Last Tuesday and Thursday, we held our celebration assemblies where we recognised students with outstanding academic results, and application to studies in the mid-year reporting phase. Students should be extremely pleased with their mid-year results, and we recognised students with our Celebration Assemblies and presentation of certificates followed by morning tea. Riverside High School had 235 parent/guardians attend the morning teas.  We would like to thank our canteen staff especially for preparing the food and drinks.

Grades 7 and 8 photos

Grade 9 and 10 photos

Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

Positive, collaborative relationships with families have proven to boost the academic achievement, social capability, and emotional wellbeing of students. When families connect with their child’s school, they can exchange information and can focus on meeting the needs of the young person and supporting their development.  We are fortunate at Riverside High School to have wonderful families that regularly communicate and connect with Grade Team Leaders and class teachers. I wanted to say thank you to the parent/guardian body for their ongoing support, communication and collaboration with our school. During Term 3, teachers conducted 618 parent/teacher/student interviews.

Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews Feedback

In 2023 we scheduled Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews in Terms 2 and 3.  We are always looking for feedback from our school community on the Teaching and Learning Programs we offer and the systems we have in place to support and extend student learning outcomes and to connect with families.

Below is a QR code for families with a link to a short survey to provide feedback on our Parent/Teacher/Student Interview process for 2023. 

We appreciate your valuable feedback and suggestions.

Teacher Assistant Appreciation Week

Teacher Assistant Appreciation Week is from 28th August to the 1st September. We would like to send a big thank to all of our TAs at Riverside High School for their hard work and dedication to our school and students. Our TA’s are always flexible and adaptable and continue to make a positive impact on the young people at Riverside High School. Thank you to Katie, Maree, Katrina, Ashton, Sam, Adrian, Brett, Jess and Angus.

Over an eight week period (four weeks either side of the Term 2 holidays), eight Grade 9 students successfully completed the RESET program. This is run as a joint initiative between the DoE Inter-Agency Student Support, PCYC and the Hawthorn Football Club.  RESET is an activities based program where students, through a range of experiences, are able to gain an understanding of their own physical and emotional responses to a variety of situations/contexts. 

During the program, conversations were held that could be related to real life scenarios.  Different areas covered in the program included decision making under pressure, things in our life we have control over, what our challenges in life are and supporting your friends when they need it.

Over the eight weeks the young people involved were able to undertake the following activities:

• Team building activities at PCYC, including indoor rock climbing and archery tag
• Stadium Tour of University of Tasmania Stadium
• Survival Swim at the Australian Maritime College
• Fishing at Beauty Point with Nic Duigan, Member for Windermere
• Tree Top Adventures at Hollybank
• Bush walk through the Gorge

The school is extremely thankful for the support, leadership and guidance the students received from Constable David Simpson from Tasmanian Police and Harichand Ravichandran from PCYC who ran the program for us.  They sourced funding, organised a variety of guest speakers and created a meaningful and impactful program for the students to be a part of.  This culminated in a celebration morning tea with all the adults that had supported the program in attendance as the students received their framed certificates of successful completion of the RESET program.  Josh, Campbell, Ted and Jesse all spoke eloquently during the ceremony.

Below is the list of the boys who successfully completed the program:

Zac, Jesse, Joseph, Campbell, Kai, Ted, Connor and Josh.

Tim Elliott
Grade 9 AST and RESET Program Co-ordinator

Science Week – 14^th – 18^th August

This year Riverside High School has once again engaged in activities related to Science Week. Prefects ran lunch time sessions where students were making paper planes, creating mini parachutes and competing to make the tallest tower from marshmallows and skewers. There have also been daily competitions on The Bulletin for students to engage with and win prizes.

During Science Week, students were also given the opportunity to engage with a STEM based activity in their Science class. In all of these activities, students were given a limited amount of supplies, along with a scenario, and were required to use their scientific knowledge and creative skills.

Grade 7 had to design a filtration system.

Grade 8 designed and created a Rube Goldberg inspired track.

Grade 9 created an “earthquake proof” tower.  

Grade 10 tested their design skills by creating a safe capsule for an egg to be dropped from a height and ensuring it didn’t break.

Kylie Jago and Kate Huddleston

Riverside High School’s Music program has two key features: Gradual Release and Inquiry based learning. This is achieved through assisting students in identifying their musical interests and looking at ways in which they can interact with this interest, whether it is through practical, analytical or compositional learning.  By taking this approach students’ engagement is sustained through their time in the course.  The Music program also offers many opportunities for students to develop performance skills outside of the classroom.  Below are few of our most recent events:

Richard Smith Workshop

On Friday, 4^th August, Grade 9 Music students participated in a music workshop with Richard Smith, a working musician and professor from The University of South California.  This workshop, which took place at Newstead College, exemplified the significance of bridging the gap between academic teachings and real-world practices, helping students to understand the personal attributes required to make it in the music industry.

The Battle of the Bands:

The Music program's biggest event of the year was held at the Door of Hope on the 18^th of August.  Attended by over 400 people, the night saw 11 acts and a total of 21 songs performed brilliantly, and under 1.5 hours.  The event itself is wonderful for several reasons:

• It demonstrates the talent of RHS students. 
• It creates a team like and supportive atmosphere.
• Students are given the opportunity to perform in front of an audience.
• Each grade is represented by students doing either performance or technical roles.  

Battle of the Band Winners:

Off the Rock: Finn 9E & Harvey 9H

Band Section:  BlackStone – Holland 9E, Mason 9H, Charlie 10E, Jerry 10C & Grace 10G

Sam Rainbird

At the beginning of the Senior Sport roster in Term 2, Riverside had three senior boys football teams entered in the competition.  By the halfway mark of the season, injuries and illness meant we were finding it difficult to field three teams and the decision was made to merge the 2nds and 3rds teams.

Since merging, we have had mixed results, but have secured two wins. We've had a core group of consistent players who have given their best effort throughout the season and should be proud of what they have achieved.  The midfield has been consistently good, with Salem, Luca and Ted being excellent contributors each week. Since merging we've developed a new super ruck duo of Ace and Joe, with the boys dominating the ruck contests and giving our midfielders first use of the ball. The back line has battled hard against some tough opposition. Josh has been the most consistent player in the back half repelling many of the oppositions’ attacks. Josh’s hardness at the ball and man set the standard for his teammates all season. In the forward line, Tyler has been the standout performer with his ability to consistently out mark his opponents and kick goals from outside the 50 arc.

The 2nds team has been made up of predominately Grade 9 students who have shown a lot of growth over the course of the season. This is exciting for next year.

While the boys’ seconds football team are not involved in finals football this year, the year can be looked at as one of growth and with an eye towards the future.

Toby Musovic and Clint Bolton

Ciaran has recently returned after competing in the U/16 Tasmanian Hockey Championships which were held in Adelaide, South Australia from the 12^th to 19^th August. He had a very successful tournament and even managed to secure an individual sponsorship from Gryphon Hockey. Ciaran has progressed from his first senior season playing in Division 3 last year to being in the starting 11 as a midfielder in Division 1 for his club in the Greater Northern League. Congratulations on all your hard work and success on the hockey field this year Ciaran!

World Vision, an organisation which the Prefect Board has had much involvement with throughout the year, aims to fight hunger and assist displaced people. Over the past 40 years, World Vision has raised over $200 million to support 50 million people across the globe. Since registration, the Prefects have raised hundreds of dollars toward this worthy cause.

To support the challenge, the Prefect Board held a sleep over at the school from 4:00pm on Friday the 25^th of August to 12:00pm on Saturday the 26^th.

On Wednesday of Week 4, the Board was lucky enough to receive a visit from Zana Bowen, a World Vision representative, to receive information and to register the team.

The night was filled with fun activities, music, card games and salsa dancing, and the Board received sponsorship from Woolworths and Wiseguise Pizza to keep them sustained. Alongside this, students were also able to participate in individual challenges to raise further funds.

A huge thanks to all staff involved in the night, and congratulations to everyone who participated.