Rosella Park School eNewsletter

News from the Principal

Hi All

What a busy few weeks we have had at school. I have been extremely proud of the work all staff have been showcasing each and every day – I can confirm there are great things happening in every classroom at Rosella Park school.

I want to acknowledge the great work teachers have been involved in for the last few weeks. Term 2 is very busy for teachers as the collate and moderate student work in readiness for Semester 1 report cards. Recently teacher engaged in quality professional conversations to moderate student work and reporting grades. The work samples teachers brough along clearly showcased the hard work students have been doing in their classrooms. The teaching group stayed back for 2 hours after school to support this valuable piece of work.

Recently we made a significant change to how the morning routine ran at Rosella Park School. To move our practices to align with the teachers award we needed a new model for before school supervision. Massive thank you to teacher aides for their willingness to support and ensure a smooth transition to the new model. The new model now consists to students meeting and waiting in an area close to the classes – this is supported and supervised by the teacher aides. To date, this has run very smoothly – a massive reason for this is the engagement and supervision by our amazing teachers’ aides.

I am super exited to see the new digital school sign physically be installed this week. While the electrical works may take a few more days or week, it is great seeing our school sign standing proudly at the front of our school. I invite all families to do a drive by and have a look – I am biased but I think it looks great.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank our P&C who have worked behind the scenes to organise new winter jackets. They finally arrived this week and look great. For any families interested in getting a jacket, there will be other opportunities to make an order (this way the costs can be kept down for families).

Additionally, with the coming cooler months, it is a timely reminder to all families that the winter uniform as per the uniform policy is navy-blue jumpers / jackets. I have seen quite a few students wearing different colours – Can I please ask families to transition over to a navy-blue coloured jumper or jacket if their child currently does not have one.

Finally, our attendance rate for 2023 has shown a significant increase from 2022. Data from 2022 showed the average attendance rate was 74%, for 2023 we are currently sitting very close to 84% - that’s a 10% increase. Can I please give all our families a massive thank you for assisting your child to come every day and maximise their learning opportunities.

Until our next newsletter, wishing you all the very best. If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school and arrange a time to have a chat.

News from Administration

Book Fair

What a great job Miss Rhonda did with organising, setting up and manning our inaugural 2023 Book Fair. All students were so excited to visit the Book Fair and fill out their wish lists. We sold a total of $1026.00 worth of products. Of those sales, the school gets 30% of this total for our rewards which worked out to $308.00 worth of resources for our library and PBL rewards system. Thank you to all Parents, Carers, Students and Staff for supporting our Book Fair.

During the Book Fair week we ran several competitions. The winners were:-

Senior/Transition Guess the Book winner: Mia B

Junior/Intermediate Guess the Book winner: Lachlan R

Junior colouring competition winner: Honor P

Intermediate colouring competition winner: Jacob J

Senior colouring competition winner: Dylan T

Transition colouring competition winner: Joshua J

Guess the Treasure competition winner: Annabelle M

Winner of $25.00 door prize: Sami M

Congratulations to all our winners.

Book Fair

Absence Notifications by parents for students

A reminder to all parents and carers that if your child is absent, please notify the school administration office of the reason for the absence. There are a number of ways to do this:-

1. Ring and leave a message on the school absentee line

2. Respond to the SMS message which will be sent if your child's absence comes up as unexplained.

3. All unexplained absences will be followed up by the school either by way of a letter or a follow up SMS.

It would be appreciated if parents could respond to any of these options.

Please remember that if your child is being picked up by anyone other than a parent, that person needs to present at the office with identification and sign your child out prior to collection.

School Uniforms

A reminder to all parents, carers and students that as the weather is getting cooler and we are grabbing for our winter woolies, that hoodies of any description cannot be worn at school. The school uniform policy recommends a blue pullover, zip up cardigan or school jacket. Also, please ensure that if wearing track pants, they are the school colour. Please refer to the Uniform policy below. If you have any questions, please contact the school on 49768333.

7._Student_Uniform_Policy.pdf

News from the Deputy Principal

EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDENTS

Students from Toolooa have joined our school as part of the Early Childhood subject that they engage in. The students were separated into some of the classes and had the opportunity to observe and learn about students with additional needs. This program is a fabulous way for us to not only educate students about disabilities, but to also encourage students to consider a career within this field. We are very thankful to the team at Toolooa that continue to work with us to make this happen. And a bigger thank you to the lovely group of ladies who came across to be part of our school for this period of time.

UNDER 8’s DAY

Under 8s Day was a wonderful success with lots of bubbles, parachute activities, dancing, underwater themed corner, bean bag basketball, obstacle course and a sensory area with items made by our super cool senior students. The students in Senior 2 were working on procedural texts and as such they followed a number of procedures to create slime, different types of playdoh including sensory playdoh and cloud playdough. They also made some stress balls out of lentils and balloons. In addition to this the Toolooa students spent their last visit with our school engaging with the students and demonstrating some of the cool ways they could use the sensory items. The students certainly enjoyed it.

WHAT COMING UP?

We have our upcoming PBL days and also our Shazam Shop to look forward to before the end of the term. Early next term, we have our NAIDOC celebration week. Check-out the next newsletter for more information.

Given that this will be our last newsletter for the term, we would like to wish you the absolute best for the holidays. Be safe and enjoy the winter season. See you all in Term 3.

Junior 1 - Mrs Coulston

As we count down to the end of the semester, we still have a lot to look forward to. Our Under 8’s Day is on Tuesday 06/06/23 and we have a celebration day coming up as well.

Looking back, we have been doing a lot of exploring different areas of the school and enjoying some new equipment to enhance our learning experiences. As you can see in the photos, the students are developing social skills that allow them to share and work together on a project.

We have also had the opportunity to interact with the students from Toolooa on a Tuesday middle session; a time we have quite enjoyed.

Junior 1 goings on

Book fair was a definite highlight in week 6. We had a great time exploring and looking at the books set up in L Block. Students were quite engaged with the story ‘Speedy Sloth’ which we viewed on YouTube and dressing up as a pirate was a fun experience. We are looking forward to what book fair will bring next year. Each Wednesday we go to the library where we select new books for the classroom and explore the activities in the library. Students enjoy this activity each week and our book collection for the classroom is rapidly growing. This experience also provides our class with the opportunity to wear our green tags and transition as a class group to a different area of the school. As the weather has started to get colder, water play in the sensory garden has changed to sun safety in Adventureland. We are extremely impressed with how well class members are transitioning as a group to Adventureland while also wearing their green tags and hats. Overall, we are transitioning throughout the school extremely well. Great job Junior 2 students !

Junior 2 happenings

Junior 3 - Mrs Hayne

Junior 3 students have had a busy month actively engaging in all aspects of the curriculum across the week. In English, we have been exploring the letters and sounds through a variety of fun activities in the classroom and with their cohort peers on Fun Friday. It is also great to see the improvement with the writing process as the students complete sentences on a variety of topics such as relating to photos of themselves, the book of the week or through PODD discussions on areas of interest to them. On a daily basis, we all observe the weather as part of Science and make a comment about how the day looks. In Mathematics, the focus continues with sequencing actions and events and adding to and taking away from a collection of objects. It is good to see all the class participating in the combined learning for HPE with the other students across the week.

As a culminating activity for the Book Fair, Junior 3 walked around the school following map clues to reach the treasure of a gold coin. The challenges were interesting including walking a plank, locating a pirate ship and having to go through the office for the clues.

Junior 3 events

Intermediate 1 - Mrs Buckle

Gosh ! it is almost half way through the year !! Time flies when you are having fun ! Our book fair was a big occasion for us. We all dressed up as ‘bookaneers’ and visited the pirate guarding the books. We tracked through the clues taking us all over the school to find the treasure. We were part of the winning cohort for being the most enthused, involved and dressed up for the day. Our cohort is being rewarded with a pizza party this Friday - 2nd June.

We have introduced foods beginning with our letters of the week on Wednesdays. This week we will investigate foods beginning with the letters B, M, Y - blueberries, bananas, milk, marshmallows, yoghurt. This approach has really garnered an interest from the students.

If you would like to support us from home, please model for your child your opinion on something. For example say “I really like _______ because it tastes yummy” or “Yuck, that felt slimy !!” If you can support these comments with your child’s communication device that would be fantastic.

As per usual if you have any concerns, please contact us so we can make a time to discuss the issues with you.

Due to the cold weather, we have not been doing water play on Fridays but substituting other interesting activities like playing with the big parachute.

Intermediate 1 happenings

Hello to all. This year is going really fast we are almost half way finished already. Students are extremely excited as our class will be joining the juniors to celebrate under 8's week next Tuesday. This will be held at the school with some fun activities for our students to enjoy. With only 3 weeks remaining before the holidays students are looking forward to rewards day activities at the end of term and of course the holidays. Please look out for the pictures that will be posted on DOJO of these upcoming events.

All students have worked hard towards achieving their individual goals and parents will be so proud of their successes revealed in report cards that will be sent out at the end of the semester. All students have worked extremely hard and deserve a pat on the back for their continued commitment and perseverance.

Intermediate 3 - Mrs Bowden

This semester Intermediate 3 have been discussing the weather patterns. We record the daily weather and temperature onto our weekly charts. We can identify the different seasons we have during the year, and we know that we are in Autumn, and that the leaves fall down off the trees, and it is getting cold.

Intermediate 3

Intermediate 4 - Mr Mark

Intermediate 4 have been learning all about shapes and patterns. For Art we have made several pictures using a variety of shapes including frogs, monsters and dinosaurs. We continue to enjoy our cooking program on Fridays and recently have made scones and spaghetti and meatballs. We also continue to work on the Study Ladder website and the students are making great progress on this.

The class will be making books of themselves next week. If you have any photos that we could possibly use please send them in and I can photocopy and return. Alternatively please email to mdenn86@eq.edu.au. If you don’t have any that we could use we have photos from school that we can use but it would be nice to include some out of school photos as well. Thanks!

Scones

thickened cream

caster sugar

self-raising flour

jam

Intermediate 5 - Mrs Nash

No artical provided

Senior 1 - Mrs Ward

The students of Senior 1 are very excited that assessments are finally finished and are looking forward to Rewards Day. We also have our forward to our class end of term party to look forward to.

My New Gallery

Senior 2 - Miss C

Senior 2 have had the opportunity to make observations and test the performance of their created transport models which has proved very interesting and thought provoking.

They have been applying their understanding and knowledge from science by making slime and observing the properties and reactions of the different materials used in various batches.

Our senior students have been refining their health and movement techniques and instructing their peers to scaffold their learning.

Senior 2 are very pleased to be supporting the upcoming Under 8's day by using their material and properties knowledge to prepare items that are suitable for all those participating in Under 8's Day.

Keep up the fantastic work, Senior 2!

Senior 2 events

Senior 3 - Ms Harris

Senior 3 June Newsletter

Since the last newsletter we had our Athletics Day and of the students in Senior 3 competed.

Tehmarni really enjoyed long jump. Sami was super-fast at running and she liked long jump too. Noah wants to do more running but he doesn’t want to do more shot put. Tyriq did really well in all the events and he liked the day. Beau liked staying at school and having a quiet room.

Another exciting event for Rosella has been our first ever Book Fair. Lots of the Senior 3 students entered the colouring competition, guessed how many coins were in a jar, guessed the title of a mystery book and bought things from the fair. Tehmarni bought 2 new books, Sami got an awesome horse poster, Noah and Tyriq got pop-it fidget toys. Sami also won the lucky door prize. We all think it would be good to have Book Fair again next year.

In class we have been working hard on all our subjects, students are great at communicating their opinions. Tyriq does not like our maths work. Noah does not like learning about emotions. Sami does not like the noisy boys in the room. Tehmarni does not like puzzles that are too hard (1000 brown pieces is too many). Beau does not like writing work.

We can also express positive opinions: Beau really likes technology lessons, especially if they involve creating in Mine Craft. Tyriq loves it when we learn with games like Rummikub in maths. Sami enjoys when learning is taken outside like our science learning walks. Tehmarni loves doing work she can share with others across the school and proudly shows her writing to the intermediates. Noah likes learning maths and solving problems.

Assessments have been going well and I am enjoying writing the Report Cards to tell you how the students are doing. Every C is a Celebration of a student achieving their goals. It is exciting to report so many Celebrations (and even some Above and Beyond results!).

Looking forward to the rest of term.

My New Gallery

Senior 4 - Mrs Dunstan

Senior 4 have been very busy completing assessment tasks but we nevertheless had time to make some delicious triple choc brownies for Mother's Day. We have also been having fun learning coding skills in our Digital Technology lessons.

Senior 4 happenings

Transition 1 -Mr Pallett

As we approach the end of the first semester of 2023, I have been working on my students’ report cards. This has given me the opportunity to reflect on the progress they have made since the start of the year.

There is less focus on ‘traditional’ subjects in Transition and more on preparing students for life after school. Of course, English and Maths are not neglected and Transition 1 students have continued to develop their reading, writing and number skills. In other areas, the aim is much more community based. In Technology, we have explored services like ATMs and self-service checkouts that the students will encounter in their everyday lives. In Health, they have looked into how they can take care of their own and others’ health whilst in Citizenship the class has studied the roles and responsibilities that all people have in a free and democratic society.

Looking forward to Semester 2, we shall be studying online safety, improving our mapping skills and looking at building healthy and productive relationships with other people. We will also be spending two lessons a week learning how to shop for and prepare healthy meal options.

I hope that everyone enjoys a restful Winter break and returns ready to engage with the opportunities that will be available in the second semester.

Transition 2 - Miss Sally

We have had a busy number of weeks consolidating learning with final assessments in our learning areas. Everyone has done really well!

Over the last few weeks we had an excursion to the Gladstone careers expo where students identified opportunities for work experience and post schooling. Students also took part in an athletics event with many students qualifying to go through to represent the school at Port Curtis Athletics.

Our recycling business for both Year 11 classes continues to go well and we thank everyone for their donations to this. The students love this subject and enjoy the weekly engagement with their business.

Here are some photos of what we have been up to!

Transition 2

Transition 2 goings on

Transition 3 - Mrs Leeson

What another busy month we have had. So far, we have paid a visit to several agencies around town to check out their programs. Our latest visit was with Gladstone Linking Agency. We were treated to a taste of their programs. The students loved the rock music activity and created some great pieces of art. The staff and clients were all so friendly and helpful. We certainly enjoyed our visit. In the café program, we are pleased to say that the new kitchen is ready to go. We will be finalising our logo and menu and we will be up and running next semester. That means the tuckshop program will also commence next semester. By the time you read this newsletter we will have finished our fundraising endeavours. Take a look at the photos of this project. We are pleased to say that we have had a record number of pizzas ordered and raised over $400 for PAWS Gladstone. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for photos of us presenting the proceeds to PAWS. This brings us to the close of another semester. Have a great mid-year holiday.

My New Gallery

Non-Contact Teachers

Year 12 students in Transition 3 have been hosting a high tea event each week on a Thursday afternoon as part of their social skills program. A different class is invited each week. Students pre-order their food and the students assist with preparing the food, greeting guests, showing them to their seats, serving food and drink and cleaning up. They have been doing an amazing job of interacting with the guests and using their conversational skills and manners to make sure they are having a fabulous time. It has been a popular activity for the guests who have all been made to feel very special with the great service.

My New Gallery

News from the Student Council

The students have diligently attended our weekly meetings on Wednesdays at first break. Before we get down to business, we try to play a game or do an activity to unite us and further develop our social and leadership skills.

Here we can be seen trying the party trick of tearing our Mintie wrapper into the longest strip. The competitive ones amongst us took the task very seriously, although Artemis and I had a good laugh at their efforts.

Student Council shennanigans

Athletics at Rosella refers to Cross Country and Track and Field events that are currently run outside of our school environment. There are a variety of ‘levels’ students can perform at for Athletics. Firstly is the Rosella Park School Athletics Day – and Rosella Run Club – where students are with other students from Rosella. There are qualifying standards to make it beyond the school level. The first out-of-school level they can qualify for is Port Curtis School Sport where our students compete against other multi-class students (this is students who are registered with Sports Inclusion as having a disability) from the Gladstone region. If/when students perform well at Port Curtis they can then join the Port Curtis Team to compete at a Capricornia event, competing against multi-class Students from across Central Queensland. If/when they qualify for the Capricornia Team then they compete at State level. Once on the State Team the students then move on to being competitive against other multi-class students at Nationals. Last year we had 3 students qualify for Nationals.

The ‘Athletics Season’ is in full swing now and since the last newsletter we had our Athletics Day.
It was a great day! Many of our athletes performed well and got Personal Best times/distances.
Of the 31 students who competed at Rosella Athletics Day we have had 23 perform well enough to qualify to attend Port Curtis Athletics on the 25^th and 26^th of July. A big thank you to the 14 families who have already sent in the completed permission booklets for athletics. If your child qualified they brought home the permission book that needs to be completed and returned to school before the end of this term. If you need help – or a new booklet – please contact Miss Harris on charr512@eq.edu.au and she will help.

In Cross Country we had 10 students who have proven themselves long distance runners at Rosella Events go on to compete at the Port Curtis Cross Country, and then 7 students go on to attend the Capricornia Cross Country in Rockhampton. Amazingly all 7 students ran so well that they have made it to competing to be on the State Team in Hervey Bay in July. Those of them that choose to take this opportunity will be running on Sunday the 16^th of July and after that we will find out if anyone is going to Nationals in Canberra!

Training:
To train for Track and Field events Special O Athletics is a wonderful option!
It is run on a Saturday Morning from 9am-10:30am at the old TAFE. Kerryn Harris and Caroline Harris are both there to help coach the participants. It is great to see the progress that has already been made by our students who attend this training. It would be great to see even more of our keen athletes attend. They need to be registered with Special Olympics to attend and then it is just $2 per Saturday. First session is free, so they can come give it a go before you commit.

Running options:

Rosella Run Club is on at 4:30pm Tuesdays and 4pm Thursdays and starts at the Lions Park near the big blue tree. This will continue for the last 2 weeks of school and then Miss Harris is going to take a break for the holidays. Run Club is free.
Park Run Gladstone is a free community event that is on 7am Saturdays and also starts a the Lions Park (we use the Park Run Track for Run Club). When you register online for your free Park Run account they give you a barcode which you can scan each time you attend. This will give you your run times so you can see progress the more you attend. There are a lot of volunteers at every Park Run event who will assist with any questions https://www.parkrun.com.au/gladstoneqld/

Looking forward to being able to update you in August with the results from both Capricornia Cross Country and Port Curtis Track and Field.
Congratulations to all our athletes across all levels!