Montrose Bay High School Newsletter - Term 1 Week 9

Message from the Principal

As we draw near to the end of Term 1, I would like to share some of the fantastic achievements and events that we have supported. Our students have represented MBHS across our community demonstrating the Montrose Mindset. Some of the activities include supporting primary feeder school athletic carnivals, Student Leadership Conference, Relay for Life, Chess Competition, JackJumpers Basketball, Beacon Foundation events, Maths Competition, Debating Workshop, Harmony Week Art and the list goes on. 

This term has also seen our school introduce Tier 2 classes which include supporting students with intervention, extension and engagement. These classes are planned for by teachers and involve small groups with select students. Feedback has been positive from both students and staff which has been fantastic.

I would also like to take this opportunity to flag that I will be taking some Long Service Leave in Term 2. For the past couple of years my family has been planning an extended interstate caravan trip to the West of Australia which we are really excited about. I will return to MBHS in mid Term 4, so will be taking leave for around 6 months. The Principal role will be advertised next week and I hope to share my replacement early next Term to ensure a smooth transition. We have set up our School Improvement Plan with our leadership team so I am very confident that who ever steps in will continue the journey, whether it be an existing Assistant Principal or someone from outside of our school.

Year 7 Camp
As we head into Term 2 organisation for our Year 7 camp increases, permission forms have been sent home and payments are starting to come in. We believe that this camp will be a welcome addition to our extra-curricular program which we hope to build on over coming years. I am also excited to share that a significant portion of our student leadership team will also attend the camp to support staff and students and develop their own leadership skills.
     
NAPLAN
Over the past few weeks our Year 7 and 9 students completed NAPLAN testing. In a school of our size the testing is a significant logistical puzzle so I would like to thank all staff and students who supported organisation or participated. We had over 90% of students complete all 4 tests which is above similar schools across Australia. A big thanks to Mrs Buchhorn who managed this across the school supported by Mrs Stewart and Ms Barnes.

Montrose Mindset
During Term 1 our school community has been involved in re-shaping our values to align with the Department of Education, Children and Young People. Our current values of Respect, Aspiration, Growth and Courage will shift to the document attached. We are really proud of the process we have gone through to develop our new values which has connected students, staff and the wider community. Our School Association signed off on our final document at our recent meeting, this document is now with our graphic designer and we hope to share this in early Term 2.

Staffing
Term 2 will also see some changes with a few staff going on leave including myself.
Lucy Nolan – LSL (Family caravan trip)
Isaac Lillico – LWOP (travel overseas)
Tim Nicholas – LSL (Family caravan trip)
Returning Staff in Term 2
Tom Waller – return from extended sick leave after a knee injury
Paige Barnes – returns from maternity leave
Kieren Rogers – returns from paternity leave

Tim Nicholas 
Principal

School Association-Montrose Bay High

The Montrose Bay High School Association recently met for its Annual General Meeting. We welcomed three new parent members, bringing our parent membership to a total of seven. How fantastic to see so many parents committed and interested in the workings of the school and advocating for our students.
We thanked and farewelled outgoing Chair, Earle Patman, with Zoe Smith taking up the role of Chair moving forwards, and Janan Blizzard as Deputy Chair. Thanks to Erin Leder, Jo Scales, Kumudu Stewart and Tim Nicholas for being the school representatives, especially at the end of a long school day!

We were joined by student leaders, Kane Desmond and Jethro Purton, who shared with the group their reflections on a recent student leadership conference they participated in, as well as raising some discussion points that their peers had brought to them. It was heartening to see such care from these students for the school and their peers. We also discussed some exciting plans to better connect the local community with MBHS…stay tuned for more on that!

Thanks again to the staff at MBHS for their dedication to our kids.

Zoe Smith
Chair of School Association

Year 9 & 10

It has been a positive start to the year by the grade 9 and 10 students. They are enjoying the opportunity to be the leaders of the school and combine for senior school assemblies to celebrate learning and the achievements of their peers. We have challenged students to keep high expectations and to make sure that they are working alongside their teachers to ensure the classroom is calm and engaging. A special acknowledgement for the year 9 students who participated in the NAPLAN testing. It was fantastic to see students demonstrate the school values of Courage, Aspiration, and Growth by pushing themselves to achieve their best results throughout the 2-week period. We hope all students and families have a safe and enjoyable term break and we look forward to seeing you all, refreshed and ready for a busy term 2. 

In Year 9 History, we have been learning about the colonisation of Australia, with a particular focus on events such as convict transportation, the Black War, the transportation of Tasmanian Aboriginal people to Wybalenna and the relocation of Tasmanian Aboriginal people to Putalina/Oyster Cove. We have been looking at these events from different perspectives and were lucky enough to join Judy Hunter and Paul Mabb for a Gumnuts to Buttons session to help us learn about these events from an Aboriginal perspective. This week, we will be working on our Common Assessment Task, where we will create a timeline that explains the significance of these events and considers the differing perspectives surrounding them.

In Year 10 History, we are learning about the lead up to World War Two by examining key events such as the creation of the Treaty of Versailles and Kristallnacht. We have been using the NAME criteria (Novelty, Applicability, Memory, Effect) to determine the significance of these events. We will build upon this learning in Term Two as we delve deeper into World War Two, focussing on key events and turning points such as the Holocaust and the use of the atomic bomb.

In English, Grade 9 students have been exploring text structures this term. They have been learning about what it means to Belong in Australia and what Prejudice can look and feel like. Currently students are working on creating their own texts about Belonging and Prejudice. They have the choice of making a comic text, narrative text, informational text, or a multimodal text. We’re looking forward to seeing some exciting work from our 9s!

In Grade 10 English, students have been developing their learning about representation of people, places, and concepts. Through looking at different representations of Tasmania, students have focussed on building their knowledge of multimodal text types. Students have used this and their pre-existing knowledge from earlier in the term to begin writing PEEL paragraphs analysing and evaluating these text types. 

In Science, for the first three weeks of the year both the year 9s and 10s learnt about hazards and risks, we learnt how to make risk assessments for both the science lab and general workplaces.
From week 4 the year 9s have been learning about wave and particle models in physics, specifically we have been learning about the properties of sound and light. For sound we learnt about how the frequency of a sound wave determines its pitch and that’s why an ambulance’s siren sounds high pitched when it is moving towards you and low pitched when it is moving away from you. For light we have learned about the electromagnetic spectrum and how radio waves, x-rays, microwaves, and ultraviolet are all different frequency light waves. We learnt how light refracting (bending) makes objects in water look shallower than they are which is why you need to aim below the fish when spearfishing. We also learnt about lenses and how the lens in the human eye flips the image it sees upside down, but we don’t notice this because our brain automatically corrects the image for us. To see these principles in action we did a lightbox practical and a bull’s eye dissection.

From week 4 the year 10s have been learning about the periodic table in chemistry, specifically we have been learning about chemical reactivity trends across the elements and how this explains why the periodic table is structured the way it is. To show that each element has a unique and identifiable electron structure we made our own spectroscopes using blank CDs to split light into its component colours so that we could identify different elements from the light they produce when burned.

Liam Rice
Year 10 Leader

Year 7 Camp

Dear Year 7 Parents/Guardians

You all should have copies of the camp information letter, invoices for payment and permission slip at this stage. The deposit for camp is due on Wednesday 10 April and full payment is due by Friday 10 May. Payments can be made in person at school or online. It is essential that permission slips are returned by Friday 10 May as this will allow us to prepare for camp and ensure the safety and wellbeing of all participants. 

If you have not yet completed and returned the camp forms, or the validation forms sent home earlier this year, please do so as soon as possible. If you require any assistance or have any questions regarding the forms or the camp itself, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your cooperation and support.

Frankie Hey 
Assistant Principal Year 7

Student Leadership

On the 5th of March, the student leadership team attended the ‘GRIP Student Leadership Conference’ in Hobart from 9am to 2:30pm. The group was led into a conference room where many leaders from other schools were also participating in the leadership event. We began the session with an introductory video that detailed the impact and meaning of the leadership program and also the importance of being leaders and role models within our schools and society.

We learnt that to be great leaders, we must step up and find things that are good that could be done better, that we must step in and fix the things that need to be fixed, that we must step out and do something that is new for our school, and that we must step together to work as a combined team to progress the goal of improving our school. We engaged in meaningful discussions with students from other schools and developed good connections with them. After a long day of learning and fun, we returned to our school feeling enlightened and motivated.

Heath
Year 10, Student Leadership Team

Relay for Life - Fundraiser barbecue

Relay for Life is an organisation that supports the Cancer Council to fundraise for further cancer research. Montrose Bay dedicated a day to support the Cancer Council where student leaders organised events such as a barbecue, provided hair spray in the colours of the event, purple and yellow, along with giving students the chance to wear free dress and were encouraged to wear yellow and purple to show support for the organisation. We raised over $800, well done everyone!

On 24 February Montrose Bay brought a team together to represent and support the Relay for Life 2024. Our team had a target goal of $1,000, but managed to raise $1,625.17! 26 of our students took time out of their weekend to show support and participate in the charity event which goes for over 24 hours. Our school was invited to present the Candlelight Ceremony when all the participants stop walking in the relay and gather to remember loved ones lost. This was a very special part of the event where Molly and Heath presented a speech, and Shakoda showed great courage to honour her Mum, Kylie. We are very proud of our students participating in this event.

Baylee and Sophie
Year 10, Student Leadership Team

Harmony Week Flag Competition

Congratulations to Betty of Year 7 for winning the harmony week flag competition hosted by the Multicultural Council of Tasmania.  Betty was so pleased with her art pack prize. Well done Betty!

Student Health

Dates to Remember