Montrose Bay High School Newsletter - Term 1 Week 6

Principal's Report

We have tipped over the halfway mark of Term 1 already and Easter is fast approaching. Students have been engaged across the first half of Term and goal setting and routines have been important parts of this work. Students are encouraged by the focus on teaching and learning with alternate programs being provided to those students with alternate learning needs. Our elective subjects in Year 9 and 10 are well underway with some positive outcomes ensuring students are following their interests and passions.

Our policy around class exits and being late has had an impact on our school environment and the learning outcomes are trending in the right direction as a result. We continue to thank parents and carers for their support in this space. Our student leaders have reflected the following in their latest meeting - “Student Leaders really feel like the current focus on rules are positive and are keen to see it continue as they feel it’s been a positive way to start the year”

• Athletics Carnival
  

I attended my first MBHS Athletics Carnival in Week 4 it was a terrific event with many students engaging and performing at a high standard! A big thanks must go to our HPE team for their organisation! Students were supportive of each other with several events being won in record times or distances. From this carnival, we have selected an interschool team who will represent our school at the Domain Athletics Track on Monday 3 April.

• NAPLAN

This week saw the beginning of our NAPLAN testing period for students in Year 7 and 9. Thank you to our teaching and learning team for organising the logistics of this period and support of staff and students to complete it. We encourage students to focus on sleep and good nutrition during this period to ensure they set themselves up for success. Students will participate in reading, writing, spelling, and numeracy across the 2 weeks, if students are absent or miss test there will be opportunities for catch ups next week.

Positive Behaviour Support

Students across the school continue to be encouraged to reflect our Montrose Mindset which contains our 4 values of Respect, Aspiration, Courage, and Growth, if students are reflecting these values in their everyday school life, they are rewarded by receiving DoJo points from adults across the school. These points are collated and put into raffle draws at Grade assemblies, if student’s names are selected, they can receive prizes like canteen vouchers, experiences and other items.

School Association

Next Tuesday at 5.00pm we will hold our Annual General Meeting for our School Association; I would encourage any community members to come along and support this group and help shape our school moving forward. It is vital that we receive feedback from our community in a variety of ways to ensure future planning is meeting the needs of our students. Please make contact with the office if you would like to attend so we can have appropriate catering.

Tim Nicholas

Principal

School Association-Montrose Bay High

Here we are already halfway through Term one. We’ve had one School Association meeting so far and it was great to catch up with new principal Tim who has settled in nicely.

The Meet the Team barbecue was a great way to catch up with new and old staff, and put faces to names for my son's teachers this year. It was also a good opportunity to get a bit of an idea of how he is tracking with his work as whenever I ask him how school was today, the usual response is in words of one syllable! 

If you’d like to have some feedback or information regarding high school life, please come along to our next School Association meeting this Tuesday 21st March at 5 pm which will also be our Annual General Meeting.

A student report will also be given which provides an interesting insight into how many activities are available to our students and how they engage in their school life. 

See you Tuesday. 

Earle Patman on behalf of the School Association.

Grade 7

Grade 7 have had a busy few weeks filled with new firsts for high school. In Week 4 we had our Athletics Carnival. Students spent Health and PE lessons learning about the different track and field events and attended House meetings to learn their house chants and get to know the people across grades in the same house. Our participation on the day was excellent with students earning Dojo points for every event they participated in. Congratulations to the students who have been selected to represent MBH at the Interhigh Athletics Carnival.

This week has also seen Grade 7 students participating in NAPLAN testing. So far, students have completed writing, reading and language conventions tests with their final test for numeracy occurring next week. Each student has consistently given their best effort during these test conditions and managed changes to their timetable in a mature way.

We look forward to Relay for Life this weekend with Grade 7 students contributing to our school team at the Domain Athletics Centre to raise money for the Cancer Council. Good luck, team!

Amelia Clifford - AP

Grade 8

Year 8 have had a positive and productive start to the year. At MBHS, our priority is quality teaching and learning. Year 8s have been learning about everything from persuasive writing, Vikings, integers and indices, rocks and plate tectonics, sport education and self-focussed identity, as well as enjoying time in music, MDT and Outdoor Ed. Shortly, we will begin one of many inquiries into teaching reading comprehension strategies as Reading is our schoolwide literacy goal. This week, we are also starting a friendly reading competition as a part of Libraries Tasmania’s ‘Tasmania Reads’ initiative. A number of Year 8 students have also started a range of small-group programs including literacy, Health & Wellbeing, woodwork, furniture making, catering (Loaves & Fishes), cooking and art. These programs are a part of the work of our Inclusive Education team who look to provide additional engagement for a variety of student needs.

In our weekly Tuesday morning year assemblies, we keep students informed about what is coming up, and check in with student wellbeing and preparedness for learning. Matt Rice and I have noticed that uniform has been outstanding so far this year. As the cooler weather sets in, we would like to remind students and families about the following:

• Please ensure that non-uniform layers must be completely covered by uniform.
• Non-uniform hoodies, pants with logos and leggings are not a part of uniform.
• If sizing/fit/comfort is an issue, students can wear plain, dark blue pants without logos in place of uniform pants.
• If students come to school without uniform, we have a limited amount of spare uniform that can be borrowed for the day.

It has been a pleasure getting to know so many families and students in my first 5 weeks at MBHS. Many years ago, I started my teaching career at Rosetta High School. The warm welcome back into this community has been very much appreciated. I have valued the opportunity to meet families through the School Association, at our recent Welcome BBQ, and talk to many families in person and on the phone about supporting your child’s learning and wellbeing. Please reach out to your child’s Connect Teacher, Matt Rice (AST for Year 8), or myself about any questions or queries you may have, and anything you wish to share with us. We are here to work with you.  

Kumudu Stewart -AP

Grade 9

As we reach the second half of Term 1, the students have been very busy participating in various events testing their skills inside and outside of the classroom. This has included our athletics carnival and NAPLAN testing. Congratulations to those students who have participated and demonstrated our school values of courage and growth by trying their best and embracing challenging tasks.

In Year 9 English and History, students are learning about historical events that have influenced people’s individual and collective sense of identity in Australia. We began the term learning about the major European empires in the 1900s and building our understanding of how empires were expanded, why some countries colonised others, and the impact of colonisation on Indigenous peoples. We are now focussing on the history of British colonisation in Australia and its impact on Australian identity today. We will finish the term by writing a historical essay reflecting on the question ‘What does it mean to be Australian?’.

Students in Grade 9 Mathematics have started off the year exploring Measurement. They have been revising a variety of different concepts relating to perimeter and area, and have shown success in being able to apply this to enhance their understanding of surface area and volume relating to 3-D shapes. Coming up at the end of March is the MAT problem solving competition. Students wishing to participate need to speak to their maths teacher or see Mr Archer in the grade 9 staffroom.

Students are encouraged to keep working hard and seeking feedback from their maths teachers to improve their understanding throughout the year.

Liam Rice - AP

Grade 10

Leaders –

Grade 10 Student Leaders and House Captains have recently had the opportunity to assist local Primary Schools with their Athletics Carnivals. Each school has since passed on overwhelmingly positive feedback about the way in which these students have conducted themselves. These include displaying our values of respect, courage, aspiration, and growth to a high standard. It is very pleasing to receive such feedback about Montrose students and for our school to be represented in this manner. All students should be very proud of their actions!

Humanities –

You may have seen Monga Khan’s image pasted around the city on Peter Drew’s Aussie posters. Born in British India, Monga Khan arrived in Australia in 1895 and worked as a hawker in rural Victoria. Little is known about his life. Year 10 have been closely reading different texts that make predictions about this man - and looking at how those texts shape our understanding of different people from the past. By investigating a crime story, a ballad and a diary, our learners are beginning to see how authors use language to influence their reader’s thinking. By doing so, we’re developing our vocabulary and ability to express our ideas in more effective ways. 

Kieren Rogers (AST), Erin Leder & Emma Critchley (Grade 10 HUM)

Grade 11 - 12

Student Health

Athletics Carnival

Congratulations to all students who participated in the MBHS Athletics Carnival last week. It was great to see lots of students giving it a go and dressing up for the event. Final Results: Dowsing 1235, O'Brien 1045, Faulkner 992, Austin 865. Special mention to Sophie who broke the record for the Year 10 Girls High Jump. 

Dates to Remember

School Notices

IMPORTANT - MEDICAL CONDITIONS

" PLEASE HELP US TO HELP YOU" If your child has a medical condition could you please ensure that we have the relevant information on file. If conditions change at all please provide updated information to Student Administration. We have had a couple of minor incidents recently and we have not been aware of conditions.  Please feel free to contact our office on 62082699 to confirm.

Students - Early Departure

If you are aware that your child needs to leave school for an appointment please send a note or call early and we will ensure that they will be ready to leave as you requested. It is sometimes difficulty for us to get your child at short notice. Your help with this would be greatly appreciated.

School App

Please sign up for our new school app. Below is a step by step instruction on how to download