Dear Parents and Friends,

All the staff are excited to be welcoming the students from Kindergarten to Year 2 and Year 6 back next week and then the other grade levels as well the following week! Whilst it will be wonderful to have everyone back on site, we have made a few changes to processes in order to make the school as safe as possible for everyone.

Please take special note of the following important information which will take effect from Monday 25 October:

Entry and Exit gates:

One of the gates into the quadrangle will be marked as an ‘Entry’ point and another as the ‘Exit’. The third gate will be open in the afternoon to allow students who ride bikes and scooters or who walk home to exit with the supervising teacher.

Morning drop-off:

Morning drop-off will occur in the same way as usual with the following differences:

• Parents are encouraged to use the drop-off zone adjacent to the quadrangle gates (Peace Gates) so that the children can get out of the vehicle and walk into the quadrangle without the need for parents to leave the vehicle
• If parents are parking and accompanying children to the Peace Gates, parents are asked not to enter the quadrangle unless absolutely necessary
• Parents are not permitted to stay in the quadrangle with students at this stage.

Morning bell:

When the bell rings at 9.00am to signal the start of classes, students will line up at their class lines in various locations around the quadrangle where they will be met by their teachers and taken directly inside. The morning assembly will take place over the PA system.

Parents are requested not to enter the building.

Afternoon pick-up:

There will be a staggered pick up in the afternoon so that half the school community only is in the same space at one time:

• Students with surnames starting A-L will be dismissed at 3.00pm
• Students with surnames starting M-Z will be dismissed at 3.15pm

One grade level teacher will bring the first group of students into the quadrangle where they will be seated in their allocated grade areas. Students will not be permitted to stand to leave until their parent/carer is sighted within the quadrangle. As soon as all children from the one family have been collected, the parent/carer is asked to leave the space as quickly as possible.

The other grade level teacher will bring the second group of students into the quadrangle at 3.15pm and the same procedure will be followed.

Parents are asked to wear a mask, to come into the quadrangle to collect students and then to leave again as quickly as possible; remembering to physically distance from everyone else. Please be aware that, for safety reasons, students are not permitted to wait in alternative locations for parents/carers to collect them from school. Students will remain seated within the quadrangle in the care of teachers until the parent/carer takes over their care.

Masks:

Students are welcome to wear masks whilst at school. This is entirely the decision of parents.

All parents must wear a mask upon entry to the school grounds.

Illness:

If a student displays any symptoms of being unwell, parents will be called to collect him/her from school. Please do not send your child to school if they present as unwell in the morning.

Contact with the school:

As far as possible, all office/administration enquiries should be conducted via phone or email.

I thank you in advance for your cooperation in these matters and look forward to seeing you all again ‘mask-to-mask’ next week!

Kindergarten Orientation

I can now confirm that Kindergarten Orientation will take the same form as it did last year with a staggered drop-off and pick up time for the pre-schoolers who will participate in the orientation session. Unfortunately, we will not be able to host an information meeting but packs will be available for parents to collect on the day. It is also unfortunate that we are not able to host a morning tea for parents as this is such a good opportunity to develop community relationships. Hopefully, these things will return next year! Detailed information regarding arrangements will be sent out to parents of our incoming students in the very near future.

Thought for the Week:

“The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.”

                                                                                    (Numbers 6: 25-26)

Library News

We are so looking forward to seeing and teaching our classes in the coming weeks! We have so missed engaging with the children; online learning is not our preferred teaching style! Please have a look for any Library books that were borrowed months ago, so students can return and borrow again- thank you so much.

Library classes are on the following days this term (please note there are changes from Term 3):

Tuesday: Year 1, 3/4 Casablanca, Year 6

Wednesday: 3/4 Cairo & Bangkok, Year 5

Thursday: Kinder, Year 2

Chess Club

Sadly, Covid-19 has meant that our beloved Chess Club has finished for the year. I will gather students and give them their term 3 ribbons and winner’s medallions. Our current conveyors/coaches have retired so I will endeavour to find another wonderful team to teach our students in 2022. I have been running RPS Chess Club for over 20 years, so I see it as a priority to retain this valuable program.

Sandy Vincent

Thank you to those parents who have logged in to Parent Portal.

If you have not already done so, we ask that all parents log in to the Parent Portal as soon as possible to verify details.

Every parent should have received an email with their login details. If you did not receive the email, please contact the school.

Please direct all enquiries regarding the Parent Portal to the front office. office.rosaryps@cg.catholic.edu.au

When logging in, you will be asked to confirm your email and phone number. If they are incorrect, please update them.

You will then be asked to change your password.

Please note that it is recommended to use the desktop version for greater functionality.

Please do not share your login details with anybody. Each parent has their own login which provides them access to their child’s records and their own email and phone numbers only.

What to do in Parent Portal?

• View school announcements

• Some school communications will be included within the My News section of your Home Page.

• Submit absences and view attendance record – once Parent Portal is active, this is where you will submit all absences for your child.

• You can submit known future absences. These will appear on the roll, for the teacher, for the specified days.

• If your child has been marked absent on the roll, it will appear as an unexplained absence. You can complete the absence notification to explain it. This should be completed within 7 days of the absence.

• If an unexplained absence appears that you believe to be incorrect, please send an email to the front office for investigation. Please note that during remote learning, the roll may not be marked until the end of the day.

• You will have access to view your child’s attendance record.

• Event Permission – if an event is loaded that requires permission, this can be granted through the Parent Portal

• You can provide your consent for school events via the Parent Portal

• IMPORTANT: payments MUST NOT be made via the portal. Payment options for events will be specified within the event details.

• View details of medication administration

• If your child is required to have scheduled medication administered, and you have completed the Request to Dispense Medication form (available from the website), you will be able to see a record of the medication administered. Please note that this is ONLY for scheduled medications and not for medication, such as paracetamol, that is used as part of a First Aid response.

• Book parent/teacher learning conversations

• Bookings will be made through Parent Portal for all future parent/teacher learning conversations. Please note that this is not for adhoc meetings with teachers, please continue to make these via email directly with your child’s teacher as required.

• View student reports

• Student reports will be available electronically via the Parent Portal only.

• Send emails to your child’s teacher/s

• There is a link to send an email from the Parent Portal. Please note that this will send to the teacher’s email address and any responses will be sent to your email. They will not appear in the Parent Portal.

If your child is absent from school, please submit details of the absence via the Parent Portal. This should be completed within 7 days of the absence.

Please note that Schoolzine absence notifications are no longer functional.

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.

Please note that during remote learning, the roll may not be marked until the end of the day.

Due to current restrictions, there are no events planned for the following two weeks. Updates will be provided once known if we can proceed with previously postponed events.

• Kinder, Yr 1, Yr 2 & Yr 6 return to face-to-face learning at school - Monday 25th October
• Yr 3, Yr 4 and Yr 5 return to face-to-face learnign at school - Monday 1st November

Dedicated school buses and revised interim bus timetable from Monday 25 October 2021

Transport Canberra’s dedicated school bus services will recommence on Monday 25 October 2021. This includes ‘S’ trips that divert into schools.

Timings have changed for dedicated school services and the regular timetable. We are strongly encouraging families to check their school pack and plan ahead.

Special Needs Transport continues to run for those families that need this service.

A range of COVID Safe measures are in place to help keep students safe on public transport. Please remind families to familiarise themselves with these measures and talk to their children about them prior to the return to school.

From Monday 25 October 2021 buses will run to a revised interim timetable. This timetable is a similar frequency to the timetable that has been running over the past two months, but with some changes to timings to allow better connections for school students.

Light rail is continuing to run to its regular frequency but will see an increase in frequency from Monday 1 November 2021. This will assist with physical distancing on board. Customers will benefit from extended afternoon peak frequency on weekdays and increased frequency on Sunday mornings.

Consider walking or riding to school – or using a Part way point

Parents and carers may also consider alternative ways to get their children to school. If they live close by they can take advantage of the warmer spring weather and walk, ride or scoot to school!

Part way points are also a great way to get some exercise into children’s days for families that live a little further away and this also helps to ease congestion around schools. Parents or carers can simply drop their child at a point, or park and walk the rest of the way with them.

Park safely and legally
All 40km/h school zones are in place between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday. Speed limits in school zones are there to ensure the safety of children by allowing motorists extra time to stop in an unexpected situation.

Parking across pedestrian crossings, corners, verges and double parking can block kids seeing the road.

School packs and timetable information

The revised interim timetables and school packs are now available online.

For enquiries customers are encouraged to visit www.transport.act.gov.au or call 13 17 10.

The school counsellor, Jessica O'Rourke, is available every Monday and until 1pm on Tuesdays.

You can refer your child for counselling by filling in a referral form available on Catholic Care’s website or follow this link: https://catholiccare.force.com/housing/s/school-referral-form

After you have filled out the referral form you will automatically be sent an email requesting your consent for your child to access the service. In the case of families where parents are separated, consent of both parents is normally required. If this is difficult for you please feel free to discuss with Jessica.

The Rosary Community Council Representatives for 2021 are:

Should you wish to contact the council please email: rosarycouncil@gmail.com

The school year is divided into four terms. Term dates for the year 2021 are as follows:

Term 1 (9 weeks)     Monday 1 February - Thursday 1 April

Term 2 (10 weeks)   Tuesday 20 April - Friday 25 June (Monday 19 April is a system wide Pupil Free Day)

Term 3 (10 weeks)   Tuesday 13 July - Friday 17 September (Monday 12 July is a system wide Pupil Free Day)

Term 4 (11 weeks)   Tuesday 5 October – Friday 17 December