Week 10 Term 2 2024

Dear Rosary Community

This Sunday is the beginning of NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia in the first week of July each year (Sunday to Sunday), to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth. Our Year 1 classes have listened to The Rainbow Serpent Dreaming Story and looked at the meaning of the Aboriginal Flag. On Wednesday morning, the Year 1 teachers prepared Staff Prayer with a focus on NAIDOC Week – beginning with this beautiful acknowledgement of Country.

Tomorrow NAIDOC Week will be a focus at our end of Semester Mass. All are invited to join us at Our Lady of the Rosary Church at 9.30 am.

In line with our commitment to be stewards of God’s creation, during Term 3, Rosary School will be focussing on reducing our waste and attempting to “wipe out waste”.  Every Wednesday, each class is challenged to bring a lunch box full of food which has the least amount of waste materials (i.e.cling wrap, chip packets, alfoil, single use packaging).

Every class will record the amount of rubbish brought to school on Wednesdays which will be great practise for Week 7’s War on Waste week!  Attached to the newsletter are some ideas to support the packing of waste free foods.

This week our Year 3 to Year 6 children have all had the opportunity to participate in the South Australian Catholic Schools Sports Association Netball Carnival. With outstanding co-ordination from Brenton Campbell and generous parent volunteers it was a wonderful event that complements the Physical Education curriculum.  Some of our Year 6 leaders were able to support the Year 3s and 4s as umpires.  Thank you to those students for stepping up for our school community.

Many families in our community will have received an invitation via email to complete your Community Portal Account Registration. Once registered you will have easy access to:

• Financial Statements
• Review Financial Transactions
• Make Online Payments
• View your child/ren’s Medical Details
• View your child/ren’s Demographic Information
• View your child/ren’s emergency contacts

Commencing from Term 3, invoices/statements will no longer be sent in the post.  Future charges such as camp costs and other extracurricular charges will be invoiced electronically through the portal.

In 2025 we will explore the enhanced functionality of the Portal to provide school news, calendar and other communications.

Thank you to those who have registered and I encourage those who have not to do so ASAP.

Thanks
Susan

Adelaide Archdiocese Diocesan Assembly

Over the weekend of June 21/June 22, Caroline Price and I represented Rosary School at the 2024 Diocesan Assembly.
The Diocesan Assembly is a gathering of representatives from the various communities within the Archdiocese of Adelaide to discuss the life of the local church and make recommendations for the ongoing work and mission of the Adelaide Archdiocese. 
This community gathering of people across all strands of the Catholic Church, incorporating schools and health care professionals amongst others, engaged in two days of deep exploration.
These assemblies invite a range of people to engage in listening, dialogue and discernment around particular matters of important to the life of our church. Following a Diocesan Assembly, the leadership of the Adelaide Archdiocese work out the priorities and strategies to address the outcomes from the Assembly.
The five areas covered by the delegates over the two days of the Diocesan Assembly were Structures; Collaborative Leadership; Mission; Pastoral Planning and Local Responsibility and Action.
It was a very important meeting for the Catholic Church in Adelaide and Caroline and I were very happy to be in attendance, and represent Rosary School.

The Resilience Project

In previous newsletters, I have taken the opportunity to outline in a little detail the main elements of our Resilience Project at Rosary School. In this edition we will continue with Mindfulness, and I will suggest some ways that families can build on the work that we cover on being mindful at Rosary School. 
Working on mindfulness gives us opportunities to develop our ability to pay attention to the present moment and our thoughts. Practising mindfulness daily can help us stay focused on set tasks and reduce stress and anxiety.

Whole Family Activity:

Mindful Walk

As a family, go on a walk outside in nature.This might be around your local walking track,

at your local park, or just around your streets.While walking, tune into your senses and observe what you can see, hear, and feel. Or you might choose to focus on one of the senses.

In Religious Education, we have been learning that the Bible is a Holy book that contains stories about God and Jesus. The Bible has two main parts: The Old Testament and the New Testament. This term, we have listened to, explored and reflected upon, the following Bible stories: The Parable of the Lost Sheep; The Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Story of Zacchaeus.

Students were asked to consider the key message in each of the Bible stories. Here are some of their responses.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep – Toby

“The man left all the other sheep to find the one sheep. Never leave a friend alone. Care for everyone.”

The Parable of the Good Samaritan – Jemma

“Lots of people passed the man that was beaten up and only one person helped him. Jesus is telling us to be kind to everyone.”

The Story of Zacchaeus – Lily

“Zacchaeus couldn’t see Jesus because of the crowd. He climbed a Sycamore Tree to see Jesus. Jesus came to his house. Zacchaeus gave the money back to people. Jesus wants us to be kind, share and care for others.”

In English this term, we have explored procedure writing. We know that we can teach someone “how to” do something by drawing and writing about it. We had a lot of fun sharing our procedure of choice to the class.

We completed our unit by making pizzas in class. We gathered our ingredients and materials and followed step by step instructions to create our own masterpieces. Have a look at our photos to see the ROC MasterChefs in action.

Just over four weeks ago we were fortunate to move into our new classroom. Students were asked to reflect on their new surroundings.

"I like seeing the other Reception classes through the glass sliding doors". – Toby

"I love the pizza restaurant in our class" – Jemma, Siarna and Lily

"I like the new television. You can touch it with your hands (meaning interactive)" – Louis, Andreas and Annabel

"I love the new whiteboards and the cupboards" – Alannah

"I like the new windows. People wave at us." – Vincent, Sacha and Annalisa

"I like the coloured carpet" – Ava and Arijana

"I like the sport equipment stand"– Chloe and Alessandro

"I like seeing the other classrooms from our windows" – Oscar

"I like the new classroom. It is so special. It is bigger." - Leo

 Mrs Calleja and the ROC Class

Dear Rosary Community,

Last week, the Digital Technology Leaders were busy relocating all of our technology equipment into the Technologies Hub. They are very supportive and excited to make this a functional and inviting learning space for the whole school.

Towards the end of this term, the Year 5 Community have been preparing a piece of artwork in small groups, designed purely by a Dash Robot. The only limit is their imagination! This competition is called the Artbot Challenge which is an opportunity made available by Robo Cup Junior Australia.

The children have shared that they are enthusiastic to code their Dash Bot to draw straight lines and angled lines to form repeating and progressive patterns. They have collaboratively brainstormed ideas for their group artwork and have started to build a LEGO attachment piece which will hold their medium of choice.

We look forward to sharing more updates in Term 3!

Thank you,

Maria Boccaccio and the Year 6 Digital Technology Leaders