COVID Update

Last week we were reminded how quickly the health and safety of a community can force us back into lockdown with the recent events in Melbourne highlighting the unpredictable nature of the current pandemic. It is important for us to not be complacent in our own prevention and management measures here in Tasmania.

Whilst we are still in the enviable position of being COVID free in our community for over 12 months, the risk of an outbreak in Tasmania is still very real.

As a school we are still asking students and families to abide by the changes we put in place in 2020 to mitigate any likelihood of community transmission. At Kings Meadows this means:

• Keep you children home if they are unwell, particularly if they exhibit respiratory like symptoms.
• Have yourselves or your children tested if you or they have any respiratory like symptoms.
• Avoid sending your children back to school if they are unwell, even if they are COVID free.
• When visiting our site please check in at the main office, maintaining physical distancing with a maximum of 11 people in our main foyer at a time.
• If on-site for events like parent teacher, cross country or sports days, please sign in using the “Check-In Tas” App. These QR codes are located around our school during parent events.
• Sanitise when entering our site.
• Students are to use sanitiser located in all our classrooms at the beginning and end of each lesson.

The Department of Education has been working on a detailed plan about what schools and schooling will look like if we have any community transmission of COVID in Tasmania again.

During these still uncertain times I ask all of our community to not be complacent about the risks caused by COVID, remember the strategies we need to use to keep each other safe and please follow all our school-based management measures if you are on our site for any reason.

We can’t stress enough the importance of following the Public Health guidelines so that we can continue to enjoy the relatively uninterrupted arrangements to daily life, that other parts of our country are unable to.

My Education Day 3

Monday saw our third My Education Day for the year and first for the term. These days are incredibly important for our students to be exposed to more career and life planning activities. These include our partnership work with the Beacon Foundation and we had one of their programs “Polish” undertaken by students on Monday with the support of industry leaders from Repco, Country Club Tasmania, Cornerstone Youth, Cumulus Architecture and Stelo Restaurant. We are very grateful for the support of Beacon and their partners. Career education is an important aspect of our curriculum scope and sequence and integral to our work at Kings Meadows High School.

Tour of Honour – Tasmanian Australian of the Year’s recipients presentation.

On Wednesday last week, Mrs Pel accompanied 6 student leaders to the Country Club to listen to the recipients of the Tasmanian Australian of the Year Awards. They listened to the stories from our recipients Grace Tame, Edna Pennicott, Brian Williams and Toby Thorpe.

Inter High Cross Country

We had the pleasure of hosting this years NHSSA Inter High Cross Country Carnival yesterday on site and it was fabulous to see students able to be back competing this year.  Congratulations to all competitors who represented our school magnificently and we are very proud to announce we placed second overall. Well done to the Grade 7 and 8 boys teams for winning their respective divisions.

Winter Uniform

As we now embrace the colder months of the year, I would like to remind families of our clear winter uniform requirements. Students have a variety of items that are included in our Everyday Uniform to assist in keeping them warm. Grey pants are in our policy for both girls and boys and most girls who chose to wear the skirt also wear stockings to keep warm. We encourage students to layer up underneath as hoodies and non-school based jackets are not permitted. We now have school beanies which can be worn when students are outside at break times as well as before and after school.

The new addition of our school logo trackpants are only for wear during HPE activities or competitions and form part of the Sports Uniform that students can elect to wear. They are NOT part of the Everyday Uniform and have not been ratified as such by the School Association.

NAPLAN 

During the last fortnight, Grade 7 and 9 students have completed the NAPLAN testing program which will ultimately provide us with valuable information to support their learning. As many parents would be aware, NAPLAN testing is now completed online. Across our school significant planning and preparation was undertaken to ensure that the testing period would run smoothly. A huge thankyou to our staff who have been working to support this, particularly Mrs Lovitt, for her work in ensuring this has been so well organised.  

It is important to remember that whilst very useful, NAPLAN provides us with one snapshot of student learning and we have many other evidences that support our understanding of student progress. I would like to commend students on their mature and focused approach to the testing period. 

Reporting at KMHS 2021

The Department of Education is in the process of reviewing their Reporting to Families Policy and Procedures. This is to ensure that the process of communicating learning progress and achievement to students and families is contemporary best practice and suits the needs of all. This year KMHS mid-year reports will include subject and work habit ratings that provide information about progress and achievement. In order to provide further detailed information around progress, areas for further development and social and personal development we are inviting parents to engage in our Progress Conference opportunities towards the end of term. These conferences will allow staff to have two-way authentic communication with families about student learning rather than a brief 40-word comment.  More information will be forthcoming closer to the end of term around these opportunities.

Maree Pinnington

Principal