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.  

Principal Teaching Classes 2024

This term, staff will be organising classes for 2024. 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 550 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 grade 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 grades (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 7^th of November. 

Realising Potential Choices 2024

Students in Grades 7-9 will soon begin the process of choosing their Realising Potential choices for 2024. 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 thus allowing 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 2024. From these preliminary choices, final subject offerings will be placed in an online survey for students to complete.

Over the next week our RP teachers will be talking to all grade 7, 8 and 9 students about the RP offerings for 2024. This will allow them to ask clarifying questions and make an informed decision in relation to their choices.

Keep your family safe online

Being online allows your family to learn, socialise and have fun. But it can be challenging to ensure you are all safe.

This Cyber Security Awareness Month (October), learn how to improve your digital awareness, identify scams and protect your family when online.

The Cybermarvel website is full of useful resources for parents and carers, including:

• free webinars on digital technologies and mental health
• videos on how to keep your child safe online
• podcast episodes on talking with your child about online safety
• device management tips
• plus plenty more!

2024 Prefect Process

We have had almost 30 Grade 9 students who have been prepared to put themselves forward as student leaders for 2024. The Prefect Election process has now started and students will have the opportunity to run challenges and activities for fellow students at lunch times. 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. 

Gr 6 Transition Program

The Transition Program to support our incoming Grade 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 Grade 6 students and we look forward to having them as part of our school community in 2024.

2024 School Production – Matilda the Musical – Junior

Mrs Lutwyche and Mrs Mihal have held auditions today for our 2024 Production of Matilda the Musical – Junior. 31 students auditioned today for various parts. I am so impressed with the 50 students who have expressed an interest in participating. 

Mrs Lutwyche and Mrs Mihal have been so impressed with the range of talent on display. The successful students will develop the show throughout Term 1 and 2, with public performances taking place in early Term 3 (late July 2024).

Professional Learning Day

A reminder that next Friday 4^thNovember is a Professional Learning Day (student free). Staff will be using this valuable time for their learning, with a focus on reviewing our work from this year and planning for 2024. Students will no doubt enjoy a long weekend, with the Monday following being the Recreation Day Holiday! 

Uniform

Again, we would like to thank parents and students for the effort they have made to make sure they are 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.  I would like to highlight that black shoes are the required item for footwear from our uniform policy.  If you are starting to think about purchasing footwear for 2024, can you please ensure they are black with black laces. This will be a tight expectation within our Uniform Policy in 2024.

Headlice

Several parents have informed school that they have been treating their child's hair due to head lice.

If you find any 'eggs' or 'walkers' can you please treat your child's hair. This should be done every three days for two weeks.

Treatment: Cover hair in conditioner and combing through carefully with a fine toothed comb every three days for two weeks.

Purhase head lice treatment from your local pharmacy and follow the instructions.

Your child can return to school as soon as treatment has been administered.

Is Ned Kelly a hero or a villain? This is the question Grade 7 students have been exploring this term 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 will be making an informed decision around whether one of Australia’s most famous outlaws was a hero, villain or victim. This week, our students have sat their annual PAT testing for Reading and Vocabulary. We have been very impressed by students' level of best effort and their growth mind set in approaching the test. During Maths, Grade 7s have been learning about geometry concepts. They are exploring shape transformation, classifying triangles and describing quadrilaterals. In addition to this, they are studying angles formed by transversals crossing pairs of parallel lines. In Science, students are learning about classification of living things. They have learned about the 5 kingdoms: Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Monera and Protista. In the lab, students have demonstrated the important of a dichotomous key. They used observations and characteristics of different reactions to determine a particular chemical substance. During Hass time we have been focused on learning about the Australian geographical features and the impact and ways tourism impact on significant locations in Australia.

This term in Year 8, we are having a “Respectful Students of the Week” focus as our school focus value is Respect, There will be one student from each class selected each week. These students will have been exemplary at displaying our school value of Respect.

There will be a display on the windows of the PLA 5 office. The winners for week 1 are:

• 8A Mikayla 
• 8B Kyle 
• 8C Phoebe 
• 8D Hannah 
• 8E Jordan 

Well done to the winners!

Grade 9 students have returned from their two week holiday break ready to tackle a very busy Term 4. With our focus value of Respect at the forefront of our actions, we are looking forward to Mr Franks’ “What we can do for others” challenge. I am confident that our Grade 9 cohort will lead by example following the success of their Inclusiveness challenge in Term 3.  

Grade 9 students have begun the nomination process to be elected as a prefect for 2024. Interested students have completed an initial expression of interest and have had a chance to run lunchtime activities for staff and students in Week 1. This was a great chance to see our Grade 9s displaying attributes such as inclusiveness, trust, accountability, vision and resilience. We look forward to seeing nominees progress through this process in Term 4. We wish you all the best. 

PAT testing begins in earnest in Week 2. Students are well tuned to this process, and we look forward to seeing students show us what they know at this stage of their learning. We were extremely proud of NAPLAN results earlier in the year and are confident that we will see further evidence of growth in our PAT testing results. Our goal is to have all students complete this testing therefore, catch-up testing will be run throughout the testing window.  

In the classroom, English classes are working on a novel study – The Secret River – by Kate Grenville. A letter has recently gone home with students, regarding permission to watch the ABC iView mini-series. Please ensure you have received this letter and have read the information.  

In other subject areas, students will be covering the following: 

HASS – studying WW1 and the causes of this conflict.  

Math – have begun the study of Trigonometry. 

Science – will begin the term with the Reproductive System. 

We are looking forward to the final term of Grade 9 with all students. It will certainly fly by!