Growing Careers Project

Queechy HS have partnered with The Smith Family to deliver The Growing Careers Project. The project aims to provide students multiple exposures to the world of work across their education journey with us here at Queechy High School. This project will follow our 2021 year 7 and 8 student’s right through to 2024.  

We have launched into the Growing Careers Project this week with all Grade 7 students participating in the Prepare Program, facilitated by Beacon. Prepare introduces students concepts of themselves, their interests, values, strengths how these relate to their future career journey, followed by chatting with mentors from Local business and industry. 

Growing Careers is a federally funded program, Queechy are one of only 5 schools in Tasmania lucky enough to partner with The Smith Family.

If you have any questions about the program we encourage you to get in contact with Shannon from The Smith Family  Shannon.Anis@thesmithfamily.com.au or 0418 402 302.

Althletics Carnival

We will be holding our annual athletics carnival on the 27^th and 28^th of October, weather permitting. Parents are welcome to attend the event this year however we ask that you use the Check in Tas App upon your arrival. These QR codes will be placed around the school for your convenience. As always, if you or your child are unwell on the day then please don’t attend.

Girls Hawks Cup

Our senior girls football team travelled to Burnie on Wednesday to represent northern schools in the annual Hawks Cup. Our team played exceptionally well against Marist Regional College and went down by only 2 points, 31 to 29. The game was hard fought with our team representing Queechy to the highest standard. Well done to all the team and Mr Davey and Mrs Otley for their coaching and support.

Grade 7s have begun an introductory unit into Algebra. Throughout the unit, students have been identifying patterns within number and using algebraic expressions to explain these. Students have also been exploring Cartesian Planes, and are pictured plotting coordinates to draw geometric 3 dimensional shapes.

On Wednesday 20^th October, 7G and 7H participated in a 45 minute live online lesson presented by the House of Assembly Education Office.

The interactive lesson made important links to the Australian Curriculum and to the current unit Grade 7 are studying in HaSS - Civics and Citizenship.

Students learnt about the main functions of the Parliament of Tasmania and participated in a scenario outlining the process of passing legislation. Sophie, Zoron and Miranda took on the character of a candidate and put forward their opinion as to whether food trucks should operate in Tasmania.

Other Grade 7 classes will participate in this tour over the coming weeks.

Welcome to Term 4 of Grade 7 English! After a long and pretty awesome year we are approaching the final part of our course. This term students are expanding their literary horizons trying their hand at a variety of different roles in our literature circle program and dabbling with rhyming couplets with poetry.

Literature Circles involve students working as part of a team each with a different role unpacking and investigating a series of books. Literature circles allow students to develop a series of skills in different fields ranging from directing discussion to analysing images and summarising content. Literature circles are a great way to build up our skills working in groups and taking on new roles!

For the poetry unit students are exploring various forms of poetry through reading, analysing and writing. As a class group we will be learning how figurative language is used to enhance poems and reflect on key messages.

Grade 7 students should be really proud of all their English work so far this year! We are looking forward to seeing all they achieve in the final 8 weeks!

The grade 9/10 Outdoor Education class undertook their third camp of the year this week. This camp was centred around developing Mountain Biking skills which they took to the Blue Derby MTB trails. Students were able to experience the trail network which included the historic Derby Tunnel and trails varying from beginner to advanced. Mr Innes and Mrs Pooley are exceptionally proud of these students with how far they have come with their individual camps skills and knowledge. The students approach to this camp resulted in positive feedback from locals which enhanced the reputation of Queechy High School in the wider community.

“This was actually supposed to be off the record, and it was going quite well until you decided to throw me a party might I add.”
“Hey, in my defence, I was only trying to be a good friend and celebrate your first ever case…I didn’t know you were working off the books. Besides, I hate to burst your little bubble but I think you’re a bit too eager to finally see some action. I went to those fires, there was no sign of any foul play. Each fire was caused by a terrible accident and nothing more. I think it might be time to drop it before your boss finds out and drops you from the force,” her best friend coaxed. Maggie sighed and agreed, thinking it might be best to take his advice, before downing her drink for liquid courage and marching back out into the lion’s den that Adam called ‘a party’. Just before she reached the door, the pair of eyes that had been watching the interaction furtively darted away, unseen by the friends and safe for now.

Thursday 11:37 am, December 15, 1997

Several days had passed since that night and what had started out as a warm, sunny week had abruptly turned into a craze of wind and rain. Maggie had been rushing ever since that Monday night and her mind like the wind had been a whirlwind of thoughts, as she desperately tried to make sense of it all. How was it possible that three fatal house fires had all been an accident? She knew only a few things, but they all added up to much more than a ‘terrible accident’. These facts kept running through her brain and they didn’t seem to be slowing, much like the wind outside.

‘Three house fires within the last two weeks. Each fire left a fatality in its wake. All the victims were known to each other. The time between house fires had been exactly the same each time; 4 days.’ Over and over she repeated the evidences in her mind, thoughts running amuck as she walked back and forth in her office.

Outside, the leaves were ripped from the trees. Umbrellas were upturned in the roaring wind. The rain pelted down upon those unlucky enough to still be outside, feeling like knives against their delicate skin. Dark clouds blocked out the little sunlight that had been left, plunging the world below into darkness.

As Maggie paced, she felt the sickening feeling of somebody watching her. Slowly, she turned towards her door and caught a shadow receding from behind it. She quickly ran and threw open the door, whipping her head left and right to try and catch the elusive figure. She swore as her eyes landed on the empty hallway, disappointment washing over her. As she trudged back into her office, the shadow slunk away yet again. Something wasn’t right.

Friday 8:43 am, December 16, 1997

The weather had not let up, and neither had her hectic schedule. Maggie had decided against the advice of Adam and was once again searching for the cause of the fires. Friday was supposed to be her day off, right now she could be relaxing in a warm bath, watching her favourite sitcom as the patter of rain outside accompanied the soft laughs that were drawn out from her as the plot in the show seemed particularly funny. Yes, a Friday off did sound lovely. Alas, here she was, rain bucketing down upon her as she made her way to the location of the first house fire.

Arriving at her destination, Maggie’s mood could not have been more grim. The rain pouring down, the now watery ash of the charred house, the wet clothes that clung to her figure as she walked through the remains – they all seemed to point to something very grim indeed. As her eyes scanned the rubble of what once was, Maggie saw nothing that she hadn’t already witnessed. It felt wrong to be carding through the remains of what had been a private family home. After an hour of relentless searching, she began to trudge back to her car, walking through what she’d already searched one hundred times over. But sometimes, possibly the one hundred and first time, you might just get lucky.

Year 9 have begun their chemistry unit. Here they are conducting a flame test. A flame test is a procedure used in chemistry to detect the presence of certain elements, primarily metal ions, based on each element's characteristic emission spectrum. The colour of flames in general also depends on temperature.

https://queechyhs.schoolzineplus.com/chemistry

https://queechyhs.schoolzineplus.com/chemistry1

At the end of Term 3, the Grade 8 SRC organised a Grade 7 and 8 Crazy Sock Day to raise money for the Smith Family. Many staff and students wore a great variety of crazy socks on the day, and we raised $77.35 for the Smith Family.

On Thursday the 23^rd of September 2021 Queechy High School Taekwondo students presented for their end of term test. Students that were successful in passing to their next grade were: Nicholas, Aarden, Will and Nick.

Nick can be commended for his persistence, loyalty and courage. He has not missed a lesson all year and is showing a great deal of improvement.

Will needs to be commended for overcoming adversity through his personal life. He has managed to keep up and presented strength, courage and tenacity, a real warrior.

Nicholas also has developed his strength and speed. He maintained his focus when his friends have fallen by the wayside. He has shown commitment and courage to succeed on his own.

Aarden has completed his first term with us and has graded from white belt to yellow with a stripe. He demonstrates a natural ability and technique beyond beginner level.

Well done to all students and new students are always welcome. Be prepared to be challenged, put out of your comfort zone and commit to learning in the long term.

Allan Warren

Sensei.

The Tasmanian Government is working hard to provide the COVID-19 vaccination to all Tasmanian’s aged 12 and above.

As you may be aware there have been a number of clinics run in colleges to vaccinate students in years 11 and 12. There will also be a small number of regional high schools that will host a vaccine clinic but this is not something that will be occurring at high schools in larger population centres at this point in time.

However, there are a number of different options available for parents to arrange for students aged 12 and above to be vaccinated, these include:

1. At one of the community clinics across the state. Appointments can be made by visiting coronavirus.tas.gov.au/booking or calling the Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738.
2. At participating GPs - contact your local GP directly to make a booking.
3. At selected pharmacies  - find one near you at com.au

Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself, your family and the wider community from COVID-19. Don’t wait. Vaccinate.

Young people under the age of 16 are encouraged to attend their vaccination appointment with a parent or guardian.

There are a number of places where you are able to find more information in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine. You may like to look at this information with your child to support them in understanding more about the vaccination:

• Information from the Australian Government about COVID-19 vaccines
• Information from the Tasmanian Government about COVID-19 vaccines
• Information from the Western Australia Government through a video presented by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki which answers common questions and dispel myths about COVID-19 vaccines.

Dear local,

If you are receiving this, please note: you are an invaluable member of the Tasmanian community.

Allow us to introduce ourselves - we are a passionate group of Social Work students from the University of Tasmania, currently working on a project with the prestigious headspace Launceston for our first placement experience.

We recognise that friends and family of young people are instrumental in the shaping of their well-being. Our project aims to create innovative suggestions to optimise engagement with family and friends in a way that supports relationships between all interested parties and headspace.

 Who better to start asking for these answers than our local community?

This is where you come in - we humbly ask that you take five minutes (or even less!) out of your busy day to help us with your indispensable input on the topic.

The link to complete our easy survey is:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MNVPV5T

We have also attached a ready-to-print poster containing a convenient QR code that links to our survey, which can be displayed at your local organisation to help us even further.

A big thank-you in advance,

Bridie, Katelyn, Laura, Lynelle, Nina & Varun

University of Tasmania, Headspace Launceston