Dear Parents and Friends,

Our Year 2 students are preparing to make the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time next Monday evening. The Sacrament will take place in Holy Rosary Church at 5.30pm. Due to the current health restrictions, only the candidates and their immediate family members are permitted to attend so as not to exceed limits allowed in the church. However, you can support the children by praying for them on this special occasion in their spiritual lives. I thank Miss Fron Garrett, our Acting Religious Education Coordinator and the Year 2 teachers, Mrs Toole, Miss McKerrow and Mrs Higgins for preparing the children so well to receive the Sacrament. I thank the parents too for their role in partnership with us in developing the children’s faith understanding and preparing them for this important step in the journey of their spiritual lives. I pray that the children will return to this Sacrament often to receive the Lord’s blessing of forgiveness and renewal.

NAIDOC Week

Next week is NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself. The theme this year, Always Was, Always Will Be, recognises that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years.

System Leaders’ Days

Last Thursday and Friday, I met with members of the Catholic Education Office and all Principals in our Archdiocese. We gathered to pray, to hold regional Principals’ meetings and to learn about changes being made to structures within the Catholic Education Office and the System Priorities for the coming year. As well, we farewelled and welcomed colleagues. I extend my thanks to our Catholic Education Directorate for offering valuable opportunities, such as this, to its school and system leaders.

Remembrance Day

On Wednesday next week, the school will gather at the Lone Pine Memorial Garden to commemorate Remembrance Day. At 11.00am we will hold a minute’s silence to pay our respects to those who lost their lives in the fight for peace in our world. The ceremony will not take its usual form this year due to COVID-19 health restrictions where we would normally have parents and special visitors and Defence Service personnel attend. However, students and staff will respectfully commemorate the occasion and pray for continuing peace in our country and for peace across the world.

Remembrance Day – 11^th November

In Flanders Field

In Flanders Field the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders Field.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die.

REPEAT NOTICES:

Classes for 2021

The process of allocating children to classes for 2021 starts now. The allocations are based on the following considerations:

• Friendships
• Learning abilities
• Balance of gender
• Behavioural considerations
• Personalities
• Religion – so that a balance of Catholic and non-Catholic children is achieved especially in Sacramental years.

As part of the process of allocating children to classes, the children are given the opportunity to nominate 5 friends with whom they would like to share a class next year. They are guaranteed to have at least one of these friends with them. These nominations are based purely on friendship and not on any other factors and are the child’s decision to make. The ‘Friendship 5’ lists will be completed by the children at a suitable time, in class, in the next few weeks.

My firm belief is that teachers are in the best position to decide a child’s placement because they know all the children in their classes and have a view of the ‘big picture’. However, I invite parents to inform me of anything that you feel needs to be considered, for your own child’s well-being or development. There is now 2 weeks’ time in which to notify me of your concerns, in writing. After the cut-off date of Friday 20^thNovember, it will not be possible to take further wishes into account.

Information needs to be provided each year as circumstances can change. I will do my best to accommodate your wishes but will not promise anything! Please be aware that requests for particular teachers will NOT be considered.

Students leaving Rosary at the end of the year

Please ensure that you have informed me, in writing, if your child will not be returning to Rosary in 2021. Obviously, this does not apply to students in Year 6. It is imperative, for planning purposes, that I have accurate information with regard to enrolment numbers. I also need to know the destination school as part of system accountability requirements. Thank you to those who have already provided this information.

John O'Brien 

Acting Principal

The school calendar has been reviewed in light of the increased risk in the community and in line with Catholic Education protocols and advice from the ACT government and health authorities. Unfortunately, this means that we have had to remove most events from the calendar for this term and beyond. We cannot conduct events where large numbers of adults are likely to be present so this affects events such as school assemblies, Grade Masses and Liturgies, the Fathers’ Day Stall, School Disco, the Boorowa Touch and Netball Carnival and the like. Some school events will occur but will not be advertised on the calendar as they will be for staff and student attendance only. Hopefully, we will be able to reinstate all of these community-building events next year!

Thank you for your attention to these important matters and for your cooperation in ensuring that our community remains a healthy and safe place for all.

• Sacrament of Reconciliation - Monday 9th November @ 5:30pm, Holy Rosary Church
• The BIG Challenge - Friday 13th November

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.

For the information of parents, there are a number of activities that take place at lunch time across the week that you may like to encourage your child to be involved in. These provide an alternative to outside play:

• The library is open from Monday to Thursday for all grades
  
  
• Aero Club takes place in the library Monday - Wednesdays for Years 4, 5 and 6 members who have signed up (membership changes after several weeks with one small group at a time taking part)
  
  
• Dance Core is a dance session hosted by an external provider and takes place on Wednesday in the hall. It is open to all grades and will begin in Week 2. (This has a fee attached and flyers will be sent home with interested students)
  
  
• Karaoke Club will be held on Friday's at 1.10pm in Year 2 Barcelona for all grades.
  
  
• Walking Club will be held on Friday's at 1.10pm - starting tomorrow 30/10/20!  Students will meet at the Peace Gates and enjoy a weekly walkabout exploring the local area and reap the health and wellbeing benefits of being outdoors and active. Permission slips will be available from Mrs Pangallo - registration is open to the first 20 students from Year 3-6 who hand in their permission slips. 
  
  
• Lego Club will be held on Wednesdays at 1.10pm in Rome for students in Year 2 and 3.

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 
  
  
• Mandarin Lessons - Tuesday 3.10pm - 4.25pm
  
  
• Chess Club - Tuesday 3.30pm - 4.30pm
  
  
• Dancecore - Wednesday 1.10pm - 1.50pm
  
  
• Tae Kwon-Do - Wednesday 3.15pm - 4.15pm
  
  
• Artkids - Thursday 3.15pm - 5.15pm (please contact artkids directly for more information - classes are not currently running due to insufficient student numbers)
  
  
• Italian Lessons - Friday 3.10pm - 4.25pm
  
  
• Musicorp (various instruments) / Piano Lessons - during class time

Please contact the school if you require further information.

The Rosary Community Council Representatives for 2020 are:

Another great game from our Raptors downing the Goofer Goobers 5:2 making this 3 wins in a row! Tries to (Captain) Jenson Hon - (2), Jack Frawley (1), Emma McCluskey (1) and Caleb Buckley (1). 

1st of our warm weather games where our usual strong attack and an improvement in our defensive play made the difference.  Excellent work by the whole team!

Coach’s player of the week award went to Jack for his strong play, attacking style, great tagging at marker and reading the play.

Hayfever season has arrived with the weather being particularly windy and the pollen count high. We have had many children coming to the front office with hayfever symptoms. If your child is prone to hayfever please consider the treatment you would like them to receive. If you would like your child to be given hayfever medication please fill in a Request to Dispense Medication Form and provide the medication to be stored in the sick bay. Parents will be contacted prior to any medication being administered. On particularly windy days you may like to consider treating your child before they attend school. 

The Request to Dispense Medication Form can be accessed via this link: Request to Dispense Medication and on the school website.