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- Principals Report Week 3 Term 1
- Religious Education News
- Protective Behaviours - Safety and Problem Solving
- Veritas Awards
- Dates for Your Diary
- School Fees
- Book Club - online orders only
- 2022 School Photos
- NSW Transport - School Student Travel Term 1 2022
- Whole Day Absences - please submit via Parent Portal
- Clothing Pool Open during School Hours
- School Counselling Service
- Extracurricular Activities at Rosary
- Rosary Netball
- 2022 Term Dates
- Hand Washing Poster
- Coughing and Sneezing Etiquette Poster
Principals Report Week 3 Term 1
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome to Week 3. It is lovely to finally have some warm summer days! I know the students have enjoyed being outside for sport and other activities. I snapped some photos of some Year 1 students enjoying the sunshine today!
COVID Update
The ACT Government has extended the Territory’s Public Health Emergency Declaration (PHED) for a further 90 days to ensure it can continue to protect Canberrans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
EXTENSION OF PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY DECLARATION (ACT)
The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration (‘PHED’) in the ACT was due to expire on 25 February 2022. However, as you may be aware last week the ACT Government announced an extension of the PHED for a further 90 days until 13 May 2022. You can find a copy of the ACT Government announcement here.
At Rosary we continue to follow the ACT Health advice and the advice of the ACT Education Directorate and Catholic Education. We have had just two people attend school briefly before later testing positive to COVID, but no further transmissions at school. We need to continue to be vigilant and follow all of the precautionary steps we are taking. Thank you for your support so far with following safety and hygiene measures.
I have been notified today that schools in the ACT will continue to be provided with RAT tests for students and staff until at least Week 8 this term.
There are some general risks in attending school for everybody but these risks are currently mitigated at Rosary by strategies including:
- Staff and volunteers must be fully vaccinated
- All school aged-students are now eligible for personal vaccinations
- Meetings not held in person but online i.e. TEAMS
- Visitors restrictions apply to be on school sites (essential meetings excepted)
- Mandatory mask wearing by staff and adult visitors
- Adults register presence at school on the ACT CBRAPP
- Regular use of hand santiser or soap/water
- Adult social distancing of 1.5m
- Limits on number of adults in indoor spaces/rooms
- Cohorting of students for learning, play and movement around the school
- Staggered school pick up times in the afternoon
- Regular RAT testing provisions
- Staff and parents/carers reporting positive cases to school and ACT Health as per directions
- Household members (including siblings) isolating at home when a positive case confirmed within the family
- Staff and students not to attend or remain at school if exhibiting COVID like symptoms
- Maximum use of available ventilation in the school
- Outdoor learning encouraged where practicable
- No whole school assemblies, gatherings, excursions, camps etc
As there are some schools experiencing ‘clusters’ of positive cases in their schools, in conjunction with Catholic Education and ACT Health, we are continually monitoring each situation to see how we can improve our plan and reporting. We will monitor risks and make adjustments to current strategies as recommended. More communication will follow in relation to Rosary if we experience more positive cases.
QR check in codes are posted at the Peace Gates and the Front Office entrance to the school. You are reminded that it is still an ACT Government requirement that you need to check in when entering the school grounds at schools and early childhood settings. Please check in each time you enter the school. Thank you.
ACU Gate Access
I apologise to the parents and carers that use this gate to access the school and have found it locked sometimes on school days. We have addressed the issue and the gate lock will now be open on school days for your access. However, all school gates on the perimeter of our site are locked for weekends to provide that added level of security.
2022 BEST Awards start this Friday
This Friday it will be my pleasure to hand out our first round of ROSARY BEST Awards as well our weekly VERITAS awards. Our BEST awards will be handed out in Weeks 3, 5, 7 and 9 each term. This term our focus is on BELIEVE. BELIEVE is one of our 4 pillars highlighted in our principles for teaching and learning. Teachers will select students that exhibit the actions and values that keep the Dominican charism and spirit alive in our school. These Dominican charisms include: Prayer, Study, Community and Service.
In Teaching and Learning, at Rosary we know that TOGETHER WE DO OUR BEST.
Greg Walker
Principal
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time| 20 February | Year C
“Be merciful as your Father is merciful."
Click on the link below to go the readings and activities for this Sunday.
20 February - Sunday 7 ORD (yearcprayingwithchildren.org)
Sacramental Programs
As mentioned last year, the timing for the reception of the Sacraments has been reviewed by Fr Mannes. The Sacrament of First Reconciliation is now offered to students in Year 3 and the Sacrament of First Eucharist (Holy Communion) will be offered to students in Year 4. Our current Year 4 students received the Sacrament of First Eucharist last year, so there will be no sacramental preparation for Year 4 this year. Please disregard the dates in the calendar.
Sacramental Program 2021 |
Sacramental Program 2022 |
Year 3/4 Eucharist Year 6 Confirmation
|
Year 3 Reconciliation Year 4 Eucharist (received 2021) Year 6 Confirmation |
If any baptised catholic students, new to Rosary, have missed out on the opportunity to receive a Sacrament, and wish to do so, please contact me for further information. liz.higgins@cg.catholic.edu.au
Peace and best wishes
Liz Higgins
Religious Education Co-ordinator
Protective Behaviours - Safety and Problem Solving
Dear Parents,
This week our students will be learning about safety and problem solving as part of the Protective Behaviours Program.
Safety
Safety is a physical state. The Protective Behaviours Program stresses the need to ‘feel’ safe, as well as ‘be’ safe, recognising the importance of psychological or emotional safety. Safety involves having informed choice and control over any situation in which we find ourselves.
Feeling safe and adventurous go hand in hand when we maintain our choice and control. Each of us has experienced feeling safe and unsafe and these situations may be quite unique to the individual. Examples are feeling safe or unsafe around a dog, or feeling safe or unsafe in the dark. Recognising the difference between feeling safe and unsafe is a crucial part of the protective behaviours program.
As a parent, you cannot define a safe or unsafe situation for your child. You can, however, help your child to recognise when they may be feeling unsafe by identifying their early warning signs and help them choose strategies that assist them to have choice and control in any particular situation. When children feel safe, they talk about feeling: loved, warm, secure, noticed, happy, in control, trusted… Some common feelings associated with feeling unsafe are awful, stupid, stuck, left out, powerless, stressed and shaky.
What can I do?
- Encourage your child to draw a picture of a place where they feel safe – this is referred to as their ‘safe place’. Discuss with your child what their ‘safe place’ looks like, smells like, how they feel when they are there, what they can hear in their ‘safe place’. A child may have several ‘safe places’.
- Talk about ways that someone who is feeling unsafe could help themselves feel safe again.
Problem Solving
A good way to help children practise the skills to keep themselves safe is to play problem solving games. It is often less frightening for a child to pretend that someone else has the problem – like a puppet or character in a story. By using ‘teachable moments’ in your everyday lives and planned activities, your child can learn everyday strategies and understand that they have the right to feel safe at all times.
What can I do?
- Share some of your experiences with your child, acknowledging that we all have times when we don’t feel safe.
- Continue to practise problem solving with your child. The objective is for your child to practise thinking and using a number of safe actions which they can use when faced with unsafe or difficult situations.
- Discuss with your child how unsafe risks could become safe risks if we increase our choice and control for example, being willing to enjoy the thrill of riding their bike down a hill at speed as long as they know the brakes work, they’re wearing a helmet and there are no cars or rocks in the way.
The link below is a very helpful resource for parents.
Kind regards,
Julie Godfrey
Coordinator
https://www.aifs.com.au/static/media/uploads/childwise_parentsguide.pdf
Congratulations to the following students who received a Veritas Award :
Charles Battey
Bert Kane
Josie Kelly
Spencer Gingell
Michael Tansley
Cooper Dalle
Chloe Lemke
Valentina Pinto
Nicholas Tomac
William Young
Rafe Thompson
Nick McDonald
Josh Roland
Rebecca Lynar
Jean-Louis Meredith
Aidan Honer
Kiersten Bolanos
Lachlan Neightbour
Audrey Goldsworthy
Ruby Shelley
Due to current restrictions, there are limited events planned for the following two weeks. If any events are able to proceed, information will be provided via Compass.
- Kinder Rest Day - Wednesday 16th February
- Ash Wednesday - Wednesday 2nd March
Term 1 school fees will be issued this week. If you do not receive an email statement, please contact the front office to verify your billing email address.
We prefer fees to be paid via BPay when paying online or EFTPOS when paying at the front office.
Book Club - online orders only
Book Club brochures have gone home last week.
If you wish to place an order, it must be completed online via scholastic.com.au/LOOP or the LOOP app.
School Photos will take place on Tuesday 15th March 2022.
All students are to come in full school uniform (not sports) on the day.
If you wish to place an order for school photos, please do so online. See below flyer for details. A physical copy of the flyer has gone home with the eldest student in each family today.
Sibling photos MUST be ordered before the photo day. All other photos can be ordered at any time.
Whole Day Absences - please submit via Parent Portal
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.
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.
Clothing Pool Open during School Hours
The Rosary Clothing Pool is open to families to purchase second hand uniform items for $5 per piece. Please note that currently only one family is allowed in the room at any one time and hand sanitisation is required upon entry and exit. A key is available from the front office to access the room during school hours for your convenience.
All new uniform items can be purchased from Personally Yours. They are located at 218 Gladstone St, Fyshwick ACT 2609 and can be contacted on 6280 4166.
The school counsellor, Hilde de Raadt-Abma, is available every Thursday and Friday.
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 Hilde.
Hilda can be contacted ia the school or email (hilde.deraadt@catholiccare.cg.org.au) on Thursdays and Fridays.
Extracurricular Activities at Rosary
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 - 4.25pm (continuing) / Wednesday 8.00am - 9.00am (beginner)
- Tae Kwon-Do - Monday 6.30pm Children class / 7:30pm Adult class
- Mandarin Lessons - Tuesday 3.10pm - 4.25pm
- 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 - 5.15pm
- Italian Lessons - Friday 8:00am - 9:00am (beginner) and 3.10pm - 4.25pm (continuing)
- Musicorp (various instruments) / Piano Lessons - Friday 8:20am and during class time throughout the day
Please contact the school if you require further information.
The school year is divided into four terms. Term dates for the year 2022 are as follows:
Term 1 (10 weeks) Monday 31 January - Friday 8 April
Term 2 (10 weeks) Wednesday 27 April - Friday 1 July (Tuesday 26 April is a system wide Pupil Free Day)
Term 3 (10 weeks) Tuesday 19 July - Friday 23 September (Monday 18 July is a system wide Pupil Free Day)
Term 4 (10 weeks) Monday 10 October – Friday 16 December
NOTICEBOARD