Happy Holidays
I would like to thank staff and students for such a great term. We have had so much to celebrate, and I am continually amazed by the achievements of our students.

I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday period. We hope students get to spend some valuable time with their families and friends. We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday 11^th October.

Professional Learning Day
On Friday 29^th October staff will be participating in a professional learning day. This will focus on our annual school review. Staff will spend time putting evidence against our school priorities and formulating goals for 2022. Students are not required to attend school on this day.

School Uniform
A number of students in our Junior School have started to wear black and white Converse shoes to school. As outlined in our Uniform Policy, their school shoes need to be black, even if students are choosing to wear the sports uniform. They are allowed to wear either black, grey or navy blue socks.

Thanks for your continued support in ensuring our students are taking pride in their uniform.

Making the Most of Opportunities
I am continually amazed by the number of opportunities that our students receive at RHS. You would have noticed through our social media communication the different learning opportunities that our students have been engaging in. This has ranged from cooking competitions, writing competitions, maths relays, state sporting teams, work experience programs and supporting community fundraisers. The way students have embraced these opportunities has been great.

Grant Armitstead
Principal

In the final weeks of Term 3, students have been busy completing assessment tasks in English, Maths, Science and HASS.

In English, students have been learning how to edit and improve the overall standard of their PEE paragraphs. In addition, they have created some excellent comics that demonstrate their understanding of the characteristics that make traditional and modern heroes and villains.

During HASS, students have created a digital presentation that explains how they propose to improve the liveability of a certain area in the local community.

In Maths, students have been learning how to find the best buys in real life contexts, using percentages, ratios and rates. Students are super excited to be completing their ‘Best Buys’ assessment on the last day of term.

We hope that students have a fantastic holiday and enjoy a well-deserved break.

Student comic work samples are pictured below.

Last week, Year 9 students were given the opportunity to develop their leadership skills in a challenging STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) task. Working with the Year 7 cohort, Year 9 students were given a brief tutorial before the challenge; they then had used their knowledge to assist small groups of Year 7 students to complete the task, using only their verbal communication skills.

The challenge required students to construct the tallest tower they could, using only pasta, tape, and a small amount of Blu-tac. At the end of the challenge, students’ towers were measured with a jumbo marshmallow placed on top. The top 3 teams with the highest towers that could hold the marshmallow, won points for their respective school house teams with the overall winners receiving a chocolate for their efforts.

Year 9 students were also assessed on their leadership skills, which will assist them in further developing these skills and applying them to other areas within the school. It was also an excellent opportunity for the junior school students to meet and form connections with their future school leaders. Apart from completing the challenge itself, there was an emphasis on forming connections, being inclusive, problem solving and showing leadership.

We hope to continue to work with students to better improve inclusiveness and leadership within our school as well as offer more STEM challenges as part of our house competitions.

A massive thankyou to all staff and students for their involvement in making this a success too.

Mr Connors
Principal Teacher

This week, Year 10 students have been busy completing all assignments and work for their classes. Students have been learning about human wellbeing in HASS, climate change in Science, film techniques in English and the Stock Market in Maths.

We also had a trip to Don college last week for the Don Live afternoon. This involved students travelling to Don to speak with staff there about their subjects, as well as undertake a tour of the campus. Students really enjoyed the opportunity to experience what Don has to offer and to have a look at some of their future classrooms. Students who did not attend the Don Live day last week, will attend their session Block 3, this Thursday.

This week, we also had our rewards afternoon. This involved a trip to the cinema for a movie and lunch and then back to school for an afternoon of activities. Students who had completed all their work and maintained a high attendance, were invited along to participate. Parents  received letters outlining the day should their child have met our requirements.

It has been a very busy term for both staff and students and I’m sure we are all looking forward to a well-earned break.

Mr Connors
Principal Teacher

Science and Engineering Investigation Awards Night

Congratulations again to Aimee and Matilda for their fantastic effort in their science investigation on how temperature effects fingerprint transfer.

At the awards night, we were able to see the finalists from many schools on the North-West coast. The standard was incredibly high, and this reinforced how well both Aimee and Matilda had done to go this far in the competition.

To add to their amazing achievement, Aimee and Matilda received the ‘Runner Up’ award for Physical Sciences in Grade 7/8,equivalent to second place.

We are so proud of their accomplishments and can’t wait to see how their Science journeys continue into Year 9 and 10.

Congratulations to you both!

Miss Stubbs & Miss Officer
Grade 8 Teachers

Term 3 has been busy in the Art Department!

Grade 8 & 9 students have explored emotion and all 2 block students have created a collaborative emotion art piece by using stickers to track their emotions. The artworks students have been creating inspired by emotion will be part of a youth art exhibition held at the start of next year which is run by the Devonport Gallery.

7A, 7B and 7E have been enjoying their taster course experimenting with pencil drawing and mono printing.

Miss Lutwyche
Art Teacher

This term we have been focusing on our school value Inclusiveness with the key focus that one small kind gesture can make someone’s day.

Students and staff were given “Thinking with Kindness” challenge cards that had prompts/challenges for them to show kindness to others. Students who put their completed card in the box received participation points for “The Award” and have gone in the running to win a voucher to the canteen. Art students have participated in a range of different art warmups based on kindness which have been put up around the school and Miss Lutwyche has also written some kindness quotes on windows around school.

It has been fantastic to read some of the cards that have been handed in. Miss Lutwyche has put together a video to show some of the kind acts which will be uploaded to our school Facebook page.

Here are some examples of kind acts:

Miss Lutwyche
Art Teacher

Some of our students were lucky enough to participate in several workshops with Aunty Lola Greeno in 2020. ‘rina-mapali, nimina & kalikina’ (lots of grasses, shells and seaweed): ‘Lola Greeno Living Legacy’ is a book highlighting the importance of passing on Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural practices from generation to generation. Due to our participation, we were invited to attend the book launch in Launceston last Thursday 16 September.

The attached link is a short YouTube film which is part of the book and was published by the Queen Victorian Museum and Art Gallery in 2021.

Click on the link to view.. you may see a few people you know.

rina-mapali, nimina & kalikina: Lola Greeno living legacy - Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery (qvmag.tas.gov.au)

As a result of attending the launch event, we have purchased a couple of Aunty Lola’s books for our Aboriginal Resource section in our Library.

WINNERS for the whole School Classroom NAIDOC Week Mural are:-

7D - Mrs Hizartzidis/Mrs Cooper Class

8A - Mrs Thomas/Mrs Hawkes Class

9B - Ms Bellchambers Class

Class prizes will be given to the teacher - Enjoy

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

Thank you to everyone who got involved in our social this week.

The theme was to dress up in an outfit starting with the first letter of your name. Some of the costume highlights were: Isiah as Iron Man, Tyla as The Mad Hatter, Mackenzie as The Mad Hatter also, Bryce as a bunny and Miss Reeves as Kim from Kath and Kim. Thank you for your support this Term, we look forward to our next whole school event in Term 4. 

Prefects

It was great to be back enjoying another Kakka Challenge hosted by Don College again this year. It was overcast, cold and wet but we still had such a great day.

The run was up first followed by the mountain bike, kayak and finally…. The OBSTACLE COURSE!!!

We had James lose his back wheel, but get on a different bike to squeeze one more lap in. Asha and Jake, Ryan and Zack all fight it out on the bike leg with Caiden and Jye fighting it out during the run. Turns out Miss Dolbel knows our students well and earned herself a hot chocolate (or 2) from Mrs Rataj. A special mention the Grade 10 girls team – Zara, Brandy and Sophie for bringing their Best Effort and to Saxon, Ari, Brodie and Beau for making the absolute most of the obstacle course at the end of the day. That’s what it is all about!

Mrs Rataj
HPE