Reporting

The past few weeks have been busy for teachers with report writing dominating their evenings and weekends. Last week we had the opportunity to meet with families to discuss progress across all learning areas. We were impressed by the number of families that took advantage of our 3-way conference sessions on Monday and Tuesday. It was also great to have Don Staff on hand to support grade 10 families with any questions relating to their year 11 and 12 program.

Attendance

As a school we make a commitment to your family that your child will receive more than one year’s growth withing a school year. Our teaching and learning program support students to understand concepts that are essential to being successful in the next grade or across curriculum areas. If your child is regularly absent from school, then this commitment is difficult to achieve. They will miss essential instruction and find it difficult to understand more difficult concepts in the future. The table below demonstrates the importance of attending school each day, but also highlights the importance of being on time. Again, if your child is late to school, they miss out on the essential instruction at the beginning of the day and while teachers re – explain this, other students must wait for their support.

Colours Assembly

On Tuesday, we held our colours assembly. This is a celebration assembly to recognise those students that have performed extremely well inside and outside the classroom. 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 focussed on recognising those students that excelled in different areas in the school and within the wider community. It recognises those students that have excelled in their area of expertise. It is great to see that Mr Marsh’s legacy lives on today. 

Below is the list of our award winners.

Work Experience

Our grade 10 students continue to do us proud. I have received numerous calls and emails stating how wonderful our grade 10 students have been on their work experience this week and last week. Tash and Jackie have done a wonderful job arranging work experience in fields our students are interested in exploring. We receive exceptional support from our community and this experience is extremely valuable in supporting career choice. A number of the businesses have opened up further employment opportunities and we can’t thank them enough for their support.

Below is a list of businesses that we would like to thank.

Charlie at Tas Helicopters. Charlie is looking at pursuing a career in Aeronautical Engineering.

Jai at Australiz Pty Ltd Engineering Mechanical Designs. Jai is also looking at pursuing a career in engineering and has been offered some work with this amazing business.

Grade 7 Prinicpal Teacher Awards 

Grade 8 Prinicpal Teacher Awards 

Grade 9 Principal Teacher Awards 

Grade 10 Principal Teacher Awards

Academic Excellence Certificates 

Full Colours 

Half Colours

It has been a cold end to the term. However, Grade 7 students have continued to display 'Best Effort' in their learning. ‘Inclusiveness’ has been the focus school value for this term.  Students have been ‘checking in’ to lunch time activities and reflecting on these experiences in a journal.  Many students have participated in the ‘Check-in Tuesday’ lunchroom, where they have had the opportunity to connect to staff and other students through conversations and playing games.  Many have enjoyed a hot milo drink and a snack.

In Science, students have been completing a unit about Space. This has included learning about the Earth’s predictable phenomena, such as gravity, tides, phases of the moon and the changing of seasons.

During Maths, students have had a focus on how data can be represented and how different calculations can give us insights into what the data is telling us. We have also explored how different data is represented in graphs such as stem and leaf plots, bar and column graphs and frequency tables.

In English, students are exploring the fascinating world of poetry. Over the past week students have been focusing on Haiku poems. It has been a great way to finish off Term 2.

In HASS, students are wrapping up Ancient Rome with an inquiry into what life was like for gladiators, slaves as well as the role of women. Some students have decided to investigate Julius Caesar and the Punic Wars. Ancient Rome has been a fascinating unit for many students in Grade 7.

We hope students enjoy their holidays and have a well-deserved break.

As we approach the Term 2 holidays our Grade 8 cohort are half-way through their year. Term 2 reporting has allowed students and families to get a picture of where students are at in their learning. This is important information which allows goals to be set for the remainder of the year. It is a great time to have conversations with your child about what they need to focus on in Term 3 and 4 to be successful in their learning. It was wonderful to have so many families take advantage of the 3 Way Conferences last week to discuss their child’s progress in the first part of the year. We wish all families a relaxing and enjoyable holiday.

Grade 8 – HASS

In HASS we have had a shift in focus from History to Geography. After finishing a unit of work on the Vikings, we have started a unit call Changing Nations. This unit focuses on urbanisation and the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors which have seen urban centres grow in our world, as well as the historically recent phenomenon of megacities. We analyse the advantages and disadvantages of large urban centres, and focus on the importance of well planned infrastructure.

On Monday 4^th July, three members of the ‘Poetry in Action’ group visited the Grade 9 students and teachers to perform their stage show ‘Words of War’. The performance showcased the war poetry of Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Jessie Pope, all of whose poetry we have been studying in class. Students were also given knowledge that will assist with their World War I unit in Term 4.

Many of our Grade 10 students have participated in work experience over the last two weeks of term.

Work experience is a great opportunity that helps increase self-awareness, maturity, independence and self-confidence in our young people. It can increase motivation to continue study and/or undertake further training. It gives them a better understanding of how the school curriculum can help prepare them for work.

A fabulous time has been had by all students with many securing part time jobs and future contacts in the industry area they hope to pursue. They have gained valuable insight into an industry which they may not have known much about before the experience.

Bryce @ Jago Building: “I even had to do Maths! I had to measure the boxing and amount of concrete we needed for the slab.  I had a great time and did something different every day. I was really tired from all the hard work, but it was worth it”

Romy @ AGVITA “It was really interesting to learn about the scientific testing process on the plant chemical samples. It was very practical, and I was able to interact and learn about lots of the equipment they use. I also went on a field trip to a Forth Farm and collected plant samples for future testing”

Elliott @ Tassie Care: “It was fantastic. The introduction to the workplace was lovely, particularly with the amazing colleagues and people I met. This experience has contributed to my future plan in regard to what I want to do after Grade Ten.”

A huge thankyou to all the businesses and employers who supported our students to connect beyond the classroom. We appreciate your time, care and lessons you provided them.

If your child has missed out on work experience this term, there will be another opportunity in Term Three, just ask your teacher.

Natasha Armitstead

Transition Officer

We would like to acknowledge the effort made by our school community, over the past term, in continuing to foster a positive, inclusive and welcoming school culture. We have confidence that this effort will remain at an exceptionally high standard moving into Term 3 and beyond.

The Grade 7s have been extremely busy in Term 2. As a grade, they have had a collective focus on building their relationships with other Grade 7s and the broader school community. This has come in the form of a lunch time inquiry. Through this lunchtime inquiry, students are encouraged to be mindful of where students are spending their break times and how connected they appear to be with others. Students are encouraged to spark conversations with new people and help others to gain confidence to participate in provided lunch time activities. The Grade 7 team have also created a ‘Hang Out Room’ of a Tuesday lunch time. This is an area where students and staff can go to relax and talk to other students that they may have not spoken to before. This compliments our school values perfectly and you should all be very proud of the efforts that you have made this term - well done Grade 7 team!

The Grade 8s have become energy experts in Science this term. They have been hard at work learning all about the different types of energy, energy transfers and transforms, and even built their own Rube Goldburg Machines. A Rube Goldburg Machine is a machine that must complete an everyday task in a complicated way. Some machines managed to knock an item over whilst some machines even managed to feed a pet! Through building Rube Goldburg Machines, students gained a sound understanding of how to identify different types of energy in their day to day lives and how energy works outside of the classroom. We admire the effort that you have put into all areas of your learning this term, you should be very proud of yourselves!

In Grade 9 this term, there has been a major focus on poetry in English. Students have explored numerous variations of poetry and its impact on their targeted audience. In their poetry assessment, students were encouraged to explore how music and pictures impact the effectiveness of their poem. Another highlight for Grade 9 was receiving a visit from the Pat Cronin Foundation. In this visit, they were educated about the dangers of violence and how their actions have consequences for not only themselves but also those around them. Great work this term Grade 9s! We know that the effort that you put into your learning will continue at an exceptionally high standard moving forward into Term 3.

As with all of the other grades, Term 2 has been extremely busy for Grade 10s. 10A and 10C went on resilience training; all that participated can agree, we learnt a lot about ourselves and the way that we communicate with others. Pushing through the excessive amount of mud and bushland, we managed to successfully complete the course, with activities including carrying large telegraph poles through waist-deep water, helping each other over large hills and strategically climbing a rock wall. But we don’t think that we could talk about Grade 10 without addressing exams. Grade 10 students completed an exam for each of their core subjects: English, Maths, HASS and Science. With an allocated time of 100 minutes per exam, students managed to give their best effort at a new task and reflect on what they would do differently for future exams. We are so proud of the high standard that Grade 10 has set this term and we wish the remaining Grade 10s the best of luck on their resilience training next term.

The HPE team worked tirelessly to plan our school cross country this year; students enjoyed running around the long bush course and the positive atmosphere that came along with it. This was accompanied by the fun range of activities that students participated in afterwards. Well done to all grade champions and all those who participated.

As a prefect board, we have been focusing on the importance of having meaning behind our leadership. We have collectively decided on a motto that will represent our motivation behind all of our group decisions moving forward. As a result of many meaningful discussions, we have decided that our motto will be: “We aspire to create a supportive community where everyone feels like they belong.” This will be the driving force behind any plans we make in Term 3 and beyond.

Looking back over the term, the prefect board has been hard at work planning and running an array of activities around the school, these include running lunchtime activities for students to participate in and win rewards for giving it a go, they also get points to go towards “The Award” at the end of the year, we have also been running toasties on a Thursday, these alternate each week from chicken and cheese to ham and cheese. Our main goal with this has been to make sure students get a healthy and easy lunch at school.

The school value that students and staff have been focusing on this term has been inclusiveness. This has been the driving force behind our actions throughout the term. Although we have been focusing on inclusiveness for the entirety of the term, our focus was most apparent in Week 8, when the HPE team had wheelchairs in the gym for students to utilise at break times and during their PE lessons. Through the use of wheelchairs, students engaged in a variety of games that were both enjoyable and successful in educating students on just how amazing people who use wheelchairs are. This has helped students to appreciate those with a variety of different abilities.

As well as wheel chairs, the HPE team have exposed students to a variety of different sports and games that promote inclusion through the modification of rules, equipment and scoring opportunities. Some of these experiences involved playing basketball with vision impairments – our creative HPE teachers used left over face masks to create modified eye masks. Students also played goalball which is a Paralympic sport in which people use a bell ball, blindfolds and rely solely on the sound of the ball to score; this is the quietest you’ll ever hear Mr Wilson! Other games were seated volleyball and playing wallball with only one arm. Through these opportunities students have been exposed to a range of games that support us to increase empathy through experiencing physical adversity. 

Check out some of the artworks that have been finished this term

Grade 10 French finished off the term by cooking ratatouille.

Everyone enjoyed cooking and eating a typical French meal after working hard so far this year learning lots of French vocabulary.

Motor Neuron Disease (MND)

MND is a condition that progressively damages parts of our nervous system. It is a progressive disease that currently doesn’t have a cure. Neil Daniher has been the face of this Disease, however, sadly, most people in Australia would have a friend or family member that has been effected by MND. Our student leadership teams have focused on a number of activities that have helped to raise awareness and funds for the MND Foundation. Today, we had the culmination of those efforts with students going down a slide into ice water. Each class nominated a “slider” to represent them, and the class with the most funds raised, all had the opportunity of going down the slide. At present, we have raised approximately $1500.  

We would like to thank the students and staff for their support. The pictures below speak volumes about our community spirit and our willingness to help others.

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia in the first week of July to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The idea is to learn and celebrate!
At Aboriginal Education Services we encourage you to teach, learn and celebrate all year round. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Here’s what this year’s theme GET UP! STAND UP! SHOW UP! means. 
• In early June Education materials will be on the NAIDOC web site 
• NAIDOC Week poster for printing 
• NAIDOC Week poster for colouring in. 

• Finally, and most importantly, remember that your focus needs to be on the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. What can you do to celebrate them?
  Questions to explore: What significant contributions have Tasmanian Aboriginal people made and continue to make? 
• How are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contributions acknowledged and celebrated?  

The Orb - Song: 
This year’s NAIDOC theme is embodied in Living Culture – Song! Watch the clips, read the information, ask the discussion questions, + one Investigation – We are Still Singing.

• In Inspiration Katarnya Maynard says Music is a way that I can not only serve myself and my soul, but also my Community. I have been able to use song to express how my Community feels about issues. 
• In Expression Denni Procter talks about using art and music and storytelling as way to heal through those things. (Denni’s YouTube clips: lutruwita - Strongest Mob) 
• In Legacy Uncle Ronnie Summers reminisces about learning to play music. Cape Barren Island music is something truly unique that embodies a spirit of endurance and a love of community, culture and place.

Our very own Dave mangenner Gough launched his first children’s book ‘luwa tara luwa waypa’ on Tuesday 5th July at the NAIDOC Week Flag Raising at Tiagarra in Devonport.

The HUB students and Staff feel very honoured to have been able to attend this very special event.

Overview of book is below.

‘niyakara is leaving the village to hunt tara, kangaroo.

On his mind is the chief’s daughter, tuminana, who is at the water with the women, collecting shells and working.

But down on the beach, niyakara hears three thuds...

boom boom boom’

With rhythmic intensity, luwa tara luwa waypa tells the captivating story of niyakara’s journey from boy to man, a story of courage and transformation.

Dave mangenner Gough’s powerful words and Samantha Campbell’s expressive artwork bring to vivid life the ancestral spirit and enduring strength of the palawa people of Tasmania.

The Devonport Bookshop has copies for purchase.

Well done to those students who have participated in the Monster TikTok Inspired Art Challenge.

Congratulations to our Winner, Maya (gr9) and Honourable Mentions: Sarah-Jane, Mia and Hannah.

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.