27 September 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and Families,

We have reached the end of another busy and successful term. We can proudly reflect on a range of highlights with the progress, learning and achievements of our students being many and varied; I would like to commend students on their effort and participation this term.

Our term has ended on a very positive note and it is great to be able to share the following:

• Many weeks of hard work have come to fruition in the Drama Department last week! On Wednesday evening Grade 9 and 10 Drama students performed the work they have been busily rehearsing for the Deloraine Youth Drama Festival to a school audience of family members, peers and staff. On Friday night our students performed at Deloraine showcasing three fabulous pieces of work that demonstrated the learning of a diverse group of students. Both occasions provided students with a great opportunity to perform to an audience and to receive feedback about their work. Congratulations to the large number of students who received awards at the conclusion of the festival. Well done to all of our Drama students and staff, including those students and staff who assisted in various ways.

• This week 8 teams of students from Grade 7, 8 and 9 have participated in the F1 in Schools Competition, held at the Tailrace Centre, with some outstanding results. Our students have demonstrated high levels of maturity, organisation and team work. The quality of the work that students have completed has been outstanding, supporting students to develop a wide range of skills and understandings. To their credit, students have completed this work in their own time. It was fantastic to visit the students on Wednesday and see their work. Students were enthusiastic and extremely articulate in being able to describe their learning which made me feel very proud. Well done to all students involved and a huge thank you to the staff who have supported their endeavours and helped to encourage and inspire this great learning opportunity. Congratulations to the following students:

Development Class Awards

Overall Placing

State Champions - In Motion (Amelie 7B, Anabelle 7B, Ruby 7B, Tara 7B, Charlotte 7B)
2nd - Five Elements (Keila 7D, Gabrielle 7B, Sharon 7H, Dylan 7F, Zachary 7F)
3rd - Spirit Racing (Kara 8D, Lacey 8G, Lana 8D, Poppy 8G, Arwen 8C)

Development Class Category Awards

In Motion – Grand Prix Champion, Fastest Lap, Knockout Champions, Best Team Graphics, Best Trade Display, Best Team Marketing, Outstanding Industry Collaboration, Best Team Portfolios.
Five Elements – Best Verbal Presentation.
Spirit Racing – Best Innovation and Best Managed Project.

Professional Class Category Awards

Spartan Racing (Cameron 9D, Jeremy 9B, Fawz 9D, Shreehari 9D, Jacob 9G) – Fastest Reaction Time.

• Last Saturday a very excited group of 30 Grade 10 students and 3 staff departed on their trip to Cambodia and Singapore. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to experience another culture and to develop a range of skills and understandings, including contributing to a life changing project in a local village community. You might like to follow the experiences of the group through our Facebook page.

Support Team

This term there have been a number of changes to our Support Team. Miss Amy Farrell, our School Psychologist and Ms Tracey Cassin, School Chaplain, have both moved on to other positions. We thank them for their support of students and their contribution to our school. Mr Richard McMinn has joined our Support Team as our Psychologist and Mr Jeremiah Soetan, this week started as our new Chaplain. We are very pleased to welcome them to our School Community. There is increasing demand on the workload of our support team who play an incredibly important role in meeting a variety of student needs.

We currently have an opportunity to seek additional funding to support our Chaplaincy position. This funding is provided through the National School Chaplaincy Program on behalf of the Australian Government. Chaplains support the emotional wellbeing of students by providing pastoral care services and strategies that support the emotional wellbeing of the broader school community. Our Chaplain is currently funded through the local church community; further funding would allow us to employ a Chaplain for additional days. The School Association have supported our application for additional funding and feedback from a range of students highlights that this role is valued by our school community.

Capital Works

It is fantastic to see our Grade 7 students settling into our new building and making really good use of their new classrooms and wonderful facilities. One of the features of our new classrooms is that they are allowing for more flexible ways of working and greater levels of collaboration between students. The comments below from Grade 7 students highlight the positive response that students have had to our new learning areas:

7B members:

“It’s a neat, modern work space. The lockers are nice and practical”
“It’s a learning space”
“I like the modern touch and not having to move to different classes that often”

7D members:

“We enjoy the different work spaces and the view and sunlight from the big windows”
“We enjoy the new furniture and the vibe and atmosphere that the new spaces create”
“We enjoy having ownership over our new classroom and like that we have many of our classes in our new room”

7E members:

“There is more space for moving and working together”
“There are different areas to work”
“The rooms are spacious and modern”
“I like the comfortable furniture for working”

Parent Pick Up and Drop off Parking Bays

When you next visit the school you will notice the signage has now been added to our new Bus Turning Circle. We are very pleased to have this completed as it makes the required traffic flow clearer and improves the safety of this area. For that reason, your co-operation with that signage is greatly appreciated. Please be aware that parent pick up and drop off bays are now clearly marked and that this is a great option if students are travelling to and from school by car. We understand that parking along West Tamar Highway when it is very busy is not ideal, so we would encourage you to drive into the school and use the short term pick up and drop off bays. A second crossing has now been clearly marked on Brownfield Lane, allowing students to walk from the Bus Turning Circle parking bays, into the school, without needing to pass in front of traffic. While there is still some landscaping work to be completed, this area is now our main student entrance into the school for those travelling by bus or car.

Visiting the School and Communication with Teaching Staff

Our relationships with parents and carers are very important; we know that the communication between families and teachers is essential in supporting students to be successful at school. We value your regular contact and we welcome you keeping in contact with teachers whether this is through an email, a phone call or a visit to the school. A reminder though that schools are incredibly busy places and our teaching staff, including our leaders, all have hectic schedules and numerous commitments with regards to teaching and meetings. Therefore, could I please ask that if you want to come in to the school to see a teacher, you make an appointment through the Administration Office, so that we can give proper time and attention to your concern or queries. It is very difficult when parents come to the school wanting to see a teacher or leader and they are unavailable. To help you with making appointments, please note that we have scheduled meetings on Monday and Tuesday afternoons until 4.30 and that staff are also in Briefing on Monday mornings before school. Obviously if there is an urgent matter and you need to call into the school to see someone, we will do our best to speak with you.

A reminder that all visitors to the school, including parents, are required to enter the school through the Administration Office and sign in as a visitor. Administration staff will be able to help you with your query.

In Closing

I would like to wish both students and staff a safe and happy holiday. I hope that this time provides people with an opportunity to enjoy some quality family time and to relax and recharge. I know many people are enjoying the improved spring weather and making the most of the opportunity to get outside and enjoy some activity. We look forward to seeing students back at school on Monday, 14th October, ready for the start of Term 4.

Ms Natalie Odgers

Subject in Focus – Language other than English: French

During the course of this year, the Grade 7 students have had the opportunity to learn French as a second language with a teacher who speaks French as their first language. The school also offers a full year French course for Grade 8.

The students have learnt about France, its culture, history and geography through projects and games such as Trivia, Snakes and Ladders and Connect Four. They also discovered other countries that have French as an official language like Canada, New-Caledonia, Madagascar and many more.

The pupils discovered many resemblances between the English and French language. Throughout the year, they have expanded their vocabulary and knowledge of the French language and its particularities such as hearing different native accents. They have learnt to write and say colours, numbers, days of the week, months, body parts, furniture, foods, animals and emotions (just to name a few).

The Grade 7s have learnt the basic greetings in French and created a comic strip to demonstrate their understanding. They also learnt how to describe their feelings by using the verb ‘to be’ and the French emotions. What a fantastic start!

The Grade 8s have been out of their comfort zone and succeeded to write simple sentences and read and understand some short stories. They should be proud!

Learning a second language has been proven to help support cognitive development and give better job opportunities in a fast changing world.

Don’t just take my word for it. Here are some testimonies from the students themselves explaining why learning a second language is so important, beneficial and enjoyable.

GRADE 7:

What do you enjoy about learning French?

“I enjoy learning a different language.” – Benjamin 7A

“I love learning about France and what they do over there.” – Lily 7A

“I expect myself to visit France one day and it would be helpful to speak some French.” – Zayden 7A

“I like it because my family-in-law lives in Canada and they only speak French.” – Noah 7A

“I like the similarities between French and English words.” – Erin 7A

“I just like learning the skills in general to speak French.” – Connor 7A

“I like to find connections between certain words.” – James 7A

“Now I know that ratatouille is a French dish and not only a movie!” – Seth 7A

GRADE 8:

Why did you pick French as an option? / What do you enjoy about learning French?

“I love the language and the French culture. It’s good to know another language for future jobs and opportunities.” – Ella 8D

“When I’m older, I want to travel and you need to know some of the language.” – Madeline 8B

“I like learning languages.” – Seamus 8E

“I chose French because I enjoyed doing it in Grade 7. I also enjoy learning about the French culture.” – Lauren 8E

“I like doing the learning games on the app Education Perfect in Grade 8. It makes the learning fun.” – Rhyley 8E

“I wanted to learn more about the language because I want to go to France. You also can get better job opportunities.” – Charlotte 8C

GRADE 8:

What would you say to Grade 7 students if they aren’t sure what option to do next year?

“Take French as an option…. Just do it. It’s so much fun!” – Ella 8D and Holly 8D

Miss Gabrielle Boucher

Sport in Focus – Saturday Netball

Riverside High School 7/8 Junior 2nds Saturday Netball

Netball, a winter sport when players need to be early risers, don short dresses and play outside on often cold frosty mornings. Although you would think the thought of teenagers getting out of bed would be enough of a challenge, these netball attributes didn’t stop our team. They were even keen to forego a few lunchtimes and some after school trainings to develop their skills and game play. Initially the team was nervous about playing in the higher division, however, they need not be concerned as they supported and encouraged each other showing grit and determination for the ball.

We started the roster with Indra 7F and Alexandra 7E but unfortunately other commitments prevailed and our final team consisted of Alex 8A, Holly 8E, Poppy 8G, Charlotte 7B, Marlea 7E, Brianna 8C, Jenna 8C, Brooke 8C and Tori 8B.

As the roster progressed our Saturday games got competitive and we were playing four quarters of attacking netball. It was quite satisfying to see the drills, skills and strategies we had practiced at training be reciprocated on game day especially when the linking of passes resulted in goals, our footwork was under control and problem solving to take risks for fabulous intercepts.

Although we didn’t finish in the top 2 for finals, we came close with grand finalist SOC Navy to lose by 4 goals after starting with the bare 7 before an unfortunate injury meant we would play a quarter with 6 players. The team should be proud to finish 3rd on the ladder on points (or 4th overall) out of 10 teams.

Our player voted by her team in showing great sportsmanship, encouragement, a positive attitude and trying her best at games and training was first year player Brooke 8C.

Thank you to the parents for sharing the role of scorer each week and providing fruit/lollies plus getting your daughters to the game/training each week.

As the roster ends, it is lovely to see the girls are keen to get together socially and hope they look forward in playing again next year.

Riverside High School 7/8 Junior 3rds Saturday Netball

Over the last two terms our Grade 7/8 netball teams have worked so incredibly hard. Every Friday they gave up their lunch times to come and work with us to learn new skills including ball work, footwork, and teamwork. The girls have gained an understanding of how to play the game in each position and have always tried their best even when they were thrown into positions they didn’t feel so comfortable in. We are so proud of how far they’ve come since the beginning of the season and we have really enjoyed watching them improve week by week.

The players and their families have risen up early on the cold winter mornings to play our games against other schools from around Launceston to apply the skills that we had worked on and the way they now work as a team is amazing. In the final round, we were sitting on top of the ladder, equal with two other teams and only just missed out on playing in the grand final. All in all, we are incredibly proud of the dedication of this team and how far they’ve come and we would like to thank them for working so hard. We’d also like to give a massive thank you to the parents who transported the girls to the games each week and for volunteering to score for us.

Emma 9D and Holli 9D

Option Course Preferences for 2020

Selecting options courses for 2020 is an important decision. We thank you for having important conversations with your children and helping them decide among the array of listed courses.

The Curriculum Options Handbook information has been made available to you via the Riverside High website:

Students will be issued with a sheet [Web Preferences Access Guide], which provides user instructions and a personalised Student Access Code and Password, in the first week of Term 4.

To clarify, students are asked to opt for more courses than will eventually be allocated so that they can be allocated reserve subjects if their main preferences become unavailable. Classes may fill with first preferences and others become not available due to staffing changes at the end of the year. Eventual courses that can be offered in 2020 will depend on enough students selecting the same option to make a class viable, school resources, and also the availability of particular staff to take the courses.

It is important that you print the receipt when entering preferences and sign it for your child to return it to their Home Group teacher to acknowledge that you, as parent/carer, are happy with the selections. If you are unable to print, then your child can do so using school computers and printers. Please contact the school if you are having any difficulties completing this process that is due before 25th October.

Deloraine Youth Drama Festival - 2019

Last week saw our 3 Senior Drama classes preparing for the annual Deloraine Youth Drama Festival.

Students performed for a very appreciative audience at school on Wednesday night who saw 3 very diverse performances from Ms Howell, Mrs Gibson and Ms McMahon’s classes: Loneliness, The Family and Fine Dining.

Then on Friday, 20th September, we made the trek to Deloraine.

As we’ve come to expect our students performed wonderfully well and the adjudicator commented that she thought she’d already sorted all of the awards until Riverside came in and she had to start all over again. She even changed the Open awards – as there were no competitors in this age group to a category where she was able to recognise more students and in particular student devised performances.

The high standard of the performances was a credit to our students and their teachers and the hours of preparation that goes in to putting on large scale public performances.

Riverside came away with the following awards:

Open Best Ensemble: Loneliness

Senior Best Ensemble: Fine Dining

Honourable mention Best Actor in Open Category: Cooper 10A

Honourable mention Best Actor in Senior Category: Kyle 9G

Runner-up Best Actor Open Section: Daniel 10E

Best Actor Open Section: Jaiden 10B

Runner-up Best Actor Senior Section: Cody 10B

Best Actor Senior Section: Gabriel 10D

Runner-up Best Actress Open Section: Megan 10B

Best Actress Open Section: Gabrielle 10B

Runner-up Best Actress Senior Section: Jasmine 9B

Runner-up Best Comedic Performance: Henry 10G

A special mention has to go to the amazing Angus 9C who was supposed to be attending the Deloraine Festival as our Sound and Lighting Technician. He still performed this role for one performance but ended up playing quite significant on stage roles in 2 other performances and was outstanding.

There were also a number of other students who learned additional lines and filled in for other performances due to illness or other absences and their resilience and willingness to help out and go the extra mile was greatly appreciated by their teachers and other cast members.

Our two Arts Prefects, Daniel 10E and Eliza 10D also deserve recognition for their behind the scenes work in promoting, comparing and helping in any way possible to make this year’s Deloraine experience such a positive one.

Mrs Mandy Gibson

Pharmacy Trip

On Friday, 6th September, saw an early morning start for some bleary eyed Grade 9 and 10 students from Riverside High School and Queechy High School as they set off to Hobart for the UTAS Pharmacy Taster Day. After a nap on the bus and a very quick breakfast at Bridgewater McDonalds, as well as some deft manoeuvring of our large bus into the UTAS carpark, we arrived at the Sandy Bay campus. Everyone tucked into even more food, with the generous morning tea provided by UTAS before setting off on their journey through the Pharmacy faculty.

During the day, each student sampled some of the activities that a Pharmacist might carry out during their work day. This experience included working in a laboratory making a skin cream, where they had to work in teams to follow instructions, to carrying out some quality control checks on pills which looked at assessing the physical properties of pills and how that might affect their usage.

As well as these, other sessions looked at life as a Community Pharmacist. This included a computer simulation on dealing with varied customer queries (and an armed robbery!) and another that covered the Pharmacist’s role in demonstrating correct usage of Asthma Puffers and blood pressure monitoring.

Everyone left the day with a positive impression about careers in Pharmacy and an appreciation for the varied careers available in Science in general.

A great big thank you to Mr Richard Gregory for all the work carried out so the day could proceed, to Ms Annette McCarthy for providing the extra supervision needed on the day and to Mr Robert Lee for stepping in at the last minute as the teacher in charge.

Ms Kylie Jago

Science Week

This term has been an exciting one in Science. Students have been to visit the University in Hobart for the Pharmacy Taster Experience and to celebrate Science Week and the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing, our students have also taken part in a variety of STEM based activities in their Science classes.

For Science Week Grade 7 students had the task of constructing small “indoor” paper rockets, determining their flight stability and launching them to see whose would fly the furthest. Grade 8 students created a “moon lander” which they had to design and construct from specific materials. The “moon landers” were tested at increasing heights for stability. Grade 9 students followed the engineering design process to modify a cup to carry a ball down a zip line, release the ball and hit a target on the floor.

It has been fantastic to see so many students engaging in science based activities with enthusiasm and enjoying the design challenges that the Science Week tasks delivered.

Ms Kylie Jago

Maths Relay

On Sunday, 15th September, four teams of students participated in the 2019 State Mathematics Relay hosted by the Mathematical Association of Tasmania. Similar to an ordinary relay, students are racing against the clock to solve problems of logic and rigour, whilst being pitched against teams from opposing schools. As the students’ progress through the relay, the questions increase in difficulty, thus adding an extra layer of complexity to the competition. Joining the students were a number of teachers from the Riverside High School Mathematics Department, along with parents of the students. Representing Riverside High School were the following students:

Grade 7/8 Division

Tara 7B
Ruby 7B
Amelie 7B
Ludwig 7C

Grade 9/10 Division (A)

Thirisha 10B
Aarthi 10G
Chloe 10A
Kara 8D

Grade 9/10 Division (B)

Will 10D
Connor 10D
Nihad 10F
Ashlee 8G

Grade 9/10 Division (C)

Hari 9D
Tom 9C
Fawz 9D
Cameron 9D

Well done to all students that participated and represented the mathematical prowess of Riverside High School in what was a challenging and intellectually rewarding day. Congratulations to Thirisha 10B, Aarthi 10G, Chloe 10A and Kara 8D who came 3rd in the Northern section of the Grade 9/10 Division and 8th overall in the state. A further mention to Kara 8D and Ashlee 8G who stepped up in the absence of their Grade 8 team, filling in spots for the two Grade 10 teams.

Mr Dylan Archer

Music: Michael Dolce Workshop

On Monday, 23rd September, selected 9/10 Music students were invited to Launceston College to attend a workshop by The Voice’s resident guitarist, Michael Dolce.

For the first part of the event Michael talked about his experience in the music industry with a specific focus on the expectations placed upon professional musicians as well as what personal attributes are needed to reach the top level. He also shared many backstage and behind the scenes stories from The Voice, which proved to be both insightful and hilarious. For the second part of the event, Michael ran a guitar masterclass in which he taught different solo techniques.

The workshop was a valuable experience for our students and they look forward to sharing this back with their peers.

Mr Sam Rainbird
Music Teacher

Spirit Racing – F1 in Schools Challenge

On Thursday, 12th September, the F1 team, Spirit Racing, were lucky enough to attend the Toyota Hybrid Cavalcade at Launceston Toyota located at 80 Hobart Road, Kings Meadows.

F1 in Schools is an international challenge, which allows students to form a small team to engineer and manufacture a miniature car out of the official F1 Model Block using CAD design tools. These cars are then raced using the power source of CO2 cartridges. Teams also have to create a business portfolio, marketing plan, trade booth and deliver a verbal presentation about what they have done just to name a few things.

Spirit Racing is an all-girls Grade 8 team competing for the first time in the development class. The team consists of Arwen 8C, Kara 8D, Poppy 8G, Lacey 8G and Lana 8D. We were privileged to gain sponsorship from Launceston Toyota and Woolcott Surveys, making them official sponsors of our team.

The Toyota Hybrid Cavalcade event featured a fleet of Toyota Hybrid vehicles as well as a Hybrid expert, with lots of interesting information about the cars. We were shown the range of amazing cars and participated in some fun activities. We were also shown a presentation about how the Hybrids are powered by a combination of battery and petrol, which is more environmentally friendly than current petrol only cars. As a team, we believe the environment is important and when we buy cars in the near future we will certainly look at Toyota Hybrids.

Spirit Racing is so thankful and appreciative of the support from Woolcott Surveys and Launceston Toyota.

We would also like to thank Bell Bay Aluminium who is a huge sponsor of F1 in Tasmania and for Riverside High School.

Lana 8D

NBL Basketball team - Adelaide 36ers

On Wednesday, 18th September, some Grade 8 students were visited by the NBL Basketball team, the Adelaide 36ers during their PE lesson. The 6 players put the students through their paces running a basketball clinic which focused on shooting and dribbling. At the end of the session, students were given the opportunity to play against superstars and try to score against the 6"10 defender. All the students thoroughly enjoyed watching the players dunking and shooting 3 pointers and it has definitely inspired the next generation of basketballers.

Miss Rachael Smith

Prefects Report

Good Morning, Good Evening and Good Afternoon. It's Megan and Jaiden, your 2019 Academic Prefects here to give a report on some of the events we’ve been running in Term 3 and the things we hope to do in Term 4.

Multicultural Day

This was a big one! Originally, the Community and Fundraising Prefects came up with a plan to improve upon last year’s Multicultural Week. They formed a bit of a sub-committee and together with the Arts and Junior School Prefects we planned and prepared for our 2019 Multicultural Day. This year our aim was to get each grade involved, we wanted it to be a school-wide event. We decided to get each Grade Council to come up with an idea – whether it was food, or activities – that they could run on the day.

We had planned for the day to happen on Thursday, 5th September. Little did we realise that by Monday, on the same week, we had yet to really sit down and plan the logistics of the events. So, with three days to go, we were all madly organising meetings, collating Bulletin and PA notices and making decorations for the event.

Thankfully, we brought it all together and the day was a great success. The food went quickly and the activities were lots of fun. We are hoping we will get the opportunity to run something like this again in Term 4!

Women’s 5 Kilometre Run

Throughout the year the Prefect Board has been supporting the Cancer Council by participating in Relay for Life and other such events. On Sunday, 15th September, students from Riverside High School got a team together to attend the Women’s 5km Walk/Run. This was a great event and raised a lot of awareness among the community. Thank you to everyone who was involved.

Deloraine Drama Night and Festival

The Senior Drama classes once again participated in the Deloraine Drama Festival. The drama students are always excited for this festival as it’s when they learn more of the strengths and weaknesses of their fellow peers. Collaborating on a drama piece together and performing it in the competitions at Deloraine always puts everyone in high spirits and eager to win.

This year, each of the performances were very different and unique, making the experience a more enjoyable and entertaining time for those performing and/or viewing.

Before going to the night on Friday, 20th September, a practice run-through of each class was held for the students’ to become more comfortable in their roles on stage. This was a great turnout from families and friends in which they could come along to watch the drama students perform.

A tremendous bravo to everyone who took part this year, on stage and behind the scenes.

Academic Carnival next Term

Next term we are hoping to run an Academic Carnival, inspired by the inaugural event held last year. This week is designed to bring some awareness and acknowledgment to the academic culture of students at Riverside High School. We like to think of it as an athletic carnival of the minds. We have some fun activities lined up for students of all skill levels and are open to any peer involvement and ideas.

Due to exams we have taken it easy with events and fundraisers this term. But rest-assured we have many ideas and events to run next term, that will provide some opportunities for all our peers. So have a great holiday and get ready for an amazing Term 4!

Megan 10B and Jaiden 10B

RYDA reminder for Grade 10 students

All Grade 10 students will attend Symmons Plains Raceway for (RYDA) Rotary Youth Driver Awareness sessions on Tuesday, 15th October 2019.

See the link below for details about RYDA.

House Logo T-Shirts

House Logo T-Shirt pre sales are able to be ordered until Friday, 27th September 2019 on the Qkr School app.

They are $15 each for pre orders on the Qkr App. If buying through the Uniform Shop they will be $18 each and stock will be available at the end of October.

If your top arrives and the size is not right, you will be able to have it exchanged for another size.

They will arrive in time for the Athletics Carnival.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask any Prefects or the Admin Office, thanks.

Volunteers needed for our Canteen

We are seeking volunteers to assist with preparing and serving of food in our canteen, Monday to Friday, 11:00am – 1:30pm. We are happy to negotiate hours to suit.

Volunteers will need to have a current Working with Vulnerable Children Registration.

Please contact the school Admin Office.