5 August 2022

Newsletter Articles

Assistant Principals

Paul Stevenson
Andrea Saville

Grade Leaders

Grade 7: Elle Fox
Grade 8: Lenny Towns
Grade 9: Allison Stone
Grade 10: AST: Sharon Parish

Support Services

School Psychologist: Caitlyn Osborne: Wednesday (fortnightly), Thursday and every second Friday
Social Worker: Isabel Casey: Tuesday, Thursday and every second Friday
School Chaplain: Bec Cameron: Wednesday & Friday
School Health Nurse: Dave Mackay: Monday

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

I want to start this fortnight’s newsletter by thanking everyone in our school community for the way they have continued to work together over the past couple of weeks. Staff illness has affected us here recently, but I have been so impressed in the way that our students have simply gone about their learning in a mature and settled way. This reflects the calm and orderly environment we have worked so hard to create here at Exeter High School and I also wish to thank our teachers and teacher assistants for their continued dedication to ensuring students learn in these settled classrooms. It is a credit to everyone within our amazing school community that our school continues to operate in such a highly productive manner.

Aspiration is one of the Education Department’s four values and this is something that as Principal, I want to focus on. Aspiration can, in its simplest form, be described as a hope or ambition of achieving something. That something is up to you as an individual to decide what it is you want to achieve. For our students, this can be a school goal, a sporting goal or even a work focus as many are already in the work force or will soon be seeking to enter this domain. For our year 10 students, they may also be beginning to be aspirational in relation to where you will be this time next year, whether that be at college, in a TasTAFE course or even in employment. To all of the students at Exeter High School, your possibilities are endless, but only you can choose what you aspire to achieve in your life and only you can determine how much effort you will put into that each and every day.

Leading on from this message of Aspiration, the Exeter Excellence awards are something that every student should be aspiring to achieve during their time here at Exeter High School. To all of the students who have earned one of these awards, congratulations and to everyone else, set yourself a personal goal of receiving one of these awards in the time you have remaining here at Exeter High School. Also, make sure you keep these awards as a record of your achievement. When you are applying for part time jobs, I can guarantee you that employers really value seeing such awards as they tell the employer that this person is someone who would be a valuable contributor to their business.

The School Farm learning space is up and operating and this will be complimented in the future with the redevelopment that will commence across the main school campus in 2023. It is an exciting time to be principal at Exeter High School and I can’t wait to see these new learning spaces being created in the coming years to further support and benefit the amazing teaching and learning that we already have here on a daily basis. I will continue to update the school community about the redevelopment as we get close to a start date.

Benjamin Frerk
Principal

STATE TEAM SELECTION

We would like to congratulate Aidan Woods, Grade 10 student, on his selection to the Swimming Tasmania state team who will be competing at the upcoming School Games in Brisbane from 15th to 20th August. Aidan will be swimming in the 15/16 year old age group and is racing in the 50, 100 and 200m Breaststroke, 50m Freestyle and also part of a Boys 15-16 4x50m Free Relay.

This will be a fantastic opportunity for Aidan to represent the state, and to swim against other swimmers from around the country. We look forward to hearing of his experiences on his return.

EXCELLENCE AT EXETER

These certificates are awarded to two students in each grade in recognition of their efforts in upholding the school values and helping to make our school an excellent learning environment.

Congratulations to this fortnight’s students:

Isabella from 7D: Isabella is a polite and conscientious student who has impressed teachers with her mature conduct. She always completes tasks to the best of her ability and is an excellent role model who consistently upholds our school values. Values demonstrated: Respect, Learning, Maturity & Acceptance.

Kallie from 7D: Kallie is a respectful student who continues to impress her teachers with her conscientious attitude toward learning. She always strives to complete tasks to the best of her ability and sets an excellent example for her peers with her exceptional behaviour and conduct. Values demonstrated: Respect, Learning, Maturity & Acceptance.

Hannah-May from 8B: Hannah-May is a friendly and approachable student who has demonstrated a good work ethic across her core studies. She can be relied upon to demonstrate maturity in group situations requiring co-operation and leadership. Values demonstrated: Respect, Learning, Maturity & Acceptance.

Rhys from 8C: Rhys is a unique and very capable student who has produced some outstanding work this year. He is polite and respectful to both peers and staff alike and he is an integral part of 8C. Rhys’s artistic skills are excellent, and he has put them to great use in recent tasks in English and HASS. Values demonstrated: Respect, Learning, Maturity & Acceptance.

Isabella from 9B: Isabella has approached all learning tasks with enthusiasm. In particular, her application and effort allowed her to produce an outstanding piece of English work. Values demonstrated: Learning & Maturity.

Logan from 9C: Logan has been using his time effectively in class to complete tasks. He has been diligent with following task requirements and taking responsibility of his learning. Values demonstrated: Learning & Maturity.

Andrew from 10C: Andrew is to be commended for his approach to his learning, and it has been terrific to see him developing his public speaking skills through his involvement with Launceston City Park Radio. Andrew considers issues maturely, and is willing to discuss topics of interest in small groups. He is respectful towards his peers and teachers, with his ability to ask questions continuing to grow. Values demonstrated: Respect, Learning, Maturity & Acceptance.

Imogen from 10B: Imogen has improved her engagement with education. On the back of many outstanding musical performances, Imogen is showing personal development, confidence and enjoyment of many learning areas. Imogen has enormous potential in all areas, but her work in music is of the highest order. She supports younger students with her learning and is beginning to create original music of high quality. Imogen listens intently to feedback and conducts herself with personality and style. Values demonstrated: Respect, Learning, Maturity & Acceptance.

RED MEATS UPDATE CONFERENCE

Year 12 Agricultural Systems

Last Friday 29th July, Year 12 Agricultural Systems students and I attended the Red Meats Updates conference at the Tramsheds Conference Centre. The conference is a public forum to discuss current issues and research around principally beef and sheep production enterprises in Australia. It is also a great opportunity for the students to network with producers and researchers, many of whom they will be interacting with in their professional lives if they choose an agricultural pathway. The forum falls very neatly into the Agricultural Technologies and Plant and Animal Production Systems subjects the students have studied this year. Some of the topics covered during the forum included issues and research conducted by MLA (Meat and Livestock Australia), farm diversification, genetics, innovations, intensive farming, legume resilience, greenhouse gas emissions, ewe survival, heifer development plus a very interesting virtual farm tour. Although a pretty intense experience, the forum is an excellent way to gain broad insights into the research direction of some of our agricultural industries.

Greg Finnigan
Agricultural Systems Teacher

CITY PARK RADIO – School’s Out

On the 7th July, we were involved in the Launceston City Park Radio show – ‘School’s Out’. The weeks prior to this were spent choosing a topic/music, writing the script and rehearsing – a lot! Choosing the topic was the hardest part. We narrowed it down to four topics which were: inspirational people, movie reviews, hobbies and quizzes. In the end, we ultimately decided on quizzes as it meant we all had our own part that we were responsible for. The five quizzes were: Eurovision, cars and their logos, maths, movie trivia and quick music history.

Going through this process of developing, rehearsing and performing our radio show we found that it improved our confidence and refined our speaking skills - considering pitch, tone, inflection, pace and pause. Teamwork was an integral part of the process along with improvisation and leadership skills. It was an enjoyable learning experience and one that we will remember for many years to come.

Lily, Layla, Andrew and Klarissa

Calendar - 2022

August

September

Oct

November

December

COMMUNITY CORNER

RESILIENCE IN OUR TEENS - Webinar

ATTENTION YOUNG CREATIVES!

The Irene Phelps Youth Art Competition and Exhibition is for young people aged 10 to 25 interested in revealing their artistic talents through photography, drawing and painting. Cash prizes to be won!

The contest will encourage competitors to explore and share their mental health and wellbeing stories through the theme "Exploring Gravity"; what weighs them down, what keeps them grounded, and what inspires them.

Hosted by the West Tamar Council with support from YAC West Tamar, Beaconsfield Men's Shed and West Tamar Rotary, we invite local young people to get their creative on, enter their artwork and explore gravity!

T's&C's apply. For further information, contact kim.reynolds@wtc.tas.gov.au or visit the link below.

Students can see Ms Bell for an entry form.

BEACONSFIELD & LEGANA YOUTH CENTRES RE-OPEN

Term 3 dates are now confirmed for the Beaconsfield Youth Centre and Legana Youth Centre program, with doors to open from the 7th August 2022.