Dear Parents and Carers,

During Term 1 we are always actively engaged in a range of strategies that support a positive transition for our students. Points of transition can sometimes be challenging, particularly for our new cohort of Year 11 students. With this in mind, we have placed a tremendous focus and schoolwide priority on amplifying our model of Student Support Services for 2022. Our overall model of integrated Student Support Services recognises the essential need to be able to work in partnership with our families and extended community networks to support the social, emotional, physical and academic needs of our students.

When we reflect upon the important transition into Years 11 and 12, our ultimate goal is to support all students to develop a meaningful, relevant and engaging two-year program of study that will enrich their lives and provide the skills and qualifications that will enable future opportunity. I am very pleased to acknowledge that this year’s cohort of Year 11 students have made an extremely positive transition into the Rosny College Community. Feedback from our teachers, students and support staff suggests that our learning community is respecting and places the highest value on contributing to a growing culture that promotes supported learning for all. This is very pleasing.

Over the past two years, we have been required to continually adapt to our changing circumstances in order to develop innovative approaches to the provision of industry-endorsed vocational training and university aligned curriculum pathways for our students. This process of formative review and development has facilitated some very positive outcomes for our College. Underpinned by our formal External School Review, our teachers and support staff have collaboratively facilitated a number of innovative approaches to facilitating our core business. Our three strategic priorities of Quality Teaching, Integrated Student Support Services and Improved Student Retention and Attainment have driven a highly focused Improvement Agenda. This agenda will continue to drive our professional efforts throughout 2022. We look forward to presenting our progress at our School Association meetings. It is encouraging to note that we have been asked to share our innovative approach to Integrated Student Support Services at the system level. I believe that there will also be system interest in our comprehensive Rosny College Quality Teaching Framework.

Whilst we have all experienced the significant challenges of the Covid-19 phenomenon, we have used the disruption to adapt and evolve. In this regard, your tremendous support over the past two years has enabled our College Community to focus on supporting the continuity of teaching, learning and training for our students. In partnership, I believe that we have been able to effectively respond to the challenges whilst also identifying the opportunities of the current Covid context.

In closing, I would like to inform you that after many years as a Principal in the Tasmania Department of Education, I have decided to retire at the conclusion of the first term. I have been extremely fortunate to have worked with so many wonderful people, teams and communities throughout my career, and I reflect positively on the past whilst feeling extremely optimistic about the future of the profession.

I am very pleased to be able to announce that Anthony Coe will be directly appointed as the Acting Principal for Term 2. The substantive Principal position will be determined through a Merit Selection Process, and the successful candidate from this process will be announced for the commencement of Term 3.

I wish our students, teachers and the broader College community all the best for the future.

Thank You

Sandy

The Rosny College Achievers Evening was held on Thursday 31 March and was a fantastic celebration of student successes in 2021.  Congratulations to all Award Recipients.

Please find the recorded awards presentation linked below:

The Achievers Evening Program is also available:

Keep an eye out for the Visual Art / Art Production Photography exhibition Elements of Design popping up early Term 2 in the corridor to the Café. This exhibition will showcase the artwork students have been creating in response to elements of design. Well done to all students involved.

This year the HPOE area has seen a growth in the number of subjects and students in classes.  We have a staff of 13, teaching across a range of TASC courses and VET programs:

Level 3 subjects - Outdoor Leadership (x2), Sport Science (x2), Health Studies (x4), Food and Nutrition (x 3). 

Level 2 subjects - there are four Athlete Development Programs – AFL (both male and female), Cricket, Basketball and General plus a Level 2 Sport Science class, three classes of Personal Health and Wellbeing, three classes of Community Sport and Recreation, three Adventure Recreation classes and one Expedition group.

VET Programs – Certificate II Sport and Recreation, Certificate II Outdoor Recreation, Certificate II Maritime

All groups have been engaged in interesting learning experiences, using College facilities, and also moving into community environments.  Some activities students have experienced are surfing, snorkeling,  kayaking, coaching clinics, disc golf, tennis, and spin sessions.

VET Sport and Recreation students have undertaken their first work placement as officials at the Southern Primary School Athletics Carnivals at the Domain. This is a great opportunity to develop skills that can be applied in many extension areas.

Throughout the year Rosny students will continue to be challenged and extended in many more activities.  

This Life Science class applied their knowledge of cell organisation to build a 3D model of a cell.

Estimation techniques are important in Environmental science. These students are using quadrats to help them to compare weed infestations in different areas of lawn.

The Capture-Tag-Recapture method is being used to estimate the size of a population of ‘fish’.

Physical Science Students hard at work investigating the chemical and physical properties of metals.

It’s been a fantastic start to 2022 in mathsland up on level 5. We have a record number of students in our classes with over 500 students enrolled in maths courses. With support from our wonderful team of teachers, students are working really hard and we are really excited about the progress they are making. The most visible sign of the effort our students and staff make is in lunchtime tutorials (every day in room 501!). Most days we have between 15 to 20 students coming along, even more, when the pressure of assignments kicks in. They are such a brilliant way for students to get help and further their learning so we love seeing so many there. And, of course, every visit gets a click on a student's loyalty card, 10 clicks and you get a café voucher! Thank you to everyone for making level 5 such a great place to be.

English has just completed a module looking at dystopian fiction. We have read Orwell’s 1984 and watched the thought-provoking films Children of Men and Mad Max: Fury Road.  As part of this study, students used as inspiration these works to produce some creative writing, in the form of letters to a future world, 50 years from now. The task included using an issue in our current world and taking this to a worst-case scenario.

Some of the future letters can be read at room438rosnycollegewriters.blogspot.com

The EAL class has been studying Australian culture, beginning with aspects of the Aboriginal culture. With Cathy Ransom as our friendly and knowledgeable guide, we have had an Acknowledgement of Country, learned some of the histories and also learned in a very hands-on way about numerous artefacts. In addition to experiences in our classroom, we have also experienced a bush tucker walk by the Bellerive waterfront outside Rosny College and had an excursion to the Aboriginal Gallery at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Thanks to Cathy for an excellent introduction to your culture!

Out on our bush tucker walk!

Clubs, skins, baskets, shells and much more spread out in front of us.

The Basketball Athlete Development program is going from strength to strength.  Over the past 2 years, the numbers have increased and the opportunities for students have been numerous.  To complement the theory and weights work done at College, every Thursday morning the teams head into Swisherr Hoops Academy, the all-new and unique advanced basketball training facility in Hobart.  We would like to acknowledge the support of Anthony Stewart and his staff in ensuring our Athlete Development Program is of high quality and a great learning experience for Rosny students. Later in the year, the teams will compete in the Statewide College Basketball Competitions; with great results in this event last year, the students and coaches are hoping for some excellent outcomes in 2022.