Taroona Views Issue 7: 1 August 2016... · 2016-07-28 · basis. Information about 2017 Grade 8...
Transcript of Taroona Views Issue 7: 1 August 2016... · 2016-07-28 · basis. Information about 2017 Grade 8...
Taroona High School
Department of Education
Key Dates for 2016
S
Wed 3 August – 7.00 – 8.30pm
Grades 8, 9 & 10 Course Information
Evening
Thu 4 August – 7.00 – 9.00pm
Grade 10 College Information Evening
Hobart College
Sun 7 – Sat 13 August
Senior Band Tour, Queensland
Mon 15 August – 7.30pm
School Association General Meeting
Wed 17 August – 7.30pm
Steve Biddulph Workshop – Raising Boys
THS Gym
Thu 18 August – 7.30pm
Steve Biddulph Workshop – Raising Girls
THS Gym
Thu 25 August
Subject Preferences for 2017 Due
Thu 1 September
Grade 10 RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver
Awareness), Hobart Show Grounds
Tue 13 September
Grade 7 Immunisations
Wed 14 September – 4.30 – 9.00pm
Spring Arts Festival
Fri 16 September
Reports go Home
Mon 19 September – 7.30pm
School Association General Meeting
Wed 21 – Wed 28 September
New Caledonia Trip
Thu 22 September – 3.00 – 8.00
Parent Teacher Evening
Fri 23 September
End Term 3
Taroona Views Issue 7: 1 August 2016
From the Principal
I am honoured and delighted to be appointed as Taroona High School’s Acting Principal for
the remainder of 2016. I want to pay tribute to John O’Rourke for his outstanding
leadership over the last five years. I also thank our school community (students, parents and
staff) for their confidence and support shown me so far in this role. I intend to continue
John’s great work to steadily guide the learning in our school without altering its tenor.
Students
Students in Years 7, 9 and 10 are now in new semester courses. A big thanks to all our
parents for preparing and supporting our students so well in making this transition.
We welcome many new students, including 12 new international students and several
exchange students. We now have 35 international students, being competently managed by
Susan Weston Smith.
The 2017 course selection process will commence soon. Please read the article in this
newsletter and try to help your child consider choices and make decisions based on what
they are good at and what they enjoy, rather than what their friends might be selecting.
My Education (Further information is on the next page of this newsletter).
Our staff professional learning day was spent learning about and planning for teaching My
Education to all our grades. Our teachers are now well equipped to teach this new subject
and all students are participating in these classes with their Home Group Teachers.
Staff Changes
While I am working as principal, Michelle Andrews is now Assistant Principal managing
transition, staff professional learning and supporting student welfare in Years 7 and 8. Claire
Taylor and Rachael Graham are now working as Grade 7 coordinators.
We welcome new teachers, some of whom you will already know:
Laura Hannan (English SAH),
Alison Young (Maths/Science for Clint Rottier),
Jennifer Morgans (Art for me),
Hannah Chapman (Wellness for Wade Nation),
Harold Vanderplas (Maths/Science).
We are pleased to announce the return of Mr David Perkins who is with us to teach one
lucky Maths class and in coming days, Ms Roxanne Pritchard-Christie, who returns from
maternity leave. It will be great to have her back on our teaching team.
External School Review
Yesterday, a team of four principals spent the day at our school interviewing students, staff,
teachers and parents about the school. They will combine these interviews with our school’s
quantitative data to formulate a report on our progress and areas for improvement. Thanks
to everyone for your support and participation on the day. The areas of investigation
centred around the following:
Are we maintaining our high standard of student achievement, engagement
and well-being as the school numbers continue to increase?
Karena Gregory
Acting Principal
Taroona High School My Education Update-2016
My Education is a Kindergarten to Year 12 approach to career and
life planning in schools that will support students to develop the
knowledge, skills and attributes needed to successfully plan and
make informed choices for their future. All state schools from
Years 7-10 are working with students on My Education. Years 11
and 12 will be operating fully next year, as will the K-6 sector.
Taroona High School Grade 7-10 students are all participating in
this program. Students will be able to involve parents in this
work by sharing the class work that is in a Fronter program (THS
My Education). Grade 9 and 10 students will be able to discuss
with parents future ideas of careers, educational programs,
institutions and opportunities by accessing MY Education Online.
Students will be able to operate on both of these programs at
school and at home. Students will need to bring their laptops,
tablets or IPads to school to every lesson. Grades 9 and 10 have
many hours of research and decision-making tasks across a year
and this work will require devices they can use. We have
discovered that phones are not compatible with the software they
will be using. Grades 7 and 8 will spend time working on Fronter
and this will require them to have their laptops with them.
My Education is a coordinated, whole-school curriculum approach
to preparing all of our students for their future. Taroona is using
a 50 minute lesson once a week to deliver the My Education
program. Students will continue this program in Years 11 and 12.
Ensuring that students have the skills, knowledge and
understanding to make well-informed learning, work and life
decisions is essential to an individual’s social and economic
wellbeing and that of the broader community. These procedures
aim to provide opportunities for our students to see the
significance of education in their future and allow them to develop
personal attributes to successfully manage the multiple transitions
they will experience throughout their lives.
Julianne Blackaby
My Education AST
UNSW English Competition
This will be held on Tuesday, 2 August. Those people who are
taking part are reminded of this, as the closing date was several
weeks ago. They will need to report to Room A113 straight after
recess with the necessary pencils, rubber etc.
School Facebook Page
You do not need to log into Facebook to view
this school page: www.facebook.com/taroonahigh.
2017 Course Selection Process
This week students in Grades 8 and 9 were issued with a 2017
Course Selection Guide which will assist them in choosing their
courses for next year.
The Course Guide, not only gives details of the courses offered
from each of the Learning Areas, but also provides students with
guidelines for choosing subjects. It also contains instructions on
how to select courses electronically. Students are asked to
complete this process by Thursday 25th August. Before they do
this, however, students should consider their choices carefully and
should only make their decisions after close consultation with their
teachers and parents/carers.
Parents requiring more information about courses are invited to
attend the 9/10 Course Information Evening on
Wednesday, August 3rd. We will be selling hot drinks at this
event to raise money for our school in Bangladesh.
Grade 7s also choose subjects for next year but on a more limited
basis. Information about 2017 Grade 8 Courses were issued to
Grade 7s via an assembly. At this assembly, Grade 7 students
received the Grade 8 Selection Guide which they should have
brought home to parents/carers. Once again, as with the Grades 9
& 10, courses are chosen on-line.
ALL students in Grades 7 - 9 have been given their personalised
details and log-in code for choosing their courses online. If they
lose their copy, they can get another one from Student Services or
from Ms Flinn.
Maths News
The Australian Maths Competition was held on 28 July with more
than 60 students participating.
The Tasmanian Maths Relays are being held at Rosny College on
Sunday 21 August. Students who are interested in being
considered for a team must collect a letter/form from
Mrs Andrewartha. These must be returned to her as quickly as
possible as membership of one of the teams is very competitive.
Good Character Check
Good Character Check forms are required by the Department of
Education for parent help and school excursions. These are
required by the Department until the 1st September this year.
Please refer to the link below for a form.
https://www.education.tas.gov.au/documentcentre/Documents/Go
od-Character-Check-Application-Form.pdf
Working with Children Card
After 1 September you will be required to have a Working with
Children Card as a volunteer. The site for this is:
http://www.justice.tas.gov.au/.
NAPLAN Online - Trial of the New Online Assessment
Platform
You may have heard that NAPLAN online is being introduced
across Australia over three years from 2017. Tasmanian
Government schools will be administering NAPLAN online from
2019.
NAPLAN online will provide better assessment, more precise
results and faster turnaround of information.
Our school has been selected to trial the new assessment platform
(the computer system the test will be taken on). This trial, called
the Platform Trial and Readiness Test (PTRT), is a chance for the
new platform to be tested in a real-life classroom environment.
The PTRT is not a test of student achievement and results will not
form part of a student’s overall assessment.
Feedback from schools participating in the trial will inform
transition to the online assessment as well as provide valuable
feedback to shape the final development of the NAPLAN online
platform.
During August 2016, students will participate in a trial of the
assessment platform, by undertaking online tests that include
examples of the new NAPLAN online questions. Each test will
take approximately 45 minutes to complete.
If you have further questions, please contact the school on
6227 7700.
School Website
Our school website can be found at:
https://education.tas.edu.au/taroonahigh/. Sign in (top right hand
corner of the page) using education\tah.parent as the username
and parent2012 for the password, then click on Taroona High
School Intranet (top left hand corner). If you are using Internet
Explorer you may need to select ‘Use Other Account’ before
entering the details in the signup window.
Writing Prize
Congratulations to
Jem Nalder (10I), who
won the Year 9/10
Tasmanian section of
the What Matters?
Writing Competition
with her story, It’s Not
Just a Game. Jem will
travel to Sydney for a
writers’ workshop,
receive a cash prize
and is in the running
to win the national
prize.
Science News
It’s been a big year so far for the Science Department. Our
Science building has grown, with the completion of a new Science
Lab, bringing us up to five labs, three of which are gas equipped
‘hard’ labs.
Grade 9s and 10s finished in 3rd place in the Science and
Engineering State Finals, beating all other Southern Tasmanian
Schools. In the Big Science competition, we received 12 High
Distinctions out of 34 entries - an impressive effort! We now
await student results from the National Chemistry Quiz. In two
weeks’ time, Gillian Wallace will take a team of Grade 9s along to
the RACI Titration Competition. We wish them all the best.
Last term a group of Grade 10 students had the opportunity to
spend an afternoon at UTAS with CSIRO Space Scientist,
Rob Hollow, to observe an active pulsar and learn about the
opportunities that exist in Space Science. Science staff had a
professional learning session with Rob, further allowing us to bring
the latest science to the classroom.
Also during Term 2, Mr Rose
and Mrs McWhirter took a
group of 80 Grade 8 students
to the UTAS Geology
Department to explore the
world of Geology, with a
focus upon working in the
industry. Students had an
opportunity to use
radiometric equipment,
microscopes and chemicals.
They encountered an
impressive range of geological
samples and cutting edge equipment.
Coming up very soon is Science Week (15-19 August). While
every week at Taroona High School is Science Week, we do have
some special activities planned. The Grade 8 STEM students will
set up and run a Science Fair for Taroona Primary Students. There
will be a daily science question on the student bulletin, with prizes.
Our Grade 7s will walk along to the IMAS Taroona Laboratories
to investigate the work that happens there. Grade 8s will learn
about how drone technology is being used now and into the
future.
Tim Muir
Head of Science
Ivy Ganey working in the UTAS Geology lab
Minerals under the microscope
Alliance Française Competition 2016
Congratulations to the following students for their success in the
Alliance Française Competition on Friday 24 June at Hobart
College:
Sophie-Marie Young won 1st prize for Grade 10 Conversation
and 2nd prize for Grade 10 Poetry. The poem was titled
Le Printemps (Spring) by Victor Hugo. Bravo et félicitations!
The following students received mentions honorables:
Grade 7 Poetry: (Coco le Perroquet)
Kate Poynter
Sophia Clark
Alicia Wolfe
Dylan Murphy
Narryna Nicholas
The following students in Grade 7, who have French speaking
background, learned the Grade 8 poem and received mentions
honorables in that category (Hors Concours):
Inès Ait Maamar
Bilal Ait Maamar
Daniel-André Buzelin
Grade 8 Poetry: (La Tour Eiffel by Maurice Carême)
Gabby Burke
Grade 9 Reading Comprehension
Marcus Rees
Grade 10 Poetry:
Liam Shea-Butler
Grade 10 Listening Comprehension:
Sophie-Marie Young Liam Shea-Butler
I would also like to acknowledge all the other competitors – you
all worked very hard on a challenging task:
Grade 7: Isla Burton, Josh Harrison, Narryna Nicholas,
Amelia Waldie, Cy Anderson
Grade 8: Xavier Galey, Ruby Brookes, Ella Lord
Grade 9: William Squires
Grade 10: Vienna Markham
I would like to thank Florence Creavin and Anne Gillme for their
assistance and support to get the students to learn or practise
their appropriate sections.
Grade 7 Lunchtime Futsal Competition
Fifteen very enthusiastic teams representing all nine Grade 7
classes took part in the Term 2 lunchtime competition. All games
were played in great spirit and were largely refereed and scored by
Grade 7 students. The Grand Final played between Yellow
Chickens (7Y) and Australasians (7R) was a close affair, with
Yellow Chickens scoring two second half goals to clinch the title.
James Ross did a fantastic job as referee. Winning team members
were Jack Duffy, Isaac Melville, Utsav Lohchab, Otto Schwarz, Alice
Atkinson and Magdalena Chappell.
The golden boot award for the competition highest goal scorer
was a three way tie between Declan Taylor, Tom Roberts and
Otto Schwartz.
Students’ Achievements
Thomas Green (10T) was selected in the
Tasmanian Under 19 Badminton Team that
competed in Sydney from 30 June to 7 July.
This competition was being used to select an
Australian team so the play was of a very high
standard. Thomas played well against very tough
competition. He narrowly lost in the semi-finals
of the Plate competition. His good sportsmanship was noted by a
panel of umpires.
On his return from the Nationals he won the Men's B Grade
Singles at the Southern Tasmanian Badminton Association
Invitational Tournament and came runner up with Siobhan Duhig
(former Taroona High Student) in the B Grade Mixed doubles.
Congratulations Thomas.
Congratulations also to Helena
Robin (8I), who recently competed
at the Sydney Eisteddfod and was
awarded first place in the Song from
Operetta or G & S (14 & Under).
Hannah Navickas (8I) has been selected in the
2016 15 & Under Tasmanian State Netball Team
to compete in 2016 School Sport Australia, 15 and
Under Netball Championships in Adelaide. We
wish her all the best as she competes for her state
at national level.
Winners: Yellow Chickens
Grade Eight Debating Grand Final
This year in Grade Eight debating, we had two Taroona High
School teams entered into the roster. Out of all the eligible
schools in the competition, both Taroona teams made it to the
Grand Final – Taroona High 1 and Taroona High 2. They had each
fought their way up the ladder to first and second place. This is
almost unheard of in schools debating – having two teams from the
same school in the grand final is a huge achievement for Taroona
and shows the prowess of each team.
There was a large audience on the night of the debate, including
teachers from both teams, Grade Ten coaches and parents. We
each had an hour to prepare our speeches on the topic “Students
should be required to play sport at lunchtime.” In the end of what
was an engaging and competitive debate, where each team argued
their case incredibly well, Taroona 1 became the winners of the
Tasmanian Debating Union Class Eight Roster 2016. The decision
from the panel of three adjudicators was unanimous.
It was a rewarding experience for both teams. We would like to
thank Mrs Chilcott and Mr Rose for their efforts in coaching, as
well as the Grade Tens for sharing their experience in debating
with us.
Jessica Pursell (8R) and Annwen Roberts (8R)
Past Student’s Achievement
Former THS student Owen Phillips is a set and
costume designer of Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s
current production, Egg. After being involved
with music and drama both at Taroona and
Elizabeth College, he went on to study a three
year theatre design degree at NIDA, and now
works in Melbourne. His credits include I’ll Eat You Last, Sweet
Charity, working on costume design for Funny Girl, set design for Little
Shop of Horrors. Owen has been nominated for several awards and
he is a recipient of an Australia Council ArtStart grant.
Junior Band Camp
On Sunday 26 June, over 70 extremely enthusiastic Grade 8
students arrived at 3.00pm at Orana Guide camp, for an intensive,
enriching learning experience, not only musically but socially as
well. We ate copious amounts of nutritious food cooked by our
MasterChef Steve, to keep us sustained and raring to go
throughout the camp.
Aside from the hours of magical music making, students honed
social skills as they strengthened friendships, while others
completed intense workouts on the exercise playground. On the
second day we worked with our instrument groups, with the
amazing specialist tutors. The improvement of musical skills
throughout the band was extraordinary and our hours of hard
work had paid off. After rigorous whole band rehearsals on
Tuesday, we were tired, but we dug deep for the team and became
pumped and ready to perform for our family and friends. By the
end we shocked ourselves by the progress we had made and
thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.
Yvette Duhig (8R) and Edie Kirkcaldie (8G)
Snow Tour to Mt Hotham
The school holiday tour to Mt Hotham was blessed with beautiful
snow conditions. Everyone had a great time, especially when the
sun came out on the last day (pictures opposite).
CONTACT DETAILS
Meath Ave, TAROONA, TAS 7053
Phone: 03 6227 7700 Fax: 03 6227 7799
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://education.tas.edu.au/taroonahigh
Download the Taroona High App
The school App can be freely downloaded to your
iPad, iPhone or iPod from the ITunes Apple Store
(https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/taroona-high-
school/id936553095?mt=8 ). This App allows you to keep track of
your timetabled classes, read the school’s Daily Bulletins, read the
canteen menu, view the school’s calendar and many other
wonderful tools. Students log in with their DoE username and
password. Parents can read the school’s calendar and Daily
Bulletins by logging in with username: education\tah.parent
and password: parent2012.
50 Year Reunion – THS Leavers of ’66
Tour of the school & afternoon tea – 1.30pm-4pm; Friday
28 October, Taroona High School
Official reunion evening – 7pm-12am; Saturday 29 October,
Southern Lights Hotel, Kingston (includes complimentary
welcome drink and finger food)
Barbecue/picnic lunch – 12.30pm-4pm; Sunday 30 October,
Taroona Community Hall (BYO food and alcoholic/non-
alcoholic beverages; coffee and tea provided)
Cost: $30 for the Saturday evening event (includes school tour and
barbecue, with no extra charge); for those not attending the Saturday
evening event, there will be a $10 per head charge to cover the tour and
barbecue.
If you would like to find out more about the reunion or contribute
in some way, the committee welcomes your email at
[email protected]. There is also a Facebook page for the
leavers’ reunion; search for ‘Taroona High School 1966 Leavers
Reunion’.