Newsletter 5 - 19 September 2025

Principal’s Report

Dear families

Welcome to Spring. As winter’s chill begins to fade and the days grow longer, we’re starting to see a renewed energy. The past few weeks have been particularly challenging with the flu affecting both students and staff. The upcoming school holidays will be a much-needed opportunity for rest, recovery, and rejuvenation across our school community.

Elm Trees in Best Street

It is with regret, as part of our ongoing management of the trees on our site, we will be removing 3 of the 5 Elm trees from the Best Street side during the upcoming school holiday break.  The trees are presenting a work health and safety risk for our students, staff and the general community.  Being very old and over mature, their propensity to failure is increased due to terminal decline.  Our decision was confirmed after we engaged a qualified Arborist to inspect the trees recently. Consultation has taken place with the School Association, school staff, Devonport City Council, the Tasmanian Heritage Council and the National Trust prior to the decision to remove the trees.

We understand the value of these trees to our school and community. In response, we’re committed to replanting in a way that respects the site’s heritage while ensuring safety and sustainability. We’ll work with stakeholders to choose appropriate species and involve the school community in the process.

Work is due to commence during the first two weeks in October, subject to weather conditions.

Surveys

We are now in the latter part of the 2025 survey season, with just under a week remaining until the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey (SWES) and the Staff and Family School Satisfaction Surveys close on Friday 19 September 2025. 

These surveys are a vital source of insight into student wellbeing, engagement, and overall school satisfaction. Strong participation leads to more representative and meaningful data – giving us a clearer, more accurate picture of how students are feeling, how they’re engaging with their learning environment, and the broader climate within our school community. This data guides our school planning and informs initiatives tailored to the unique needs of our students, and families. We encourage all students and families to engage with the survey.

Transition

Transition is underway for our Year 6 students from primary to secondary school, and for our Year 10 students as they prepare to enter Senior Secondary. Our Senior Secondary Subject offerings at DHS are available for download on the school website. Please make an appointment to see Mr Lutwyche or Ms Heland for any further information.

Rotary – Peace Pole

We’re honoured to share that Rotary has kindly gifted Devonport High School a Peace Pole. This monument carries the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in the language of the country where it stands, along with several other languages that hold special meaning to the host site.

At Devonport High, we’ve chosen to include:

• Mandarin, to reflect our relationship with Kinmen,
• Japanese, recognising Devonport’s Sister City connection,
• and palawa kani, in acknowledgment of our local custodians.

The message is referred to as an affirmation of peace and its placement furthers Rotary's goal of building a culture of peace throughout the world.

Peace Poles are intended to inspire unity among people of all cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds.  Next term we will be holding a Peace Pole ceremony to accompany the planting of our pole.

Three Way Conferencing

On Tuesday 23 September we will be holding Three Way Conferencing for families with bookings. Families can view students’ work and evidence of learning.

Fiona Gaby
Principal

Levy Reminder

As the year is drawing to a close, a reminder outstanding Levy invoices can be paid online or via BPay, alternatively you can pay at the office.

Please make contact if this raises any issues for you.

Rose French
Business Manager

Young Archies

Congratulations to students who entered their work in the Young Archies 2025 and especially to Leah in Year 7 for winning 2^nd place in the Year 7/8 category.

Luke Viney

Australian History Competition Results

The Australian History Competition is Australia’s largest history competition. It is run to help lift the profile of students and to recognise student excellence in this discipline.

There are two papers based on the Australian History Curriculum. A Year 9 & Year 10 paper which will be broadly based on the Australian Curriculum History for Years 9 and 10. A Year 7 & 8 paper which will be broadly based on the Australian Curriculum History for Years 7 and 8.

Congratulations to Luna who was placed as joint State Champion Year 10.

Credit: 

• Dane
• Mabel
• Kaelan
• Brendan
• Hamish
• Evie
• Shomik

Distinction:

• Oliver
• High
• Jamie
• Luna

Lifting Literacy at DHS

It is fantastic to see all that is going on in the classrooms and breakout areas to help lift literacy and improve reading across our school.

If you walk into a range of classes, you can hear our students practising how to read more fluently by using echo, cloze, choral and repeated reads. Year 9 students did this beautifully recently when they echoed Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ after listening line by line to the play. Staff from all subjects have been learning how to use these strategies and students have benefited and shown growth in their fluency.

Over half of year 7 students and some Year 8 students come out of class for targeted reading work with a focus on developing fluency and comprehension. These small groups work with teachers who have been able to hone in on any difficulties and give the students strategies to use in class. This has seen some students display great growth in their reading.

Some 7A students have been coming out of home room and reading to their Aspiring Leader ‘buddies’ once a week in breakout areas.

We are lucky enough to be a pilot school for ‘EdConnect’, - a program that connects volunteers in the community with schools to help boost student outcomes. Our 3 fantastic volunteers have built some positive connections with students as they help to boost reading and comprehension.

Some year 7 students have seen huge growth by attending small group sessions for ‘MacqLit’. This intensive program revisits phonics and vocabulary and helps students catch up to their peers – in some cases it has seen students gain a number of years growth in only a few terms.

Staff and Teacher Assistants have been working hard on these programs and students have responded positively and shown growth. We are very proud of all the work that is being done to lift literacy at our school and we look forward to seeing the outcomes and growth.

Please get in contact if you would like anymore information about these positive programs that are being rolled out across the school.

EdConnect

We are lucky enough to be a pilot school for ‘EdConnect’, - a program that connects volunteers in the community with schools to help boost student outcomes. Our 3 fantastic volunteers have built some positive connections with students as they help to boost reading and comprehension.

MacqLit

Some year 7 students have seen huge growth by attending small group sessions for ‘MacqLit’. This intensive program revisits phonics and vocabulary and helps students catch up to their peers – in some cases it has seen students gain a number of years growth in only a few terms.

Staff and TA’s have been working hard on these programs and students have responded positively and shown growth. We are very proud of all the work that is being done to lift literacy at our school and we look forward to seeing the outcomes and growth.

Please get in contact if you would like anymore information about these positives programs that are being rolled out across the school.

Shelley Hollister
Instructional Specialist

Student Achievements

Congratulations to Alexis for winning –

West Devonport's Under 16 Best and Fairest

Division 2 Women's Best and Fairest as well as being awarded the

Hockey North West's
Association Best and Fairest for the Division 2 Women.

Well done Alexis!

Breakfast Club – Devonport Chaplaincy

Breakfast Club is on Tuesdays and Thursdays before school from 8:00am onwards. Everyone is welcome to come along and enjoy something to eat and have a chat.

Darra Boerma, Chaplain

School Nurse

Canteen Menu

Schoolzine App