Doors for Mentors Launch

With the Secondary Surf Carnival postponed, four of our year 10 student leaders attended the launch of the Doors For Mentors at the Gnomon Pavilion in Ulverstone on Wednesday morning. Doors to Mentors is a community-driven mentoring program supporting young people (aged 15-24) in the Central Coast to identify and achieve their aspirations. The concept was developed as part of the 100 Day Challenge, a Beacon Foundation/Central Coast Council partnership to engage key stakeholders, including Penguin students, to create a project that would create ‘real’ community impact. The result is that 100 mentors were recruited in the 100 days following the initial workshops. We will continue to keep the community updated on future progress and opportunities to be involved.

WeDoFoGo

This year has been named the International Year of Plant Health by the United Nations, encouraging us to pause and reflect on our actions and the impact of healthy plants and forests on food security, poverty, economic development, and sustainability. As a school, we know that we need to lead the way in creating social change in the community. During the year you will see a change in the waste habits at school, starting with us reaching out to Central Coast Council to increase our provision of recycling bins and requesting FOGO (Food Organics Garden Organics) bins. This builds on a number of inquiries from our primary classes last year and active parents offering to set up soft plastic collection points at school.

Changes to Bus Routes

I’ve enjoyed a few trips as a passenger sitting in the front seat of our school bus services recently. My intention is to travel on each of the school services over the next few weeks, starting with those that have had changes to the bus routes. The bus routes and contracts are managed by the Department of State Growth, however, we understand that the school is the best place for gathering information and feedback about the current structure. Thank you to the parents that have provided some thoughts already. I ask that parents continue to do so, as we will be able to table this at our School Association if there is a need for the current routes and timetable to be reviewed. Email feedback can go to penguin.district.school@education.tas.gov.au

International Women’s Day

As a school, each year our grade 5-12 female students come together to listen to a guest speaker as we mark International Women’s Day. We are very pleased that this year we have internationally published author Rachael Treasure and professional jockey Raquel Clark.

Rachael was born and educated in Tasmania, before moving to the mainland for a large part of her life. She has gone on to publish a number of Australian bestsellers largely dealing with contemporary issues related to agriculture and life on the land, rural youth issues and relationships set within the Australian rural culture and traditions.  

Raquel is a former Penguin student that relocated to the mainland to further her career in racing. She has had more than 3000 professional starts, placed in 45% of her races and has crossed the line for 350 race wins in a highly successful career. We are honoured that both of these talented and successful Tasmanians have generously offered to share their journey and insights with our girls.