Dear Families, 

As we approach the end of the year and with our grade 11 and 12 program complete, it is time to reflect on the year that has been. Our school has an improvement agenda which explicitly details our priority areas and includes strategies that we aim to implement to achieve target goals. As a staff we are constantly reviewing and monitoring our work, celebrating our achievements, whilst continually looking for ways we can further improve. We aim to have measures in place to improve the learning outcomes of every student and ensure that successful outcomes are achieved for all. What success looks like is different. Some of our young people are on University pathways, some are seeking traineeships or apprenticeships, whilst others have ideas to pursue work or further training options. What is important to us, is that we have some clear goals established and a comprehensive plan in place to support all of our young people achieve their goals. We want all students to graduate from our school at the end of year 12 with a positive plan for life beyond our school.

Regarding our school improvement journey throughout 2023, improving the reading skills and the resilience and attendance of our young people have been priorities. We have regularly listened to the thoughts and ideas of our young people and unpacked research to implement strategies aimed at improving our data and reaching our nominated targets in these important areas.

 Some highlights include:

• Target: 75% (60) of Grade 9 and 10 students will make medium or high gain in Progressive Achievement Testing (PAT) Reading. Our recent results have indicated that 82% of our grade 9 and 10 students met this target.
• Target: 65% of LBPS students will have an EOY 2023 attendance at school %, greater than that of the previous year. We currently have 71% of students attending school more often in 2023 than they did in 2022.
• Target: 50% of Year 11 and 12 students will be in the high or medium range for resilience when surveyed in September 2023. We have 74% of year 11 students and 55% of year 12’s in this range.

School Wellbeing and Satisfaction Data

I am pleased to let our school community know that we have received our Student Survey results which give us a clear indication of how our student body are travelling in terms of their wellbeing. Some pleasing results indicate that the majority of our students feel that our school is a safe and inclusive space, free from various forms of bullying and harassment.  Areas of priority for us will continue to involve building the resilience and coping skills of our young people.

Some highlights in our data include:

• 96% of our students indicated that they felt connected to an adult at our school (the state average is 89%)
• 92% of our students indicated that they felt safe at school (the state average is 83%)
• 76% of students indicated that they feel that they belong at school. (the state average is 71%)

Our family and staff satisfaction data was also extremely positive, being above the state average in all categories- something that we are extremely proud of. We highly value and welcome the opinions and thoughts of our families. Some highlights in our data included:

Teachers at this school provide my child with useful feedback about his or her school work. Our rating 9.4, Tasmanian average 7.7

• Students feel safe at school
• Our rating 8.8, Tasmanian average 7.0
• Families have opportunities to participate in decisions about their child’s education.
• Our rating 9.5, Tasmanian average 7.2

New Enrolments 

Our last transition program for 2023 has recently completed. During the past week, it has been very pleasing to have 36 young people participate in our transition programs, all keen to hear about the great things that happen at our school and more specifically, the key aspects associated with Big Picture Education. We look forward to welcoming lots of new enrolments into our school community in 2024.

Grade 12 Graduates

I would like to acknowledge and congratulate our grade 12 students who graduate from our school this year. I have been continually impressed with the commitment to learning that has been displayed by our senior students throughout 2023. They have been fantastic role models for our younger students, working diligently and always being prepared to act on feedback from their advisory teachers.

We look forward to celebrating and recognising the achievements of our year 12 students at our upcoming awards evening and celebration dinner.

Key School Celebration Events

Our celebrations events have been finalised for this year and include the following key events:

Grade 9 and 10 Learning Expo: Friday 15^th December at School (1:00-2:30pm)

This term, our grade 9 and 10 students have been busy working on their projects and more specifically, planning how they will display and share their learning highlights from 2023 at our upcoming expo. We welcome and strongly ask that all families visit our school and see the amazing examples of learning that has occurred during the year.

Presentation Awards Evening:  Wednesday December 20^th, 5:30 - 6:30pm

This year our celebration event is being held at the Tramsheds Function Centre- right next door to our school! We are excited with this change and hope that all our school community are able to attend. Individual students will be recognised with special and prestigious awards, and we will also farewell and congratulate our year 12 graduates.

Celebration Dinner: Wednesday December 20^th, 6:30 - 8:30pm

Our Celebration dinner will commence at 6:30pm at the Tramsheds Function Centre.  Students will need to be collected from the front of the Tramsheds at 8:30pm. 

End of Year Picnic: Thursday 21^st  December

All of our Year 9 and 10 students will be going to Riverbend Park for our end of year picnic. A free BBQ lunch will be provided for all students. This is sure to be a relaxing and positive way to end what has been a busy but enjoyable year.

Principal Position at LBPS in 2024

Some of you may already be aware that I decided against re-applying for the principal position at Launceston Big Picture School for 2024-26.  There were several factors that influenced my decision.

I would like to thank our entire school community for their support during my tenure. When I joined our school in 2018, we had an enrolment of approximately 30 students- we now have 8 classes and a cohort of 120 with a significant waiting list. Our school is now well-established in the community, with many strong partnerships and most importantly our young people are being recognised for their achievements.  

I am very proud of our school and our young people and hope I have had some impact on the future lives of our young people. I will share with you all, my replacement, when confirmed. 

Thank you for your continued support of me and our school in general and I wish all families a safe and happy Christmas break.

Adrian Dean
Principal 

Our Newsletter

Thank you to those people who have signed up to receive an electronic copy of our newsletter! I certainly hope that you enjoy reading it! If you haven’t subscribed please use the link below to do so:

If you are involved in a community organisation and would like to advertise in our newsletter, please contact our office. Where possible, we will be happy to assist.

We want your help for our Learning Through Internship Program!

Launceston Big Picture School appreciates the support of the following businesses, who have offered a Learning Through Internship placement.

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

Mel Van Asperen
LTI Co-ordinator

Mel Van Asperen
LTI Co-ordinator

Wildly Abigail

With spring in the air a new season of flowers are blooming, it’s a time to be creative.  Year 9 student Ciara recently did a project in flower pressing. Ciara created their own journal of dried flowers they sourced in the Invermay precinct.  The journal provides Ciara’s techniques and challenges when flower pressing, and the knowledge they learned during their project about flower species. 

Ciara and Leannika met Abigail from Wildly Abigail for an Informational Interview to learn about the Floristry Industry.  Wildly Abigail advocates eco ethical choices that care for the earth and community. Flowers are bought directly from local farms and wrapped into bunches in plain brown paper.   Abigail’s creative background allows their art to be transformed into large scale events and installation work.  Visit Wildly Abigail at 144 York Street to purchase locally grown flowers available in the retro oven stand.

Remembrance Day Service

Brayden was fantastic representing our Student Leadership Group and Launceston Big Picture School at the Remembrance Day Service in Launceston. 

We received a letter of thanks from the Launceston RSL for our support and participation.

Interview with Cheryl Hornby-Waring

Students from 9B Advisory recently held an informational interview with Nan (also known as Cheryl Hornby-Waring). We spoke about a lot of things. Topics covered were: what it was like for her as a child; clothing; school experiences; the importance of food security; and playing with a bunsen burner.

We enjoyed morning tea and discussed the differences in social etiquette over time. Students also took Nan on a school tour.

Kathryn Kahl
9B Advisor

Bouncing Back Cup

Building the resilience skills of our young people is a focus for our school. We recently held our very first “Bouncing Back” Cup.

Students listened to guest speakers including solo yachtsmen Ken Gourlay and Amy Lewandowski. Amy described how she lives with epilepsy while Ken shared how he sailed around the world in 180 days. Students also participated in a range of challenging activities where they scored points for their team based on their resilience skills.

10C – Social Action Project

10C have been working throughout Term 3 and 4 to raise awareness of the Salvation Amry’s Red Bag Christmas Appeal.

Kellie, from the Salvos came to share information about all of the different work, projects and initiatives they run and was able to provide us with information about a way that we could support local families in Launceston who might need a little assistance at Christmas time.

Thanks to all of the families, staff and students who supported our Social Action Project, in total we raised over $170.00!

Invermay Banner project

 Next time you are driving, riding or walking along Invermay road, take a moment to look up! A series of banners has been workshopped by LBPS students and the Launceston City Council this year and they are now flying full mast.

The opening of the banners occurred in November, as did the media call where our students were very excited to meet our Mayor Matthew Garwood.

Our students enjoyed the process of adhering to a brief and seeing their works translated and celebrated in a public place. Special thanks to Sarah McCormack from the LCC for inviting us to be a part of this great project.

Excursion To Miniature Worlds @ QVMAG

Recently, a collection of our creative students attended Miniature Worlds, an exhibition created by Ashley Bird. Ashley Bird, (senior curator at QVMAG), spoke to our students about putting together a show, selecting work, and inviting artists to work to a brief.

These skills and understanding will be extremely beneficial for the LBPS ‘Mythical Whimsical’ exhibition at QVMAG, Royal Park in March 2024.

The students enjoyed viewing the work from Miniature Worlds and also viewing the diverse array of art and objects at the fantastic resource so close to us.

Grade 12s have left the building!

The Grade 12 Advisory, known within the school as the Roofless Pre-Adults, have completed their final year of school and they’ve now flown the coop to continue their journeys in the big wide world. In the last couple of weeks of school we had a great couple of outings together to celebrate our hard-earned achievements and our year together. On Friday 10^th November we explored tasty stops along the Bass Highway at the Van Diemen’s Ice Creamery and Ashgrove Cheese and we tested our driving and racing skills at Kart Magic at Latrobe. An excellent day!

On the following Friday, the last day of school for senior students, we had a great day 10-pin bowling, then a barbeque and activities at Punchbowl, Santa even visited us and shared some gifts, so much fun!

The last day finished with a whole school farewell and the Grade 12s left school for the final time through an avenue of students and staff clapping them on the way. Congratulations Grade 12s.

Hollybank Treetops Adventure 

On Wednesday, 20 grade 9 and 10 students participated in the Holly Bank Tree Tops Adventure rope climbing course as a part of LBPS’s focus on building resilience.

All students gave the course a go and it was wonderful to see teamwork and positive encouragement among all students.

UTAS Science Experience

What an awesome Day 1 at the UTAS Science Experience! After kitting themselves up, students went to the chem lab to experiment with colour change, the ICT HIT Lab was also a fantastic chance to experience Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.

The Laboratory Medicine saw students investigate the particular case of a farmer whose diagnosis needed to be refined and treated. Can’t wait for Day 2 tomorrow

Art & Craft

Students with an interest in craft have been concentrating on making personal dream catchers.

They have made their own unique beads using Polymer clay to attach to the dream catcher.

Kamryn from year nine has demonstrated amazing talents when making beads, wrapping, and choosing the colour palate for the dream catcher.

Sport & Recreation

Students with an interest in Sport and Recreation had an amazing opportunity to assist with the Northern Midlands Primary School Infant Fun Day! So much fun was had by all, and our students demonstrated awesome leadership!

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 to dine at Cafe Red and our winners this term so far are:

• Avery Armstrong: Growth - For contacting 3 businesses for an LTI placement.
• Franky Perez: Aspiration, Courage, Respect & Growth - A great start to Term 4.
• Caitlin Towns: Growth - Fantastic contribution to the Cafe Red team.
• Cassie Donald: Aspiration, Courage - Great work at Fun Day leading activities.
• Grace Kearney: Courgage, Respect - For organising a guest speaker for our social action project.

FACEBOOK POSTS 

As always, please remember that when engaging with any Department for Education, Children and Young People page, to do so in a respectful manner, in line with our Terms of Use which can be found in the ‘about’ section of our page.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Please ensure your student keeps their school polo top in their bag or keeps it safe in their Advisory room at all times.

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 
• School Hoody with school logo = $65

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

PARKING  

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

The Launceston City Council have recently approached the school and have informed staff that this area is being patrolled and $86.00 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

2023 Student Leaders 

2023 Support Staff 

Our Newsletter

Thank you to those people who have signed up to receive an electronic copy of our newsletter! I certainly hope that you enjoy reading it!

If you haven’t subscribed please use the link below to do so:

If you are involved in a community organisation and would like to advertise in our newsletter, please contact our office. Where possible, we will be happy to assist.

Thank You

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@decyp.tas.gov.au

Jennifer Kendall
School Business Manager