Newsletter No.7, Friday 28 July 2023

Message from the Principals

Welcome all of our community to Term 3. I’m sure many of you would agree that the first two terms have flown by and this term is shaping up to be another busy one.

In the coming weeks we will have a focus on our course and pathways selections for our 2024 Year 8, 9 and 10 students. An important date to place in your calendar is the HCHS Course Information Evening which is on Tuesday 22 August. This is a great chance to attend with your young person and learn about the courses that are on offer in 2024. Students in Years 8, 9 and 10 begin to have more autonomy over their learning, so it is important that they gather as much information as possible about future opportunities.

We will also have a focus on transition during this term and making sure that our students are ready and confident for 2024. We will be having visits from our incoming Year 6 to Year 7 students, Year 8 students will have further opportunities to orient themselves with the New Town Campus and Year 10 students will do further course counselling and familiarisation with Elizabeth College.

Other events include our Band Tour and Book Week Celebrations in week 5, Discussions of Learning in Week 9 and our Musical Production of “We Will Rock You” in week 10. Further information about these events will be published in future newsletters and via Schoolzine.

We look forward to working with you and your young people to have successful learning outcomes during this term.

Britany Roestenburg - Lead Principal

Andrew Hughes - Principal - Middle School

Holly Stewart - Principal - Senior School

Are you making every school day count?

As we move through the school year, sometimes regular school attendance can be challenging.

It’s important your child keeps up good attendance habits though.

Going to school every day means your child has every chance to learn, and be around their friends and teachers. Every day adds up, to benefit your child now and in the future.

If you’re having trouble getting your child to school, please talk to us. We’ll listen to your situation, and help in any way we can.

If you’re looking for tips on how to create better attendance habits, visit the Anything can happen website.

Attendance

Please note the following:

• A full school day is from 9:00 am (present in class) to 3:00 pm. To enable your student to be in class on time we have staff here to provide duty of care from 8:30 am, which allows enough time to prepare for being present on time to the first class, which is Home Group. Please note that Home Group is part of the scheduled school day and it is important that all students are present. Teachers are on duty at the end of the day until 3:30 pm.
• Part days missed, including Home Group, all add up to important school being missed. For example if your student misses Home Group each day for 4 weeks, that is the same time as a full school day.
• As a result, we ask that where possible all appointments are scheduled outside school hours.
• If your student is not able to attend at any time, please contact the school via email hobart.city.high@decyp.tas.gov.au, through SZapp (Schoolzine app) or respond to any text messages received around non-attendance via return text on 0417 968 541 (free text service).
• Please feel free to contact the school if there are concerns around your student’s attendance so we are able to assist however we can to ensure that they are at school.

Levies

Please note that levies are now due for payment.

They can be paid in instalments or as a lump sum in the following ways:

• In person at the office on either campus, or calling 6228 8800 (using a credit card only), between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm during term time, or 8:30 am to 3:30 pm during school holidays;
• BPay, BPoint and Centrepay – details of how to pay using this method are on your invoice/statement;
• Service Tasmania
• Cheque

Some families may be eligible for Student Assistance Scheme (STAS), to check if you might be eligible please visit Levies and Charges - Department for Education, Children and Young People (decyp.tas.gov.au) or call 1800 827 055.

Classroom Routines

This term we are having a renewed focus on consistent classroom routines across both campuses. As a staff we have been doing a lot of research on how to support our students’ learning habits and will be implementing these core routines to better support their learning.

At the beginning of lessons all our classes will line up outside of their classroom where their teacher will greet them and then explain their “do now” (this is the first task in the lesson that helps students to tune in to the days topic). Students will then move to their allocated learning space to complete this task.

During the lesson, our teachers use the HCHS Teaching and Learning Framework (available on our internet page) to guide our students learning.

At the completion of the class, students will complete a formative assessment task (such as an exit ticket), tidy the room and then stand behind their chairs prior to being dismissed for the next class or break time.

Please discuss these routines with your young person and we welcome any feedback that you or they may have.

Have your say on current feeder school arrangements

The Department for Education Children and Young People is seeking feedback from families on current feeder school arrangements. These arrangements have been in place for many years and are currently under review. The current feeder school arrangements have been published and can be found on the Department’s Find Your Local High School webpage.  Feedback on these current arrangements can be provided via on online survey at https://forms.office.com/r/q6SrdMne2i . Your feedback will be a valuable input into the review process.

Inter-School Badminton

Throughout Term 2, we had 41 students representing our school in badminton every Friday 3:30 - 6:30 pm.  They all played a range of singles and doubles matches each week. Playing in a huge competition of over 340 students, our Hobart City High School teams did us very proud.

10A boys – HCHS: Fletcher S, Kaden A, Callan S, Seb R.

10B boys – HCHS: Dominic W, Oliver W, Zeus F, Jackson B, Fletcher N, Liam R

10B girls – HCHS ONE: Sawana R, Eh K W, Blu P, Eh Nyaw P
10B girls – HCHS TWO: Billie L, Ella C, Emily C, Abigail D, Kritima D

9B boys – HCHS mixed: An L, Lachlan M, Dillan M, Abhi S
9B boys – HCHS TWO: Michael L, Dylan C, Keiji G, Casey P, Ayub K

8A boys – HCHS: Daniel O, Arthur L, Toby N, Le Minh N

8B boys – HCHS: Raphael L, Gabriel L, Zac M, Philos S, Khan H

7 mixed – HCHS: Felix H, Evelyn S, Nemi J, Oscar M

Over the nine weeks of competition, our badminton students showed class and sportsmanship. Congratulations to the four teams who made it through to the Grand Finals:
8A boys – Daniel, Arthur, Toby, Minh - RUNNERS UP lost to Friends
8B boys – Raphael, Gabriel, Zac, Philos, Khan - PREMIERS defeated Cosgrove
9B boys – Michael, Dylan, Keiji, Casey - PREMIERS defeated Mackillop
10B girls – Sawana, Eh K, Blu, Eh Nyaw - PREMIERS defeated St Aloysius

Special congratulations to the following students who were crowned INDIVIDUAL CHAMPION of their respective grades: Khan (Year 8 singles), Daniel and partner (Year 8 mixed doubles), Fletcher and Callan (Year 10 boys doubles), Fletcher (Year 10 singles).

As a school, we are so proud of all our badminton players. They represent us with such a positive attitude and good sportsmanship each week. A big thanks to our Year 10 students who have now finished their representation of Hobart City High School. Many of them have played every year of high school. We thank them for their leadership and contributions to school badminton.

Inter-school badminton will commence again in Term 2 2024.

Jane Brooks - Sport Coordintor - NTC

Australian Football Championships

The School Sports Australia (SSA) 15 years and under Australian Football Championships are currently being held in Ballarat from 22-29 July. Team, Tasmania are competing in the A pool:against NSW, VIC and SA.

Congratulations to our HCHS students who are representing Tasmania; Sam M, Ewan D, Lucas K and Zach R.

Music News

Vocal Ensemble

Students from the vocal ensemble performed on Tuesday 4 July at LINC (Hobart Library) as part of the festival of voices pop up performance sessions.

Year 7 Music

Year 7’s are enjoying Music, with a big focus on instrumental playing for semester 1. At the end of last term classes started playing together as a class band with tunes such as ‘Power Rock’ (Queen medley) and Star Wars.

Year 9/10 Music

The Year 9/10 Music class have been busy working in groups on ensemble pieces for presentation to the class. Students were asked to pick a piece to work on in groups of their own choosing.  They also had a guest speaker and trumpeter from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) Mark Bain visit to talk about performance anxiety which will be invaluable for the students solo and ensemble performance assessments ahead.

Important Dates

1 August - Year 6 Families School Tour - 9:30 - 10:15 am OC

7-11 August - School Satisfaction Survey Week

8 August - White Card Training - NTC

8 August - School Association Meeting OC

9 August - White Card Training - NTC

10 August - Anti Bullying Crew (ABC) Project Smile - 9:00 am-12:00 pm - NTC

14 August - Anti Bullying Crew (ABC) Project Smile - 9:00 am-12:00pm - OC

14 August - Futsal Tasmanian School Titles - 8:30 am-3:00 pm - Futsal Institute Tasmania, 2 Hornby Road Goodwood

16 August - Tasmania Hawks Cup Qualifier - 9:00 am-3:00 pm - Cadbury Oval, Claremont

17 August - Civil Contractors Federation Industry Talk - 9:15-10:15 am - NTC

18 August - Dance Excursion - Age by Drill Performance - 11:30 am-1:30 pm - Theatre Royal 

22 August - Year 9/10 Excursion - Primary School Football Carnival - 8:45 am-2:30 pm - Geilston Bay Football Oval

22 August - Course Information Evening

                      - Year 8 - 5:00-6:00 pm - OC

                      - Years 9 and 10-6:30-7:30 pm - NTC

24-25 August - Elizabeth College Preliminary Enrolments - NTC

25 August - Book Week Celebrations 

25 August - Newsletter

28 -30 August - Middle School Concert Band Melbourne Tour

29 August - ADF Guest Speaker - 9:15-10:15am - NTC

14 September - Tasmania Hawks Cup Final - UTAS Stadium, Launceston

21 September - Discussions of Learning 

29 September - Last Day of Term 3