New Town High School

ISSUE: No.3, Friday 11 March 2016

2016 CALENDAR TERM 1 14 March

Eight Hour Day—Public Holiday

16 March

School Photo Day

World Challenge Presentation

6.30-7.15pm

22 March

School Photo’s 2nd Shoot

23 March

G7 Immunisations

25 March to 29 March

Easter Break

30 March to 1 April

7/8 Band Camp

4 April

Progress Reports Distributed

6 April

Inter-High Swimming Carnival

7 April

Last Day of Term 1

8 April

Moderation Day

TERM 2 25 April

Anzac Day

26 April

Term 2 Commences

10 May to 13 May

NAPLAN Testing

FROM THE PRINCIPAL Yesterday I had the privilege of undertaking a tour of the new facilities that

are nearing completion at New Town High School. The facilities will be

open for the start of Term 2. The new areas will provide a proper en-

trance to the school for parents and visitors and this will see an end to the

great tradition of visitors to the school having to navigate their way through

our buildings to find the administration area. This will mean that the area

currently used for temporary parking will be available again for student use

and we are currently working on plans to convert the current office space

into student centred learning spaces.

Over the past two weeks we have run our Peer Support Camps. Close to

two hundred of our Grade 7 students have participated in the program.

The aim of the camps is to assist our students successfully transition from

primary school to high school. Feedback from our students clearly indi-

cates that the camps have been a great success.

Over the past several years we have been implementing the Australian Cur-

riculum in Tasmanian Government Schools. The Australian Curriculum

website has a new parent information area that teachers and parents can

now access for literacy and numeracy information across all areas of the

curriculum.

The ‘Information for Parents’ resource has colourful examples and visuals

of ‘typical student learning’ from Foundation/Prep to Grade 10. For further

information regarding the curriculum please visit the website below.

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

An increasing research base in education clearly shows that there is a direct

link between regular attendance at school and educational attainment. Our

current attendance rate is 91%. This rate is an improvement on the same

time last year. It is interesting to note however, that a student with an at-

tendance rate of 91% at the end of the year will miss about 17 days of

school over the course of the year. It is important that students attend

school unless there is a valid reason for an absence. Your child’s Home

Group Teacher monitors attendance each week, if you have concerns re-

garding your child’s attendance please do not hesitate

to contact them.

On 1 April your child will be bringing home the first

of three school reports for this year. The Progress

Report provides a snapshot of the progress that your

child has made so far this year. Some of our students

may need “reminding” to give you the reports once

they are sent home.

In his State of the State address on 9 March 2016, the

Premier announced the Tasmanian Government’s

proposal to extend the compulsory years of educa-

tion and training by:

lowering the compulsory school starting age from

5 years to 4 years and 6 months; and

lifting the minimum education and training leaving

requirement to the completion of Year 12 or

equivalent or 18 years, whichever occurs first.

Extending the compulsory years of education and

training would ensure that more young Tasmanians

would have access to high quality early learning soon-

er and more would complete Year 12 or equivalent

before they turn 18.

The new arrangements would come into effect in

2020. This means that children born on or before 30

June 2016 would be eligible for kindergarten in 2020

and would be required to enrol in Prep in 2021.

The change to the minimum leaving requirements

would apply to students in Grade 7 in 2016, which

means they would be in Year 11 in 2020.

The Government will seek feedback from the Tasma-

nian community on proposed reforms in the coming

weeks. Further information is available at the Educa-

tion Act Review website [http://tased-education-

act.blogspot.com.au].

Jason Szczerbanik

GRADE 7 NEWS Dechaineux Grade 7 Peer Support Camp

On Monday 29 February all Dechaineux Grade 7’s

went on a Peer Support Camp to Orana at Roches

beach along with Peer Support Leaders. The night

before we had to pack lots of changes of clothes and

some snacks. We set off from school at 8.45 with a

thirty minute drive to the camp. We stayed in cabins

in our Peer Support groups of seven to eight people.

We stayed for two nights and three days with activi-

ties on each day.

Some activities were, surfing at Clifton Beach

where we caught a few waves and some people

even managed to stand up, archery where we

learnt the techniques and safety, camp catering was

a great experience where we got to cook for the

rest of camp. The other activities we took part in

were, beach runs, kayaking, raft making, grokking,

beach volcanoes, survivor challenge, group plays

and frisbee golf. The food that we ate was really

good and Mrs Weitnauer did an amazing job cater-

ing. We couldn’t have had our camp without Mr

Howard and all the other teachers and Peer Sup-

port Leaders. Thank you! Hamish Watson & Dylan Cooper, 7D2

Ellis Camp Report

On Wednesday 2 March Grade 7 Ellis went on the

Peer Support Camp. On the first day we were

split into our six groups. Once we split into

groups we started the activities. Throughout the

camp we had a great variety of activities and we all

got to do each one.

Out of all the activities surfing was definitely the

crowd favourite where two groups at a time went

to Clifton Beach and got suited up and then hit the

waves. The waves weren’t the biggest but we still

caught them all the way through to the shore. An-

other favourite was archery. We went into an

open space out behind the camp and were in-

structed on how to put our arrows on the string

and pull back the bow. We learnt pretty quickly and

took some shots at the target. We managed to hit a few

balloons and a few of us even hit a bullseye.

After each exhausting and thrilling day we went back to

camp and had a delicious meal cooked by Ms Guerzoni

and Ms Logan with the help of the fantastic groups. Af-

ter our dinner on the first day we went out on the beach

and made some very cool and colourful volcanoes.

One of our traditions on

Ellis camp is getting up at six

in the morning and going on

a wakening beach run. The

run was about 4km long de-

pending on how much effort

you put in. After our run

we had breakfast and then

went to our rooms to get

ready for the day. One of

our other activities on the second night was the Red Fac-

es Play. That was great fun especially with the judges,

“Judgen” Dudgeon, Mrs Dineley and the “fair” Mr Shep-

pard. We had some great performances and hilarious

jokes.

Another good activity was raft building where we

planned, built and tested our rafts and then had a race. It

was a great teambuilding activity and it was a great com-

petitive activity as well. All in all we had a great camp

with lots of activities, great food and just a great time to

spend together

as a house.

Brayden Butler & Lewis Rose 7E1

GRADE 8 NEWS Next week the Grade 8’s will be starting their first

Lunch Time Sports Competition; the Student Repre-

sentative Council have decided on Home Group

Basketball with Division A being held on Mondays

and Division B on Wednesdays. The Sports Leaders

are currently discussing the rules for the tourna-

ment.

Last week 8E2 wrote letters to the SRC about prob-

lems in the school grounds such as projectors in

class rooms being offset, a library suggestion box

and a faulty lock on one of the toilets. The SRC

have assigned people for each problem and to work

on resolutions.

So far Toby Burridge, 8E2, has nearly raised $1,000

for the World’s Greatest Shave; he is doing the

shave after school today. The SRC went around

Home Groups on Thursday and Friday morning to

collect any donations. We were really pleased to be

able to help Toby in his fundraising.

Lochie Payne and Joseph Woolcock

Grade 8 Media Officers

GRADE 9 NEWS Aspire Connect Achieve

Steps Towards Leadership

During Period 3, Thursday 3 March, thirty-one aspir-

ing candidates presented their election speeches to

the grade. All of the boys were well-prepared and

spoke confidently about their experience, ability and

overall enthusiasm to join the Grade 9 Leadership

Team.

Mrs Isles has mentioned on several occasions how

impressed she was with the respect and support the

audience showed to their fellow peers who were

presenting their speeches to their grade.

2016 Grade 9 Leadership Team Candidates

Voting opened on Monday 7 March and closed on

Thursday 10 March, 2016. This allows for all Grade

9 boys and their Grade staff to have the opportunity

to vote. Election results will be published in the next

Newsletter. We wish all of the candidates the best

of luck and thank each one for putting themselves

forward for serving and representing our grade.

Healthy Body and Mind

The Grade 9’s are continuing to participate in Mr

Newbold’s Lunchtime Running Club every Monday

and Wednesday. The grade is also beginning to

learn more about developing, having and maintaining

a

Positive Growth Mindset. This links into our grade’s

ethos – Aspire, Connect & Achieve.

We will soon be further launching the extension of the

ethos for the boys’ senior years at New Town High.

Keep a look out for the ‘3 Ls’!

Shaun Newbold & Jillian Alexander

Grade 9 Coordinator & Grade 9 AST

GRADE 10 NEWS At the time of writing this newsletter the Peer Support

Camps will have come to an end. From all accounts,

the Peer Support team have been exemplary in their

conduct and attitude whilst on the Grade 7 camps.

Thanks to Mr Howard and Mr Tabart for organising the

program.

Our Prefects recently attended a Leadership Workshop

which was very successful – see Sachiel Paradzik’s re-

port.

Our grade Soccer Competition has started – 10D2

were successful in the first round. Best players were,

Joshua Cooper, Caleb Burridge and Alexander To-

selli.

A reminder to parents, carers and students that Thurs-

day is formal uniform day – no student has a PE related

subject on Thursday. Mr Harrison will be out and

about each Thursday Home Group checking uniform!

The reality that our boys will soon be moving on to

the next stage in their lives ‘hit home’ on Tuesday

when staff from Elizabeth College addressed our

Grade regarding the transition process for next year.

Boys will have a one on one session with a college

teacher in the next few months, as well as other fol-

low up opportunities during the year. All of these

opportunities will assist students in the important

decisions that need to be made around course selec-

tion for next year.

Prefects are selling tickets for our Easter Raffle during

Home Group over the next few weeks. Parents and

carers can also purchase tickets from the main office

in the lead up to Easter. The raffle will be drawn

Wednesday, 23 March.

Leone Lamont & Andrew Harrison

Grade 10 Supervisors

Leadership Workshop

On Monday 1 March, all Prefects went on a trip to

the Hotel Grand Chancellor for the GRIP Leadership

Conference.

Leaders of all sorts from many Tasmanian high

schools attended the event. The New Town High

School Prefects participated in the conference to

learn about new ideas, leadership and skills that our

leaders may use to further better the school.

The day was organised into four parts, with morning

tea and lunch breaks in between sessions. The first

part of the conference was the introduction, where

the organisers explained just what GRIP was and

what the actual goal of the day was. The goal was to

learn and refine everyone’s leadership skills and to

keep everyone interested, the hosts added ‘energiser’

activities in to the sessions.

The third and fourth sessions consisted of two differ-

ent choices of talks to have; the third session one

could choose between learning how to make an

Joshua Cooper, Caleb Burridge & Alexander Toselli

event exciting and interesting (which is the one a majority

of people chose to do) and the other presentation was

how to make speeches dynamic and interesting. People

who have tried either activity have said to have gotten a

lot of useful knowledge from their sessions. The fourth

sessions were about actions that can be taken to counter-

act bullying and how to motivate others. After that was

the ‘end session’ where the hosts held a final energiser

activity and essentially closed out the day.

After asking the New Town High School participants what

the most interesting activity of the day was, I couldn’t get

the same answer from anyone! Everyone seemed to enjoy

different activities and sessions in their own way!

The Prefects who attended the conference learned many

valuable lessons and skills to not only improve themselves

as leaders, but to develop their understanding on how to

really make a change in the school. All of the sessions

were packed with information and experiences that will

stick with the participants for a very long time. The

knowledge gained from the conference made it very

worthwhile experience.

Thanks to Mr Harrison for organising the day and supervis-

ing the prefects at the workshop.

Leadership Report by Sachiel Paradzik

ART NEWS I seems only like last week that school started and we now

find ourselves halfway through Term 1 with all programs in

The Arts subject areas fully underway.

Your boy’s enjoyment of The Arts is appreciated and there

are some good things we can all do to help him continue

his positive engagement in his Arts subject area. Some

good things to ask your son might be:

Ask him what he is doing, making or perform-

ing? Showing interest is the easiest way of validating

what he does. This is the most powerful thing we can

do to show we care about what he does; and if you

care about what he does at school then it will also vali-

date what we do as teachers, too!

Ask him what he has learnt or learning in an

Arts subject? Could it be he has learnt a new

tune in Music, learnt a new stage technique in Dra-

ma or learnt a new drawing technique in Visual

Art?

Remember not to ask too many questions or confuse

him (or interrogate him) but simply ask casual ques-

tions to show an interest.

In Visual Art I encourage students to take photos of

their artworks with their phones. This is a great way

to experience something your son has made that

can’t be brought home or described using words.

Indeed, I want boys to use their smart phones in ways

that are useful in his education.

Phones are amazing! Imagine ten or twenty years ago

thinking that we would be able to record sound, take

photos, make films AND be able to connect to the

internet via a small hand held device that can fit into

your pocket. Boys use their phones on a regular ba-

sis to research information that is relevant to their

Art projects and in the Arts we want to harness that

magic for learning.

Finally, Progress Reports will be sent to you in the

near future. This will give you a general picture on

how your son is performing in his Arts subjects. Re-

member full participation is required for him to gain a

C rating. He must make a genuine effort to complete

his Arts projects and engage in his Arts teacher’s pro-

gram in a genuinely positive way, despite his abilities

in that Arts subject, as real engagement is the first

major step to learning and building a future.

Peter Young

HOD - Art

MUSIC NOTES We have large numbers of students involved in the

extra-curricular school music program, Grade 7/8

Concert Band, Senior Concert Band, Guitar Ensem-

ble, Brass Ensemble, Stage Band and Woodwind/

Saxophone Ensembles. Our ensembles rehearse at

different times and new students are most welcome

to attend rehearsals. As new Grade 7 students im-

prove on their instruments they are encouraged to

attend after school rehearsals.

All Grade 7 students who were part of the primary

schools instrumental program are encouraged to at-

tend Monday after school rehearsals 3 to 4pm. Re-

cently new Grade 7 students who were part of the

primary schools instrumental program have received

an invitation to participate in the Grade 7/8 Concert

Band. It is important that these students continue to

play their instrument in our Grade 7/8 Concert Band

and parent support for your son to attend is appreciat-

ed. We are pleased many students are attending re-

hearsals. If your son is unable to attend a rehearsal

please send an apology to the teacher who runs the

program so that we know that they are unable to at-

tend.

Monday After School - The Grade 7/8 Concert Band 3

to 4pm

Tuesday After School - The Senior Concert Band 3 to

4.30pm (at Ogilvie High School)

Tuesday After School – The Guitar Ensemble 3 to 4pm

Tuesday Lunch Time – Woodwind Ensemble

Wednesday After School – Stage Band

Friday Before School– The Brass Ensemble 8am to

8.45am

Friday Lunch Time – Saxophone Ensemble

At the end of March the Grade 7/8 Concert Band will

have their three day Music Camp at Orana, Lauderdale.

The camp information has just been handed out to stu-

dents.

The Senior Concert Band is continuing to rehearsal

with Ogilvie. Last year the combined program proved

to be very successful. Mr Brown from New Town High

School and Mr Reade (from Ogilvie) will share the con-

ducting. They will be rehearsing to perform in the Mel-

bourne Band Competition as well as local concerts.

All Grade 7 students have chosen their instrument and

are beginning to learn how to play them. Our music

program includes literacy. Students are taught how to

read written music notes on their instrument. All of

our instruments use written music including woodwind,

brass and acoustic guitar. Reading printed music is es-

sential to playing an instrument and it is an important

part of literacy in music education. Grade 7 students

have started to borrow instruments for homework

practice. All music students are required to do home

practice as part of their weekly homework schedule.

Instrument borrowing is for overnight loan only and

borrowed instruments must be returned the very next

morning.

Andrew Sweeney

Music

CYBER SAFETY In view of media discussion about inappropriate online

content that targets children, we remind parents and

carers to become familiar and review your son’s safe

technology use. Some resources to support families

include The Australian Communications and Media Au-

thority provides advice at esafety.gov.au and Cyber

Smart www.cybersmart.gov.au.

Sally Isles

Assistant Principal

MY EDUCATION NEWS Below are responses from some ex-New Town

High School students now attending Elizabeth Col-

lege.

Choosing my Subjects:

David: I think that the Transition activities such as the

classes run at NTHS by Elizabeth College staff and 1:1

course counselling really helped me make a decision on

which courses I chose. I also found just selecting things

that I was interested in was really helpful as well.

Louis: During Grade 10, before coming to College, I

found the Transition sessions very useful, and they

helped me choose suitable courses. The Orientation

Day was also very helpful in being able to try out sub-

jects that I was interested in, but not completely sure

about whether I was going to do them or not.

Isaac: I was helped greatly by Grade 10 teachers and

visiting staff from Elizabeth College. I am planning to go

on to University so I made sure I chose courses that

would give me an ATAR score as well as help me get

into Journalism.

Peter: Talking to past students about their courses and

decisions helped in narrowing my interests. Also, re-

searching on the TASC web-site regarding what was

involved in each course, i.e. essay writing, public perfor-

mances, group work etc.

I have deliberately chosen courses that allow me to enrol

for most undergraduate degrees and though I am still

undecided in what career pathway I am to take, the

broad nature of my subjects gives me a number of op-

tions.

Useful Advice about College:

Josh: The Study load at College really depends on what

subject, you do. While pre-tertiary subjects generally

have a higher work-load than non pre-tertiaries, this is

not always the case.

Jack: One of my favourite parts about EC would be the

Enrichment. Enrichment is a 2 hour timeslot usually on a

Wednesday that allows students to go and do something

of their choice such as rock-climbing or abseiling at a

subsidised cost.

Sean: At EC, there is a wide range of counsellors and

support staff to talk to if you ever need some help. As

well as there being dedicated timeslots for students to

ask teachers for subject assistance, there are also coun-

sellors and a chaplain, all of which are more than happy

to help you deal with the ups and downs of College life.

New Town High School

6 Midwood Street, New Town, TAS 7008

Phone: 6278 0400

Absence Line: 6278 0499

Fax: 6278 1717

E-mail: new.town.high@education.tas.gov.au

Web: http://newtownhighschooltas.org

https://www.facebook.com/NTHSTasmania

Sally Isles

Assistant Principal

PEER SUPPORT CAMP 1 & 2