Dear Families

Term 2 is a busy one for our staff and our young people! Reporting and assessment will form a key part of our work, however, our processes are formative and staff are working hard at providing regular feedback to students on a lesson by lesson and daily basis. Our grade 11 and 12 students will receive their second progress reports in a few weeks’ time. It is important that students carefully analyse both strengths and those areas identified as needing improvement. Grade 9 and 10 students will receive formal mid-year reports at the end of term. As always, if you would like to discuss anything regarding your child’s progress, please make an appointment with the office to see their advisory teacher.

Staffing

I am pleased to announce that both Tanya and Marianne have been successful in winning new leadership roles. The great news is that both will stay heavily involved in our school and continue to work with our students. Tanya will be working 0.5 at LBPS as our Assistant Principal and for the remainder of the time, she will coach and work to build the capacity of other Big Picture schools and staff across Tasmania. Marianne has one an AST leadership position in our school. She will also be our Support Teacher, assisting students across the school but importantly, her role will enable her to continue to assist those students in her existing Advisory Group.

Jenni Fraser will be our new Advisory Teacher. Jenni is very excited to join our team and has a strong passion for the Big Picture Learning Design.

Congratulations Jenni and Tanya :

Our Redevelopment

The upgrade to our reception area is in full swing!  Builders and sub-contractors are busy preparing various parts of the project and it is certainly taking shape. Jennifer and Claire are very excited about this work and can’t wait to move into the new space later in the term. Some of our students have been involved in aspects of the work which is pleasing.

Learning Plan Meetings

Thank you to the parents who joined us on Monday and Wednesday for our term two learning plan meetings. These meetings are an important opportunity for our parents and families to engage more deeply with student learning. Often parents have less input into the learning of their children once they reach high school, but it is essential in our school that we keep open the communication between home and school at all times.

If parents have any suggestions about how we can improve our opportunities for families to engage with student learning, please contact me at school- we are very open to suggestions and ideas.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN assessments will begin during the second week of May and run for two weeks. Whilst these were put on hold during 2020 due to COVID-19, we are pleased to see their return this year. The assessments are now carried out online and are far more targeted to the level of the students completing them. The program is able to adjust the difficulty of the questions based on how many your child is getting correct. We found the engagement with the NAPLAN assessments to be much higher when students are completing them online.

Please encourage your child to do their very best and not be concerned about the test like nature of these assessments.

The data that comes back to our school as a result of the assessments is extremely useful in measuring how well we are supporting the learning of our students at Launceston Big Picture School.

Our Newsletter

Please remember to ensure that you are able to keep up with our exciting news and events, subscribe to:

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.

Student Leaders

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our 2021 student leaders. Student voice and opinions are taken very seriously and I welcome the opportunity to regularly listen and meet with our young people. Recently our leaders and I had lunch at Hog’s Breath Café. It was a great opportunity to develop relationships and a sense of belonging.

Adrian Dean
Principal