Montrose Bay High School eNewsletter

Principal's Report

Dear Families,

Unbelievably we have already reached the end of our first term for 2022. It has been a productive start to the year despite being the most disruptive Covid term since 2020 across the state in relation to both student and staff absences. Fortunately, we have been lucky to not hit outbreak level (three classes in the school with 5 or more positive cases). However, in weeks eight and nine we had our peak level of staff absences per day with 10 to 14 staff being either Covid positive or close contacts. Thankfully in week ten we are back down to between three and five.

A big thanks to all our staff this term for going above and beyond in supporting our students, covering classes and picking up extra duties when required. We have been lucky this term to not have to combine classes very often and we have been able to continue the full range of all core classes and specialists’ subjects from grade 7 to 12. 2022 is also the first year since 2018 that our school has been fully staffed, in fact we are over staffed by two this year so that we can better cater for all of our students.

Our enrolment numbers are also up from 581 students in 2021 to 626 students in 2022. Currently we are at full capacity and do not accept enrolments from outside of our local community catchment zone.

As well as being fully staffed and maximum enrolments we have also had great gains in terms of improving student behaviour at school. In term four last year we had a drop in external suspensions of 106% and in term one this year compared to term one last year we have had a further drop of 24%.

We have two staffing changes coming up in term two with Miss Blazely heading interstate for terms two and three. Mrs Bewley will be taking the Outdoor Education classes of Miss Blazely and we welcome Mr Gordon who will join our team taking Miss Blazely’s HPE classes.

Also heading off in week three of term two will be Mrs O’Brien who is having a baby. We wish her and her family all the best on the arrival of their first child. Coming back from maternity leave is Mrs Campbell who will be joining us from the beginning of term two.

We also farewell one of our AST’s, Mr Kieliszek, who has won a new acting AST position at Hobart City High School until the end of the year. Mr Kieliszek has been the Grade 10 coordinator this year with Mr Cook and a new AST has been appointed into the role. I will be able to share their name once the HR department have cleared the selection panel report.

Grade support Structures

We have tried in 2022 to keep our grade support structures the same as 2021 with our Assistant Principals and Advanced Skills Teachers going up with their students. These people along with your child’s Connect Teacher are your first contact point with our school. You can reach them simply by calling our school office.

Grade 7: Frances Cole AP and Matt Rice AST

Grade 8: Ella Hansson AP and Liam Rice AST

Grade 9: Sam Cure AP and Eli Luttmer AST

Grade 10: Johnathon Cook AP and AST

2022 School Improvement Priorities

Wellbeing for Learning
Numeracy – Number inquiry
Literacy – Reading inquiry

As always please keep in touch with our school and follow our journey on Facebook and through our school newsletter and school app product.

Wishing our students, families, staff and community a safe and restful Easter and school holiday break. We can't wait to welcome you back on Monday 2^nd of May.

Duncan Groves

Principal

Changes to reporting in 2022

This year, you will notice some changes to reporting in Tasmanian Government Schools.

Firstly, you won’t see A-E reporting any more for Prep to Year 10 students.

Most families in Tasmanian Government Schools have told us that A-E reporting isn’t meaningful enough for them so the Department is introducing a new 9-point visual scale.

Along with the visual scale a worded description will be included to help you understand how your child is going against the expected standard for their year level. The 9-point scale will show more specifically where your child is at with their learning. This change won’t apply to students in Years 11 and 12.

The second main change you’ll see is that teachers will be communicating with you more regularly throughout the year instead of providing written comments on reports.

This more regular communication might be through online communication, telephone calls, or face-to-face conversations.

By having more regular information about your child’s learning progress you’ll get a better understanding of how your child is going across the entire school year (not just twice a year).

What you should expect across the school year:

Term 1	Week 5-8	Communication focussing on application to learning Or conversation about learning plan goals with families and students
Term 2	Week 6-9	Opportunity for a two or three-way conversation focussing on learning progress, application to learning and wellbeing and/or learning plan goals.
Term 2	Week 10	Mid-year report of learning achievement
Term 3	Weeks 6-9	Opportunity for a two or three-way conversation focussing on learning progress, application to learning and wellbeing and/or learning plan goals.
Term 4	Week 9-10	End of year report of learning achievement

Families will be supported to understand the new reporting requirements and the changes to mid and end of year reports as they are implemented.

Watch the video introducing the changes: Changes to reporting in 2022

If you’d like to know more about why these changes are occurring, visit Review into Reporting to Families - The Department of Education Tasmania

School Association - Montrose Bay High

If you are interested in being a part of the School Association please contact the front office on 6208 2666.

Grade 7

What a start to high school we have had in Grade 7. We have met lots of new people, found our way around the school and tried many different subjects.

In Grade 7 HUM (HASS and English) this term, we have been focusing on understanding the perspectives of characters through the text of Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan and learning about Otzi the Iceman using primary and secondary sources to determine how he died 5,300 years ago. In Grade 7 MAS (Maths and Science) students have enjoyed using the science labs and completing experiments. Our main focus while building laboratory skills has been on mixtures and solutions and how we can separate these things. In Maths students have been upskilling their number knowledge from primary school ready for the high school context. We have been working on place value, BODMAS, decimals and all operations of addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is completed once a week for a 70 min lesson but also is incorporated into our morning and afternoon connect times. This term's focus has been Empathy and learning how we would feel if we walked in someone elses shoes in different situations.

Wordle is a much-loved brain-stretching activity that we enjoy in Grade 7. We start most of our days trying to guess the word in 6 turns or less. If families would like to continue this during the holidays it can be found on the following website: Wordle - The New York Times (nytimes.com).

We hope all our families enjoy the break and we look forward to starting Term 2 on 2nd May.

Frances Cole - AP

Year 7 - Term 1

In Year 8, we have started to use our developing knowledge of the Viking Age to plan and construct Viking longships with as much accuracy to the original designs as possible. We have learnt the time periods connected to the terms Common Era (CE) and Before Common Era (BCE) and are applying them to the construction of a chronological timeline of the Viking Age. We have developed our understanding of some persuasive devices, such as: emotive language, hyperbole, rhetoric, etc. and have applied them in the creation of Silly Product advertisements. We have started to also use them to develop strong persuasive PEEL paragraphs.

Emma Critchley - Grade 8

Grade 9

Term 1 has been a great term in Year 9 with many areas of growth to celebrate. We have continued our focus to demonstrate the Montrose Mindset in everything we do, in particular within our focus value of respect. Specifically, we have been taking care of our place, space and possessions, following reasonable instructions and speaking kindly of ourselves and one another. We have an increased focus on students’ preparation for school and wearing school uniform. Many of our students have been awarded Merit Certificates for their constant displays of these behaviours and participated in our whole school PBS rewards and raffle draws.

In previous newsletter editions, we have presented information about our core subjects. The final core subject to highlight is Health and Wellbeing where our students have been exploring the health benefits that are associated with being physically active. They have also engaged in ultimate frisbee, and net and wall sports such as volleyball during practical lessons. We’d also like to celebrate all the incredible things that have been happening for Year 9 students in Music. Students who elect to study Music have been very busy throughout the term. Concert Band students have been working on the new repertoire for 2022 in preparation for the annual music tour and formal school events. Students have completed five new pieces to a very high standard and are looking forward to the opportunity to perform for the school community. Our Rock Studies students have been learning guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals with our senior students preparing songs to perform for students and staff at lunchtime concerts. We have had some very inspiring performances with an extremely supportive audience. Our Audio Design students have learned to operate the sound and lighting equipment in our performing arts centre in order to run the technical side of school events as well as learning to use recording software to edit sound, compose music, and edit video while creating individual audio-visual projects.

We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Easter and holiday break and we look forward to seeing everyone back in Term 2.

Eli Luttmer - AST

Grade 10

Year 10 welcomes back our full teaching team this week. As COVID and the associated isolation periods has impacted our school our grade 10s are to be commended on how well they have put into practice the value of Growth and Respect to maintain focus on learning goals. Reports have gone home and we encourage you to have a conversation with your grade 10 student around what they feel they have done well this term, and what they feel they should work on improving.

In our English and History learning areas (HASS) students have been exploring Historical Fiction. They have been analysing information from texts to construct a narrative that includes the genre, style, and literary devices of historical fiction. They have also developed their comprehension skills by being able to justify their answers using inferences from a text and supplying evidence. In History they have investigated an overview of the causes and course of World War II. Students have gone on to use chronological sequencing to demonstrate the relationship between events and developments in different periods and places.

Closing out the end of term 1, our Senior's Top orders are now closed and our order is now in the hands of the supplier. Fingers crossed that they have a smooth production run, and students can look forwards to receiving their new tops in the beginning weeks of term 2.

Jamie Kieliszek - AST

Grade 11 - 12

This week the Certificate II in Community Pharmacy group have been discussing the retail aspects of a Pharmacy Assistant's role. Starting Term 2 these students will be taking part in work placement opportunities once a week at local Pharmacies.

Health and Wellbeing

Health and Wellbeing is off to a great start. Grade 7 students have spent term one focusing on developing their social and emotional health. Students have engaged in various invasion games and team building challenges during practical lessons, giving them the opportunity to work with students outside their friendship groups, and step out of their comfort zones. Grade 8 students have been looking at teamwork, and the factors that make a successful team. They have also explored empathy, and learnt how they can be empathic in an active setting. During practical lessons students have put their theory work into practice through numerous team-based invasion games, such as Dragontail. Our Grade 9 students have been exploring the health benefits that are associated with being physically active. They have also engaged in ultimate frisbee, and net and wall sports such as volleyball during practical lessons. In Health and Wellbeing, the term one focus for our Grade 10 students is Lifelong Physical Activity. Students have started to explore the options that are available around their community, and participated in various lifelong physical activities including Finska, Pickleball, Table tennis, and Skittles. Grade 10 students have also engaged in games of lacrosse, indoor hockey and endzone ball during term one.

Science and Engineering Challenge 2022

On Thursday in week 8 a group of grade 9's and 10's had a great day attending the Science and Engineering Competition at the University of Tasmania. The team worked in small groups and completed a series of challenges, competing against other schools for the most inavative, effective and efficient ways to solve problems including an all-day bridge build! The group had a fantastic attitude and gave everything a go, working well together and placing fourth overall! Congratulations to all those who attended.

Relay for Life 2022

This year, Montrose Bay High continued the tradition of participation in the Cancer Council’s Relay for Life fundraiser. Students from years 8, 9 & 10 took it in turns to walk and run around the Domain Athletic Centre for 20 hours over Saturday and Sunday (26^th and 27^th March). The purpose of the event is to celebrate cancer survivors, remember those lost to cancer and to raise funds for the Cancer Council’s research, prevention, information, and support services.

Student leaders held a fundraising barbeque at school in the week leading up to the Relay. With the proceeds from the barbeque and generous donations form our school community and the participants, our team raised $3067 that will go directly to supporting the Cancer Council’s causes locally.

We should be very proud of our enthusiastic, generous, and energetic team of students who represented our school so beautifully, all day and all night.

Thank you to our 10 staff members who spent their weekend making sure our students were safe and comfortable.

We hope to have another great group of students at Relay for Life again next year!

Dates to Remember

14th April	Student Free Day
15th April to 1st May	Easter Holiday Break
24 May	Inter High Carnival
1st June	Cross Country
13 June	Public Holiday - Queen's Birthday

School Notices

TERM 1 - REMINDERS

Student Validation Forms - completed form are past due. Please return immediately. These forms are important for us to ensure we have correct contact information and provides the permission for your student to participate in class excursions. If you require another form please contact us.

Levies 2022 - payments are due by 31 May 2022. Please contact our office if you would like to discuss a payment plan option.

Student Absence

If your student is absent from school for any reason please notify us as early as possible. You can do this via:

Front Office – 6208 2666
Student Administration – 6208 2699
Text message – 0418 137 500
Schoolzine or Montrose Bay High App

When sending a message to advise of an illness, it would be of great assistance if you noted that the absence is NOT COVID RELATED

REMINDER: Early Departure

If you wish to collect your student early please send a note with them on the day or ring before 2.30pm as it becomes quite difficult to get messages to students after this time.

A reminder that students must not use their phones during the school day. If a student needs to go home sick please remind them to go and see their Grade Leader or the office.

Canteen Payments

If your child is ordering food from the canteen, the payment MUST be made via either cash or card. We are unable to accept payment using a phone.

School App

Please sign up for our new school app. Below is a step by step instructions on how to download.

How_to_install_SZapp_PDN_30_10_19.pdf