With just two weeks left of Term 4, the end of year assessment, event and excursion frenzy has well and truly begun, and I am excited to be able to share and reflect on some of the recent experiences had by students with our Parklands community. 

Our teaching staff are currently working hard to gather and assess student learning in time for reports to go home to parents on Friday, December 10. Next year brings some exciting Department of Education (DoE) driven changes to the way we report against student learning, which will see improved communication about your child’s learning and learning needs, along with additional information and clarity about your child’s overall rating. We look forward to sharing further information about the new reporting system with parents and carers during Term 1 next year. 

When writing newsletter articles, I often refer to the opportunities that students are afforded at Parklands High School. During the past two weeks, many students have been given the opportunity to be part of a range of activities and events presented to them. Miss Samantha Cordwell and Mr Jeremy Legg recently gave students the opportunity to audition for our 2022 production – Back to the 80’s. Both staff members provided a professional, safe, and nurturing environment for students to showcase their skills and talent and enable them the opportunity to shine with the possibility of joining the 2022 cast. We would like to thank Miss Cordwell and Mr Legg for their passion, commitment, and organisation in the Arts at Parklands High School. 

Recently, 10 of our Year 7 boys attended a two-night camp at Cradle Mountain. This camp was an opportunity for these students to step outside their comfort zones, demonstrate their resilience and tenacity, whilst tackling the coveted Cradle Mountain Summit. These students were accompanied by some highly skilled adults which included our Police in school’s person – Senior Constable Kellie Little, Cradle Mountain Police Officer – Elma Van Breda, OIC Marine Police officer – Senior Sergeant Russell Judges, Scouts Tasmania representative – Brendan Bugg, our Year 7 Grade Coordinator – Mr Kirk Hampton, and Teacher – Mr Anthony Hall. We would like to sincerely thank these adults for providing a unique and meaningful opportunity to our Year 7 students and we hope that the memories created for these students are everlasting. 

This week, we welcomed 111 Year 6 students to Parklands High School for our 2021 Orientation Day. Students were given the opportunity to experience a full day in their potential class groupings for 2022; experience a range of subjects (including Maths, English, PE, Art and MDT) and build positive and meaningful relationships with significant adults at Parklands, and students from other schools. Year 6 students were also fortunate enough to meet one of our school support dogs – Franklin Wells. We believe he received a pat from most Year 6 students during the day and I have it on good authority that he is looking forward to spending more time with Year 6 students in 2022. 

Orientation Day also gave our Year 10 students the opportunity to experience life as college students. Students were able to experience their 2022 subject selections, meet and interact with other students and familiarise themselves further with the Hellyer campus and significant adults. Although we will be sad to see our current Year 10s leave at the end of this year, we understand that this is a time for growth and we look forward to hearing about all the wonderful opportunities taken by these young adults in the very near future. 

I would like to conclude by thanking all of our staff for continuing to provide our students with high quality learning experiences and by reminding students that the remaining two weeks is an opportunity to continue to display high expectations of their learning, behaviour and participation in end of school year events. It is an exciting time of year and we look forward to all students being able to take part in the events and celebrations yet to take place. 

Mrs Bianca Munday

Assistant Principal

Two Year 9 Parklands High School students, Jenique Howard and Taleah Smith were recent recipients of the prestigious Frank MacDonald Memorial Prize. The Frank Macdonald Prize is a coveted essay based competition aimed at promoting and preserving the ANZAC spirit. During February 2022, these outstanding students, along with 10 other Tasmanian school student recipients, will initially travel to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, followed by a 10 day trip in April to Perth and Albany in Western Australia, and Darwin and Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. The trip will conclude at the ANZAC Day service in Darwin. We are extremely proud of the aspiration and determination shown by these Parklands students.

Core Value Awards

Congratulations to all our Core Value Certificate Recipients:

7B – Rhianna Wighton

7C – Raikkonen Busscher

7D – Tayah Johnston

7E – Bianca Malley

8A – Mitchell Young

8B – Danika Johnston

8C - Maddison Connelly

8D – Riley Phipps

9A – Cooper Armstrong

9B – Jack Medley

9C – Alex Love

9D – Cobee Rooks

10A – Jace McCulloch

10B - Natalie Deacon

10C – Bradley Rieder

AdMan – Tobias Blight

The Hub – Tyreece Smith

A.C.E - Piper Leslie

On the 26November, the first ever State Inter High Athletics carnival was held at the St Leonards Athletics Track. Three Parklands High students represented the North West High School Sport Association: James Frankcombe, Jackson Tolputt and Ethan Moyle. James won the 800m and the 1500m; Ethan came second in the discus; and Jackson came third in the relay. This was a great opportunity for the boys to represent the North West Coast. 

James Francombe

On Friday the 19th of November, we as a school held our 2021 Athletics Carnival. Through complications with the weather, the HPE team had to jam pack the day into one. On the Wednesday, we held the 1500m races for all grades. The 9’s and 10’s in the morning and the 7’s and 8’s afterwards. A big well done to all participants and James Frankcombe, who broke the Year 10 record.

On Friday, the day began with Mr Costelloe announcing where we would be heading for our first field events. During the time we were at the events, the 100m heats were being marshalled ready to see who will make it into the finals later on in the day. Everyone’s participation levels were high and so was the quality of our sprinters. This included exceptional performances from Daniel Langdon, Jackson Tolputt, Nikita Hennessy, Shiralee Campbell and Chad Markota really putting on a show for the parents and the rest of the school to see. Throughout the day, we saw athletes from Breone, Nairana and Tarapa really battling it out to see which house will take out this year. Mitchell Burley and Ava Crawford going strong for Nairana, Nikita Hennessy and James Frankcombe keeping Breone on top and Seth Rodriguez and Daniel Langdon killing it for Tarapa. Although our Grade 9 and 10’s were doing great. We saw some new faces in Grade 7 and some returning faces in year 8 really giving everything a go and some even surprising us with their incredible athletic ability. Parklands definitely have something to look forward to in the next few years.

With the day continuing, we saw an uplift in participation and more points going towards all 3 houses. The ice-cream/milkshake van was a real attraction point for all students with the people working having a real hard time keeping up. The line only got bigger and bigger but so did the smiles on all the students faces. Including some of the teachers who snuck in a milkshake or two. The positive vibes were amazing from everyone cheering on their friends and getting behind them when it started burning the most.

We saw more amazing performances in our running events. Some younger students who really did well included Shiralee Campbell and Deegan Emmerton from Grade 7. Shiralee placing 1st in all of her races and Deegan placing 1st in the 1500m and 800m. But just before the day was coming to a close, we saw one more record broken. This was broken by Daniel Langdon in the Grade 9 Long Jump; breaking a record more than 40 years old.

As the day came to a close, everyone made their way to their homegroups to watch the finals of the 100m sprints for all grades. The atmosphere was loud, exciting and nerve racking every time Mr Hampton shouted set. Every 100m winner was deserving and ran a really good race for all to see. A big thanks to all the staff and helpers for making this possible and for the day to be enjoyable for all us students.

By Mitchell Burley and James Frankcombe

The time has come again for our current Year 8 and 9 students to start thinking about Student Leadership for 2022. The program offers students with a vast array of opportunities to grow in areas many employers look for – this year the group were offered 45 different experiences. The opportunities this year have been: Sock Day, Clean Up Australia Day, GRIP Leadership Conference, PCYC Team Building Day, Yellow and Purple Day, Relay for Life, 4x Athletics Carnivals, Lions Youth of the Year, Youth Council, Welcome BBQ, assisting Year 7/8 classes, ANZAC Day Parade, MND Big Freeze, Jocks Ball, 8x assemblies, Jenes for Genes Day, Healthy Living Day, Year 7 Class Captains session, R U Okay Day, Primary Schools Sports Expo, Footy Colours Day, Staff vs Students basketball, soccer, netball, dodgeball, cricket, Tournaments: Table tennis, FIFA, Chess, Cricket, Pink Stumps Day, Halloween Social, Romaine Primary sessions, Movember and assisting with orientation. There is a big focus on communication, determination, reliability, teamwork, patience, adaptability, resilience, reflective practice, organisation and time management. Remember, if you never try anything new, you’ll never know and you might be great at it. Why not give it a go? There are so many opportunities to grow if you have the courage.

Would your child benefit from a Package of Learning?

 Packages of Learning are an integrated approach to teaching subjects, including English, Maths, Science, History or Geography, Technologies and Work Studies.

• Students spend up to 60% of their class time dedicated to a Package of Learning.
• Health and Physical Education, along with elective subjects, are taught outside the Package of Learning.

 Parklands are looking to offer Health and Community Services and Advanced Manufacturing, Package of Learning in 2022.

As part of a student’s learning program, they will be asked to ‘solve’ real-world problems facing industry, learn practical

skills, and participate in a varied range of learning opportunities.

By participating in the Packages of Learning, students will have access to a range of vocational learning opportunities

and gain insights into career pathways by understanding industry trends and future opportunities.

Please download these brochures for further information, and if you would like to find out more or enrol your child, please get in touch with the school as soon as possible.

Cindy Wescombe 

Work Place Coordinator

On Monday, November 29 a group of fifty five Parklands students were given the opportunity to attend the NWHSSA Inter High Athletics Carnival. Parklands participated in the B division carnival, aiming to get back to Division A for 2022. On the day, we competed against seven high schools from around the North West Coast. Parklands congratulates all individuals who were selected and gave their best in each race! A special mention to James Frankcombe, who won all five of his events; Nikita Hennessy placing first in her 100m race; and Mitchell Burley performing exceptionally well. We also saw Russi Sturzaker take out first place in the 100m race. Again a big congratulations to everyone, we look forward to performing in Division A for 2022.

By Tylani Opatha

Narawntapu National Park

On November 29, nineteen keen campers set off for a two-night adventure to Narawntapu National Park. We took our time and loaded up our trailer with our tents, sleeping bags, clothes, and plenty of snacks to get us through the nights.

Our first job was to set up our sleeping arrangements and get one’s bearings of our new home for the next few days. After a lot of pegging down tents and swags we set off for our first challenge to walk Archer’s Knob. As we made our way along the walking track, the weather was amazing, as was the company. We took a few happy snaps at the top and set off for long stroll back along the picturesque Baker’s Beach.

When we arrived back at base camp, it was fair to say we were a little tired and we decided to rest up before heading back into the visitor centre for a barbeque. After a long wait for our snags and burgers due to a very slow burning hot plate we were finally able to enjoy our meal. The last thing to do for the day was to set up our fire for the night so we could toast some marshmallows and celebrate Taylah’s 16^th birthday in style, with a well decorated mud cake collected by Miss Payne. Apart from a snake (it was rubber) trying to sneak into Miss Payne’s tent, some possums fighting over some biscuits in a camp chair, our first night was successfully done and dusted.

Day two was a relaxing day, kicking the morning off with some team building challenges including slack lining and volleyball. After some lunch and chilling around the camp site, we decided to try our hand at fishing, with the aim to catching us some tea. A few keen anglers even got a rare bite and pulled in some tiddlies, but unfortunately, they weren’t big enough for us to feast on. To round out our day, the group allocated with cooking tea, started the process of pasta bolognese for the group. Even though it took a few rounds of mince and pasta, we finally got everyone fed and it was a popular choice. After waiting for the sun to disappear and darkness to take over the night we were finally able to enjoy a game of spotlight and then off to bed.

The next morning, we started the dreaded process of packing up the camp site and loading up the trailer before heading off for a small walk out to the Springlawn Lagoon for some birdwatching and one last stroll along the beach. Nineteen weary campers hoped back onto the bus for a final time heading back to Burnie for a well-earned rest.

Thank you to Miss Payne, Mr Hay and my fantastic Outdoor Education class for an amazing two days of sun filled camping.

On Tuesday 30 December some Year 9/10 senior art students, along with Miss Devlin and Mr Lewis, visited the 2021 Year 11/12 art exhibition at Hellyer College. The exhibition featured the final folio and assessments of Hellyer’s Art students including many from former Parklands High Students, which was exciting to see. As we arrived, we met with former student Tara Palmer and Hellyer Art teacher Christianne Goss who gave us a tour around the art department and exhibition.

The exhibition was fantastic; it was great to see the kind of work produced at college level and what areas of study students can be involved in when they attend college in the future. A few highlights included seeing and hearing about Tara’s work, walking through the science area and seeing the fish and fish tanks, and also seeing so many former Parklands Students’ work (congratulations to those who were also selected to feature work in the 2022 Art Rage exhibition) and the huge variety of subject and studio areas. Well done to all Hellyer Art students, what a fantastic year of work!

This was a great experience and provided much inspiration for staff and students on board.

Emily Devlin

Art Teacher

On Thursday, Year 7 and our Support Hub students participated in a delighful and scenic walk, following Shorewell Creek down through Oldaker Falls into the Burnie Park. Here they rested, luncheoned. From there,  students headed along the picturesque board walk, (keeping an eye out for our local nesting fairy penguins) to the cinema to watch 'Encanto' the latest movie from Disney - where a young Columbian girl has to face the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers. Chatter from students confirmed that the film was enjoyed by all. Members of the public viewing the film contacted the school and commended our students on their exemplary behaviour. It was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate students' hard work in class and their application of strategies over the year to increase the wellbeing of themselves and their peers in Year 7.

This week ten Year 7 students headed off to Cradle Mountain with Constable Kellie for an adventure in the mountains. This was an amazing opportunity for our students to get to know some of our local police outside their primary roles. Constable Kellie meticulously planned the trip, right down to desserts each night. Brendan Bugg from Scouts Tasmania provided meals prepared by his wife Kim. We all agree that the provisions were above anything any of us had experienced camping in the past. Russell (Senior Sergeant) and Brendan organised meals and generally made sure everyone was comfortable at the camp site.

The weather was perfect and at the summit, students were able to see all the way to Granville Harbour where the windmills were visible. Getting to the top took grit and determination. Along the way Constable Kellie and Constable Elma showed our students the caring side of policing where they encouraged, and shared strategies around goal setting. Constable Elma’s stories about SARs (search and rescues) were popular with the boys. The sun had a real bite in it and the boys are sure to remember to slip slop and slap on that sunscreen over summer.

Our three days away with members of Tasmania Police will be remembered by all of us as a life changing opportunity. Walking to the summit is no mean feat, made all too real to students back at the camp site watching the rescue helicopter flying a walker to the NW General Hospital, we had only passed that afternoon, who may not have been as prepared as our group and did not make it to the top. We encourage students to take up any opportunity to participate in programs with Constable Kellie and take away some of her zest for life and skills for the future.

Well done to everyone who participated in the cricket tournament for their passion and dedication. It really made the cricket tournament shine. Thanks to Angus Bray for scoring most of the games and to Bella and Danielle for covering a couple games while Angus wasn’t there. Another big thank you goes to Caleb Ling for being an amazing square leg umpire and the last thank you to Dylan Sweeney for umpiring the games that I was playing in. Well done to the HPE Huskies for taking out this year’s championship over the Year 10 boys team – Parki Dogs.

By Brody Jones

Movember 2021 

Our fundraising target is $1000

Over the last few weeks, Year 8 students have been building rockets as part of their Physics unit. Over this journey, students have been investigating the role that energy plays in both conventional rockets and the small-scale rockets they have built. They have learnt about energy transformations and energy transfer. This week, students began launching their rockets, with varying degrees of success. Students have learnt a lot and had a blast along the way.

7E English poems

They always say

They always say that the ocean is fun!

Yet, we’ve only discovered 10%

They always say that the skies the limit,

Yet, what’s beyond the sky?

They always say that the mountains are amazing

Yet, we don’t know when they will fall

They always say that people are so nice,

Yet, people hate and despise what I identify as.

Written by Erick Harm

Nuclear

The aching feeling

Deadly explosive mushroom

Unforgiving fear

Written by Nataya Mathewson

 Purple and yellow flowers

Purple like paper

Soft like washed dogs

Yellow like the sun

Elegant like a palace

Ultra-coloured like a summer day

Little flower like a baby

Glistening in the sun

Gone in the winter

Thriving in the sun

Written by Bianca Malley

End of the World, part 1

I’m sorry for the blood spatter

that covered your lover’s throat.

For I was only kharma,

returning what he bloat.

The ropes twisting around her arms

Like horrid, thick snakes.

My sharp and eager knife called out my name.

I just had to please it,

For I was kharma once again.

End of the World, part 2

Blood spattering onto the bed,

The dark red staining the sheets and wooden floor.

The stab wound in his neck,

The weapon in my hand.

His corpse laying still like a doll.

Awaiting me to move it. 

To move him.

I did what was right.

I did what was deserved.

For I was kharma returning what he bloat.

by Erick Harm 7E