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- Assistant Principal's Report
- Frank McDonald Memorial Excursion 2022
- Student Leadership 2022
- 2022 Laptop Hire Program
- 2022 Levies
- School Photo Day
- Oral Health - FSFVP
- Stringalong 2022
- Parklands Pop-Up Pantry
- Your Go-To Guide to Rapid Antigen Tests
- How to do a NASAL RAT
- Do's and Don'ts of Mask Wearing
- 2022 Tasmania Term Dates
- Somerset Sharks Soccer Club Seeking Players
- Empowerment Support Services
Hello Parklands and welcome to the Week 4 Newsletter. Firstly, a massive pat on the back is required to our students and staff for their approach to the current guidelines for living with COVID-19. Our students have taken on the responsibility of wearing masks, staff are working strongly together (despite not being able to gather in large groups), and our administration team is doing a wonderful job in a busy office. Our school has been supported by the Department of Education extremely well through this time. Recent communication with the Department suggests that the current measures and approaches that have been in place for the first four weeks will continue for the remainder of this term to keep all learners safe.
Parent Communication Term 1
A key part of student learning is the input and support of each student’s parent or caregiver. This term families will receive their child’s interim report on March the 31st. Further to this, all homegroup teachers are calling parents to speak about each child’s transition to the school year and allow parents to share any important information on their child that can support their learning and wellbeing.
School Association
All schools are communities and an important part of this is the School Association. The School Association is made up of the parents, staff, and community members of a school. School Associations exist for each Tasmanian Government School. The School Association is an important part of the school, working with the Principal to achieve shared outcomes for learners attending the school and for the benefit of the whole school community. This year we have four parent members and one community member position available. Please speak to our office team to access a nomination form. Our School Association Annual General Meeting is on Wednesday 30th of March.
Year 7 and 8 Literacy Program
This year, literacy is a priority on the school’s improvement plan. To support and extend our students’ reading skills, the school has introduced a literacy program in Years 7 & 8. Ms Carol Boyd has done a fantastic job leading this priority and we have seen students participating in a range of activities including vocabulary tasks, word definitions, read aloud and literacy challenges. As a school, we are excited to see the growth in our students’ reading abilities as they progress through high school.
Individual Learning Plans
A strength of our school is the diversity of our students. To cater for all learning interests and needs, many students have an Individual Learning Plan. This plan has a social and emotional, literacy and numeracy goal. If your child has an Individual Learning Plan, you will receive a letter discussing how you can be involved in developing the learning plan.
The first four weeks have been extremely positive at Parklands. This has created a strong sense of optimism for the rest of the 2022 school year. We look forward to supporting each child to demonstrate our core values of respect, positive relationships, responsibility, high expectations, and achieving their best with their learning. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your child’s Home Group teacher (listed below) as the first port of call.
Thanks
Home Group |
Home Group Teacher |
Teacher email address |
7A |
Mrs Heidi Kerr |
|
7B |
Mr Atifur Kahn |
|
7C |
Mrs Zoe Smith |
|
7D |
Mr Dylan Costelloe |
|
Year 7 Co-ordinator |
Ms Emily Devlin |
|
8A |
Mrs Trish McPhee |
|
8B |
Mrs Alina Amatullah |
|
8C |
Ms Carlie Howlett |
|
8D |
Ms Cyndra Williams |
|
Year 8 Co-ordinator |
Mr Kirk Hampton |
|
9A |
Mr Jamie Hughes |
|
9B |
Mrs Remi Olomola |
|
9C |
Mr Josh Triffitt |
|
Year 9 Co-ordinator |
Mr Allan Frankcombe |
|
10A |
Mrs Rachel Steele |
|
10B |
Mrs Venessa Harney |
|
10C |
Mrs Mariah Payne |
|
Packages of learning |
Ms Cindy Wescombe |
|
Year 10 Co-ordinator |
Mr Allan Frankcombe |
|
Support HUB |
Mrs Maree McCall |
|
ACE |
Mr Andrew Hay |
|
Support Co-ordinator |
Mr Anthony Hall |
|
Year 11 and 12 |
Mr Leigh Crawford |
Sam Wells
Assistant Principal
Frank McDonald Memorial Excursion 2022
Frank MacDonald Memorial Prize- Canberra Trip
As recipients of the Frank MacDonald Memorial Prize, on Friday the 18th of February Mr Lewis, myself and former Parklands student Jenique Howard, traveled to Launceston to catch our first flight for the weekend. We meet other recipients from the North in Launceston and flew to Sydney to meet the other part of our group, before boarding our next plane to Canberra. This flight definitely had the most turbulence! When we arrived in Canberra we traveled by bus to our hotel, seeing some great sights on the way, including the Australian War Memorial and the direction of Parliament house. After we had checked in we were all very tired. Within 5 minutes of being in our rooms someone had already locked themselves out by both people leaving their keys in their room. We went for dinner and had a quiet night.
The next day we were up bright and early for a buffet breakfast at 8am. The food was amazing. After breakfast we got ready and headed out for the day. We walked to the Australian War Memorial (AWM) where we would spend most of our day. We took a look at all the memorials out front. Some of these included the Korean War, Vietnam War, Boer War, Australian Service Nurses and much more. It was very hot so we went to Poppys Cafe for a cold drink.
Inside the war memorial we went straight to the honour roll. There is over 102,000 names on the plaques, with each plaque naming a solider or nurse who was killed during war. Seeing all the names was very moving. I placed a poppy next to Percey Reginald Elbert Medwin. His name was at the very top so I had to use a ladder to reach it. We walked around observing all the names of soldiers. After looking around we headed back to poppy’s for lunch. Lunch was delicious and got us fuelled up for the second half of the day.
We headed back into the AWM where we had a tour. Our tour guide Angus showed us around the AWM and told us many stories. My favourite was about an Australian nurse who was shot multiple times and pretended to be dead. Our tour went for an hour. We learnt so much. We got the opportunity go to the gift shop. We were all so thoughtful and brought stuff for our siblings and parents. The 19th of February was the 80th Anniversary of the Darwin bombings. At 4:45pm we attended The Last Post Ceremony. This is held at 4:45pm everyday. This day was special as it was the 80th anniversary of the Darwin Bombings. We were told some stories from that day and had a minute of silence. We watched as two of our group members laid a wreath in remembrance of all soldiers who fought. During our time at the AWM we were lucky have 4 recipients including Mr Lewis share an insight into their chosen solider. These were very fascinating and interesting to hear.
We then headed back to the hotel. By this time we were all very exhausted. We had about an hour and a half before dinner to relax. Being in a completely different state we all wanted to explore. We took a walk down to Coles to stock up on some treats for the plane the next day and also a lot of chocolate milk and ice creams. We went back and had dinner before heading back to our rooms. Outside was a Latin music festival right in the middle of the courtyard. It was an amazing atmosphere to see so many people dancing and having fun. Eventually everyone ended up in one room. We were playing cards and eating ice creams, drinking chocolate milk and even helping with maths assignments. After a while we headed back to our rooms and went to sleep.
The next day was even earlier start. We all met in the courtyard and went for breakfast. After breakfast we headed back to our rooms to pack up. We all met and some of us said our goodbyes to the rest of the group. The Northern group of people who flew into Launceston had an early flight. Before we headed to the airport, we had a taxi tour. Our taxi driver took to us to some amazing land marks. Including Parliament House, the national library, the high court, and Lake Burley Griffin. When we went to Lake Burley Griffin we were chased by some Chinese dragons who were apart of a Chinese language walk. We headed to the airport and flew to Melbourne. We had about two hours before our next flight. We took a look around the terminal and realised not much was open. We then walked to Terminal 4 where we were please so see an open Krispy Kreme store. We all stocked up before our flight home. We did a little bit of shopping and headed back to catch our flight. We flew back into Launceston and were all very tired.
I had a great weekend and I learnt so much. I definitely would recommend everyone to go to the Australian War Memorial. It is definitely on my bucket list to go back! I would like to thank Mr Lewis and everyone who was on the trip for making it an amazing. I am definitely looking forward to our 10 day trip to the Northern Territory in April.
By Taleah Smith
Student leadership 2022 has started a little different in comparison to other years. Due to COVID, we have not been able to organise or participate in the same events as past leadership groups have. This has not stopped us from planning for the rest of the year. Already we are planning a Purple and Yellow day to raise money for the Cancer council. As a group, we will be going to Relay for Life. Fortunately, we will be able to run an in school live-streamed assembly on the 16th of March.
Laptop Hire
If you intend to participate in our Laptop Hire Program for 2022 and have not yet done so, please contact the school office on 6464 0600 to reserve your device.
Thank you
Levies
Levy payments are now due.
If your circumstances have changed, or if you are experiencing financial difficulty or financial hardship, or if you are receiving an invoice for levies and you shouldn’t be, please contact the school’s Business Manager, Angela Townsend or angela.townsend@education.tas.gov.au
You may be eligible for the Student Assistance Scheme. If you are eligible and your application is approved, you will not need to pay any levies. An application form is available from the School Office or you can apply online.
Stringalong at Parklands High School 2022
Stringalong is on again at Parklands in 2022! We are very excited to welcome a new teacher to the program, Helen Hurst, who is a cellist and has taught for many years in string music programs in Queensland.
Would you like to learn to play violin, viola, cello or double bass? We welcome anyone who has been a part of Stringalong in the past to return, and invite any newcomers to join this year. Lessons will be on Thursday afternoons during Blocks 5 or 6. We will be recruiting members in the weeks ahead and more information will be made available soon, so keep your eyes and ears open for further announcements. We look forward to making music with you...
Josie Riches
Stringalong Instructor