Dear Burnie High School Community,

As a school we are at the conclusion of Term 3 where students are starting to shift their mindset and have conversations about ‘what 2025 might look like me?’ which is really exciting in terms of their development and growth as individuals.

Staffing News

Recently there was a process conducted to determine who the substantive principal of Burnie High School would be from the start of 2025 onwards. It gives me great pleasure to formally announce that I was the successful candidate for this position, and I look forward to continuing to work with students, staff, parents and the wider community as the principal of BHS. There was also a process conducted to fill a substantive Advanced Skills Teacher position which was vacated by Ms Anne McCulloch who retired earlier in the year. The successful candidate was Mr James Sayers. James has a range of leadership experiences through his time in Tasmania, and more recently in Queensland schools. He will certainly value add to the fantastic staff we have at BHS and will assume this position at the start of 2025. At the beginning of Term 4 we’ll be advertising to fill roles which include an Assistant Principal, Instructional Specialist and MDT teacher. I’ll endeavour to inform the school community as to who will fill these positions once the recruitment processes have concluded.

Ski Trip

I am sure that a lot of the BHS community have heard or lived the adventures of the 2024 ski trip to Mt Hotham. It was interesting talking to staff during and at the conclusion of the trip that if you had a crystal ball and could foresee the boat being delayed 12 hours to sail due to weather, the ski season closing early the same week our students were on the mountain, SES having to be called to cut a tree off on the road to Mt Hotham at 2am in the morning and strong winds taking another day of access to the slopes away that the students wouldn’t have coped. In contrast, the resilience that the BHS students showed for the duration of the trip was amazing and even though there was a significant amount of adversity they had to overcome, it was still a really enjoyable trip and the students actually got some time to ski/snowboard in the snow! Thanks to the BHS staff and parent helpers that made the trip possible, especially to Mr Pursell for the amount of organisation that went into making the trip possible.

Kinmen Outbound

Good luck to Shukuya, CJ, Anina, Ava, Connor and Mr Douglas for their international trip to Kinmen. The travelling party will not be at BHS during Weeks 2 and 3 of Term 4, instead participating in a range of cultural experiences and gaining an understanding of the school structures that are used in Kinmen. I look forward to catching up with all of students and Mr Douglas upon their return to gain an understanding of what their learnings and takeaways were from the trip. Hopefully they don’t encounter as many hurdles as the ski trip students did!

Transition

At the end of Term 3 Grade 10 students participated in triad meetings where they enrolled in subjects for Grade 11. It’s been a pleasing experience to talk to so many students about what the future might hold for them and what pathways will lead them to be successful in achieving this. At the start of December Grade 10 students will attend an Orientation Day where they will participate in lessons for the subjects they have selected for 2025.

Grade 6 students from various primary schools will be joining us throughout Term 4 to experience what BHS has to offer and will have their own orientation day in December.

Mini Production

I was in attendance of the mini production during Week 1 of the night shows. It was fantastic that so many BHS students have a platform to perform in front of family and friends and they did a fantastic job. Well done to Mr Lohrey, Miss Welsh and Miss Darvell for all of the work that’s gone into this. The amount of time that this group of staff put into making this ‘mini’ production is extraordinary and they do it so that students have an opportunity to showcase their talents and abilities. It’s an honour to work at a school where so many staff go above and beyond their roles for the benefit of students.

I’m looking forward to all of the opportunities that Term 4 brings.

James Thompson

Principal James Thompson james.thompson@decyp.tas.gov.au  

Assistant Principal Sheree Hodgetts sheree.hodgetts@decyp.tas.gov.au

Acting Assistant Principal Joshua Salter joshua.salter@decyp.tas.gov.au

School Business Manager Lois Cameron lois.cameron@decyp.tas.gov.au

School Office (03) 6431 2744 burnie.high@decyp.tas.gov.au

STEAM

It has been with great pleasure that I have been privileged to meet some grade 7's during Term 3!! I have been charged with teaching STEAM. Hopefully the students have enjoyed their time exploring all that is STEAM through one of my favourite parts of the year, yes, Term 3 is synonymous with all things Dairy!! We borrow, follow and raise between 4 and 6 dairy calves (4 days old) for 8 weeks, learning about the Dairy Industry. This year we have had 4 calves to raise – Myfanwy (Friesian heifer), Merrilyn (Friesian x Illawarra heifer), Maurice (Jersey bull) and Michael (Illawarra x Aussie Red bull) on loan from Liam, Sue and Michael Chamley.

STEAM students have looked at a range of Scientific and Mathematical applications using computer Technology such as excel spreadsheets to record the weights of the calves using calibrated measuring tapes. These tapes convert girth (cm) to weight (kg) and we also use imperial measurements just for the fun of it!! Students used formulae and created graphs and charts. We also looked at technology and engineering around robotic, rotary and herringbone dairy sheds as well as biological health, breeds of cattle, nutritional values of milk and the applications of this knowledge in the real world. Finally, we ended the term designing and artistally creating a marketing tool in the form of a milk carton selling the students’ ideas. We discussed the science of advertising and how products get sold based on solid scientific research.

Next term we will be designing and creating electric cars using cereal boxes and creating a battery driven motor by creating electrical circuits. Finishing up with racing our cars and recording our results and speeds using spreadsheets.

Senior Animal and Agriculture Studies

Senior Agriculture students have continued with winter maintenance activities and animal husbandry during Term 3. Most students are familiar with our Dairy term and senior students enter a range of assignment works for judging by Dairy Australia in the hope of winning some prizes and kudos. Students have created a range of 3-D models and creative photos for advertising purposes of the various cattle care products which are provided.

The farm and Agricultural Studies continue to engage our senior students as many of them are familiar with the operations and activities that need to be completed daily. Animal welfare is on the top of our list and students know what to look for if things “don’t look right” in an animal. As we discovered with Bertha, who had developed an abscess – we got her to the vet, had the various antibiotics administered and she was as good as gold. Thank you, Bevan Eastley, Ben Freshney and Nathan Wells, for your assistance in this funny, but not funny afternoon!!

Senior students are now completely aware of where many of our animals go and we have a range of pork and turkey sausages, small goods, roasts processed through Sharman's Butchery. Our ECLEP students have been using some of these products to create meals to sell to staff and hone their cookery and costing skills for future use!! Again – I thank Bryan Cunningham our forever volunteer farm “operator” for everything he does and says, without Bryan the farm could not do what it does!! This includes the kilos of veggies we donate to Vinnies Soup Kitchen!!

Grade 8 Introduction to Agriculture

Term 3 has seen many students return to the Introduction to Agriculture option – this is great to see!! It must be a combination of being outdoors and learning all the interesting things that go into growing food and fibre – in Tasmania and Australia.

Students have enjoyed their daily routines such as egg collecting, weeding, animal feeding and watering as well as the “yucky” task of dishing out food scraps from the school kitchen to the chickens and warding off the seagulls!! It has been very wet and excess energies have been used soaking up the water by spreading wheelbarrow loads of woodchips in pens and on pathways. As well as digging drainage trenches!! We have had a few hatches, matches and dispatches – saying goodbye to Burt, Ernie and Louis some of our pure-bred roosters (natural causes) and saying hello to some very interesting looking cross-bred silkie/bantams!! Our Australorp chicken breeding program is on track!! And, we currently have Predna (Princess Edna as Edna the turkey Queen got lost in the last mix and is now part of the sausages) and Muriel sitting on the next season of sausages/Christmas turkeys (in the form of eggs).

Grade 8's have being completing the “Light Curriculum” theory component of the Cows Create Careers (Dairy Australia) Program. The students have assisted with feeding and measuring the calves as well as completing specific research and in-class activities – Life on a Dairy Farm, Environmental Management, Marketing, Nutrition, Dairy Technology and the great “milk” comparison – nut and bean juices versus milk!! Several grade 8's have entered their work for judging and will be part of the Presentation Day on 28 October.

A very special thank you to Kitty and all the TA’s that assist at the school farm during teaching time!

ECLEP (Enterprise and Community Learning Engagement Program)

Due to my expanded role as a STEAM teacher ECLEP has Farm Cookery each Monday week 1 and Outdoor Leadership/Team Building Tuesday week 2.

Students have enjoyed both program days and have made a great effort to fine tune their skills in catering activities using as much of the school farm produce as possible. Some recipes turned out to be real winners!! Particularly the gluten free and lactose free cheesecakes using farm lemons and duck eggs. Bangers and mash using farm grown sausages (wrong time of the year for farm spuds) as well as Pumpkin soup using farm grown pumpkin, chilli, chicken stock and herbs!! As spring welcomes more produce to the farm we will experiment further with our fare.

The learnings from these days are discreet – students learn about deadlines, details and finishing the job, problem shooting, working as a team, and most of all, remaining cool, calm and collected in a stressful situation. They do not always realise they are learning because we do not use a pen and paper (other than to check lists).

A special mention to Harlie Rooks and Rhonan Washbourne for their cheesecake expertise and Clayton Riley-Garnham and Kayne Hart for their leadership on the “best” mashed potatoes!

Tuesdays’ boys have had a range of activities to keep them busy in a different way to their Monday cooking!! We have helped at some properties using our skills learned at the Rhododendron Garden and School Farm. We have explored tides, weather and zones suitable for fishing and bush walking as well as the virtues of planning and problem solving (“Which bait, what knot, which lure, what rod do I use Ms P??”). It is really rewarding to witness students actively engage in helping each other as well as enjoying the peace and quiet of being outside and away from technology. Which of course means, we have no pictures of all the massive fish they caught!!

Thank you so much Mary for your patience, time and tolerance supporting our students to get the job done!