Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been exciting to witness the innovative learning opportunities that students are engaged in each and every day at our school.  Teaching and non- teaching staff willingly go above and beyond to ensure our young people are given the best possible opportunities.  I have enjoyed attending exhibitions and getting to know students and also the many parents, grandparents and community members who have been part of recent panels. I am sure that you will agree with me, the level of learning being shared at exhibition has been most impressive.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind members of our school community of the importance of signing in and out of our school when visiting. We are working hard as part of a system to maintain covid safe practices and it is critical that we have an accurate list of those people who have visited our school.

It is also important that where possible, families wishing to meet with individual staff, pre-arrange meetings by either phoning our reception or emailing advisory teachers directly and establishing a mutually convenient time. We are very keen to establish and maintain an open communication channel with families and thank you for your support with this.

Attendance at School

I would like to take this opportunity to remind families about the importance of regular attendance at school. I have mentioned previously many times that it is imperative for good learning outcomes to be achieved that students attend school every day. A goal for students to aim for is an attendance rate at or above 90% and that is what we aim for as a school. As a school, we aim to know where our students are and why they are not at school.  What may seem harmless can have a cumulative effect that significantly hampers learning. We acknowledge that students are not always well and able to attend school and thank families for communicating this to our administration team as soon as possible. This can be done via text message to 0427 016 460 or a phone call to 6335 1500. Attendance at school is a legal requirement and we must follow this up accordingly following process and protocols as outlined in the Education Act.

The Education Act limits the reasons for a child to be authorised to be absent from school.

Reasons your child can be authorised to be absent from school include:

• sickness/incapacity
• medical/legal or related appointments
• natural disaster or extreme weather preventing your child from safely attending school
• terminal illness of an immediate family member
• bereavement of a person that your child had a close, significant, or family relationship with
• having witnessed or been subjected to family violence
• participating in a recognised learning experience
• being participant or official at a recognised State, National or International event
• an application for home education being received by the Education Registrar and provisional registration being granted.

An absence from school that is not for a reason in the list will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. We thank families in advance for your polite co-operation.

We understand that adolescence is a challenging stage and that there are times when teenagers seek independence and push the boundaries. No matter how hard parents try, some students experience times when they can be reluctant or refuse to go to school. We know that attendance patterns are established very early in the year and that is why we have a strong emphasis on working with you to address any attendance concerns at the start of the year.    

What You Can Do:

• Talk about the importance of showing up to school every day, make that the expectation. Regular attendance sets up good behaviours for regular attendance at work.
• Help your teenager maintain daily routines such as finishing homework and getting a good night’s sleep. On average, teenagers need 8-9 hours’ sleep to be healthy and alert. You may also need to monitor their use of the Internet, mobile phone and TV at night to ensure they are not staying up too late or being disturbed while sleeping.
• Avoid making hair, dental or medical appointments during school hours.
• Schedule family trips for school holidays, rather than during term time.
• Don’t let your teenager stay home unless genuinely sick. Complaints of headaches or stomach aches may be signs of anxiety.
• Monitor your teenager’s attendance and school performance. A regular check in by phone or email is a good idea. If you have concerns about your child’s attendance, please contact your child’s advisory teacher
• Contact me or our social worker.

Learning Through Internship (LTI’s)

Many of our young people have commenced or are busy putting the final organisational touches to their Internships. It is wonderful to chat with students upon their return from their Internships and see the real sense of purpose and authenticity in the work they not only completed off site but are participating in at school. Thank you also to those family members who recently responded to our survey with regard to assisting with student placements. We are aiming to have every young person involved in an Internship in early term 2 and to do this, require support from our community.

Some examples of current internships include:

• Harry @ IdeasBanq
• Kate @ Youngtown Primary School
• Claye @ Jessups IT
• Brayden @ Launceston Tram Museum

Exhibitions

It is great to see the school a hive of activity as students are busy organising and completing their first exhibitions for 2021- certainly different to our Covid impacted online exhibitions from this time last year! I have had the opportunity to sit in on many amazing exhibitions.  It was quite simply outstanding and demonstrated to me all the benefits of the Big Picture Learning design. From engaging and interesting icebreakers, to the sharing of new learning from personalised interest areas, student exhibitions have been super impressive.  Congratulations one and all and I am already looking forward to term 2 exhibitions.

Grade 11/12 Progress Reports

Progress reports for grade 11 and 12 students have been completed and families should of recently received them. This report is the first formal report home for senior students and is an indication of how your child has settled into the new school year. It provides an insight into their work habits. As always, if you would like to discuss anything regarding your child’s progress report please make an appointment with reception to see your child’s advisory teacher.   A more comprehensive report is provided mid-year for all students.

School Association

Last week we held our School Association AGM and first General Meeting for 2021. It was great to re-establish relationships with existing families and to also meet and welcome new family members to our Association. Parents and community members are always welcome to attend any of our meetings. A highlight of our first meeting for me was listening to year 12 student, Harry Radbone, detail and describe his learning journey at LBPS and also his future ambitions. Harry spoke for 7-8 minutes and was amazingly confident and articulate. Thank you Harry!

It was also fantastic to have lots of parent and community interest in joining our 2021 School Association. Congratulations to the following elected members for 2021:

• Chairperson - Dana Chick
• Deputy Chairperson - Nicole Crook
• Community Representative - David Meech
• Staff Representative - Tanya Ringuet
• Secretary/Treasurer - Jennifer Kendall
• Parent Representatives - Ben Cunningham, Kath Hawkins, Marcus Santamaria, Belinda Howorka, Sarah Westwood, Elena Rodriguez

Please remember that School Association meetings are open to all members of our school community. Our next meeting is on Wednesday 9^th June at 5:00 pm in our grade 11/12 classroom. Please feel free to come along!

Moderation Day and Assessment

Thursday 1^st of April is Moderation Day for all teaching staff. Our staff will be working with colleagues from Sothern Big Picture schools (Ogilvie, Kingston, Sorell). We will be working from Oatlands District High School and our focus will be establishing shared understandings of where student work sits but more importantly, we will be discussing strategies with regard to what we can do to assist our young people with extending their learning.

Please note that as a consequence of this, Thursday 1^st of April is a student free day for all students.

Please can I take this opportunity to wish all families a safe and happy term break and I look forward to seeing everyone in term 2.

Adrian Dean
Principal

LTI Family Network Database

Last week families received an email about building our LTI Family Network database, thank you to those families who have already responded. If you have not yet received completed the survey please use the link below.

We know that who you know can be as important as what you know when finding employment. Over 80% of job seekers say that their network has helped them find work. Our experience tells us that networks are valuable to support students in finding Learning through Internship (LTI) opportunities.

Using networking to get informational interviews means our students enter the LTI process with a relationship and level of trust with the employer, thanks to their network.

We are also looking for volunteers who are interested in working with students at school supporting them with project work (editing, organisation) or working with small groups if you have skills, you are willing to share.

Please help us out by completing the short survey (4 min) so we can build our LTI Family Network Database.

Career Workshop 

Many of our young people had the opportunity to participate in a career worshop at the Country Club Casino. The emergency services were popular as were the various hospitality options. The career event offered five students the opportunity to experience a taste of working in the hospitality sector by participating in a two-day course at TasTAFE Drysdale.  Working with head chef Kate from THA, students participated in skills relating to knife techniques, cooking and kitchen hygiene and food preparation.  Day one involved cooking a chocolate cake, making an Asian sauce nam jim dressing and splitting milk for curds and whey to marinate chicken thighs.  On day two students enhanced their cooking to make salmon fish cakes, chilli fried chicken and cake decorating.  At lunchtime on Friday students were able to enjoy all their hard work and new skills by having lunch together.  Thankyou to AMWU who provided a great opportunity for students to explore a range of careers and network with a number of organisations. 

Speed Careering Event

Recently we were fortunate to have the following guest speakers visit our school as part of our first speed careering event for 2021

• Ian Norton & Griffen from Reptile Rescues
• Sarah Wells from the Van Diemen Project
• Aurore McLeod, Illustrator & mixed media artist
• Rod Patterson from Energy Street

It was very inspiring for our young people to be able listen to such amazing people!

Drysdale Restaurant

Sam not only has a passion for cooking, but has an amazing talent! Recently our staff enjoyed dinner at Drysdale restaurant. Sam was on duty in the kitchen and involved in the cooking and preparation of our meals. The meals were very tasty and the presentation of all courses was first class! Check out some of the photos of Sam’s work!

We want your help for our Learning Through Internship Program!

If you are a local business and have opportunities for students to engage in your industry during this uncertain time please contact Mel at melanie.van.asperen@education.tas.gov.au.

Mel Van Asperen
LTI Co-ordinator 

End of Term Narratives 

I have been at Launceston Big Picture School for 1 term and it has been the best term I have spent at school for a long time. My learning focus, this term has been equine diseases. My highlight of this term was going to a hospitality workshop with Kate at Drysdale. It went for two days and I got to work in the kitchen at TAFE, work with a professional chef, cook a cake, and learn how to ice it properly.

As for LTIs, I haven’t done a shadow day or an informational interview, but I have done a two-day hospitality workshop with a professional chef who worked on Master Chef for a season. We got to cook salmon fish cakes with a dressing, chicken burgers, and make chocolate cakes. We were taught how to write with white chocolate. I hope to get an informational interview at a vet before the end of term. 

Bridie Dwyer
Grade 9B Advisory 

It’s term 1 of 2021, and my first ever term here at LBPS.  I’ve been here for about 5 and a half weeks and I’m loving it so far.  My project for this year centres around my writing, my art and human psychology.  Most people, when they hear about video game creation, think about coding and level design, but they never think of writing, so I’ve decided to go and write a video game.  I’m then going to write up a document on the psychology of immersion, seeing I want to make a story that fully immerses the player and makes them feel like the protagonist, instead of the third person.  So far, the term has been fantastic.  It has been a huge change from my normal, though, seeing I was home schooled for 7 years before this, I’ve adjusted very quickly.  I’m really proud of myself for making the step towards a more engaging and physical education, and I feel that it will greatly benefit me in the future.

Brayden Cunningham
Grade10B Advisory 

I chose Art as the subject for my individual project. For this term, I didn’t get to work on it as much as I wanted to. Having constant new work given to me and having to focus on exhibitions and the Who Am I? project; I didn’t get any time for the individual project. I hope to be able to continue and maybe even finish it next term. When filling out my learning plan, I gave myself too many things to complete for my individual project. I tend to be too ambitious and stress myself out with a whole lot of work that I can’t finish. I did cut most of it down but I’m still not sure what I will be doing. I was planning to do some research on artists (mainly ones circa 1500-1800) who struggled with mental illness. What mental illnesses did they have, what caused it, was there a cause and how their lives affected their paintings? I wrote a lot of questions that I need to answer, but I don’t know if I can. I chose around seven artists that I would like to research. They are quite diverse with different lives, situations, and relationships, but all of them have some type of illness which has deeply affected them and their artworks.

Naomi Barry
Grade 9B Advisory

My personal project this year is split into two different interests, soft toys/plushes and sculpting, I’m also trying to mix these together. I think my coverage of the goals and 5As could be better but I’m happy with it. My empirical reasoning is to do with experimenting with different materials (in both sections of my project) and trying to figure out what works best. Quantitative reasoning is easy to cover because sewing in itself contains a lot of maths.  I’m also including research about what things sell best and material costs. My communication is mostly covered by what I’m communicating in the art and how I’m trying to get people to feel about it.  It is also about viewing other people’s art and figuring out how I feel about it and what I like. My social reasoning is about what demographics I’m aiming my products at and about how I can make them ethically. My personal qualities is a lot about taking inspiration from other designers but also about what I can manage making with my current skill set.

Grace Fyfe
Grade 10B Advisory 

The most important highlight of my first term at Launceston Big Picture School has been meeting so many wonderful people, including, friends, advisories, peers, and many other amazing people in the community. I have bonded with many of my peers over LTI and the many excursions that we have attended, where we would share, experiences and interests. My favourite excursion was the excursion planned by Rob’s Advisory, the beach day, as it was a day filled with many different activities, such as swimming, games, and a scavenger hunt. It will always be a fond memory of mine as it was a time where I felt that things were getting better.

Amber Hartland
Grade 9B Advisory 

Its 2021 and my first year and term at LBPS. This term my learning focus is based around the history of skateboarding. I chose this subject because skateboarding is a hobby that I enjoy doing and I would really like to learn more about its history and where it comes from. I feel quite good about this term and what I have chosen as my learning focus and I’m excited to learn more about its history. I’m also quite interested in writing and from that I have got in contact with some journalists and writers this term. I had an informational interview with a journalist that went quite well, and he was able to give me a contact to follow up with as he was not capable of doing much more than an interview. I’m not quite sure what my plan is yet regarding following up for an LTI, but I have some good contacts in mind. This being my first year a LBPS I feel I have settled in quite well and am finding it not too hard to do everything I’ve been asked to do, I feel I’ve done quite a bit this term, more than I would’ve expected but that’s ok because it's not bothering me, it's not overwhelming me. I’m happy with where I am with all my projects and am excited to see what they will look like once finished and presented.

Justin Street
Grade 10B Advisory

My learning focus is on a subject that I’ve been interested in for a long time, whether the reason for that is because of vague mentions through books I’ve read, or the fact that it isn’t as big of a researched subject as others, but it is the idea of childhood in Ancient Athens, and how parental figures thought of and treated kids. I think that perhaps the subject was too big for me to cover in just a semi- short piece of writing (or in one term), and that if I wanted to include all of my research or attention, I could have made a much more interesting and well-structured piece of work that others would want to read. The product of my work isn’t all of the things I originally wanted to achieve (or had set out in my Learning plan), for example, I had wanted to make an acrylic painting that reflected daily life for a child, which I didn’t end up doing. The finished product, as you may have gathered, is a small watercolour depiction of my own designed “horse on wheels” (which is a Greek toy that children liked to play with), and a piece of informational writing. The way I’ve included the Big Picture learning goals/the five A’s in my independent project may not have been the most efficient way, but I believe that I did try my hardest to include/use them to the best of my ability and to improve my work. Goals like empirical reasoning and resources, as I like to reference or use books and websites to gather more on topic information, and I think it’s more efficient to have questions you can answer at hand, so you are less likely to get off topic in your writing. As of right now, there is more information that interests me on the subject, such as researching further into only mentioned topics and the development of childbirth, education, dietary habits, the inclusion of rituals and much more. Though there is much more to know and research, I believe it will be more helpful for me (in the long run and just for variety in my knowledge) to investigate on other subjects in the terms to come.

Jessie Edrich
Grade 9B Advisory

Student Beach Excursion Report 

Our school went to Bridport for an excursion beach day. The Mob Bum advisory organised the special day for us. We were situated at the surf life saving club. It was really fun, it was very well organised and there was lots of activities to partake in.

Each student helped organise different parts of the day. I helped with the water wrist band risk assessment with Rhian and the scavenger hunt. We got some rocks and painted them bright colours and had a Sponge Bob theme with it. The smaller rocks got a small reward and the rocks with a character on it got a bigger reward.

Games consisted of capture the flag, as well as team building exercises that helped build culture within our school. After lunch we had a swim and we had the privilege of being able to use the paddle boards from the life saving club which was so much fun. Nick brought some of his stand up paddle boards and we had a great time in the water.  

We had red flags and cones and everything out for a safety precaution. Lots of people attended the beach day and there was lots of awesome feedback from the students about the day. I had fun hanging out with my friends the whole day.

Annabelle Aitken 
Grade 11/12 Advisory 

Food & Cooking

We are fortunate to have Robin Ellenberger and Shirley Blackman mentor students in our commercial kitchen. Robin is an experienced former baker and Shirley has had many years working in cafes. Our students with a passion and interest in baking enjoy spending time and learning with and from Robin and Shirley.

Visual Art

This year as part of active learning in art class we got to visit the Glover Prize 2021 exhibition. There were some fantastic and really amazing pieces there and I really enjoyed myself. There was a broad range of art pieces some big and some small. Some realistic and some abstract. There really was a broad range of pieces to look at and enjoy.

There were 42 finalists and 640 who entered. I like the winning painting number 10 Sebastian Galloway because it reflects the mining that happened in Queenstown. It  shows the red rich landscape in that area of Tasmania. I spent quite a bit of my childhood in Queenstown and had the privilege to see the muddy brown river and the clear river meet but not mix. The river got damaged due to the minerals that mixed with the water from the mines. Sadly, the river cannot be saved.

As I said earlier there truly was a broad range of artworks in the exhibition. Some were done with oil paint acrylic paint and many other materials. Each artwork has a different story and background and therefore there were many different and amazing pieces. One of the artworks titled the Sea Monkey number 28. was done in mixed media. He created lots of different patterns and textures using a broad range of materials such as paint paper and many other things.

There were lots of different artworks that had very different framing techniques. Some had paper surrounding the artwork some people had a simple clear black frame and some didn’t even have a frame at all. Framing and how you want your artwork viewed is almost as important as the artwork itself. There is a broad range of framing and many different styles of presenting artwork.

I have selected an artwork and did a light quick sketch of it. I really liked the painting done by number 21 titled Poatina by Robert O’Conner. It’s very interesting seeing a painting of a place you’ve been to. While I was sitting on one of the benches I was able to analyse and recreate a quick sketch of the painting in my sketchbook using a pen.

There were many different sized paintings. Some were big some were small, some were extremely large. Sizing is a really important aspect of your artwork and can help tell the story of the piece. For example, a large artwork can give you a sense of space. You can feel as if you are in the painting itself.

I feel like the way the exhibition was presented was done quite well. The paintings weren’t spaced out evenly and you could navigate yourself around the exhibition quite easily.

I have lots of favourite paintings this year and there some really good artists out there. I am interested in doing oil paintings I would ask a lot of questions about what techniques were used and what inspired them to create that piece.

One of the pieces I didn’t really like was number 29 V.I.D Singh.  It was too messy and a bit drab for the eyes. You can tell the artist tried to capture the galaxy using acrylic paint. I just don’t think that through all the 640 artworks that entered it should have counted as a finalist. It looked a bit out of place, and you sort of wondered why it’s there.

There are so many paintings that I loved it would be hard to choose a favourite. I really liked number 14 the mist Leanne halls. I love the purple and the feeling the painting gives you. Overall, the exhibition was amazing and I really enjoyed visiting

Annabelle Aitken 
Grade 11/12 Advisory 

Sport & Recreation

Students recently experienced Footy Golf for the first time. It was fantastic to visit the Riverside Golf Club and experience a new activity. Keeping the soccer ball on the fairway and away from the water obstacles was a challenge for many.

Design & Construction

Many of our students have a passion for design and creating projects from wood, metal and plastic. Supported by John Crick, students have been busy completing their term 1 projects. There has been a lot of new skills developed with students learning to weld and use various equipment for the first time.

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths)

On Monday 22nd March Launceston Big Picture School competed in the Science & Engineering Challenge at Albert Hall. A team of 17 Grade 9 & 10 students competed in various challenges throughout the day, using teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills, all while having a heap of fun. On a tough and close day of competition we ended up in seventh with 1101 points, only 163 points off Scotch Oakburn in second, showing just how close the competition was throughout the day.

A few highlights on the day were Will Hamill and Brayden Cunningham finishing second in the hovercraft building challenge, while both teams doing the Future Power challenge finished in the top 3. Jade Sturzacker, Jasper Hillman and Bailey Hinds-Peschar performed strongly in the highly prized bridge building challenge, with their bridge carrying the 3rd highest weight for the day, and surviving the challenge in one piece (although I don’t believe it survived the walk back to school). Overall, it was a fantastic day with students showcasing their excellent collaboration and teamwork skills, while learning in a fun, challenging and interesting way. I would like to thank all student that participated in the event for their support throughout the lead-up, and the day itself, you should all be proud of your efforts. 

Aspiration, Courage, Respect, Growth

We are always looking for ways of rewarding positive behaviour at our school.

Students and staff are encouraged to nominate those people who have shown Aspiration, Courage, Respect or Growth. Winners receive a voucher from Bizy Bee  Café, Invermay Road and our winners this month so far are:

• JESSIE EDRICH: ASPIRATION, COURAGE, GROWTH for working hard on finding a LTI.
• KRISTIN VAN WYK: GROWTH for making an awesome Brain Model and sharing with the school.
• NOAH O'CONNELL: RESPECT for going out of his way to assist with his peers.
• HOSANA LUCAS: RESPECT for checking in on a class mate when they were away sick.

Easter Break Dates:

• Friday 2nd April - Tuesday, 20th April 

Term 2: Start and End Dates

• Wednesday, 21st April - Friday, 2nd July 

Term 2: Public Holdays

• Monday, 14th June - Queens Birthday 

Volunteers

Launceston Big Picture School has a proud history of volunteer involvement. I would like to invite any family or community members who hold a “Working with Vulnerable People” authorisation to contact the school if you have any interest in assisting in a volunteer capacity.

The school welcomes the contributions of our volunteers. Should you have a special area of expertise to offer, or simply wish to support our students in their daily programs, please feel free to approach a member of our team with your ideas and interests.

Bob's Bikes

We are very proud of our bike repair program- Bob’s Bikes!

It started at Launceston Big Picture School in 2011. For the first five years all our restored bikes were sent directly to Africa through the Care for Africa Foundation. From 2016 onwards we have been selling the bikes we restore on GumTree or from outside the front of the school. Over the past four years we have raised over $10,000.00.

If you have an old unwanted bike we would gladly take them off your hands. We can even arrange to come and collect them.

If you can help, please contact our school office on 6335 1500.  

COVID Quick Check-In TAS

To comply with Public Health Directions, our school is now set up with the COVID Check In TAS App. This app enables visitors to our school to register their visit using the self-check-in QR code and have their information directly stored with the Tasmanian Department of Health for contact tracing (if required).

Use of the app will help the Tasmanian contact tracing team quickly identify and assist anyone who may have been exposed to COVID-19.  

Click on the link below for instructions on how to Download the COVID Check-In TAS App.

Big Picture Education has 12 distinguishers.  In our newsletter we will share them.  Our second is...

2. Leaving to Learn: Learning through Internships

Students work two days a week in an interest-based internship with a mentor from the community on an intellectually rigorous real-world project that is connected to their learning goals.

Informing School of Student Absences

Your child’s Advisory Teacher records attendance daily using the DoE EduPoint system. Attendance is taken between 8:55am – 9:30am. 

If your child is going to be absent, you will need to inform the school ASAP - otherwise the EduPoint system automatically marks the absence as ‘Unauthorised-Unexplained’ and this is not altered until communication is received from parents.

The preferred method of communication is to send the school an SMS 0427 016 460 (this is a short message service only, so you will not be able to ring the school on this number).

LBPS admin check the SMS service throughout the day and update any changes to student attendance.

You can of course ring the school direct on 6335 1500 and leave a voice message on the answerphone.

School Uniform

It is compulsory for students to wear their school uniform when attending school excursions, interviews, LTIs or if they are representing the school at events. 

Uniforms can be purchased from the school office and are sold at cost price:

• Polo Shirts with school logo = $30 (sizes 6 up to 5XL)
• School Hoody with school logo = $65 (sizes XS up to 2XL)

Any pre-worn uniform donations would be very much appreciated and are used in our emergency uniform/clothing pool.

Parking Inveresk Precinct 

It is highly recommended that parents and visitors to the school DO NOT PARK along the nature strip in front of the school, slong the footpath or on the grass area beside Aurora Stadium.

The City Council have recently approached the school and have advised these areas are being patrolled and infringements are being issued.

Parents and visitors are advised to use the paid parking facilities at the Inveresk Car Park (next to Blue Cafe).

Communication & Useful Links

I would like to remind families of some useful links and apps that you may use to assist with receiving communication from our school.

• SMS Only - 0427 016 460 to report student absences, please send a text to our short message service
• Schoolzine App & Newsletter - Our newsletter is published at the end of every month through Schoolzine. Schoolzine is an app that allows you to communicate with the school, receive notices and newsletters

• School Website - Our website allows you to access lots of useful information about our school

• School Facebook - please 'like' our facebook page as we often post communication to parents on there

Local Transport Services

Foster Care program at Baptcare

Foster care is about providing a safe, secure and stable environment for a child or young person when they are unsafe or unable to remain at home.

Baptcare operates a foster care program in Tasmania and we are in need of new foster carers to provide support to children and young people across the state.

Support Staff 2021

Just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all the LBPS students who have contributed to this months newsletter, we really do enjoy reading your articles and stories of your personal progress.

If students have stories they would like to share, then please email your news items to me jennifer.kendall@education.tas.gov.au

Jennifer Kendall
School Business Manager