Dear Huonville High School Community

As we approach the end of Term 1, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what’s been a vibrant and busy few weeks at our school. With only one week to go, it's been a term full of achievements, community spirit, and growth.

Firstly, a reminder that our school uniform prices will increase slightly at the beginning of Term 2. Secondly, our uniform policy remains clear — no jeans are permitted as part of the school uniform. We thank you for your ongoing support in ensuring our students look smart and represent Huonville High School with pride.

In other exciting news, our talented Textiles students have been hard at work creating banners for ANZAC Day. These banners will not only be used for the Huonville ANZAC parade but also contribute to the spirit of remembrance in our wider community. We’re incredibly proud of their efforts and the sense of pride they’ve shown in their work.

Our Kitchen Garden Program is flourishing as well, with students enjoying the hands-on experience of growing and caring for plants and using the produce to cook delicious food. This initiative continues to be a wonderful way to teach sustainability and healthy living, and it’s fantastic to see our students taking an active role in our local environment.

We've launched MacqLit for 2025, a powerful reading-based program that’s been running at Huonville High School for many years now. This program is designed to support students in building essential reading skills, and we’re excited to see the impact it will have in the weeks and months ahead.

As for our student leadership team, we’ve recently selected our House Captains, just in time for the upcoming Cross Country and Colour Run Day on Friday, 4 April. It’s always a highlight and we look forward to seeing our students demonstrate their leadership, enthusiasm and school spirit during these exciting events.

Additionally, we’ve got lots of great photos in the newsletter to share with you from the Senior Dinner held recently, Dunk A Teacher Fun, as well as some highlights from our Coasteering excursion. These events are wonderful reminders of the wonderful opportunities Huonville High offers our students — both in and out of the classroom.

As is often the case we have some staff to farewell at the end of the term. Freyja Hansch has been with us for a little over a year and has made a real impact in the Flex and MacqLit spaces. Freyja is moving on to new adventures outside the teaching world and we wish her all the very best. In addition to this Heather Southwell is retiring after 21 years. Heather has made a significant impact on the education system and on Huonville High School. We wish Heather a wonderful retirement filled with lots of wonderful experiences.

As we near the end of Week 9 and approach the school holidays, I encourage all staff and students to finish the term strong. It’s been a fantastic start to the year, and I know we’ll keep up the momentum in Term 2. Please take the time to rest and recharge over the break, but don’t forget to pace yourself — we all know the temptation to eat one too many Easter eggs!

Thank you for your ongoing support of our school. Let’s finish this term on a high note!

Kindly

Janelle Reeves | Principal

SCHOOL OFFICE HOURS DURING BREAK - The school office will be open to the public Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week of the holidays  9am - 3pm. The office will be closed for the remainder of the break.

VALIDATION FORMS - Thank you to all those that have returned their validation form. For those that have not yet return the form, even if no information has changed, complete the permissions page and please return to the school office as soon as possible.

IMMUNISATION - will be on 29 April 2025 for Yr 7 and Yr 10 students. Please see the  following link to complete form on line, or collect from the School Office.

Year 7 - Immunisation - 29 April 2025           Year 10 Immunisation - 29 April 2025

TERM BREAK DATES - 14 - 27 April 2025

EASTER - Easter Friday 18 April, Easter Monday 21 April and Easter Tuesday 22 April 2025.

ANZAC DAY HOLIDAY - Friday 25 April

We’re always looking for ways to support our students’ learning, and this term, we’re thrilled to roll out our second year of MacqLit intervention groups. If you haven’t heard of MacqLit before, think of it as a powerful literacy superhero—a structured, evidence-based program designed to help students strengthen their reading and comprehension skills.

So, how does it work? MacqLit focuses on small-group instruction, giving students the targeted support they need to decode words, improve fluency, and build confidence in reading. Led by trained educators, these sessions break reading into manageable steps, making literacy more accessible and engaging.

Why MacqLit?

Studies show that strong literacy skills lead to better academic performance in all subjects. MacqLit helps students who need a little extra support by:
Reinforcing phonics and word recognition
Building fluency for smoother reading
Boosting comprehension for deeper understanding
Increasing reading confidence and enjoyment

How Will It Work?

Students selected for the program will participate in regular small-group sessions throughout the week. These sessions are interactive, structured, and—most importantly—designed to make learning to read fun and engaging!

What Can Families Do?

Learning doesn’t stop at school! You can support your child’s reading progress by:
Encouraging daily reading at home
Talking about books and asking questions to build comprehension
Celebrating small wins—every new word learned is a step forward!

We’re excited to see our students grow in confidence and skill through this initiative. If you have any questions about MacqLit or your child’s participation, feel free to reach out to Christie Gumley christie.gumley@decyp.tas.gov.au . 

Happy reading!

Students in Kitchen Garden have rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into the garden, ripping out fencing, pulling weeds and turning the soil over ready for planting. The herb patch has had oregano, sage, parsley, coriander, chives and some sweet violets added.

And whilst one garden bed has been topped with horse manure, cardboard and straw and left fallow so that students can learn about soil enrichment, the planted garden bed has been topped with compost and planted out with russian kale, pak choi and radish seeds. The radish seeds are part of the “Let it Grow” competition and were sewn along side a pair of pure cotton underpants for the “Soil your Undies” competition.

Students have also been able to have their first cooking session where herbs such as parsley and mint, as well as some silver beet, were harvested from the garden and combined with a few other ingredients to make a delicious Spanakopita (Greek spinach pie). Whilst the students were sceptical about something so healthy being yummy, it was tasty enough to be added to the catering of an important meeting the next day.

This year, our Textiles class is playing an important role in the ANZAC Day commemorations by helping make the banners being used at the Huonville parade. The students dedicated their newly gained skills to craft the banners, ensuring they were a fitting tribute to the occasion.

Once completed, the banners were presented to Louella Jury, Chair of the ANZAC Day Committee, as the end result of the students' hard work. This collaboration between the school and the committee will not only contribute to the success of the ANZAC Day march but also highlights the value of community involvement and the role of young people in preserving important traditions.

A heartfelt thank you to the students and staff for their dedication and contribution to this meaningful event!

Pictured are Archer Watson, Magnus De Selincourt, Logan Waters, Ruby Driver, Layla Wallace, Adrian Dorrington (Teacher) and Louella

Recently we held our first house assembly for 2025 which involved the new Year 7 students being exposed to our house culture here at HHS. The first assembly involved introductions, cross country information and voting for our 2025 house captains. There was a large group of students that braved the crowds from each house and put their hands up to be nominated for captain. We are very proud of all students displaying the courage to speak in front of their house and their leadership abilities.

The votes were counted, and our 2025 House Captains are:

Massive well done to the 6 students and we cannot wait to see you lead your houses with pride.

Over the last two weeks, Constables Rachel and Jess have visited Huonville High School sharing important information about being safe in a digital world with Years 7 to 10, and what you can do if things go wrong. The first steps:

• Tell a trusted adult, and/or
• Tell the Police

For more information go to https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/find-advice 
How to get help, although the page is headed What we don’t do, there are links to take you to where you can get help: go to https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/get-help/what-we-dont-do

And why wouldn't you want to do Outdoor Education!

Earlier this term, our Year 10s, along with some Year 11 students, attended the Senior Dinner at Home Hill Winery. The evening was a standout, and I want to acknowledge the maturity, grace, and respect shown by our students. They looked amazing, and their behaviour was exemplary. It was a terrific way to kick off the year and build momentum for a focus on learning and success. 

Australian Government School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) over the NBN

The Australian Government has made a commitment to deliver access to free broadband for up to 30,000 families with school-aged children who are not connected at home currently via the NBN network. SSBI is a targeted affordability measure to help boost education opportunities.

To be eligible for the SSBI, families must have at least one child studying in a Tasmanian school in grades K-12 and live at a premises with no active broadband service over the NBN network.

The NBN will install connection equipment at the premises of the student. The internet connection will be a standard unfiltered NBN internet connection, which will need moderation of use by the student by their parent or carer.

The student will need access to a device for use on the NBN service. This may be a device 'loaned' to the student from their school where available.

Hooray!! Huonville High School has been awarded $5,600 from Variety Children’s Charity for our Breakfast Club program. This means we can continue to provide all the great options for breakfast for another 4 terms. Everyone is welcome to Breakfast Club – students, staff, parents and carers.  It runs Monday through to Friday 8:15 - 8:45 am. We hope to see you there.

First Lego League is a robot building and challenge solving competition for children aged 9-16 years of age. Meeting times will be Tuesdays from 3:15pm - 5:00pm and weekly commitment will be required until the competition in November. We can have a maximum number of 10 in the team, and are looking for no more than 7 extra young people who would like to join us.