Dear Parents and Carers

Staffing Update

I would like to formally welcome Mr James Croker to Rosary.  James has joined our staff as a Classroom Support Assistant as part of a partnership between Catholic Education and the Canberra Raiders Employment Program. James has started training with the Canberra Raiders and we are pleased he can combine his work at our school and his football.   

New 2025 Out of School Hours Care Provider  - Community Services #1 - Information Evening

Next Tuesday 26 November, 5.00pm in the Tokyo Classroom near Kindergarten.  Open to all - no need to RSVP.

Current and potential uses of before school, after school and vacation care are invited to attend to hear more about the services Community Services #1 will be offered in 2025 and beyond.  As it stands, places are available for all 2025 days and sessions, including vacation care which begins on Monday 13 January 2025. 

Current families will need to register with the new provider Community Services #1.  2025 Bookings open next Monday 25 November (Week 7) . 

Gelato Day Thanks

Thank you to our Year 1 parents and carers for organising and serving our beautiful ice creams on Wednesday this week. It was a warm 27 degrees and the ice creams were a great treat this time of year.

Principal for Day - Colour Run Fun Reward

On Wednesday this week we had a new principal for a day!  This year it was Tihana from Year 6 London.  The fun day was part of the incentives to raise money for our Colour Run.

Tihana was a great principal for the day.  She was very busy greeting many people and visiting lots of classrooms to praise students on their work.  Tihana gave the students extra playtime and toured the playground at recess and lunch to see students and also enjoyed gelato ice cream with different year levels after lunch.  Well done Tihana.

In the switch, I got to be a student for the day too!  It was great fun being in classrooms and out playing games with the students at recess and lunch.  A fun day was had by all!

Colour Run - Winning Class

Today we announced the winning class from the fundraising aspect of the recent Rosary Colour Run. The class that donated the highest amount was Kinder Nagoya.  They will receive a special treat in a movie and popcorn afternoon on a date coming up soon! Well done Miss Green and Kinder Nagoya.     

Save the Date: School Tree Planting Day Thursday 5 December (Week 8)

The Rosary Community Council would like to complete the final stage of tree planting program on Thursday 5 December.  The remaining trees are to be planted on this school day.  Trees will be strategically planted as per our plan, with each class having responsibility to plant and care for one tree each (total 15 trees). The remaining trees planted this day will be ones purchased by families and friends of the school.  

Around the front of the school and on the oval you can see the trees planted in stage 1 of the project starting to grow and come into leaf. They are being watered regularly by a water truck so they are becoming well established.  Thank you to the Community Council and James McPherson for their continued work on greening up our school and investing in future shade around our school. Thank you to those who purchased trees to benefit Rosary students for decades to come.  

More information to follow.

Swimming Program

Our swimming program is going well.  From all reports the students are engaging in their sessions well. Thank you for supporting this important program to encourage students to increase their water awareness, confidence and swimming ability heading into summer.

Reminder:  Rosary Christmas Nativity/Carols Evening 

You are reminded that the Rosary School community will be presenting an evening  Christmas Nativity story along with some Christmas Carols - to be held on THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER (Week 9, Term 4). This is a new presentation and format for 2024.  Seating will be set up in the QUAD area to allow attendees to watch the nativity story presented by students and listen to the narrative. There will not be space to sit on the ground or set up family picnics. The expected start time will be 6pm. 

Wishing you all a great week ahead.

God Bless

Greg Walker 

Principal

• Whole School Swimming Program - Monday 18th, Tuesday 19th, Thursday 21st, Friday 22nd November - Gungahlin Leisure Centre
• Gelato Day - Wednesday 20th November
• Community Services # 1 Information Session - Tuesday 26th November - 5.00pm - Tokyo Classroom
• Kinder Orientation Session - Thursday 28th November - 9.15am - 11.00am
• Year 6 Farewell Assembly - Friday 29th November - School Hall 2.20pm 
• Year 5 Assembly - Friday 6th December - School Hall 2.20pm - Please note change of date 

As the school year draws to a close, it’s time for our annual library stocktake. We kindly request all families return any books with the school barcode on the front cover as soon as possible. This ensures an accurate count of our collection and allows us to ensure that we have all necessary resources for next year.

We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

Whole Day Absences

If your child is absent from school for a whole day or longer, please submit details of the absence via the Parent Portal. This should be completed within 7 days of the absence.  There is no need to adjust times for whole day absences.

If your child will only be absent for a partial day, the absence will be recorded as your child is signed in or out via the kiosk at the front office. You do not need to add an early pick up or late drop off via the Parent Portal.

Unexplained absences for your child will be displayed on your homepage when you log in to Parent Portal.

If an unexplained absence appears that you believe to be incorrect, please send an email to the front office for investigation.

Community Services # 1, our 2025 after school care provider will be hosting an information session for interested families on Tuesday 26th November.

The session will take place at 5.00pm in the Tokyo classroom (near the Kindergarten rooms in the junior corridor).

All welcome!

Access to the clothing pool will now be as follows:

Monday - Friday - Before and after school only

Thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers who maintain the space for our community.

Please note: All donations of preloved uniforms (in good wearable condition) are welcome at the front office.

There are many extracurricular activities available onsite for our Rosary Students.  Please note all of these activities attract a fee and are delivered by external providers.  Please see the timetable below for details:

• French Lessons - Monday 3.10pm - 4.20pm (continuing) / Wednesday 8.00am - 9.00am (beginner)
• Action Tae Kwon-Do - Monday 6.30pm Children class / 7:30pm Adult class
• Chess Club - Tuesday 3.10pm - 4.30pm (Weeks 1-9)
• Zanshin Martial Arts - Tuesday 6.30pm Junior class / 7:30pm Senior class
• Artkids - Thursday 3.15pm - 5.00pm
• Italian Lessons - Friday 8:00am - 9:00am (beginner) 
• Musicorp (various instruments) / Piano Lessons - Friday 8:20am and during class time throughout the day
• Block Crafters - Tuesday and Wednesday Week 2 - Coding and Robotics After School Programme for interested students aged 8-12 years 
• Dance Club - PLAY - The Dance Agency - Tuesdays at Lunchtime from Weeks 2-9 - Kinder to Year 4

Please contact the school if you require further information.

Canteen Menu

The School Counsellor is at Rosary all day Mondays and Tuesdays during each school term.

How to make an appointment

If your child was seen by the School Counsellor last year and you would like them to receive support in 2023, we require you to complete a new counselling registration form. Please either contact your child’s class teacher or Greg Walker- the Principal for further information.

Similarly, new referrals and requests can be made by contacting your child’s class teacher or Greg Walker- the Principal for further information.

Parent consent for counselling continues to be required for all primary school students and will be sought and provided via email. Where parents are separated, we require the written consent of both parents. Once the referral has been received by myself- School Counsellor- I will make contact with parents on my next day at Rosary to further discuss the referral.

More about School counselling/how to access school counselling at Rosary Primary School

As part of the pastoral care program for students at Rosary, students have access to a Student and Family Counselling service provided by MaryMeadCatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn (MCCG). MCCG are contracted by the CEO to provide a counselling service to students and their families on site. There is no fee to access this service. The service offers short term counselling support (roughly up to six sessions per referral issue) to children and their families – the counsellor can also provide referrals for more complex issues requiring intensive or long term therapy/support.

The role of the counsellor is to focus on the emotional, social and educational well-being of the students. Counsellors welcome contact with students having difficulty with some part of their life, the problem does not have to be a big one. It is better to seek help sooner rather than later. Some typical

concerns that counsellors work with include: anger, anxiety, behavioural problems, low mood, family changes/separation, grief and loss, learning and educational challenges, parenting challenges, peer and other social relationships, school avoidance, stress and study skills. As well as individual sessions with students, counsellors can run groups, consult with parents and teachers and make referrals to other services and supports.

Student and Family Counsellors subscribe to a set of professional ethics that include duty of care and respect for the individual rights to privacy and confidentiality. The counsellors’ obligation is to ensure the safety, well-being and confidentiality of the student they are working with. All counsellors are mandated to report any disclosure or sign of abuse (including self-harm) or neglect to Child Protection Services. Outside of our mandated requirements, all counselling sessions are confidential and the details will not be discussed with other parties unless written consent is given by the client.

Sarah Foley- is onsite at Rosary Mondays and Tuesdays during term.