Welcome back to another exciting school year at Campbell Town District High School.

I am so pleased to be here in Mr Flanagan’s absence until mid August. I appreciate the warm welcome I have received by staff, students and families and need to say that I am thoroughly impressed with the way staff and families have supported our young people to have a smooth and productive start to the year.

I want to formally welcome new staff to CTDHS in 2025:

Mr Scott Brown (Grade 5 teacher)

Ms Mai Hoang (Teacher intern)

Ms Alice Healey (Speech Therapist)

Ms Jo Kohler (Social Worker)

In addition to our new staff, we also welcome back two staff from leave. Miss Kelsey Maconachie is returning as our kindergarten teacher and Mrs Lyrae Rattray is returning as our Safeguarding Lead and Grade 5 teacher for one day a week.

We have had a very productive and positive start to the school year and I am pleased with the way students are settling into positive learning routines. Of particular note is the way that all teachers are embracing our approach to structured literacy with gusto. This approach saw significant growth in students’ reading results in 2024 and students’ positive adoption of these new routines is admirable.

2025 priorities:

CTDHS will continue to build on the good work of previous years to implement a common instructional model and our structured approach to reading. Attendance and Safeguarding continue to be an area of attention too.

Visit from the Minister for Education

It was a pleasure to host The Honourable Jo Palmer MLC, Minister for Education this afternoon. The Minister was able to tour our new Ag Building and also to learn about the exciting and rich learning underway in our classrooms. I thank our student leaders for their participation in this event and will provide a full report in a future newsletter.

Attendance:

One of the greatest predictors of success at school is regular attendance. Students are much more likely to be successful at school if they attend at least 90% of the time. Please reach out to a member of our staff if you need any support with maintaining regular attendance and please continue to notify our office of any unavoidable absences.

Student success:

A few days ago I had the great pleasure of joining a Grade 7/8 literacy class. I was so thankful for the way Ms Hodge and Mr Martin were supporting students and for the rich learning they were leading. Students were working on descriptive language (metaphor in particular) and were working in groups to incorporate prompt words into a piece of creative writing. I was so impressed that Sapphire, Izzy, Makayla and Atiria were able to write this descriptive piece in four minutes:

He sat there empty and alone. He felt like he had no place to call home, and if he was to return who would be there for him.

Who knew the feeling of losing someone would make you feel so distant. He sat, cold and staring at a sorrowful grave

where she lies abandoned, although peaceful and resting.

Past student success:

Today, I also want to acknowledge and celebrate past students who have gone on to achieve much success at Newstead College. They both received awards at the College’s recent awards ceremony:

Danielle Smith

• Ampol All Rounder Award
• Public Education Foundation Tertiary Teaching Scholarship
• Academic Excellence ATAR 80-89
• Athlete Development 2 - Subject Award
• Sociology 3 - Subject Award

Newstead College tells me that Danielle's journey at Newstead College has been marked by her outstanding leadership, commitment to service, community, and achievements in sport and academics. She balances her sporting, academic and community responsibilities with exceptional dedication. As Captain of her club netball team and Vice-Captain of the Newstead College netball team, she motivates her peers and actively fosters team spirit. Congratulations Danielle.

Olivia Holt

• TASC Outstanding Achievement in VET (Vocational Education & Training) Award.
• Vocational Education & Training Award for Certificate II in Retail Cosmetics 
• Contemporary Art Practice 2 - Subject Award
• Design and Production 2 - Subject Award

Olivia Holt performed to a high standard in all aspects of the Certificate II in Retail Cosmetics. She is now undertaking an apprenticeship at Prospect Hair and Beauty. Congratulations Olivia.

Out and about in the school

It really is such a pleasure to be able to walk the grounds and hallways of the school on a daily basis. I see students engaged in play and then transitioning quicky into focused learning. Here are some of my favourite photos of the start to the 2025 school year.

They show students interacting with each other and staff positively and engaged in learning in classes. Please follow our Facebook account to see more.

Please reach out if I can be of any assistance.

In partnership,

David Bryant,

Acting Principal