Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to Week 6.

New Principal for Rosary Announced

This week the announcement came through that Petra Cole will be the new principal at Rosary Primary School.  I congratulate Petra on her appointment and look forward to welcoming her to Rosary in the near future to meet students and staff. 

The appointment letter from Catholic Education outlines all of Petra’s qualifications, experiences and achievements. It will be good to have a handover with Petra towards the end of the year and discuss all of the wonderful things that make Rosary School such a special place.   

Welcome Back Mrs Abarquez 

This week we welcomed back Mrs Diandra Abarquez following 12 months of parental leave following the birth of her beautiful boy Brooklyn.  Mrs Abarquez will be working on Mondays and Tuesdays until the end of year, covering classes in various ways. 

Book Week Thank You

Thank you to Mrs Jodie Dawson for organising a fantastic Book Week and Book Fair last week.  As always the week is a highlight of the year.  Well done to everyone for dressing up for the Book Week Character Parade on Friday.    

Rosary Staff Away at times

There are a lot of ‘bugs’ and illnesses going around Canberra at the moment and Unfortunately a number of Rosary teachers and staff have been unwell. There is a national teacher shortage and we do our best to find relief teachers to cover classes.  Occasionally we do not have enough teachers available and we do have to spilt students to other classes with work to complete. 

We always try to minimise the disruption to students’ learning. 

I want to thank our great Rosary staff for supporting each other and taking extra students when required.  Thank you also to our parents and carers for your understanding.  

Rosary Fathers’ Day Breakfast

The Rosary School community will celebrate Fathers’ Day next week with a breakfast for all who can make it.  The breakfast is on Friday 5 September between 8am-9am. Please see the flyer sent out by our Community Council this week with the details and RSVP for numbers. There is no charge for the breakfast, we would just love you to attend and mingle with other families.  

Thank you to our parent volunteers with children in Year 4 for being involved in making this event possible. 

2025 Major Rosary Fundraiser

The Community Council has another event coming up soon.  The Rosary Colour Run returns for 2026 and promises to be bigger and better this year. The fun run last year was a lot of fun and bought students, parents and staff together for a great afternoon!

We will launch the colour run next Monday 1 September and encourage each student to seek sponsors for the event to help raise money for the school. The actual date for the colour run is Thursday 25 September (Week 10).

Thank you in advance for supporting our major fundraiser of the year.  More information to follow next week.   

Rosary Community Council - Open Meeting Next Week

Members of our Community Council would like to invite you to the next meeting which is an OPEN MEETING on Wednesday 3 September (Week 7) at 5.30pm in the school staffroom.

Our OPEN MEETING each year has attracted a number of parents to attend and hear about the work of the Community Council and the roles everyone plays in supporting the governance of the school.

Currently there are 9 parent representatives on the Community Council, with each parent bringing varying types of professional experience and parent insights. There are also 3 staff representatives on the Council, as well as Fr Renoir.

Please consider coming along, maybe bring a friend, and learn more about how our Community Council supports our school community. 

Year 1 Portrait Gallery Excursion

This week Year 1 students and staff attended the Australian Portrait Gallery.  They all said it was a very interesting place.

This is what some of the students said about the excursion:

We did poses and it was fun and it was colourful.  We did self portraits and it was the best. We drew to music and it was fun. Walter M

On our excursion some of us did poses and then we saw some cool paintings and then we had to draw a picture of ourselves and then we got to hold a really cool necklace. Evie Q

At the Portrait Gallery we got to do self portraits. At the gallery we did poses for pictures. We got to draw to music. We got to see portraits made of spray paint. We got to see models of people. Our excursion was really fun. On the bus on the way there I sat next to Isla. Charlie S

We saw a portrait of a famous singer. We saw statues of indigenous people. We saw a video portrait. We all drew to music and we drew a self portrait. I loved the excursion so much. Hudson H

Yesterday we went on a bus. We listened to music and drew.  I drew me.  Amira N

At the gallery we had so much fun. We listened to music and we drew. Max G-M

ACT Chess Final

This Thursday 28 August is the ACT Primary Schools Chess Finals at Trinity Christian School Wanniassa. Rosary has our best chess players competing in 1 team.  They are certainly very good players and what a great opportunity this is to test their skills against the best players from other schools. Our chess team consists of  

• Ryan D
• Ram R
• Julia L
• Max P

Thank you again to Mrs Dawson for facilitating our Chess Program at Rosary.

Year 3 Liturgy

This Friday 29 August our Year 3 students and staff will celebrate their year level liturgy in our parish church at 10.00am.  All parents and carers are welcome to attend.  

Wishing you well for the week ahead.

God Bless.

Greg Walker

Principal 

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS

Year 3 Liturgy

Year 3 will participate in a Liturgy this Thursday 29 August @ Holy Rosary Church, 10am. All welcome!

Canonisation of Carlo Acutis

Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, two young Catholics beloved for their vibrant faith and witness to holiness, will be canonised together on Sept. 7. At school, we will be focusing on Carlo Acutis as he is the first millennial saint.

Acutis, an Italian computer-coding teenager who died of cancer in 2006, is known for his great devotion to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

He became the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church 2020 and is widely popular among Catholics, particularly youth. Known for his deep faith and digital savvy, he used his computer-coding skills to draw attention to Eucharistic miracles around the world. His miracles’ exhibit, featuring more than 100 documented miracles involving the Eucharist throughout history, has since travelled to thousands of parishes across five continents.

The Vatican formally recognised a second miracle attributed to Acutis’ intercession on May 23, 2024. The case involved the healing of 21-year-old Valeria Valverde of Costa Rica, who sustained a serious brain injury in a bicycle accident while studying in Florence in 2022. She was not expected to survive but recovered after her mother prayed for Acutis’ intercession at his tomb in Assisi.

Born in London in 1991 and raised in Milan, Acutis attended daily Mass from a young age and was passionate about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Shortly after his first Communion at the age of 7, Carlo told his mother: “To always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.”

Carlo called the Eucharist “my highway to heaven,” and he did all in his power to make the real presence known. His witness inspired his parents to return to practicing the Catholic faith and his Hindu au pair to convert and be baptised.

Many of Carlo’s classmates, friends, and family members testified to the Vatican how he brought them closer to God. He is remembered for saying, “People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints.”

Shortly before his death, Acutis offered his suffering from cancer “for the pope and for the Church” and expressed a desire to go “straight to heaven.”

Known as a cheerful and kind child with a love for animals, video games, and technology, Acutis’ life has inspired documentaries, digital evangelization projects, and the founding of schools in his name. His legacy continues to resonate strongly with a new generation of Catholics.

The canonisation Mass for Acutis and Frassati is to take place in St. Peter’s Square on September 7.  

Taken from: https://www.ewtnvatican.com/articles/ 27/8/25

Confirmation Preparation

• If you haven’t attended a Mass throughout August, please attend this weekend and hand Fr Renoir your commitment card.
• The registration form, with a photocopy of the baptismal certificate, is due Friday 29 August.
• Parent/Sponsor letters are due Friday 29 August.
• The Sacrament of Confirmation is on Friday 12 September, 5:30pm.

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C | Sunday 31 August | green

“All who exalt themselves shall be humbled,

and all who humble themselves shall be exalted.”

Please click on the link below to access the readings and reflections for this Sunday

August 31 - Sunday 22 ORD

Liz Higgins

Religious Education Coordinator

• Science Week - Decoding the Universe - Monday 25th - Friday 29th August
• Year 3 Liturgy - Friday 29 August - Holy Rosary Church 10.00am (please note the change of date from the school calendar)
• Community Council Open Meeting - Wednesday 3rd September 5.30pm School Staff Room
• North / Gungahlin SSACT Track and Field Carnival - AIS - Thursday 4th September
• Fathers Day Breakfast - Friday 5th September
• R U OK Day - Thursday 11th September
• Sacrament of Confirmation - Friday 12th September
• ACT 12 & U Track and Field Championship - Tuesday 16th September - AIS
• Year 6 Mass - Friday 19th September - Holy Rosary Church 10.00am
• Learning Journeys - Monday 22d September  - Classrooms
• Colour Run - Thursday 25th September
• Term 3 Ends for Students - Thursday 25th September
• Pupil Free Day - Staff Only - Friday 26th September

Just a few reminders about the car parking and drop off / pick up arrangements:

• The speed limit is 5 km/hr in the car park and all road rules apply.
  
  
•  Pedestrians always have the right of way. 

• Park only in the designated parking spaces, facing forwards towards the university. 

• The white markings relate to traffic flow and parking (coloured markings relate to the children’s playing spaces.) 

• The area closest to the Peace Gates is reserved for Set Down Only in the mornings. Parents can stop in the marked bays long enough for children to alight from the vehicle on the quadrangle side and then enter the school through the Peace Gates. 

• For pedestrian safety there is no parking or stopping against kerb near Peace Gates after school. 

• Please note that no reversing is allowed from the bays marked on the courts. 

• Please follow the white arrows and drive in and drive out again in a forward direction only. This is to reduce the risk to children who cannot be seen by reversing vehicles. 

• Due to the spacing of the bays, parallel parking is only available in the area adjacent to the shade shelter on the oval. This area should be used by larger vehicles and trucks wherever possible. 

• Parallel parking is not available adjacent to the university grounds as this space is needed for vehicles to exit the parking area in a forward direction. 

• Parking on the courts is not permitted between 9:15am and 2:45pm as they are used for play at recess and lunch and by classes for sport throughout the day. 

• There is ‘Long Stay’ parking available in front of the hall for parents who spend time at the school after 9:00am. (This is the only area in which reversing to exit is permitted.) This ensures that the courts area is free for classes to use for sports lessons. 

• After school, some parents may need to see teachers or the front office staff. If this is the case, please leave your cars outside in the bus bay or behind the hall on Higginbotham Street as the gates are locked at 3:30pm. 

• All students travelling home by car are to wait in the quad until collected by a parent/carer. 

• Parents waiting for their children after school are asked to move well into the quad to assist access. 

• When children arrive at school, they are to enter via the Peace Gates in the quadrangle. Children are not to enter through the front office foyer. Likewise, children are not to leave through the front office at the end of the day unless catching a route bus. 

• No child is to meet a parent/carer anywhere other than the quadrangle area at the end of school. 

• The children must be supervised in the car park – they are not permitted to go to a parked vehicle without a parent/carer with them.

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.

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 - Wednesday 8.00am - 9.00am (beginner) from week 2
• Italian Lessons - Friday 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 3.10pm - 5.00pm
• Musicorp (various instruments) / Piano Lessons - Friday 8:20am and during class time throughout the day
• Block Crafters - Tuesday and Wednesday from Week 2 - 3.15pm - 5.00pm Coding and Robotics After School Programme for interested students aged 8-12 years 
• Dance Club - PLAY - The Dance Agency - Wednesdays at Lunchtime from Weeks 2-9 - Kinder to Year 4

Please contact the school if you require further information.