F1 In Schools National Finals

Riverside High School has five teams competing in Adelaide, as part of the 2024 Australian F1 in Schools national competition. Crescent, Convergence, Zenith and Titanium are competing against schools from all around Australia in the STEM competition. Students and staff return at the end of this week so we will have a full report, results and photos in the next newsletter. 

Interim Reports

On Friday, the 12^th of April, we will be sending home an Interim Report with students.  The report provides an indication of how your child has settled into school in each subject area and will also include a Home Group report.  The report at this stage of the year does not provide achievement ratings. Parent/teacher/student interviews will be held in Term 2 with parents being offered the option of face to face or an online Teams meeting.

Relay for Life

Relay for Life will be held on Saturday at the Silverdome in Launceston.  Riverside High School offers this opportunity to the Year 10 cohort each year. Thank you to our Prefects for organising the event, the staff supporting on the day and to the students who are participating. Best of luck and thank you from the Riverside High School community.

Elective/Option Subjects

As you are aware, we are now in Week 6 of Term 1 and Interim Reports are currently being completed by teachers. 

Students in Years 8 to 10 who have requested a change to their full year elective subject choices have been provided the opportunity to do so by competing the ‘change of elective subject form’ and submitting this to the Assistant Principal. 

From Week 8, the week beginning 25^th of March, any changes to full year course options which are assessed under the Australian Curriculum Achievements Standards prove more challenging, with students missing major assessment tasks and course content due to the late change.

From Monday, 25^th March, all requests to change option subjects MUST be directed to Grade Leadership Teams due to the impact the potential change has on student results.

Explaining an Absence

We really value the importance of consistent and regular attendance and have high expectations for our students in this area. We understand that adolescence is a challenging stage and that there are times when teenagers seek independence and think they know best. No matter how hard parents try, some students experience times when they can be reluctant or refuse to go to school. We know that attendance patterns are established very early in the year and that is why we have a strong emphasis on working with you to address any attendance concerns at the start of the year.    

What You Can Do

• Talk about the importance of showing up to school every day, make that the expectation. Regular attendance sets up good behaviours for regular attendance at work.
• Help your teenager maintain daily routines such as finishing homework and getting a good night’s sleep. On average, teenagers need 8-9 hours’ sleep to be healthy and alert. You may also need to monitor their use of the internet, mobile phone and TV at night to ensure they are not staying up too late or being disturbed while sleeping.
• Try not to schedule hair, dental or medical appointments during school hours.
• Schedule family trips for school holidays, rather than during term time.
• Don’t let your teenager stay home unless genuinely sick. Complaints of headaches or stomach aches may be signs of anxiety. Please feel free to contact your child’s Home Group Teacher or Grade Leader if you are concerned that this may be the case.
• Monitor your teenager’s attendance and school performance. A regular check in by phone or email is a good idea. If you have concerns about your child’s attendance, please contact us through the Home Group Teacher, Grade Leader, Assistant Principal, the Social Worker or the Principal.

Explanations of absence, where known in advance, are always appreciated. A reminder that when your child is absent from school there are a variety of ways that you can communicate with us about that. These are:

• Phoning the Administration Office which is open between 8:00am – 4:00pm.
• Using the Schoolzine App, Absentee button.
• Writing a short note in the Student Planner for your child to share with their Home Group teacher.
• Sending an email to either the Home Group teacher or our school email address Riverside.High.Admin.Staff@decyp.tas.gov.au
• Sending a text message on 0418 140 427 (MGM OutReach)

Quality Teaching and Learning at Riverside High

A key element of our Quality Teaching and Learning Framework which was discussed in our last Newsletter is our use of the Gradual Release Model. This instructional model provides a detailed outline of the elements of teaching and affords us a clear sequence for learning that shows students what to do and how to do it. Research shows that the use of such an instructional model has an extremely powerful impact on students learning outcomes and fosters a common understanding of the structure of a lesson or unit and provides a consistent language for all teachers.

As you will see below, our Gradual Release Model allows students to move from an introductory section of the lesson during which their interest is gained and the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are outlined, to a stage when the key concepts, language and skills are modelled, explained and demonstrated. A collaborative learning phase follows, during which teachers actively check for understanding and provide regular feedback, to a time of independent practice which allows students to apply their knowledge and skills before unfamiliar contexts and engage in inquiry based learning.  Finally, there is a review of the learning and a consideration of the next steps involved in deepening their understanding. We are finding that our consistent use of this instructional model is promoting clarity and consistency as well as high levels of student achievement, skill development and learning.

Ms Jeanna Bolton
Principal