As I was thinking about writing this article, I began to reflect on how grateful I am to be given the opportunity to speak to our Parklands community about all of the exciting opportunities our students have been part of and all of the opportunities our students have to look forward to in the coming weeks. Sometimes we are tempted to believe that only ‘lucky’ people receive the best opportunities; however, at Parklands we believe that opportunity comes from hard work and taking a growth mindset approach to our teaching and learning. Hard work and growth mindsets directly align with our school Core Value We have high expectations of ourselves and others.

The past fortnight has presented many opportunities for staff and students alike. One of the most significant being the opening of the Ten Days on the Island festival with the second mapali dawn gathering at West Beach. In the lead up to the event, our Aboriginal Education Officer, Guy Grey, and Art teacher, Emily Devlin, worked tirelessly with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students to produce hundreds of clap sticks (a traditional Aboriginal instrument) and artwork, to support the festival opening. Many of our students accompanied Guy and staff to the dawn gathering, in what was a visually spectacular and moving event, a true celebration and acknowledgement of indigenous culture and country. I strongly encourage you to view the festival, if you were unable to be there – it is well worth watching.

Parklands staff have been extremely busy behind the scenes taking every opportunity to connect with our families through phone calls, parent meetings, creating individual student learning plans, and report writing to connect with families and provide a snapshot of student progress over the past 6 weeks. Last week, Mrs McDonald and Mr Hall were given the opportunity to learn about Literacy programs in action at other schools along the North West Coast. The ideas that Mr Hall and Mrs McDonald have brought back to Parklands will now be unpacked within our school context. Parklands High School is committed to continuous cycles of growth for both staff and students. This includes giving students the very best opportunities to learn and grow and be the best version of themselves. Our staff believe that every student can achieve at a high standard when given the opportunity to do so. Thank you, Mrs McDonald and Mr Hall, for looking at ways we can extend the quality opportunities provided to our students.

Our students embraced Clean Up Australia Day on Friday, both at our school and in our local community. Students took the opportunity to come together and make an impact by improving our environment for future generations. Some very simple, but effective ways that students, parents and carers can contribute to a sustainable Parklands environment are:

• provide students with a wrapper free lunch
• provide students with a re-usable drink bottle
• engage in conversations with students about the impact waste has on our environment

Thank you, Mr Hughes and Parklands staff, for embracing this day with our students.

Our Home Economics staff are proud to announce that we have a fully renovated (and very flash) Kitchen space for our Food students. Mrs Hine and Mrs Martin have been incredibly busy ensuring this space is clean from dust, building residue and well organised for our students. We are looking forward to the opportunity to support students in their cooking endeavours in this space in the very near future. Parklands has built a reputation for housing Master Chief contestants – the question is, when will the next celebrity chief reach our screens Mrs Hine?

This week has also been significant for the Health and Physical Education (HPE) staff and students. Finally, our very well-used basketball systems have been replaced and are now fit for our students and the likes of our HPE teacher and basketball extraordinaire – Miss Mariah Payne – to show us all what she is made of on the courts. Miss Payne is a true example of a person who has taken the opportunities in life that she has been afforded with both hands. Miss Payne began her basketball career in Burnie, was selected into the Tasmanian Institute of Sport (TIS), she worked hard and found herself playing for Australia. After several recruitment offers from college teams in the USA, and at just 16 years old, Miss Payne played basketball and studied at Minot State in America. After a very successful playing career, she returned to Australia as a qualified Health and Physical Education teacher and is now also Vice Captain of the Launceston Tornadoes. How lucky are our students to have the opportunity to learn and grow under Miss Payne’s guidance!

Bullying No Way Day is fast approaching and will be held at Parklands on March 19. Bullying No Way Day is a day designed to support school communities with delivering evidence-informed information and activities to students for a proactive approach to bullying education and prevention. This day will be an opportunity for our Student Leadership Group and Parklands staff to educate our students on appropriate strategies to use when taking action against bullying behaviours at school. We are looking forward to a fun filled day with the opportunity to grow our understanding and take away a profound message.

I would like to conclude by again acknowledging how hard staff at Parklands High School have been working over the past six weeks, by continuing to grow professionally and provide students with a multitude of opportunities at Parklands every single day. As our school community approaches the beginning of Week 7 and signs of learning fatigue creep in, I would like to remind everyone that if we fail to have high expectations of ourselves and others, we limit opportunity for ourselves and others to succeed. A wise person once told me to take the opportunities that life presents you with both hands and run with them as fast as you can. I think they are right.

Mrs Bianca Munday

Assistant Principal