Reporting

Our mid-year report will reflect the feedback your child has already received in class and will be in line with the information on the numerous assessment rubrics teachers are using with students in class.  Families should receive their child’s report on Thursday 22^nd June. Attached to the report is a letter that gives a detailed outline on how families can book 3-way conference meetings through the online portal. A reminder that this needs to be done before 3pm on Monday June 26. This allows time for staff to organise work samples and assessment rubrics for families. The dates and times for 3-way conferences are outlined below.

Tuesday June 27                    3.00pm to 7.30pm (Don College Staff available for year 10s)

Wednesday June 28              3.00pm to 5.30pm

Colours Assembly

On Thursday the 6^th of July at 11am, we will have our colours assembly. This is a celebration assembly to recognise those students that have performed extremely well inside and outside the classroom. Families will be contacted and invited to the assembly if their child is receiving an award.

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 focused on recognising those students who excelled in different areas in the school and within the wider community. It recognises those students who have excelled in their area of expertise. It is great to see that Mr Marsh’s legacy lives on today.  There are specific criteria that have to be met in order to receive a colour, however, we encourage families to email Daniel Franks if they would like to put forward a nomination, e.g. State representative. daniel.franks@education.tas.gov.au

School Hours

Since the weather has become cooler, we have had more students arriving late to school. Please ensure that your child arrives at school no later than 8.30am, as this ensures that they are organised and ready for first block. If your child arrives after 8.40, they need to go to the office and collect a late pass; late arrival affects their overall attendance and impacts their learning.

Music                          8.35am

Block 1                        8.40am to 10.20am

Recess                         10.20am to 10.40am

Music                          10.40am

Block 2                        10.45am to 12.25pm

Lunch                          12.25pm to 1.05pm

Music                          1.05pm

Block 3                        1.10pm to 2.50pm

Grade 10 Exams

When I was in high school, the expectation was to finish Grade 10 and then either look at further education or try and access work or an apprenticeship or traineeship. As families would be aware, all students are now expected to finish Grade 12 before looking at other opportunities. The 11/12 curriculum has a significant number of external exams that form a major part of a student’s assessment.

In Week 10, our Grade 10 students will undertake a number of exams including Maths, English, HASS and Science. Our Grade 10 teachers have been focusing on study skills to support the process. They have been impressed by the students' commitment to this process and know that it will support them with their transition into Year 11.

Student Achievement – Shrek the Musical Jr

Recently, three of our students have been performers in Burnie Musical Society’s production of Shrek the Musical Jr. Jackson, Elsie and Erin performed in the week long production of the show. Jackson who had the title role of Shrek did an amazing job as the big green Ogre. Elsie was the Ugly Ducking and Erin was the storyteller. They all described their experience as ‘super fun’ and would highly recommend the experience to anyone else. On closing night Jackson was awarded the Russel Jarvis Scholarship by the Burnie Musical Society which was a big honour. They were really grateful for the experience and all the people who supported them along the way.

Student Achievement – Indoor Bias Bowls

Jasmine recently won the U/18 State Competition for indoor bias bowls.      This is the second year in a row she has won this competition! Well done, Jasmine!

Levies – NOW OVERDUE  
Levies were due in full by Friday 7^th April.  If you haven’t paid these by now and need more time, please contact the School Business Manager on 64208100 to discuss a Time Payment Agreement by Friday 26/05/202, or otherwise make payment in full as a matter of urgency by Bpay, Service Tasmania or call into the school office to make payment.  Please be aware that debts which remain outstanding, will be referred to the Department of Education for follow up action.             

Grade 8 English 

Our focus for this term in Grade 8 English has been Is Shakespeare Dead? Students have enjoyed stepping back in time to understand how people spoke, interacted and wrote love stories and tragedies (often going together) through poetry and plays. In Week 7, the English classes combined in the Drama room to walk through the play of Romeo and Juliet.  

Through the students’ research and discovery of the almost 2000 words that Shakespeare invented, they have been able to build their vocabulary and experiment using some Shakespearean words in short writing exercises. 

In Intervention this week, students participated in a “longest sentence wins” activity. The students were separated into competing teams and each team member was only allowed to write 1 word at a time when it was their turn. The ‘catch’ was that they were given a Shakespearean word that had to be included somewhere in the sentence.  

Well done, Year 8, for having a go at constructing some of the most creative and complex sentences we have ever seen! 

Grade 8 HaSS 

Term Two has been very busy in HaSS as we have worked through 2 units; Civics and Citizenship, and Vikings.  

Students recently completed their “Create Your Own Law” task. This proved to be a great opportunity for students to select a topic that they felt passionately about and outline their own rules and solutions to a problem.  Some of the topics covered ranged from compulsory solar panels, free tertiary education, and four-day work weeks, to banning animal shelters from being able to euthanise healthy animals due to over-crowding. Not only were the students tasked with coming up with their own law, but they had to predict what could be some possible challenges that may arise because of their new law and suggest possible solutions for minimising the effects of each challenge.  

Again, excellent work, Year 8! 

Hola! It is us, the Guinea Girls! Our school community may have missed our Guinea reports, so due to popular demand we are back.  From our cage we have watched the students working in their mathematics units on surface area and finance.  The learning has allowed us to invest in our own lima-bean farm to ensure our future comfort and perhaps a new cage.  In Science, we have been looking at our Guinean heritage and why Mandy is so streamlined and beautifully orange.  Since our main language is Spanish, English has always been a little difficult for us, and if we are being truthful, fairly boring.  However, we understand that some students find this interesting, especially the novels that the students studied this term.  As international travellers ourselves, we are always interested in how other cultures have developed. Therefore, the studies around the dropping of the nuclear bomb and their debates have made it a very interesting few weeks as we recline in our cage and nap the English blocks away.  In PE we were a little disappointed to come second in the cross-country, but we gave everything our little Guinean legs had and are proud of all the students who cheered us along.  We must away now, dear reader as we have study to do for our Grade 10 examinations. We are making sure to follow our teachers’ recommendations from the last two weeks: doing a minimum of 10 to 20 minutes of study a night to make sure we make our parents back in Chile proud.  We were a little worried around how we would study for our exams, but then we attended the Wednesday or Thursday night afterschool study and catch-up sessions with Mr Robinson and his new tutor Blaze.  Adios from your Chilean exchange students Mandy and Wicket.

White Card Training

Congratulations to students on completing your White Card Training!

Michael from Master Builders conducted White Card training with 11 students over two days.  Congratulations to Alexa, Colby, Max, Jack, Cooper, Chloe, Isabella, Leah, Kalel, Nate and Matthew. Remember to check your emails for your certificate and visit Service Tasmania within 30 days to order your card.

White Card is a nationally recognised Unit of Competency in the construction industry. The course prepares students who would like to pursue a career in the Construction Industry to work safely. This course is a compulsory unit of work for students wanting to complete work experience in the building industry.  They have learnt to:

• Identify health and safety legislative requirements of construction work
• Identify construction hazards and risk control measures
• Identify health and safety communication and reporting processes
• Identify incident and emergency response

During this session Michael also had a group of 30 students attend a trade talk with him.  He spoke about the opportunities for apprenticeships within Master Builders and beyond, what skills and attributes are needed, and the next steps they can take to achieve this.

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.

Ella  @ Fairbrother  

I did work experience on the 5^th to the 9^th of June at Fairbrother in the joinery shed it was a great experience. I used the CNC machine; this is a huge machine that you program to cut and design furniture.  I also was able to sand kitchen splash backs and bench tops, I helped load the truck and build a tv cabinet, which I got to take home.  The guys were very friendly and very helpful with teaching me new things.

Jack @ Harvey Norman

My first day I cleaned the showroom and tv screens, getting to know all the merchandise and the staff. Second day I was pricing/tagging and checking stock against invoices to make sure the amount and number were correct.  I got to meet some really nice people.

Jackson @ IT Nixon Street Primary and Spreyton Primary:   Over my two days at the primary schools I worked with Tim; he was really friendly and taught me a lot of new skills.  I went to classrooms and collected laptops, we then reset/reimaged and installed IOS updates. I also helped teachers with their laptop issues.  It was a really good experience, and I would recommend this to other students.

Amber @Melaleuca Home for Aged

My favourite thing was meeting the residents and getting to know them and the staff. Helping the residents and getting to hear their stories was really nice. We did activities and games to help engage their metal and physical health. Work experience with Melaleuca was really nice, the staff and residents were extremely welcoming; I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to going back as a volunteer.

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 3, just ask your teacher or Natasha Armitstead (Transition Officer)

Today several Grade  8, 9 and 10 students from Reece High School travelled to the paranaple Performing Arts Centre to watch Don College’s production of ‘The School Of Rock’. Reece High School students collectively agreed that it was amazing, especially seeing the 12 former Reece High students up on stage, giving it their all. The lighting, the energy, and the amazing voices that where evident throughout the performance blew everyone away and even brought a tear to our eyes. The half time entertainment, or the air guitar competition, saw our one and only Stasi head banging and jamming it out on stage coming out with the first-place prize! We thank Don College for this opportunity and hope to see another production soon!

By Aliyah J

2023 LEGACY JUNIOR PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION

Launceston Legacy invites your students to participate in this years Public Speaking Competition as Legacy celebrates its Centenary of Service.  Serving the families of deceased veterans.

Please find attached details of this year’s Legacy Junior Public Speaking Competition which is free to all participants.

In the documentation attached please note heats will be held on Friday 11^th August and Friday 25^th August 2023 at Legacy House, 59 York Street, Launceston. The final will be held on Friday 22^nd  September 2023 at the same venue.

Please note that entries close on Thursday 27^th July 2023. Should you require any further information please don’t hesitate to contact Launceston Legacy on 6331 9369 or email admin@launcestonlegacy.com.au.