Dear families,

This edition of our school newsletter is a bumper one! It is reflective of the significant efforts our staff go to to provide students with an incredible breadth of learning and extracurricular activities.

Please remember that tomorrow (6th June) is a student free day and next Monday (9th June) is a public holiday.

On Friday, our school will host over 100 teachers from eight neighbouring schools to review student work samples to ensure that we make consistent judgements in how we assess those work samples and in the afternoon we will work together to learn from each other as we work to embed our structured approach to literacy. Be assured that our school is a rich place of learning for adults as well as students!

Campbell Town Show

I had a ‘pinch myself’ moment last week as I sat in the viewing area for the school’s Wool Handling competition at the Show. I was thoroughly impressed to see students demonstrate courage and put themselves forward in this public event and thrilled to hear the enthusiastic cheering from the crowd. More than half of our school was able to witness some of our Wool Handling teams and the way they cheered their peers on was wonderfully supportive.

I also had the pleasure of accompanying some of our Primary classes through the Exhibition Hall and to witness their excitement as they saw their pieces of work on display... often with a placing certificate attached. Campbell Town District High School has again taken out the overall Show prize. I want to say thank you to our parent helpers for their support on the day and to all staff involved in preparations for the Show and the excursion on the day.

illuminate Challenge

Congratulations to our Grade 5/6 students involved in the illuminate challenge in Longford last week. I was pleased to see students get off the bus each afternoon as the week wore on increasingly excited. Our incredible showing in regard to the awards for the week evidence the fact that students were very engaged and productive.

Upcoming School Association Meeting:

Please consider joining us for our next meeting, which is held at 9.00am on Monday 16 June.

Items for discussion at this point in time include:

• Discussion of and possible ratification of our school’s Respectful Visitor and Volunteer Policy
• Student leader presentation and discussion re Recycle Rewards program
• Bursary Committee discussion
• Principal’s report
• Sharing information about the upcoming External School Review
• School redevelopment update

Principal position

I can advise that Mr Flanagan’s Student Support Leader position has been extended for Term 3. Consequently, the Acting Principal position at Campbell Town District High School has recently been advertised (for term 3). I will inform you of the outcome of that process when possible.

External School Review

Our school will benefit from an external review in the third week of next term.

The purpose of External School Reviews is to support schools to raise achievement, sustain high performance and provide quality assurance to build public confidence in government schools.

All Tasmanian Government Schools are externally reviewed every four years. The focus of the Review is to evaluate school performance. The Review Team consists of an External School Review Leader and trained Principal Peer Reviewers. The review will occur from Monday 4th August until Wednesday 6th August.

We will find out the effective school practices that have been verified through the Review processes as well as the improvements that we need to make in the future.

During the External School Review some students, families, School Association members and staff will be asked to provide information to the Review Team in several ways. These include:

• individual interviews (can include family phone calls)
• group discussions (with students or staff or families)
• meetings (usually School Association, staff meeting)
• visits into classrooms.

Closer to the review date I will provide you with further information, including how you can nominate to speak to the review team. If you already know you would like to be involved, please email our school office on campbell.town.district.high@decyp.tas.gov.au

It is always a pleasure to connect with you briefly on morning or afternoon duty, as well as at special school activities. Please remember you can always book a meeting time with me though our office if there is anything I can support with.

David Bryant,

Acting Principal