November/December 2022
- News from the Principal
- News from the Deputy Principal
- News from Administration
- Room 1 - Junior - Mrs Dobbie
- Room 1.5 - Junior - Mrs Coulston
- Room 2 - Junior - Mrs Williams
- Room 3 - Junior - Mrs Hayne
- Room 4 - Intermediate - Ms Atkins/Mrs Withoos
- Room 5 - Intermediate - Mrs Nash
- Room 6 - Senior - Mrs Buckle
- Room 8 - Senior - Mrs Maguire
- Room 10 - Senior - Mrs Bickle
- Room 11 - Senior - Ms Harris
- Room 12 - Senior - Mrs Ward
- Room 13 - Senior - Mrs Dunstan
- Room 14 - Transition - Mr Pallett
- Room 15 - Transition - Mrs Leeson
- Community News
News from the Principal
Well, the end of the school year is not far away. What a remarkable first 37 weeks of this year. The frightening part is that there are still a lot of events scheduled for the upcoming school month.
The staff at Rosella Park School have been collaborating to create new class groups for 2023 over the first five weeks of term 4. To the staff at Rosella, I say congratulations on a job well done. I have been incredibly proud of their efforts to collaborate in order to organise students into classes that are student-centred and concentrate on individual student needs.
These class groups are typically presented during the P&C Christmas celebration. This year, it is intended to share these with parents via a letter at the end of week 7 or the beginning of week 8. We will also keep doing the yearly P&C Christmas Party display of the class groups.
With only 3 weeks remaining, we have many things to be excited about; so please keep an eye out for these future events:
- P&C Family Christmas Party – 1st December (there is a flyer coming out to all of you)
- End of year concert and awards presentation (2nd December)
I, along with a large portion of our school, am looking forward to honouring the class of 2022 graduates. The accomplishments of these young adults are the focus of the graduation night, along with having a fantastic night to dress to the nines and be the centre of attention. I'm incredibly proud of the graduates we have this year. Their dedication and determination has been clear for everyone to see. They should be extremely proud of themselves. So, to our graduating students:
- Angel Van Hassel – School Captain
- Jayden Munro – School Captain
- Keira Hughes
- Aroha Massey
- Abbey Robertson
- Shayla Willman
- Zac Jenner
Many thanks for your amazing contributions to Rosella Park School and congratulations on your accomplishments. You have all served as fantastic ambassadors for Rosella Park School and outstanding role models for pupils in lower grades. I hope your future endeavours go well for you.
Take care until our next newsletter. In the upcoming weeks, please keep an eye out for the class list and I hope to see you at the Christmas Party and Awards Day. If you have any questions or need assistance with anything, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
Cheers
Principal
Geoff Miller
News from the Deputy Principal
SET Plan meetings:
Thank you to all our wonderful Year 10 parents who booked in their SET Plan meetings. We had 100% of students/parents booked in and we only have one student meeting to do. The SET plan process is a great way to plan for what your child’s life could be like post school. We then have 2 years to collectively work towards achieving these goals and building a bright future for your child. I am sure you will feel like the next two years are going to fly and like many families at the moment, you will be preparing for graduation.
Parent Webinars:
The Autism Hub have a number of Parent Webinars that may be of interest to some parents. Please also recommend these if you have a friend who may also be interested. Some of the information you can access via the webinar link are:
- Understanding functional communication
- Supporting girls with autism
- Setting up effective communication
- Supporting school connectedness
- Supporting anxiety
- Making and maintaining friendships
- Transition to prep
To access these webinars and more please enter this link in your web browser. https://www.eventbrite.com.au/d/online/events
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GRADUATING STUDENTS:
It was wonderful to attend the 2022 Year 12 Graduation. There was a massive attendance and it was certainly a night to remember. Our school captain, Angel made a heartfelt speech which caused a great deal of the audience to get teary. It is moments like these that you realise how important school is to students and how far along the journey students have come. We wish all the students then absolute best of luck for their future.
NEW PREP STUDENT TRANSITION:
We have had a number of young children coming into the school over the past couple of weeks to join the Junior students for morning tea and a play.
SCHOOL HOLIDAYS:
Given that this will be our last newsletter for the year, we would like to wish you the absolute best for the holidays. Be safe and enjoy the festive season. See you all in 2023.
News from Administration
2022 Christmas Concert Program
Christmas Raffle
Rosella Park School is running its' annual Christmas raffle with some great prizes on offer. We would like to sincerely thank the businesses who generously donated the fabulous prizes. We still have lots of raffle ticket books available, so if you require any more to sell please contact the school office. All raffle tickets need to be returned to the school by 9:00 am Monday 5th December. Winners of the raffle will be drawn at 3:00 pm on Monday 5th December.
Student travel arrangements
If your child's regular pick up arrangements differ to what we have on our records for the day, please contact the school administration so we are aware of the alternate pick up arrangements. For example; your child usually travels on the bus in the afternoon, however, is getting picked up by a carer. The school needs to know these details to enable the smooth transition for students at the end of the day. It is also important that anyone other than the parent picking your child up from the Stop, Drop, Go (e.g. a relative or family friend), has been directed to the administration office to sign your student out and collect a Stop, Drop, Go pass so our staff on duty in this area are then aware admin has been advised of the alternate pick up arrangements. At no time are carers allowed to pick your child up from the Stop, Drop, Go area. Your child's safety is our highest priority.
Student absences
Please be reminded that all student absences must be communicated through the Administration office. Please call the absenteeism line and follow the prompts to leave a message.
P&C Christmas Party
Room 1 - Junior - Mrs Dobbie
The students in Room 1 have been working really hard doing their assessments and have done their very best to achieve their learning goals. Now that is all done and dusted, we have more time to work on our gross motor skills. Because Mrs Michelle and Mrs Laureen set up an obstacle course in the Junior play area, we just had to try it out. Oh, and we had to have a swing while we waited to have our turn.
Room 1
Room 1.5 - Junior - Mrs Coulston
Well, here we are at the end of the year! It has been a busy semester and we still have a lot of really special activities to look forward to.
Our class has recently been involved with the transition days for the new prep students; which has been fun. We have had a camp site set up in our classroom to explore special places and next week we will be exploring an aboriginal perspective of special living spaces. If you have a chance come in and have a look, otherwise we will be sending photos on Dojo for you to see.
For now please enjoy the photos I have included in the newsletter for you to see what we do in class.
Room 1.5
Room 2 - Junior - Mrs Williams
Hello Room 2 families,
This week we celebrated Zarli’s birthday which was a lot of fun. Students enjoyed trying some Zoopa Doopa iceblocks and exploring with the parachute, balls, balloons and bubbles. We have continued to explore with the word of the week this term. For the word ‘not’ we read the book ‘This is not a box’ and then had fun exploring with a range of boxes. Students constructed towers with the boxes and then happily hid inside them. This week we are exploring the word ‘make’. As a class we watched a short clip of Mr Maker, read the book ‘How to Make a Rainbow’ and then created our own colourful rainbows with paints. Later in the week we are going to ‘make’ some jelly and brownies to share.
It has been a fantastic year and such a pleasure to work with the students and families of room 2.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing everyone next year.
Thanks Michelle and Laureen
Room 3 - Junior - Mrs Hayne
Well, it has been a busy term as we head towards the end of the year.
The students enjoyed the couple of swim lessons that we had at the Aquatic Centre to start the term off. In English we have continued to read some fun stories about important events and retell our favourite parts. The Room 3 students have been very engaged in the cooking as they explore whole and part of a whole in Mathematics. We have continued to visit special places around the school to care for the area. The Adventureland is a favourite! As part of the Science lessons the garden is a focus to work on what plants need and to continue to water and care for this area.
Over the last couple of weeks, the Junior Cohort have welcomed the new Preps into the school as part of the Transition Program. It has been so rewarding to meet the new students and for the current students to see how much they have grown, and changed having been at school for a while.
The Junior Cohort will be practicing their Christmas Concert items in the next coming weeks.
Warm regards,
Leanne
Room 3
Room 4 - Intermediate - Ms Atkins/Mrs Withoos
During this term, we have done lots of work with our letters and the sounds they make. We have also shared where our favourite place was and why. The students made dioramas showing their favourite place in a 3D display.
Kishan - Adventureland
Lachlan - his bedroom
Jacob - his bedroom
Jaxson - his bedroom
Annabelle - the trampoline
Room 5 - Intermediate - Mrs Nash
The year is just flying by and Term 4 has proved to be very busy. Room 5 has finished all our assessment pieces 😊 and have been enjoying learning to play some new games.
The boys have been busy collecting shazams in the playground and are looking forward to going to the shazam shop in a few weeks’ time.
Room 5
Room 6 - Senior - Mrs Buckle
Welcome to our last newsletter item for the term and year. We have been busy completing assessment tasks for all of our curriculum areas. This will free us up to explore and investigate information about our new focus ‘Australia’, until it is time for Christmas activities in our last week of school.
Sadly, our classroom has been plagued by sickness this term. We the staff of Room 6, have appreciated students staying home when they are sick.
In the mean time we have been busy earning Shazams and banking them, to spend at our Rewards Shop later in the term.
Room 6 would like to wish you a safe and festive time over the upcoming school holidays. Thank you for allowing us the privilege of working with your child this year.
From Mrs Buckle, Miss Deb, Miss Brynn, Miss Mandi and Miss Leah
Room 6
Room 8 - Senior - Mrs Maguire
This year has gone soooo fast. Assessment is drawing to an end and students are looking forward to our school Concert and of course the holidays. Thank you to all the wonderful parents behind the students of room 8. You are amazing and your amazing students have made this year a wonderful experience for me. They have achieved so much academically and socially and you should all celebrate their success. I hope to see you all at either our P&C Christmas Party on Thursday 1st December or our Awards and Christmas concert on Friday 2nd December. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and safe holiday. See you all next year.
Room 10 - Senior - Mrs Bickle
Howdy Rosella,
The year is quickly coming to an end and so is Miss Donna’s time at Rosella. I am very sad that my time here in Gladstone has come to an end but I am ready for a new chapter in the book of life. My family and I are heading off on our big adventure as soon as school ends and are needing to find a new house to live. Next year I will be working at a Private Special School in the foot hills of Adelaide with intermediate students. My new school is the first school in South Australia to create its own TV studio on site and ‘Suneden’ channel. My new school's motto is "Learn, Grow, Shine" and if you know me, you know I need to ‘sparkle’ and think I have found my place.
All the best for the future, and if you are ever in South Australia – look me up.
Miss Donna
Room 11 - Senior - Ms Harris
Room 11 has had a great Term 4 with students continuing their cooking program, working hard in all subject areas and developing great friendships. We are celebrating the end of a wonderful year with a Sleepover at school on the 1st December. Students will do fun activities such as ten pin bowling, playing at East Shores, going on a jumping castle and attending the P&C Christmas Party. It is sure to be a great event.
The highlights of this term so far have all been related to the cooking program. Thursdays are easily the highlight of the week with students enjoying grocery shopping and cooking. All students can now navigate Coles and locate grocery items required. They are getting increasingly independent with their cutting, grating, peeling, sautéing, blending and mixing skills. Perhaps the best part of the cooking program has been the social side of it, helping each other in the kitchen and trying new foods together has been great for their bonding.
The year 10 students have a great foundation of skills and connection to help them with their move to Transition Programs next year.
Room 11
Room 12 - Senior - Mrs Ward
This month’s focus has been on completing assessments and preparing for Christmas. Reward time has included jigsaw puzzles, Barbie movies, music making, song writing, and building a Lego space station.
Miss Lin, Miss Anet and myself have been looking back on the year and are proud to note how far the students have come. Their growth and achievements have been due to a combination of persistence, self-management and family support. We would like to thank families and carers for your support across the year and wish students and their families a safe and happy holiday.
Room 12
Room 13 - Senior - Mrs Dunstan
Seasons Greetings
The students and I have had a very busy term getting to know each other as well as all the usual end of year activities. Assessment tasks are nearly all wrapped up and reporting is underway. We have been practicing hard for the Christmas concert and looking forward to beginning Christmas activities next week. I look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming Christmas Concert on Friday 2nd December.
It’s been a pleasure teaching all the students who have passed through Room 13 this year. I wish them and their families the very best for the coming festive season and look forward to welcoming them back to school next year.
Room 14 - Transition - Mr Pallett
As we approach the end of another school year, our thoughts naturally turn to how the year has developed. We reflect on how we and our students have learned and changed over the course of the previous twelve months.
When one has spent more than three decades in education, it would be easy to fall prey to the cynicism of the teacher in the Book of Ecclesiastics when he declares “Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless… what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” However, while such thoughts might be understandable, they are also wrong.
However many times the teacher has been through the academic year, everything is new for his students. That is what keeps education so vibrant. It might be the 31st(!) time for the teacher but it's always the first time for the students. The challenge is to remember this and keep everything fresh for those going through what are, for them, brand-new experiences.
When I was considering the end of year awards I was struck by how difficult they were to decide because all of my students have achieved so much and have made so much progress. I would like to pay tribute to all my Year 11 students for 2022 – Mary-Rose, Matthew, Levi, Artemis, Kitarna and our newest member, Lexi - for the work they have done and the growth they have achieved. I wish them all the best for their Year 12 studies in 2023.
Happy Christmas to all Year 11 students, their families and carers.
Room 15 - Transition - Mrs Leeson
What a busy time of the year. Our year 12 students are in their final weeks of school before they venture off into the real world. Jayden and Aroha have taken up the option of finishing school at the same time as their peers in mainstream schools and we wish them the very best of luck in their future endeavours. For the remaining students, all programs continue as normal up until and including week 9. Our last Tuckshop round is this fortnight. The year 12 students have done a great job keeping the school fed with sausage rolls, mini pizzas and regular specials. We look forward to seeing this program expand further next year when we are in our brand new kitchen. As the certificate course winds down for the year we will begin to offer some extended leisure activities like movies, visits to the beach, bowling etc. These activities will come with a cost. Look out on Dojo for updates in this area. By now you would have been told a million camp stories and yes, I suspect most of them are true. As usual, camp was a great way to get to know the students in more depth. Each and every student stepped up in some way. Road works made our drive to and from the Gold Coast long and tiring. The students showed patience beyond their years. We had some great adventures at Paradise Country where Abbey and Zac were able to hold a Koala, Kitarna met Keira the Koala (mascot) and we all enjoyed a train ride and Seaworld where we watched some amazing shows and had some rides. Overall camp was a great experience for everyone involved.
Room 15
Community News
CDYA Youth Survey
Dear parents and families,
We know many of you have children who would like the opportunity to voice what they need from schools to be better supported to learn, and feel welcomed and included. Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) is seeking feedback from students with disability about their experiences at school, via a 10 minute confidential survey (see link below). The survey will close Wednesday 30 November. Students who are at school, or who have recently left or finished school, are eligible to participate in this national survey on education. The information collected will be used by CYDA in its advocacy work to government and others.