From the School’s earliest days, we have been committed to providing excellent education opportunities for students. During the first fortnight of our 175th year, we have held true to this in a myriad of ways.
Advances with Aviation
This evening we open a new Aviation space at the Senior Campus which is unique in Tasmania, if not Australia. One of the School’s oldest buildings has been renewed to provide our community with a dedicated workshop and flight simulator room for our aviation classes. The space will help to support the growing demand for students to see how their Science and Mathematics comes together in a real-world context. In quite a spectacular way, the contribution of School alumni to Australia’s aviation history is also spotlighted to inspire our students as they look to the future and consider how they will serve and shape our world.
Nurturing Creativity
An equally exciting and heart-warming event was the opening of Poimena Gallery’s first exhibition for 2021, The Sorrow of Black The Silence of White 1970-2020. On display until 4 March is a collection of close to one hundred pieces of art by Ryllton Viney, a former student, staff member and esteemed artist. With exhibitions continuing to be held throughout the year, I hope all families might be able to come along to at least one gallery opening in 2021.
Healthy Living
A significant focus of our sports programme is on helping students learn how to be healthy throughout their life. Opportunities such as the Running Club, our Strength and Conditioning facility and indoor heated Swimming Pool are key parts of what we have available to students to help them build their confidence and ability to stay active after some of the more contact heavy team sports are no longer an option. With this in mind, during Term 1 we are trialling opening the School pool to all students on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7:15am to 8:15am. Students are welcome to come along and use the pool for general fitness or more intensive carnival training. Some teams will also be specifically using the pool for recovery sessions. I hope to see many students making use of this offering throughout the term.
Beyond the Classroom
During the week I visited Grade 7 at Hanleth and was impressed by how quickly students had made new connections and were bravely embracing the challenges that are part of Launceston Grammar’s outdoor education programme. It was also great to see Grade 3 designing and making items in the Technology Centre, Grade 5 out at a robotic dairy as part of their unit of inquiry on how the production of commodities drives human consumption, Grade 6 participating in a special team building walk and Grade 12 Agriculture students observing a Southern Systems plant trial at Cressy. As a School we are committed to leveraging the unique opportunities which are possible from our location in Northern Tasmania and I am grateful that staff continue to seek out new ways for this to occur.
Scholarships
Registration to participate in the Academic Scholarship process closes on Friday 19 February. Applications for all other scholarships close on 1 March. Further information about scholarships is available on the Scholarships page and I encourage you to share this information with families in the wider community who might not be aware that the closing dates are quite early in the school year.
House Evenings and Fun Food Fest
It has been wonderful to catch up with many families at House Chapels and BBQs. These continue this coming week for Gillett (Monday), Wilkinson (Tuesday) and Roff (Thursday). Please do come along and enjoy a relaxed evening together in the Senior Campus quadrangle.
For all families, but particularly Junior Campus families, Fun Food Fest is set to be a terrific evening next Friday 19 February (5:30pm – 8:30pm). A range of food, activities and entertainment has been organised and I encourage all students and families both past and present to come along and enjoy this time together as a community.
Richard Ford
Headmaster
