Hello everyone and welcome to the 2023 school year.

Welcome

Firstly, I hope the holiday period was a time to relax and enjoy time with your family and friends. The start of a school year is always a special time. Students walk through the doors rejuvenated and excited about the year ahead. A massive thank you to the parents and caregiver for supporting your child’s return to school. The response to our uniform has been excellent and our students look fantastic in their uniforms. We understand that there are a range of challenges with kids being in uniform and we are keen to support in any way we can, so please reach out to the school if we can help.

It has been exciting to welcome over 125 new students to Parklands this year. We look forward to them joining our team, seeing our school values lived, making connections with their peers and teachers, and achieving their personal best. Alongside our new students, listed below are our new staff members for 2023:

Logan Elphinstone – Student Support

Courtney Miller - Humanities

Jodie Oatridge – Student Support

Georgia Odgers – Student Support

Jo Stirrat – Humanities

We are looking forward to collaborating with our new staff and learning from them to strengthen the way we support learners at Parklands. Listed below is the structure of our Home Group Teachers who play a pivotal role in supporting your child’s wellbeing and learning. If you have an information that supports your child, or questions throughout the year, please reach out to your child’s Home Group teacher. Our Home Group teachers will be contacting families to open up communication channels in the first five weeks of the school year.

Department for Education, Children and Young People

An exciting element of 2023 is starting the school year off as a new department Department for Education, Children and Young People. The new department has been in place since October last year; however, it is our first time starting the school year under this new agency. The change in department is much more than a name change. The new department puts the learning and wellbeing of each child at the forefront and enables multiple agencies to work together to strengthen and meet our responsibility to children and young people. Parklands High School is committed to every child being known, well, safe and learning.

We want every child to be known; their strengths and interests to be known, and their challengers to be known so they can be supported to reach their goals.

Every child needs to be well. Everybody’s wellbeing is a priority, and we strive to support student wellbeing through positive and meaningful relationships and supporting children to develop strategies to support their own wellbeing.

For children and young people to achieve their best they need to be safe; this includes physically and psychologically. To support student safety, we must listen to their voice and respond appropriately. Every adult is responsible for child safety and if there are concerns for a young person each adult must contact the advice and referral line on 1800 000 123 or online via Strong Families Safe Kids | Advice and Referral Line Tasmania.

When children and known, well and safe they can learn at high levels. Our school aim is supporting each child’s learning by setting challenging and achievable goals, providing meaningful feedback and giving them agency in their learning.

We are excited to work with each child and their families this year. We look forward to embracing new challenges, showing resilience by bouncing back when things get hard and celebrating student growth and achievement throughout the year.

Please take the time to look after yourselves and loved ones, and please reach out if we can help in any way.

Sam Wells

Assistant Principal