Week 10 brings us to the end of Term 3. It has been an exceptionally busy yet productive term. We are really appreciative of the efforts our whole school community has put in to make it a successful term of learning and growth. We hope those of you who get a break over the term holidays make the most of the opportunity to rest and recharge. We look forward to welcoming students back on Monday 14th October.

School Satisfaction Survey 2024 – Thank you

Thank you to everyone who participated in the School Satisfaction Survey 2024. Your feedback is very important to help inform our school improvement planning and decision-making. The survey is now closed, and schools will receive summaries of the results in Term 4.

Professional Learning Day

On Friday 1st of November, staff will be participating in a professional learning day. This will focus on the statewide Reading Priority, changing over to the new Case Management Platform system and aligning our planning with the Australian Curriculum Framework Version 9. Students are not required to attend school on this day.

Making the Most of Opportunities

I am continually amazed by the number of opportunities 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.

Tom Murray | Principal

Well done to the Year 7/8 teams who competed in the 3v3 Basketball Tournament on the 4th of September! They had a great day with high-quality basketball skills being showcased throughout the day. A big congratulations to the Year 8 girls for taking out the win in their division. Also, well done to the Year 8 boys who came second for the day, and to Monique Gillam in Year 7, for taking out MVP in her division. 

On  Friday 13th, 56 students from Reece High competed in the high school six-a-side gala day. All students displayed quality skills, sportsmanship, and inclusiveness.  A big congratulations to the following teams for taking home the trophy: Year 10 Boys, Year 8 Boys and Year 8 Girls. Well done to the Year 7 boys and Year 10 girls who also came second for the day! 

Family Resources

Emerging Minds is a recommended website that provides families with podcasts, fact sheets, research articles and more on a wide range of topics that families may face and need more information about. Some of these include:

• Child & Parent mental health inc Anxiety
• Bullying
• ADHD and ASD
  
• Family Violence
• Parenting through different life stages
• Sleep
• Resilience
• Loss & Grief

Visit www.emergingminds.com.au/families

School support staff are also able to assist students and their families with all health and well-being needs.

With changes to laws surrounding the sale and supply of e-cigarettes, they are now harder for students to access. For any students that had been vaping on a regular basis, these restrictions and lack of access to e-cigarettes may leave them with symptoms of withdrawal. If you are concerned about your child or need help talking to them about their vaping, our senior staff and school health nurse can offer support for you and your child.

Maths

Students have been working hard in Maths. They have finished off their unit on Percentages and took a lot of interest in the simple interest lesson for investing and bank loans! Students have now started looking at linear equations in the next part of the algebra unit.

Science

In Science, students have been focusing on Classification of living things. We have looked at the 5 kingdoms and have used a dichotomous key in a practical lesson. Currently, we are working on the 7 levels of taxonomy and have been categorising living things using this as a guide. 

HASS

In HASS, students are working on completing a multimedia presentation on the liveability factors of Devonport. Students have specific areas they are working on – The Bluff, The Rooke Street Mall, The Living City Precinct, The Homemaker Centre and Reece High School.

English

In English, Year 7s are engrossed in the story of Ned Kelly. They have read about the incident at Stringybark Creek and the notorious bank robberies. Students are creating an evidence table as they read through our class novel, “Black Snake, The Daring of Ned Kelly” by Carol Wilkson. Students are gathering evidence to support whether Ned Kelly was a hero or a villain.

Hannah Rabe 
Year 7 Teacher 

As we finish up the term, Year 8 have been working very hard!

In Maths, we are learning about probability, a very hands-on unit! Students are able to experience theoretical probability vs real-life probability by flipping coins and recording results, learning that sometimes real life does not reflect what we think probability should be!

In English, students have been participating in literature circles, a way to improve their oral communication skills, while discussing the dystopian fiction genre. They have been talking about the themes and ideas, as well as real-life connections that can be made from the genre.

In Science, we are currently investigating the difference the drop height of a ball will have on how high it bounces back up. Our energy unit is focussed around how energy transforms and is transferred, never created or destroyed!

In HASS, we have just started our ‘Changing Nations’ unit. This unit looks at things like urbanisation and the growth of mega-cities. Students will get to design their own mega-city on a poster and discuss the aspects of it, including sustainable features of their city.

Have a great holiday!

Caleb Schmidt
Year 8 Teacher

In Maths, we have finished up the quadratic unit and have started into a more applied area of measurement looking at the surface area and volume of different shaped prisms and other 3D objects. We will be applying these calculations to real-world situations and how it helps us every day.

In Science, we have completed the last biology unit and will now shift our focus to finish the term looking at physics. We will continue the unit on energy and will compare and contrast ideas like conduction, convection, and radiation in relation to transfer of heat. We are also looking at sound and light energy and how they are modeled and transferred.

In English, students have completed their final Assessment Tasks for their Micro-fiction unit of work and have embarked on their new Poetry unit this week. This unit of work will allow students to explore a range of poems and poetry techniques, such as literary devices, rhyme, rhythm, imagery, mood, and tone. Students will analyse a number of poems and also create their own poem, using both written and multimodal devices (images and/or sound) to explore one of the following themes: war, Australia, or nature.  

In HASS, students have recently finished their Australia Unit and are beginning a 'Geographies of Interconnections' unit of work that will explore topics such as: consumerism, trade, interconnections, supply chains, economy, sustainability, and production.

We also had a fantastic trip to the Hollybank high ropes course that challenged some of the students out of their comfort zone. Congratulations to all students and staff who participated – we hope you enjoyed this extra-curricular activity.

We have been focusing on one of our school values of “Inclusiveness” this term with a series of activities to increase teamwork and belonging in our cohort. Ask your child how their team did in the egg-drop or team art challenge. This has been a welcome break from the normal curriculum and the students have participated with enthusiasm.

Damien Viney
Year 9 Teacher

A lot has happened since our last newsletter report!

We have been busy organising our transition to Year 11 and beyond. We have engaged in a Don Live session where the whole grade traveled to Don to tour the facilities. We have also completed our formal Don enrolments. What an exciting time it is for Year 10 students.

While we have been busy outside of the classroom, there has been a significant amount of learning happening within our classrooms. In English, students have been learning about Shakespeare and how his work has been adapted to modern-day stories/movies. Students have had to compare and contrast the elements of characters, plot events, language, setting, and theme and why certain elements have deliberately been changed to appeal to a modern audience. In HASS, students are learning about human well-being indicators and how these vary in different parts of the world. In Maths, students have been learning how to find the volume of 3D shapes. The focus in Science is on chemical reactions, rates of reactions, and collision theory.

Week 10 is a very exciting week for our Year 10s. It is Dodgeball week!!! 10A, led by Mr Hizartzidis and Mrs Elliott, easily defeated Mr Connors and his 10B class. The wet weather played havoc on the 10C vs 10D game at lunchtime today and 10C won purely based on numbers. Tomorrow, 10C will play Mr McClymont and his 10E class with the winner of this game playing off in the grand final against the powerhouse of 10A. What an exhilarating way to finish the term!

Written by a quietly confident Mrs Elliott

VISUAL ART

Devonport Regional Art Gallery Youth Exhibition

The time has finally come! Last term a few of our visual art classes explored the concept of place for the Devonport Regional Gallery’s youth exhibition called This Is Us – Place. Some students created artworks based on their calm place, some their favourite place and others created “perfect homes” made from clay. There has been a lot of organisation this term for students to participate in showing their art pieces in the gallery. The exhibition will be in the Little Gallery from the 21^st of September - 26^th of October. Students who have their work displayed will have the opportunity to go on an excursion next week to view their artworks in person and see the gallery space. It is a great opportunity for students to have their artwork on display in the gallery for the public to view. Here are some photos that will be on display – we will take more photos when the exhibition is open!

Meg Lutwyche | Visual Art Teacher
RP Team Leader

UTAS Preservice Teacher

The past 4 weeks the Art Department has also had a pre-service teacher Miss Bonney from UTAS on her second teaching placement working with Miss Lutwyche. Miss Bonney has written a short note about her time here at Reece High School:

It has been fantastic to have the opportunity to get to know the amazing artists here at Reece High School during my placement. I feel very lucky to have been able to share the artmaking I love with students who are so welcoming, enthusiastic, and willing to try new things. From incredible printmaking with year 7s to the epic collage creations of 8,9,10s and the many artworks created in painting, drawing or clay. It has been a privilege to get to be part of their artistic journey. I look forward to what the future brings both for myself with the valuable knowledge so generously shared with me by the Reece High staff and also the wonderful students I have gotten to know over the last four weeks.