The Department of State Growth is seeking feedback on proposed changes to urban bus routes and timetables operated by Merseylink within the Devonport and Latrobe urban areas. This is part of a state-wide review of bus services across Tasmania.
This review affects the general access network which some students catch to and from school and some student-only services which operate within the Devonport and Latrobe urban areas.
A separate review is also being undertaken in relation to student-only services, which operate from rural areas into Devonport and Latrobe schools/colleges. At this stage, there is expected to be little or no change to these services. If any changes are proposed, consultation on these will occur during a separate process.
The urban bus review has been informed by analysis of patronage, catchments, routes and times.
Under the changes, there may be a need for students to change buses at Rooke Street in Devonport. Some school routes are also proposed to be combined or removed, as the number of students using the service is very low.
In producing the new timetables and route maps, State Growth has ensured students are dropped off no more than 30 minutes before school starts and are picked up at the end of the day, within a reasonable time.
Another change the school community should be aware of is that both the numbering of general access and school services will change.
The changes reflect the current and future demand for students in Devonport and Latrobe.
Visit www.transport.tas.gov.au/haveyoursay to review the proposed timetables and provide feedback until 27 October 2019.
I have read the Exposure Draft of the new Declaration on Educational Goals which sets out the vision for education in Australia by Australia's education ministers. Recognising that the Melbourne Declaration of 2008 has stood the test of time, the new Declaration is remarkably similar. I was struck, however, by the emphasis that the Declaration places on the associated supports that schools provide. I am pleased to share that your school is already undertaking all of these roles.
There is a growing call for senior secondary education to be seen as so much more than obtaining an ATAR. With reports over the term break that two-thirds of seniors in NSW are experiencing anxiety over the HSC (which follows similar statistics in 2018), I was encouraged to receive a paper on "transforming the transition from school to higher education, life and work". Titled Beyond ATAR: A Proposal For Change, its most attractive proposal (for me) was that a "Learner Profile" is developed that provides a way of representing the full range of attainments of young people across a broad range of domains in the 15 to 19 year developmental age range, and that tertiary education providers adopt a broader entry process (which many already do). This is in synch to the proposed Declaration, better reflects what schools like ours provide, and nurtures a broader range of learning that develops good citizens while minimising anxiety.
These two papers encourage me and give reasons to celebrate what Australia's schools, teachers, and colleague staff who work in schools are already doing.
I will keep you in my prayers.
Frank Pisano
