Hello families, welcome to our latest newsletter. 

School Improvement Plan and Agenda 

Our School Improvement Plan has now been finalised and endorsed by the Department. Our School Improvement Plan outlines our key priorities and targets for the year and details our key actions to achieve these targets. 

Priority 1: Reading, pedagogy and instruction. Implement evidence-based reading practices and structured literacy as components of a multi-tiered system of support to facilitate student growth in reading and literacy 

Priority 2: Delivering a high-expectations, high support culture. Have the entire school community coalesce around a shared vision and commitment to strengthen a school culture which is typified by high expectations and high support, with a multi-tiered system of supports to facilitate students’ meeting those expectations and attending more regularly 

As the year goes on, I will provide you some updates on the progress of our actions towards these priorities and there will be an opportunity for everyone to engage and have their voice heard regarding Priority 2. As we embark on this strategic work, to build on growth in the school over recent years, I am very thankful for the cohesion and improvement-focused outlook of the entire staff group. Our staff are committed to making this school the best school it can be, where every student experiences appropriate social and academic growth each year and where there is accelerated catch up where necessary. 

Intensive literacy intervention 

Some students participate in MacqLit and MiniLit tutorials multiple times each week. Students who are involved attend regularly and engage fully. We have seen that they have experienced quite remarkable accelerated catch-up in their foundational literacy skills in previous years. Families, we ask that when we share with you data regarding student achievement and progress, that you celebrate this with them. As I move around the school I am always pleased to see snippets of the tutorials, where students work intensely in small groups with our specially trained MacqLit instructors. 

Consent education 

Our School Health Nurse has been working with Legal Aid Tasmania to provide students with some learning regarding the legal notions of consent and the legal implications of sharing intimate images online. We will communicate with families of grades involved with more information before the programs commence later this term. 

I also encourage families to continue these discussions at home. Although I acknowledge that having conversations with teens about sex and consent can be awkward for some, it is of crucial importance. Tasmania was one of the first jurisdictions in Australia to adopt a legal notion of affirmative consent and Legal Aide Tasmania defines it concisely: Consent to sex - Tasmania Legal Aid.  

Consent isn’t the absence of a ‘no’.  

Consent to one activity does not mean consent to another.  

Someone cannot give consent if they are drunk, drugged, unconscious or asleep, or if they do not feel free to say no (e.g. if they are coerced). 

Consent on one day does not mean the same activity is consented to on another day. 

Consent is when someone capable of agreeing to a legal activity gives their free and enthusiastic approval.

Please reach out to our staff if you need any support with these conversations. 

It is hard to believe that we are already planning for the end of term, but the high pile of risk management plans on my desk proves it is so and evidence the breadth of opportunities available to our young people.  

Students from Grades 4-10 will participate in camps to Hobart next week and Grade 3-6 students have an opportunity to travel to Oatlands on the last day of term to particate in a school exchange. These are but two of the large number of activities on offer and I encourage students to take advantage of the opportunities being offered to them. 

As always, please reach out if there is ever anything I can assist with. 

In partnership,

David Bryant,

Acting Principal