Welcome to the New School Year: Embracing Kindness, Collaboration, and High Expectations

Dear Students, Staff, and Community Members,

As we step into the fresh beginnings of a new school year, I am filled with immense excitement and hope. The journey we are about to embark on is not just about academic learning but also about growing together as a community that values kindness, collaboration, and high expectations. This year, we are elevating our standards, moving beyond "the standard we walk past is the standard we accept" to setting and achieving high expectations in every facet of our school life.

Welcoming New Faces

We are thrilled to welcome some remarkable educators to our team. Welcome back to Sophie Rainbird who has been travelling and teaching last year. Sophie is taking on the Grade 9 and 10 Grade Coordinator role. Talia Simone joins us with a passion for English and History, ready to inspire our students with the richness of our past and the beauty of our language. Freyja Hansch will be bringing innovative learning experiences to our Flex space, fostering a flexible and engaging environment for our learners, and let’s extend a warm welcome back to Danielle Perigo, who will continue to enrich our English department with her expertise and dedication.

Celebrating Transitions

As we welcome new beginnings, we also bid farewell to cherished members of our team. Holly Johnston has taken a new path with the eSchool, and James Basser has joined the team at Claremont College. Their contributions have been invaluable, and we wish them all the best in their new endeavours.

Our Themes for the Year: Kindness, Collaboration, and High Expectations

This year, we challenge every member of our community to embody the values of kindness, collaboration, and high expectations. We believe that by holding ourselves and each other to these standards, we will see remarkable growth in our students and strengthen our community bonds.

Learning is a journey that comes with its challenges, and its through perseverance and support that we overcome these hurdles. We encourage our students to show grit and determination, especially when faced with difficulties. Your resilience will be rewarded with the joy of personal achievement and growth.

Community Engagement and Support

Our focus on attendance underscores the importance of being present and engaged in our learning environment. We ask for the support of our families in ensuring students attend school regularly, and we remind you to communicate with the office regarding any absences. Consistent attendance is crucial for maintaining the continuity of learning and community participation.

Looking Ahead

There are many exciting events on the horizon, including the commencement of NAPLAN in week 6 for Years 7 and 9. We encourage our students to approach these assessments with confidence and give their best effort.

Furthermore, we invite our entire community to the first School Association meeting of the year, now rescheduled to Thursday, 7th March, at 5:30pm in the staff room, following the postponement due to last week's extreme weather conditions. Your involvement is invaluable to us.

In Closing

As we move forward, let us all commit to supporting one another, embracing our themes, and making this year one of significant growth, achievement, and community spirit. Together, we can create an enriching and supportive environment for all our learners.

Thank you for your continued support. Here's to a fantastic year ahead!

Kindly,

Janelle Reeves
Principal

janelle.reeves@decyp.tas.gov.au

Let’s make every day count! By showing up to school every day, your child will have the best opportunity at a bright future. It gives them every chance to be around friends, learn new things, and find interests.

If you’re looking for tips on how to create better attendance habits, visit the Anything can happen website.

Good attendance habits can sometimes be hard to stick, but creating a solid routine can set your child up for success for the year ahead.

⭐ Make every school day count

⭐ Get your child excited for school

⭐ Talk to your child about school

⭐ Celebrate the milestones

⭐ Talk to your child’s teacher or grade coordinator

⭐ Know when to seek help.

Please always talk to us if you’re having trouble getting your child to school. We’re here to help.

Welcome to 2024! My name is Christie Gumley and I am the Assistant Principal of Grade 7 and Grade 8. I will be working alongside our Head of Year, Riley Mislov, and Year Coordinator, Jason Lunden, to support our Grade 7/8 students in their early years of high school.

On behalf of the Grade 7/8 teaching team, we would like to welcome everyone to Huonville High School.  It has been wonderful to see all our new students after the much-needed summer holiday. We are all enjoying establishing new routines, relationships and positive connections with each student in preparation for the year ahead.

This year, all our students start their day in Home Room. This is an important part of your young person’s day here at school. During this time, we check in on student wellbeing, focus on social and emotional learning, as well as providing students time to develop organisation and important life skills. We really appreciate you working with us to ensure your young person is at school and ready to learn by 8:50am so they do not miss this important learning time.

A big thank you to all students who are looking wonderful in their school uniforms. Students should check in with Mr Mislov or Mr Lunden in the morning if there are any concerns regarding unform. Don’t forget hats for break time – we are lucky enough to still be enjoying some lovely sunny days.

Over the coming weeks we will be completing testing to measure students' knowledge, skills and understanding in reading. This information helps teachers pinpoint where students are in their learning journey and what they need to do to progress. Testing will be conducted online and is completed in Term 1 and then again in Term 4. Testing will be completed throughout the day in small groups and results shared with students and families. Please support this important process by chatting to your young person about the test. If you have any further questions, please contact me at christie.gumley@decyp.tas.gov.au

We are looking forward to working with all our students and staying in contact with our community this year. Please don’t hesitate to contact any of our teaching team via email or phone should you have any questions or concerns.

Christie Gumley
Assistant Principal Grade 7/8

christie.gumley@decyp.tas.gov.au

The focus for culture and wellbeing this term will be attendance. School staff will be contacting parents where there are 5 or more unexplained absences.

Educational research shows that having an attendance rate of less than 90% leads to a disconnect from learning and reduced educational outcomes. The homeroom teaching team are making it a priority this year to follow absences.

In the homeroom teaching space students are involved in a range of topics this year:

• In year 7 students are focussing on self awareness and understanding themselves as learners with a focus on recognising emotions and expressing them in an appropriate manner.
• In year 8 there will be a focus on school expectations and how to become more organised. There will be a focus on school themes, particularly kindness.
• In year 9 The focus is around students understanding themselves as learners, taking responsibility of their own learning and what it looks like to be a successful learner.
• Year 10 will focus on motivation and self discipline with a focus on becoming work ready. They will also explore various post year 10 options.

Paul Newton
Assistant Principal Yr 9/10

paul.newton@decyp.tas.gov.au 

In 2024, laptops are being rolled out to grades 7, 8 and 9, with HHS becoming a one-to-one environment in 2025.

Grade 7 students who have returned their Acceptable Use and Device Loan forms, have received their laptops, and grade 8 and 9 students will receive theirs shortly.

Laptops are a classroom tool underpinning a lot of the learning that students will do, in the same way as pens and pencils, and both students and teachers are excited about them being available!

There are some important points to remember:

Please return your student's ICT forms to the office as soon as possible, as laptops are not handed out until forms are completed, signed and returned.

Year 10 students also need to return their forms to gain access to the internet.

If you haven't received forms, they can be collected from the front office.

If you have any queries regarding the forms/laptops, etc., you can also contact the ICT Manager, Angela Cooke - angela.cooke@decyp.tas.gov.au 

2024 Validation Forms have been handed out to students - please check your child's bag if you haven't received the form yet. It's important that these forms are updated and returned to school so that we have current contact details, medical details, etc., for your child in case of emergency or in case they need to be collected from school. For safety reasons, we will not let your child leave with someone who is not on their contact list - even if they are a family member - unless we have had notification from you.

If you didn't receive a Validation Form (your child may have been away), please call into the office on 6264 0800, and we'll print one out for you.

This year our school will be participating in NAPLAN Online for Year 7 and 9 from 13th–25th March. This will mean that students will complete the NAPLAN Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy tests on their laptops over this period.

NAPLAN assessments provide parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. They also help teachers to identify strengths and gaps in students’ knowledge and plan our learning programs accordingly.

NAPLAN 2024 information letters have been sent home to parents and carers of Year 7 and 9 students this week - please check your child's bag if they haven't given it to you. If your child didn't receive the letter, you can collect one from the front office.

In the meantime, if you’d like to find out more information about NAPLAN 2024, you can visit www.nap.edu.au.

Cint Rottier
Assistant Principal/NAPLAN Coordinator

clint.rottier@decyp.tas.gov.au 

Hello Parents and Carers!

My name is Jason Lunden, and I’m writing to you as the Grade 7/8 Grade Coordinator. Grade 8 parents and carers may remember me taking on the role in July last year. This year the Grade Coordinator position has changed slightly where I am now responsible for two grades. Saying that, there are many supports above me, including the AST (Advanced Skills Teacher) Riley Mislov, and the Grade 7/8 Assistant Principal, Christie Gumley.

I am communicating to you for three key purposes:

1. As a reminder of who your child’s homeroom teacher is:

• Ben Horne (7 Huon) and Angela Prince, and Justine Krueger (7 Styx).
• Bobby-Jack Bowen Butchart (8 Huon) and Traci Cooper (8 Styx)

2. The focus for culture and wellbeing this term will be attendance. School staff will be contacting parents where there are 5 or more unexplained absences. Educational research shows that having an attendance rate of less than 90% leads to a disconnect from learning and reduced educational outcomes. The homeroom teaching team are making it a priority this year to follow up absences.
   
   
3. To give you some prompting questions to open up discussions with your child about their learning this term.

Your first port of call for parents and carers is your child's homeroom teacher who is the primary pastoral care staff member for your child. It is great for parents and carers to have that connection with the homeroom teacher to address any concerns, otherwise, please feel free to contact me.

Students are starting to receive their laptops for the year. If your student's ICT forms haven’t been returned, please return them as soon as possible, as laptops are not handed out until they are signed and returned to the office.

Also, all Grade 7 & 8 students have been allocated a locker as well as a lock. We have a master key so will be able to access the lockers if they forget their combination. There have been some teething issues learning clockwise and counterclockwise, but they are getting there. This means that no student bags will be brought to classes resolving issues around eating in class and phone use. Yay!

You can connect with your child by asking open ended questions about subject areas.

Questions you can ask your child about MDT:

• What tools are you using in MDT?
• What is the name of the join you used?

Questions you can ask your child about Foods:

• Did you eat the food you prepared?
• What was it?

HPE

Grade 7: students are learning about specifically about the ‘H’ in HPE which is a new concept when transitioning from Primary School. ‘Health’ in all forms is arguably the most important knowledge to gain which is why we are beginning early! To begin the term, we are diving into Social Health with our unit titled: Working as a Team. Through activities, students will learn how to communicate, work together and demonstrate emotions respectfully to create connections and friendships with each other. As they say: ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’.

Questions you can ask your child about HPE:

• What are Ghosts, Clumpers and Wall Huggers?
• What is a gateway in HPE, and how does it affect people?

Grade 8: students are starting their year off with a unit focussing on Resilience – a concept that we are all forever trying to master. The topic challenges students and can be frustrating in a productive way, allowing them to understand the feeling, and take the best decisions going forward. To practice this physically, students are learning the sport of Sofcrosse. This hybrid of lacrosse requires student to learn how to operate foreign equipment and relies on teamwork – two things that will definitely challenge their resilience!

Questions you can ask your child about HPE:

• What does it mean to ‘bounce-back’?
• What are differences between Lacrosse and Sofcrosse?

English

7 Huon: students are developing connections to modes of communication and how we use them in everyday life. Over the coming weeks they will learn to understand the modes which support our learning, such as: responsive listening, appreciative listening and informational listening.

8 Huon: students are developing connections to modes of communication and how we use them in everyday life. Over the coming weeks they will learn to understand the modes which support our learning, such as: responsive listening, appreciative listening and informational listening.

Questions you can ask your child about English:

• What are some listening strategies you have been learning?
• How are these supporting your learning?

HASS

Our students are re-connecting with their learning from last year as they build on their foundation understanding of deep time and ancient civilisations to start learning about the Middle Ages post the fall of the western Roman empire.

Questions you can ask your child about HASS:

• How did ancient cultures use tools to survive?
• What are some examples of the tools they used to do this?

 Visual Art

During Term 1 our Grade 7 students are introduced to the foundations of visual arts practices by experimenting with the Elements of Art. For Term1, these will be line and shape and how they are used to build their skills.

Digital Technology

Students are starting off by learning new ways of working, such as logging on to the network and their laptops. They are also learning how to save and then find their work, and how to share it with their teacher. In the upcoming weeks there will also be some revisiting of cybersafety and how it is important for everyone.

~~~

Keep an eye out for some Instagram and Facebook posts where we will be interviewing students. They can then explain what students are up to (perhaps more engagingly than this beautiful letter I am writing).

That is enough for now.

Regards,

Jason Lunden
Grade 7/8 Coordinator

jason.lunden1@decyp.tas.gov.au 

Psychologist Michael Hawton provides parents and carers with seven simple steps to enable them to support their anxious children to return to school consistently. 

Click on the link below for more information:

Immunising your child provides effective protection against preventable sickness and disease.

School-based immunisation program

All routine school-based adolescent vaccinations are given to students in Year 7 and Year 10. These include:

• diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine - one dose (Year 7)
• human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) - one dose* (Year 7)
• meningococcal ACWY - one dose (Year 10)

*people with severely immunocompromising conditions require a 3-dose schedule

For more information about Gardasil® 9 please refer to the HPV vaccine fact sheet outlining changes under the National Immunisation Program in 2023 from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. 

Each year, all students receive an immunisation information sheet attached to the consent form.

The dates for vaccination sessions at Huonville High School will be communicated to parents and carers shortly - we expect that the first sessions will be early May. You will receive a consent form for your child to have the vaccination. It is very important that you read and fill out this form correctly and return it by the due date. There is also an electronic version of the form available if you prefer that - these have been sent to Year 7 and 10 parents who had an email listed. If you didn't receive one, but would like to, please call the office (6264 0800).

Where to go for more information:

• your family doctor or practice nurse
• the Department of Health on 1800 671 738
• visit the National Immunisation Program Schedule
• find more information on infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases:

You must contact the Department of Health if your child ever contracts one of the following infectious diseases:

• Measles
• Meningococcal disease
• Mumps
• Whooping Cough
• German Measles
• Tuberculosis.

The Department of Health can be contacted on 1800 671 738.

Dear Parent/Guardians,

My name is Sophie Rainbird, and I am writing to you as the Grade 9/10 Coordinator contact for 2024 at Huonville High School. This year I will be working alongside Adrian Dorrington (Year 9/10 Advanced Skills Teacher) and Paul Newton (Assistant Principle in charge of Year 9/10).

I am communicating to you for three key purposes:

1. As a reminder of who your child’s homeroom teacher is:

• Andrew Koppelman (9 Styx), James Belstead (9 Weld), and Aimee Lui (9 Huon)
• Will Sloss (10 Huon) and Talia Simone (10 Styx)

2. The focus for culture and wellbeing this term will be attendance. School staff will be contacting parents where there are 5 or more unexplained absences. Educational research shows that having an attendance rate of less than 90% leads to a disconnect from learning and reduced educational outcomes. The homeroom teaching team are making it a priority this year to follow up absences.
   
   
3. To give you some prompting questions to open up discussions with your child about their learning this term.

On behalf of the Grade 9/10 teaching team, we would like to welcome everyone to Huonville High School. It has been wonderful to see all our students after the much-needed summer holiday. We are all enjoying establishing relationships and positive connections with each student in preparation for the year ahead.

The role of the homeroom teacher is to be the primary pastoral care staff member for your child. They can assist with issues that pop up from day to day and have the best knowledge of your child’s learning and wellbeing needs. If you cannot, for whatever reason, contact your child’s homeroom teacher, I am the next best person to contact with your concerns.

Engaging parents in their child’s learning is critical for students to develop sound values around the importance of a good education. It is also critical for parents to act as partners with the school in supporting their child in their learning endeavours. Below is a short summary of what learnings are occurring in each subject, with some open-ended questions that might spark some engagement between your child and their learning that is currently linked to their schoolwork. Parents are also encouraged to contact teachers with any questions or concerns around their child’s progress at any stage of the year.

Below is our school’s Term 1 learning:

English

Year 9: we are learning about the different types of text (persuasive, informative, and imaginative) that we might seeing in our everyday lives, as well as the types of text features and language that you might expect to see in each of the major text types. We are also looking closely at different comprehension strategies, such as inferring and predicting, that can help us understand what the main purpose of the written text is.

Questions you can ask about their learning in English:

• What is your favourite type of text to read? Informative, persuasive, or imaginative, and why?
• What type of comprehension strategy helps you with your reading the most?

Year 10: we are studying the novel “The Secret River” as we learn to understand different perspectives by using a combination of comprehension strategies such as visualising, predicting, and inferring. The novel looks at early settlement in Australia, and considers different experiences of European settlers and Indigenous Australians. The goal is to develop our own interpretations of the text.

Questions you can ask about their learning in English:

• What types of comprehension strategy helps you with your reading the most?
• How does visualising help you to connect with a novel?

Maths: 

Year 9: students are revising the number system through content of fractions, decimals and percentages, order of operations, directed numbers, powers, and roots and algebra. The Year 9 maths team have already witnessed some great engagement in mathematics and are excited to continue to set high expectations for 2024.

Questions you can ask about their learning in maths:

• What does BODMAS mean?
• What happens in maths when you multiply a negative number with a negative number? E.g. -5x-5=
• What happens when you add a negative number to a negative number? E.g. -5 + -5 =

Year 10: to prepare for the Grade 10 content, students have been reviewing some learning from Year 9 before they begin their first unit on Algebra in Week 4. Ms Liu and Mr Rottier have been impressed with all students’ application and the care they are taking in their work this year, and will continue to expect these high standards as the year progresses.

To prepare for our algebra unit, you might like to start thinking about the following question:

• What is the difference between an expression and an equation?
• How can I balance an equation?

HPE

Year 9: students are engaging in an ultimate frisbee unit. This unit is aimed at learning the skills required to successfully play in an ultimate frisbee match. This unit also focuses on students learning how to create space, cooperative play and decision making.

Questions you can ask about their learning HPE:

• How does cooperative play and positive decision making create a big impact in sporting games?
• What do you think the most important trait for success in sport is? Why?

Year 10: students are engaging in a “learning through movement” unit which provides students with the opportunity to actively practice the skills they are learning. The unit involves students participating in a variety of games and activities focused on improving throwing techniques, whilst also learning effective communication and teamwork.

Questions you can ask about their learning HPE:

• How can communication be used in a variety of scenarios and sports; how should we adapt to differing activities?
• What do you think the most important trait for success in sport is? Why?

Homeroom

Year 9: the focus is around students understanding themselves as learners, taking responsibility of their own learning and what it looks like to be a successful learner.

Year 10: the focus will be on motivation and self-discipline with a focus on becoming work-ready. They will also explore various post-Year 10 options.

Thank you for your time, and please reach out to your child’s homeroom teacher or myself with any questions around our content or other matters.

Sophie Rainbird
Grade 9/10 Coordinator

sophie.rainbird@decyp.tas.gov.au

Dear Parent/Carers,

Hello and a big welcome to 2024! We have been extremely pleased to see so many new and returning faces in our Year 11-12 space over the last two weeks.

My name is Clint Rottier, and I am the Assistant Principal of Grade 11 and 12. I will be working alongside our Year 11-12 Advanced Skills Teacher, Ari Powell, and all of our staff to support our Grade 11-12 students as they navigate their way through this very important year.

Students got straight into things on their first day at the Trade Training Centre, with inductions into their courses. We have a mix of new and returning educators in the Trade Training Centre this year:

• Agriculture – Ben Sculthorpe (brendan.sculthorpe@decyp.tas.gov.au)
• Aquaculture – James Melbourne-Thomas (james.melboune.t@decyp.tas.gov.au)
• Automotive – Cameron Alexander (cameron.alexander@tastafe.tas.edu.au)
• Construction – Jaiman Reid (jaiman.reid@tastafe.tas.edu.au)
• Engineering – Tim Jones (tim.jones1@tastafe.tas.edu.au)
• Hospitality – Belinda Stewart (belinda.stewart@decyp.tas.gov.au)

And of course, Judi Cawthorn (judi.cawthorn@decyp.tas.gov.au) continues in her role as Trade Training Centre Coordinator.

For our full-time students, expectations and routines have been set in our 11-12 classrooms, and students have received outlines of what to expect and when for their courses. Teachers in this space are:

• English Inquiry 1 and 2 – Ari Powell (ari.powell@decyp.tas.gov.au)
• Career and Life Planning 2 – Ari Powell
• Numeracy 1 – Wayne Meyer (wayne.meyer@decyp.tas.gov.au)
• Essential Maths 2 – Wayne Meyer

We continue to focus on our themes of Kindness and Collaboration for 2024. Students know and understand what these themes look like in our learning spaces. This year we have also introduced High Expectations as a theme. This means we have high expectations for all our students and staff at Huonville High School. All our staff will hold students to the highest of standards and support them to reach these expectations.

Thursday, 28^th March, is a state-wide Year 11-12 Moderation Day. On this day, no classes will be running, and the Trade Training Centre will be closed to all Year 11-12 Students.

Thursday, 4^th April is a compulsory leave day for all TasTAFE staff. This means that Automotive, Construction and Engineering courses will not be running on this day. Students enrolled in these courses are encouraged to use the day to as a study-at-home day. Please note: Agriculture, Aquaculture and Hospitality classes will run as normal on this day.

As the term progresses, we will share more subject-specific information with students and families.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, you can contact myself or Ari Powell. Alternatively, you can contact your child’s teacher directly if you have a subject specific question.

We look forward to working in partnership to achieve great outcomes for our students this year.

Regards,

Clint Rottier
Assistant Principal Yr 11-12

clint.rottier@decyp.tas.gov.au

SZapp is a direct communication channel to parents and carers; a mobile app that’s free to download. SZapp allows Huonville High School to send notifications to our parents and carers at any time, as well as being a platform where the school's important information is available anywhere, anytime, on mobile devices.

Features:

Newsletter subscription link and archive of all previous newsletters News Feed – which will allow us to send notifications as a reminder of things that are coming up Forms and Documents – which provides digital access to all forms sent home in hard copy Link to call the school directly or to access the school website Comprehensive school calendar that is continually updated Bus details Staff email contacts And much more…

Apple devices: Download and install SZapp.

Android devices: Download and install SZapp.

The Tasmanian Government's Youth Jobs Strategy aims to improve youth engagement in employment, further education and training.

The Youth Jobs Strategy is a collaboration between the Department of State Growth (Jobs Tasmania) and the Department for Education, Children and Young People. It will be finalised in the first half of 2024.

We will continue to provide updates as the Strategy is developed. In the meantime you can browse this site to:

• Find out about how we are developing the Strategy
• Get some practical advice on who can help you, or a young person in your life, on their work or learning journey right now
• Learn about some young Tasmanians doing amazing things.

For more information, click the link below:

NILS is helping families get students equipped for new school year.

Minister for Education, Children and Youth, Roger Jaensch, said the Tasmanian Liberal Government supports a number of initiatives that can help people with the burden of back-to-school expenses.

“At this time of year, we know that parents are looking at upfront costs for things like school uniforms, textbooks, laptops and computers,” Minister Jaensch said.

“I would encourage people who are in difficulty to reach out to the No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS), which can help with no interest loans to pay for education essentials that are integral to enable learning.

“The Tasmanian Liberal Government is providing $1 million each year for NILS to help Tasmanian families access safe, fair and affordable credit in their time of need.

“We know that there are cost of living challenges as a result of rising interest rates as well as rising food and petrol costs for many Tasmanians and having access to loans with no interest, fees or charges, can be an enormous relief.

“Our Government is tackling the cost of living pressures in many ways, including levy relief for families in need because we want to ensure students are able to access, participate and engage in learning.

“We will continue to do what matters for all Tasmanians.”

To find out more go to www.nilstasmania.org.au or phone 1300 301 650.