Cosgrove High - Newsletter 4
Pricipal's Report
Principal’s Report
Welcome to our second newsletter for Term 2. As we head well and truly into the cold Winter months it is important to ensure our young people are safe and cared for and we encourage students to make the most of our morning free breakfast club in the café and our free morning tea and lunches from Monday to Wednesday also served from the café. We understand and appreciate the need for our students to be warm and encourage families to purchase the appropriate school uniform for students and for students to consider wearing layers underneath school uniform to ensure they are warm and comfortable.
On the 22nd and 23rd May we held our first camp in more than three years since Covid impacted our community. Our Grade 10 students attended Blue Lagoon in Dodges Ferry and had a terrific time participating in a wide range of activities. It was fantastic that we could offer this opportunity to students and look forward to more camps in the future.
Our Grade 10 students have also been participating in the LoveBites program with our school Nurse Jesse. The program lasts for a whole day and students explore what makes healthy relationships along with lots of discussion about key themes, including recognising types of abuse, consent and how to access supports if needed. It is a national program aligned to the Year 10 curriculum and one of great value to our students.
For students in Grade 10 the important step of moving into Grade 11 for their Senior Secondary education has started with students starting to develop their Grade 10 Transition plans. Claremont college Taster Day will be held on the 28th June. Our staff will continue to work with students to support them during the remainder of the year as they prepare for college life.
Our Cross Country and Colour Run on the 19th May was a great day for our students with a fantastic team going on to represent our school at the Inter-high Cross Country at Rosny Park. We experienced great success with Noah in Grade 8 and Faysal in Grade 9 who have been invited to attend the All-Schools Inter-high Cross Country Carnival at Symmons Plains 20 June. Our students are also enjoying success and participating very well in the regular Friday afternoon badminton competition as well as the after-school Netball competition which started recently.
Learning Conversations will be held in the last week of Term 2 on Tuesday 4th July and Wednesday 5th July. This will be a great opportunity to meet teachers and receive feedback on your young person’s academic progress so far this year. Reports will be available for collection on those evenings. We will also be holding a forum for parents/carers to hear about the Cosgrove High School Redevelopment and plans for the construction and early works that will be starting in Term 3. There will be communication going home to families about this in the coming weeks.
A group of Grade 7 students recently attended the Climate Leaders Conference where they gained valuable information about sustainable practices that will benefit the community, school and the planet. They are hard at work preparing a submission to the school and I look forward to hearing what their proposal is. Our chess coaching continues to be a great success with the number of students participating in our chess club based in our Grade 7 area growing by the week. Recently a group of Grade 7 students visited local primary schools in a partnership with the Smith Family to talk about Cosgrove and what transition from Grade 6 to 7 into high school is like.
In Grade 8 we have been excited by the wide range of support and intervention strategies that have been put in place to support our students. These range from self-defence classes, cooking sessions, strength and conditioning programs, painting of a school mural, art therapy and a newly established Café at the school. These programs are proving to be highly valued by the students and are having a positive impact on student engagement across Grade 8. Due to a staffing change we farewell Ms Amanda Hughes from the Grade 8 teaching team who is taking up a position at New Norfolk High School for the remainder of the year, we would like to wish her all the best. As a result of this we are consolidating our Grade 8 classes from 4 classes to 3 classes from now on. Students have been trialling different classes and are now fixed and re-established in Grade 8.
On the 13th of June we are hosting The Story Island Project book launch. The Story Island Project is a Hobart-based not-for-profit organisation that nurtures the creativity and writing skills of young Tasmanians and celebrates their diverse voices. With the support of enthusiastic volunteer mentors, Story Island runs dynamic storytelling workshops where young people are empowered to create their own stories. Last year students in Grade 8, 9 and 10 participated in the little Mysteries of Me workshops at Cosgrove in Term 4. The students have contributed to the writing of books and we are now proud to hold a book launch to present the students with their printed books and celebrate them as published authors.
I would like to thank those families who have had discussions with their young person about the appropriate use of bathroom facilities. As communicated recently, we have experienced ongoing deliberate damage and vandalism to our facilities which is unacceptable. Measures have been put in place to mitigate the damage and mounting costs to the school to fix the damage. Pleasingly we have seen improvements in the way students are using bathrooms since our communication.
I would also like to take this opportunity to communicate to parents and carers the dangers of Vaping.
The rising number of children and young people vaping is a growing issue of concern in our community. Electronic cigarettes (vapes) can be appealing to young people due to bright colours and flavours. But no vapes are safe as they are often full of harmful chemicals and nicotine. For this reason, vapes can be addictive and harmful for lungs, brain development and general health.
It is important to talk to your children about vaping. Try to be understanding, compassionate and non-judgemental as you support them to learn more about the dangers of vaping or in seeking support to quit. Information on what vaping is, the impacts and how to support your child is available on the new Department for Education, Children and Young People webpage on vaping, which can be accessed here: https://www.decyp.tas.gov.au/about-us/projects/child-student-wellbeing/vaping/
Anthony Coe
Principal
Winter Wellbeing
The cooler months bring colds, the flu, COVID-19 and other illnesses.
Being prepared is the best way to protect yourself and your family.
Prepare
Children are most likely to catch and spread the flu. Make sure your child has received their annual flu vaccine. This will boost their immunity against most likely circulating flu strains. It will also help stop them getting very sick.
Plan
If your child is at higher risk of becoming very sick from the flu, COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses, make a plan with your healthcare provider for when your child becomes sick.
Protect
Protect others by keeping your child home if they’re unwell, encouraging regular hand washing, and covering coughs and sneezes.
For more information, read the [enclosed/attached] parent and carer factsheet or visit the Department of Health website.
Thanks for doing your part to keep our school community safe, healthy and learning.
Winter Wellbing
LoveBite Program (Photos)
The afternoon session is an artistic activity to consolidate the key messages where students can demonstrate their views and understandings.
We can’t wait to see the final artwork piece which will be displayed in the Year Ten area!
LoveBites Program
Year 10 CAMP
On Monday 22 May, 25 Year 10 students went to Blue Lagoon camp in Dodges Ferry. We arrived that morning and met in the café for attendance and a bag check before departing on the bus. It took us 45 minutes to get there and when we arrived we had a check in and a tour.
After putting our bags in our cabins, we were eager to complete our first activity: rock climbing! There was a huge wall with different levels of climbing available, depending on what your experience was. We were given a safety talk because as well as climbing, we had to belay for each other. This is the job of holding the ropes and ensuring your teammate is safe whilst they are climbing. It was pretty scary at first but once you got the hang of it, it was really easy. At first, everyone who was most confident had a go, but then soon enough, even the less experienced had a go!
After this activity, we got time to set up our rooms, had lunch and some free time. The camp had an obstacle course, trampolines and two huge slides outside, there was a games room inside also, so we had lots to do in our free time.
In the afternoon, we played archery tag – arguably the most preferred activity! We got to shoot arrows at each other in a game of dodge ball. There were some really accurate aims and was a good opportunity for the most competitive of us to show their skills! The very brave Archie, Tyson and Mr Henderson had a go at running the gauntlet with the aim of dodging the arrows!
After a little rest break, Paul ran a team building activity where we had to work as a team, use our communication skills and problem solve. The aim of the activity was to construct a radio tower and place it in the middle of a circle – but we couldn’t step into the circle as the inside ground was toxic. Holly had some great ideas and got her team working well with a successful strategy, but it was Team 1 who built the most successful structure and obeyed all the rules. Well done guys!
At sunset we headed down to the beach. Some of us wanted to have a go at fishing and had brought along our own rods. It was fairly windy and the tide was in. We managed to catch some seaweed before the sun disappeared. We headed back to camp for a delicious dinner of curried sausages, rice, veggies and naan bread followed by chocolate cake and custard.
To finish off the first day, we had a campfire to toast marshmallows, then settled down for a movie or have free time in the games room. It was then bedtime, and some of us were more settled and ready to sleep than others… the teachers finally made it to their beds just after midnight!
Breakfast was scheduled at 7.30 the next morning, however, there was only Archie and the teachers awake! So we pushed the schedule back whilst everyone was having a late snooze – some didn’t even make it to breakfast! Our final activity was abseiling. It was a slow start to this, given that the towers seemed so high. But once everyone was fully awake, almost everyone…including the staff had a go and conquered their fears. Well done to those who braved the highest tower first!
Our final meal at camp was burgers and sweet potato fries. We then got tidied up and were ready for a very quiet bus ride back to school!
It was a great two days – everyone had a really positive experience, reconnecting with friends, socialising and also doing new things. We worked well together, we enjoyed each other’s company and despite being so tired on the Tuesday, we would have loved to stay another night!
By Grace and Rihanna.
Camp Year 10
COSGROVE HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY 2023
What a great day we had on Friday the 19 May with our Cross Country and our Colour Run afternoon!
Was great to see so many students (and staff!) participating and having fun.
My NeX Country/ Colour run
INTERHIGH CROSS COUNTRY
A team of 35 students had a wonderful day at the Interhigh Cross Country today.
The new venue at the old Rosny Golf Course proved challenging, and all students are to be congratulated on their efforts.
Well done to Faysal, Noah and Jamal who all finished with the top 10 finishers, with Noah and Faysal both receiving invites to the All-Schools carnival at Symmons Plains!
A successful day for all involved and thanks to the HPE staff for their time and support.
Inter-high Cross Country
THE YOUTH CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE!
On the 5th of June a group of Grade 7 students went to the Sandy-Bay University to discuss Climate Change. When we got off the bus, we meet a lady named Nel. Nel had written our names on a gum tree leaf and Mrs Williams registered us and we took our seat. A lady named Heather spoke to us about Climate Change and inspiring Climate change stories.
Mrs Williams brought us hot chips from the café for recess. We then went back to the Stanley Burbury Theatre and met Toby Thorpe the deputy mayor of Huonville. He spoke to us about how he visited many countries and talked to people about how we can change our world. We then got split into groups to learn about recycling, worm farms, transportation and slow fashion. This helped us to know the effects these have on Climate Change.
After lunch in school groups, we had to come up with a 4-month project about how we can help and change the school in regards to Climate Change. We came up with designing a Worm house that will stop food waste and make a better environment at Cosgrove High School. Montanna and Matthew had to go up on stage and present our Worm House idea to all the other schools.
We look forward to making the Worm Farm and seeing and reporting the results in September.
Krystal, Matthew, Montanna and Amelia.
Climate Change
Term Dates 2023
Term 1 | 8 February 2022 | 05 April 2023 |
Term 2 | 26 April 2023 | 7 July 2023 |
Term 3 | 25 July 2023 | 29 September 2023 |
Term 4 | 16 October 2023 | 21 December 2023 |