9 December 2022

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Families,

Isn’t it wonderful to see the artwork of our students displayed across our region? A huge thank you to Break O’Day Council for inviting us to be part of this initiative (see photos below). I would like to congratulate all our students who participated in the dance concert on the weekend. What a fantastic celebratory event for our community.

At a school level, the busy term 4 events have continued. With the roadworks on St Marys Pass, we reverted back to holding our primary swimming carnival in our school pool. Congratulations to all who participated. A special congratulations to the students who were our 2022 3-6 swimming champions. These students are listed below in the 3-6 swimming carnival report.

Our K-2 team held a very successful Christmas athletics event yesterday. This was a new addition to our school calendar, and as you can see by the photos below, it proved to be a great event.

Congratulations to Milly Terry, who performed exceptionally well at the interhigh athletics carnival and was subsequently selected to represent the Northern High School Sports Association at the inaugural State Athletics Carnival, competing against the South and North-West regions of Tasmania. Milly ran a fantastic 100 and 200m, finishing 5th in the 200m final. Her relay team also came third.

A reminder that our Presentation Day Assembly is on Thursday 15th of December beginning at 9:30am for K-6 and 11:30am for our 7-12 students. And just in case you have not pencilled it in your diary, our K-2 Christmas Concert, an event not to be missed, will be held at 11:30am on Tuesday 20th December and the Grade 10 Graduation Dinner arrivals are also on this day, beginning at 4:30pm on the school oval.

We look forward to celebrating our student achievements with you in the coming weeks.

Kind regards,
Anita Haley

KEN CHAPPLE MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Schools across the state are preparing to celebrate the successes of their students at their annual presentation day awards. For one lucky student at St Helens District High School their efforts will be rewarded with a scholarship worth up to $110,000 to further their studies in their chosen field.

The Kenneth Chapple Memorial Scholarship was implemented by the late Mr Chapple (pictured right) as he was concerned that not enough boys were completing years 11 and 12, and wanted to cover the cost of continuing to study for the highest-achieving male student in Year 10.

Past students of St Helens District High School, Xavier Carey and Anthony Prior, previous recipients of the prestigious scholarship, recently shared with Sam Terry, School Business Manager, how the scholarship had changed their lives.

Xavier, who is now studying a Bachelor of Science at UTAS, would not have even contemplated attending university had it not been for the award. “It changed my mind set on really giving it your all, as I never thought university was a pathway for me.” This drive to learn is now pushing Xavier to complete his Masters.

Anthony was the first ever recipient of the scholarship. When he was announced as the winner, he recalls that he just cried in disbelief that his efforts in grade 10 had paid off. Anthony’s mother was prepared to work a second job to cover the cost of relocating for further education. The money now meant that he would not have to place that burden on her. Anthony is now in Melbourne studying law and is continuing to use the scholarship to supplement his rent, pay for books and the technology required to study at university level.

Mr Chapple’s dreams are certainly being fulfilled in these and many other young men. Anthony, the first in his family to attend university, has now persuaded his younger brother to work towards attending university.

When asked what advice you would pass on to anyone aiming for the award, they both said, learn to manage your time wisely, then use that extra time to push yourself. Study that little bit more, join the groups that participate in extracurricular activities. Ignore those voices that want to bring you down, don’t worry about being liked by everyone, that all changes in the next few years anyway. Try and have a pathway. Understand what you want to do and set yourself goals.

St Helens District High School will hold their presentation day on December the 15th where the 2023 recipient of the Kenneth Chapple Memorial Scholarship will be announced.

Sam Terry
School Business Manager

SCHOOL HEALTH – BEING SUNSMART THIS SUMMER

We are finally starting to see some warmer days and the sun is shining, so it’s that time of the year again where we see the UV Index rising and we need to be adopting Sunsmart into our daily routines.

2 in 3 Australians will develop skin cancer during their lifetime and melanoma is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in Tasmania. In Tasmania average UV levels are three and above from mid-September to mid-April.

THE FIVE SUNSMART STEPS

During the daily local sun protection times (issued whenever UV levels are three and above), use these 5 SunSmart steps – even if it’s cool and cloudy. Let’s remind ourselves what the five Sunsmart messages are:

1. SLIP on a shirt - for free dress days, ensure your child wears clothing that covers as much skin as possible (e.g. elbow length tops with a higher neckline or collar and longer style shorts or skirts). Densely woven fabrics are best.
2. SLOP on SPF 50 broad spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen – apply a generous amount of sunscreen at the start of the day and make sure children have sunscreen in their bag ready to be reapplied throughout the day. Sunscreen should be reapplied every two hours. Please ensure they get plenty of sunscreen application practice at home so they’ll be all set when they are at school.
3. SLAP on a hat – one that protects the face, neck and ears such as a broad brimmed, legionnaire or bucket style hat. Peak caps do not offer enough protection and are not recommended by SunSmart. Please help your child remember to bring and wear their approved hat.
4. SEEK shade – choose shady spots for play whenever possible.
5. SLIDE on some sunglasses - if practical and approved by the school. Make sure they are labelled AS 1067 and cover as much of the eye area as possible.

SunSmart: Prevent skin cancer & sunburn this summer - SunSmart

Siobhan Mead
School Health Nurse

CANTEEN SPECIALS – TERM 4

QKR! APP DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS

GR. 3-6 SWIMMING CARNIVAL

On the 24th of November the grade 3-6 swimming carnival was held at St Helens DHS. Due to St Mary’s Pass being closed, we were forced to come up with an alternative plan to deliver the annual event. We introduced a new concept into this year’s carnival and it was the house poster competition. Students were asked to create their best poster to support their houses which resulted in the pool area being decked out with words of encouragement, chants and house colours.

WINNERS OF THE POSTER COMPETITION:

By Gracie Thorpe – 5/6 Romet

By Pippa Wood and Sam Barnes – 3/4 Lambert

By Evy Gregson and Isla Threadgold – 3/4 Lambert

Congratulations to all who swam on the day and had fun! Your efforts contribute towards your overall house points which will be announced at the end of the year.

The winning house on the day was Treloggen by a whisker!

Ben Carosi
HPE Teacher

2022 SWIMMING CARNIVAL POINTS:

CHAMPIONS AND RUNNERS-UP

GR 3-6 END OF TERM ASSEMBLY

The Grade 3-6 end of term assembly was held last Tuesday, 29th November, and was hosted by the Grade 6 student leaders. Student achievements were recognised with the presentation of class merit certificates, First Lego League participation certificates, 3-6 swimming champions and runner-up certificates and Break O’Day Christmas poster competition certificates.

Highlights of the year that grade 3-6 participated in were read out including:

• Swimming and Water Safety Program
• Surf Groms
• NAIDOC Week
• Science Week STEM Challenge
• Book Week and Pedlars Parade
• Shorebird and Planetarium excursions
• Royal Flying Doctor Simulator visit
• Athletic, Cross Country, Swimming Carnivals and ENE sporting events.

A report was given by Cooper and Ry about the Country Gold Cricket team that played in Launceston on Monday, 21st November.

‘In Week 6 we took a team to Launceston to play Country Gold Cricket. In the first match we played Northern Midlands and were chasing 88 runs. We ended up winning by 3 wickets. We then came up against Tamar and were chasing 110 runs. We lost by 15 runs.

The next match was on day two. We had a good bowling innings and bowled them all out for 48. We ended up beating that in 9 overs. That got us in to the grand final. We decided to bat first. We made 107, but Tamar ended up beating that score with 3 overs left. Even though we lost the grand final, we are proud of how we did.’

Miss Kawajit presented certificates to students who participated in the First Lego League Challenge and the Tasmanian Science Talent Search 2022.

Mr Carosi presented 3-6 swimming carnival champion and runner-up certificates as well as announcing the winners of the swimming carnival poster competition.

MERIT CERTIFICATES

Grade 3/4 Geale: Evie Bidgood, Kate Bailey, Seb Jaksch and Sophie Curran.

Grade 3/4 Lambert: Ollie Storck, Wyatt Davies, Ruby-Jayne Carey, Bonnie Targett and Riley Bekue.

Grade 3/4 McCormack-Taylor: Wila Simpson, Harlow Wilcox, Lucy Whittaker, Savannah Hall, Indira Castor, Koby Brown, Lily Bell.

Grade 5/6 Romet: Harrison Eckel and Archie Glowacki Smith

Grade 5/6 Hyland-Hunt: Ace Inmon, Mia Roberts, Ashley Lowndes and Baron Geale.

Grade 5/6 Campbell: Whyatt Doumergue, Pippa Codyre, James Toms and Charli Lowe

Grade 5/6 Jordan: Quinn Campbell, Sophie Storck, Jack Fidler, Alise Hall and Shannon Angove.

CHRISTMAS POSTER COMPETITION

At the beginning of this term the Break O’Day Council ran a competition for students to design a poster on the theme of ‘What Christmas in Break O’Day means to me’. A panel of six judges looked at over 150 entries from our Kindergarten to Grade 6 sector of the school. Finalists were selected and from there, eight posters were chosen to be made into signs that would be displayed at town borders across our municipality. Everyone who entered received a participation certificate.

Seven of the eight winners were from Kinder to Grade 2. These students were recognised at the Kinder to 2 assembly last week. We congratulate:

• Jai Toms
• Lucy Frost
• Madilyn Payne
• Archie Barr
• Baxter Szycman
• Owen Midson
• and Flora Gable

The 8th winner of the poster competition was a Grade 6 student. A special congratulations to Jackson Case from Grade 5/6 Campbell.

Look out for the posters which were put up last week.

K-2 CHRISTMAS ATHLETICS

Our Kinder to Grade 2s took to the school oval on Tuesday to celebrate with a morning of Christmas athletics. With events like Late for Christmas race, Christmas Hurdles and Reindeer Hoopla, so much fun was had with staff and students in full Christmas spirit. Our grade 6 leaders were an awesome support for our younger students and a huge thank you to the Christmas elves who delivered icy poles all the way from the North Pole.

K-2 CHRISTMAS CONCERT

CONVINCE THE GRINCH!

The Grinch is threatening to cancel Christmas! How will grade 2B students convince him not to and save the day?

3-4 MCCORMACK ART

Max Ernst was a German artist who created collages by cutting pictures from old catalogues and cheap novels and glued them onto different backgrounds. An example of one of these collages is pictured on the right. Grade 3-4 McCormack created their own collages using Max Ernst’s technique. The results are very interesting!

OUTDOOR ED HIKES

The students from years 9 and 10 visited the Blue Tier as part of the ODE program in term 4. The group took on two hiking trails, the Australia Hill circuit and the Moon valley circuit. They learnt valuable skills in hiking and survival, also learning the values of nature and the great outdoors whilst practising ‘leave no trace’ principles.

NAPLAN 2023

Students will be sitting NAPLAN between 15 and 27 March 2023.

The National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning at school. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for, and students are not expected to do so.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance; however, students and parents may use individual results to discuss progress with teachers.

This is the first year NAPLAN will be held in March, having previously taken place in May. This change was made so school systems would have access to results earlier in the school year, so they can be used to inform teaching and learning plans for the remainder of the year.

Why NAPLAN is conducted online

NAPLAN online provides a better assessment and more precise results.

One of the main benefits of NAPLAN online is that it uses tailored (or adaptive) testing. This means that students receive questions better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do.

Online testing also allows us to provide a wide range of accessibility options to support students with disability to access NAPLAN. Feedback from students is that they find the online test more engaging.

Please note that students in Year 3 complete the Writing Test on paper.

Parent information brochures and other resources

Your questions answered on NAPLAN and what it means for your child:

NAPLAN information brochure for parents and carers

The link will take you to the official National Assessment Program (NAP) website.

Please contact the school if you have any further queries.

COMMUNITY INFORMATION

ST HELENS FIRE BRIGADE LOLLY RUN

CHRISTMAS CAROLS IN ST HELENS

ST HELENS TOWN LIBRARY SESSIONS