Dear Parents/Guardians

I hope that you have all enjoyed the holiday break and that students are looking forward to the year ahead at Riverside High School.

I’m really looking forward to working with the team of teachers and non-teaching staff at Riverside High School to provide engaging learning programs to support and extend students and their learning outcomes. For the past six years I have been Principal at Port Dalrymple School, a Kinder to Year 12 school, and prior to that Principal at Scottsdale High School.  Riverside High School has a School Improvement Plan which focuses on Quality Teaching and Learning, Wellbeing and Access, Participation and Engagement and I’m excited to be leading our school.

We are very pleased to be welcoming new families to Riverside High School and the Grade 7 students.  For 2022, we have 190 Grade 7 students enrolled.

Students have made a very positive start to the year with teachers focused on creating calm and orderly learning environments where students are familiarising themselves with routines, expectations and developing positive working relationships with their peers and teachers.  Thank you to all parents for supporting and ensuring students come to school in full uniform and that they are presented well for learning and school.  Please contact your child’s Grade Leader if you require support accessing uniform.

The Department’s Return to School Operational Plan has been shared with our school community.  The plan has been developed by education and health experts, and aligns with the National Approach to managing COVID-19 in schools.  All students at Riverside High School are wearing masks when indoors and class teachers have a supply of masks that students can access each morning.  Students are encouraged to sanitise their hands on entry to every learning space and we have a supply of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) that families can access by calling the Administration Office.

Welcome to our new staff

We are delighted to welcome the following teaching and non-teaching staff to Riverside High School for 2022, they are a great asset to our teams.  New staff are:  

Grade 7 Team

Crystal Coleman
Suzi Maddy
Tyeisha Hinds
Lillian Males – AST Grade 7 Leader
Karen Dudley – AST Grade 7 Leader

Grade 8 Team

Georgia Rolls
Jill Couch

Grade 10 Team

Kathleen Uko

Admin Team

Veronica Vance

EFA Team

Jake Hendry
Claire Brown

Teacher Assistant’s

Samantha Barclay
Maddi Holmes
Andrew Bayes
Erin Wilson

Leadership Team 2022

Jeanna Bolton - Acting Principal

Cynthia Pearce - School Business Manger

Rohan Pooley – Grade 7 Assistant Principal
Karen Dudley - AST Grade 7 Leader
Lillian Males - AST Grade 7 Leader

Susan Matkovich – Grade 8 Assistant Principal
Tim Elliott - AST Grade 8
Cameron Downie - Grade 8 Leader

Darren Hanson – Grade 9 Assistant Principal
Jo Faulkner - AST Grade 9
Jesse Fyfe - Grade 9 Leader

Adrian Smith – Grade 10 Assistant Principal
Kate Huddleston - AST Grade 10
Toby Musovic - Grade 10 Leader

Ben Gadsby and Kylie Jago - Instructional Coach AST’s

Return to School Operational Plan

The Department’s Return to School Operational Plan has been shared with families.

This plan sets out how we return to school safely on 9th February. It has been developed by education and health experts, and aligns with the National Approach to managing COVID-19 in schools and early childhood education and care.  This plan balances the learning needs of our children, while ensuring they’re as safe as possible in our care.

Overview of plan

Key takeaways of the Return to School Operational Plan are as follows:

• This is our approach for the first five weeks of school. Future planning beyond this is already underway.
• Face-to-face learning in primary and secondary schools will continue with COVID-safe measures in place.
• Individual and medical learning plans for students with disability that have complex health needs will be updated if required by schools in consultation with parents and carers. Vulnerable students will also be supported.
• Regular school activities – like school photos, music and swimming lessons and excursions – will continue in a COVID-safe manner. However, if the situation changes, this will be re-visited on a school-by-school basis.
• Masks will be mandatory for all secondary students in indoor settings. Face masks do not need to be worn by students in primary schools – however, masks will be available for primary school students should they wish to wear one. All adults will wear face masks, however, teachers may remove their masks if required to assist clear communication when teaching. All schools are well stocked with face masks.
• Rapid antigen tests (RATs) will be provided to school staff and students to use if they have COVID-19 symptoms.
• Students are not defined as close contacts in a classroom. Parents and carers will be notified if a positive case is detected in the classroom and asked to monitor for symptoms.
• Public health will work closely with schools if there are increased cases in classrooms.
• Virtual learning will be used to support students required to isolate.
• Additional cleaning of frequently touched surfaces.

Thank you!

The week prior to the start of the school year is always a busy.  We would like to acknowledge the wonderful contribution that a range of people have made in assisting with us getting the school year underway.

• A huge thank you to our Admin and EFA team who are always the first teams to return to work after the holidays and play an essential role in organising and preparing our school for the return of both staff and students.
  
  
• I would like to extend an enormous thank you to Sue Purcell and Gabrielle Purcell who worked tirelessly to provide a great service to families in the Uniform Shop. Thank you very much for being so generous with your time and for your ongoing support of our school. We are lucky to have such a wonderful service for our families!
  
  
• Thank you also to our Prefect Board for their work prior to the start of term. Our Prefects played a key role in ensuring book packs were available for all Home Groups on the first day.
  
  
• We would also like to thank our Peer Mentors for being at school on Tuesday afternoon to assist our Grade 7 students on their first afternoon. I know your friendly, familiar and welcoming faces was a great support to many students as they settled into our school.
  
  
• Thank you to our Leadership team who were involved in significant planning and preparation to set up for the start of this year.

Ms Jeanna Bolton
Principal

Our values are:

• Courage – accepting challenges and embracing opportunities
• Embracing opportunities and giving things a go
• Stepping outside your comfort zone
• Accepting challenges and not giving up
• Being truthful and showing integrity

Aspiration – a culture of high expectations and high achievement

• High expectations for yourself and others
• Setting goals to succeed
• Inquiring, questioning and wondering
• Striving for personal excellence

Respect - respecting ourselves, others and our environment

• Building strong positive relationships
• Contributing to a sense of community
• Being safe in the school environment and caring for our physical environment
• Being yourself and letting others be themselves

Endeavour - resilience and perseverance to achieve personal growth

• Demonstrating commitment to continual growth
• Developing resilience and perseverance
• Being the best version of you
• Always seeing yourself as a learner

Riverside High is a nut aware school. Our school has several students/staff who have a severe allergy to nuts, especially peanuts. If these people come into contact with peanuts, or any food products that contain nuts they will suffer severe anaphylactic shock, during which breathing may cease. A peanut butter sandwich in the same room would be enough to start this reaction. We therefore request that all students/staff do not bring peanut butter sandwiches or any items that contain nuts or nut ingredients to school. In most cases the label on foods will indicate the presence of nuts. Your co-operation with this is much appreciated.

As we begin the new school year it is very timely to remind you of the need for all students to take particular care in managing their personal safety whilst travelling to and from school. This includes ensuring that all students are clear with which buses they need to catch, where parents will be picking them up from and the need to use road crossings.  I need to stress the importance of students using the underpass and the lights on West Tamar Highway. I also need to remind students of the importance of wearing bicycle helmets. West Tamar Road is an extremely busy highway especially at peak times, so your support with reinforcing these important safety messages would be appreciated.

The turning circle off Brownfield Lane has parent drop off/pick up bays and we encourage parents to use these. This is very safe for students as they can use a crossing at either end of the lane and makes traffic flow back onto the West Tamar Road fairly smooth.  We ask that parents and carers please take care when coming into our school at the beginning and especially the end of the school day, as it is very busy and safety is a priority.

Please be aware that students are not permitted to bring skateboards or scooters to school. This is for safety reasons and because we are unable to store these items in our new spaces.

As you would be aware, we have a very clear Mobile Phone policy, aligned to DoE requirements for all schools. This means that for students, mobile phones are required to be switched off and securely stored in lockers during the school day. While we live in a world surrounded by technology, we know that mobile phones can cause a distraction from learning and are impacting on the development of respectful and supportive relationships.  Last week we communicated to all students very clear expectations with regards to mobile phones at school and we seek your support with this. I would like to acknowledge how impressed we have been with the way students have settled back into this routine, which can be an adjustment after the break. 

CONDITIONS OF USE

• Mobile phones must be switched off and stored in lockers from the start of the school day to the end of the school day.
• Use of earphones is not permitted at any time, with any device, unless directed by the teacher where audio is required for the learning task when using a device.
• Students with ‘smart watches must have them set to ‘aeroplane mode’.

Please be aware that any communication between parents and students during the school day, will need to be through the School Admin Office.

It is timely to remind everyone that students need to be taking care with any valuable items they bring to school, understanding that students bring these to school not as school requirements, but at their own risk. Any valuables need to be stored in lockers and should not be left sitting in bags or unattended. This includes items such as phones, ear pods and devices.

Our Cafe provides an excellent range of healthy food at very reasonable prices. We strongly encourage students to use the Qkr App and pre-order lunches, as this will help with students being served more promptly and our Cafe staff being able to best manage large numbers of customers.

To help prevent a broken iPad screen and the associate cost of repair, the purchase of an iPad glass screen protector is highly recommended. The same glass screen protector can be purchased for both Grade 7 & 8 iPads. These can be purchased online or through local retailers.

Photo Day/s:                  

Friday 4 March (Main Photo Day)

Monday 7 March (Absentee Photo Day)

Have your child’s school memories captured forever.  MSP Photography will be at Riverside High on the dates featured above.  Every student must be in full school uniform on photo day.

Please be aware that all photos must now be ordered online.  Your child will receive an order slip with a unique shootkey printed on it. Orders received after photo day will be subject to a surcharge.

ORDERING PROCESS FOR INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS

1. Log on to msp.com.au and click ORDER ONLINE. Online ordering will remain open until Midnight, Monday, 14th March.
2. Enter the Shootkey and select the pack you wish to order. Record your Reference Number for your information.

To order a pack for another student from the same family use the “Change Shootkey” function to enter the next shoot key.

Repeat the process with the sibling photo shootkey, you will find this on the separate sibling photo sheet.

3. Your total order will be calculated and a discount will automatically be applied for orders over $110.00.

SIBLING/FAMILY PHOTOS (envelope available from School Admin office upon request)

4. Families wishing to order photos of siblings together need to follow the information provided on the Sibling slip to order Sibling/Family photos. The student must return the Sibling Photo order envelope with the order reference to the photographer when they have their sibling photo taken.

 We greatly appreciate your assistance with this matter.

Congratulations to Izzy in 9A!

Izzy has just competed at her first National event at Sydney Olympic Park on the 12^th & 13^th February (National Combined Event Championships). She competed in the Under 16 Heptathlon event against 16 other competitors, winning a bronze medal!

To qualify for the National competition, Izzy needed 3,200 points through competing for her club, North Launceston Athletics Club.

Her results for each event:

90m Hurdles – 14.37sec

High Jump – 1.54m

Shot Put – 8.9m

200m – 26.60sec

Long Jump – 5.21m

Javelin – 31.20m

800m – 2:36.84mins

Izzy’s outstanding performance means she has now qualified for the Australian National Track and Field Championships to compete individually in 100m, 200m, Long Jump, Hurdles and High Jump. These will be held from March 26^th – 3^rd April.

Congratulations to Izzy on her incredible achievement and we will look forward to following her success!