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Dear Families
Welcome back to the new school year. I sincerely hope that all members of our school community have had the opportunity to spend some quality time with family and friends over the summer break.
A special welcome to our new students and families from Grade 7 and those who have joined us across other grades. It was lovely meeting so many families at enrolment interviews or through the transition meetings.
We also welcome the following new staff:
- Mr Ben Killalea - Grade 9 Team teaching Maths & Science
- Mr Sam Maddern – Grade 7 Team – teaching Maths/Science, HPE and POL
- Mrs Bronwyn Platz - Grade 7 Team – teaching English/HaSS
- Miss Grace Bannon – Grade 8 Team- Maths & HPE
- Mrs Sandy Kerr (TA)
- Ms Nicolina Craig (EFA)
- Mr Sean Kilcoyne (ICT Team)
- Mr Juan Lorences Hernandez (EFA) Term1
- Mr Edmondson remains on staff
Mrs Williams, Mr Whitford and Ms McGifford are all on leave.
S.W.A.T. Week:
Success, Wellbeing, Aspiration, Teamwork
This year we decided as a school team to spend the first 3 days of the term (last week) with an alternate program of work to support our students and staff to be really ready for learning in 2021. These are what we have termed our S.W.A.T days and refer to the focus on:
Success and setting up well for a successful year.
Wellbeing and ensuring we look after our own and others wellbeing and build positive connections and relationships with others right from Day 1.
Aspiration and taking the time to set goals for the year ahead and look at being organised to enable these goals to be achieved.
Teamwork which relates to not only the grade teams but all of our students working together in various teams across the school to foster the skills and abilities in order to be successful in teams.
The three day program saw a mixture of grade based activities and learnings: some vertical grouped activities on the Thursday afternoon and some grade challenges and co-operation activities. We also had the pleasure of hosting Will Smith (2020 Tasmanian Young Australian of the Year) as a guest speaker on Thursday and he delivered a session each to the Junior and Senior grades. He was very inspirational and left us all with a very clear message about the “indirect influences” we have around us and the importance of being surrounded by the people who will allow and assist you to be the best version of yourself. He called this “your top 5” and I know all grades will be doing further work around his messages throughout the year. I encourage families to ask their children about this concept and who they may have in their Top 5.
We have had a very settled start to the year and feedback so far around our S.W.A.T. Program has been very positive. The mixture of activities and really building a sense of connection and community has been very obvious. Thank you to our staff team for all their work, including our EFA staff who provided a BBQ on Thursday and Friday lunch time for all. Indicators would suggest that our students are now very settled and ready to start structured curriculum programs and learning.
We have a beautiful environment in which to work and learn and the team of facility attendants and our administration staff have ensured that our school is looking spick and span at this time of the year. Thank you also to our staff for the extra hours you have already put in ensuring timetables are ready, units planned and materials prepared. The Canvas platform will continue to be the main place for students to access their curriculum units and all students can access at home and collaborate and show families what they are working on in different learning areas.
Your child's Home Group teacher will be making contact with you (via phone or email) over the next 2-3 weeks as a courtesy to communicate how your child has settled into the year but please do not hesitate to contact via the office or email if you have any questions or queries.
Thank you to families for supporting your child in their return to school. It can be a very anxious and stressful time with lots to remember. Our uniform looks impeccable with all students in full school uniform. We have school hats also available from our uniform shop which are now part of our official school uniform and students have been informed that they are expected to be in these if they wear a hat. Bucket hats have also been ordered as an alternative. Thank you to families for your support of our high standard uniform expectations.
I always like to remind families at this time of the year a few things that will assist your child at school and assist us to ensure we are providing the best education and care whilst they are with us.
Routine Reminders:
Attendance
It is imperative for good learning outcomes that students attend school every day. What may seem harmless can have a cumulative effect that significantly hampers learning. We acknowledge that students are not always well and able to attend school and thank families for communicating this to our administration team as soon as possible. This can be done via a phone call, message or through the Schoolzine App. Attendance at school is a legal requirement and we have to follow this up accordingly following process and protocols as outlined in the Education Act. Mrs Debbie Rigby in the administration team has the responsibility of following up on non- attendance and will make calls home to ascertain why students are away. We thank families in advance for your polite co-operation.
Drop off and Pick up
The school car parks are very congested places both in the morning and after school, especially with spaces being limited. We have many school buses entering and leaving the grounds both of a morning and afternoon and they need to be able to safely navigate in and out of the school. Another polite request is for families to try to refrain from dropping off and picking up in the bus turning circles before and after school. Your co-operation with this is much appreciated.
Healthy Habits
A reminder to all students and families that we encourage the wearing of hats in our playground at breaks and in HPE lessons to be sun smart and all our grade offices have sunscreen available for student use.
We have water hydration stations in the school for students to either drink hygienically from and/or fill up their drink bottles. Keeping hydrated in hot weather is very important.
Sleep is vital for healthy brain development and activity and at this time of the year, when school resumes, it is important to get a good nights rest. Please support and encourage your child to turn off devices and retire at a reasonable hour as they start the new school year.
Validation Forms
Validation forms/Device Hire Agreement/ICT Agreement/Aquatic forms have been sent home last week and it is imperative that we have the most accurate information on our systems, especially contact details. If you have not edited and returned these forms can I ask that you do as soon as possible. Grade 7, 8 & 9 students will need these forms signed and returned before their iPads can be issued. We are very excited to have 1:1 devices now for 3 Grades and Grade 10’s have discrete access to our school laptops as a result.
Welcome Barbeque
I would like to extend a very warm invitation to all new families to our school to attend a Welcome BBQ on Tuesday 16th February. We will have many staff available to meet and greet you and enable you to put names to faces during this evening. The evening will run from 5.00pm to 6.30pm. There will be opportunity to also do some tours of the school for families who were not able to do so last year with restrictions.
If you are unable to attend, I still encourage you to make regular contact with your child’s teachers to ensure we continue to develop a strong partnership in supporting the education of your child.
Maree Pinnington
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:
Grade 7:
The entire Grade 7 cohort for having a wonderful settled start to the year.
Grade 8:
Caitlin Everest - For her support of others and a settled start to the year.
Shelby Young - For her inclusive and caring approach to her peers.
Grade 9:
Kate Healer & Elijah Daley - For being courteous and kind to their peers.
Grade 10:
Peer Support Leaders (Bella Roberts, Olivia Chamberlain, Bree Lavelle, Frances Day, Brooke Cunningham, Ethan Clarke, Jayda Laskey-Roles, Grace Richardson and Tahlia Vanderheide - For doing an exceptional job welcoming, mentoring and guiding our Grade 7s in their first week at High School.
What a sensational start to the year for our 170 new Grade 7 students! They have started to make new friendships, worn their uniforms with pride, navigated their way around the school, worked as a team, embraced new challenges, demonstrated kindness and maturity and mastered the art of the combination lock (almost). Throughout the year, we look forward to lots of exciting learning experiences, team building tasks, extra-curricular activities and student leadership opportunities.
Congratulations to 7A, winning our first Class of Kings competition for Grade 7 2021. This class will hold the prestigious trophy in their room until the next class competition.
The Grade 7 teaching team this year consists of Mrs Katie Wightman (Junior School AP), Mr Tom Hartley (Grade 7 AST), Miss Nicole Williams (Grade Leader), Mr Stuart Withington (Grade Leader) and Class Teachers:
7A Mr Leigh Richardson
7B Mr Taylor Nielson
7C Mrs Storm Pooley
7D Mrs Bronwyn Platz
7E Mr Sam Maddern
7F Mr Sean Stevenson
7G Mr Nicolas Parker
In the coming weeks, class teachers will be making contact with all families via phone or email to introduce themselves.
We look forward to partnering with you all to support our students to learn and grow as the year progresses.
Welcome back! The Grade 8 team would like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome our Grade 8 students and their families to another fantastic year at Kings Meadows High School. We hope that students have had a relaxing holiday and are ready to focus on their learning this year.
A few staffing changes have been made to our Grade Team since the end of 2020. Mr Whitford has moved to Melbourne to pursue a job with the Melbourne Football Club (AFL) and their affiliated VFL team furthering his coaching career. We would like to thank Mr Whitford for his work with our grade last year and wish him all the best for the future. What an amazing example of aspiration for our students.
Mr Battle has moved into our Co-Grade Leader position and will be working alongside Miss Males in this space to support our students and Class Teachers. Mrs Hume will continue to be our Grade AST and Mrs Wightman our Grade Assistant Principal. Please see the contact details below of each of our team members this year.
Assistant Principal - Mrs Wightman katie.wightman@education.tas.gov.au
Grade 8 AST - Mrs Hume kate.hume@education.tas.gov.au
Grade Leaders - Mr Battle & Miss Males mathew.battle@education.tas.gov.au lillian.males@education.tas.gov.au
8A - Mr Chris Murray chris.murray1@education.tas.gov.au
8B - Mr Matthew Chatwin matthew.chatwin@education.tas.gov.au
8C - Mrs Kathleen Hodges kathleen.hodges@education.tas.gov.au
8D - Miss Grace Bannon grace.bannon@education.tas.gov.au
8E - Mrs Amy Jansen amy.jansen@education.tas.gov.au
8F - Mrs Jessica Crawford jessica.crawford@education.tas.gov.au
8G - Mrs Tracey MacFarlane tracey.macfarlane@education.tas.gov.au
Grade Support - Mr Pedersen thor.porsbro-pederse@education.tas.gov.au
Celebrations
We have been impressed by the way our Grade 8 students have settled into their new learning space (at the top of B Block) and their new Class Teacher groups. Last week our students participated in three S.W.A.T. Days (Success, Well-being, Aspiration, Teamwork) where they were taken through a variety of activities to being building relationships with their new Class Teacher groups.
On Thursday Will Smith was our guest speaker and spoke to the Grade 8’s about setting themselves up for success and recognising the different influences on their lives. This included identifying their top five people who they engage with the most in their life, who are positive influences on them and people who are going to make them the best they can be. We were proud of the way our Grade 8’s embraced Will and his session, participating in the activities and actively hanging off each word he said. It was a very powerful session for our young people and we would encourage families to discuss this session in the future.
Grade Focus
Throughout our S.W.A.T. days one of our Grade foci was ‘Acceptance’ - acceptance of ourselves and others. Activities have been focused on students' similarities and what makes them unique.
‘Differences make us interesting and unique. Exploring and respecting other people’s differences and connecting through similarities enables us to feel safe, to trust others and to express ourselves.’
Whilst getting to know their new Class Teacher groups students explored ‘acceptance’, what it means and how we can show/be accepting of others. It is important that our students are accepting of each other, their similarities and differences as this provides us all with a positive, safe and welcoming learning environment where students and teachers can be the best they can be.
Celebrations
It has been a week full of excitement, teamwork and reflection in Grade 9 and the teaching team could not be more impressed with the way students have settled in. Our SWAT (Success, Wellbeing, Aspiration and Teamwork) days in the first week back provided students with the opportunity to set goals for the year, to explore effective learning behaviours, to connect with their peers and teachers and to set up positive routines and habits. There were a number of highlights throughout the three days, most notably our wonderful guest speaker Will Smith. Will is an Australian Speaker and the Director of JCP Empowering Youth. He is known for his decade long youth work; developing and implementing innovative youth programs in Australia and around the world. Students were thoroughly engaged and focused during Will’s message and they left with some great strategies to make the most of the year ahead. Another highlight was going ten pin bowling on Friday and witnessing Mr Goss’s bowling prowess! We were very grateful that the rain held out long enough for us to walk to the Launceston Lanes and back and once again we were so proud of the way our students represented KMHS by wearing full school uniform, using their manners and following our ROCKS. We are looking forward to a great year ahead – a year of embracing opportunities, learning about leadership, making positive choices and looking out for one another.
Grade Focus
Our fabulous guest speaker, Will Smith, spoke about the importance of reflecting on our ‘Top 5’, because research clearly demonstrates that the top 5 people we spend the most time with have a huge impact on the way we live our lives and the way we see the world. We would like to encourage our students to think about how important it is to surround themselves with people who have similar goals and aspirations, in order to become the best versions of themselves.
Celebrations
A huge welcome back to our Grade 10 families and community. Last week back to school was in full swing. It was great to see the Grade 10’s return to school with smiling faces, looking well rested and ready for the year ahead. The first three days have been centred around setting our students up for success, welcoming them back and making connections with one another. We have named this up as our S.W.A.T days. S.W.A.T is an acronym for Success, Wellbeing, Aspiration and Teamwork. This new application for the start of the year has been well received by our students and has been a huge success in reconnecting with our students.
The focus for 2021 in Grade 10 will be centred around preparing our students for their learning post Grade 10 and ensuring that we allow students plenty of opportunity to challenge themselves and achieve success. We will be setting goals and putting plans in place for achieving these goals.
We have a wonderful team of teachers who have hit the ground running this week ensuring that students have started the term on the front foot and been given opportunity to reconnect with the school community.
Our Grade 10 team is as follows:
10A Home Group Teacher – Ms Karen Furley
10B Home Group Teacher – Mr Mick Bent
10C Home Group Teacher – Ms Mel Hudson
10D Home Group Teacher – Mr Solomon Walker-Bowd
10E Home Group Teacher – Mrs Liz Wilson
Additional teachers working with Grade 10 – Mrs Belinda Selby, Mr James Guy, Mr Glenn Wood.
Grade 10 Leader – Mrs Megan Pel
Grade 10 AST – Mrs Coleen Elliott
Grade 10 AP – Ms Kate Blaubaum
We welcome all parents to contact any teaching staff throughout the year either by phone call or email.
Grade 10 is a year where students have many leadership opportunities available to them, both informally and formally. Our student leaders have already started their official duties. The Prefects and House Captains have been rostered on to help in the main office with morning sign-in and announcements on the PA and our Peer Support Leaders have already done a plethora of work mentoring and guiding our Grade 7’s as they start their high school journey. It has been wonderful to see these students blossoming in their new roles.
This week we will moving our focus to starting our new subjects and classes for the year. We are encouraging all Grade 10’s to grasp any opportunities made available to them and strive to achieve their best in every subject.
Grade Focus
Our focus for Grade 10 this term will be developing formal and informal leadership in all our students. We will be setting ourselves goals that challenge us and establishing good learning behaviours and academic rigour in all classes.
Hello Kings Meadows High School. My name is Dani and I am your School Nurse. I will be with you guys every Tuesday and every second Monday. I have included a cheesy pic of me so you can all get familiar with my face if you don’t already know it and so you’ll know who I am if you see me around.
A little bit about me… I’m a mum and wife and also a Registered Nurse and Midwife. I have a few of my own businesses. I work part time as a freelance makeup artist and I own a gym with my husband. I am passionate about helping people live their healthiest and happiest lives!
So what will I be doing in and around the school? Basically anything that will help improve the health and wellbeing of the school community. I will be available to see people one on one to help support you, I will be working on some cool groups to implement throughout the school, I will pop up in your classes from time to time (most likely health classes) and I will be running open clinics for you to drop into and hang out. I am also here to support the families and teachers of the school. My office is in room A6 (Jasmine’s old office near first aid). Feel free to pop by and say hello!
I am really looking forward to continuing to work as a part of your school community and helping you all to be the very best versions of yourself.
See you round,
Nurse Dani
danielle.seadon@education.tas.gov.au
Tuesday 16 February | Welcome BBQ 5.00pm - 6.30pm |
Wednesday 24 February | Launceston Cup - Student Free Day |
Wednesday 3 March | Whole School Photos |
Monday 15 March | Grade 7 and 10 Immunisations |
Tuesday 19 March | Catch up photo day |
Friday 12 March | KMHS Swimming Carnival |
Wednesday 31 March | NHSSA Swimming Carnival |
Wednesday 31 March | Last Day Term 1 |
Wednesday 21 April | First Day Term 2 |