2020 has been another huge year at Launceston Big Picture School! Our celebration night on Tuesday night was a culmination to the many and varied learning opportunities that our young people have had the chance to participate in throughout the year. Congratulations must go to all award winners but also to the year 9 students and Brock Kerslake and Rhian Bailey for their outstanding leadership and organisational skills in ensuring that the event was a success. Jade and Kit did a great job as MC’s and I am sure that everyone will agree with me, the Boathouse was once again, a spectacular venue. As a school it was important to us to continue to have our “special event” in our local area and we look forward to continuing to build a long partnership with the Boathouse and also the broader Inveresk precinct. The Covid pandemic presented its challenges but it was fantastic to provide our year 12 students with an amazing conclusion to their LBPS journey and recognise our high achieving students from the year.

Schools always review their progress and I would like to share some data with you that we recently received and that we are very proud of:

-100% of families have visited our school in 2020- an amazing achievement considering Covid!

-93% of our year 12 students completed a Graduation Portfolio and also achieved their Tasmanian Certificate of Education (TCE).

-90% of our students participated in LTI placements during 2020

-92% of our students exhibited on at least 3 occasions during 2020

-55% of our year 10 students made high gain in PAT reading

This is just a snapshot of our data but certainly something that as a school community, we should celebrate.

Staffing News

As a school we are continuing to grow and I am proud to say, we will have an additional advisory class in 2021. To facilitate this, our hardworking and very talented maintenance man, Michael Doolan, has been working hard to renovate our downstairs classroom. It now looks amazing and matches the other 21^st century spaces in our school.

Some of our staffing for 2021 is still fluid and to be decided, however, I would like to announce the following appointments:

We welcome Brendan Liddell to our school. Brendan will be a Grade 9 Advisory teacher and joins our team having previously worked at Queechy High School for the past 11 years.

I would like to announce to our school community that our amazing Administration clerk and Teacher Assistant Kat O'Sign will be leaving our school after successfully winning  a full time position at Trevallyn Primary School. Congratulations Kat and thank you for everything you have done at Launceston Big Picture School.

We farewell Brock Kerslake who has worked with us throughout 2020 in various roles, most recently as Grade 9 Advisory teacher. I would like to thank Brock for his work and wish him all the best for 2021 and beyond.

Awards Night and Celebration Dinner

The celebration dinner and awards evening at the Boathouse was an amazing night. Our young people were simply stunning, the performances first class and our award winners were very appreciative. Please have a look at some of the photos from the evening and click on the following link to enjoy a live performance by Jorja Sigtenhorst.

Congratulations to all Award Winners

Leading Learners - this is awarded to Monique Ioannidis and Jorja Sigtenhorst who demonstrate high levels of leadership and engagement in a variety of areas across the school, including academic rigour, commitment to learning and care trust and respect.

Big Picture Learner - this is awarded to Justyne Westwood and Leah Durie who demonstrate all aspects of the Big Picture Design to an extremely high level.

Community Spirit - this is awarded to Catie Owens and Luke Shirley who lead and participate in a range of community service in and beyond the school.

Head, Heart, Hand - this is awarded to Beren Fontana who consistently demonstrates a commitment to producing high quality project work, involves themselves positively in the LBPS community including strong LTI involvement.

Leaving to Learn - this is awarded to Billy Watson and Zak Howard who seek any and all opportunities to engage and participate in a range of “outlearning” experiences.

Most Improved - this is awarded to Blake Gelston and Mikayla Aldred who have shown considerable growth and willingness to act on feedback in a range of areas.

Service to School - this is awarded to Jasper Hillman who has consistently deomonstrated the values of Launceston Big Picture School and the Department of Education.

Year 9/10 Learning Expo

Congratulations to all students and staff for their work with ensuring the success of last week’s expo. The wide and innovative range of displays presented was first class and demonstrated some high order planning and thinking skills. The displays were an outstanding demonstration of learning and highlights from 2020.

Book Sales For 2021

Please remember that our school is open for collection of stationary packs for 2021 and uniform purchases on the following dates:

To all members of our school community, thank you for your support throughout 2020, a year that has been like no other! Please have a merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year.

Look forward to seeing you all in 2021

Adrian Dean

Principal