Dear Parents/Guardians

Last Friday we presented the Prefects of 2024 with their badges and formally introduced them to the school community.  The 2024 Peer Mentors also received their badges from our Year 7 students and were also formally inducted into their roles. The student leaders at Riverside High School have one lesson a week where they conduct their board meetings and also have an opportunity to learn about leadership, leadership styles, collaboration and decision-making within a large team.  Ms Caz Saunders is the Prefect Coordinator for 2024 and Mr James Beardwood leads the Peer Mentors. It was wonderful that parents/guardians were able to attend the assembly and the morning tea afterward to celebrate the student leaders and their roles.

The guest speaker for this special assembly was former Riverside High School student, Jessica Faulkner. Jessica was Dux of Riverside High School in 2017 and recently graduated from the University of Melbourne with First Class Honours in Creative Writing. She was the University’s highest-ranking creative writing student to pursue further study, received a scholarship to attend the Melbourne Writers Festival and has her writing published in Australia’s top creative writing journals. Jessica’s speech was inspiring and embedded our CARE values of Courage, Aspiration, Respect and Endeavor. Jessica’s final message to our school community is quoted below and we sincerely thank Jessica for attending our assembly and sharing her journey of learning and success.

Be kind. Be sincere. Be someone of whom you are proud, whatever that means to you. Each and every one of you can use your time here to grow. Seize every moment. Remember that courage can be earned. Prove your capability to yourself and you will earn the courage to pursue your goals, your hopes, and your dreams. Because, in truth, you’re the only person who gets to decide what success means to you, and the only person who can make that success a reality. I hope that you will. You know what they say: you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Give yourself the chance to rise, and the courage to face the risk of falling. Only by confronting the darkness, can you realise your full ability to shine.

It has been a positive and very settled start to the 2024 school year. Thank you to the parents and guardians who attended the Year 7 Meet and Greet Barbeque last Tuesday afternoon.  The barbecue is a wonderful opportunity for Year 7 families to meet the teaching team and ask any questions students may have concerning their start to high school.

Home Group Letters

Grade Teams have sent a letter home to all families providing important information that relates specifically to the grade teaching and learning program. Please feel free to contact your child’s Home Group teacher if you have questions or concerns in relation to school.

Physical Education Riverside High School

Students are required to get changed for their Physical Education lessons into the school sports uniform. We ask students to please not wear their sports uniform to school if they have PE during Lesson 1 but to get changed in the allocated lesson time.  Parent/guardians, please ensure your child has appropriate footwear for PE and the Riverside High School sports uniform. At the school uniform shop, we have school polo tops, track pants, and shorts available to purchase along with a range of second-hand options for families.  Pictured below is the sports uniform we have for parents/guardians to purchase.

Safeguarding Training

If you are intending to volunteer on school events, excursions, canteen etc. you must have completed the DECYP Safeguarding Training. If you have any questions, please contact Mr Rohan Pooley on 6327 6333.

Safeguarding-Training-posters.pdf (education.tas.gov.au)

Quality Teaching and Learning at Riverside High

Our Quality Teaching and Learning Framework is pictured on the next page for your reference. Our framework was co-constructed by our school community with input from students, staff, and parents. Informed by current research regarding best practices, our framework represents a shared understanding of what we know constitutes good teaching and learning. Our framework is displayed around our school and discussed frequently with students. It also guides the focus of our work in staff teams and professional learning and informs our daily work, attitudes, and interactions. Our framework affords us a common language through which to discuss what is important to us and supports us to be the best school possible.

As you will see, our Quality Teaching and Learning Framework is divided into six sections. These sections are:

• Pedagogy which focuses on how students learn and the strategies which teachers can employ to support their learning.
• Curriculum which considers the content of our lessons..
• Relationships which concentrate on how we interact with one another.
• Personal Qualities which focus on the attributes which support us to be effective learners.
• Learning Culture which allows us to consider how we approach our learning and promote a learning community that views learning as an important lifelong process.
• Our School Values underpin our behaviour including how we work, learn, and get along with one another.

At the start of each year, we engage in professional learning to revisit the key elements of our Quality Teaching and Learning Framework. This included a consideration of our use of Learning Intentions and Success Criteria. Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are critical to our work with students as they provide the basis for feedback and outline the skills, knowledge, and understanding that students are expected to demonstrate whilst engaging in a particular task or activity. It is in such regards that Learning Intentions and Success Criteria support the work of both teachers and students, are embedded in all our lessons and promote high levels of student engagement and learning.

NAPLAN 2024

Students will be sitting NAPLAN between 13 March - 25 March

The National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning at school. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for, and students are not expected to do so.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance; however, students and parents may use individual results to discuss progress with teachers.

Why NAPLAN is conducted online?

NAPLAN online provides a better assessment and more precise results.

One of the main benefits of NAPLAN online is that it uses tailored (or adaptive) testing. This means that students receive questions better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do.

Online testing also allows us to provide a wide range of accessibility options to support students with disability to access NAPLAN.

Feedback from students is that they find the online test more engaging.

Parent information brochures will be sent home for Year 7 students and Year 9 next week.

Please contact the school if you have any further queries. Mr Ben Gadsby and Ms Kylie Jago are the NAPLAN Coordinators for Riverside High School.

Restorative Practices – Riverside High School

In 2022 and 2023, teachers at Riverside High School were involved in spaced learning on ‘Restorative Practices’.

Restorative Practice is a way of viewing relationship-building and behaviour support in schools that works to strengthen community among students and between students, teachers, and parents through educative processes.

Restorative approaches focus on the problem, not the person, and look at the harm that has been done and the obligation on the part of those responsible to ‘right the wrong’ as much as possible.

Restorative practices in schools are not limited to formal processes but are a continuum ranging from informal (eg class circles, impromptu restorative conferences or teacher-student conversations) to formal conferences (eg restorative conferences or family group conferences).

Restorative practice is more than a series of questions. It is a non-punitive approach which accepts that we all make mistakes and have the ability to ‘fix’ the problem together and learn from our experiences. Restorative practice is inclusive and concerned with maintaining and building connectedness between students, parents, teachers and the community. It is an essential component of wellbeing.

Below are examples of the Restorative Practice questions teachers may use with students at Riverside High School.

What happened? (Value the student’s voice and perspective)

What were you thinking about at the time?  (Develop emotional literacy by linking thoughts, feelings and actions)

What have your thoughts been since? (Assess reflection following the incident when emotions have de-escalated)

Who has been affected by what happened?  The key question to trigger empathy and remorse.  Think beyond those directly involved to see the ‘ripple effect’ of actions and consider the personal impact)

In what way have they/you been affected? (Name or describe the impact and acknowledge the consequences)

What do you think needs to happen to make things right? (Include what you need to do. Devise agreed, realistic and meaningful resolutions to heal the harm)

If the same thing happened again, what would you do differently? (An opportunity for learning and verbalising alternative strategies)

Ms Jeanna Bolton
Principal

The 2024 Riverside High School Swimming Carnival will be held at the Launceston Aquatic Centre on Wednesday, 6^th March 2024.

The Swimming Carnival involves all students in Years 7-10.  All students are expected to attend and participate in the non-competitive novelty events and/or the traditional swimming events.  The water slide will also operate on the day.

Students must wear their Riverside High School sports uniform on the day or their House t-shirt.  We encourage all students to wear House colours and display House pride!

Transport to the Launceston Aquatic Centre

Students are asked to make their own way to the Launceston Aquatic Centre on the day, arriving at 8:35am and their own way home again after being dismissed from the pool at 3:10pm. 

Students who travel on the Manion’s bus service to Riverside High School from areas such as Legana, Gravelly Beach and Grindelwald, as well as students who have no other way of making their way to and from the Launceston Aquatic Centre, will have the opportunity to catch a bus from school to the Launceston Aquatic Centre on the morning. The buses will leave Riverside High School in the morning at 8:35am and at the end of the day the buses will leave the Aquatic Centre at 2:40pm and arrive back at school by 3:10pm so students can catch their normal bus home.

Please note that if circumstances change and your child DOES NOT require transport back to Riverside High School on the bus, prior communication with your child’s grade leader or school administration will be required before 2:00pm on the day of the carnival.

To access this service students, need to return the permission form, ticking the relevant box aligned to transport needs and return it to the student administration office no later than Monday, 4 March.

Arrival at the Launceston Aquatic Centre

When students arrive at the Launceston Aquatic Centre, they are required to make their way directly into the pool area, via the back entrance, to meet with their Home Group teacher to have their attendance taken. Home Group signs will be clearly visible. Grade 7’s at the shallow end of the 50m competition pool, through to Grade 10 at the deep end.

Recess and Lunch

We encourage students to bring a packed lunch for the day; however, the Grade 10 Council will run a BBQ, with drinks also available.

Please note, while the CUBE Café will be open to the public on the day, this service will NOT be available for students to access.

Parent/Guardian Helpers

If you are available to assist on the day in recording results, judge, etc it would be greatly appreciated.  Please contact Adam Sanders at the school on 6327 6333. 

Mobile Phones

Throughout the carnival, the expectation is that mobile phones are off and away all day.

Students unable to participate for any reason are encouraged to see Mr Sanders to be allocated a job for the day.

Spectators are most welcome, and we encourage you to come along and support your child at what promises to be a very enjoyable day.

We are looking forward to the Riverside High School Swimming Carnival and we

hope to see all students showing support and pride for their House by wearing their House colours on the day.

NHSSA Inter-High Swimming Carnival

The NHSSA Division 1 Inter-High Carnival will be held on Thursday, 11^th April. More details will be provided to your child if they are selected in the Riverside High School Swimming Team.

Program of events

Cynthia Pearce is our School Business Manager and member of our Administration Team. Cynthia manages the operations of the school office and coordinates the school administrative service and assigned resources; human, financial and physical resources, including the financial management, up-keep and maintenance of our buildings, facilities and grounds.

Cynthia provides authoritative advice and support to our Principal and senior staff on administrative, resource and service management, developing and implementing operational solutions to meet budget, service and departmental requirements ensuring our school environment is welcoming, safe and ready for students to learn and teachers to teach.

As a member of our school management team and senior staff Cynthia is responsible for effective and efficient operational outcomes and for leadership and guidance of the administration team, education facility attendants (cleaning and grounds staff) and non-teaching support staff. Cynthia liaises and consults with a wide range of stakeholders, including government and non-government organisations, departmental Learning Services, schools and community associations to build productive networks, representing the Department and our school.

Ben Gadsby is a member of the Quality Teaching and Learning Team and an Instructional Coach. In this role, he assists Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) and supports staff in areas of pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment. Alongside Kylie Jago, he coordinates and implements standardised testing programs such as NAPLAN and PAT and manages the review and application of collected data. Ben is a subject leader (English and HASS) providing curriculum support to these teams and managing the moderation of student work. He also oversees the MacqLit reading intervention program in Grades 7 and 8.

In her role as an Instructional Coach and member of the Quality Teaching and Learning Team, Kylie Jago assists in providing professional learning to staff in the areas of School Improvement priorities, such as The Gradual Release Model and Differentiation, along with supporting Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) and their Inquiry Cycles. Oversight of data collection in the form of NAPLAN and PAT, along with the review of ACF results is a shared responsibility with Ben. Kylie is a subject leader of Maths and Science, supporting teams with curriculum delivery and resourcing, as well as facilitating in school moderation of common assessment tasks. Numeracy intervention groups are coordinated by Kylie, for both remedial and extension support in Grades 7, 8 and 9.

Adam Child is our Work-based Learning and Transition co-ordinator. He works with senior students in a range of career development activities to help set them up post their time at Riverside High. This includes work placements, School-based Apprenticeships, opportunities exploring the world of work and further study.

Adam helps facilitate the Grade 10 Transition Program which includes visits to Launceston and Newstead Colleges and completing Transition Plans. In 2024, Riverside High's partnership with the Beacon Foundation continues with a participation in the Beacon Career Program for our CAP class and other opportunities for interested students.

School Chaplain

My name is Michael, I retired from teaching at the end of 2023 after 40 years of service to Launceston schools. It’s exciting to be taking up a helping role at the school.

In the two days I will work, I hope to be available for the breakfast program, classroom support, small group programs, lunch time activities, a listening ear for any student who needs to talk and supporting individual students to plan for and live their best life.

School Health Nurse

I’m Nurse Nige the School Health Nurse (SHN) @ Riverside High School.

As with all SHN’s (High School) our focus is on creating a physical and social environment that promotes health and wellbeing, and that aims to improve the health and education outcomes for children and young people in Tasmania.

Additional areas that I can be of support are:

• management of complex medical conditions, support and assistance with medical and medication action plans.
• support students to empower their health choices, giving students “that person they can turn to” when things are not going right.
• health support, promotion and education
• targeted health checks

In my spare time I do like to potter around with old cars and generally take things apart, hence lies a problem in that I do struggle to put things back together again (with nothing left over) that is.

If you think I can be of any support I can be contacted via the Admin Office or alternatively talk to the specific year leadership team around a referral for your child to see the SHN.

Nurse Nige.

School Social Worker – Tara 

As a part of the Support Team at Riverside High School, my priority is student wellbeing and connection to education. I work in a variety of ways including individual support and group work; connecting students and families to resources, services and information; and advocacy – especially in supporting schools and systems to best meet the students’ needs.

We know there are infinite ways that lives can be messy and understand this can make school feel more difficult sometimes. My role is to support students throughout these times where life interferes with learning.”

We are Harvey and Olivia and are your Head Prefects for 2024. On behalf of the Prefect Board, we would like to recognise the positive start every individual has made to the school year so far. We are so excited to have the privilege of working closely with the Prefect Board to make this a year to remember. We would firstly like to share a bit about ourselves.

My name is Harvey and I am a member of the Executive Portfolio as Head Prefect. I am very excited to undertake this role and I can’t wait to see how this year unfolds. Ever since my leadership role at Trevallyn Primary, I have aspired to become a leader at Riverside High. I am very proud to represent the school, which has such amazing and inspiring students. This year I hope I can make a positive and lasting impact on the school, so it continues to succeed as it is currently doing. I love to try new things and take up as many different opportunities as possible.

I enjoy playing a variety of different sports such as soccer, cricket, basketball, touch football, and mountain biking. Guitar and piano are instruments that I enjoy playing. I also love being outdoors camping, hiking, or swimming at the beach. I also like hanging out with friends as well as spending quality time with my family. 

In or out of the classroom I always try to be kind and trustworthy and set an example to other students in the school. Setting goals and aspiring to be the best version of myself has kept me on track to becoming a Prefect. I encourage other peers to have a go and be approachable to anyone who seeks help/support. Commitment is a trait that I pride myself on and I will strive to do my best in whatever I do. I hope this year is going to be a wonderful one for us all and I wish you all the best for 2024.

My name is Olivia, although I commonly get called Liv. My greatest enjoyment comes from playing Netball and spending quality time with my friends and family. Currently I am involved with many Netball teams and programs, including the U17 State Representative team and U19 Hawks team. I am a very driven and passionate person who's always willing to take on a challenge and have some fun. Ever since I became a Core Leader in Grade 6 the idea of becoming Head Prefect became a huge goal of mine and from then I’ve worked hard every day to try and become the best version of myself. I am so proud of all that I’ve achieved inside and outside of school. I am someone who likes to keep busy so taking on this role is something I am looking forward to. I’m hoping to make a lasting impact on the school which will set up future years for success. Whether I am in or out of the classroom I try and set a positive example for my peers.

Some things you probably don’t know about me is that I have two Golden Retrievers and two cats at home. I love to read in my spare time and love going shopping. Every single day I try to make the most of, pushing myself to reach my goals. I hope to apply this in my work at school to build a strong and positive environment for everyone.

Harvey & Olivia

The 9/10 full year option course, Sociology and Psychology is well under way for our curious thinkers. Students have learnt about psychology- the study of the mind and behaviour and how they interrelate and sociology which looks at large groups, their interactions, key societal norms and issues, patterns and trends. Students first assessment task will involve presenting a podcast interview as a specialist in a field of their choice.

Georgia Rolls