Term 3 has been a busy and productive time at Wynyard High School, as our students continue working with their teachers to consolidate learning from the first half of the year.

We began the term by welcoming Year 6 students and their families to our Parent Information Evening. It was fantastic to see so many new faces, as well as families who have had siblings attend our school in the past. The evening was a great opportunity to showcase what Wynyard High has to offer and to begin building strong connections with our future students.

We were also privileged to host 12 young people from Kinmen Island as part of our cultural exchange program. This was an incredible opportunity for our students to engage with peers from another culture, share experiences, and broaden their global understanding. On behalf of everyone at Wynyard High School, I would like to sincerely thank all the families who opened their homes and provided accommodation for our exchange students. A big thank you also goes to our students for warmly welcoming our guests and to those who took on the role of buddies—your kindness and hospitality made a real difference.

Additionally, we received our 2025 NAPLAN reports this term. Our teaching teams are currently using this valuable feedback to provide targeted support for students and to inform strategies for extending others. Families will have received more detailed information about these standardised tests at home.

Some key highlights from our NAPLAN data include:

• Year 9 Numeracy: 74% of students achieved medium to high growth—above the average of similar schools.
• Year 7 Spelling: 7% more students achieved at or above the developing standard compared to similar schools.
• Year 7 Numeracy: 2% more students achieved at or above the developing standard compared to similar schools.
• Year 9 Reading: 24% of students demonstrated high growth—significantly higher than similar schools.

These results reflect the hard work of our students and the commitment of our staff to continuous improvement. We are proud of these achievements and will continue to build on them.

Looking ahead, one of the highlights of the term will be our Evening of the Arts—a celebration of creativity, talent, and expression across the school. All the best to the staff and students involved in bringing this special event to life. We cannot wait to see the results of your hard work and passion.

Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our school community.

We are rolling out the red carpet once again for our highly anticipated Evening of the Arts! This year’s theme, inspired by The Greatest Showman, promises a spectacular celebration of creativity, individuality, and show-stopping talent. Audiences can expect an unforgettable evening filled with music, drama, dance, and visual art that showcases the incredible talents of our students. Whether you joined us last year or are attending for the first time, this is an event not to be missed. Performances will take place on Wednesday, 24 and Thursday, 25 September, and are open to the public. For more information and to secure your seats, please follow the link. Evening of the Arts - Bookings

We encourage all parents and guardians to book a time to meet with their child’s teachers on Wednesday, 17 September from 3:20pm to 6:00pm. This is a valuable opportunity to discuss your child’s progress and learning.
Please book your appointment via the following link: Parent/Teacher Booking Link

The SEC is excited to host our first school social in many years, taking place on Thursday, 19 September from 6:30pm to 9:00pm.

Students who have consistently demonstrated our school values and expectations are warmly invited to join us for an evening of fun, games, and celebration. The theme for the night is Country and Western, so dust off your boots and hats and get ready to embrace the spirit of the Wild West!

Entry is free, and the SEC will be selling food and drinks throughout the evening. More details will be shared very soon.

On Friday 25 July, we welcomed 12 young students and two chaperones from Kinmen Island. The students stayed with local families, and we are extremely grateful for the amazing care and support the Kinmen students received. Each Kinmen student was allocated two WHS buddies to look after them for the three weeks

During their time at Wynyard High, the Kinmen students had some amazing experiences including:

• Joining classes with our senior students
• Participating in English as a Second Language classes
• Joining the Connection through Community for a cultural immersion lesson at Boat Harbour
• Visiting Dip Falls, Stanley and climbed the Nut with 9A and 9B
• Visited Wings Wildlife Park and Gunns Plains Caves with 9/10 POL Hospitality
• Participating in the after-school badminton sessions
• Spending an evening eating pizza and playing games
• Travelling to Ulverstone with their buddies to meet up with the other Kinmen students who are being hosted by other schools on the coast
• Having dinner at the Burger Bar with their Home Stay families
• Having lunch with their buddies, catered by the 9/10 Hospitality and Tourism class.

The visit was a wonderful experience for both our students and our Kinmen Island visitors, and it was obvious that some great friendships have been formed. The highlight for many of the Kinmen students was how kind and caring Wynyard High students and staff are.

We thank our buddies for the care and attention they showed our Kinmen students. We would also thank the wider school community for making our visitors so welcome.  Our sincere thanks to our host families, without you we could not be part of this wonderful program.

Tuesday, 12 August was no ordinary school day! Our buddy students joined visitors from Kinmen Island in Ulverstone for an action-packed cultural exchange. Students from Burnie High, Reece High, Devonport High and Latrobe High came along too, making it a huge day of fun and friendship.                          

The morning kicked off with a scavenger hunt, where mixed teams raced around solving clues and completing challenges. After that, it was time to hit the oval for an Aussie Rules clinic — plenty of laughs, some great marks, and a few fresh skills learned along the way!                                                             

The highlight of the day was the massive game of Capture the Flag: Kinmen Island team vs Tasmanian team. Everyone gave it their all, and the cheering, running and dodging made it a game to remember.

By the end of the day, new friendships were formed, and lots of great memories made. We are so excited that four of our Wynyard High students will get the chance to visit Kinmen Island in October — we cannot wait to hear all about their adventure!

Earlier this term, the Wynyard High School Packages of Learning Hospitality class, together with twelve student visitors from Kinmen Island, enjoyed an exciting excursion to Wings Wildlife Park and the Gunns Plains Caves.                             

The day began with a tour of Wings Wildlife Park, where students were able to see a variety of Tasmanian animals up close, including native marsupials, birds, and reptiles. It was a great opportunity for our visitors to experience Australia’s unique wildlife while learning about the important role conservation plays in protecting these species.

In the afternoon, the group explored the Gunns Plains Caves. The caves’ spectacular limestone formations and underground river left everyone in awe. Students were fascinated by the natural history of the caves and the way they have formed over thousands of years.                                                                

The excursion gave both Wynyard and Kinmen students the chance to learn together outside the classroom, building friendships while experiencing some of Tasmania’s natural wonders. It was a memorable day full of learning, adventure, and cultural exchange.

Packages of Learning Hospitality and Hospitality and Catering classes prepped, served, designed and printed menus to create a delicious luncheon for the Kinmen Island students and their buddies.

The SEC hosted a vibrant Book Week parade on Thursday 21 August, celebrating this year’s theme: "Book an Adventure." Students and staff enthusiastically embraced the spirit of the day, showcasing an array of creative and thoughtfully crafted costumes inspired by their favourite stories and characters.

It was clear that a great deal of time and effort went into each outfit, and the results were nothing short of spectacular. A big thank you to everyone who participated and helped make the event such a memorable celebration of reading and imagination.

Last week we completed an industry visit and work experience at Cape View Nursery. A big thankyou to Kristy, Susan and Matt for their time and expertise. We learned a lot and enjoyed our day.

Horticulture students are completing a unitbon plant trees and shrubs. We completed a workshop with Kelly Millikins revegetating native trees which are endemic to the region.

On Tuesday, 22 July, we hosted our annual Parent Information Evening for Year 6 students and their families—a night we always look forward to. This event is a highlight on our calendar, providing a chance to showcase the incredible opportunities offered at Wynyard High School. Families enjoyed a variety of engaging activities, from sampling student-made treats to playing 9-square and exploring student work samples.

The evening also offered a valuable opportunity for our staff and student leaders to start forming connections with our incoming cohort. We were thrilled to welcome our newest students and their families, and we look forward to celebrating their journey over the next four years. The positive feedback we received from the community reflects the pride and commitment of our staff and students.

Year 6 students from our feeder schools have been actively participating in our Transition Program. As part of this initiative, a tailored Transition Plan has been developed for each student.

Recently, students attended an ‘Introduction to Wynyard High School’ session, which included engaging lessons in STEM, Physical Education, Drama, Art, and MDT. This gave students a taste of what to expect in Year 7 and helped them begin building strong connections with our teaching staff. We are excited to continue working closely with this future cohort, with more visits and activities planned in the coming months.

The 2025 School Satisfaction Survey is coming!
We want to hear from you, as input from families is very important to help us inform our schoolplanning and decision-making. Every year the Department for Education, Children and Young People
conducts a School Satisfaction Survey to find out what your child(ren)'s school does well and where it
may improve.
We would be grateful if you took part in our online survey about Wynyard High School.
The survey is open from Monday 25 August 2025 until Friday 19 September 2025 and should take
about 5 minutes to complete.
Each family should nominate one person to fill in this survey for their child(ren).
Take the online survey by clicking this link, or pasting it in your browser:
https://nam.dcv.ms/YQnUeqDTty
The survey is carried out on a secure website and all responses are anonymous and confidential.
All families in this school received the same survey link and no identifying information is collected. A
summary of the survey results will be provided to schools. Responses from individuals or small
groups will NOT be disclosed to any Department for Education, Children and Young People staff.
Please contact your school if you require any assistance.
Thank you for taking the time to fill in this survey.

Are you a young person from regional Australia who is passionate about advocating for your
community? Country to Canberra wants to hear from you!
Country to Canberra’s national Leadership Competition is open for 2025 - empowering young
women and non-binary people aged 15 to18 years from regional Australia to reach their
leadership potential.
Winners will receive an all expenses paid trip to Canberra, where they will mingle with CEOs
and politicians, receive career coaching, public speaking training, and networking opportunities
to accelerate their leadership journey.
Previous winners have had private meetings with the Prime Minister and other politicians, been
trained by TEDx speakers, and completed media training to appear on TV!
Is this you or someone you know? Head to
this website to find out more

Youth, Family and Community Connections (YFCC) is currently seeking nominations for the 2025 Inspiring Youth Awards, an annual event that celebrates exceptional young people aged 13–18 from the North West Coast of Tasmania who make a real difference in their communities—often without recognition.

We would greatly appreciate your support in spreading the word within your workplaces. There are now only two weeks left to nominate, with nominations closing on September 3rd, 2025.

This is a fantastic opportunity to shine a light on students who show leadership, kindness, resilience, or who contribute positively to others in meaningful ways.

? How to Nominate:
Nominations can be made easily via the YFCC website, or directly by scanning the QR code on the attached poster.

YFCC Website

Active travel means walking, cycling, scootering, skateboarding or any similar transport where human energy is spent to travel. The health benefits of active travel are well recognised, particularly as an alternative to motorised or sedentary forms of transport. Using public transport almost always includes walking to and from destinations, and therefore also can be considered as active travel. 

Active travel can also make a significant impact on carbon emissions. Cycling, e-biking or walking can help tackle the climate crisis, even if you swap the car for active travel just one day a week - according to a first of its kind, 2021 UK study. 

“We found that those who switch just one trip per day from car driving to cycling reduce their carbon footprint by about 0.5 tonnes over a year.” 

Walking or biking to school is an early experience and obvious opportunity for ‘utility cycling’ which is cycling for transport and not just for fun. Utility cycling regularly through childhood typically leads to higher rates of walking and cycling for daily trips into adulthood. It is therefore valuable for encouraging a longer-term, city and potentially state or nation-wide modal shift towards more active mobility. 

Since children learn by example, and parents and carers can be powerful role models, we are taking this opportunity to ask parents and carers about their school commutes and opportunities for active travel to and from school.  

Safe and Active Routes to School Survey 

This survey helps us to learn more about how you/your children travel to and from school, why you choose to travel this way and your day-to-day experiences regarding safety and movement. The survey is targeting the Wynyard and Somerset community of schools, but anyone in the Waratah-Wynyard LGA can provide answers. 

We will use this information to help inform future decision-making around infrastructure improvements and other measures we can all use as a community to share the streets.  

Your participation is voluntary. The survey should take around 5-10 minutes to complete. 

Link to survey: https://forms.office.com/r/ayyaHXEYiZ 

Wednesday, 27 August - Whole School Assembly

Friday, 29 August - Year 7 and 8 Badminton Gala

Wednesday, 24 September - Evening of the Arts

Thursday, 25 September - Evening of the Arts

Friday, 26 September - Whole School Assembly

Thursday, 4 September - Battle of the Houses

Thursday, 11 September - Hellyer Enrolment Day

Wednesday, 17 September - Parent/Teacher Meetings

Friday, 26 September - Term 3 End

Monday, 6 October - Students Leave for Kinmen Island

Monday, 13 October - Term 4 Start

Tuesday, 21 October - Opitions Evening (Years 7, 8, 9) 

Monday, 3 November - Public Holiday

Thursday, 13 November - Athletics Carnival

Friday, 14 November - Athletics Carnival

Wednesday, 26 November - Inter-High Athletics

Monday, 1 December - English Symposium (selected Year 9 and Year 10 students)

Tuesday, 2 December - English Symposium (selected Year 9 and Year 10 students)

Wednesday, 3 December - Year 6 Orientation Day

Wednesday, 3 December - Hellyer College Orientation Day

Thursday, 11 December - Year 10 Celebration Dinner

Friday, 12 December - Community Involvement Day

Tuesday, 16 December - Presentation Evening

Wednesday, 16 December - School Picnic

Thursday, 18 December - Final Assembly

Friday, 19 December - Term 4 End

Starting Term 3, students and staff are no longer be allowed to use mobile phones to make purchases at the canteen.

• Only physical cards will be accepted via EFTPOS
• No tap payments using phones

Please note this decision has not been made locally—it follows DECYP's policy.

Lunch orders must be placed by 9:00am by using the Qkr! App or at the canteen. There are extra specials daily, please check to Qkr! App for availability. 

The Qkr! App isn’t just for canteen orders — it’s also a handy tool for making one-off school payments, such as for the School Magazine or Celebration Dinner. Having the app installed makes it easy to manage these occasional payments quickly and securely. You’ll find step-by-step instructions on how to download and use the Qkr! App below.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Schoolzine App remains an essential tool for staying connected with everything happening at school. From excursions and permission slips to important letters and newsletters, it keeps all communications in one convenient place. With Schoolzine, you’ll never miss a key update or event.

However, in our ongoing efforts to streamline communication and reduce the number of platforms you need to monitor, we will be gradually transitioning from Schoolzine to EdSmart as our primary communication tool.

You may already be familiar with EdSmart, as it’s currently used to send automatic notifications about student absences. Over the coming months, EdSmart will be used more broadly to deliver school messages, newsletters, and excursion letters/permissions.

Most communications will still arrive via email, but they will now be sent through EdSmart rather than Schoolzine. In some cases, you may also receive messages via SMS.

⚠️ Please note: Schoolzine will continue to be used for the remainder of this year. It’s still important to check the app regularly to ensure you don’t miss any updates or events.

Starting next year, all school communications will be sent exclusively through EdSmart.

School uniforms are no longer available to be purchased at school. Cassovic Tasmania is a local supplier who was awarded the contract to supply Wynyard High School with school uniforms.

To order uniforms, please contact Paul on 0419 247 249 or by using the link below

For a quarter of a century the Harcourts Burnie 321-Go Kids’ Race has been offering children a chance to get healthy as well as having loads of fun.

This year’s event will be held at West Park on Sunday November 16.

Parents can take advantage of a special early bird registration fee of $15 per person up until Friday September 12. After that date the fee will be $18.

Families can register up to six children, as long as they all appear on the same Medicare card, but will only pay for the first three.

Races will be held in the categories of  7 and under, 10 and under and 13 and under for both boys and girls. There will also be an All-Abilities event which has an entry fee of $5, and children can be registered on the day for the free Lap for Littlies, for 4-year-olds.

 There will be some additional features too, including:

• A $500 sports equipment prize for the primary school with the highest participation rate.
• Lucky draws for new bikes for new bikes for each age group supported by Caterpillar Underground Mining.
• Medals for our 9th year runners.
• Heaps of giveaways on the day plus the usual food and entertainment.

You can register for the event by visiting www.321go.com.au and clicking on the register here tab in the top right corner of the home page.

We are super excited to announce that our School’s Team Competition is back for this year’s edition of the Strait Link Burnie 10! We launched this on social media last night (please see the attached post)

We’re offering more prizes than ever this year, and every school is a chance to win:
- Biggest School Team: $1,000 cash (bank transfer)
- School Spot Prizes: 2 x $250 vouchers to Burnie SportsPower

Giving your school a chance to win is easy! Simply enter any event – from our Liv Eat 800m Kids’ Dash, to the Elphinstone 5km, right up to the Strait Link Burnie 10 – and join your school team when you register.

School office hours are from 8:15am - 3:30pm, Monday to Friday.

Just a reminder that our phone number (SMS only) for students that are/will be absent is 0448 098 383. This number is for TXT notifications only and will not be answered by voice.

You can also be reported absences through the link on the top of this newsletter, or the Schoolzine app.

Wynyard High School

30 Church Street

WYNYARD TAS 7325

0364 422 385

wynyard.high@decyp.tas.gov.au