Week 4 Term 4 2023

Dear Rosary Community

This week about 40 of our Year 3-6 children participated in the South Australian Catholic Schools Athletics Carnival (Section 5).

Our students had a fantastic day! They demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship, supported one another, and gave incredible effort across all their events.  I received a text message on Tuesday evening from a parent from another school - "My kids’ school was right next to Rosary and the other parents and I noted how well behaved and well presented the children were.  We also noted the staff interaction was calm, organised and showed a great rapport with the children.  We also watched the children cheer on and support their school.  Amazing!”  Wonderful feedback for our children and staff.

Our Rosary School team won the following awards:  Year 3 Girls Champion , Year 3 Boys Champion, Year 4 Girls Champion, Year 5 Girls Champion, Year 4 Girls Age Champion – Jessica E, Year 6 Boys Age Champion – Liam L, Girls Overall Champion, and the boys finished 2nd Place overall.  I look forward to presenting the banners and shield at an upcoming assembly.  We will move up to Section 4 in 2024!

Thank you to Brenton Campbell for his organisation, to Olivia Andrew for her work throughout the day and again to our Parent Volunteers who without your support we are unable to offer these opportunities to our children.

Some other wonderful events to celebrate children’s learning this week are our two Instrumental Music concerts and Children’s University graduation. I thank Kimberley Slattery and Katherine Turner for their work in promoting extra-curricular learning opportunities for our children and for the co-ordination of these celebratory events.

Each fortnight I attend a ‘Site Meeting’ to monitor the progress of the new building. At our last Site Meeting I was made aware of some changes to the program due to a roof delay. I had previously communicated that the building would be handed over on the 15th February. This date has been pushed out to 21st March. One of the outcomes of this change of date is the early delivery of the new kiss and drop and landscaping in front of the new building. This will be handed over at the same time as the building. This will ensure the children have some play space on the Gladstone Road site throughout the building process.

We are currently finalising class placements and staffing for the 2024 school year. Once finalised I will share this information with the school community.

Sophie Sellan will finish with us at Rosary School this Friday. We thank Sophie for her commitment to Rosary School this year and wish her all the best as she prepares for the birth of her second child.

Grazia Larosa has been part of the Rosary School community for 41 years and has probably taught close to 1000 children – some of our teachers, parents and many of our existing children have been welcomed into Grazia’s classroom. Grazia is retiring from her teaching position at the end of this year.

Tia Riemsdyk has been part of the Rosary School community for the past four years. Tia is making a sea change and moving in 2024 so will also finish at the end of 2023. 

Congratulations to Olivia Andrew has been successful in winning a position at Dominican School, Semaphore. Olivia will also finish at the end of 2023.

We will thank and farewell Grazia, Tia and Olivia at the end of this year.

The School Board is looking forward to our end of year Thank You event for volunteers. Please join us at the Wine and Paella Night on 28th November at 6.30 pm. Email Karin Skinner at karin.skinner@rosary.catholic.edu.au if you are able to attend.

At our meeting on Tuesday night the School Board approved the 2024 Pupil Free Days

• Monday, 29th  January 2024 – Book a Chat
• Friday, 22nd March 2024 – moving day  (current program without delays)
• Monday, 25th March 2024 – moving day  (current program without delays)
• Please note – 22nd March and 25th March dates may be changed depending on the program
• ​Monday, 29th April 2024
• Thursday, 12th December 2024
• Friday, 13th December 2024

Currently all Rosary School students are provided with a one to one school device to support their learning:

• Reception to Year 3: Apple iPad
• Year 4 to Year 6: Apple MacBook Air laptop.

There has not been a charge for the provision of these devices.
The School Board has approved an ICT annual fee to support the ongoing costs of providing each child with a device.

An annual fee of $75 per student will be invoiced at the beginning of each school year. This will cover any accidental damage to the school devices. In the event an insurance claim is processed, the school will no longer require a 50% contribution from the family towards the excess charged.

The annual fee will also include a school provided and fitted cover for the new iPads and MacBooks purchased each year for the Year 1 and Year 4 students.

At the end of each year, iPad and MacBook devices may be purchased by Year 3 children and Year 6 children.

MacBook devices (Year 4 to Year 6) not returned at the end of each year will incur a $1,500 charge to replace the device.

Fulfilling the role of APRIM and Chaplain at Rosary School provides me with days that are full of variety. For example, today I had a few restoratives conversations with students who needed to be reacquainted with our expectations regarding appropriate behaviour at Rosary School; I covered Front Reception for Margaret who was dealing with a challenging medical situation with a student; I finalised the Graduation Liturgy and Reflection Day for our Year 6 students who leave Rosary at the end of this year and I dealt with a number of friendship challenges for students to name just a few. No day is ever the same and that is extremely rewarding.

However, the highlight of my week takes place each Thursday at 9:30am. This is the time of our weekly mass/liturgy at school. Over the last three weeks, we have had a Year 5/6 Mass, a Year 1 Liturgy and today we had our Year 4 Mass for Term 4.

Each of these occasions have been rich and prayerful community celebrations, and we are blessed to have Fr Paul Rankin leading us every Thursday.
We always have a good number of parents, grandparents and other family members join us on Thursdays, and I encourage more family members to join us when it is your child's year group gathering at Our Lady of the Rosary Church.
 

Each classroom now has a container for items donated to the Vinnies Christmas Appeal. We encourage all families to assist our young people to donate items over the next few weeks to Vinnies, in supporting those members of our local community who are doing it particularly tough at the moment.

We have just over five weeks until we break for Christmas, and we would love all classrooms to be filled with items, as we support Vinnies in the incredible work that they do.

Our world is in the midst of terrible and devastating conflicts at the moment. The call for a peaceful end to conflicts seems especially necessary at this time.

Annually, on 11 November, Remembrance Day honours the sacrificial efforts made by members of our Defence services during the many military conflicts from the beginning of the 20th Century through to the current time.This day of commemoration evolved from the signing of  the peace treaty, the Armistice, that officially ended the First World War at 11 am on 11 November 1918. 

In our faith tradition, we are called by Jesus  Christ, the Prince of Peace, to be people of hope, and to proclaim the sacred gift of peace that Jesus has modelled to the world. 

Prayer for Peace

Loving God, you are always saddened by our human failure to love one another. 

Forgive us and inspire us to become peacemakers within our troubled world. 

May we honour the sacrifice made by fellow Australians in conflicts from our past. 

Guide us, inspirited with their example of self-giving, 

 to build strong foundations for a future of peace and hope. 

We ask this in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.  

Amen.

"In Literacy we have been learning about different features of a narrative. Using what we have learned, we created our very own narratives with a setting, characters, a problem, a solution and an ending. We made sure our front covers were colourful and detailed so that people who saw them would want to read them! 

In Science, we have been learning about the movement of objects including bouncing, rolling and sliding. We have been thinking about how the shape and material of an object impacts how it moves, and practised drawing diagrams to show the movement of objects in different sports.  

At the end of this year, we will say goodbye to our class leaf insects. We met them at the start of the year and have been feeding them gum leaves and spraying them with water to keep them happy and healthy. We have loved holding them, seeing them shed and watching them grow SO BIG throughout the year."

Congratulations to all the students who performed last night! You all shone on stage, sharing your talents with family and friends. 

Thank you to Denise, Won and John our instrumental tutors for preparing our students.

We look forward to another excellent instrumental concert this evening.

Well done everyone.

Kimberly Slattery
Performing Arts Teacher
Instrumental Music Coordinator
Choir Trainer

All tuition fee accounts for 2023 must be finalised by Friday 10 November, unless an approved payment plan agreed with the Business Manager is in place.

If you are unable to pay your account by this due date, please contact the Business Manager on 8343 5700 to discuss a confidential payment plan.

School Card Closing Date

Families who qualify for School Card are entitled to a 40% reduction on net fees.

If you are eligible for School Card in 2023 and have not yet applied, please lodge your application by Friday 17 November 2023.  Any applications received after this date will not be accepted.

Thank you
Melanie Fazio
Business Manager