Burnie High School eNewsletter

Welcome

I would like to extend a warm welcome to the 2023 school year to all of our new and returning students, families, and staff. I am very happy to report that our Grade 7 students have had a smooth transition into the first weeks of the beginning of their four-year high school journey with us.

They have settled in extremely well. I thank parents for their support in this, and our Grade Leaders Mr Tim Fisher and Mrs Emma Cohen for the care and support they have provided to the Grade 7 cohort.

I certainly have very high hopes for a year of high attendance, high wellbeing, and high achievement for each and every one of our students.

2022 Naplan Results

This week you may have heard or read reports in the media relating to the release of Australia wide school rankings that are based on 2022 Naplan testing results. Each school is awarded an average score which was determined by adding the scores for all five NAPLAN tests (reading, writing, spelling, numeracy, and grammar) together. Yr 5 results were used to determine the primary ranking and Yr 9 results for the secondary ranking. Schools with less than 20 students, special schools and schools who reported no results were excluded.

Burnie High School was awarded a score of 573. This places our school at the highest ranked for Government High Schools in the North of Tasmanian, and second to Taroona High School for the whole of Tasmania.

This is an achievement that we can all be wonderfully proud of and proves that our students, your children, can chase whatever dreams they may hold for the future.

But of course, we want to do better! Let’s be the Number One ranked Government High School in Tasmania! With your support as parents, and the ongoing commitment and dedication of the highly experienced and skilled teachers at Burnie High School I truly believe we can achieve great things. Every Day Counts!

For more information visit MySchools website. https://www.myschool.edu.au/

Things to look out for this Term

NAPLAN testing for Grades 7 and 9 from March 15 to March 27
Grade 7 Meet & Greet BBQ Wednesday March 15, 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Interhigh Swimming Carnival Wednesday March 29
Grade 7 Activity Days Tuesday April 4 and Wednesday April 5
Last day for students Term 1 Wednesday April 5
Moderation Day (Student Free) Thursday April 6

Trudy Durkin

Principal

Contacts:

Assistant Principal	James Thompson	james.thompson@decyp.tas.gov.a u
Assistant Principal	Sheree Hodgetts	sheree.hodgetts@e decyp.tas.gov.au
Schoool Business Mananger	Lois Cameron	lois.cameron@decyp.tas.gov.au
School office	03 6431 2744	burnie.high@decyp.tas.gov.au

Congratulations to all students who participated in our recent swimming carnival. Swimming champions and runnersup, pictured below, will be presented with a certificate at our next school assembly which will be held on Wednesday March 1 2023. Parents and Carers have been invited to attend via text message, please RSVP numbers to the school office by Monday 27 February 2023.

Interhigh Swimming Carnival will be held on Wednesday 29 March 2023.

NAPLAN 2023

Students will be sitting NAPLAN between 15 and 27 March 2023.

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.

This is the first year NAPLAN will be held in March, having previously taken place in May. This change was made so school systems would have access to results earlier in the school year, so they can be used to inform teaching and learning plans for the remainder of the year.

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 and other resources

Your questions answered on NAPLAN and what it means for your child:

NAPLAN information brochure for parents and carers

The link will take you to the official National Assessment Program (NAP) website.

Please contact the school if you have any further queries.

BHS were recently awarded as the winners of the Food Ladder School Recipe Challenge. The challenge was to create a recipe using fresh healthy produce grown in your school garden. The criteria set was to use either basil or choy as the hero ingredient.

Indigenous Chef and Judge of the Food Ladder Recipe Challenge, Mark Olive selected the Basil and Lemon Ice Cream recipe made by BHS very own student Madi.

Students will receive a medium-sized Vegepod to help our school grow even more nutritious, fresh produce.

Please see below the winning recipe for Madi’s Basil and Lemon Ice Cream using BHS school farm produce.

Ingredients:

150g Caster sugar

1 Huge BHS Farm lemon

25 to 30g BHS Farm basil leaves

500 ml Tasmanian BETTA cream

250 ml Tasmanian BETTA full fat milk

1/2 tsp salt

5 BHS Farm Duck egg yolks

Instructions:

1. Measure out the sugar. Zest lemon directly into the sugar and rub everything together for about a minute or so, until the sugar gets fragrant.

2. Use a food processor to grind the basil leaves with the lemon sugar and one cup of heavy cream, until the leaves are ground as fine as possible. Be careful not to whip the cream already. Feel free to pre-grind the basil with a bit of the milk from the recipe before adding the cream. Pour half of the mixture through a strainer into a large bowl. Add the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream.

3. Heat the other half of the basil lemon puree in a saucepan along with the whole milk and salt over medium heat. In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. When the basil mixture is steaming, slowly pour into the egg yolks while whisking constantly. Return the mixture back into the saucepan.

4. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about five minutes. Pour the custard through the strainer into the bowl with the cream mixture. Cool custard over an ice bath while stirring.

5. Chill completely, then freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. Let harden in the freezer for a few hours before serving.

Buongiorno,

The year in Italian has started with a bang with the Grade 7, 8 and Senior Italian classes finding their language mojo and starting study on bel paese, (the beautiful country), Italy. Each class has completed several lessons looking closely at the country of Italy and completing a collaborative poster which will be displayed in each Italian classroom.

As well as learning Italian introductions, food and body parts this term, students will have the opportunity to visit Italy via virtual reality headsets and experience the next best thing to being there.

Grazie and arrivederci.

This year, Grade 7 students are participating in the Resilience Project Inspire and Year 7 Program. To start the year off, each Home Group has been introduced to the concepts of Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness (GEM)

Our aim? To teach positive mental health strategies to our students to prevent mental ill health and build their capacity to deal with adversity.

Although we are only very early into the program, students are already discussing ideas and thoughts on feeling happy. Throughout Week 2, in Home Group, students were asked to list their “Happy Tricks”, that is, things that they do to boost their mood and make them feel happier. Their thoughts have been collated into the word cloud you can see.

We cannot wait to build on this great start to the year as we dig deep into GEM and enjoy a wonderful year together.

School Photos - for students who were absent on our recent school photo day. The photographer from MSP will be returning on Tuesday 28 February 2023 to catch up on missed students.

Online orders can still be placed via the MSP website until Monday 6 March 2023.

If you require a shoot key to enable online ordering of photos for your child, please contact the school office on 6431 2744.

Burnie Works would like to invite interested schools, organisations, parents, students and community members to join the ‘Every Day Counts’ Community Network to assist us as we implement the school attendance campaign and activities throughout 2023.

The ‘Every Day Counts’ campaign is a Burnie Works’ initiative to contribute to improving student attendance at school through a shared commitment by students, parents, caregivers, schools and the community.

School attendance in Tasmanian schools has dropped over the past two years. In October 2022, the Australian Senate Education and Employment References Committee announced an inquiry into the national trend affecting primary and secondary school-aged children who are unable to attend school regularly or on a consistent basis.

The ‘Every Day Counts’ Network will be an informal group of interested people who can:

Members can contribute as much or as little as they wish and will not be expected to attend any formal meetings (but you will be invited to the odd catch up). Most correspondence will be via email.

Burnie Works is committed to working with our partners and community to improve this situation for our young people during 2023.

Please call or email our Participation Officer Nikki if you have any questions.