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