need to go to the office and collect a late pass; late arrival affects their overall attendance.

Music                          8.35am

Block 1                        8.40am to 10.20am

Recess                         10.20am to 10.40am

Music                          10.40am

Block 2                        10.45am to 12.25pm

Lunch                          12.25pm to 1.05pm

Music                          1.05pm

Block 3                        1.10pm to 2.50pm

Grade 10 Exams

When I was in high school, the expectation was to finish Grade 10 and then either look at further education or try and access work or an apprenticeship or traineeship. As families would be aware, all students are now expected to finish Grade 12 before looking at other opportunities. The 11/12 curriculum has a significant number of external exams that form a major part of a student’s assessment.

This week our Grade 10 students have been immersed in a number of exams including Maths, English, HASS and Science. Our Grade 10 teachers have been focusing on study skills to support the process. They have been impressed by the students' commitment to this process and know that it will support them with their transition into Year 11.

Solstice Splash

A number of Reece High School staff and students took part in the Solstice Splash at the Mersey Bluff on Saturday morning. Approximately $50,000 was raised for learner-driver mentors, mental health first aid training and school breakfast clubs. A big congratulations to Devonport Chaplaincy for promoting such a great event. I would personally like to thank the following students and staff for their contribution

Billy Barnes

Bryce Chilcott

Takaoda Wigg-Browne

Darra Boerma – Chaplain

Janine Charlwood

Kaylah Rataj

Chelsea Dolbel

Sandra Farr

Congratulations

We are extremely lucky to have so many amazing students who have performed well at a national level. Our most recent success has been in Judo. Myha Peterson and Tyson Kent travelled to the Gold Coast recently and took part in the Judo Australia National Championships. Myha won the Gold Medal in the Senior Girls Under 48kg division and Tyson won the Bronze Medal in the Senior Boys Under 55kg division. We can now see their medals, but what people don’t see is the hours of training and commitment towards their sport. Congratulations Myha and Tyson.

In Life Skills we have been developing our green thumbs and working extremely hard to grow our garden. We have been growing tomatoes, beans, carrots, silverbeets, potatoes, blueberries and three different types of pumpkins. We have harvested our beans, potatoes and some carrots. Everyone puts in and we have moved a lot of soil to create and fill a new garden bed. A very special “thanks” to Darra for his hard work and expertise!

Last week we had Constable Leesa come and talk to our group about keeping safe and making respectful decisions. Leesa also talked to us about how our police officers keep us and our town safe. We went out and had a look at her police car. She showed us the tyre spikes, put on the siren and lights, and showed us her baton.

English – Grade 8

In English, Grade 8 students have been learning about the notions of both personal and national identity. We have explored the ways in which immigrants have enriched our culture over time as well as some of the problems they have in assimilating. Our lessons have also focused on racism and discrimination. The question ‘What is a typical Australian?’ surfaces as a theme throughout our teaching and learning.

This unit of work has been enriched with Literature Circles. Some students have read a novel call ‘Thai-riffic’ and others have read ‘Does My Head Look Big In This?’ Literature circles are a bit like book clubs and students bring together their thinking on events, the characters and the plot line of the novel. The level of improvement, in preparation and also confidence to present, throughout the three Literature Circles was most commendable.

Currently Grade 8s are working on their culminating task for this unit; they are writing about the ways in which the novel they have read enriches our understanding of multiculturism in Australia.

Science

Year 9 students have continued their fantastic work in the science laboratory studying the science of light energy. For a change of pace from light-boxes and prisms, students have had the opportunity to dissect a preserved cow’s eye. They investigated the different structures that comprise the eye and looked at how light is refracted inside the eye. It was fabulous to see so many students participating and excited to have a go.

UTAS bus

During week 6, the UTAS bus was parked at Reece High School for the week. Year 9 students had the opportunity to participate in various activities and a number of information sessions. The main aim of the bus was to expose students to further study opportunities available at UTAS, as well as giving them the chance to have a go at some interactive and virtual-reality experiences. While our year 9s were quite enthusiastic bomb diffusers, it’s unlikely we have future bomb-squad members in our ranks.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for the Grade 10s, preparing for and sitting exams. Students have learnt a great deal about the study requirements leading up to an exam and many have taken on additional hours of study out of school. Research shows that just 20 minutes of study time each day has major benefits for students including: less stress, building healthy learning habits and consolidating content covered in class. These benefits are important as students continue their journey of learning.

As the term comes to an end, units of work will start to wrap up. This will mean that students will be required to complete assessment tasks to demonstrate their learning. Some of these include:

- A creative writing piece in English

- An essay on the conspiracies surrounding the Moon Landing

- Writing a Science prac report for an energy experiment

- Completing a 3D Maths model for a well-known building e.g. Big Ben

Teachers will be in contact early Term 3 if there are any outstanding tasks from Term 2. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your child’s principal teacher.

Over the past few weeks, the prefect board has been working on building trust and showing vulnerability. This has included performing trust falls and trust exercises where we have had to be vulnerable with each other and put trust into others. We will continue to focus on various aspect of leadership throughout the year to build our skills.

The lunch time activities have continued and have been supporting the prefect’s motto that they formed several weeks ago- “We aspire to create a supportive community where everyone feels like they belong.” This  has supported the prefects to form strong connections with many people within the school.

As many of you may know, the Big Freeze 8 took place a couple of weeks ago at the MCG. We thought it would be a good idea to hold our very own Big Freeze to raise money for MND. This will be held sometime during week 10, as well as other smaller activities to raise money for Fight MND. The exact details on how money will be raised or how who goes down the slide, will be decided closer to the time. When the date is closer and more details are finalised we will get back to you and most likely announcements will be in the student news at the start of week 10. The Junior School and Grade 9 Councils are helping the prefects with this, as well as our HPE Committee. We look forward to seeing everybody there and raising money and awareness for a great cause.

 Chaz and Laura

Printmaking In Art

Art students from a range of classes and grades have experimented with printmaking techniques such as lino printing, screen printing and etching. Here are some examples of student work.

We had a great team represent us at the Interhigh Cross Country at Penguin. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch some of the races. We know that exercise has a positive effect on our physical and mental wellbeing. All our runners were very competitive. Some of the outstanding results are listed below.

Grade 7 Girls

Elysha – 7^th

Erin – 12^th

Grade 7 Boys

Bailey – 15^th

Grade 8 Girls

Molly - 21^st

Grade 8 Boys

Bryce – 10^th

About one in nine people in Australia have asthma, one of the highest rates in the world.

Asthma affects people of all ages, and it can appear at any time in life. With the right medication and a daily management plan in place, asthma symptoms can be controlled.

Therefore, families MUST provide the school with an Asthma Action Plan completed by their child’s medical practitioner. The plan must outline the child’s known triggers and the emergency procedures to be taken in the event of an asthma flare-up or attack.

Asthma Action Plans should be completed/reviewed annually for your child. A copy MUST be provided to the school along with any medications required (Inhaler and spacer).

Families MUST advise the school of any change in their child’s circumstances, including any changes in the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions.

For more information about asthma:

An update on face masks

Public Health has advised that from Monday 27 June 2022, face masks are no longer mandatory in schools and Child and Family Learning Centres. This is because of reduced COVID-19 cases in our community.

It’s important to continue to:

• • stay at home if unwell, and get tested
  • practise COVID-safe behaviours such as frequent handwashing and sanitising
  • be up to date with your COVID-19 vaccinations.

Students, staff and visitors are supported to continue to wear face masks if they choose to. Face masks are still available at our <school/CFLC> if you need them.

When face masks are required

If you’re a close contact, you are still required to wear a face mask indoors as per current Public Health advice.

From time-to-time our school might identify activities or situations where masks are required to be worn. We ask for your support when this happens and know that it is in the best interests of our students, staff and our school.

Our staff will continue to wear masks when working closely with students who are vulnerable to COVID-19.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us directly to discuss.

For more information about COVID-19, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 816 057.

If you need support translating or interpreting this information, contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

Toast for Kids Charity Gala - Celebrating 10 Years

Saturday 13th August 2022

paranaple Convention Centre

6pm til late

$99 per person or $900 for a table of ten (+Booking Fee).

Tickets available at:

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/.../toast-for-kids-charity...

Or book direct to steve@toast4kids.onmicrosoft.com

The 2022 Charity Gala will feature the ultimate party band The Collection with special guests ‘The Martini’s’. Bring your dancing shoes because this 8 piece band will have you dancing all night long! Emcee will be well-known television presenter Tom Johnson.

Toast for Kids Charity Inc. invite you to attend this important event, raising funds for School Breakfast Clubs & the HELP BABIES LEARN Project.