Dear Parents and Carers

Thank you for all of your efforts in supporting your child and the school in Term 1.  You can feel the weather changing as we get closer to ANZAC day and Term 2.  The students will be in winter uniforms for Term 2 and Term 3 but there is a two week buffer to start next term where students can wear their summer uniform if the weather is still mild.  I wish everyone a nice Term 1 holiday break and hope that you can spend time together as a family. 

School Disco Success

Thank you again to our Year 3 parents and volunteers for organising a very successful disco on Friday night.  There were a lot of volunteers in various roles who all did their job diligently and things ran so smoothly.  Both the junior and senior sessions were very well-attended by students and everyone had a good time.  Student behaviour and manners were also commendable.  Well done everyone.   

Year 6 Assembly 

Well done the Year 6 students on presenting an entertaining assembly last Friday on their activities in the first 9-10 weeks of the term. Also, thank you to Teagan and the OSHClub Team for offering afternoon tea to parents and carers attending the Year 6 Assembly last week. People often come straight from work to support their child so it is a lovely gesture by OSHClub.  They will continue to offer this to visitors at each assembly this year. 

Recent School Liturgies

Recently we have had some lovely Year level liturgies with Fr Renoir. They included our Kinder and Year 3 liturgies.  The Kinder liturgy was held in the classroom and Year 3 in the Church.  Thank you to the parents and carers that attended each occasion, they were both well supported and special gatherings. 

Autumn in Canberra is special! 

As the leaves change colour and drop at this time of the year, one of the unique things about the grounds at Rosary is that we have a number of mature oak trees that drop literally a tonne of acorns at this time of the year! So the acorn season is well and truly underway. The students play slots of creative games with them - here are some photos of their recent activities on the playground.

Chess results

Last Thursday, April 4 saw 12 Rosary girls attend the ACT Junior Chess League's annual open chess tournament. This event was hosted by Gold Creek Primary School in Nicholls. The girls played with enthusiasm and skill! They all thoroughly enjoyed the healthy competition and meeting other chess-loving girls from all over Canberra. Thank you to the wonderful parents who arranged transport to and from the venue. 

Special congratulations to Gadhen Dolkar, Tenzin Denzel, Scarlett Smithers and Sienna Smithers. Their scores enabled them to come 2nd out of 120 participants!!! A very exciting time for all our girls! Mr Walker was very impressed being presented with a stunning trophy for all to see at Monday's assembly! Congratulations to all girls- chess club is a highly regarded after-school endeavour here at Rosary. 

Thank you to Mrs Vincent for attending the day with our students and to Mrs Dawson for her continued work with our Chess Club students each week.

Congratulations to the Year 5 and Year 6 students who participated in the ACT KidsLit Literature Competition.  Our involvement was initiated by Mr Evans three years ago and this is our third competition. Again, our students competed well and used all of their knowledge of literature and team collaborative skills to perform well.  In fact, results showed that Rosary School achieved the 2nd highest primary school score in the competition!  What a great result and a wonderful achievement by some of our most avid readers in thes school. Thank you Mr Evans for your time and commitment to take part in this event.      

Again, wishing you all a nice Term 1 school holiday break.

God Bless

Greg Walker

Principal

• Walk Safely to School Day - Friday 12th April Meet at 8.30am at the Watson Shops
• Term 1 Ends - Friday 12th April 
• Term 2 Begins for Students - Tuesday 30th April

Charlotte Rego
Rabzeyma Lhazom
Matilda Nazor
William Wilson
Jemima Riley
Colton Longworth
Archie Lonsdale
Jules Bingley
John Brooker
Massimo Nascimben
Archie Cannell 
Leo Vo
Sonam Pema 
Nick McDonald
Ljubi Pirie

Rosary Parent Reading Information Session/Workshop

Dear Parents

Next week there will be Information Sessions about Families Supporting Children with Reading in the Early Years of School. The same session will be run twice. Dates and times are below.

Wednesday 10^th April 2:30

Thursday 11^th April 5:00 (Please note, the Thursday session is a repeat of the Wednesday session)

These sessions will be held in the Kinder Nagoya classroom.

 Sessions will cover:

•             What are decodable readers?
•             What should I do if my child misreads a word?
•             Using the online MultiLit eLibrary.
•             Completing the Home Reading Journal in Term 2.
•             Being a Reading Volunteer at Rosary

Parents and carers are most welcome to attend. The session will be primarily aimed at families of children in Kindergarten, but families of children in Years 1 and 2 are also very welcome.

Kind regards

Karen Green

K-2 Literacy Coordinator

Hello lovely Rosary Primary School families! My name is Sarah Foley and I have been part of the MaryMeadCatholiccare Student and Family Counselling team since 2006.

I am a registered Psychologist with a passion for working with children, young people and their families. I have previously worked in marketing, community based aged care, crisis counselling and the homelessness sector.

In my school counselling work -I provide short term client centred support to children and their families drawing from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Strengths based, Mindfulness and Trauma Informed approaches in a developmental context. For more complex issues I also provide referrals and information/parent consultation. I am 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.

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 2-10)
• 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 - Wednesday Week 2 - Coding and Robotics After School Programme for interested students aged 8-12 years (currently fully booked).
• Dance Club - PLAY - The Dance Agency - Tuesdays at Lunchtime from Weeks 3-10 - Kinder to Year 4

Please contact the school if you require further information.

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.

Canteen Menu

**TICKETS ON SALE NOW!**

Tickets are now on sale for Pied Piper's production of Madagascar JR - A Musical Adventure. This show is full of lots of talented local youth, amazing costumes and energetic singing and dancing to bring this show to life. 

With plenty of colourful characters and humour, this is a wonderful show for all the family.

There is a full week of performances across the April school holidays. And in the tradition of high quality Pied Piper Productions we have no doubt tickets will sell fast for all shows!

Get your tickets now: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1091967

Sophie Kelly from 6 Athens will be performing in Billy Elliot at The Q - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre on the following dates:

Wed 10/4 Preview

Fri 12/4

Sat 13/4 Evening

Tues 16/4

Thurs 18/4

Sat 20/4 Matinee

Sun 21/4 Matinee

Wed 24/4

Fri 26/4

Sat 27/4 Evening

Thurs 2/5

Sat 4/5 Matinee

Sun 5/5 Matinee (closing night and Soph’s birthday!)

Tickets are on sale NOW - https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://theq.net.au/whats-on/billy-elliot-the-musical/__;!!Ax-PnKpllFIIgPxB!nIqQWjGotZUZt8-5mYj8h8u6tDvPBO48kY_SugBAHc5ue7VNTYPXg-sraYiUoSpjDXh-8OUYaGfPywTRwHjlwc3wyxO1B5Pon5U9CrQ$

Cold and Flu season is almost upon us. To assist in preventing the spread of illness, we seek your co-operation keeping children at home if they are unwell and regularly reminding children about basic hygiene practices including:

Hand Hygiene: frequent washing of hands with soap and water. Using hand sanitizer where apporpriate.

Coughing/Sneezing Etiquette: covering of the mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, disposing of the tissue in the bin and washing hands. Alternatively, coughing into the elbow.

We thank you for your cooperation with this matter.