Newsletter Term 4 - Newsletter 1 - 7th -11-2024

Principal's Report

It is hard to believe that it is already Week 4 of Term 4.  This term already seems to be flying with lots of wonderful events to celebrate. It was wonderful to see many families attending our Celebration Assembly and to see our students being recognised for showing commitment to our school values.  We look forward to celebrating the final achievements with our community at our formal Presentation Assembly on Tuesday 3rd December at 1pm in the School Gymnasium. The Assembly will be followed with light refreshments in the 11/12 Building. All students who are being presented with an award or who will be preforming at the Assembly, will receive an invitation. 

At this busy time, we encourage families to keep an eye on our School Calendar for upcoming events and for messages shared with teachers via Seesaw and Schoolzine. We also regularly share celebrations and upcoming event reminders via Facebook. If you need any further information, please be in contact with your child’s teacher or the school office. 
 
Swimming Carnival 
I would like to congratulate all of our students and staff who participated in our recent swimming carnival. The feedback from students and teachers was that it was the best swimming carnival held to date. All of our students demonstrated the School Values, which was evident by the participation level and encouragement they gave each other throughout the day. 

Family Satisfaction Survey 
As a school we have started to look at the responses gathered from our families this year. This year, 23 families completed the survey, which is the highest number to date for Bothwell. In comparison only 5 families participated in the survey in the previous two years. We look forward to looking at ways to increase the number further in 2025 of participating families. 

The school highly values the support of our parent community, as we know that the statement it takes a village to raise a child resonates strongly in so many ways. We view all feedback as important in the process of school improvement and view that as a community school we all need to work in partnership to support the students in our care. I encourage families to be in touch regularly with staff throughout the year and for any families who have not visited the school site in 2024, to connect with us early in 2025. Coming into the school to see our students at work in their classrooms and to talk with our staff is a great way to feel connected to the school and our wonderful facilities.

We have recently enrolled some new students for 2025 and I know that our entire school community will make them feel welcome as part of the Bothwell family. We welcome all new enrolments and information about the EOI process is on our website: Enrol with us - Bothwell District High School

We look forward to continuing with our Open Classrooms and Parent-Teacher opportunities in 2025, but also encourage families to attend assemblies, carnivals and events as they occur throughout the year. 

Erika Boas 
Principal 

Our Reading Focus

Currently our students are completing their annual Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT). We use the results of PAT to measure overall reading comprehension growth for individual students and as a school. PAT is one of our measures of achievement together with DIBELs tests (which test for word knowledge and fluency), PLD Data (phonics and spelling), Australian Curriculum ratings and teacher feedback. 

This Term, our students will also be bringing home their final reports. 

Our Wellbeing Priority

This week our young learners experienced the ‘Knock Knock’ Wellbeing show run by the creative team from Happy Habits - Launceston. The students loved the interactive adventures. They even helped to solve a mystery using their forensic skills!

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Lil

At LiL on Wednesday 16th October 24, we focused on farm animals and baby birds and animals which are born is Spring. Some children made birds in nests, and some played at the farm table.

Kinder/Prep

Kinder Prep students discussed the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. They then designed pictures using 2D shapes.

K/P and 1/2, Surf Life Saving Tasmania visit

We were joined by Surf Life Saving Tasmania on Tuesday to teach us how to be safe around water. We learned about the importance of following the FLAGS guidelines when in and around water. We also got to practice what to do when we get caught in a rip current. Students were very engaged and had lots of great questions and ideas to share. 

5/6: Natural Disasters

In Term 3, 5/6 students completed Natural Disaster experiments and research tasks culminating in the eruption of miniature volcanoes in Week 1 of this term. Students worked in pairs to build, mould and paint their volcanoes to replicate the same for a real volcano. Our eruptions experiment was a huge success with excited energy from all students as they watched the chemical reaction of vinegar and baking soda create a ‘lava’ flow effect. Thank you to all students and teachers for helping with our science project. 

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9/10

English   

In English, students are working on their Fake News Stories. These will be published and available to read for the celebration assembly. Next week they will be presenting their stories orally. This could be as a podcast or radio presentation and prerecorded, presenting as if news readers or however they would like to record. Students have chosen a wide range of subjects from Trump is Dead, a Tasmanian Tiger roaming the streets of Bothwell, various cyclones, and the Soviets Achieve Interstellar Travel. 

Geography 

In 7/8 the students are researching the cultural and economic benefits that famous water landmarks around Australia bring to the community and the economy. Some areas being studied include Wineglass Bay, Monkey Mia and the Great Barrier Reef. These will be compiled into a presentation that will be available for the celebration assembly. 

The 9/10’s are continuing to study the Cat’s Claw Creeper, endemic to the Clarence River Catchment in NSW. Alongside this they are replicating as far as possible issues with willows in the Clyde River Catchment Area. This week they have looked at some of the Indigenous stories of the Bundjalung nation and then discovered stories of the Big River People located around Bothwell. 

Cooking with Brigette

The students made Chocolate and Beetroot Muffins on Thursday 17th October 2024.

These looked very nice. The beetroot was from the school garden, so they are extra special.

The next week, 31-10-24 for cooking we made Ham and Pineapple scrolls.

Careers:

Royal Australian Visit to Bothwell District High School 

On Monday the 28th of October, we were very fortunate to have Jake Alsford and Jeremy Jones from the RAN visit the school. Jake and Jeremy spoke to the whole school at the meet and greet assembly where for many of the students it was the first opportunity for them to see people dressed in a navy uniform. Jeremy spoke to the students about his time on the HMAS Canberra, one of Australia’s 2 aircraft carriers. The students had difficulty imagining the size of the 230 m carrier and that it housed the population of Bothwell in what is effectively a floating hotel. 

The men then spoke to the 5/6’s who asked some really good questions and they followed this up with a talk to the 7/8’s about their own experiences joining the Navy. 

After a break, the men then gave a presentation to the 9/10’s. They spoke about building resilience and what happens if their desired pathway doesn’t eventuate. That it is okay to pivot and try something new. Jake gave the students some of his favourite quotes including one from Alexander Graham Bell, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” and one from an Auschwitz survivor, Viktor Frankl, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” 

The students learnt about a typical daily routine on a ship, but no 2 days are alike, the fabulous meals, the benefits such as subsidised rent and free medical and dental care and the lifelong friends that they have made. 

We thank the RAN for the visit, and we look forward to seeing them again in Navy week next year. 

Swimming at Oatlands Pool

Congratulations for all of our students who competed in the Splash Swimming Carnival. Well done, Shannon House!

Celebrating student success:

From our student leaders:

Thank you to all of the students who have entered House Writing. We are busy tallying up the results and will let everyone know the results soon! 

Congratulations to Shannon House, who were the winners of the Swimming/ Splash Carnival.  

The final points were: 

Clyde          = 384 points 

Shannon    = 426 points 

Robot Man Visit

This week we had a visit from Robot Man (Steve), who brought along equipment for all ages to engage in a fun filled and interactive day of robotics and coding learning.

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Year 6 Celebration Event

For our students in Year 6 going into Year 7 next year, Sam Everett is offering to co-ordinate a dinner as part of the celebration for completion of primary schooling. If you would like you child to be included in this event, please contact Sam:  

Phone: 0447 143 777 

Or email: samanthayoung32@yahoo.com  

Artwork in the Foyer

We have now completed our collaborative artwork. Come along to the front foyer of the school to view the final mural.

Reminders:

For families to please return forms regarding the Afterschool Netball sessions. 

Other Messages:

From the School Association 

We are looking for volunteers to assist with our Bushfest School Association BBQ Stall. 11am to 1.00pm on the Saturday and Sunday (Nov 23 and 24). Please contact the school if you are able to support. Support can be for a one-hour shift. All support is welcomed. 

Hamper for fundraising raffle

Calling on the community for donations for a fundraising hamper. Tickets will be sold at the Bunnings Fundraising BBQ on Saturday Jan 11th. The items will need to be non-perishable, e.g. wine, chocolates, vouchers. Please drop off items at the main office. Thank you.

High School Badminton

During Term 3 and Term 4, students in years 7-10 have participated in weekly badminton games. Singles and doubles matches have allowed students to practice their skills and build knowledge of the rules for the game. This term, we have held a ‘Badminton Tournament’, an event that has garnered exceptional interest and participation. We have reached our Grand Final match to be held next Wednesday at lunchtime between finalists Kaitlyn Household and Brodie Speed. 

At recess, we will also have a mini tournament (5point matches) open to all 7-10 participants. 

Mission Australia NDIS Mobile Service visit.

Mission Australia NDIS service will be travelling around the state and will be in our area soon.