We have had a very positive time here at Queechy so far this term. We have celebrated student success and Science Week, future pathways and personal development and had school visitors from Japan come and go.

It was a pleasure to host our four grade celebration morning tea events over the last two weeks. A large percentage of our students were presented with Letters of Commendation for displaying a great work ethic across all their classes. Many students received Academic Achievement or Academic Excellence awards in recognition for the significant effort they have made to achieve at the highest levels in their Australian Curriculum subjects.

Messages I shared with all families were about the need for our students to be challenged by the work they do, strive to be their best every day and that success requires hard work. I also shared the changes to the new education act and the requirement for all students to be on an approved pathway until they are 18, starting next year.

Approved pathways include full-time attendance at a Yr 11/12 college, an apprenticeship or traineeship, school-based apprenticeship, enrolling with an approved Registered Training Organisation or 35 hrs per week of work. Please contact the school if you would like more information about approved pathways for your son or daughter.

Science Week saw over 100 of our Queechy Alliance primary students descend on our school for a day of exciting learning and challenge as they explored 150 years of the Periodic Table. Sam Ayre and his crew put together a fantastic day for our QA students. Well done to all involved.

Our exchange students from Murata in Japan left on Tuesday after brining their friendship, warmth and humour to our school for the last three weeks. Thank you to Brendan Liddell for planning the learning experiences for our “adopted” students.

The Beacon Foundation has again been busy supporting our students with the help of our Beacon Ambassadors. We have seen another “Industry Live” session held and conducted the “Polish Program” once again with high levels of engagement from both students and the wider community. Thank you to Beacon and Alan Warren for your work in helping our students develop a strong understanding of the world of work.

Rob Fleming

Principal 

To Celebrate Book week, the grade 8 SRC of Queechy High School is holding a celebration on Friday, August 23^rd in the library. The theme is reading is my super power, if student’s wish to participate in this celebration they can choose to dress up as a character from their favourite book for a gold coin donation, money raised will go towards funding extra resources for our library. At lunch time there will be games and a cat walk competition for the student best dressed. Students can also participate by bringing in a book that they would like to donate to Library aid. A charity organisation that sends book and resources to countries in need.

Please note that: Only those students who wish to dress as their favourite character can dress up, it is not a free dress day.

To celebrate 150 years of the Periodic Table, students in the Queechy Alliance had a unique opportunity to create art inspired by science on Tuesday. Year 5 and 6 students from Norwood, Ravenswood Heights, St Leonards, East Launceston, Punchbowl and Waverley Primary Schools were mentored by Queechy High School students to create a giant Periodic Table. Each tile was recycled from old science lab tabletops and was cut, prepped and painted by our amazing MDT and Art departments.

Along with students putting their own spin on each element’s story, they were immersed in demonstrations that showed the power and beauty of the elements that make up all known matter in our universe.

It was a truly wonderful day that allowed us to come together as a community to celebrate National Science Week.

QKR is one week closer to coming to Queechy High School!

QKR is a phone app which can be downloaded and lets you pre order and pay for a students lunch.

In the next few weeks QKR will be available,  more details, menu, prices and instructions will be available in the coming weeks.

Outdoor Projects design challenge results.

Grades 7 & 8 students in Outdoor Projects were given a
1 meter x 140mm piece of timber and challenged to design a functional bird house. The results were as bright and as well thought out as the students! There was some really great work and design ideas, although I’m not sure about some of the colour schemes!

Lochy Wilkinson-Reed
Teacher

In Health, Grade 7 students have been studying a mental health unit. Students have been focusing on respectful relationships, which has required the students to look at friendships, making connections with others and creating a sense of belonging. Students have now started looking at bullying in particular cyberbullying.

In PE, Grade 7’s have been participating in a Dance unit. Students have been exposed to line dances, partner dances as well as looking at different genres of dance through Just Dance clips. Students have also been given the chance to create their own dances. A major focus has been on co-operation, group work and dance choreography.

On Thursday the 15^th of August selected students from each grade 9 class attended the Beacon Foundation Polish program at Queechy High School. The program was facilitated by Renee Frost from the Beacon Foundation.

The activities for the day included interviewing a range of mentors. We thank the group of mentors who gave up some of their time to support our students for their future.

Mentors: Vicky Nutall – Branch Manager, ANZ Bank Mowbray, Skye Cusack – Digital Marketing and events coordinator Tasfoods, Craig Lovell – Electrical Team Leader at Tas Alkaloids, Courtney Griesbach – Editor at The Examiner, Gilbert Ness – Infrastructure investment program manager at Tarail, Jack Soward – Associate student recruitment officer at UTAS, Sarah Ebellar – Communication specialist at Telstra and Kim Newland from Tasrail.

Polish empowers students to better navigate their transition into the future world of work. The program equips students with an awareness of global trends, the demand for cultivating a transferrable set of skills and the importance of self-advocacy.

Research indicates that students who build enterprising skills while still in education transition faster and more confidently into full-time work once leaving school.

Polish is a high energy one-day program facilitated by a professional Beacon Facilitator.

The involvement of industry mentors in the afternoon gives participants an invaluable opportunity to meet and network with industry mentors from their own business community.

Module topics include;

• The new ‘world of work’
• Identifying and celebrating existing employability skills
• Personal presentation and pitching
• Communication and networking
• Interview techniques

After completing a High Impact Program, young people report feeling more confident in securing work and managing their future.

87%:    increased skills to secure employment.

79%:  increased sense of hope for the future.

74%:    better prepared to face challenges.

 “I feel as if my future is brighter after today. I feel more motivated to work and do well in schooling. Hearing what adults had to say about their work which they

love makes me inspired to work hard to be in a workforce I’m passionate about. I feel confident in going for that job, using the people skills I’ve been taught.”

- Student

This term has been very busy with a wide range of activities organised for Queechy High School students. MyEducation is a national initiative to better guide all secondary students into their future world after high school.

At Queechy we are also a Beacon Foundation school. The Beacon foundation assists the school to engage with industry events and online industry connections, such as Industry Live.

On Thursday the 7^th and 8^th of August, 12 students attended an industry event at the Jackson Motor Co. in Launceston. This program was organised by the Smith Family who also support many of our students.

The group had the opportunity to engage with representatives from MyState bank, Flying Colours Printing and they met members of the Hurricanes women’s cricket team.  The students were able to visit Flying Colours Printing site at Kings Meadows on the Wednesday for a guided tour and insight into the kinds of jobs available in the printing industry.

The group engaged in conversations and interviews with the representatives present, enabling confidence building, real interactions with strong business and community members. The group developed career maps of some of the mentors and presented them to the whole group.

The two days were both engaging and enlightening for the students and they represented Queechy High School as engaging young people interested in their learning and their future.

The wellbeing of our students is important to us. 

To get an understanding of how students across Tasmania feel about their own wellbeing, all students at Queechy will be taking part in a wellbeing survey (23^rd August – 11^th September).

The Student Wellbeing Survey is part of the Department of Education’s Child and Student Wellbeing Strategy.

The survey will be done in class time and will not require your child to prepare in any way.

A letter providing more detail can be found on the school app. If you would like further information on the Student Wellbeing Survey, this can be found at www.education.tas.gov.au/about-us/projects/child-student-wellbeing-strategy/ or can be collected from the school.

If you do not wish for your child to participate in this survey, please  visit our Schoolzine website to complete the form.

Thank you for supporting us to ensure that all our learners are safe, feel supported and are able to flourish, so they can engage in learning.

Class Times

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2021 Term Dates

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