I hope everyone enjoyed the Recreation Day long weekend.  It has certainly been nice having a few more sunny days of late.  Thank you to our families for your support in relation to the Professional Learning Day last Friday.  We spent the day in various parts preparing for the External School Review, examining the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey results, furthering our learning about the teaching of reading, looking at changes to learning plans and furthering our collaborative inquiries into student attendance. I know that sometimes these days can be challenging for working families, but we do really value these days and appreciate your support.

This week we have an External School Review being undertaken in our school.  We have four reviewers and they will speak with staff, visit classrooms, examine school data and artefacts, speak with students and a sample of families.  They will then write a report identifying positives and successes, while also making some recommendations as part of our school improvement planning process.  I look forward to receiving and sharing the report.  Thank you to everyone who has been involved, as it is quite a large undertaking to have occur on top of the normal operations of a school day.  Every Tasmanian State School gets reviewed, on average, every four years.

Last week we held our annual Athletics Carnival, with Wednesday being held at school and Thursday at the Northern Athletic Centre at St Leonards.  These are always great days and it was pleasing to see students getting involved whether that be our elite athletes striving for high performances or simply just students getting in and having a go.  Thanks to Emma Attard and the Health and Physical Education team for organising the carnival, all the staff for their assistance as it must be a team effort and thank you to our parent volunteers and spectators, as we appreciate your involvement and support.  It was also great to see our senior House Captains ‘drumming up’ some house support for Tamar, Esk, Nevis and Lomond houses.  The Interhigh Athletics Carnival is scheduled for Friday, 22  November.  Congratulations to everyone who participated and/or helped across the two days.

Recently, we received our results from the annual surveys.  The top five results in the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey whereby students reported high wellbeing were, organised activities 73%, absence of cyberbullying 68%, connectedness to adults at home 68%, friendship intimacy 63% and absence of physical bullying 63%.  If we were to combine the proportion for high and medium wellbeing, then the highest combined results would be for emotional engagement with teachers 93%, absence of cyberbullying 92%, absence of physical bullying 91%, connectedness to adults at home 90% and friendship intimacy 88%.  These results are very encouraging.  It was also extremely satisfying that we demonstrated growth and achieved our school improvement targets in cognitive engagement, school climate and school belonging.  In addition to the above, it might be of interest to note for parents and carers that 40% of students reported low wellbeing in relation to nutrition-breakfast, 28% reported low wellbeing for sleep, 30% reported low wellbeing for their overall health, 28% indicated low wellbeing for satisfaction with life and 40% reported low wellbeing for engagement (sometimes called flow) with learning.  As this survey is the voice of our students, it certainly provides us with a wealth of interesting data to assist us all in the complex task of educating and raising teenagers.

Congratulations to two of our Year 10 students, Angelina and Amir who are involved in the Windeward Bound voyage. The Windeward Bound Trust, in partnership with Rotary Tasmania and supported by the Migrant Resource Centre of Southern Tasmania, has invited youths aged 14–18 from diverse backgrounds to embark on a transformative 10 day voyage aboard the STV Windeward Bound. This unique program fosters leadership, inclusiveness and community spirit among Tasmanian youths, creating lasting bonds and valuable life skills. Congratulations to Amir and Angelina on this significant achievement and undertaking.  This link provides more general information about Windeward Bound if you are interested in reading further.

Progressive Achievement Testing (PAT) has now concluded.  However, to ensure we gain as much value from the testing as possible, it is important that we have at least a 90% completion.  Last year we had the second highest completion rate from all secondary schools in Tasmania, which was a positive achievement in itself.  We are currently completing catch up tests with students, with results released later in the year.

Recently, some of our Art students have been working with Aboriginal Elder, Aunty Dawn on a large mural on the outside of three walls of our Art building.  It has been wonderful to have Aunty Dawn’s historical knowledge, storytelling ability and gentle nature, working with us on this project.  I would also like to acknowledge Bunnings for their paint donation and staff volunteers, as well as teachers Jess Crawford and Nathan Karas for their support of the project.  It should look terrific once it is completed.

If you are looking ahead to next year, please note that the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) will occur in Term 1, from Wednesday 12 March to Monday 24 March 2025. Further details on NAPLAN are included in this newsletter.

I am very much looking forward to Arts Night at the Princess Theatre tomorrow evening. Best wishes to all our students who will be performing. I look forward to seeing you there. It should be a great event.

Regards

Cary Stocks
Principal