Dear Parents and families,

Welcome to Term 4. Our final term is always a busy and very exciting time on our school calendar and there is much to look forward to. It has been great to see our students returning from the break in a focused manner and to see the sense of energy and purpose around our school as people turn their attention to all of the tasks, opportunities and events that happen in Term 4.   

Kinmen Tour

I write this week’s Princpal’s message on behalf of Mr Murray who is currently on a two week tour of China, Kinmen County and Tiawan alongside Mrs Elliot, five of our year 10 students, and groups from Devonport and Wynyard High Schools. By all reports this has been an amazing experience for all involved and we look forward to hearing about it in more detail on their return. If you check out our social media pages you will be able to see some of what they’ve been up to.

Principal Teaching Classes 2025

This term, staff will be organising classes for 2025. Your child’s current principal teacher is in the best position to formulate classes for next year. Our teachers take on board a number of considerations when placing students. Our goal is to create the most equitable classes possible, taking into account gender, learning ability, social connections etc. Whilst parents have one child to consider (in a given class), we have approximately 530 children to consider next year, and so decisions need to be suitable for the majority. We have dedicated, hardworking teachers who are collectively responsible for all our children.  No matter what year level or class – each child in this school will be taught by quality teachers in a school culture of high expectations.

Teachers use a variety of methods to group children in order to maximise learning – and the focus is always on the individual (personalising the learning).  At Reece High School we have been thoughtful about developing opportunities for students to interact and learn with one another – both within their own class and in conjunction with another class or across year levels (7-10).  These observations inform us about the conditions that best suit a particular student to learn: which learning style they have; who they are friends with; as well as who they learn best with. We consider all these factors when placing children in classes for the following year. 

Please understand, teachers will make the best decision for all children in the school - including what we believe is in the educational and social/emotional well-being of the majority of children.  We are unable to accommodate personal requests because accommodating everyone’s personal wishes will not support what is best for all children.  If there is any other information that you think your child’s teacher might need to take into account before we start creating classes, can you please talk to the teacher prior to the 8^th of November. 

Realising Potential Choices 2025

Students in Year 7-9 will soon begin the process of choosing their Realising Potential choices for 2025. Students will have the opportunity to study one subject for 2 blocks each week as well as 2 subjects for 1 block each week. The 1 block subjects will continue to run as half year subjects which allows students the opportunity to experience more options within a school year.

Course booklets for the subjects will be released soon and students will be able to access these online. If you would like to see the subject offerings, your child can show you on TEAMS.

Initially students will be asked to indicate the option subjects they wish to study in 2025. From these preliminary choices, final subject offerings will be placed in an online survey for students to complete.

 2025 Prefect Process

We have had approximately 40 Year 9 students who have been prepared to put themselves forward as student leaders for 2025. The Prefect Election process has now started. During this process, students will have the opportunity to run challenges and activities for fellow students at lunch times, participate in a challenge to take them out of their comfort zone, be interviewed and present a “campaign” poster. I’d like to thank all of the students for the effort that they have put into this process and for their genuine enthusiasm in wanting to contribute to the school as leaders. We look forward to sharing further details as this progresses. 

Year 6 Transition Program

The Transition Program to support our incoming Year 6 students is now well underway. This term, we welcome our feeder primary school students, as well as students who have been accepted as part of the Out Of Area Application process, to participate in a Taster Day. We have been impressed with the Respect, Responsibility, Best Effort and Inclusiveness demonstrated by the Year 6 students and we look forward to having them as part of our school community in 2025.

Uniform

Again, we would like to thank parents and students for the effort they have made to make sure their child is 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.  If you are starting to think about purchasing footwear for 2025, can you please ensure they are black with black laces. This will continue to be a tight expectation within our Uniform Policy in 2025.

Again, I encourage all students to make the most of their opportunities this term, in and out of the classroom. Term 4 provides a range of experiences and is a great chance for students to step outside if their comfort zones and try new things. We look forward to supporting and witnessing their growth this term.

Daniel Franks
Acting Principal

We are currently in the process of hosting Year 6 students for taster transition activities in some our Realising Potential subjects. Students have been doing either an Art or Music taster activity in block 1 and then a Cooking or Digital Technology activity in block 2. It’s been exciting to have Year 6 students in our classrooms to do engaging activities and become more familiar with our facilities at Reece High School.

BOOKS!

We need your help!

Ayden and Ava, are collecting books for a book sale in week 5.

Why are we doing this you may ask?

We are doing this to raise money for cancer research!

How can you help?

By bringing books to school and giving them to your teacher.

There’s a collection box in each classroom.

Visual Art – Year 7 & 8

It’s always busy in the Art Room! Year 7s have kick started the term off learning about the basics of ceramics by creating a pinch pot sculpture. This is always a fun learning process and students enjoy creating 3D sculptures. Year 8s in the 2 block Art class have been working on pattern tile lino prints! These lessons have been a big learning curve of understanding radial symmetry, positive and negative space and lino carving and printing processes. Year 8 Character Design has also had some great success creating anthropomorphic animals inspired by artist Rona Green. We are looking forward to sharing artworks with you at our Realising Potential night towards the end of Term! More information to come about this night soon.

Meg Lutwyche
Visual Art Teacher

Should Ned Kelly be remembered as a hero or a villain? This is the question Year 7 students have been exploring in English. Carole Wilkinson’s novel Blake Snake uses a variety of primary and secondary sources to explore the events that unfolded in the late 1800s. For their final assessment in this unit, students have made an informed decision around whether one of Australia’s most famous outlaws was a hero or villain. The Year 7 students have now started a new unit called, "Flawed Hero" which involves students discovering all the different characteristics of a protagonist and antagonist. Last week, our students have sat their annual PAT testing for Reading, Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation and Maths. We have been very impressed by students' level of best effort and their growth mind set in approaching the test.

In HASS, Year 7 students are exploring the Australian Constitution and the various levels of government.

In Maths, we have been busy finishing our "Linear Equations" unit and this week we will be moving into "Best Buys" which primarily looks at comparing items using unit pricing in order to get the best value for money.

In Science, we have started our "Water" unit, focussing on the water cycle, desalination and how water influences where we live in the world.

Hannah Rabe
Year 7 Teacher

Year 8 have been working hard on their Science Investigations to address the science inquiry element of predicting and questioning. Each group has had to develop their own scientific question and experiment to conduct. Our investigation topics range from ‘Does dexterity affect the distance a ball can be thrown?’ to ‘Does hair colour affect how static it gets?’ We are excited to see the results of the investigations in the coming weeks.

In HASS, students are learning about mega cities through a unit called, “Changing Nations”. The unit is about why people are moving away the country to bigger cities.

Year 8 are currently completing their PAT testing for Reading, Maths, Grammar and Punctuation and Vocabulary. We are encouraging our school value of “Best Effort” whilst our students are completing these tests. Good luck to all Year 8 students!

Karla Reeves
Year 8 Team Leader

Welcome to Term 4! – Here are some of the happenings in Year 9 currently:

2025 Prefect process - nomination forms are due in no later than November 1^st. This is an exciting time for our Year 9’s. There are many hopeful candidates, and we wish them all the best with the nomination process.

OE students have been enjoying time off site in their OE lessons. They have had the opportunity to participate in Surfing, Fishing and Walking sessions. They will also participate in a camp in Week 9, we thank the OE staff for organising this!

Our HPE committee members have been busy supporting our feeder primary schools with colour runs and upcoming athletics carnivals. What superstars and role models for our younger community members.

We also have a number of Year 9 students who are performing in Devonport Choral Theatre’s High School Musical – Well done to Year 9’s Erin, Catherine and Bella . A group of staff members will be attending closing night, we can’t wait to see you perform!

Congratulations to Erin  who has placed second in the Andrew Hardy Poetry Prize for 2024, hosted by the Tasmanian Poetry Festival. Erin submitted her original vignette titled Sunny Day. We congratulate Erin on this achievement.

Our teachers also celebrated World Teachers Day – classes organised an appreciation card for their principal teachers. Thanks everyone!

PAT testing has begun, and we are so thrilled with our early data. Students have shown amazing growth in both Reading and Maths across the past 12 months. We are very proud of this achievement. They will finish testing this week with Grammar and Punctuation and Vocabulary testing.

We also saw the culmination of our Leadership, Connection and Inclusive Program at the end of Term 3. What a wonderful end to the program for our students. Did you receive a Lollipop?

Just a reminder, that Friday is a Student Free day and Monday is a public holiday. Enjoy the extra-long weekend!

Josie Lutwyche
Year 9 Team Leader

Ahoy there me hearties,

The seas are turbulent, and storms abound, as a mutiny has occurred in the good ship Year 10. Our Jack Sparrow, fearless leader, Captain “Salty” Sarah Elliott has departed our shores, for the unknown mythical islands of the East China sea. After fierce duelling, and skullduggery, first mate and now temporary(ish) captain, Skull and Crossbones Connors, has taken the helm. So beware, for two weeks we will have politically correct skullduggery and studying of navigation charts and maps (schoolwork).

In the lower decks, I have put the Math and Science team hard to work. For the next two weeks, they will be studying trigonometric bearings to help chart our course through treacherous waters. In science, they will be studying the physics of motion and the laws of Sir Isaac Newton who, funnily enough, has not yet been born. Thank God, they are finally doing something relevant and useful, or it is the plank for them. Ahar!

On the much nicer, sunnier, quarter deck, the HASS and English team is now residing. Despite the moral crushing loss of Captain “Salty” Sarah Elliot and the ensuing celebrations, the HASS and English team have been hard at work, battening down the hatches and attending to the rigging. As well as fitting in some time for analysing speeches for future captain interviews and studying global warming for potential sea level rises and opportunities for plunder.

As the good ship Year 10 sails off into the unknown waters, under the sturdy and sometimes “wreckless” (pirate pun intended), leadership of Skull and Crossbones Connors, we bid you a very merry pirate Halloween.

Jesse Connors 
Year 10 Teacher 

Many of our Year 10 students participated in work experience during term three.

Work experience is a great opportunity that helps increase self-understanding, 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 making future contacts and employment possibilities 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.

Lachie Smith @ RFS Projects

I completed a week of work experience with RFS building company. I worked on a house at Ulverstone. I learnt how to cut the timber at different lengths for framing, I did lots of cleaning and tidying of the work site.  They showed me how to use a lot of different tools and I really enjoyed working with the people and learning the trade.

Riely Kaye @ Becks Mitre 10

During my 3 days at Mitre 10, I experienced a range of tasks.  I was taught how to stock shelves and customer service at the register with Janelle. I did some kitchen designs with Matt. I got a tour of the business and learnt about the different areas. I really enjoyed the kitchen designing and working with everyone. The staff there were very helpful, and I really appreciate what they did for me.

PLEASE CHECK AT THE STUDENT WINDOW FOR ANY LOST PROPERTY 

NAMING YOUR BELONGINGS MAKES IT EASY FOR US TO RETURN IT BACK TO YOU 

THANKS