Reece High School eNewsletter

The New Normal

We often hear people talking about the “New Normal” with physical distancing and hand hygiene becoming a regular practice. However, with restrictions being eased, especially in relation to students, we are now starting to return to some school routines from the past. The following will take place during the last 4 weeks of term.

Week 7 – School Tour for Potential Grade 7 Families (Wed 2/09 and Thursday 3/09 @ 6.30pm)

Week 8 – Whole School Assembly

Week 9 – School Association Meeting (Monday)

Grade 6 Parent Evening and Transition

We are excited to begin our transition program at Reece High School. We know how important it is for students to have a connection with their school and develop relationships with key adults. Our Grade 7 team and prefects have already started visiting our feeder schools to talk through some of the highlights about high school and to answer any questions the Grade 6 students may have.

This Friday August 28 (Girls Day) and Monday August 31 (Boys Day) Grade 6 students will be attending a transition day at the Devonport Recreation Centre. This will involve a number of organised games and trust activities. It will give the students a chance to make connections with people from other schools and also form a positive relationship with our Grade 7 staff.

We understand that Grade 6 students will have many questions about High School and will be excited at the opportunities they have in the next chapter of their schooling.

At this time of year, we would normally be holding our Grade 6 Parent Information Evening. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions put in place by the Department of Education we are unable to have a large number of adults onsite at one time. Due to this, we have put together a video that will hopefully clarify a number of questions families may have. Families can access the video through our Reece High School Facebook page or our school website: http://www.reecehigh.education.tas.edu.au.

After watching the video, parents who have not visited our school previously will have the option of having a tour of the school on the following dates:

Wednesday September 2 – 6.30pm to 7.30pm
Thursday September 3 – 6.30pm to 7.30pm

To ensure we can manage the number of people we have onsite, parents are encouraged to contact the front office on 64 208100 to register their interest for one of the above dates. Students will have the opportunity to tour the school through their transition, so these tours will only be open to adults.

We look forward to establishing ongoing relationships with all our new families.

If anyone you know has questions about our transition program, please feel free to contact Reece High School by phoning 6420 8100 and talk to our transition team.

2020 Parent and Carer Satisfaction Survey

Although it was not compulsory for schools to complete the Parent and Carer Satisfaction Survey this year, we have decided that any time we can receive feedback from parents, we should take the opportunity. We will be giving the students the survey early next week. If you could take the time to complete the survey, it would be much appreciated.

Uniform

We would like to thank parents and students for the effort they have made to make sure they are in full school uniform. The school uniform builds a sense of connectedness among students and to the school. When worn well, it enhances the way in which individuals and the school are viewed in the community. Uniform also means that students can easily be identified as a member of RHS, increasing safety and supervision for all students. I would like to highlight that black shoes are the required item for footwear from our uniform policy. If you are starting to think about purchasing footwear for 2021, can you please ensure they are black with black laces.

Every Friday the Grade 7 Team of staff have been recognising those students who consistently demonstrate our school values. Students have been rewarded with movies, team building games with the Prefects and a visit from our school duck. The students have had a fantastic time connecting with our school leaders and the therapy duck – Leroy. We would like to thank the Prefects for giving up their time to work with our year 7 students and to the Grade 10 Team for allowing Leroy to visit the Junior School.

Last week, Grade 7 students went on an excursion to various places in Devonport as part of their Geography unit. Prior to the excursion, students had been learning about the factors of liveability and developing their knowledge of what makes some places more liveable than others. Students each visited one specific place in Devonport such as the Bluff, Homemaker Centre or Spirit of Tasmania Ferry terminal to first assess the liveability of the area, and then think of ways in which it could be improved. Students considered what infrastructure they could add or change in the area, and how the aesthetics of their area could be enhanced. Since coming back to the classroom, student have impressed their teachers with their critical evaluations of their chosen place and their creative solutions in making their area more liveable. Students will now start developing multimedia presentations to present their findings and demonstrate their knowledge of the factors of liveability. We look forward to seeing what they produce!

In English, Grade 8 students have been working hard to create satirical texts that express a criticism or message about a topical issue. Across the grade, societal issues ranged from COVID-19, environmental destruction, politicians, the ‘Black Lives’ movement, school-based issues and many more. We were extremely impressed with students’ critical and creative thinking in constructing some amazing visual and written texts!

Some examples of student work are included below.

Hi 9E here and we have been given the task of writing the newsletter report.

Let’s start with what we have been studying. This term in Maths we have been working on transposing formula and using this skill to rearrange the simple interest formula to calculate principal, interest, time and rate. We have enjoyed this maths as we have been looking at investing and borrowing, seeing how this can support us in the future when it comes to buying a car, house or wanting to invest money.

In English our focus has been on poetry which has followed on from our novel focus ‘By the River’. Last term we experimented with free verse poetry and blackout poetry in relation to reading the novel and this term we have focused on inquiring into a range of poets and types of poems. This has resulted in us creating poetry through playing with literary devices and vocabulary and looking at how these devices and words can influence an audience to think and feel a certain way.

In Science we have been studying chemistry and had to adopt an atom! We have been exploring chemical reactions and periodic table. Our focus for HASS is on Australian history to front load our thinking in our next English novel ‘The Secret River’ by Kate Greenville.

Within Intervention we have been focusing on our ability to convert between fractions/decimals and percentages with a focus on financial literacy and in English we have been playing with words in themed vocabulary lessons on love, war and Australia. We have also explored some of our creative skills in Intervention as well had opportunities to attend a Master Builders talk and complete resumes.

We hope you enjoy the pictures of what our class have been up and hope you all look forward to 9D taking the reins in our next newsletter report.

Written by Blair and Mrs H

Don teachers will be visiting our Grade 10 students on Thursday this week. Students will have the opportunity to learn about the Don campus, as well as subjects and pathways beyond Don. At the end of the information session, students will be able to speak with specialised Don teachers and ask any questions they may have.

Don has invited our Grade 10 group to tour their facilities. Students will head to Don in their principal classes later in the term. We predict that the tour will take 1.5 hours. A letter with more information will be sent out closer to the date.

There will be extra opportunities to support small groups with their transition to Don. If your child is feeling unsure or anxious about the transition process and would like additional transition sessions, please get in contact with me by sending an email to sarah.j.elliott@education.tas.gov.au or by calling the school on 6420 8100 Monday-Thursday.

Sarah Elliott
Grade 10 Team Leader

Reece High has extended to provide Year 11 & 12 educational opportunities for students, who can enrol at Reece High School for Year 11 or 12 as a full-time student to complete their Senior Secondary education. In some cases there may be the opportunity for a student to be a dual enrolment, with some classes at Reece High School and some classes at Don College, or other Extension Schools in the area. Mrs Bernadette Hawkes can work individually with students and families to plan a personalised program which aims to accommodate course preferences and transition plans from Year 10 into 11 and Year 11 into Year 12.

If you have any questions or are considering that your child may stay at Reece for 11/12 in 2021, and wish to discuss options and opportunities, please contact me by email: Bernadette.hawkes@education.tas.gov.au or by phoning the school on 64208100.

Bernadette Hawkes
Grade 11/12 AST

The Tasmanian Government has announced the expansion of the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS), which waives the cost of Tasmanian Government levies for eligible students, for the 2021 school year onwards.

The eligibility for STAS will move to using the Health Care Card or equivalent as the assessment mechanism, replacing previous income thresholds that applied.

A set of Frequently Asked Questions has been developed to assist with any questions you may have.

Further questions about STAS or Levies and Charges in general can be sent to the Department of Education’s Financial Services Unit at stas@education.tas.gov.au or by calling 1800 827 055.

We are looking at developing a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) for Reece High School, with our Principal’s approval, and just wondering if anyone would be interested in joining our RAP Working Group?

A RAP is a formal statement of commitment to reconciliation. A school or early learning service can develop a RAP using the Narragunnawali platform to register and extend on existing initiatives or to begin a new journey.

Check out the link here: https://www.narragunnawali.org.au/

Establishing a diverse RAP Working Group will ensure the responsibility for developing, implementing, and maintaining the RAP does not sit with one person.

A collaborative approach will ensure the RAP contains multiple perspectives and represents the diversity of your community.

The RAP Working Group must include:

Members of the local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community (this may happen once relationships have been developed with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community)
Principal/Director (who will approve the RAP)
Teachers and educators
Parents/carers and wider community representatives

It is also suggested that the RAP Working Group includes:

Curriculum or faculty leaders
Students and children
Non-teaching staff i.e. library staff, counsellors, administrative staff

If you are at all interested, please let me know.

Kind regards,

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

Leroy, our school therapy duck, has continued to grow not only in physical stature but in the hearts of his Duck Dad and Duncle. However, Leroy has been thinking lately of his options in later life and judging by the photos below will either go into modelling of laundry baskets, or teaching. We are steering him towards modelling. In these dark Coronavirus days Leroy and his laundry basket still remain a beacon of hope for all of us. A big shout out to the official duck warden Lakeshia Morgan and Gus Mansfield for the construction of Leroy’s new house.

Recently Reece High entered six teams across all age groups into the North West Futsal Tournament. Players assembled into their respective teams out the front of the Basketball Centre, found their parent help coaches and then headed off to their courts ready to play.

It was great to see so many students taking the opportunity to represent Reece High out in the community! There were many examples of sportsmanship, respect and responsibility displayed by the students and that certainly made the day more enjoyable for all involved. Let us take a moment now to congratulate the following students on a job well done! Special mention must go to the Grade 7/8 Girls Team and the Grade 10 Boys Team for both making the grand final, but unfortunately falling short. Best of luck next year girls!!!

Thanks to Mr Wilson for his behind the scenes organisation and also a BIG thankyou to the coaches Amanda Leary Grade 7/8 Girls and Zach Pearce Grade 10 Boys; your help was very much appreciated!