Week 8 Term 4 2022

Dear Rosary Community

What a year!  A year that started with challenges but has ended with a number of community highlights.  The year began with COVID home learning, restrictions and isolations, cancelations and postponments of school events and a year ended with excursions, sporting events, Year 5/6 Become.me Expo and our wonderful community dance event.

Thank you to all staff who continue to amaze me with their commitment to the learning, wellbeing and spiritual development of our children.  Thank you to our families for their generosity and support to our school and learning programs.  I did wonder whether some of our volunteer parents should be on our school payroll.

As the year comes to an end we are farewelling a number of staff who will not return to Rosary School in 2023.  Staff not returning in 2023 include:  Adam West, Tobi Cibich, Sita Catalano, Fiona MacDonald, Tess Corcoran, James Lakin, Emily Fiorenti, Marlo Driscoll, Annette Boyle and Nicole Curtis.  We wish all of the staff leaving every success and happiness as they move onto new opportunities and experiences in 2023 and beyond.

Tina Mena has applied for and been granted a year’s leave in 2023.  We are in the process of appointing Education Support Officers (Curriculum) and Education Support Officers (Admin) Work Health and Safety and Payroll.

We will formally farewell most of these staff at our Year 6 Assembly on Wednesday, 14 December at 11.30am on the Jubliee Court. All parents are welcome to attend the assembly.

2023 Staffing:

I would like to also acknowledge our departing families - Arikepudi, Ciccocioppo, Di Stefano, Diaz Loaiza, Diorio, Garreffa, Giannitto, Huynh, Johnson-Fowler, Jokismovic, Jusufi, Kakunze, Le, Lekkas, Mavrogiannis, Morrison, Mulwa, Nghiem, Nguyen, Panteladis, Panzarino, Patrinos, Pedersen, Pinneri, Pipicella, Roberts, Simcock, Stanborough, Turner and Williams.  Thank you for the time you have been part of Rosary School community.  May your new school communities be places of welcome and inclusion - where your children are given every opportunity to reach their potential.

I hope that all our families have a wonderful Christmas.  May the holiday break be a time of peace.
Stay safe - I look forward to being with you in 2023!

Regards
Susan

Year 6 Reflection Day
There are many rituals in place when students leave their primary or secondary school. These are times to reflect on their contribution to a school community. It is also a time for the students to reflect on how important their school has been to them. It is also importantly a time for them to reflect on all of those people who have supported them on their journey. 
All of these elements have been to the fore over the last few weeks in our Year 5/6 classrooms. It will also be evident at our Year 6 students Graduation next Tuesday evening.
Last Friday at Semaphore Life Saving Club our Year 6 students, accompanied by their class teachers (Mrs Catalano, Ms Driscoll, Ms Boccaccio & Mr Campbell) along with Mrs Hennessy, Fr Paul and myself, enjoyed their Reflection Day as Year 6 comes to a close.
It was a wonderful time of prayer, group bonding, reflective activities and sharing. One of the highlights of the day involved our Year 6s reading the letters that their parents had written for them, as they conclude their journey at Rosary. There were tears, laughter and a great deal of joy as the letters were read.
I introduced a couple of new rituals for the day which we will keep as part of the day going forward. The first of these involved each of the Year 6s writing affirmation notes to their peers. They each took the time to reflect on what qualities they admire in their fellow Year 6 students. All of these notes have now been sealed in envelopes for each student and they will receive these on their Graduation evening.
The second new ritual involved each students producing a commemorative stone. As you can see from the photos below, these have been illustrated with words/images that are meaningful to each student. They also each signed the base of their stone. These stones will find a place in our school going forward as a memento of each student and when/if they return to Rosary School in the future, they can enjoy seeing their commemorative stone. There will always be this memory of them at Rosary School
 

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all students and families for their incredibly generous response to our Vinnies Christmas Appeal. Some of our classrooms have been overwhelmed with the amount of Christmas hamper items that have been generously donated for those less fortunate in our communities.
Volunteers from Vinnies will be at out closing assembly next Wednesday to thank our community and to collect all of the items for them to be distributed to those in need, in the period leading up to Christmas.
 

Recently, we proudly added the Torres Strait Islander flag to our flagpole at Rosary School. In recognition of our commitment to honouring and respecting our First Nations people, the Torres Strait Islander will fly alongside the Australian flag and the Aboriginal flag. You will see them when you are on the school grounds.
I wish all of our Rosary students and families a peaceful and happy Christmas.

Stephen Campion / APRIM

Busy times in RGL !
Over the last few weeks RGL have enjoyed learning about how things move, starting with a BANG... a 'Science of Toys' incursion from Museum of Childhood!
We had lots of fun with the interactive hands-on toys that Alan set up and learnt a lot at the Children's Conference at the end of the day.
We also had to bring to school our own toy that moved and we investigated the different ways they moved. 
Continuing on with our STEM learning, we made a straw rocket and blasted them across the playground to see whose went the furthest and if we could improve our design. 
We also made some fun CD marble spinners and designed a moving toy at home that we have enjoyed sharing with each other. 
We rocked the stage at our Ground Force Concert and presented our very first assembly with RHA and RSM on the same day! 
Life is never boring in RGL! We can't believe that we have been in Reception for 184 days ... and there are only 4 days left!

Our students have had a busy term with Performing Arts performance opportunities. On Friday we celebrated as a community when we presented “A Night at the Movies.” The students put on a spectacular performance. They have grown as performers over the last two years and on Friday night stepped up in every way. Their confidence, energy and enthusiasm was electric!

Over the final few weeks of school, John our guitar tutor will be coming to classrooms to offer the guitar students the opportunity to perform to their peers and showcase their talents and learning this year.

We hope that you enjoy some photos from the end of year concert.

Kimberly Slattery

2022 seemed to start where 2021 finished off, confusing COVID restrictions and a new hybrid model of learning for the first two weeks. As the year went on, restrictions eased, and we all adjusted to our ‘new normal’. Out of all of this, we have all become more resilient and able to adapt to change. We welcomed a new deputy principal, and APRIM and are excited by what the future developments hold. Despite all the challenges and changes around us, the P&F were still able to keep the Rosary community spirit as strong as ever with the following initiatives and events:

Rosary Parents & Friends Night at The Cali
Mother’s & Father’s Day Gift Stall
Mother’s & Father’s Day morning tea with raffle proceeds donated to charities
Family Movie Day
School Disco
Year 6 graduation gifts
Student artwork fundraiser
Iceblocks in Terms 1 & 4
Hot Chocolates Terms 2 & 3

I would like to thank all the school volunteers and P&F committee members for their continued support and dedication. All these events wouldn’t be possible without your help. A special mention must go to the 2022 committee members: Lisa Pannuti (secretary), Teresa Cocca (treasurer), Jake Graziani, Anthony Graziani, Catherine Schumacher, Helen Lynn, Melanie Melino, Christina Borg, Nicole Mertens, Nadia Looker, Sonia Morgante, Hamish MacKenzie, Nicole Smith and Ricki Briggs. A big thank you to Susan Hennessy and Caroline Price, for always advocating for P&F initiatives, we couldn’t do it without your support. After 3 years as chairperson, I have stepped down for 2023 and welcome Anthony Graziani as the new chairperson. These 3 years have been extremely challenging yet rewarding. I am most proud of how the committee have worked together to execute all the events, in particular the 2021 major fundraiser. It was the biggest P&F fundraiser in the school’s history, and those funds were used to provide digital technology for students of all year levels. Not only to be enjoyed for current students, but also future students in the years to come.

We have already started planning 2023 events and will provide ‘save the date’ for these events early next year. If you would like to become part of the P&F, the first meeting of 2023 will be in Term 1, Week 3, 7pm in the staff room. Nominations and electing new secretary and treasurer will take place, as well as continued planning for 2023. We welcome all new members.

I wish you a happy and safe festive season with your family and friends and look forward to seeing you all in 2023.

Lora Papa
P&F Chairperson