Dear Parents/Carers

I hope that everyone enjoyed the long weekend on Monday, 11 March. It is always nice to have the extra day for the weekend while the weather is still pleasant. I hope you were able to find some time to do things that you enjoy and make you happy.

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy, more commonly known as NAPLAN, has commenced today for students in Years 7 and 9.  All school students across Australian complete these tests during the same two-week testing window. This provides us with another useful data set which we use alongside other datasets to monitor student achievement and growth at whole school, grade, class and individual level.  Students should be encouraged to try their best, as with any task they are given, but it should not be over emphasised as to stress students. Afterall, it is a moment in time snapshot. NAPLAN reports will be provided later in the year. Thank you to our Instructional Specialist, Emily Lovegrove for co-ordinating NAPLAN in 2025.

Last Wednesday, 5 March, we held our annual Swimming Carnival at the Launceston Aquatic Centre. As the average attendance rate is often down for days such as this, this year we have tried a different approach with Year 9/10 students opting into the carnival rather than automatically being given the opportunity to attend. If they did not attend, they were involved in a normal learning program back at school. We will review the effectiveness of this approach and decide whether or not we should continue or adjust for next year.  Thank you to parents and other family members who were able to come along and support. Well done to all students who attended and participated. While these days are certainly about swimming fast for our more capable swimmers, they are also a great day of fun, participation and school spirit.  Thank you to Emma Attard, for co-ordinating the Carnival with the support of the Health and Physical Education team and to all staff for helping facilitate the event.  Thank you also to students who acted as helpers on the day.  Please note that the Interhigh Swimming Carnival is on 3 April.

Yesterday, some of our Art students attended the 2025 John Glover Prize Exhibition at Evandale and Artrage held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. Thank you to teacher Jessica Crawford, for enabling students to have this wonderful opportunity.

As has become the tradition over recent years, our senior House Captains have provided invaluable support at some of our feeder primary school sports carnivals. I know that our colleagues at the local primary schools really value the assistance of our students and I am also sure our students embrace this opportunity to apply their leadership skills in an authentic way. Well done to our students for representing themselves and our school so well. Thank you to the House Captain Co-ordinator, Sean Stevenson for facilitating this important opportunity for our students.

Last Friday, 7 March, we held a whole school assembly to induct our Year 10 Student Leaders for 2025. Thank you to the parents, carers and other family members who were able to attend this important recognition ceremony. I spoke to students about the theme for the year of embracing opportunities and accepting responsibilities, while also aligning these roles to our five school values. I certainly wish all our student leaders the very best for their roles in 2025 and hope they can look back at the end of the year with pride and satisfaction as a group and as individuals.  Thank you to Assistant Principal, Kate Blaubaum for her overall co-ordination of the assembly and the other staff and students who supported this assembly. Often the ‘finished product’ is a result of a considerable planning and preparation behind the scenes.

Congratulations to Nicole Lynch who was recently selected to undertake the role of acting Advanced Skills Teacher at Glen Dhu Primary School until at least the end of this year. Nicole leaves with our congratulations and best wishes. I have no doubt she will be an asset to the team at Glen Dhu. Nicole’s classes will be taken on by Dan King, who I previously announced had joined our teaching team. Last week, we also farewelled our wonderful groundsman, Luke Brooks. Luke has worked extremely hard, has been adaptable with his skills and has done an outstanding job.  We certainly wish him well in his new role with TasNetworks. A backfill process is currently being undertaken.

You may have heard about the Australian Government School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) over the NBN. The Australian Government has made a commitment to deliver access to free broadband for up to 30,000 families with school-aged children who are not connected at home currently via the NBN network. SSBI is a targeted affordability measure to help boost education opportunities. To be eligible for the SSBI, families must have at least one child studying in a Tasmanian school in Grades K-12 and live at a premises with no active broadband service over the NBN network. The NBN will install connection equipment at the premises of the student. The internet connection will be a standard unfiltered NBN internet connection, which will need moderation of use by the student by their parent or carer. The student will need access to a device for use on the NBN service. This may be a device 'loaned' to the student from their school where available. If you would like more information, please see the flyer below.

Teachers will soon be preparing interim reports which will go home with students at the end of March. These reports provide a brief overview of work habits and the dispositions that students are showing in their learning. It is important that students are focussed on doing their best with all their learning, being organised for their classes, submitting work on time and seeking feedback on their progress. We want our students to not only be achieving high standards but also demonstrating growth in their learning outcomes.

As we are now well and truly in the second half of the term, students should be clear on school routines and coming to school every day focussing on their learning, upholding our values and following our R.O.C.K.S. expectations.

Regards

Cary Stocks
Principal

As part of our Positive Behaviour Support Program at Kings Meadows we will be acknowledging students who have been contributing positively to our learning environment.  This means that they have been supporting our school-wide expectations.

Respect for others, self and environment

Organisation

Commitment to learning

Keeping safe

Sensible behaviour

We would like to acknowledge the following students:

Year 7:

Shianna Rigby – For being a supportive friend.
Kadence Ambrose – For always following the R.O.C.K.S. expectations.

Year 8:

Taylah Osborne – For her outstanding attitude and exceptional work ethic across her core classes.

Year 9:

Ella Brown - For demonstrating improved engagement and organisation during lessons and increased effort in class.

Ruby Cassidy - For making a terrific start to the year and for showing improved attendance, effort and engagement in lessons.

Nathan and James Hilbert - For demonstrating consistent organisation and effort in all areas of learning and for their efforts in online learning extension opportunities.

Week 3 Camp to Port Arthur
We understand families have been waiting for an update on camp and photos.  We appreciate your patience while our office staff worked through returned validation forms and student photo permissions! We also appreciate the feedback surveys completed by our parents and students.  This feedback is extremely valuable and helps us improve camps from year to year.  In fact, last years’ camp surveys helped us make a few alterations and improvements for the camp this year.

The two camps held in Week 3 of this term were extremely successful and both staff and students enjoyed themselves.  Students were excited to be away from home and embraced the challenges of camp wholeheartedly.  Whether it was sleeping in a cabin with people they did not know, being rained on at Port Arthur, having to prepare their cabins for cleaning inspections, deciding which lollies to buy from the Richmond Lolly Shop or trying to win class challenges.  After the visit to Zoo Doo on the first day students had time to settle in, play games and get comfortable with their surroundings on the first afternoon. Both groups had a BBQ dinner the first night followed by after dinner beach activities before settling in for the first night. This was undoubtedly the most exciting night for students as they got to meet new people and navigate teachers ‘lights out’ expectations. 

Day two of the camp was keeping the toast pile high and the snap crackle and pop of breakfast, fuelling up for the day ahead. The walk to Port Arthur via Stewarts Bay was extremely scenic but ‘too long’ according to student feedback forms!  Once at Port Arthur students could tour the museum, have a walking tour of Port Arthur and the boat tour to the Isle of the Dead – which according to feedback surveys was a top highlight for many students.  Unfortunately strong winds prevented the boat from docking on Tuesday for  A,B and C but on Thursday D,E and F were able to get off the boat and onto the island.  The tour guides were extremely professional and imparted a lot of knowledge onto the students. Dinner on night two was lasagne and chips – this proved a popular choice with many students coming back for seconds.  Night two was also cabin inspections and talent show performances which were highly entertaining for staff and the variety and creativity was amazing – from songs, dances and drama skits, to displays of sporting prowess and complimentary snacks for staff!

The final day included the stop to Richmond and we would like to thank the Richmond Bakery and Sweets and Treats for accommodating our students buying treats on their way home. The Year 7 staff were very proud of our students over the whole week of the camp.  The feedback we received from Port Arthur staff, NRMA staff and the general public was all extremely heartwarming and made us proud to be looking after the students and glad that we had committed to giving them their camp opportunity. Emails and verbal feedback commented on students’ respectful manners, engagement in activities and positive attitudes and interactions. Most of all the comments were that they really looked like they were having fun.  We hope they were! Well done Year 7’s!  Some feedback from our Year 7’s:

What was your favourite activity on camp?

• The boat ride to the Isle of the Dead
• Having to clean our cabins and do a 30 second talent show
• The beach
• Hanging out with friends
• Lasagne
• Going to sleep after being at Port Arthur all day
• Cricket
• Making friends and being around people and having a good time

Year 7 Learning at KMHS
Year 7’s are well and truly into their learning now.  Families will have undoubtedly been enjoying students first cooking efforts (7D,7E and 7F) and soon everyone in 7A, 7B and 7C will bring home their first MDT projects – a camp toasting fork or a wooden chopping board!  Students are also studying Spanish in LOTE, learning new instruments in Music, completing projects in Art and presenting creative pieces in Drama. In addition to this the current focus of CORE subjects is:

Science: Lab Safety (including getting their Bunsen Burners licences!) States of Matter
HPE: Puberty and Summer Sports
Maths: Adding and Subtracting Integers
HaSS: Deep Time History – Evolution
English: Creative Writing, Character and Narrative

Interim Reports will go out later this term and you will be able to see how your child is progressing with our R.O.C.K.S. expectations – Respect, Organisation, Commitment to Learning, Keeping Safe and sensible Behaviour.

Please feel free to contact your child’s teachers for more information. 

A huge congratulations to all students across Year 9 who participated in our recent Swimming Carnival held at the aquatic centre.  I would like to give a special mention to Sarah Nicolson who broke records in the 25m Backstroke and 25m Breaststroke and to Miss Attard for her efforts in organising and supporting such a wonderful carnival on the day.  Students across Year 9 who weren’t competing on the day stayed at Kings Meadows and were supported to continue teaching and learning programs taught mostly by our Year 9 team. 

Students in Year 9 have commenced NAPLAN testing this week and our staff have spent a significant amount of time making sure that all devices are fully charged, working to their full potential and that timetables and learning environments are supportive of engagement and participation for students during testing. We wish all students the very best during their testing this week.

Our average attendance across Year 9 at the end of last week was sitting at 90% with illness affecting some students.  As always, we will endeavour to check in with students who have unexplained absences or are away for extended periods of time to remove any barriers they may be facing and to support their engagement and wellbeing at school.

In our last Year 9 grade meeting our staff discussed the importance of acknowledging the ‘effort’ that our students are putting in during the school day.  Recognizing students' efforts, rather than solely their achievements, fosters a growth mindset and enhances motivation. When students perceive that their hard work leads to progress, they are more engaged and persistent in their learning. This approach not only boosts self-esteem but also cultivates resilience, leading to improved academic outcomes.

As a result, each teacher of Year 9 students will endeavour to give one or two students across the week a ‘Chip Champion’ card or an ‘Incredibly Good Human’ card with a feedback statement on the back highlighting the improved effort that was noticed.  These feedback statements will also be celebrated on our foyer screen anonymously with the hope of further creating a positive and uplifting environment while helping students learn that effort looks different to different people.  Our ‘Incredibly Good Human’ cards will be given out to students who we notice are treating others with compassion, kindness and help when needed as a way of building and strengthening healthy relationships amongst peers. 

Before I conclude our Year 9 report, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of our staff in updating and improving the learning plans of students in our year group.  We will continue to work as a team over the coming weeks to make refinements to these plans and will be further consulting with parents over the coming weeks to make sure there is a strong sense of partnership and consultation in their development.  This year all students in Year 9 with a learning plan will have a ‘student voice’ component included where they share their strengths, challenges, goals and important information with staff who will be teaching them. 

We hope parents and students find these improvements to the way we develop learning plans, supportive of strengthening our team-based approach towards personalising learning and wellbeing outcomes for students across our year group. 

YEAR 9 CONTACT DETAILS:

On Friday 7 March, we held the Induction Assembly for our School Leaders. Prefects, House Captains, Beacon Ambassadors and Peer Support Leaders all received their blazers and took their pledges. We are very proud of these young leaders and know they will achieve great things over the course of the year. Congratulations to all students formally inducted into their leadership positions!

Date: Wednesday, 5 March
Location: Launceston Aquatic Centre

The Kings Meadows High School Swimming Carnival was a splash of excitement and competition this year! Held at the Launceston Aquatic Centre, the event saw a change in structure, making it compulsory for junior students while senior students had the option to participate or remain at school.

Congratulations to Tamar for winning the swimming carnival by a narrow margin of just 18 points over Lomond! The final points standings are as follows:

1. Tamar: 1429 points
2. Lomond: 1411 points
3. Nevis: 1257 points
4. Esk: 1149 points

We witnessed some incredible performances with several records being shattered. A huge congratulations to the following students for their outstanding achievements:

YEAR 8 FEMALE

25m Breaststroke:

• Old record (since 2015): 24.92 seconds
• New record: 23.35 seconds – Ignatia Van Der Pols
• Then broken again 1 minute later:
• New record: 23.22 seconds – Nella Wheatley

50m Breaststroke:

• Old record (since 1974): 40.1 seconds
• New record: 40.08 seconds – Ruby Harris

YEAR 9 FEMALE

25m Backstroke:

• Old record (since 2020): 22.49 seconds
• New record: 21.08 seconds – Sarah Nicolson

25m Breaststroke:

• Old record (since 2016): 24.87 seconds
• New record: 24.31 seconds – Sarah Nicolson

YEAR 10 FEMALE

4 x 25m Freestyle Relay:

• Old record: 1:13.3
• New record: 1:13.16 – Nevis 

Congratulations to all participants for their hard work and sportsmanship. It was a fantastic day filled with energy, enthusiasm and remarkable achievements. We look forward to more exciting events this year!

Just touching base with families in regards to our on-line ordering system (Qkr). This is a great way to order your child's lunch to take the worry out of carrying money or a bank card to school. The cut off time to order on Qkr is 9.30am on the day of ordering. 

HOWEVER - if your child does have a lunch order and is sick on that day, please let our office staff know before 10.00am and we will carry the order over until the next day, or give a credit to the same value to be spent.

PLEASE NOTE: If lunch orders are not collected by the student by 2.00pm, the canteen will have to dispose of the food and NO refund will be given.  It is the student’s responsibility to collect their lunch.

If there is something on the menu that your child would like and there is no option in Qkr to customize e.g (chicken burger with no mayonnaise), your child can see canteen staff before school starts or at recess to request this – it is no problem at all.

If there are any questions please don't hesitate to contact Nete (Canteen Manager) through the school.  Please see our menu below.