3 March 2025

A Word from the Principal…

Welcome back to the 2025 school year at Smithton High School. It has been wonderful to see students return to school ready to start a new school year and it has been fantastic to see all of our staff working hard to ensure that all of our students settle in well to their new classrooms. We have all been working hard to ensure that we are supporting our students to feel known, safe, well and learning every day. I warmly welcome all our new and existing students and families to Smithton High School. I extend a warm welcome to our new teaching staff members (please see info later in the newsletter).

Leadership opportunities for students have been happening, led by Susan Bishop (SEC and SRC) and Ryland Coombe (House Captains). Our House Leaders have already assisted with the CH Cluster Primary Schools Athletics Carnival held on Tuesday. The feedback was positive as our leaders supported staff and students at the carnival. Student leaders are ready to develop their leadership skills and are looking forward to the 2025 school year.

I hope you have seen the students who have been recognised for their contribution to meeting our school values LARF – Learn, Achieve, Respect and Fairness on our Facebook page. Our school has weekly Year level assemblies where student acknowledgement of our school values takes place in one of our Pastoral Care blocks.

All of our teaching staff have been trying to contact all families with introductory phone calls to introduce themselves and their child’s teachers; provide details about how your child has started the year and what your hopes are for your child for 2025. Please keep in touch with your child’s teacher/s when you need to discuss anything that is school related. The school number is 64529222 where you can leave a message and/or book a meeting face-face or via phone.

All staff have made a commitment to two areas: Respectful Language and You Are Where You Should Be (during the school day). These areas are connected to school culture, school belonging and impact considerably on teaching and learning.

What does this really mean?

Our expectations are:

1.Everybody speaks appropriately to others and uses positive language. (Swearing and abusive language is not acceptable in our workplace).

2.Everybody is where they should be which simply means - I am in my scheduled class on time, and I use the school process if I need to leave my class. I will be sharing more of this work with you over the year.

You would have received an attachment via our text messaging service for the SHS Student/Parent handbook which provides information related to our school. We hope that this provides you with general information about school processes and of course contact the office on 64529222 should you require any further information.

So we are all on the same page, vaping and smoking are illegal activities for people under the age of 18 and the school will respond accordingly if a student is in possession of vapes/cigarettes, involved in the distribution of these items and/or using them whilst at school. Our school is a vape and cigarette free zone.

As always, I encourage you to come into our school and speak with any of us. We are open to your feedback (both the positive and areas for improvement).  2025 has started reasonably well and we are all looking forward to a successful year of learning, growth, gratitude and positive wellbeing for all.

Staff at SHS – 2025

If you need to contact a staff member to discuss your child’s progress, please ring the school office – 64529222 to book a face to face appointment or phone call.

Nikki Clark
Principal

Every School Day Matters

Start the year right by making every school day count. Going to school every day gives your child every chance to learn and grow and connect with their mates and teachers. It’s where bright futures start and where they’ll benefit the most.

Attendance

Students have had a great start to first term with very high attendance across all the year levels. At present the attendance rates are sitting at a respectable 84% across the school.

The year level with the highest attendance rate of a whopping 92% is Year 7. A BIG congratulations to all the Year 7 students who are eager to make the most out of learning something new every day.  They were followed closely by a tied effort between Year 9 and Year 12 on a massive 86%, Year 10’s on 85%, Year 8 on 84% and Year 11’s on 83%.

Congratulations to students for showing up and getting involved in this valuable educational opportunity. To teachers and teacher aides for providing students with quality educational programs, to the mentors, EFA’s and admin staff for supporting our students. A big thank you to all the parents, guardians, families and carers for helping to get your children and young adults to school so they can receive the best opportunity to be involved in an education.

Absences-don’t forget to let us know if your child is away.

If your child is away from school because of sickness, an appointment, etc., please contact the office to explain their absence. You may receive an SMS to say your child is absent from school, this is an alert to let you know your child is not at school and a friendly reminder to please explain the reason for their absence (please call the office if that’s easier). Your support is always appreciated and we thank you for getting in touch.

Good Reads

I have once again subscribed our school to Lamont Standing Orders for the latest fiction books. Our subscription includes Secondary, Lower Secondary and Secondary Graphic novels. We receive approximately ten books every month and our first instalment has just arrived and waiting to be borrowed. Meanwhile our non-fiction readers haven’t missed out as we have several new books including Macca - Mackenzie Arnold’s biography, a new set of World Book Encyclopedias and a set of ten History Summarized books ready for your perusal.

Happy reading
Mrs Jill Kay 📚📚📚

Year 7 News

Celebrating Year 7 Success

During Year 7 assemblies this term, students who are demonstrating the school values of LARF (Learn, Achieve, Respect & Fairness) have been rewarded for efforts. Keep up the great work Year 7s!

Art

During Art, 7.1 have been working on some 1 Point Perspective artwork. Well done!

Science

Students from Year 7 have been learning how to safely use Bunsen Burners in the Science Lab. Lots of fun was had learning the differences between safety and working flames. 

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Year 7 Cooking

Year 7 students are developing their cooking skills in the kitchen. This time they baked banana and blueberry muffins. 

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Year 8 News

Celebrating Year 8 Success

Students from Year 8 have also been demonstrating our school values. Congratulations to all students.

Foods

8.2 Foods have been cooking up a storm and we have a couple of young budding chefs with a particular flair for working in the kitchen! Our recipes have been both sweet and savory and Year 8’s have made some suggestions of what to cook. Our dishes so far have been Triple Chocolate Muffins (Barney’s favourite), Chinese Chicken Stir-fry (everyone’s favourite!), Carrot Cake Cupcakes and this week we are making Carbonara-a classic Italian dish that’s very hard to say ‘pass’ on. Wait to see what we are cooking in the last half of the term-it’s going to be delicious!

Year 9/10 Foods

With a more mature palate and a little more experience working in the kitchen, this options class is going to attempt some more complicated recipes to refine and enhance our cooking techniques in the kitchen. We have attempted a classic chicken stir-fry, banana and blueberry muffins and New York Pretzels- involved yeast cookery and kneading skills. So far the results have been 100% delicious! We can only hope that they get to try out their new skills in your kitchen at home.

Metal, Fabrication & Design

The new Year 9/10 MDT Metalwork elective has launched this year, introducing students to the fundamental principles of precision sheet metal fabrication. In this course, students are developing confidence in accurately measuring and working with sheet metal through the fabrication of a set of professional-grade workshop trays. This project is designed to build their technical skills step by step, covering essential fabrication processes such as precision marking out, cutting, folding, drilling, and fastening.

To reinforce these skills, students have engaged in hands-on demonstrations, including the creation of templates and paper models to visualize and refine their designs before working with metal. This approach ensures a strong foundational understanding of material behaviour, tolerance considerations and efficient fabrication workflows. As students progress, they will gain real-world experience in working with sheet metal, preparing them for more complex projects that demand accuracy, problem-solving, and a keen eye for detail.

Outdoor Education

The Outdoor Ed students participated in their first excursion of 2025. The students headed to Trawmanna and participated in a bower spinach propagation activity, where students learnt about the benefits and different uses that native flora provide. The students were rewarded with treats from the veggie patch. We would like to extend our gratitude to Mel and Jack from CHAC for their continuous support to the Outdoor Education group. 

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This week, the Outdoor Ed students participated in a camping scenario where they pitch tents considering the wind direction. The quickest time to pitch a tent in windy conditions was 5 minutes and the quickest time to pack it up was 6.20 minutes.

Community News

Dates to Remember…

Term Dates 2025

Student Free Days 2025

Year 7-10
Friday 6^th June
Friday 31^st October

Years 11/12

Office Hours

8.30am – 3.30pm daily
School Starts: 8.50am
School Finishes: 3.00pm

School Office Ph: 6452 9222
Trade Training Centre Ph: 6452 9288

SMS: 0418 220 201
Email: smithton.high@decyp.tas.gov.au
Web: http://education.tas.edu.au/smithtonhigh/Pages/Home.aspx
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smithton-High-School/219062138251149