Fahan School eNewsletter

Principal's Report

Last weekend many of our staff attended the Asia Pacific Summit on Girls' Education, which this year was held in Hobart. Attending such conferences, which inspire and improve our professional practice, is highly valued by us as educators. One of the highlights of this conference was a visit to Fahan by a cohort of 40 delegates from as far afield as South Africa, Singapore and New Zealand, as well as from all over Australia. The responses from this tour were overwhelmingly positive and reminded us what a particularly unique place Fahan is.

As an email from one visitor said:

Just a quick note to share with you the immensely positive feedback I've been listening to from a large number of Melbourne colleagues. They've all rated (and I'm not exaggerating) that Fahan was the best school visit today.

One question raised was, 'Do you ever take the view for granted?', and the answer is that we probably do at times, but it is when our campus is viewed with fresh eyes that we are reminded of the beauty of our environment and how lucky we are to have our School here.

Another comment which resonated was from an observer of a dodgeball game with Year 9s. They were so impressed with the level of participation from all students, as they were unable to replicate this at their own school. The question was, 'How do you do that?' and the answer is of course, culture. Fahan has always had high levels of participation, and students are encouraged to 'have a go'. For me, this was also exemplified on Wednesday this week, which is Arts Week. Students (and staff) did musical and dance performances in front of a packed audience in the TM Hall, and the level of support and encouragement of their peers was truly exceptional. The courage that students demonstrated in performing in front of the crowd also indicated how safe they felt in doing so. It certainly made me feel proud.

I hope that you all enjoy your long weekend and a reminder that Tuesday 13 June is a student-free day.

Best wishes
Meg Lawson

Learning about Sustainability in Pre-Kinder

To extend on our sustainability and repurposing ethos, we organised an excursion to the Sustainability Centre at Mount Nelson.

An excited group of children rugged up and travelled on the Fahan School bus to enjoy this wonderful opportunity.

The children gathered around the fire pit and recited our Acknowledgment of Country, also enjoying hearing another version of this.

We enjoyed a variety of new challenges in the outdoor environment including a balancing beam, climbing a small mountain with stone steps and the opportunity to use branches, bark, and stones to create ephemeral art and build shelters. This extends beautifully from our own wonderful outdoor play spaces and provided a different set of challenges for our children.

In the outdoor loose part environment, the children enjoyed funnelling water into troughs and pipes, and mixing up water and mud to make a slurry. We saw wonderful problem solving and teamwork as the children explored the way water runs, and conversations about gravity extended on this.

We are helping to foster the development of independent thinkers, problem solvers, critical thinking and experiencing consequences through trial and error.

We are planning more excursions over the next few months to extend on our already rich program.

Kind regards

Lisa, Kelly, Moya and Vivienne
Lady Gowrie Fahan Education and Care Team

Learning about History in Year 1

Year 1 recently spent a brisk but beautiful morning in Richmond where we shared an early picnic with some overly-friendly ducks and kicked a ball around on the Village Green.

We then visited Oak Lodge, a homestead built in the 1830s that has been home to a rectory, schoolhouse and a doctor’s surgery. The property has been beautifully maintained with many original artefacts from the era. The girls enjoyed looking through the kitchen (wondering where the fridge and dishwasher were) and especially liked trialling the desks, slates and quills in the old school. The vibrant wallpaper got quite a bit of attention and talk of administering ‘the cane’ raised many questions.

The visit was a terrific conclusion to our History investigation into the past, as we considered how everyday life can change over time.

Mrs Sarah Parsons

Year 5 have been immersing themselves in Aboriginal history and culture, as well as the outdoors. Last week, the students spent time learning about the life of Truganini and the importance of National Sorry Day, before they walked up the Truganini Track as part of their Outdoor Education program. The morning walk was fabulous with wonderful opportunities to learn about the local flora and fauna as the girls climbed up to the Mount Nelson Signal Station. Completing the walk on Friday 26 May enabled the group to make relevant connections to National Sorry Day and the beautiful outdoors around Fahan.

Mrs Susan Wright and Mrs Ursula Dalton

On 2 June, Year 6 students travelled to the Mount Nelson Sustainability Centre, and learnt how to care for, and look after, country with cool fires, and how Tasmanian Indigenous peoples survived in our harsh environment.

We split into two groups, Blue Gums and Banksias. The Banksia group was first to listen to and discuss cool fires and to make shelters for animals to survive and live in. The shelters were made from sticks and anything we could find in the bush. After we created the shelter, we had to think of what type of animal could live in the little hut and if it could survive any weather conditions. The Blue Gums were with Ruth discussing how our Indigenous ancestors ate and kept warm by using native fauna and flora sustainably.

During the last hour, we wandered up to a peaceful clearing where we relaxed for around forty minutes drawing and writing. We all appreciated our time at the Sustainability Centre. Amelie Dobson

It was a wonderful day with fun activities. Eleanor Baxter

It was fun when we got to make huts or nests for animals. I also enjoyed drawing and writing about what was around me. Niamh Hunter

Be A Voice For Generations

In Library, as part of National Reconciliation Week, we studied handprints. We firstly looked at bright, colourful handprints using acrylics. The students could all recall printing their hands for a special occasion. We also looked at ancient handprints, stencilled on rock walls with ochre by Indigenous people. We thought about where Aboriginal people would source ‘paint’ for their hand stencils and learnt about the method Aboriginal people used to make the stencils. Students made connections between the uniqueness of handprints and the significance of handprints in time immemorial. Afterwards, we stencilled our own hands and created stunning artwork with scratch art materials.

Older students discussed this year’s National Reconciliation Week artwork and theme, A Voice for Generations. Artist, Danielle Leedie Gray, Bidjara and Wakka Wakka woman said, ‘I wanted my artwork to complement the theme and reflect the fact that, as a country, we need to work together in unity, and allow everyone to have a voice so we can all feel at home.’ Year 5 student, Evie explained, ‘The Voice to Parliament is about trying to have a group of Aboriginal people having a Voice in Parliament and having a say in issues that affect Aboriginal people.

On Friday, Kindergarten students travelled to Hutchins Junior School Library to share stories and songs celebrating Indigenous culture and literature.

Mrs Meg Denman

Junior School students were thrilled to welcome children's author, Yvette Poshoglian, to Fahan last week. Yvette talked about books from her very popular series Ella and Olivia, providing background information from Starry Night, and her latest book, The New Baby. We were also lucky to see the cover of the next book in the series - but we are keeping that under our hat!

Yvette shared her love of stories, acknowledging our first storytellers in lutruwita during National Reconciliation Week. She also discussed elements of narrative, showed images of her gorgeous Schnoodle, Archie, and invited the students to show off a few dance moves!

Thank you, Yvette Poshoglian! We love your books!

Mrs Meg Denman

Year 3 students had a fabulous excursion to Snug Falls on Wednesday, as part of their Outdoor Education Program. The weather was beautiful and the track was not nearly as muddy as we had expected it to be! The girls loved identifying different types of fungi and plants along the walk. Once at the waterfall, we had lunch, and enjoyed exploring and simply watching the water cascading down!

We felt so grateful to be able to visit such a stunning place. Thank you to Mr Firth and Daisy Maning for a wonderful experience!

Mrs Nicole Bury

Digital Technology

On 6 June, Year 4 visited the Digital Technology Hub. In Digital Technology we have been making really cool musical instruments with Makey Makey. First, we drew our instruments. Then we coloured them and cut them out. We then poked some split pins into our instruments and attached wires onto the instruments. Then we plugged the end of the wire into our Chrome Books, and we connected it on Scratch and coded the sound of the instrument. We were able to play our instrument by lightly pressing the split pins. We could make up any songs we wanted. It was so much fun.

By Charlotte Crowell and Hailey Zhang

Science

On 7 June, our Scientist in School Scientist, Dr Clive McMahon, visited us. He talked to us about his work with the United Nations on Antarctic animals like seals turtles, krill and phytoplankton. He also brought along a transmitter that people made in Scotland that he told us he used tracks seals in Antarctica, and he has just started tracking turtles in Northern Australia. The tracker is superglued to the seal and turtle’s head. He also showed us the tracking of the seals in real time. Apparently, they give some of the turtles and seals names like Tilly and Pete. He also told us about the water level and temperature. It was very fun. Thank you Dr Clive for visiting us.

By Claire Costelloe and Sofia Nimmervoll

Learning about Diversity

This term in Year 8 Health, we have been learning about stereotypes, diversity and minority groups. We have explored topics such as the gender pay gap, equity in sport and awareness of neurodiversity. We have investigated how these groups have been treated in the past and how we can advocate for them a better, more equal future. Our task was to create a logo that would advocate for a certain minority group. People chose topics such as race inequality, gender inequality and neurodiversity. Some learnings from this unit are:

I've learnt how stereotypes can have a big impact on gender roles. Lola Wills

This task made me realise that we are so lucky we live in a community with so many opportunities for girls to play sport on an equal level to boys in a safe and nurturing environment. Sarah Berner

I've learnt that there are so many people and groups discriminated against for stuff that doesn’t even matter. Evelyn Bullard

By Ula Lagden

Making Popping Boba Balls

On Wednesday of Week 6, our Year 9 Science class was lucky enough to participate in a prac to make popping boba balls, as a part of our chemical reactions unit. The pearls we made were small fruit pearls that consist of fruit juice, with a thin lining around them. When you bite down on popping pearls they explode in your mouth, hence the name. They are growing increasingly popular and can be found in the southeast Asian drink, bubble tea.

To start the practical lesson, we met in the Food Technology Hub. In pairs, we started by creating a mixture of calcium chloride and lukewarm water. We then slowly and gradually combined sodium alginate and water to create a base for the pearls. Once the sodium alginate was combined to create a thick, smooth paste, we mixed in a fruit juice of our choice. We had the options of mango nectar, apple juice and pineapple juice. We found that the most successful and delicious combination was a mix of three parts mango juice and one part apple juice. All the groups who used pineapple juice ended up with a sticky, thick, mess. This may have been due to the presence of an enzyme that breaks down proteins in the alginate. We then piped small droplets of the juice mixture into the calcium carbonate mixture, resulting in a chemical reaction called spherification. We then drained the calcium carbonate mixture and washed the popping pearls.

We were lucky enough to have a range of juices and soft drinks to mix our popping pearls with. We truly had a mixed bag of results. Some were delicious, whereas others, such as the pineapple variety, were not. If we had the opportunity to do this experiment again, we would reduce the amount of sodium alginate to make a smoother popping pearl.

Afterwards, we wrote down the chemical equation and balanced it, noticing that the calcium and the sodium atoms swapped places attaching to the alginate, before and after the reaction.

Overall, the prac was both fun and exciting and we can't wait to try it again, no matter how they turned out!

By Ivy and Yani (9O)

On Wednesday 31 May, students and staff were delighted to welcome performer, Bernard Mangakahia, to Fahan Junior School. Bernard presented his latest show, Kia Toa – Resilience.

At a young age, Bernard travelled the world to discover his own heritage. He had a passion to understand the strengths, wisdom and knowledge of his ancestors. He believes once knowledge is gained, it must be passed on in a creative, fun and respectful way.

Through rhyme, rap and dance, Bernard shared many stories from his own family. This prompted the students to think about their ability to bounce back. Bernard reminded us that we gain resilience when we:

keep trying little bit by little bit
rise each time you fall
hold on to our dreams
never, ever give up!
keep working towards our dreams
accept help from others

Mrs Meg Denman

The second round of the Junior Independent School Debating Competition was held on Wednesday 24 May. This was hosted by Fahan School in the Junior School classrooms and we thank the Years 3-6 teachers for setting up the rooms for the event. The Year 5 and Year 6 students managed to field all four of our teams, even though some Year 6 students were busy with rehearsals for the Junior School musical. The topic for the debate was that Competitive sport should be banned in Schools. The event was a wonderful success with six different schools participating and fourteen teams working hard to persuade the adjudicators that their team was more convincing.

The Junior School was very fortunate to have the support of some wonderful Senior School students who volunteered their time to assist with the important job of adjudicating the debates. Thank you to Verity Leonard, Talia Lynch, Sophie Bradfield, Poppy Leditschke, Zara Marino, Tess Lawson, Emma Thompson, Yalda Sadeghi and Ella Atkins for their support and adjudication skills.

Thank you to everyone involved. The Junior School debaters were incredibly proud to be hosting the debates at Fahan.

Mrs Susan Wright

Spirit of the Big Ideas Challenge

On 6 June, fourteen Year 6 students represented Fahan in the Big Ideas Challenge at St Michael's Collegiate.

To attend the event, Mrs Steel and Mrs Heather asked us to write down why we should attend and what would be a future job different from today. Then they had to read all submissions to select the fourteen students. There were so many great ideas to choose from which made it difficult.

During the day we worked in groups with different schools and made new friends. We did a heap of fun tasks and learnt how to design and produce ideas raised from our problem. We had many opportunities to share our opinions about everyone's ideas.

Some ideas from the day were: an EPERB for surfers (winner), eClothing (recycling), Sports for the underprivileged, iCam (for cars) for wildlife and many more.

Here are some comments from the day:

Today there was lots of teamwork and I enjoyed meeting new people. Poppy Davies

I enjoyed how we came up with a range of ideas instead of sticking with one. Caroline

I liked how we got to expand to make it feel more realistic. Bonnie

As Harper said, it was a really good experience and I hope to do it again.

We are going to lead our own version of this event with our Year 6 classmates later this term.

By Milla Gorringe

Spirit of Outdoor Education in Year 9

During Week 6, the Year 9 Outdoor Ed elective classes combined for a day trip to the Meehan Ranges. We spent the day riding the tracks and making hot chocolates on the Trangia’s in preparation for our upcoming camp.

The whole class enjoyed the experience, and the recently upgraded tracks were lots of fun! We are all looking forward to bringing our families there for more rides.

By Tiger and Jaden

On Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 May, our Year 6 students staged four enchanting performances of Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical JR. Packed with high-energy dance numbers and catchy songs, the students thrilled and delighted their audiences with the story of a special little girl with an extraordinary imagination. From the very first note to the final bow, these talented young actors delivered stunning performances, bringing the beloved characters to life with their energy, passion and dedication, evident in every scene. They were superbly supported by the Year 5 choir who relished their involvement and made it a truly memorable experience for all involved.

A huge round of applause also goes to the dedication and creativity of all the staff involved in this performance. Below are the some thoughts from the students.

Recently in Year 6 we performed Matilda the Musical JR. It took a while to get started on the musical, but we got there. When we found out our roles most of us were thrilled, and we all ended up enjoying the characters we got. Even if you weren't in a scene, you still had to be a part of the team and help out with things. We had Wednesday rehearsals every week after school so that the people that were needed in specific scenes could practice them. Here is what others thought of the musical experience:

Eliza/Bruce - It was a tiring experience, but I knew it would be worth it.

Eleanor/ Hortensia - I thought it was very handy to have this experience. It boosted my confidence a lot and that kind of thing helped me get to know a lot of people who I don’t normally spend much time with.

Milla/Tommy - I really enjoyed building my singing, dancing and acting skills.

Before the performances most of us were nervous but once we got started, we weren’t nervous anymore. The musical was an exciting and eventful experience that we will never forget.

by Evie Essex and Charlotte Kratz

This year, Arts Week was held from 5-9 June, with an activity held each day.

The week started with an Arts Kahoot! featuring questions about famous paintings, dance, and trivia. On Tuesday we had Art Around the School with a botanical theme where everyone gathered around the deck and drew beautiful flowers and nature with chalk. Wednesday was the Arts Appreciation Concert where anyone could share their talent. The show consisted of girls singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments. On Thursday, the Lip Sync Battle was held, which is the funniest event in the whole School. It included a teacher’s group that danced to You Can’t Stop the Beat, which was an incredible performance. The winning group was Lawsons Creek, a Year 12 group with a bit of a twist! On Friday we had Dress Up Day where each year level dressed as a different decade, and there were some incredible outfits. Also at lunch on Friday was the Dance Party where everyone had a great time.

It was an incredibly fun week for everyone with a lot of entertaining activities.

Sienna Woodford
Arts Chair

Junior School Cross Country

The Junior House Cross Country was finally conducted across the course of Friday 2 and Monday 5 June. Below is a summary of the results from the day and a squad has now commenced training for the JSSATIS and Symmons Plains events.

Thursday 15 June – JSSATIS Cross Country

Venue: Rokeby Police Academy
Time: First race 12:00pm, last race 1:30pm
(top 8 runners from House Carnival long course + 2 reserves)

NB: Race in year groups.

Tuesday 27 June – Primary All Schools Cross Country

Venue: Symmons Plains
Time: First race 11:25am, last race 1:05pm
(any interested runner who commits to training. Bus departs Fahan at 7:45am)

NB: Race in age groups.

Mr Tim Dale
Junior Sport Coordinator
dalet@fahan.tas.edu.au

Cross Country

Best wishes to all athletes representing Fahan in the Tasmanian All Schools Cross Country at Symmons Plains on Tuesday 20 June. This is a familiar course to many runners but for others it will be their first time. We know that all our representatives will do their very best and we look forward to sharing the results. All team members have been sent an EdSmart notice with details for the day. There is also information about the event and course maps on the Tree on the Senior Sports page.

Australian Rules Football

The First Grade Australian Rules Football team have now completed the roster. Congratulations to all players for a fantastic season. Our Fahan team played great football throughout the roster and were determined, strong and spirited. They were focused and always gave their best effort. A huge thank you goes to Leigh Crosby who has coached the team, always encouraging and pushing them to give their best. We now look forward to the Years 9/10 AFL roster in Term 3.

Winter Sports Day

Winter Sports Day will take place on Wednesday 5 July. This is always an exciting day with lots of House spirit and plenty of House competition! Students will participate for their House in chosen sports:

AFL
Netball
Dodgeball
Diamond Cricket
Flags
Run the Gauntlet
Volleyball

A highlight of Winter Sports Day is always the Year 12 Students v Teachers soccer game at lunchtime. This year the students will be trying to win back the trophy from the teachers who were too strong in 2021 and 2022! The tug-of-war is the final event for the day and is another exciting and competitive event!

Inter House Swimming Carnival

The Inter House Swimming Carnival will take place in Week 2 of Term 3 on Thursday 3 August. It will be held at The Doone Kennedy Hobart Aquatic Centre from 9:30am – 3:00pm. All students from Year 7 to Year 12 are to attend the Carnival.

All students are expected to swim in an event and anyone unable to swim on the day due to injury or sickness is to email or send a letter from their parents to their Pastoral Care Teacher. An EdSmart notice will be sent to parents/carers and students at the end of the term with information about the Carnival.

Parents wishing to attend the Carnival are most welcome for all or part of the day. If you would like to spend some time helping, please email me.

Mrs Jo Banks-Smith
Senior Sport Co-ordinator
bankssmithj@fahan.tas.edu.au
0428 031 012

Community - Save the Date - P&F Dinner

The P&F Dinner will be held on Saturday 26 August and invitations will be sent next week.

Community - What is the NCCD?

What is the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)?

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

year of schooling
category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact Stephanie Hogan (Coordinator of Academic Support) at hogans@fahan.tas.edu.au.

2024 Term Dates

2024 Term Dates have been finalised and are available through the link on the left panel of the newsletters, the School website, Fahan App (under links on the bottom right hand corner) and below.

2024_Term_Dates.pdf

Community - Student Absence

Notification of student absence as a result of illness should be emailed to absence@fahan.tas.edu.au, advised by telephone on 6225 1064 or submitted through the Fahan App.

You are reminded that if foreseen absences are unavoidable, such as holidays during term time, a Request for Absence form should be completed and returned to the School.

Community Notices

Fahan School Uniform Purchases

The Uniform Shop is open for appointments during the following times:

Tuesdays: 8:30am - 4:00pm
Thursdays: 11:30am -4:00pm

Parents are able to make an appointment via email for a fitting uniformshop@fahan.tas.edu.au. Students may visit the Uniform Shop during recess, at lunch time, or after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Fahan School uniform items can be ordered through the Flexischools website or App (Apple of Google). All uniform orders placed via the Flexischools App will be delivered to Reception for Senior School orders and to the classrooms for Junior School orders on Tuesdays and Thursdays during term time. Please allow two days notice for delivery of orders placed before 4:00pm (three days for orders placed after 4:00pm).

Canteen online orders are taken before school through the Flexischools website or App.
A variety of foods are offered and healthy, nutritional choices are encouraged. Parents can also load money onto a student's ID card through the Flexischools App so that students from Year 3 may use their student card to purchase items from the canteen.

Flexischools Website

Fahan School Bus Service

For more information on the Fahan Bus Service, please click here.

A Fortnight at Fahan - Term 2, 9 June 2023

Principal's Report

Learning about Sustainability in Pre-Kinder

Learning about History in Year 1

Learning about Aboriginal History and Culture in Year 5

Learning about Sustainability

Learning about National Reconciliation Week

Learning about Yvette Poshoglian

Learning about the Outdoors in Year 3

Learning in Year 4

Learning about Diversity

Learning about Chemical Reactions in Science

Spirit of Nexus Arts Performance - Kia Toa - Resilience

Spirit of Junior School Debating

Spirit of the Big Ideas Challenge

Spirit of Outdoor Education in Year 9

Spirit of Performance - Matilda the Musical JR.

Spirit of Arts Week

Spirit - Junior School Sport

Spirit - Senior School Sport

Community - Save the Date - P&F Dinner

Community - What is the NCCD?

2024 Term Dates

Community - Student Absence

Community Notices

Fahan School Uniform Purchases

Fahan School Bus Service