MIDDLE ROAD, (PO BOX 1261)DEVONPORT

Phone: 6420 8100.

email: reece.high@education.tas.gov.au

Issue 6 — Volume 7

NEWSLETTER July 24 2008

From the Principal’s Desk

Mid Year Reports and Three Way Conferences.
Reece High School invites all families and their child to attend 3-way Conferences between
Monday 4th August and Thursday 7th August 2008.

This is an excellent opportunity to discuss your child’s achievements in detail and for
teachers to explain more fully the Tasmanian Curriculum and SARIS (Student Assessment
and Reporting Information System).

Appointments can be made at the school reception desk or by phone (64208100). To assist
with school organisation all appointments need to be made by the close of business Friday
1st August.

As a general rule, principal teachers will be available for appointments at the following
times:
Grade 7-9
Monday 4th August 3pm - 6pm
Tuesday 5th August 3pm - 5pm
Wednesday 6th August 3pm - 6pm
Thursday 7th August 3pm - 5pm
Grade 7 only
Friday 8th August 8.40am - 12.25pm
Grade 8 only
Thursday 7th August 8.40am - 12.25pm
Grade 9 only
Tuesday 5th August 8.40am - 12.25pm
Grade 10 only
Monday 4th August 10.40am - 5pm
Tuesday 5th August 3pm - 5pm
Wednesday 6th August 3pm - 4pm
Thursday 7th August 3pm - 4pm

R e e c e H i g h S ch o o l Page 1
In addition following the 09Guide Parent Information session for grade 10 students, all
grade 10 principal teachers will be available to speak with parents in this year group between
7pm and 8pm on Monday 4th August (details in letter provided to all grade 10 students on
Wednesday July23).

Reports will be distributed at 3-way conferences. Students will not be issued their reports.

Please contact the Principal on 64208100 should you have any difficulty organising an
appointment.

Sheree Vertigan
Principal

Premier David Bartlett visit to Reece High School on

Tuesday July 8th

Reece High welcomed Premier David Bartlett to the school in early July. The purpose of
Premier Bartlett’s visit was to explore the transition and pathway programs we run to support
our students. The Premier spent a couple of hours touring RHS’ facilities, meeting with
personnel who work in this area, observed one of our Pathway Planners, Natasha Armitstead,
working with a grade 9 class, visited our Transition Apprentice Pathway Program (TAPP) class,
and spoke with staff and students throughout the school.

He was impressed not only by our school’s facilities but also by the confidence, focus and ease
with which our students could speak with him about their learning and future pathways beyond
year ten.

Premier Bartlett told the TAPPs class that he would like to visit them later in the year to
review the progress they have made and the directions they plan to take beyond year 10. We
look forward to his return in term 3.

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PAUL DILLON VISITS REECE HIGH SCHOOL
“Numbers of teenage drinkers declining”
Tuesday 8th July saw Paul Dillon attend Reece High School to advocate the dangerous
consequences associated with using alcohol. Paul has been involved in drug education and
research for the last twenty five years. In his work he has travelled around Australia
working with the Australian cricket and rugby teams plus numerous schools He has also
appeared many times on shows such as Sunrise, Today and Current Affair.

This was the first time he has spoken at Reece High School and he captured all the Grade
10’s attention by first demonstrating his intention not to tell the room of 16 years that
alcohol is bad and don’t touch it ever. He provided statistics that went against what the
media feeds society, showing that the majority of adolescents are not alcoholics or binge
drinkers. He produced a number of graphs to back up his claims and provided young teens
with more than useful tips when around alcohol or drugs. These tips included making sure
you have a way home, are with people you trust and are as safe as possible in a variety of
ways. Paul also dispelled many myths about sobering up with showers, bread, water and
coffee.

Along with the tips came many sad and sobering stories where devastating consequences of
teenage drinking had affected many adolescent and family lives. It was these real life
situations that had presented the most impact for us in future decision making.

Candice Gracie Gr 10 Student

Thanks must go to the National School Drug Education Project in Tasmania for providing
this fully funded opportunity to ensure greater quality and safety in our adolescent’s future
lives.

40 HOUR FAMINE
Earlier this week, class representatives and student leaders were given the opportunity to
be involved in a conference with World Vision Youth Ambassadors Scott Sanders and Mary
Thomas. They presented an inspirational story of how children of India are stuck in
poverty with no education, health care, sewerage systems and filthy water.

In December last year Scott and five other Youth Ambassadors visited India to experience
the poverty first hand. According to Scott, he came back a changed man, explaining how
many of India’s children spend their day.

One example of his experience was nine year old girl, Rajni, is one of many children who
wake up at five every morning, cooks a meal for their families and wanders 6 miles around
the streets of India, sifting through piles of rubbish to search for recyclables that they
gather in a plastic sack. A full 10kg sack of recyclable waste would only earn a child 25
Rupee. That’s about 70-75 cents in Australian.

Now it’s up to the student leaders to get involved and rise up to the challenge, in what
should be another successful year regarding the 40 Hour Famine.

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GRADE 10 E & 10 C UNI DAY
On Friday 4th July, 10C and 10E took part in a tour of the Burnie Cradle Coast University Campus.
Over 20 students attended
the day which finished off
their week at various work
experience placements.
The day was to give us
more information on our
career pathways through
college (Academy) and into
University. The tour
started in the science labs
with a few quick science
experiments to give us a
taste of the science side of
Uni. We quickly moved
onto the video conference
rooms where students got
t o u s e v i d e o
communication to convey
their results from the
science experiments to
students at the other end
of the video link.

Students were given time to research their own pathways to Uni and had a look around the UTAS
website at some different careers that interested them (Some careers that came up were: Personal
Training, Engineering, Radiology, Medicine, Psychology and Teaching just to name a few). Students were
then taken for a tour of the new Uni Campus by Hannah Pearce, who is a current Uni student at
Burnie. Throughout the tour we were able to ask Hannah all of our questions about Uni and the life of
a Uni student. The trip concluded with lunch at TAFE campus in Burnie.

We would like to thank Mrs. Sobolewski & Moene from Reece High and Tania Adam & Hannah Pearce
from UTAS.

Jake Likar & Nathan Turale

FRUIT FRIDAY!!!
Did you know that Australia is officially the world’s fattest nation?

At Reece High School we take pride in the health and wellbeing of our stu-
dents and this is one of the reasons we would like to introduce FRUIT FRIDAY: an initiative from
the Prefect Board allowing all students the option of a free piece of fruit for recess and lunch every
Friday. There will be a table in both the canteen and junior school aiming to promote healthy eating
and encourage healthier food choices for everyone to enjoy. The Prefects would like to give a big
thankyou to Woolworths for their extremely generous donations of fruit.

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Addison Davis
Congratulations for being selected to take part in the first component of the “Engineering
University Experience”. Addison is one of only eight North West Coast students to be
selected in the program.
Addison also represented Tasmania in Hockey earlier in the year.

Mitch Sutton
Mitch was one of 100 students selected nationally to attend the UNSW Nura Gili Indige-
nous Winter School program. Mitch spent a week in Sydney last week at the UNSW Medi-
cal Faculty.

Sam Rundle
Congratulations to Sam for his selection in the State U16 Football Team.

Nick Bound
Nick won the Open Male swimming champion at Inter High Swimming Carnival.

Nathan Marshall and Shannon Gardner

Nathan and Shannon were State Finalists in this year’s Theatre Class Clown Comedy Com-
petition.

Brady Lilico
Congratulations to Brady Lillico who travelled to Queensland to represent Tasmania in
Gymnastics.

Chris Hall, Curt Woolley, Nathan Turale, and Tim Kelly

Chris, Nathan and Curt have been selected to represent Tasmania in Futsal.

Hospitality representatives at the Aztec Chocolate Festival:

Congratulations to Trent Coleman, Bethany Burk, Rhea Vonstiglitz, Stacey Lunson, Stepha-
nie Sheehan, Katelyn Wilson, and Denika Steven.

If you know of any other Reece Students who should be congratulated for their achieve-
ments please let me know.
Cindy Johnston

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Parents put their neighbourhood to the activity test!

We know that physical activity is important in the school environment, including PE classes,
play time activities and extracurricular sports. But what physical activity options exist for
children when they leave the school gates? How activity friendly is your local community?

An activity friendly community improves the health of parents and children by providing
environmental infrastructure that encourages participation in physical activity such as walking,
cycling and other active pursuits. It also incorporates aesthetically pleasing landscaping and
urban design, such as adequate shade, rest areas and drinking water facilities.

In July, advocacy group The Parents Jury launched its online Activity Friendly Communities
campaign at www.parentsjury.org.au. The campaign encourages parents to take a look at
their local neighbourhood and become advocates for improved physical activity environments
on behalf of their children.

The campaign kit includes an online Active Community Checklist that parents can use to
assess their community's recreation and leisure facilities, as well as resources like weblinks,
letter templates and advocacy tips to assist parents in creating positive changes in their
neighbourhood.

Children and adults are more likely to spend time outside being physically active if their local
environment has been thoughtfully created to encourage active living and outdoor pursuits.
Research has found that families living in suburbs with better amenities in their public open
spaces such as walking and cycling paths, shady areas, toilets and picnic tables are more likely
to participate in physical activity, resulting in an overall increased sense of wellbeing and
better health.

An activity friendly community:

• Provides on road and off road walking paths and cycling tracks
• Prioritises the needs of pedestrians by providing appropriate crossings and traffic speed
deterrents
• Is aesthetically pleasing with trees, plants, grassy spaces and plenty of shady areas
• Encourages children to play by providing modern interesting play equipment for all ages
and abilities
• Has a variety of sporting facilities that appeal to a broad interest range
• Promotes the use of active transport to school
• Encourages responsible dog ownership with plenty of appropriate on-leash and off-leash
areas
•
To get involved with The Parents Jury's Activity Friendly Communities campaign, visit
www.parentsjury.org.au, or email The Parents Jury at enquiries@parentsjury.org.au.

The Parents Jury is a free online forum for parents to voice their views and collectively
advocate for the improvement of children's food and physical activity environments. The
Parents Jury currently has over 3,300 members and is supported by the Australian and New
Zealand Obesity Society, Diabetes Australia - Vic, QLD and WA, The Cancer Council
Australia and its member bodies, and VicHealth.

Membership of The Parents Jury is free and open to all Australian parents, grandparents and guardians of children aged under 18 years.

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Jazz Karaoke
When: 12:00pm - 1:00pm, Saturday 26th July
Where: Rooke Street Mall, Devonport
How much: $5 registration
A Jazz Karaoke competition will be held in the Rooke Street Mall as
part of Devonport Jazz.
Registrations, lyrics and backing music ($5) are available from the
offices of 7AD at 2 Hillcrest Road, Devonport from Monday 23rd
June.
There are 17 songs to choose from including jazz ballads, swing and
bosa novas.
Registrations close at 5pm, Monday 21st July.
There are great prizes to be won, including another performance
opportunity for the winners during the Jazz Weekend

Ladies, would you like to play basketball???

Come to the Devonport Stadium on any Wednesday in the school terms for a social game of basketball. No teams, no
registrations, no ongoing commitment. New Players welcome. Learn to play while having fun. Games start at 9.30am.
Come and get some exercise, have fun and meet new people.

For enquiries please call Jo on 0417393816 and leave your name and contact details, or just turn up at the Stadium at 9.30am
any Wednesday.

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 . CALENDAR 2008
July
25 Student free day
29 ICAS Maths Comp 1:00 PM-3:00 PM
30/6 - 4/7 Grade 10C and 10E work experience
30/7 10B & 10D Interview techniques
August
4–7 Three-way conferences
8/8 10B & 10D Mock interviews
10 – 15 Ski Trip
15 – 17 40 Hour Famine
16 – 22 Book week
20 Work Cover Tasmania - Year 10 students
28 School Social – 80’s Fluro Night
25 – 29 Grade 10B and 10D work experience
September
5 Student free day
5 2nd term ends – school holidays
22 3rd term begins
October
7 HPV Vaccination 1.30pm
31 Student free day
November
3 Recreation Day (Northern Tasmania only)

December
10 Grade 10 Assembly
10 Grade 10 Dinner
17 Presentation Assembly Year 7 - 9
18 3rd term ends - School holidays

CONTACT DETAILS
Reece High School, Middle Road, Devonport Tas 7310
Ph (03) 6420 8100 Fax (03) 6420 8199 Email: reece.high@education.tas.gov.au

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