Camp Clayton

Grade 12 students will be attending an outdoor adventure excursion to Camp Clayton on Wednesday, 22nd October 2025. This experience is designed to foster teamwork, resilience, and personal growth through engaging and safe high-adventure activities. 

Excursion Details 

* Departure: 9:00am from Launceston Big Picture School 
* Return: By 2:45pm on the same day 
* Location: Camp Clayton 
* Lunch: Provided for all participants 
* Staff Attending: Ben Miller, Daniel Smith, Mel Tyson, and Marianne Olsen 

Activities 

Students will participate in two exciting high-adventure activities: 

Giant Swing: A thrilling experience where students are harnessed and pulled to a height by their peers. They then release themselves into a freefall, swinging through the air. This activity promotes courage, trust, and teamwork, with participants choosing their own height to challenge themselves. 

Tower Twin Fly: Two parallel ziplines, each approximately 150 meters long, allow students to race each other in a safe and exhilarating ride. This activity offers a fun and memorable outdoor experience. 

To ensure your young person’s participation, please complete and return the Liability Waiver and Consent form by Wednesday, 8th October 2025: 

This form is essential for your child’s safety and wellbeing during the excursion. 
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the school. 
 

Student Narratives 

An element of the Big Picture Design is that students write an end of term narrative. Here are some excerpts from student narratives for this term: 

This term I have been doing a research project about trip planning. I have been planning specific spots to visit, flights, etc. I began the term determined knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I started with a mood board to decide what/where I wanted the trip the be. I then started researching flights and accommodation. I asked an expert from a travel agency, and they replied. This helped my project by connecting with real people instead of just researching on the internet. – Alex 

This Term I did a project on learning Australian Bushrangers. Initially I didn’t know what I wanted to focus on for my learning, but I decided that I’d research Bushrangers after seeing a Ned Kelly book in Petrarch’s. Starting the project, I found multiple sources in the Utas library and read two novels that seemed the most interesting. I also found on video on YouTube about Ned Kelly. – Charlie  

This term, my project was on worldbuilding and improving a world I had made roughly three years ago – I had recently found myself unhappy with a lot of factors of the world I had and wanted to revisit it and improve on what I had. It was a lot of fun, frustrating at times when it came to certain things, but we persevered and worked on what I could do. My favourite part was my map, I’m very proud of it despite the fact I haven’t yet finished it. I like the visual of the world I’ve created, and it’ll prove to be a lot of help when writing the story attached to this world.  – Ghost  

The project I worked on this term was evolution; I chose evolution because of how interesting it is that the human bodies were able to adapt to certain conditions and situations and same goes for animals. The proudest thing I did on my project was making a shark timeline about the eras of sharks and how they evolved. I learnt about the animals that didn’t evolve, how Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) was used for evolution before Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) since DNA was too complex, and animals that got special traits from evolution. I’ve learnt that I’m not that good nor bad at drawing like I thought myself to be, I’m better at shading and drawing things instead of colouring them which, but I prefer shading instead of colouring.  – Chaise 

This term I was very lucky to partake in an LTI alongside my friends at Launceston Central’s The Lounge.  We were introduced to Malcom, who works for Bent Eared Records. As a team, we performed and recorded music pieces featuring vocals, piano, guitar, bass, cajon, and theremin. I really enjoyed the low-pressure, non-judgemental environment created in the space. I felt encouraged and relaxed. We were also very fortunate to be featured on ABC Northern Tasmania’s radio program Drive. We had a chat with Evan Wallace, the program’s host, before performing a live rendition of ‘Creep’ by Radiohead. I left feeling fulfilled and proud of myself, and a lot more confidant in my performance skills. – Olive  

For my LTI this term I have been continuing at 508 Launceston AirForce Cadets. The main purpose of AirForce Cadets is training people under 18 to teach them discipline, respect and knowledge of the AirForce. The things that go on there are classes for multiple subjects including: aviation, aerospace, field skills, space and general knowledge. The people that we serve are the public. The people that go to Cadets are usually skilled in a few things at least, ether have a great amount of knowledge, being skilled at leadership or being good at drill and being a follower. I have no thoughts of what could be changed at Cadets. I think that Cadets is planned out very well at the moment. This is definitely a place that I want to continue at for the rest of my school career. Yes, most of the staff and cadets have good work life balance but some not so much. I would say that Cadets is environmentally sustainable. Yes, Cadets would and will change over as technology advances, but it won’t really change for other problems that occur. – Liam  

Some advice I’d give to anyone working on self-improvement would be that the point of self-improving is to challenge yourself, and to continue challenging yourself until your standard performance in something is higher than it used to be. – Joash  

This exhibition was more than just a chance to show off my welding it was a moment of pride. Standing there, surrounded by my work and the gear that keeps me safe, I felt like I was finally being seen for the effort I put in behind the scenes. Waiting until the last day wasn’t just about timing it was about building up the courage to share something that means a lot to me. I learned that preparation matters but so does believing in yourself. Talking to people about PPE and why it’s essentially made me realize how much I’ve grown not just as a welder, but as someone who can teach others. Seeing their reactions, answering their questions, and watching them take interest in something I care about that was powerful. It reminded me that what I do has value, and that sharing it can inspire others too. – Kaden 

Another big part of my term was volunteering for a day at City Mission. That experience really opened my eyes. It was humbling to see how much support people need and how even small actions can make a big difference. It made me think more about the kind of person I want to be and how I can use my time and energy to help others. It wasn’t just about giving back—it was also about learning from people and seeing the world from a different point of view. – Zoe  

I continued my LTI from Term 2 at Kinetic Tasmania. This time I exclusively focused on the customer service sector. I had a lot of fun working with the customer service team at the Launceston depot. I learnt a lot about how the public transport systems in Tasmania work behind the scenes, and how the issues are dealt with. I learnt a lot about travel patterns, booking systems and travel policies, which is very interesting to me and helps me understand more about how and why people will choose public transport as a viable travel option in Tasmania. They gave me a lot of very helpful feedback for my learning and ideas.  – William  

This term for my LTI I sent a lot of emails out and I worked with Mel to call some people as well but only heard back from Examiner sports journalist, Josh Partridge. He came in for an interview and was a really nice guy who gave me a lot of info from for my project. At the end I asked him if it was possible if I could do some shadow days with him but because of the extra forms for being u18 it wasn’t possible. I will keep trying next term and hopefully secure somewhere to go for my interest. – Joshua  

On Tuesday afternoons I went to the kitchen with a few other students. I got to cook a few things and learn new skills like, how to cut pumpkin and onion, and how to crush a garlic clove. My favourite recipe was brownies. Though the recipe didn’t give a result I personally like, I still enjoyed the process of making them. – Fenyx  

The Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment

This week, Underwood staff Jess and Justin had the pleasure of visiting Launceston Big Picture School to attend High Achiever Program student Aria’s incredible exhibition!

Aria is a truly gifted young artist, who has been undertaking first-year visual arts units in painting and art theory while finishing Year 12 — all through the High Achiever Program (https://www.utas.edu.au/.../pathway.../high-achiever-program).

Her dream? To study at the University of Tasmania and then take her talents to international art residencies in Florence!

We were blown away by the creativity and depth of her work — especially her stunning portraits of LBPS advisors Ben and Rob.

See her amazing art below!

Gourlay’s Sweet Factory Tour

The trip 10B took to Gourlay’s Sweet Factory was a really interesting one because a lot of people in our class are really involved in cooking and candy or chocolate making. There was a small demonstration about the chocolate creating as they don't make their own chocolate at the Gourlay’s; they’re a sweet factory that imports the finest chocolate to coat their candies in. It was interesting to see how the sugary mixture is melted, then slowly cooled and shaped into boiled lollies. It looked really yummy glass. We all received a small taster bag that had some chocolate covered sweets in it. The best parts were all the taste testing we did throughout the tour and the tour guide Will-E Wonka.

Murder by Indecision

On August 22^nd Year 10 students travelled the Earl Arts Centre to watch their classmates, Annie and Sylvain, perform in the play Murder by Indecision. Annie played Penelope Biggles and Sylvain was cast as Inspector John Dryfus. The play was a “whodunnit” performance that was witty and clever. Annie and Sylvain did an amazing job in the roles, projecting their voices clearly and staying in character. Well done to the Launceston Youth Theatre Ensemble (LYTE) for supporting our aspiring young actors to take to the stage.

10A Advisory Trips

This term, 10A has been busy with a number of outlearning adventures. Two of these were special reward trips to celebrate the advisory’s achievements, every student has secured an LTI during their time at Big Picture, and all have been working hard on their projects.

The first group took on the challenge of Entombed Escape Rooms, where they were ‘trapped’ in the Baker Street room. Using teamwork and their individual strengths, they successfully solved the puzzles and escaped in time. The second group enjoyed a fun day at Launceston Lanes, knocking down pins and sharing plenty of laughs.

Both trips gave students the chance to relax, blow off some steam, and connect with their advisory outside of school. I’m very proud of the commitment and dedication our students have shown to the Big Picture design so far in 2025.

Pictures and stories by David Claridge