Dear families,

As Term 3 comes to a close, I want to take a moment to celebrate what has been a really positive and busy term for our school community. Our values of connection, courage, growth, respect and responsibility have shone through in so many ways and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how our year is going.

One of my highlights this term has been to observe the progress we are making with reading fluency. Across the school, students are becoming more confident, expressive readers, and it’s wonderful to see them enjoying the doors that reading opens—whether that’s diving into a story, tackling new information, or sharing their ideas with others. This improvement hasn’t come by chance; it’s the result of students showing courage in their learning and teachers working with focus and care to implement rigorous practices. Please continue to encourage your young person to read to you at home; combining a mix of challenging texts and texts that they can read comfortably with a high success rate.

When students return next term, they will complete PAT (Progressive Achievement Testing) and DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) testing and monitoring in the first few weeks, which will give us a detailed insight into the impact of our teaching and the success of our strategic work this year. I look forward to sharing snippets of this data with you when I can.

As well as rich learning in the classroom, this term has also been full of extracurricular opportunities. The number of activities and the energy students have brought to them has been inspiring to watch. These moments remind us of the value of connection —coming together, trying new things, and building friendships that make school life so rich and a place that our young people are happy to come to every day.

When risk management plans come across my desk for approval, I am often left in wonder at the breadth of opportunities offered to Campbell Town DHS. I want to thank our staff for the energy and dedication they’ve poured into creating these opportunities to ensure our students don’t miss out by the nature of our regional school.

Last Wednesday I was able to find time in my calendar to join our Grade 3s on their excursion to Hollybank Treetops Adventure. This is an incredible venue and our staff and students were very well looked-after by staff there. The one thing I really loved about this day is that it was an opportunity for each young person to challenge themselves and experience growth. With grit and courage, some students overcame their initial reluctance and were soon climbing, swinging and ziplining through the trees. I heard students and staff encouraging each other and could see that even though they are currently split across two separate classes, our Grade 3 cohort is a very cohesive and supportive group.

I wish you and your family a safe and restful term break and I look forward to working with you again in Term 4.

David Bryant,

Acting Principal