25 September 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

I would like to begin this term’s newsletter with a huge thank you to Ms Janelle Reeves who took the Acting Principalship whilst I was on the Hardie Fellowship for 8 weeks. Kingston High School is a big ship to steer, and Ms Reeves, with our very capable staff, kept a straight course, ensuring that the daily running of the school was smooth, and successfully implemented special projects and professional learning days.

The Hardie Fellowship is a privately funded scholarship for leaders in the Tasmanian Department of Education. The Fellowship pays for study in an area of education in the USA. I was grateful when I received a Hardie Fellowship, allowing me to study at Harvard over June and July this year. I also had opportunities to visit schools in the Bronx and Harlem in NYC. We did a lot of work about engaging families as partners in education as well as deepening our understanding of school reform. I showed school leaders from the USA a video of our school facilities, and they were very impressed by how beautiful our area is as well as the modern buildings and cutting-edge programs. Founded only 20yrs after the death of Shakespeare, Harvard was an incredible experience, it is grand, very large, and with about 18,000 employees, it is impressive! The best bit was…coming back home to Tassie and to my job at Kingston High. I feel very, very lucky!

Production is the jewel in the crown of Term 3. What stunning performances, great audience involvement and a spectacularly dedicated team of teachers and other staff who make this such a great annual event. Behind the scenes the rest of the school staff support the production by being flexible and managing a week that is a bit hectic. I want to congratulate the cast, crew and musicians for a magnificent and entertaining production.

Evidence of school progress is shared at staff meetings and at School Association meetings. We use a variety of data sets to track our progress against important markers such as attendance, suspension, literacy and numeracy testing and satisfaction surveys from staff, students and parents. Our data shows that this year we are tracking well, with fewer suspensions, better attendance and progress for student learning that is better than similar schools and the state. Whilst the numbers and graphs are a bit boring to look at, the meaning behind them is a whole school community working well together to ensure that students at Kingston High School are learning in a safe, calm, orderly and supported learning environment. We are all educators of students, and your partnership with us is vital and valued. I am looking forward to sharing our progress with the whole community at the end of the year.

Achievements in Science and Arts have been another highlight for this term. The Tournament of Minds team, of Bella, Jess, Lucy, Matilda, Catherine, Amber and EJ, are off to the international finals in Darwin in October to compete. We wish them all the very best. Thank you to Mr Stafford for leading this team and providing additional time to support them at rehearsals and competition. In addition, congratulations were well deserved by Codie and Hugh from Grade 8 for their win in the UTas Science fair. These are just two of the successes that individual and teams of students are achieving in their learning, and it is great to see them on display as winning entries.

A Silver Canteen accreditation was achieved by our caring and knowledgeable canteen managers Sharen and Marlaine. With the support of Nurse Bec and Ann Kingston, our canteen has now been formally assessed and awarded with Silver, based on healthy foods, excellent preparation and a great canteen environment. This is a big part of our whole school’s campaign to be physically, socially and environmentally healthy. Great job!

There’s been so much to celebrate but I would like to celebrate the work we all do to support our students, particularly when there are challenges and we are all drawing on our collective knowledge and culture of team work to get the best growth for students’ learning and wellbeing. I am really looking forward to Term 4 because it is a term where a year’s learning is celebrated and on display but also when we are planning for 2019. Next year, I am looking forward to getting into engaging families more as partners in our planning, the problem solving and opportunities for you to discuss your child’s learning needs.

I am going to conclude here with my own achievement in learning. After 10 years of study, I completed a PhD with Curtin University in Western Australia. I wrote about the needs of students who struggle to engage in learning due to trauma – we all have a little of this in different ways but some have a world of confusion to deal with such are their experiences. I studied how we might support all students in their human right to access education. It is not easy is it? We know sometimes the language of trauma is unsafe behaviour, so how do we as a school support every child’s right to an education in a safe learning environment? It takes a whole community to do this kind of work. My Dad and Mum attended my graduation, dad is 96 and mum is in care but I knew they’d worked hard for this day, and it was great to share it with them.

Dr Libby Robinson
Principal

Kingston High School Association

On behalf of the Kingston High School Association, I invite you to join us on our School Association Committee.

There are many ways that you may like to become more actively involved in your child’s secondary school education while at Kingston High. The School Association is an elected body whose members represent parents/guardians, staff and the community. It has a wide-ranging role providing guidance and support for the school. It provides a forum where all members of the school community are formally represented in its decision making.

Members of the KHSA participate in the formulation and development of beliefs, values and priorities for the school, school policies and code of conduct. We are currently exploring with the school leadership team, different ways to hold forums so parents are able to come together to discuss things of mutual interest.

We hope that you may become involved with the School Association as it supports the whole school community.

John Leaf
Chair Kingston High School Association
leafjohn@yahoo.com.au

Senior Leaders Report

Kingston High School’s Senior Leaders have had a typically busy Term 3, working on a variety of projects and undertaking some valuable learning. A focus and highlight for many of us has been our continued involvement in the Learn to Lead program and the planning of our school project. We spent a day at the University of Tasmania early in the term, learning more about what it means to be a good leader and working on a leadership project that we can implement in our school. The project we have decided on is called ‘Autocorrect’ and is designed to help students at Kingston High School to understand and use inclusive, respectful language. We will be producing a video as part of this project, as well as working within junior pods and with Junior Leaders.

Senior Leaders have also been heavily involved with the school production. Many of us are part of the cast with others helping with ticketing, ushering and the selling of food and drinks during evening performances. This has proven to be a valuable experience for us all and we are collectively very proud of everyone who has taken part in the production. The recent primary school dance event has also given many of us a chance to help other students from our community, as the Kingborough Sports Centre has hosted the event. Our role included ushering hundreds of primary school students and assisting primary teachers where possible. This was a lot of fun! Although many of us are tired and ready for holidays, we have all felt incredibly lucky to be involved in such a wide range of interesting activities this term and we have particularly relished the opportunity to strengthen links between Kingston High students, other schools and our local community.

Equity

On Thursday 26 July, Ms Forbes and Mr Skidmore took a group of students on an excursion to investigate the significance of landforms and the impact they have on how we live. Students went to Mt Wellington to see the dolomite formation and also enjoyed snowball fights. Following this, they went to Nutgrove Beach to have lunch at a café, then went to the park to complete worksheets and explore the playground.

Aboriginal Education Worker

Hello everyone! I would like to introduce myself to students, staff and parents. My name is Nichola Overeem and I have started as the new Aboriginal Education Worker at Kingston High School. I am excited to bring my cultural knowledge and understanding to the staff and students at Kingston High and broaden my cultural understanding through the students at this school. I am a Palawa woman descending from Fanny Cochrane Smith and I am very proud of my heritage. My main goal is to bring together Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students, through cultural activities and working together. Feel free to come and say hi to me.

I look forward to meeting you all! Nichola Overeem

My Education

Creating My Career

Grade 9 students had an excursion to Clarence TAFE Campus to find out more about their chosen career area. They met students from other schools, listened to talks by industry experts and gained hands-on experience in various activities including using virtual reality software.

Master Builders Industry Talk

The Master Builders Association gave a presentation to nearly 100 students about the range of careers available in the building industry. This is a growth employment area in our economy and opportunities are open in a large range of trades, engineering, building design and project management. Two apprentices, one a previous KHS student, shared stories of their experiences at work and several students stayed behind to talk to the presenters and ask questions.

Dr Mercae

Middle Year Literacy Program

Our association has had the privilege of working with renowned literacy expert, Beverly Derewianka, during the past term. Teachers across our association are working with Ms Derewianka in order to further improve their teaching and learning programs.

Science

UTAS Science Fair

An excellent job was done by all students who attended the Science and Engineering Investigation Awards at UTAS on Thursday 13th September. Each student or group had to present their project, explaining what they did, why they did it, and how they did it. Based on their understanding of the scientific process and the theory behind their topics, the judges awarded winning prizes to only some of the 150 projects presented. A huge congratulations to Codi and Hugh from Grade 8 who won and will attend the awards ceremony on Thursday 20th September at Stanley Burbury Centre.

Naplan 2018

Well done to all students who participated in NAPLAN this year. We are very proud of the effort that our students have put in. As a school, NAPLAN data provides us with information about which aspects of literacy and numeracy our students did well in or which aspects we need to improve. This data helps us to inform our planning at a whole school and classroom level. We use the data to inform our planning by considering:

• Which students need support and in which particular areas?
• Which students need to be extended and in which areas?
• How can we improve the way that we do things in areas where our students need further support?

We use this data along with a range of other types of data such as Australian Curriculum results, PAT testing results and the classwork that students complete on a daily basis to ensure that we are using every means possible to make required changes to the teaching and learning program to support student progress.

Our results show the hard work of teachers and students in years 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Thank you for your support as we continue to improve and strive for improvement in our teaching and learning programs.

This is something worth celebrating. The quality teaching in this school is driving better gains (progress in learning) for our students.

In 2019, NAPLAN will move to an online format which will allow tests to suit student ability. Towards the end of this term, students in Year 8 took part in a practise online tests to familiarise themselves with this new format and to practise working within test conditions.

A Pod

Once again it has been a jammed packed term. Grade tens have had RYDA – which is a Driver Education program, college pre enrolments have recently occurred as well as our students recently involved in our school production. With only ten weeks left of high school for this year's group things are only going to intensify. Letters also should have been received outlining the end of year activities. Busy and exciting times ahead.

Grade nines have been busy recently looking at subject courses for next year as well as applications for senior leaders and big picture for next year. Many students in this year group have also been involved in the drama production and have a done a wonderful job.

RYDA

Grade 10 students attended the RYDA road safety day at the Hobart Showgrounds. This event is run by Rotary Tasmania and has been a valuable learning experience for Grade 10 students for many years.

D Pod

Term 3 in D pod has seen the students delving into our integrated inquiry unit: Enjoy or Destroy. We began with a visit to Hastings Caves where we were guided through a karst landscape, ending our day with a swim in the pool. Science and Geography teachers then worked together to deliver an integrated curriculum where students explored various landscapes and the geological processes that form them. Students then created engaging arguments for or against the Mount Wellington cable car development and have now applied their knowledge to propose their own tourist attraction, taking into consideration how it will enjoy and/or destroy the environment.

E Pod

Term 3 has absolutely flown by for us here in E-Pod! We’ve been busy with our Enjoy or Destroy unit integrating our Science and HASS studies. This has involved students investigating a range of existing and proposed tourism ventures in Tasmania. In doing so we visited Hastings Caves as a whole pod excursion and explored the proposed Mt Wellington Cable Car venture through a variety of scientific and geographic lenses. In exploring the cultural and historical significance of sites around Tasmania E-Pod hosted a session of Gumnuts to Buttons presented by Mrs Stanford and Nichola Overeem. This was a very valuable experience in understanding the tragic history of our indigenous people. Other highlights from the term included House Day, guest speakers and seeing the school production. In addition to our core work, many E-pod students have also been very busy being involved in a range of extra-curricular activities including the Science and Engineering Investigation Awards, Tournament of the Minds, the Mathematics Enrichment Program, Australian Mathematics Competition, the school production ‘Flapper’ and the school bands successful involvement in the Clarence Eisteddfod. We are very proud in E-Pod of the efforts of all students in our pod and many have been rewarded for their positive contributions through acknowledgement in our regular ‘Goldie Draws’.

Congratulations Asha from Grade 7 E Pod! Asha was awarded the State-wide Grade7/8 Runner Up award for the 'What Matters'?' Writing Competition. Asha wrote passionately about how writing matters to her, allows young people to both escape to and create alternate and better worlds, and has been transformational for her own life. Below is a copy of Asha’s winning article:

Writing matters…

Have you ever written a story? Have you ever read one? I’m sure you have.

Writing is an incredible thing. An idea sparks in your head and you feel an urge to write it down. Writing gives people a chance to create a world of their own, a different reality on paper. People write things down for the sheer fun of creating something of their own, an originality that people can wonder at.

Have you ever turned the pages of a book? The character leaping out at you, the words waiting to be read. They are powered by the passion of the writer, as the author wrote into the night, never looking up as the words flow from her fingers. Being able to write gives people a chance to express themselves, to explore places they have only ever dreamed of while never leaving the room. Writing means giving joy to the people that read the story, giving them a chance to wander through the depths of your imagination, to look at your side of the story.

Imagine a child living in a city overflowing with people, with smoke filling the air, cars rolling below them and people clogging the streets. The child has been living like this their whole lives, living in a flat next to hundreds of other people, all beside each other but never making contact, living in their lives separately yet together.

The same things happen every day, over and over…

Until a book is opened.

When you open a book, you feel the pages at your fingertips. The book rustles and creaks, happy to tell you it’s story. You can see how many people have read it by the softness of the paper, the torn page hastily covered with tape, the folded tips as temporary bookmarks. The book will open for you, taking you on a journey with the world at your fingertips.

The world opens to you when a book is opened. It could be an old book, with the binding falling apart or a new book with the pages as white as snow, but the spirit still lives within the book of a writer hard at work, making life more interesting. When you open a book, it could be an adventure to save the planet, or a journey between a trio of heroes, it could even be a children’s story. The thing is, even if it was written for three-year-old kids it will still send them to sleep with dreams of adventure, friends and imagination.

Writing matters because it can trigger wonder. It can fill your mind up until it over flows with madness and fantasy. Writing matters because it means you can express yourself in a way that people can listen to, can read. Writing matters because it brings joy to the world, allowing people to live the dream just by turning a page. Writing matters because it is happiness in itself, for anyone and everyone.

Writing matters. Asha

MDT

MDT are a creative class producing quality items using local timbers.

Visiting poet Manal Younus

Manal Younus is an Australian based freelance storyteller from Eritrea, Manal visited Kingston High and shared her story! Manal believes that language and stories are the very fabric of our existence. Using her writing and performance, Manal explores different aspects of life from perseverance, identity, travel and truth. She speaks on a vast number of issues including youth leadership, gender and female empowerment, faith, blackness, culture, language, migration, displacement, racism and interculturalism. The young artist also facilitates writing, performance, public speaking, youth empowerment and intercultural awareness workshops in schools, community groups and professional environments to encourage others to develop their own voices.

Tournament of Minds

On Saturday September 7 two teams from Kingston High School participated in the Tournament of Minds at Ogilvie High School. Students competed in two divisions, a long term problem in which they had six weeks to prepare for and a spontaneous which they were given the topic on the day.

The first team, The Arthropods competed in the STEM long term challenge and had to create a moving model of a newly discovered organism. The team presented with only five on the day and did an outstanding job. The team consisted of Ella Smith, Jack Bowerman, Katarina Cubit, Lachlan Johnstone, Codi Barrett and Oscar Wadsley (absent).

The second team, This is Art competed in the Arts section of the competition and were required to create a performance including an art piece, an outfit, music and dances from different decades throughout the 1900’s. The team did such an outstanding job that they won their division and have now been invited to participate in Darwin in September.

The team consisted of Bella Hippel, Jess Shreeve, Lucy Dalco, Matilda Dalco, Catherine Knight, Amber Darrick and EJ Hughes.

Congratulations to both teams on the dedication and effort you have put into the program. We look to see more participants in Tournament of Minds next year.

Love Bites

School Nurse Bec Osborn and school social worker Jayne Direen have presented a program called “Love Bites” to all grade 10 students this term.

The program’s focus is on relationship violence, and sex and relationships. Love Bites was very well received by students, who became very engaged in the discussions and willingly challenged some of their own attitudes and beliefs about the stereotypes we hold.

Each grade 10 class attended a full day where young people and relationship violence was looked at in depth, along with a thorough overview of consent, the law in relation to sexual matters and how students might help someone for whom they have concerns. The last session of the day was for students to design their own artwork to reflect what they learnt and the messages they would like their community to hear. There were many, many fabulous artworks. Here is a small selection.

Dyslexia Speech/language pathologist

Hi, I am a speech/language pathologist working with students at Kingston High School. A large part of my work is dealing with dyslexia including teaching others about what dyslexia is. I thought it was about time to have a discussion about this condition and deal with some incorrect notions that do the rounds from time to time.
Kare Trendall

Time to waylay some incorrect ideas.

Writing letters and words backwards are symptoms of dyslexia.

Writing letters and words backwards are common in the early stages of learning to read and write among average and dyslexic children alike. It is a sign that orthographic representations (i.e., letter forms and spellings of words) have not been firmly established, not that a child necessarily has a reading disability (Adams, 1990).

Reading disabilities are caused by visual perception problems.

The current consensus based on a large body of research (e.g., Lyon et al., 2003; Morris et al., 1998; Rayner et al., 2001; Wagner & Torgesen, 1987) is that dyslexia is best characterized as a problem with language processing at the phoneme level, not a problem with visual processing.

If you just give them enough time, children will outgrow dyslexia.

There is no evidence that dyslexia is a problem that can be outgrown. There is, however, strong evidence that children with reading problems show a continuing persistent deficit in their reading rather than just developing later than average children (Francis, Shaywitz, Stuebing, Shaywitz, & Fletcher, 1996). More strong evidence shows that children with dyslexia continue to experience reading problems into adolescence and adulthood (Shaywitz et al., 1999, 2003).

More boys than girls have dyslexia.

Longitudinal research shows that as many girls as boys are affected by dyslexia (Shaywitz, Shaywitz, Fletcher, & Escobar, 1990). There are many possible reasons for the over-identification of males by schools, including greater behavioral acting out and a smaller ability to compensate among boys. More research is needed to determine why.

Dyslexia only affects people who speak English.

Dyslexia appears in all cultures and languages in the world with written language, including those that do not use an alphabetic script such as Korean and Hebrew. In English, the primary difficulty is accurate decoding of unknown words. In consistent orthographies such as German or Italian, dyslexia appears more often as a problem with fluent reading – readers may be accurate, but very slow (Ziegler & Goswami, 2005).

People with dyslexia will benefit from colored text overlays or lenses.

There is no strong research evidence that intervention using colored overlays or special lenses has any effect on the word reading or comprehension of children with dyslexia (American Optometric Association, 2004; Iovino, Fletcher, Breitmeyer, & Foorman, 1998).

A person with dyslexia can never learn to read.

This is simply not true. The earlier children who struggle are identified and provided systematic, intense instruction, the less severe their problems are likely to be (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000; Torgesen, 2002). With adequately intensive instruction, however, even older children with dyslexia can become accurate, albeit slow readers (Torgesen et al., 2001).

Rotary Club talk

Jade and Sarah had a great morning out at the Salamanca Rotary Clubs Empowerment: Girls can do anything Morning Tea and Seminar.

The girls heard from key Speakers Marga Hewko, an international motivational speaker for Rotary International, and a successful business woman and Ebony Altmira, a young Tasmanian who has gained success in her professional and sporting life as the first woman board member for Tasmanian Rugby Union. She also sits on the national committee working to prevent violence against women through sport.

House Day

HPE

Netball

Congratulations to our Grade 9 Girls who competed in the Premiers Grade 9B Netball competition at Creek Road Netball Centre.

Our girls won the Grand Final & played extremely well. Congratulations to Nicole Cherry, Freya Clarke, Beth Dobbie, Madison Fyfe, Caitlin Griffin, Lily Hansson, Ella Jones, Racheal Odwogo, Eboni Wilson and Olivia Wilson.

Basketball

3x3 basketball was played at Moonah Sports Centre the boys team made the grand final after four wins and Daniel scored in the final seconds of the grand final! Girls played well and got to the playoffs. All players are keen to come back next year.

Badminton

Congratulations to our two Grade 9 badminton Teams who played off in the Grand finals at the Kingborough Sports Centres Grade 9 Boys Division A.

Finn, Brumby, James & Codi.
These boys have won back to back Division A championships. A wonderful achievement!

Grade 9 Boys Division B
Alex, Ebony, Kelsie, Charlotte & Gabriella
These students are in their first year and there wasn’t any mixed roster to play in and so they played in the Grade 9 Boys Division B.

They were runners up and had a wonderful year.

Well Done!!

Water Polo

Congratulations to the Kingston High Grade 7/8 Girls team for making it through to the Grand Final of the water polo schools competition held on Friday 3rd August at the Hobart Aquatic Centre. The team consists of: Zali Sprott, Hannah Campbell, Catherine Knight, Matilda Dalco, Lucy Dalco, Jessalyn Potter and Clare Moore.

Congratulations also to Laura Knight (8E) for making it into the Grand Final in the girls Grade 9/10 competition also being played on 3rd August.

Benjamin Brocklesby is also competing in the finals playing in a Hobart combined 7/8 water polo team.

Outdoor Education

Term 3 has seen a new group of Grade 9 and 10 students taking on a variety of challenges including kayaking, climbing and orienteering. Term 4 will see students take to ocean activities and several adventurous camps.

Maths

Excelling in Mathematics:

Each year Kingston High School participate in several Mathematics extension programs. These programs include the Maths Challenge and the Australian Mathematics Competition. Please see the results below.

Maths Challenge Results

Congratulations to the following students on their results:

High Distinction: Katarina Cubit, Lachlan Johnstone, Ruby Saunders,

Distinction: Codi Barrett, Bella Ransom, Thomas Brown

Credit: Poppy Bull, Lachlan Ravenwood

Participation: Lucy Dalco, Patrick Lincoln

Australian Mathematics Competition Results

This highly regarded mathematics competition, run by the Maths Trust, is conducted each year in July. This year we were thrilled to have 29 students participate. Congratulations also to the following students on their results in the recent Australian Mathematics Competition.

Distinction: Year 7 – Lachlan Ravenwood, Ethan Mika Year 8 – Josh Smith, Ruby Saunders, Rosemary Rodden, Laura Knight Year 9 – Emma Spurr, Thomas Brown Year 10 – Hannah Sheers

Credit: Year 7 – Lucy Dalco Year 8 – Gabriel Wadsley-Gill, Codi Barrett, Elijah Hughes, Katarina Cubit, Lachlan Johnstone Year 9 – Lloyd Straatsma, James Turnbull, Freya Clarke, Amelie Hudspeth Year 10 – Alice Moody

Proficient: Year 8 – Harry Hui, Georgina Brocklesby, Tomas Quinonez, Bella Ransom, Leyroy Harley, Poppy Bull, Toby Barrett Year 9 – Jan Dengel Year 10 – Zoe Campbell

Big Picture

“I have many interests and I have explored many of them, resulting in some great learning experiences. These include: building and repairing computers at Principal Computers; tutoring in digital technologies at the Kingston Library (recently called the LINC); working with a blacksmith to make a knife; working at Tazzy Tyres; working at Burson; working with a chef at Community Connections to prepare a three course meal for members of our community; and I am currently at the Welcome Stranger and they have offered me a school based apprenticeship. I’d just like to say thank you for supporting me in Big Picture”.

Simon

“I worked with Kevin in the entertainment department at One Care Bishop Davies. The clients are so lovely they enjoy activities such as music, arts and crafts, dance and gym. As part of my project I made a tactile board for clients with dementia. One client just loved to touch the opposite sides of a scrubbing sponge, another talked about cars when touching a patch of a car tyre. Kevin said he wanted to keep me, I have moved on to explore other opportunities, but I still volunteer after school. Think about doing the same, it is very rewarding”.

Chloe

“My current internship is at the Salty Dog, the crew are awesome. I had to make the filling for the spring rolls and then I had to wrap the rolls. The head chef is very fussy about technique and presentation. Once he was satisfied, he left me to it, he thought I would be able to complete 50 and he was very impressed with the 175 perfect rolls. He and the owner called in Ms Frost, she was worried because she thought I might have been injured, but they wanted to offer me a school based apprenticeship, which I have accepted”.

Cane

“We visited the Hobart Home for Dogs to learn about the many different reasons why dogs are taken there and how they get new homes. It was so nice to know that many of the dogs are adopted within a week. Of course all the dogs were so beautiful – we gave them all a little bit of attention. We also investigated about becoming volunteers”.

Kate Fenton and Meg Lockley (pictured) Chelsea Lashmar and Courtney Ward.

“I was told the manager at Timeless Way was very strict and that I might not last an hour. I’ve worked very hard and learned a lot and I have experienced much success”.

Brad

Tune in to HuonFm to listen to Big Picture student Tiffani’s report of the school production “Flapper” aired on the HuonFm website. Log on to huonfm.com.au also available as a podcast.

Angus at the Australian Antartic Division in the Engineering Department, his mentor is Jeremy. Refurbishing a range of vehicles ready to go down south.

This is individualised learning in action. A small group of Big Picture students attending some presentations in different businesses in Hobart. Thanks to the Menzies Centre, Artery and The20.

Art

Young Archies

KHS entered 8 pieces into this year’s Young Archies Portraiture Competition. The standard of work was very high, with a record number of entries from schools all across Tasmania. Although we did not win any awards, our students all produced outstanding images which reflected their skill and commitment to art making – well done!

Clarence Open Art Exhibition

Congratulations to our talented Art teacher Mr Alex Wanders. His entry ‘Undone image No.8’, an acrylic on canvas was the Overall winner in the Clarence Open Art exhibition. The Clarence Open Art Exhibition is a biennial event held in both the Schoolhouse Gallery and Rosny Barn at Rosny Farm. Open to all Tasmanian artists, Clarence City Council actively promotes the participation of people in the arts and the Open Art Exhibition provides a valuable opportunity for artists to show their work to the public.

Wear Red to Work Day

Staff at KHS participated in a morning tea earlier in the term during the WEAR RED TO WORK DAY. This was organised by the AEU to highlight the need for the government to increase wages and improve conditions for all public sector employees, ensuring workloads and work conditions are met to support a quality teaching workforce.

Cambodia/Vietnam

The group has been working away busily to meet their fundraising goal of $5000. The final event, The Film and Dinner night, saw the canteen transformed into a SE Asian restaurant and 7/10 chilli factor curries being served up. It proved to be a fantastic team building exercise and the hard work put in by the group will be emulated over on the Mekong Delta while building a house. The pre-trip learning sessions have been topical and varied, looking at what it is to be a global citizen, what to pack on a trip to a really hot country, how to look after yourself while travelling (thanks Nurse Bec!), getting into the history and culture of these two fascinating and diverse countries, listening to some of the music from these countries and the list goes on! The group sets off on the 22nd September and it is safe to say that we can’t wait!

Our students have arrived safely in Vietnam! We look forward to sharing more about the Cambodia/Vietnam trip in our next newsletter and via Facebook.

Mayor Steve Wass presenting donation for Cambodia/Vietnam fundraiser

Music

Flapper

This year, students from years 9 and 10 performed in the annual Kingston High School musical, "Flapper: A Madcap Tribute to the 1920s". Students performed in a variety of roles, as actors, dancers, musicians, technicians and backstage crew. Over four days, the production team were involved in eight shows to Kingston High School students, local primary schools and members of the public. Congratulations to all students for a tremendous effort and a big thanks to everyone who lent their time and effort to a very successful musical.

We look forward to providing a comprehensive article next term. In the meantime enjoy this snapshot.

Busking Award

Congratulations to Sarah, Alice and the Eddleston family for a third place award in the busking competition in St Helens. The event took place over the JJJ One Night Stand event weekend which ensured plenty of foot traffic and keen spectators. The Eddleston family band “Littlees” featured father Peter on guitar, Sarah on flute, Alice on the Cajon and Hannah and Ruby on the bass ukulele. Based on popular vote by the passing public, The Littlees won third prize, despite beginning their voting campaign a day later than the first and second place winners.

Sarah and Alice Eddleston are part of busking band, The Littlees, regular buskers at Salamanca Market.

Clarence Eisteddfod Results

The Kingston High School Senior Stage and Junior Bands performed at the 50th Clarence Eisteddfod in early September. All bands performed to a high standard and appreciation must be given to students, parents and staff with special thanks to Sara Mason and Emma Gregory. The competition was tight with quite a few schools present and high standards of playing throughout the competition. We participated in five sections and were awarded 2nd Place in the Senior Stage Band Class and a Certificate of Merit in the Senior Concert Band Class. Well done Kingston High School!

Community Connections

A group of students attend Community Connections on a regular basis and provide meals for community members. Kingborough Council coordinate the program and students are pictured helping in the kitchen and preparing for the meal. Instead of having their food delivered the Kingborough senior citizens come in to YSpace.

Z Club

Kingston High School’s Z club has been busily working towards their fundraising goals this term. One goal they have nominated is to supply and make birthing kits to send to a developing country so that women can safely and hygienically birth their babies. The Z club has successfully fundraised for the birthing kits through holding several bake sales. The club is currently organising a major fundraiser for early next term of a car wash and raffle. The proceeds from the carwash and raffle will support the establishment of a school in Haiti. The paucity of schooling in Haiti was highlighted by one of our speakers at the Z club’s forum earlier this year, and students decided to help with funding this important endeavour.

Student Achievements

Former student achievement:

Dr Lauren Howson was a student at Margate Primary School (1996-2001), Kingston High School (2002-2005) and Hobart College (2006-2007).

Lauren had a public school education and says that her teachers prepared her well for the challenging academic path she chose to pursue.

Lauren went on to study at the University of Tasmania where she obtained her Honours in the Degree of Bachelor of Medical Research in 2011, with her thesis on ''Tumour Immune Escape Mechanisms in Devil Facial Tumour Disease’’.

She was then successful in applying for a scholarship to undertake a PhD at the University of Oxford, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, where she has recently graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy.

Since January this year she has been working as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Monash University, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Please click on the link below to read a more detailed summary of Lauren’s achievements to date.

If you are a past student of KHS and have a story of inspiration to share, we would love to hear from you, so that others can be inspired too. Story generously supplied by Lauren’s mother Lynda.

State representatives

Amber Darrick, Amber French, Matthew French, Tristan Raymond, Zali Sprott, represented Kingborough Gymsports at the National Clubs Carnival TRP Team held on the Gold Coast from the 18-23 September 2018.

Uniform News

Second Hand Uniforms

We are phasing out the ‘commission’ on the sale of second hand uniforms. Second hand uniforms will continue to be sold and any donations are gratefully accepted.

Please come into the school on a Friday morning only, to discuss either collecting unsold items or consider donating unsold items.

Important Dates

Community Notices

School Holiday Activities