Week 4 Term 1 2023

Dear Rosary Community

This week we celebrated Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday is a day that has traditionally been a ‘feast’ day before the start of Lent.  Ash Wednesday signifies the beginning of the Season of Lent, a time when we are all challenged to consider how we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus and live out Gospel values in our daily lives – being people of compassion.  Our gold coin donation for Project Compassion on Shrove Tuesday is one tangible way we demonstrate our commitment to social justice and our care for the poor and vulnerable in our world. Thank you to our parent volunteers who supported with the cooking of pancakes on Tuesday and to those parents who joined us at Mass and/or the liturgy on Wednesday.

All children in Reception to Year 6 have commenced their Science of Reading learning. I refer you to Annabel Parletta’s article in the newsletter about Phonology. We will also hold a parent information evening in the near future.

Children have been exploring our school theme “United as One” – Dominican Pillar of Community. They have communicated their understandings and learnings in some beautiful class displays. I also asked a couple of students, “What does “United as One” mean?”

• “teamwork to build a better place” – Caitlin – 5/6NT
• “we are all together as a community” – Maxx – 5/6NT
• “love others” – Gigi – 1AH
• “including everyone” – Anton - 3TR
• “walking together in Jesus’ footsteps” – Jack – 2CW
• “a group of people who care for each other” – Sera – Playgroup Co-ordinator

Fantastic responses – well done to our teachers for their work in breaking open the Dominican Pillar of Community with our children.

Change of Date
Our School AGM and Strategic Planning evening was to be held on Tuesday, 21st March, 2023 at 7.00 pm – however Mrs Georgina Smith will facilitate the Strategic Planning session and her availability has changed. The AGM and Strategic Planning evening will not be held on 28th March at 7.00 pm.  All parents are welcome to attend. 

We are also inviting people to nominate for the School Board.  The School Board does not require a huge commitment.  There are two meetings each school term.   If you wish to nominate for the School Board please email karin.skinner@rosary.catholic.edu.au  Information about the role of the School Board can be found on Catholic Education South Australia’s website: https://schoolboards.cesa.catholic.edu.au.
Please do not hesitate to speak with me if you require any additional information.

Regards
Susan

“Jesus returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the desert, where he was tempted by the Devil for forty days. In all that time he ate nothing, so that he was hungry when it was over” (Luke 4:1-2)

As students and staff received their ashes during the Ash Wednesday Mass and Liturgy on Wednesday, we all made our act of penance and committed as a Catholic community to preparing together for Easter. 

The period of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and lasts for forty days until Holy Thursday. This opportunity for reflection on our Christian faith and for moving on from those sinful practices that we engage in should be embraced by Christians of all denominations, as we move toward celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. 

Our community commits through our support of Caritas’ Project Compassion Appeal for 2023 to make sacrifices for those less fortunate in our world. For Project Compassion this year, as we prepare for the Lenten season, we are offered the opportunity to make the commitment to be partners in Jesus’ mission – helping to build God’s kingdom of justice and peace here on earth 'For All Future Generations'.  

Stephen Campion 
APRIM

This year we are encouraging all of our families to make whatever financial commitments that they can make to Caritas over the upcoming weeks. We thank you in advance for all that you can do.

On Shrove Tuesday, there was great joy at Rosary School as members of the Parents & Friends and other parent volunteers provided pancakes to all students in our community. It was a wonderful community event. This was a great start for our term and shows that our students are willing to do something for those less fortunate in our world environment through making their gold coin donation. 

Stephen Campion
APRIM

This year we are very excited to have commenced our Science of Reading approach across all year levels, from Reception to Year 6. Students and teachers have enthusiastically engaged in the daily activities and are learning the new routines involved.

Reception and Year 1 Program
Students have begun the explicit teaching of synthetic phonics every morning, following a systematic program. Each morning learners have engaged in explicit teaching to build their:

• phonological awareness (recognising the smaller components in words)
• phonemic awareness (recognising the individual sounds in the spoken word), and
• phonics skills (recognising that letters represent the sounds in print)

Year 2-6 Program
Students have been grouped according to their specific spelling needs based on a Phonics Placement test completed at the end of 2022. Each morning students move within their year level for one lesson each day.

The components of these lessons are:

• Handwriting (correct formation)
• Reading Card Drill (grapheme phoneme correspondence)
• Spelling Rule Revision
• Reading Fluency
• New Spelling Rules
• Heart Word (words with irregular phoneme/grapheme correspondence)
• Dictation (to practise the rules)
• Connected Text (based on the rules learnt)
• Vocabulary (meaning of vocabulary used)

Monitoring Student Progress
We will continue to monitor each child’s understanding of the specific phonological skills taught by assessing at the end of each term. Students will also be assessed three times a year using a standardised test called Dibels (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) which assesses and tracks students’ reading skills.

Parent Information Session
Rosary School will run a Parent Information Session, led by Linda Clune, which will aim to answer any of the specific queries you may have.  Linda is a highly regarded educator who developed this synthetic phonics program and trained our staff in its implementation. Further information about this information session will be communicated at a later date.

Annabel Parletta
Leader of Learning

Seva Maitianos
Leader of Literacy

Flying Start – Weeks 1 and 2

The year has kicked off with excitement and eagerness by the children in 1AH. We have been busy building positive relationships through play and setting up helpful routines for the year ahead.

Our class have read the story ‘Have You Filled a Bucket Today’ by Carol McCloud as inspiration to be bucket fillers within our school community and at home with their families. The children made a beautiful class display about the positive actions they can make and created their own mini buckets to take home to share with their families.

Each child began the year by producing a mixed media self portrait that highlights their unique personality to display in class. During daily prayer we have been unpacking our school theme ‘United as One’ and the children have enjoyed sharing what is special to them about our school community. These conversations led to the children exploring the importance of gratitude where they proudly shared their ideas on our gratitude tree.

Phonics
In week 3, we reintroduced our daily Phonology lessons, where the children are busy identifying letter names and sounds, spelling new words, reading and writing through dictation. This literacy block allows all children to discover new word rules through repetition, actions and recording on mini whiteboards. It has been wonderful to hear the class eagerly point out new spelling rules when we are reading together or writing throughout the day.