11 November 2022

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Families,

This week we extend a warm welcome to students and staff from St Marys High School, who are joining us here at St Helens due to road closures and road conditions. I know many St Helens students waited near the bus shelter on Tuesday morning, to see some of their friends from SMHS arrive!

Last week we officially acknowledged our Year 11/12 students. Most of their formal classes have now concluded as they move into the exam period. A special congratulations to the following students who received certificates at their final assembly.

• Respect: Connar Keating
• Growth: Seth Eleveld
• Aspiration: Madi Johnston
• Courage: Kalan Locke
• Principal’s Award: James Benner

We wish our year 11/12’s all the best for their futures.

This week is also a very exciting one on our school calendar, with our Year 8 students out on camp! This year group missed previous camps due to COVID restrictions and it was an absolute pleasure listening to their excitement as they boarded the bus this morning.

Congratulations to the following students who have been successful in selection for the ENE Cricket Team: George Austin, Ry Bennett, Macklan Hays, Noah Martin, Noah Bourke, Cooper Griffiths, Lennox Bennett, Roy Bellchambers, Bryce McKimmie and Flynn Bidgood. Again we thank Steve Austin for giving his time to coach these students. The support we receive from our community is greatly appreciated.

Community support was also welcomed and appreciated at our recent athletics carnivals. This provided a selection pathway for students from across the broader North East region to the State Athletics Carnival held in Launceston last Wednesday. It is an outstanding effort to make this team and we congratulate the following student successes at this level:

Thank you to the many families that supported Grandparents’ Day. A great initiative of our early years team, that supports the HaSS curriculum and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Our Year 9-10 were also part of a new program to our school called ‘Illuminate’. The aim of this program is to inspire young people to address our community challenges, using a business model. This year we set a Wellbeing challenge, and students came up with a range of business proposals, to support wellbeing. These included transport for adolescents in our community, a school common room for senior students, and a business plan to support the provision of food at community events. Congratulations to all involved – now the work is to action your ideas into a reality! Again I thank the community for their support of this event, particularly Break O’Day Council and Employment Connect.

It was pleasing to see so many families attend both the information evening and three-way interviews for our year 10 students, as they make decisions regarding Years 11 and 12. Having the expertise of Adrian Lewis - Education Officer for Years 11/12 and Amanda Barker - Program Officer for Apprenticeships and Traineeships, Vocational Learning and Career Education sharing information with families, complemented the expertise we have on staff in this area. It was certainly an affirmation that our processes and offerings here are on track. 2023 will see the 11/12 operate again from the Trade Training Centre with a great range of subjects available through face-to-face learning and online through Virtual Learning Tasmania. Again, we may also have some students enrolled across schools, as we find ways to support all students in their chosen pathway.

Kind regards,
Anita Haley

WORK AROUND THE SCHOOL

With the support of an amazing team of people I have been working hard to weatherproof our school this year. I am pleased to say that the most recent storm that brought thunder, hail and heavy rain did not impact our school as it once may have. We continue to work on drainage issues that we have around the school and are working with local contractors to achieve the best possible outcome for the students.

In 2024 the school will celebrate 150 years in our community. The original school building is starting to show its age and some erosion and water ingress over the years has given us a focus to make sure that the building stands for another 150 years to come. Over the long weekend local tradesmen worked to install new windows, patched up some plaster and painted the walls. We are investigating options to restore the brickwork and mortar that is beginning to show its age.

After years of consideration, our canteen has finally had an upgrade. We have been able to provide additional space and modern equipment to our Canteen Supervisor who has worked in cramped conditions for far too long. We are grateful for all those involved in our community that made this happen. We are fortunate to have so many skilled workers around us.

2023 is fast approaching and the planning for another great year has commenced. I hope to make some announcements in the coming weeks about some fantastic projects that will support our student learning, make better use of the space we have available to us and improve the environment for everyone associated with the school in our varying capacities.

Sam Terry
School Business Manager

SCHOOL HEALTH – FIAAI SMOKING EDUCATION

On Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th October, we were fortunate to have Ty and Amelia from FIAAI present the Tackling Indigenous Smoking Programme to our Grade 5/ 6 students.

Ty and Amelia are both Tobacco Action Workers and they present to a wide variety of groups across Tasmania, including to school students. They speak with young people in a bid to prevent trying or taking up vaping and smoking at a young age because prevention is crucial. Some of the key messages they shared with students included:

VAPING

While vaping was originally conceived as a device to quit smoking, it is increasingly targeted towards young people, who are enticed by the broad variety of flavours and the misconception that vaping is less harmful than smoking. There have not been enough long-term studies to show the impact of vaping yet, but we do know that vaping tends to lead on to taking up smoking rather than the reverse.

The long-term effects of vaping are only just being realised and they are causing a marked increase in lung disease caused by the large amounts of heated chemicals that are in the vape liquid. Vapes are often bought online from overseas and they are made in an unregulated environment. There is little control on what is being put into vapes but can include chemicals such as acetone, diacetyl, formaldehyde and acrolein.

SMOKING

Once people begin to smoke, they quickly become addicted, and it becomes a very difficult habit to break. Those who start smoking as young teens are more likely to:

• Become addicted
• Be lifelong smokers
• Get tobacco related disease
• Die from their tobacco use

The most surprising facts for the students were:

• There can be up to 12,000 different ingredients that go into making cigarettes, and at least 69 of them are cancer causing agents.
• It can affect organs that we weren’t aware of, including causing bladder cancer.
• In Tasmania it is illegal to smoke in the car if there are children under the age of 18 in the car. The fine is $260.

Supports can be found to reduce or stop smoking from:

Siobhan Mead
School Health Nurse

CANTEEN SPECIALS – TERM 4

END OF YEAR REPORTS

A reminder to families that end of year reports and class placement information will be distributed mid-December.

The end of year report will show your child’s learning achievement on a 9-point visual scale which replaces A-E ratings for students in Prep to Year 10. The 9-point scale shows more specifically where your child’s learning achievement is against the expected standard for their year level.

There will be no teacher comments on the report.

For more information about the changes to reports:

• School Reports FAQs
• Understanding the 9-point scale
• Reporting - The Department for Education, Children and Young People Tasmania (decyp.tas.gov.au)

GRADE 4 SWIMMING & WATER SAFETY PROGRAM

Over the past 2 weeks all of the grade 4 students have been participating in Swimming and Water Safety. Most days we were swimming in the school pool, but we spent one day at White Sands and the pool was freezing! Some of the swimming styles we worked on were dog paddle, backstroke, freestyle and we also worked on our diving skills. We had lots of fun and enjoyed our 2 weeks swimming.

GR 3/4 LAMBERT ART

Recently 3/4 Lambert completed some unique art works with Mrs Stratton, she introduced us to some famous painters. We did a pencil drawing of Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory, and we also did some Picasso Faces.

BOOK FAIR – TERM 4

Our Scholastic Book Fair is nearly here! It will be open from 8.30 until 4.00 from Tuesday 15th November until Thursday 17th November so come along to find the best new books and help to earn free books for our library! Flyers will be going home in the first week of November. We would love to hear from anyone interested in volunteering for the Book Fair, just call the office on 63767100.

KINDER – GR 2 ASSEMBLY

Our latest Kinder – Grade 2 Assembly was held on 1st November (about the same time as we had our hail storm!). Student work that was shared included:

• Grade 2 Chisholm: Was life better in the past?
• Grade 1 Szycman showed their funny wind-up toys.
• Prep Harriss shared their rainy rainbow poems and drawings.
• Prep – Grade 2 merit certificates were presented.
• Kinder Brown sang ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ and everyone joined in.
• Monkey chose Kinder Brown as the best listening class.

P-2 MERIT CERTIFICATES

• Prep Harriss: Kenzie Griffith and Odin Montgomery.
• Prep McGrath/Crossingham: Blake Saunders, Kit Goss, Jesse Carey and Maggie Frost.
• Grade 1 Vincent: Konna Smylie, Aura Crowden, Jack Cherry and Jaxson Singline.
• Grade 1 Szycman: Stella Dunkley, Fletcher Johnson and Max Pensini.
• Grade 2 Chisholm: Oliver Kingston, Layla Woodward and Braydon Pulford.
• Grade 2 Payne/Garth: Jesse Higgins, Macie Watson, Lily Toms and Telisha Seivwright.

GR. 2 CHISHOLM – WAS LIFE BETTER IN THE PAST?

Interesting thoughts from Grade 2 Chisholm.

RIAWUNNA wurakara HIGHER EDUCATION BURSARY

The Riawunna Centre for Aboriginal Education, in partnership with the Scholarships and Prizes Office at the University of Tasmania, aspires to positive change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, through educational experiences that build independent resilient and confident learners, supported through shared celebrations, culture and Community.

The Riawunna wurakara to Higher Education Bursary will be sponsored by the University of Tasmania and will be part of the Springboard to Higher Education program to encourage young Tasmanian Aboriginal students to continue with their education at the highest level. The Riawunna wurakara to Higher Education Bursary will assist students with some of the expenses associated with further study in Years 11 and 12, and to encourage students to complete university study.

Each Bursary is valued at up to $22,000 depending on length of full-time study at the University of Tasmania:

• Year 11 – $1,000
• Year 12 – $1,000
• University of Tasmania – $5,000 per year for up to four years

Recipients must meet the Commonwealth definition of Aboriginality to be eligible. Selection is to be based on the following criteria: The student who is graduating in year 10 in the Tasmanian State School System, and:

• may be at risk of leaving the education system and not realising their full educational potential;
• will need financial assistance to continue onto further education;
• is likely to be successful in years 11 and 12 and university if given support and encouragement;
• participates in Aboriginal activities and events within the Aboriginal and School Community;
• is from a family with little or no participation in tertiary education; and
• in the opinion of the high school merits the support.

Application forms are available from school office and the closing date is 20 November, 2022. No late applications will be accepted.

COMMUNITY EVENTS AND INFORMATION

TWO DAY AUTISM WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS AND CARERS

FORKLIFT TRAINING COURSE

EAST COAST SWANS AFLW ‘COME AND TRY’ DAYS