January/February 2023

News from the Principal - Geoff Miller

Welcome to the 2023 school year.  It is exciting to see all of our students return from their well-deserved holiday break.  A lot has happened over the holiday break, and I am happy to share that we are well and truly utilising the new 12 classroom building (there are a few finer details that will be ironed out over the coming weeks).  To our families I hope you all had a great holiday break as well and we are looking forward to reconnecting and working with you to support every student at Rosella Park School.

Welcome to our new families and students who have begun schooling at Rosella Park.  We look forward to working with you and supporting your child maximise every day at school.  To our returning families and students, not much has changed (except for the facilities) and it has been fantastic how well all of the students have fallen back into the school routine. 

Along with new students we are also officially welcoming a number of new staff to Rosella Park School.  Please join with me to welcome the following people:

• Mr Paul – Guidance Officer
• Miss Kelsie – Psychologist
• Mr Mark – Classroom Teacher
• Miss Helen – Classroom Teacher
• Miss C – Classroom Teacher
• Miss Dianne – NCT Teacher
• Miss Galina – Teacher Aide
• Miss Amanda – Teacher Aide
• Miss Elisabeth – Teacher Aide
• Miss Sarah – Teacher Aide

As you may have already seen, we are still impacted by construction.  This is planned up to at least the end of term 1.  The contractors will finish off the new building (outside of school hours) over the next few weeks, and will then focus on completing the new play / bike track area in the middle of the school.  This is also a massive project that is also taking up a huge footprint of our school site.  During Term 1 we will have restricted access across the school.  Staff have collaborated together to formulate plans to support student needs – especially at eating and play times.  So far, these plans seem to be going ok, and we will continue to monitor and review when necessary.  We are all looking forward to the official opening of all areas again in Term 2.

Just a friendly reminder regarding normal school operating practices.  We are still working under the condition of if your child is unwell and has any symptoms (sickness / unwell), they are to remain at home until they are symptom free and feeling better.  If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Finally, staff will be in contact with families over coming weeks to discuss ICPs and student goals.  It is a good time to remind families that the preferred methods of communication with the school is by face to face meetings (please ring and schedule), email, school telephone (4976 8333) and messages via class dojo.

Until our next newsletter, please take care and we look forward to working with you to maximise each day your child attends school.

News from the Deputy Principal - Shelley Slade

Parents Wanted!

WE NEED YOU FOR OUR PBL COMMITTEE!

Is there a parent that would be willing to be a participant on our PBL Team? This could involve you attending the PBL Meetings from 7:45-8:30, once a term or it could be reading through our meeting minutes and providing us with feedback about how our school could improve to support parent understanding around behaviour to ultimately influence student behaviour in a positive way.

We are keen to have at least one parent to be involved in our PBL Team, preferably in person, for one of our three meetings per term, of course, you are welcome to come to all of them. Your input is highly valued and we would love for you to be involved.

Please email Shelley Slade sslad7@eq.edu.au if you are able to be involved in some way

ON BEHALF OF THE PBL TEAM

Multi-class Sport

News from HOD - Mrs Davis/Ms Colucci

Hi families and welcome back to school for 2023. For our families that have children who use a communication device, I encourage you to like and follow The AAC Coach on Facebook. Her name is Kate McLaughlin, M.S., CCC-SLP Speech-Language Pathologist and she is an AAC Enthusiast.

Her content is current and helpful and provides little reminders here and there on how best to support your child and their learning journey.

I’ll try and include some of her reminders and teachings in newsletters to come.

Just always remember you are a super model-er.

All the best, Ms Colucci

News from the Administration team

2023 School Photo Day

School Photo day is coming up on Tuesday 21st March 2023. Below is instructions on how to order your student photos online. If you have any queries, please contact either myself at the school or Leading Image photography.

Phones, Ipads and Electronic Devices

Parents please be mindful that we do not encourage students to bring these items to school. If they are brought to school, they must be signed in at the office. The school accepts no responsibility for loss of any item brought onto the school grounds.

Junior 1 - Mrs Coulston

I would like to welcome all my new students to Junior 1. We have been very busy learning the routines of the school day, and finding our way around the Junior area. We have lots to learn about each other. I want to welcome Miss Kerrie to my class room as my teacher aide. You should have received an invitation to join our class dojo. If you haven't please contact me and I will organise it for you. This is a great way to stay in touch with what is happening in the class room. I look forward to meeting you all over the course of the term.

Junior 2 - Mrs Williams

Hello Junior 2 families, 

We have had a fantastic start to the year and students have settled into routines and learning activities with enthusiasm and a big smile. Our full time Teacher Aide will be Laureen this year. We also have Ashley, Tina and Sara who will be sharing the position of floater Teacher Aide in Juniors. This semester we will be exploring a range of learning areas. In English we will be role playing nursery rhymes. Science is all about the weather and in Math we are looking at patterns and numbers. Student have particularly enjoyed working with letters and writing for fun this week. We are looking forward to working and learning together and will keep you updated on the exciting activities experienced throughout the year.

Thanks Michelle 

Junior 3 - Mrs Hayne

Welcome to the school year and to Junior 3. It is  nice to meet the 5 students to the room- Avah, Liam, Lincoln, Jax and Ned. Junior 3 is well supported by Miss Julie, Miss Ash, Miss Di, Miss Leah and Miss Tina across the school week. We have Miss Bek as our Digital and Design Technology teacher two times a week. The students have settled well into the routines of the class and school and have been happy to meet and play with both new and old friends. We have been fortunate to have parade L Block which was a different part of the school to see and explore. The subjects the students will be engaging with are English, Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education and Digital and Design and Design Technology.

Looking forward to a fabulous year.

Junior 3

Intermediate 1 - Mrs Buckle

Welcome back to Rosella for 2023 😊

We are busy getting into routine.  We have a new classroom, new eating area, new staff and new friends.  There is a lot to get used to. 

We are going to the Activity Room (the new name for the soft fall room) every morning to firstly enjoy some self-regulation opportunities then a letter sort activity using a small parachute and balls with the letters written onto them.   

Each week we will have new letters of the week and a new book of the week for shared reading.  This week we have started off with the first letters of our names - O, K, D, S. In a week by week fashion, until the end of the semester, we will be comparing only 2 letters. 

Last week we tested out some Aussie Food to coincide with Australia Day.  Fairy bread and lamingtons were the favourites with vegemite less so.

Thank you to everyone for joining the school Dojo, I hope you have been enjoying the photos so far. 

From the Intermediate 1 Classroom staff

Mrs Buckle, Miss Simone, Miss Deb, Miss Sonia, Miss Elisabeth

Inter 1

Intermediate 2 - Mrs Maguire

Welcome Back to 2023. It was really lovely to see all students return back to school last week. We were all very excited about having a beautiful new building. Our Classrooms are beginning to take shape and students are beginning their year’s journey as we look at subject and goal setting for the first semester. All students will soon be working hard on their own individual goals for English, Maths, Science, Design and Technology, Digital Technology and HPE. Individual Curriculum Plans (ICP) should be complete by early next week and details about meetings to discuss and sign these documents will appear in communication books towards the end of next week. Hopefully I will have Dojo up and working shortly and you will receive an invitation to join. This is a great way to keep up to date with what is happening in the class room. It’s going to be a wonderful year and I have some of the best student to share the journey with.

Regards,

Mrs M

Intermediate 3 - Ms Bowden

Inter 3 has been reading the story "Hungry Little Caterpillar'.  We finished the week by making fruit salad, that we could all enjoy for lunch.

Inter 3

Intermediate 4 - Mr Dennis

Intermediate 4 have had a great start to the year and are loving being in the new building. We are enjoying literacy and numeracy. We are getting to know our new teacher, Mr Mark, who came across the road from Gladstone State High School this year and is loving teaching his new class and getting to know his students. We are learning all about feelings and learning some coping and resilience strategies when we are feeling a negative emotion. We are learning about our community and the people in our community who help us at different times. We are working so well and earning lots of “Shazams” and stickers on our rewards chart.

Intermediate 5 - Mrs Nash

Welcome to Intermediate 5.  The year already seems to be racing by 😊

My name is Joan Nash and I am the teacher for Intermediate 5.  I work together with my amazing Teacher Aides to ensure your child has a fun and educational time at school.  The Aides in Inter 5 this year are Ms Sara (Mon-Fri), Ms Jess (Wed-Fri), Ms Elizabeth (Mon & Tues) and Ms Tracey assists for a few sessions throughout the week.  Ms Bek is our Non-Contact teacher this Semester and she takes the class for a session on Tuesday morning and again on Wednesday afternoon.

You will find us on the bottom floor of L Block (The new building) YAY!!  We are the Blue Room, 2^nd class in.  I have already met all of you and cannot wait to share your child’s achievements with you throughout the year.

Till next time

Mrs Nash

Inter 5

Senior 1 - Mrs Ward

Welcome to Senior 1

Ms Nicole and myself would like to welcome Blake, Dylan, Ethan, Riley and Tyler to the class.

It has been a great start to the year with the class creating their own classroom rules and revising the PBL school rules. We could see the students were going to be great role models for the school because the first day the boys walked into the classroom wearing full school uniform and tried very hard to be respectful, positive and safe both in and out of the classroom. 😊

I strongly believe that communication is important to your child’s growth and education so it is vital that we to establish a communication channel between us. I encourage you to check the communication book on a daily basis and although I do not expect a daily reply to my messages, I would appreciate it if you could initial the appropriate box so I know that you’ve read the message. I also appreciate Dojo messages to let me know that your child will be late or away, however remember to contact the office as well.

If you wish to meet with me to discuss your child’s progress, view their work or discuss sensitive matters please let me know through the communication book, contact me on the school number 4976  8333 or via email kward91@eq.edu.au

Katrina Ward

Senior 2 - Miss C

Welcome to Senior 2!

It has been a pleasure working with your students for the past week and a half. In English, we have been decoding texts and comprehension along with changing a simple sentence into a compound sentence using "so", "but" and "because". In maths, we investigated and made observations of how fake snow grew over time and noting the difference in height using millimetres. Senior 2 are also working on the months of the year and seasons. We have been learning about grouping thousands, hundreds, tens and ones and using this in everyday situations.

It was amazing to see our students present their speeches for student council.

Senior 2 should be very proud of their accomplishments.

Senior 2

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 12

Next

Senior 3 - Miss Harris

The year has started well in Senior 3; we have all settled in nicely.

We are working out of what used to be called Room 12. Many of these students have been in this room before so it has been an easy adjustment.

We did a lot of work about Australia for Australia Day and we read books about Australian animals. The book “Wombat Stew” inspired us to make stew out of mud, feathers, gumnuts, creepy crawlies and rocks (we used chocolate custard, gummy lollies, m&ms and chocolate eggs). It was a lot of fun.

We have noticed the sun is quite bright coming through our windows and we are fixing this by covering our windows with beautiful colouring. While students listen to stories they are able to colour in and it is a nice relaxing activity.

Students are completing assessments to help guide what their curriculum focus will be for the semester. I will be writing their individual curriculum plans (ICP) ready to discuss with parents/carers at meetings in week 3.

We have had 3 of our students nominate for Student Council which is very exciting for Tehmarni, Tyriq and Sami. The rest of the class is helping by being a brilliant audience and listening to them practice their speeches.

I am looking forward to a great year as the Senior 3 teacher.

Thanks for reading, Caroline Harris.

If you ever want to get in touch my email is: charr512@eq.edu.au

Senior 3

Senior 4 - Mrs Dunstan

Welcome to our new parents and students and welcome back to everyone who has worked with me before.

Our PBL focus this week is being in the correct place at the correct time and moving from area to area correctly.

Our focus this first newsletter of 2023 is what we are looking forward to most in 2023.

RC - “I’m looking forward to new work and being in a new class.”

RG – “I’m happy I’m going to be doing harder work this year and I was excited to see the new building”

EM - “I like the kids in my class this year. I’m looking forward to cooking and writing a recipe book.”

NH - “I am proud that I have gone up a level in Maths this year and I am really looking forward to our lunch time gardening.”

ZJ “I am happy to be with Miss Rhonda and Miss Susan. I like the boys in my class.”

Here’s to a year of fun learning adventures.

Transition 1 - Mr Pallett

A very warm welcome to the first term of 2023 to all parents, carers and friends of Transition 1 students. I have very much enjoyed getting to know my new class and I believe we have made an excellent start to our Year 11 studies. 

Since the return to school at the beginning of Week 1, we have been very busy in Transition 1. Our programme is rather different to that which students are have been used to during the rest of their time at school. The focus of Transition studies in Years 11 and 12 is on preparation for life outside school – the world of work, of adulthood, of learning to take greater responsibility for your own choices. Instead of more traditional subjects like History and Geography, Transition 1 students have focused on being active citizens, on making decisions about their physical health and on the use of technology in the wider community. This is not to neglect more basic learning areas and we still have lessons in Mathematics and English; we have been working on our understanding of time and on our writing skills, such as using proper punctuation and capital letters. 

One area that is completely new for some Year 11 students is the Certificate 1 course in Access to Vocational Learning. This is a two year course provided by the School of Distance Education in Brisbane that will lead to a nationally recognised qualification at the end of 2024. We have three 70 minute lessons a week (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) online with Miss Jill and we have already started our course of study. I have been very impressed with the way the students have adapted to the demands of this course. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns, either by using the communication book or ClassDojo. 

Transition 2 - Mrs Brierley

Welcome to the first term of 2023. We have made a great start to the year and it has been very exciting for us all in our new classroom. Everyone has adapted well to the changes and whilst things still look a little different around the school we know it will all look amazing when fully finished.

We hit the ground running in Week 1 with our class Vegemite challenge. The class was very confident that they could guess which piece of toast was the vegemite one when given a choice of three, however only Holly and Jessy claimed victory. We then went and challenged staff and students throughout the school, taking photos and videos of our findings. With this, we created a movie and wrote letters to Vegemite to tell them about our experiment and to congratulate them on 100 years of Vegemite.

We have also started actively campaigning to source more local businesses to collect their 10c containers for us. This forms part of our recycling business which students will go out and do every Monday. Students are responsible for a set business which they will maintain throughout the year. Funds raised from this venture support our yearly transition camp and help to keep costs at a manageable level. We know from previous years that everyone loves seeing the weekly total climb up!

On Wednesdays, we are lucky to have the very talented Mrs Thornton come in to take The Arts subject. I know I am looking forward to seeing what is created!

Our first couple of weeks have been great and we are looking forward to hitting the road soon and getting out in the community. Stay tuned on Class dojo for plenty of photos.

If you would like to get in contact with me about anything please feel free to message on dojo, email me at sbrie32@eq.edu.au or phone the school on 07 4976 8333.

Transition 2

Transition 3 - Mrs Leeson

Welcome to Transition 3 and another exciting year. As it is your child’s final year at school we will be busy making sure everyone is as prepared for the world beyond school as they can be. I will be in touch soon to organise some parent catch ups so we can plan out a successful year for your child. Working with your children this year are, myself as classroom teacher, Ms Carolyne Thornton as the non-contact teacher, Ms Anet, Ms Mandy, Ms Charity, Ms Brynn, Ms Tammy and Ms Deb as the teacher aides across the whole cohort. Mr Mike Pallett and Mrs Sally Brierley are the two year 11 teachers rounding off our cohort. We are so lucky to have such an amazing team working in Transition this year.

This semester the year 12 programs are falling into place nicely. English and Mathematics continue much the same as last year. If your child is completing the Certificate Course they are working with Mr Mike again this year and so far, they are off to a great start. Our Tuckshop program starts off with a lot of theory around occupational health and safety of working in a kitchen and running a business. This year when the kitchen in the new building is finished we will also be adding a Café to our program. This means our current year 12 students will be working hard on setting up this program. Our first job in this area will be to visit some local Cafés to check out their menus. (Permission notes to go on outings will come home soon). As part of Community Agencies, we will be accessing as many Agencies that offer services after school as possible. Students will check out the facilities, have the opportunity ask questions and collect information that they can bring home to share with their families. Fitness continues again this semester and this will be organised by the non-contact teacher Mrs Thornton.  She will also take the social skills class.

Finally, as this is a big year for you and your child, you may have lots of questions (especially as we get towards the end of the year). I can be easily reached through Dojo and I am more than happy to catch up anytime needed.

Non Contact Teachers - Ms Atkins, Mrs Thornton, Mrs Withoos, Mrs Mackenzie

For semester one Non-Contact time, students will be engaging in Design and Digital Technologies.

In Design, we will be exploring the purpose of design solutions for products, services and environments. We will be taking excursions to recreation areas in our community to examine features and even sharing a meal based on a critical inquiry of different menus. We will also be using our construction skills to build using a variety of materials.

In Digital Tech, we will be investing different forms of data and how we can display these in creative ways. We will be using digital technology to create music, take photos, make movies and generate unique artworks.

We are asking for donations of drinking container lids (please only clean plastic lids) and old CDs to use in our designs and artworks

We are also looking for donations of old digital technology that no longer works so that students can roll play and explore these objects. Things like old phones, landline phones, discmans, pagers, cameras, laptops, etc. These need to have no cords attached (please cut off any) and be clean with no cracks. These do not have to work. Please drop any items into the office.

So far we have been getting to know everyone and letting our creativity run wild with our construction materials.