For all upcoming events please see:

Ulverstone Secondary School Calendar

On 7 September, the Year 7 LEGGacy cup was battled out. The LEGGacy cup is our annual theatre sports competition. We had a team from each Year 7 Class who came together and represented their class.

We had three rounds of theatre sports games, two prepared in class time and one with a minutes planning time. The audience was entertained as the groups presented with great characters, funny story lines and great energy.

Some highlights were:

The slow motions of a pancake flipping competition

How committed the teams were

Cale’s moon walk in the space jump

7E's Quick thinking in the Death in a minute, especially with their large group.

Levi spilling his deepest darkest secrets in the space jump.

How great the audience was. All classes were very supportive and really helped to energise the teams.

7A's space jump was a great second act to help open the show.

The scores were close between the top three teams, with just 200 points separating them.

Congratulations to 7E – the 7 Big Dwarves, who have won the competition this year.

7E and 7D teams headed to the community concert last week, to show off their skits.

Thank you to Miss Coffey and Jayden for judging, Josh for hosting, Dylan for scoring and Seth for timing. Thanks to all the teams for giving it a red hot go!

Keep an eye out on the senior LEGGacy cup, we are taking teams for the Cup now. We will host it in the MPA on the 26October.

The Drama team

Ms Bromfield, Mrs Bayles and Ms Henderson

Term 3 has flown! It’s been very busy over the last month with lots happening for Year 8s. We have had some guest speakers talk to the students about following their dreams and finding their purpose, as well as putting an end to bullying. During Health and Wellbeing Week, students participated in an early walk during homeroom time and some students challenged Year 8 staff to a lunch time volleyball match, which the teachers won…just!

Congratulations to the following Year 8 girls who finished fifth in the Year 7/8 High School Netball championships held on Tuesday 19 September:

• Rubi C
• Tannah D
• Charlotte K
• Paige L

Congratulations also goes out to all Year 8 students who were involved in the Rock Challenge and the Community Concert. It’s great to see students take on every opportunity that comes their way.

On October 24, USC will be having our annual ‘Electives Information Evening’. We encourage parents and students to come along to hear about the many different options available to students as they head into Year 9; there are many different options to choose from compared to Year 8.

Also, we would like to send out a reminder to students to bring a change of clothes for PE subjects. Hygiene is important and we need to be even more vigilant now that the weather is getting warmer.

We would like to wish all students a wonderful term break. Take the time to rest, rejuvenate, but also stay active, healthy, and safe.

Wendy Leonard and Shaun Conkie

Assistant Principal and Year Coordinator

This term, the focus of learning for the Year 9/10 Plants and Animals class was on cows and the dairy industry. The students learnt about the dairy industry, a calf’s digestive system, and how to care for calves including how to identify signs and causes of ill-health. Students also participated in the Cows Create Careers program run by Dairy Australia which allows students to experience calf rearing at school. Over a three-week period (including weekends) the class cared for three calves which they named Apple, Buffy, and Brisket. Daily care included bottle-feeding, providing fresh water and pellets, mucking out the pen and providing fresh bedding, as well as measuring and recording the calves weight gain. The students did a fantastic job, and the calves will be sorely missed.

Term 3 has been a very busy term for Year 11 and 12 students. With only about four weeks left of learning to go, it is vital that students are actively checking in with their teachers to ensure that they are meeting all the work requirements for their courses before the end of the year.

Please find below some key dates related to Year 11 and 12

Please find below the written examination schedule for Year 11 and 12 students.

In Term 3, two teams of our most creative minds participated in the state competition for Tournament of Minds. Tournament of Minds or ToM, is a creative thinking competition in which teams from across Tasmania meet in Hobart to compete in long term and spontaneous challenges.  Both teams chose different long-term challenges, with one team choosing STEM and the other choosing Social Sciences. We had six weeks to prepare for our long-term challenges which needed to be performed in a 3 x 3m square to judges.

The STEM teams’ challenge was titled ‘Birds of TOMadise’. For this challenge, we had to create a fake bird that would replace an extinct species on TOMadise. We built a bird and launching mechanism, and the bird was able to do two different manoeuvres by adjusting the flaps on its wings. Our team members played scientists, bird handlers, tourists, and veterinarians when explaining how it worked. Our performance had to hypothesise why the original birds became extinct and how the replacement birds would benefit the island’s economy.

The Social Sciences teams’ challenge was called ‘Clash of the Ages’ involving time convergence where past and 20th-century events merged, reshaping our world. Our task was to identify two connected artifacts, explain the historical significance of the events, and delve into the cause and impact of this extraordinary convergence on the 21st century. Some of our obstacles included making our props and utilising our time under pressure. On the day we presented well and received good marks, but unfortunately didn’t come away with the win.

The second part of the day involved our spontaneous challenges. Each team was given a question centred around the Latin phrase “Omne trium perfectum”, that meant things are better in threes. For example, a knife, fork and spoon or Harry, Ron, and Hermione. We each had four minutes to choose a well-known pair and add a third item that could help to solve real life issues and one minute to share, the aim being to answer the question as creatively as possible. All in all, we had a great time and enjoyed the overnight trip with some of the highlights being the party bus, Nandos, Cold Rock Ice-cream, Taylor Swift and colourful popcorn. Just a reminder, you are KENough ?

Thank you to Ms. Coffey, Ms. Ghea and Mr. Mattarocchia who made the weekend possible.

You can’t be what you can’t see. In Australia, only 37% of women enrol in STEM degrees and only 15% hold STEM-qualified jobs. We are missing out on diverse talents and women are missing out on high-paying STEM careers. At pitt&sherry we decided to do something about it.

Earlier this month, pitt&sherry hosted our IGNITE School Program for Young Women in STEM. Abbey, one of our participants reflected “It was lovely seeing so many successful women who work in STEM careers… I could not recommend this program more if you asked me to. I am so very grateful that I was able to be a part of it.”

Our IGNITE program brought together almost fifty year 9 and 10 students in Hobart and Devonport. Led by exceptional women at pitt&sherry together with our industry partners, the students engaged with our engineers, scientists, and leaders in STEM. They visited industrial sites, engaged in technical talks and experienced firsthand what it means to have a career in STEM.

Experiencing STEM in action

Students donned high-vis and put boots on the ground across Tasmanian workplaces to witness STEM in action.

In Hobart, IGNITE students visited MONA to examine the tunnel construction inside the gallery and heard from leading geotechnical engineer Delia Sidea (pitt&sherry) about the project. At Nyrstar they learnt about mineral processing and environmental rehabilitation. Finally, they heard from legendary Dr Barbara Frankel about the latest exploration and monitoring technology at Mineral Resources Tasmania.

In Devonport, students visited Elphinstone (who doesn’t love big trucks!), TasNetworks’ Burnie substation to highlight the critical role of power distribution and the Hive Planetarium in Ulverstone, where they heard Dr Martin George of ABC radio fame explain the wonders of space!

Alongside STEM professional women working on some of Australia’s biggest technical projects, students applied creative thinking and problem-solving in hands-on engineering challenges.

In Hobart, together with senior engineers Leenah Ali-Lavroff and Sandra Diaz (pitt&sherry), students examined the impact of reaction times on road design and discussed the impact of engineering designs on public safety, the variables to consider, and the pitfalls of relying on numbers alone.

Hydro Tasmania’s Gina Loewen and Sue Street joined us in Devonport, bringing along a testing tank for designing water wheels, which they used to explain the importance of recycled materials. Students then constructed a water wheel of their design and tested it to see who could generate efficient power and get the highest RPM.

Increasing the visibility of women in STEM

Students engaged with some amazing women in STEM fields through formal presentations and informal networking. Women at all career levels spoke about their unique fields, the challenges they’ve faced, and the steps they’ve taken to shape their careers.

We thank our industry partners MONA, Nyrstar, Hive, Elphinstone, Tas Networks, and Hydro Tasmania, and the Department for Education, Children and Young People for supporting the IGNITE School Program for Young Women in STEM.

“It was awesome to see so many bright young women in the room, so engaged in the activities and asking deeply thoughtful questions. We hope we’ve broken down thought barriers to STEM careers for girls and look forward to meeting the students as future colleagues one day!”  

- Megan Abbott, Geologist and Program Coordinator.

The IGNITE Program forms part of our ongoing support for gender equality in engineering under our Making the Difference the pitt&sherry way framework.

pitt&sherry received a grant from the Department of Communities (now Department for Education, Children and Young People), Tasmania towards this program.

Our Year 6 students from our primary feeder schools have been participating in transition. This has involved visiting USC and participating in Art, Woodwork and Digital Technology classes.

For enquires about transition or enrolments for 2024, please contact Ms Paterson or Mr Deegan through the school office 6425 1433.

Ryan, Mason, Archer, Jaxson, Frances, Isabel and Julie participated in football, softball, paraquad, Little Athletics, and netball at the Ulverstone Sports and Leisure Centre. There were 6 or 7 other schools joining in with the activities on the day.  They all had a great time and had a lot of laughs.

Looking for something to take the family to on the weekend?

The annual Hi Vis exhibition is on display at the Hive gallery from the 23  September to the 26 November. A number of 9-10 students from USC have had their work selected for this year's show. The gallery is open 10am-4pm 7 days a week.