School Newsletter - Term 2 Week 2
Principal's Report
Dear Bothwell Families,
It’s hard to believe we’re already in Week 2 of Term 2!
One of the most rewarding aspects of being the principal of Bothell DHS is seeing how our students support and respect each other, both in the classroom and in the playground. Their kindness and commitment to our school values make me feel very proud every day. I also deeply value our community connections, and I would like to once again congratulate our students who were involved in the Bothwell Community Anzac Service, together with our students who lead our School Anzac Service in our Monday Assembly. Further in our newsletter, we also acknowledge some individual student successes as well.
Next week we have three more community events to look forward to, beginning with our Mother’s Day Breakfast and Class Visit event. Students can invite mum, nan, an aunt, older sister or female mentor who has had a positive impact on their lives. Our students have also been busy creating a special treat for mum. It was a shame that our Cross Country/ Fun Run was postponed due to weather, but our students were great sports, and we will run the event on Wednesday afternoon from 2pm. All families are welcome. We will also be participating once again in Walk Safely to School Day on Friday 16 May. We will assemble at Queens Park at 8.30am and will walk to school together. Participating students can count the before school event towards the Children’s University.
This term we will be holding two Celebration Assemblies, please save the dates for Week 5 (Thursday 29th May) and Week 10 (Monday 30th June). We will be drawing the winner of the 10-tonne firewood raffle on the 29th of May Assembly. Good luck to all of our ticket holders and a reminder that it’s not too late to purchase some raffle tickets from our Main Office.
Looking ahead to Term 2, our focus will remain on our Reading priority. We are committed to ensuring that every child at Bothwell DHS has the reading skills they need for the future. Our structured, evidence-based approach to teaching reading will continue, with additional support for those who need it through our Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). Our home reading program is a vital part of this journey, and I encourage families to continue reading with their children daily.
This term, we will continue to focus on Reading Fluency and our primary teachers are engaging in sharing of practice with our Midlands Clusters Schools. Our Instructional Specialist, Mrs Laura Smith, and I are currently participating in DECYP professional learning to lead the teaching of comprehension.
We also have a Wellbeing focus, that is being led my Mrs Jessie Byers and the leadership team. We have expanded our student leadership to include students in upper primary and junior high years. Our new Student Representative Council (SRC) will help staff to gather important student voice to ensure our student continue to report feeling safe, well and thriving in their learning. We continue with our focus on supporting strong attendance and engagement in learning and our students will continue to complete fortnightly wellbeing check ins. The check ins provide our home group teachers with important discussion points with students.
Mrs Helen Doyle is supporting our secondary and senior secondary students to engage in careers education and workplace and higher learning pathways. We currently have students engaged in work experiences, including Year 11 student Ashley B who is spending Fridays this term learning more about equine therapy programs through her work placement. Next term Bothwell will be the host of a Careers Expo, and we look forward to sharing more information with our community about this event.
As we head into the winter months, a reminder that we want to continue to see our students wearing school uniform items. There are a variety of warm items available for purchase from our Main Office.
Kind Regards,
Erika Boas
Principal
Our Reading Focus
All of our Kinder to Year 5 students participate in daily PLD literacy lessons. The focus is on phonics and spelling. Mrs Smith is taking the Year 1 & 2 students for PLD lessons Monday – Wednesday mornings.
Mrs Smith is running 'Wednesday Reading Club' in the library every Wednesday at lunchtimes. Students can earn Children's University points for attending and it's a great way to stay warm as we head into the Autumn/ Winter months.
Our Wellbeing Focus
VIP – highest number of VIPs
At the end of last term, we recognised our students who had had received the largest number of daily VIP tokens in their age groups for the term. Congratulations once again to the following students:
Kensi B Elana B
Amy J Willow S
Mia C Sophie B
George E Samantha S
Danielle B
Who will be our highest VIP earners for Term 2?
We will continue with our Weekly Prize Draw this term, replacing ice creams with hot chocolates!
Outstanding Term One School Attendance
We also held a Principal’s Morning Tea for students who had outstanding attendance for the term. Congratulations to the following students who received an invitation for Term One.
Natasha S Wyatt B
Piper B Ava B
Eleanor E Brooklyn M
Matilda R Phoebe W
Charlotte C Grace D
Malcolm G Lukas M
Joel T Lara W
Molly T Taylor P
Lilli B Kaitlyn H
Ella P Robert P
Bailey Y
Learning Showcase
Kinder/Prep
Our Kinder Prep students made some fabulous pieces of Anzac Artwork. These were displayed during the recent Anzac Assembly.
1/2
Our Year 1 & 2 students have created some art with Mrs Turner. It looks like a fun activity.
Congratulations to students in Years 1 and 2, who were the recipients of the Attendance Cup for the week. Highest attendance for Week 1 of Term 2.
3/4/5:
Our class have been studying at the movement of energy in the food chain, after making observations in the environment and discussing how plants and animals rely on other living organisms to survive, we had the opportunity to observe fruit over time to test for decomposers in the local environment. Some groups observed the changes to the fruit, see new growth, and record instances of mould.
6/7/8:
Our students have been working on writing about What Matters to them in their Humanities Classes. Some of our students will be entering the Tasmanian section of the Whitlam Institute’s What Matters? Competition.
The introductory passage of Taylor's P's piece creates some lovely imagery for the reader.
Life beneath the gum trees
Most people want to travel the world with a million dollars, buy a fast-moving car, or build a great big mansion with a pool in the yard.
I’d have to admit that doesn’t sound half bad.
But if you want to know what really matters to me….
Good dogs that grow old and leave of their own accord; somewhere to bury them when they have moved on; sheep with good wool that makes a small profit, some place to shear them when their fleece grows long. All I want is a simple life beneath the gum trees.
9-12
Anzac Assembly
The Year 9 to 12 students worked in their Humanities and Workplace Skills classes to plan and prepare for the Anzac Assembly. The 11/12s learnt to mail merge to send invitation letters to a number of invited guests. They also used desktop publishing skills to create invitational posters and the Order of Service booklets.
The 9/10 students created the presentations, each researching an Anzac. They practised and delivered speeches, poems and were the MC’s for the assembly.
Agricultural Studies
Our students from Years 5 and above travelled to Agfest last Thursday. In Ag Studies some of our students have been participating it the Let It Grow challenges that have been organised by Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture. Over the past 11 weeks our students worked with Ms B and Jo in Ag Studies classes and took up the challenge to try and grow the heaviest black radish. The students also participated in the ‘soil your undies’ challenge, burying a pair of cotton undies for 8 weeks to discover how healthy the soil is.
Congratulations to our students, one of our radishes weighing in at 643 grams (grown by the 5/6 students) took out third place at Agfest.
Hagley Camp
Congrats to Lilli B of Year 10 who took part in the Discover Ag program. A wonderful way to work with students from other schools and to continue to learn more about Ag Studies and pathways.
Celebrating student success
That's one giant catch!
Congratulations to Ava B (of Year 4) who recently caught the heaviest Southern Bluefin Tuna in the Tom Jenkins Memorial Bluefin Tuna Fishing Contest. That’s definitely one very big fish and could quite possibly be a national record for a 9 year old! We look forward to hearing more, Ava. Well done!
Anzac Day Community Service - 25th April.
Our students, Molly (Year 6), Koa (Year 7), Chloe (Year 6), and Wyatt (Year 1) participated in the Anzac Service today and all did a wonderful job. Thank you to Brigette who co-ordinated the donations of the books for our School Library and to the student helpers, including Malcolm (Year 4), Logan (Year 3) and Avril (Year 1).
Thank you to the committees/clubs & individuals who donated books, they will become a great addition to our school library in remembrance of ANZAC Day. These donations are greatly appreciated by the school community.
Donations from:
Bothwell Masonic Lodge, Kathy & Laurence Jones & Family, Central Highlands Council, Josh Turner Memorial, Bothwell Volunteer Fire Brigade, Bothwell Historic Society, Bothwell DH Fundraising Association, Bothwell Uniting Church, Bothwell CWA, St. Michaels Anglican Church, Volunteer Ambulance Service, Bothwell DH Students, Bothwell Football Club, Anglican Women's Fellowship, Tanya Lovell & Family, Catholic Church, Lions Club of Bothwell & Districts, Bothwell Bucks Cricket Club, Mayor Loueen Triffitt, Malcom Campbell Memorial, Kimberley & Sheridan White, Brigette White, Steven Housego & Family, Whites Painting, Mrs Judi Turner, Susie Neil-Rolls Memorial, Ramsay Family, Bothwell DH School Susie Neil-Rolls Memorial.
From our student leaders:
Introducing our 2025 Student Representative Council (SRC)
Congratulations to Kaitlyn, Robert, Sophie, Eliza, Lilli, Taylor, Samantha and Chloe.
Our student leaders look forward to continuing to co-ordinate school celebratory events and to co-ordinating school activities.
Reminders
Canberra Trip
Our preparations continue for our September Canberra Trip. A reminder that Raffle Tickets are available for purchase from the Main Office. First prize is an impressive 10 tonnes of firewood thanks to the very generous donation of Danny Herbert. Second prize is a beautiful hand crafter jewellery box that has been very kindly donated by Laura Smith’s pop, David Burns.
The raffle will be drawn during our Celebration Assembly on Thursday 29th May. Good luck!
Thank You Messages
Thank you, CWA!
Thank you to the local CWA for the donation of muesli bars for our ‘Free to Take’ food basket that is located in the front foyer. The CWA have also donated juice for our breakfast club. We are very appreciative of these donations which directly support our students.
Thank you, Sheep Station Cup!
Thank you to the Sheep Station Cup for once again donating a very generous 10 thousand dollars to support school initiatives. The School will be presented with a cheque during our next Celebration Assembly by a representative from the Sheep Station Cup Committee. We look forward to being able to thank the Committee in person.
From the School Association
The Bothwell DHS School Association are currently looking for a Secretary. There will be lots of support for this from The Committee. Our committee is a most welcoming and supportive team, and we also look forward to having additional families attend to hear about what is happening in the school and to provide voice and ideas.
If you would like more information about the role of Secretary, please make contact via the following address: BDHSAssoc@gmail.com
Long Day Care
Council have been requested by the Community to seek interest from families who would support a Long Day Care service if it became available in Bothwell.
Long Day Care is a centre-based early childhood education and care service providing all-day or part-time care for children in the general community.
If you are interested, it would be appreciated if you could make contact or email Kat Cullen on 62863202 or kcullen@centralhighlands.tas.gov.au
Upcoming events / Calendar:
HOT LUNCHES
During the colder months, our Year 6-8 students who are travelling on the Canberra Trip will be preparing some hot lunches. Students and staff can order these using an order form that teachers have or collecting one from the Main Office. $5 for a hot dog and drink. Orders must come in by Wed May 14th for our first hot lunch which will be on Wed 21st May.
Who and What: Interested students and staff, parents and carers are invited to take part in a Community Walk to School.
Where and When: We will be meeting at Queen’s Park at 8.30am on Friday 16 May and walking to school together.
School Photos will be taken this year on the Tuesday, the 1st of July.
Community Vocal Group
Bothwell, and its surrounds, now have a community vocal group. We sing standards young and old, in parts and in unison, a cappella and accompanied. We rehearse on a Thursday night 6:30-7:30pm at either the back room at the Bothwell Hotel (BoHo) or in the Flexi Room at Bothwell School. Please contact Matthew Ives on 0416 081 427 if you are interested in being a part of this group.