Week 8 Term 1 2022

Dear Rosary Community

This morning I accompanied 5/6MB to Mass. It is one of the privileges of my role to spend some quiet time each week with children praying for peace, for those in need and for leaders of our world. Prayers for our world are very much needed at this time and remind us that we are people of hope.

AGM
Due to COVID restrictions we are required to move our school’s AGM to an online format. The meeting will be held at 7.00 pm on Tuesday 29th March commencing with the presentation of the School’s Master Plan by Esther Chew, our Architect from Grieve Gillett Anderson. Following Esther’s presentation there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions regarding the AGM report that has been distributed today via SchoolStream. If you would like to join the online meeting, please register by emailing Karin.Skinner@rosary.catholic.edu.au

Building Respectful Relationships
There are times at school when children will exhibit some unfriendly or disrespectful behaviours towards their peers and classroom teachers and school leadership deal with these restoratively at school, working with children and families to support each child’s social and emotional learning.

In the school’s ‘Building Respectful Relationships Policy and Procedures’, available on the Rosary School website, the dignity of the human person and our understanding of all people being created in the image of God are highlighted as fundamental to Catholic teaching. The documents also communicate our commitment to working in partnership with parents to ensure all children feel safe and happy at school. 

Over the past few weeks, it has come to my attention that some parents are directly messaging other parents and identifying their child as a ‘bully’. Bullying is an ongoing or repeated misuse of power in relationships, with the intention to cause deliberate psychological harm. I believe that the term ‘bully’ is often used incorrectly and is unhelpful in developing positive relationships. Using words like ‘bully’ can often suggest that it is due to unchangeable characteristics of the child involved and the label can cause further harm if a child accepts it as part of their social identity. 

We want all children and families to develop a sense of belonging and to feel safe at Rosary School.  In the ‘Building Respectful Relationships Procedures’, parents are invited to contact their child’s teacher in the first instance when they are concerned about their or another child’s behaviour. Please do not message other parents directly or label children. Should you have any concerns about your child’s wellbeing, I believe we have the capacity to work together to address any issues that do arise. Children can change the way they behave, particularly when parents and teachers work in partnership. If you have any queries about this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Staffing News
Mr Andrew Kent has resigned his position as teacher at Rosary School. Mr Kent will finish his time as a Year 5/6 teacher at the end of Term 1. Andy began working with Rosary School in 2013 and has been a valued staff member over the past nine years. We thank Mr Kent for his commitment to the community of Rosary School and wish him well in his future endeavours.

We have appointed Miss Marlo Driscoll as his replacement until the end of 2022. Marlo is an experienced Year 5/6 teacher, and we welcome her to the Rosary Community.

Regards

Susan

We look forward to celebrating Family Mass with you this Sunday 27^th March at Rosary Church at 10am.

What a beautiful day we had for our Clean Up Australia Day event! Thank you so much to all our classes for helping take care of our 'common home' by cleaning up the school, the streets and parks of our local community of Prospect and for those who 'audited' our collections. We found some amazing items - from a bike seat, wheels, a towel, to cigarette butts and lots of bottle caps. All of these are now safely out of our drains and waterways and recycled, composted or disposed of correctly. Thank you too to our amazing volunteers that came along and enabled many classes to participate - we can't do it without you! Thanks also to our Ecological Awareness and Action Team for their preparation and organisation for this whole school event.

At Rosary School, relationships are at the heart of everything we do, and our sense of community is more important than ever. We also know that our positive partnership with you supports ongoing student growth and development, both socially and academically. This term, we will be offering you an opportunity to speak with your child's class teacher via telephone. Unfortunately, this means that the style of communication will be in the form of a 'parent-teacher chat', rather than a learning conversation led by students. This is to ensure everybody’s safety and to minimise traffic in and out of school grounds, but our intention is to resume learning conversations later in 2022, COVID permitting.

The parent teacher telephone calls will commence the week beginning 4th April and be 10 minutes in duration. If you require more time with a particular teacher, please arrange a separate meeting by contacting the teacher directly. Teachers will contact you on the mobile phone number provided at the time of booking.

Click below for instructions:

School Interviews 2022

This week we celebrated Harmony Day. Thank you to the children who wore cultural dress and everybody who wore orange to highlight the importance of the motto “Everybody Belongs”.      The children engaged in a number of activities that identified Australia’s cultural diversity, inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging. Through sharing stories, we learnt how to say the name of special cultural clothing, hello in many languages and what countries our families are from. Thank you to everyone for contributing to the celebration of our amazing cultures.

Thank you to the families who attended our Parish Family Reconciliation Information evening at Rosary Church last week. A follow up session will be provided for those families who were unable to attend. More information will be made available as soon as possible. We look forward to a Reconciliation Activity Day next week where the children will participate in a range of activities throughout the day led by their classroom teachers. 

Thank you to our Parish, our families and our Year 3 Teaching Team for their organisation and preparation in ensuring that our children are ready to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Thursday, 7th April. Please keep our students in your prayers as they continue on their journey of faith.

This Saturday, 26th March 2022 at 8:30pm is Earth Hour, organised by WWF, a global grassroots movement uniting people to take action on environmental issues and protect the planet. The Earth Day 2022 Theme is “Invest In Our Planet”. Earth Hour is a very good way to remember that we are all stewards of the environment. Using the simple action of turning off lights for 60 minutes is a means to deliver a powerful message about the need for decisive climate change solutions.

Our call to TAKE ACTION is not just because we care about the natural world, but because we all live on it. Let’s all play a part in caring for God’s creation.

For more information please follow the link https://www.earthhour.org.au/.

Today our Year 3 & 5 students had an opportunity to experience the online NAPLAN platform before the official testing next term by participating in a national Coordinated Practice Test.

Parents, carers and students can use the public demonstration site  to become familiar with the format of NAPLAN Online.  For further information please use this link to access ACARA’s NAPLAN Online – information for parents and carers brochure (PDF 133KB).

For an electronic version of the Privacy Collection Notice please follow this link https://www.tcc.sa.edu.au/images/PDFs/mile-end/school-life/2022/NAPLAN-Collection-Notice_Jan_2022.pdf

During Lent we are called to become closer to God through prayer. We can answer that call with our words and actions. Please find attached Lenten family ideas from the Archdiocese of Adelaide for your interest. Throughout this season of Lent let’s take some time to pray for peace in our world and comfort for all those who have been drenched by rain and floods.

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Have you ever wondered why … faith fact of the week 

Rosary School Sports Committee are inviting children to register to play a winter sport for the school.

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Are you are interested in voluntering at Rosary School?
Visit our front office to pick up a Volunteer Information Package.