The term has finished in a very busy way for the Grade 7 group. Students have been finishing off assessment tasks in English, History and Science.

In English, students completed their final Literature Circles for the unit. Students discussed their understanding of the themes and content associated with Carole Wilkinson’s novel, ‘Black Snake.’

In Maths, students have started a unit on data and statistics. They have been learning about range, mode, mean and median.

We hope that students have a restful and well deserved break. See you all next term.

Science in Term 3 has been extremely busy, with the Grade 8s conducting their own investigations and experiments. In this unit of work, we were paired up, with the responsibility of having to choose, plan, and carry out our experiments, including: what freezing method works best for ice cream (homemade); if adults/year tens, had greater knowledge than grade 7s (general knowledge); what is the different breaking point of different objects; will different colours of dye affect how long a finger print will take to fade; growth of crystals (what ingredients will form/create the most successful crystals) as well as many more unique and interesting investigations that were carried out in the four week period.

Ella and I experimented with the different substances, used to create crystals. During the 4 weeks, we tested with salt, sugar, borax and alum. For each crystal, we had to create a saturated solution with each of the ingredients, and water. Once saturated, we tied string to a pencil, and put the string into the solution, leaving the beaker for about 3-5 days. Of course, this was easier said than done. We had to re-do the solutions to try and make the timing of each solution fair (which still ended up being un-fair). Not having enough time, interfered massively with this experiment. With various difficulties along the way, we came to the conclusion that alum created the most successful crystal.
Arriellah

As a culminating performance for our science investigations students were required to present their work at our Grade 8 Science Fair. The Science Fair entailed Grade 7 students conducting a gallery walk, asking critical questions of the student’s investigations and staff and students voting on the best investigation. Congratulations to all students involved in presenting their work and thank you to Grade 7 students for being a critical audience.

A number of student’s investigations were entered in the UTAS Science and Engineering Investigation awards and we look forward to receiving feedback from the competition judges.

Wow, how quickly the term has ended for Grade 9s! As we reflect over the achievements of students this term, we are so proud of what they have achieved academically. With only one term remaining of Grade 9, we are looking forward to seeing their growth, in beginning to step up as leaders in the school, moving into 2021 as our Grade 10s. A reminder to those who expressed interest in becoming a prefect, this process will be coming up very soon upon your return from holidays.

Next term we will be learning about:

A highlight for staff has been their work in analysing and creating poetry. All of Grade 9 worked through an inquiry process to discover the way authors use literary devices for effect and then attempted to create their own poetry. The English teachers were 'blown away' by their adaptations using music and images to add meaning to their poems and below are some examples of ‘fan favourites’.  We cannot wait to see what types of narratives they create next term.

All Grade 10 students travelled to Don College on September 11^th. While there, students completed a tour and had the opportunity to discuss subject choices with Don teachers. On Wednesday the 21^st October Don teachers will be hosting a parent information evening here at Reece High School. The evening will start at 6:30pm and will outline the different pathways students can undertake at Don. This is a great opportunity for parents and students to ask any questions they may have.
Please contact the school if you would like to book a spot for the information evening.

We have a number of students out and about this week completing work experience. From all reports, students are having a great time learning new skills and experiencing life in the work force. We are very much looking forward to hearing about how their week went.

The Grade 9s and 10s picked an RP option during Term 3 called Paddock to Plate. This subject concentrated on cooking dishes that have a focus food from within our region of Tasmania. The last class of the term used the key ingredient of honey from the 12 Acre Honey Farm near Mt Roland, to produce a Chocolate Honeycomb Self Saucing Pudding. 

The small class of Mrs Popowski’s Grade 9s worked hard on the presentation of their puddings with some sugar spun decorations.  This was sticky, tricky, and a little hard to clean at the end, but overall, the results were fantastic.

Grade 7 Inline Hockey
WOW!!! Our first ever attempt at Inline Hockey (next time we’ll use the proper thunder hockey sticks and Puck)! Thank you to the Grade 7 students who gave it a go. We had a lot of fun. It was incredible to see the skills of Nena and Leah – something for the rest of us to strive towards! Because this was such a success we will be offering a few lunchtime activities on a Monday. Keep an eye on SZap for more information.

Grade 8 Gymnastics
As part of their movement sequence unit students from Grade 8 have recently been participating in Gymnastics lessons at both Allstars Gymnastics and Devonport Gymnastics in Spreyton. Students thoroughly enjoyed these sessions and felt just a little sore at the end of it. Thanks to Devonport Gymnastics Coaches: Leanne, Olivia, Alison and Kelly for their support, and the Allstars Coach Kathryn.

Grade 9 and 10 Martial Arts
Tracy and Ethan from 360 Martial Arts and Fitness have been in for the past 2 lessons. The focus has been on giving students exposure to general fitness activities and gaining confidence in skills such as boxing, takedowns and wrestling.

Well done to all students who represented Reece High this year at the Inter High Cross Country Event. The weather treated us kindly offering a westerly breeze with sunshine and the odd sun shower to cool us down after a tiring run.

The day started with the team setting up the shade tent and walls that would become our base for the day. Races started at 11am and continued through age and gender groups at 15-minute intervals. After presentations and a team effort transporting the equipment back to the bus the assisting teachers Mr Van Essen and Mrs Armitstead enjoyed a very quiet bus ride back to school.

There were a number of excellent individual efforts among the group. However, a special mention must go to the following students:

Abbey 2^nd (Grade 7 Girls)

Deklan 5^th     Toby 8^th  (Grade 7 Boys)

 Heidi 1^st        Bella 3^rd     Brea 11^th  (Grade 9 Girls)

On Thursday 24 September, as part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, local men (and former Reece High Students) Tim Blair and Shane Taylor ran from Burnie to Devonport as part of the Tim Blair Run for Kids Foundation. The aim of this endeavour was to continue to raise funds and awareness for this important issue.

To support Tim’s run our school was involved in a range of ways.

Three of our student leaders were part of Tim and Shane’s support crew for the day, collecting donations and providing help where needed - thanks Julian, Logyn and Connie!

A group of students ran the last leg from Reece High School to Nixon Street Primary School - well done Jai, Jonty, Abbey, Brea, Haylee, Mason, Kye and Wade!

We had a gold themed day at school (gold being the colour associated with the cause) where students were able to wear various gold coloured items additional to their school uniform and provide gold coin donations. Some gold items were sold during the day and a BBQ was held during lunch.

Finally, each class in the school had a time during the day where they would complete a “Gold Relay” around the school oval. Classes had ten minutes to simultaneously cover as many kilometres as possible. Great job to 8B who covered almost 30km in their 10 minute time slot!

Through these activities during the day we were able to raise almost $500 dollars to go towards supporting children affected by cancer. Thank you to everyone who was involved and thank you to Tim and Shane for allowing us to be involved in your project.

Last Thursday the 17^th the Prefect Board held their first social for 2020. The theme was, ‘Back to the 80s.’  Students dressed in a range of costumes from Care Bears, to mullets and flannies. The hall was decked out with 80's lights, balloons and streamers. The blocks were dominated by a number of students from Grade 7-10. The dance competition was taken out by the sick moves of Noah and limbo saw Nikaya and Amber battle it out until the bitter end. The two girls bent their bodies in ways you can’t even imagine. Our DJs Sam and Bowen stirred up the social with their very own remixes.
Thanks to everyone who attended. We had a really great time.

Monday - SUBWAY - Subway lunch orders for Term 4 will now be available on Mondays instead of Wednesdays.

The cut off time will be a Sunday night 8pm. 

Tuesday to Friday - school canteen available with Tuesday and Friday being theme days

The Tasmanian Government has announced the expansion of the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS), which waives the cost of Tasmanian Government levies for eligible students, for the 2021 school year onwards.

The eligibility for STAS will move to using the Health Care Card or equivalent as the assessment mechanism, replacing previous income thresholds that applied.

A set of Frequently Asked Questions has been developed to assist with any questions you may have. 

Further questions about STAS or Levies and Charges in general can be sent to the Department of Education’s Financial Services Unit at stas@education.tas.gov.au or by calling 1800 827 055.