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- Principal Column
- VIP Luncheon 2021
- Grade 9 Fundraising
- Youth Expo
- Ag Studies
- Netball
- Electric Cars - 7F STEAM
- Senior Science & Engineering
- Italian
- 'Losing Their Marbles' - STEAM B
- Creative Writing Workshop
- Safe & Secure - BHS Emergency Procedures
- Tasmanian Youth Forum
- 2021 Winter Camp
- Wynyard BMX Park
Cross Country Attendance
Cross Country will be held on the afternoon of Friday 28 May. This is a compulsory school day, the same as any other school day. We strongly encourage participation by all students whether that be running the entire course, walking some of it, or walking all of it. If students are unable to undertake the course on the day, we request that they bring a note from a parent or guardian. Students who are unable to participate, and have a genuine reason and note from home, will be allocated to another role during the cross country.
Grade Leaders have organised a series of extremely valuable grade level appropriate My Education activities for the morning of the Cross Country day. These activities include an overview of Years 11/12 including available courses, TCE and ATAR requirements for our Grade 9 and 10 students, and a Think U Know presentation for our Grade 7 and 8 students.
Reports and Parent Teacher
Mid-year reports will be posted home to parents on Wednesday 23 June. These reports will provide parents and guardians with valuable information to support their children to establish goals and work habits that will consolidate and build on their learning in the second half of the year. We will be holding our mid-year Parent Teacher Interviews over two afternoons, Wednesday 30 June and Thursday 1 July.
Parent Information Evening
A Parent Information Evening for prospective parents and students for Year 7 in 2022 was held on Wednesday 26 May. I would like to thank all those who attended, the Burnie High Staff and students who helped out on the night, and in particular our 2022 Grade Leaders Mr Joshua Salter and Miss Eloise Crocker and our Administration staff for the huge effort they put in to organise this event. If you have not yet completed and returned your expression of interest form for enrolment in 2022, I encourage you to contact our office either in person or on 03 6431 2744
RYDA Driver Education Program
On Thursday 27 May our Year 10 students participated in the RYDA Program. This program is designed to raise awareness of driver safety and provides some powerful messages for our students. Our Year 10 teaching team were very pleased with the way our students participated in the program and represented our school.
Attendance Data
This week I have been digging into our current school attendance data. Given the undisputable research about the positive outcomes of regular school attendance (90%) I challenge all our students and those who support them to aim for this 90% attendance target.
- Regular school attendance is a strong predictor of Year 12 or equivalent completion.
- Leaving school without a Year 12 qualification costs each individual more than $300,000 over their lifetime.
- Research by The Smith Family found that three-quarters of students with an attendance rate above 90 per cent in Year 7 went on to complete Year 12, compared to just 48 per cent of those who attended less than 69 per cent of the time.
- Those who completed Year 12 were more successful in finding work or going on to higher education.
- One-third of students who did not complete Year 12 were not engaged in paid work or study.
- According to the Mitchell Institute, the economic cost of a young person not completing school is about $1 million in lost taxes, higher public health costs and income support.
Last Friday afternoon Ms Smith and a small, enthusiastic group of students assisted at a VIP luncheon for 100 people at the Burnie RSL. What a surprise to arrive and find out that the VIP’s were the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. All the girls were amazing and in true BHS tradition, after they shook off their nerves, performed Front of House and Back of House responsibilities as if they had been working in the industry for years. A big thank you to Ian Jones, President of Business Northwest for giving us the opportunity.
- Ms Georgie Smith, Food Studies Teacher
Grade 9 Class Captains have begun raising money for the Cancer Council, Australia. Over the past 2 weeks they have been brainstorming ideas on how to raise funds and now the decision has been made, wish to share their efforts with you. Winners will be announced in the last week of term. Thank you & Good luck!
(We would like to give a very large thank you to these two wonderful, local businesses who have donated for this very good cause. Thank you West Beach Cycles & Not Just Books!)
In other news, earlier on in the term, the Grade 9 students attended the Youth Expo, hosted by the YFCC (Youth Family and Community Connections) at the Burnie Arts and Functions Centre. The event commenced with a Q&A session with 2 young Tasmanians who have become very successful in their fields of work. Following this, students entered the Expo and were able to explore a range of stalls run by different organisations around the NW coast. Stalls varied from health and wellbeing to future pathways and careers. All students had a wonderful time and most came home with a few goodies.
- Mr Tim Fisher, Grade 9 Support Leader
BURNIE HIGH SCHOOL AGRICULTURAL STUDIES CLASSES
Since the last newsletter we have had many and varied learning activities at the Burnie High School Farm and Gardens. Students have learned that sometimes growing food is hard work – digging and conditioning soil, pulling up weeds, identifying crops we can grow, not to mention making sure our farm animals are looked after!! The summer and autumn harvests of vegetables and herbs were used by the Home Economics Department for specific projects, such as a seasonable vegetable meal with Italian Style Chicken Breast.
From Top Left (Clockwise): 1. Georgina Smith with BHS carrots, potatoes, basil, zucchini and more 2. The meal 3. Kynan, Amarlee, Chloe, Jemma, Sapphire 4. Bailee, Jake, Harris
Students are seeing how fresh food looks and tasting the difference!! Ms. Smith is very excited about how much clean, green, produce is grown from seed to succulent vegetables.
We have a group of students working with Matt Horton to rebuild a section of the classroom in order to fit it out for a hydroponic room. Construction activities are going well and hopefully we will be growing summer veggies in winter before too long!!
Everyday there is something to do, either big or small, mundane or hard core when looking after crops, stock and facilities – this is what farmers do on the ground. Burnie High Farm has lots of small task and sometime large for students to have a basic Agri / Horticulture experience. There are many branches of science, technology and engineering that are available to our young people through Agriculture. AND we are able to learn things OUTSIDE a classroom!!
Joel, Jemma and Cianne tending to our residents-Ms. Steph Prendergast, Ag Studies Teacher
On Monday May 24th, Burnie High hosted Mountain Heights School in a netball sports exchange. Our A1 (9/10) and B1 (7/8) netball teams played against two Mountain Heights teams and came out victorious in both games. We thank Mountain Heights for taking the time to travel up from the West Coast and enjoyed both the games. A big congratulations to the Burnie High netball teams for their participation.
STEAM students have embarked on a very challenging activity!! Making cars out of recycled materials (Cereal Boxes and grocery boxes) and using electricity to power them…. One minute Burnie High School the next minute Elon Musk, Ferrari or even Qantas could be looking at our students’ engineering achievements.
We are still at the design / build phase, and I must say a HUGE thank you to Dale Ollington who has supported these students during my absence. Dale taught Maths and Science at Burnie High for a number of years and has come back as a relief teacher in these subjects.
The Science and Engineering Challenge was a fun and exciting day. We got to further develop our skills of communication, problem-solving, and teamwork. Our group really enjoyed making a ‘Water Turbine’ and completing the ‘Stringways’ activity.
-Lilly Townsend (Grade 9)
Our group worked on the ‘Bridge Buster’ challenge. We used an arched design with stronger supports to make our bridge. All in all the day was a good experience and a lot of fun!
-Tom Morgan (Grade 10)
My group did the ‘Confounding Communications’ task, which involved sending coded light messages. It was a fun opportunity to work with my peers on science related tasks throughout the day. It was a really fun experience that I hope to do again in grade 10.
-Layla Short (Grade 9)
- Mrs Grace O'Brien, Science Teacher
Ciao a tutti! (Hi everyone!) Over the past few weeks, Italian students have been not only expanding their knowledge of the Italian language but have also had the opportunity to go on several tours. Using VR headsets, students have been able to go on guided tours of Rome, Venice and the small town of Alberobello (home of the world heritage listed Trulli houses).
In the coming weeks, students will be back in the kitchen, this time creating hand made pasta! Buon appetito!
Our STEAM class have spent the last few lessons exploring ideas in physics, including friction and gravity. Our challenge was to design and construct a marble run that slowed the path of a marble down as much as possible. These are our results.
- Mrs Grace O'Brien, STEAM Teacher
Thank you to Australian author Phillip Gwynne for presenting to all Grade 9/10 students and for running a Creative Writing workshop at Burnie High School last week. A selection of Phillip’s books are on display in the library for any students who are interested in reading some of his work!
