This will be my last newsletter as Principal of Ulverstone Secondary College. I started here 16 years ago on the 19 June the start of Term 2, 2006. How time flies as this only seems like yesterday.

I am still appreciative of the opportunity I was given to lead this college back then and look at the amazing opportunities that students have had available to them. The staff here have been outstanding in what they do over and above their role. Whether students have played sport, been involved with Art, Speech and Drama, Dance, Music, and academic subjects, they have been given plenty of opportunities. The up coming production in Term 4 is on track and will once again give students a memorable opportunity to Shine. The addition of Year 11 and 12 to the college in 2017 has shown that we have teachers with the expertise to teach in this area and the success of the students who have continued their studies at U.S.C is testimony to our decision to work in this area for the benefits of students.

The change of our name in 2019 really reflects our change to a 7-12 College. Thank you to all parents and students who have supported and shown faith in our college, and this will continue to grow in the future as people realise that the grass is not always greener somewhere else.

Mr Dent is a former student, (I was his homegroup teacher back in 1988) and I leave knowing the College will be in good hands with someone who is passionate about out College and wider community. I look forward to having some involvement where appropriate with the College going forward.

Year 11-12 Redevelopment

I was advised that we will be having an upgrade in our Year 11-12 area during the second half of the year that will help cater for our increase in 11-12 numbers.

The concept from the architect has been accepted by the Department of Education and is included here.

Congratulations

Congratulations to former student Meghan Gaffney who was drafted to G.W.S this week as part of the AFL competition. Well done and we look forward to hearing of your success.

Congratulations to Alec Turale our College IT Trainee who has been nominated for this year’s School-based Apprentice/Trainee of the Year Award. Alec mixes his study in year 12 with working on our Media information and this is great recognition for his work. All the best Alec with the awards, you are a winner to us anyway!

Song and Dance

Song and Dance night was held last night at the Leven Theatre. It was great to see Parents and Carers enjoying the talent that is present in the school and seeing them strut their stuff in the Theatre. Well done and a big thank you to Miss Paterson, Miss Bromfield, Miss Speglic and Miss Harvey for their work in this area. We also had the Musical Theatre Production Total Eclipse of the Heart last week un the MPA.

Fight MND

Today was the wrap up of the Fight MND Fundraiser with Mr Deegan and myself getting into the ice bath after students raised $2000 towards this cause. Keep posted on our Facebook Page for a video! 

Parent Teacher

Parent Teacher involving 3-way conversations with staff, parents and students will be held next week. Please take this opportunity to come in to discuss your child’s progress as we move into a new Reporting Policy. Please contact Miss Paterson if you have questions about this change.

Mr Dent will notify of any staffing changes for Term 3 as we are still finalising some changes as the newsletter goes home.

Thank you to the community for their support of our college over the last 16 years.

Glen Lutwyche

This term has flown and it’s hard to believe we are almost halfway through the school year. We have seen a lot of sickness this term, which has proven at times to be a challenge as we play ‘catch up’ and follow up on assessments. A reminder that if your child is sick, please contact the office so we can adjust our attendance data. Also, medical certificates are required when students have a continuous absence of five days or more.

Now that reports have been sent home, we have our three-way conversations happening next week. We are looking forward to meeting parents and having a chat alongside your child, discussing their progress thus far and what they need to do to improve.

Congratulations to the following students who have received good notes:

7B: Joel, Jack and Kobi

7E: Abbey, Taylor, Charlotte, Breyana, Bradley, Lachie and Lincoln.

Also, well done to all the Grade 7s who have been involved in Term 2 sports. It’s great to see we have a wide range of talent in this year group.

We have an awesome week to look forward to next week as we have another sports challenge afternoon run by the Peer Leaders and the Leggacy Cup challenge where homegroup representatives will be putting their Drama skills on show.

Over the holidays ensure everyone gets a restful break, recharge, stay safe, and then get ready for a big Term 3!

Wendy Leonard and Shaun Conkie

Assistant Principal and Grade Coordinator

Here are some photos of Year 8 and what they have been up to this Term! 

Year 8 students have been focusing on how to use a busen burner in Science and working on chemistry.  

On Thursday 23 June we also had the oppurtinuty to join a great program called 'Make Bullying History Program'. 

We also have a 'Top Dog Competition' going in all home groups for Year 8 which has shown some friendly rivirally. We will be annoucing our winner next week so stay tuned!! 

Year 10 Mid-Year Report

Term Two has provided year 10 students with many learning opportunities and experiences.

All Year 10 English classes have been studying the novella Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck which is set during The Great Depression. Due to the text’s historical context, this has been an excellent opportunity for students to connect their learning with Term 1 HASS content. Students have explored textual themes associated with The American Dream and have engaged in moral discussions surrounding the plot. This term we have also had a focus on spelling and vocabulary skill development.

In science, students have been working on their open investigations. The topics were selected by students by considering problems or issues in the UNs Sustainable Development Goals. Students have worked well on devising their methods and conducting a wide variety of topics ranging from Ocean acidification, Water pollution, Nitrogen cycling in aquariums, Hydro power generation, Wind power generation, Bridge construction using laminar timber and DNA extraction from fruit for example. We look forward to students competing in the UTAS Science and Engineering Investigation awards and TSTS Research Investigation awards. Student are beginning to start looking at Chemistry and trends in the periodic table, chemical reactions and rates of reaction. It should be fun to start conducting some challenging experiments.

Once a week in Reboot, students have been working as a year level to build resilience and trust through team building activities. A highlight of this term was completing trust falls from a height in home room classes. Students have also begun discussing the transition process from year 10 to year 11, or from year 10 to employment. This has involved looking at career pathways, university requirements, college subjects and much more.

Earlier in the term, students attended the RYDA workshop which was designed to educate young road users. Students learnt about a variety of things including speeding, decision making and safe car design. Other events that year 10 students have enjoyed include cross country, ice bucket challenge, bodytalk, construction safe, big science competition and the dance workshop.

Term 3 will be an exciting term with many students looking forward to the formal and taster days for college.

Last week, students in 10 HASS were able to examine items from WW2, via a War Box loaned from the Australian War Memorial.  This was aligned with their Term 2 work on WW2.  Items included clothing, an Air Raid Evacuation Booklet, War Medals, an Escape Map, and an original Guinea Gold newspaper.  Below are some photos of students trying on the various military uniforms.

We would like to congratulate our Year 11 and 12 students on their efforts during assessment week which was held during Week 8 of this term. It was excellent to see students doing their best whether it was sitting formal examinations, practical assessment or performing on stage.

We recently had a Year 11 and 12 Grade Assembly where we gave ‘shout outs’ for the fantastic things that students are doing around the school. Shaun Conkie gave a shout out to Montanna’s Phys Rec class for being excellent role models to the Year 7s. Shaun also thanked Aran and Jarred for their help with football umpiring. Belinda Gillard gave a shout out to our fabulous Year 11 and 12 representatives on the Central Coast Youth Council. Well done Tara, Matthew and Bailey!

Congratulations to Rori who recently competed in the State Finals of the Rostrum Speaking Competition! After winning the competition at a regional level, Rori went on to compete in the Rostrum Voice of Youth State Final in Launceston on Saturday the 25th of June. A commendable effort, Rori. Thank you to Elise for supporting Rori and Bailey with this competition.

The VET Construction class has just finished building and installing four sets of outdoor tables and chairs for Ulverstone Primary School. This is a great opportunity for the students to be practicing their skills and creating something for our local community.

Our Musical Theatre class has been busily preparing for their performance of Total Eclipse of the Heart. It was fantastic to see a captivated audience engaged in this entertaining evening.

University Applications

Applications to the UTAS School Recommendation Program opened on the 30 of June. UTAS visited recently to support students with applications. We will also be working with our Year 12 students over the coming months to support them with writing scholarship applications. See the image below in relation to key dates for UTAS.

Key Dates during Term 3

• Monday 25 July: Day one of Term 3: this will be a normal day of school for Year 11 and 12 students; all students should be attending their normal classes.
• Friday 5 August: Year 10 Senior Secondary Taster Day: this will be a normal school day for Year 11 and 12 students. This will be an opportunity for our current USC Year 10s to try out courses they are interested in studying in 2023
• Thursday 18 August: Year 11 and 12 Information Evening (7pm in the MPA) – We encourage Year 10 and 11 students to come along to this night to find out more about courses on offer in 2023
• Friday 2 September: Year 11 and 12 Moderation Day – this is a student free day for Year 11 and 12 students only.

The Year 11 and 12 Community Services class have started running playgroup at Ulverstone Secondary College for children at the Ulverstone Childcare Centre.

On the 9 of June the Young Endeavor Room visited, with children attending aged 3 ½ - 5 years old. On the 28 of June, The Community Services class set up a number of activities suitable for the toddlers aged 1 ½ - 2 ½.  Some examples of the areas we set up were various colour matching games, a ball pit, and an area for sensory play. We plan to be able to continue these playgroups in Term 3 and 4 as a valuable learning tool and way of assessing our skills.

By Piper Hoey

 

DOWNER/VEC CIVIL ENGINEERING GROWTH INDUSTRY PREPARATION PROGRAM

On Thursday 23 June, 14 students from years 9 – 12 were lucky enough to attend the Downer/VEC Civil Engineering business in Ulverstone, as part of the Growth Industry Preparation Program organised by Beacon Foundation. In Tasmania and across Australia, Civil Construction is an industry which is undergoing growth and experiencing staff shortages.

During the morning students were introduced to all things Downer/VEC.  Downer delivers infrastructure and other projects across Australia and New Zealand. VEC Civil Engineering is a civil construction business owned by Downer and located in Ulverstone who design and build roads, railways, bridges and dams across Tasmania and Australia. There are many career opportunities within Downer from entry level trades positions through to engineering.

Students were given a tour of the site including the precast concrete manufacturing facility (where they construct components for bridges etc), the steel fabrication workshop and also the mechanical workshop.

After the tour, students were put into groups of two and participated in a speed-careering session.  During this session, employees from a variety of careers across the industry were able to share their journey with students. One of the VEC Civil Engineering employees summed the experience up best by saying, ‘It was a good opportunity for both the students and the business leaders to learn more about each other and to offer advice about the future of our industry’.  Feedback from students who attended said that they found the day was valuable because they got to learn about different job opportunities within civil construction.  They also said that they learned about jobs they didn’t previously know anything about.

To finish off the day, students were given some tips about what to look for in a position vacant advertisement, and some dos and don’ts when applying for jobs.

All in all, it was a very engaging morning, and I’d like to thank Beacon Foundation, Downer and VEC Civil Engineering for providing such a valuable experience to our students.

Belinda Gillard

Workplace Learning Coordinator

On Thursday 30 June some of our students across Year 8 to Year 10 performed in Song and Dance Night. The night was very succesful and all the students did a fantastic job. 

Ulverstone Secondary College had a fantastic day at the Inter High Cross Country on Wednesday 22 June in Penguin!

Congratulations to all students who participated and put in their best efforts to help us finish the day in 3^rd place overall in Division A.

Results from Wednesday can be viewed at the following link: https://my.raceresult.com/197777/results

Goodluck to our students that have now being invited to attend the All Schools Cross Country representing the NWHSSA.

On Friday the 19 of June, Drama students from year 7 to 12 participated in a comedy workshop with local comedian, Dylan Hesp. Dylan led the students through a series of activities to develop their skills for ‘being funny on purpose’. He told us that comedy is really about being human, because we all do funny things sometimes, right.

One of the activities Dylan ran was about a mechanic and his customer. The mechanic was ‘the problem’ (by being oblivious and telling customers they cannot fix their car) but couldn’t see what the customer wanted, which made the customer get angry or annoyed. Dylan gave the students instructions on what emotion to portray, and exaggerate, making it more entertaining and funny for an audience.

Another activity was focused on creating a funny character. The students walked around the room, and Dylan gave some inspiration for their character’s traits, such as the way they walk, facial expressions and emotions.

At the end of the workshop, the students created their own short skits in pairs, based on the mechanic and customer, but using different characters and scenarios. Two pairs performed their skits to the rest of the group to wrap up the session.

Big thanks to comedian Dylan Hesp for coming in and helping to prepare us for the upcoming LEGGacy Cup!

On Friday 20 May Miss Clark, Emily, and a group of 15 keen students headed to the 2022 Tasmanian All Schools Cross Country Mountain Bike Championships.

Our day begun with an early start meeting at USC for a 6:30am departure. Once we had all arrived and our bikes were packed into the trailer we set off. After a quick stop at Elizabeth Town Café energy levels began to rise and the excitement grew for the day ahead.

Race briefing began at 9:40am followed by the first U15 XCountry race starting a little bit later than expected by around 10:20am. After this the day flowed smoothly with all students participating in the Cross-Country course and a small handful completing the Sidewinder stage.

There was defiantly some tough competition from other schools at the event, however our Ulverstone students put in a fantastic effort to end up finishing 13th overall out of 27 schools in attendance. We congratulate all students that participated on the day.

A special congratulations goes to the below students on their individual success within their age groups:

Chloe Jordan               Under 17 Female                    8^th overall

Will van Rooyen          Under 19 Male                        6th overall

Well done to everybody for their individual efforts throughout the day. It was fantastic to see so much grit, determination, resilience and participation this year with hopes of our numbers growing even more in 2023 – In particular female students.

Emily Hardstaff

Sports Administration & HPE Support

Winter Roster School Netball

This year saw Ulverstone Secondary College enter four teams into the Passport Surf Secondary Netball Autumn roster. The girls played nine rounds of netball against various schools from the Northwest Coast, before entering the finals stage.

Although there were a few forfeits and cancellations due to poor weather and COVID, our teams remained positive and consistent throughout the season. It has been fantastic to watch players learn each week and develop new skills to put into play on the court.

We would like to thank players, parents and coaches for their continuous support in school netball. Rosters like this would not be possible without you all being so flexible with training and game times.

Our four teams have been making their way through finals, with a few successful games helping them move up on the ladder. The year 7 team (USC Blue) finished the season 3^rd on the ladder in division 4, and the year 8 team (USC Pink) finished the season 4^th on the ladder in division 1.

We wish our year 9/10 team (USC Purple) and our year 9 team (USC Yellow) the best of luck as they make their way into the grand final this weekend (Saturday 2 July).

A special thankyou to Mrs Claire Close, Mrs Sam Bromfield and Mrs Eryn Pears-Cavanagh for volunteering their time each week to not only coach, but help our players learn new skills and have a better understanding of the game of netball. Your assistance with trainings and games each week does not go unnoticed and is very appreciated.

Emily Hardstaff

Sports Administration & HPE Support

We have started working our way through learning the whole cast songs, note bashing is such a fun thing to do!!

The cast is also busy learning the choreography to go with the whole cast songs.

Production tops are now available to order. Forms and sample sizes are available from the office or at rehearsals.

A 4 week rehearsal schedule for the start of Term 3 will been posted in the fb page, and is up on the Jungle Fantasy noticeboard, outside Ms Paterson’s office.

How to keep up to date with the latest news:

Don’t forget to join the USC 2022 production Jungle Fantasy facebook page for cast, band, crew members and families to receive the latest information and rehearsal schedules. We will also post dances from rehearsals for you to go over.

Please feel free a request to join this closed group.

SPONSORSHIP: Sponsorship packages for Jungle Fantasy are available for individuals or businesses that can support us in this venture. Please contact Ms. Paterson via the school office or email fiona.paterson@education.tas.gov.au if you would like further information on how to become a sponsor.

A huge thank you to the following people or organisations who have become official sponsors of Jungle Fantasy. We greatly appreciate and value your support.

Show Systems Australia

Maveric Clothing

Priceline Pharmacy Ulverstone

School Purchasing Services

Taspak

Full Life Pharmacy

Senator Anne Urquhart

Mr Jeremy Rockliff MP

Mr Roger Jaensch MP

Ulverstone Repertory Theatre Society

Will the Jungle Queen’s secret remain a secret?

Will Catalina ever be able to play the sacred horn correctly?

Will Moonchie become a Movie Star?

All will be revealed in this fun, family friendly musical, that features a host of colourful characters, a large chorus of Jungle Cats, Bonglies and Monkeys and a rockin’ live band! This production is suitable for all ages.  We can’t wait to share it with you!

Fiona Paterson

Director/Producer