November/December 2023
- News from the Principal
- News from the Deputy Principal
- News from Administration
- Junior 1 - Mrs Avis
- Junior 2 - Mrs Williams
- Junior 3 - Mrs Seidel
- Intermediate 1 - Mrs Buckle
- Intermediate 2 - Mrs Maguire
- Intermediate 3- Mrs Bowden
- Intermediate 4 - Mr Dennis
- Intermediate 5 - Mrs Nash
- Senior 2 - Miss C
- Senior 3 - Miss Harris
- Senior 4 - Mrs Dunstan
- Transition 1 - Mr Pallett
- Transition 2 - Mrs Brierley
- Transition 3 - Mrs Leeson
- Athletics News
- Port Curtis Sport Facebook page
News from the Principal
Hi All
Wow ! how quickly did term 4 disappear ? With only 2 weeks left of school, this will be our last newsletter for the 2023 school year. What an amazing school year it has been with lots of wonderful learning opportunities occurring in every classroom, opening of new buildings, access to new bike track areas and everything else that has been and gone this year. The exciting part is that there are still a few more events to happen in the next 10 days, so it is definitely a busy end to the school year.
The staff at Rosella Park School have been busy this term collaborating to create the class groups for 2024. A big thank you to all the staff who had input into these discussions, you all did an amazing job to collaborate in order to organise students into classes that are student-centred and concentrate on individual student needs. We have also started the process of placing teachers and teacher aides into cohorts and classes.
These class groups will be mailed home during week 8. We will also continue the school tradition of also displaying these class groupings at our P&C Christmas celebration in week 9 on 30th November. When you receive the class list, if you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to make contact to schedule a time to meet with me.
With only 2 weeks remaining, we have many things to be excited about. So please keep an eye out for these future events:
- Week 9 P&C Family Christmas Party – 30th November commencing 5:30 pm
- Week 9 End of year concert and awards presentation – 1st December commencing 9:00 am
- Week 10 PBL rewards day Tuesday session 1 (Juniors & Intermediates) – Town Pool
- Week 10 PBL rewards days Wednesday session 1 (Senior & Transition) – Town Pool
I, along with many people from our Rosella Park School community thoroughly enjoyed honouring the class of 2023 graduates. The accomplishments of these young adults was the focus of our graduation night, along with the excitement of getting dressed up in formal wear, getting their photos taken, arriving at the venue and generally being the centre of attention. I'm incredibly proud of our graduates this year. Their dedication and determination have been clear for everyone to see. They should be extremely proud of themselves. You all have 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. So, please join with me to wish our 2023 graduates all the very best as they transition into their post school life.
2023 Graduates:
- Mary- Rose Baker – School Captain
- Matthew George – School Captain
- Mia Balfour
- Levi Harris
- Alex Magee
- Artemis Marinou-Sifounis
- Kitarna Smith
I look forward to seeing some of you at our P&C party, Graduation night and Christmas concert over the last 2 weeks. If I don’t get to see you, I hope you and your family have a safe, enjoyable and restful break until we meet again in 2024 on the 22nd of January. If you have any questions or need assistance with anything, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
Regards
Geoff
News from the Deputy Principal
Dear Rosella Park School Parents,
I trust this message finds you well and in good spirits. We are currently in the preparation phase for the following year, 2024 and also in the midst of the end-of-year celebrations. As I am writing this, I am also preparing for the Graduation Toast and reflecting on the wonderful opportunities our students are provided with each year. I feel privileged to share some of the exciting updates and insights into the happenings at Rosella.
Our students continue to shine brightly in their academic pursuits. We are immensely proud of their dedication and hard work. Our staff are currently preparing themselves for the updated curriculum, or what is often referred to as ‘Version 9’ of the Australian Curriculum. This has seen a committee of dedicated staff working outside of their general hours to unpack the changes and help our school prepare effectively to offer quality education to all of our students.
We have recently had some transition programs happening within the school, with our 2024 Prep students and also students in other year groups engaging in some fun activities and our new parents having an opportunity to meet and greet the staff and members of the Leadership Team.
Last week we also had the Deputy Principals from our neighbouring Primary Schools visit our school for the Deputy Principal Network meeting. It was lovely to host this group of professionals from across Gladstone and we hope to continue to keep these networks strong to ensure our students are offered schooling experiences that are on par with their peers in mainstream settings.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our 2023 P&C who once again have worked to support different initiatives for our school including the annual Pie Drive, the Mother’s & Father’s Day Stalls, Subsidising our Senior Shirts, Subsidising our Leadership Camp, the support of one of our spectacular students and his design that was put onto a tea towel which proved to be a successful fundraising event, and now we have the annual Christmas Party and End of Year Christmas Concert to look forward to as well as our PBL celebration days.
Hopefully you are all able to come along to our Christmas Concert. The students and staff have all been practicing to ensure they put on a good show. This is also such an anticipated time of year as we announce the award recipients and also the captains for next year. We will also be doing our Major Shazam Draw!
Finally I would like to say a huge Congratulations to our Year 12 Graduates for 2023. What an amazing night we had. This is a huge milestone for not only the Graduates, but also you the parents too.
Wishing you a wonderful holiday and festive break.
Shelley Slade
News from Administration
Firstly, thank you to all of our families who supported our annual fun run event by raising money online. Congratulations must go to Jack B from Intermediate 4 who raised an extraordinary amount of money. Thank you so much Jack and family. I trust you are all enjoying the prizes you earned. Everyone had an amazing time on the day and we all enjoyed the addition of the colour powder. A huge thanks to our lovely QFES and Rural Fire Brigade for there continuous support of our event. We are certainly looking forward to next year's event.
As this is our last newsletter for 2023, I would like to wish all of our families a very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy New Year. The new school year begins on 22nd January 2024. See you all then.
Report cards will be posted home in the last week of school along with consent forms for trampoline, liberty swing and the use of the inflatable. Please make sure to send these permission forms back for the start of next year to enable your child to participate. Also, if your child has medication at school, please come in to collect it at the end of the school term as we are unable to send this home with the students.
A reminder to the parents of those students transitioning from Year 6 to Year 7. This year they become a senior and as such require a senior shirt. I have included the uniform policy to remind you what these shirts look like. Uniforms can be ordered through Everything Uniform on Hanson Road.
Junior 1 - Mrs Avis
The countdown is on to the end of the school year, however, room one students are still busy little bees making sure we get everything done between now and the end of term. Our units of work are wrapping up now and its almost time to get the Christmas activities out of the closet. Our Fun Friday activities will continue for two more weeks. This Friday the colour is Pink and our letters are P and U. Next Friday- our last session for the year, the colour is Red for Santa and the letters are S and Y. Please keep an eye out for important dates to remember coming up in the next couple of weeks including Christmas concert, PBL Rewards Day and the P&C Family Christmas Party. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for an amazing semester! I have really enjoyed working with you and your children in room one, watching them grow and learn. See you all next year.
Junior 2 - Mrs Williams
Hello families,
Term 4 started off with the introduction of our swimming program which was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by students. They practiced new skills and positively participated in the lessons. Students were also exposed to safety whilst travelling to and from swimming on the school bus. As a class we have continued to explore our letters and colours of the week through interactive play-based activities. We always have fun learning throughout these lessons and students happily engage with the activities. Another activity we have be exploring is writing for fun on Fridays. Students are practicing their beginner writing skills and exploring with their communication systems during this activity. It has been a fun, successful learning experience for all. During the remaining school weeks, we will be creating Christmas crafts to decorate our classroom with. Students have already started asking for us to play favoured Christmas carols, especially ‘The Wiggles Christmas’. It has been a fantastic year and we are so proud of all the amazing outcomes students have accomplished. Have a safe and happy holiday and we look forward to seeing you all for a great 2024 school year.
Junior 3 - Mrs Seidel
It has been a busy Term 4 in Junior 3. We have worked hard on our reading, writing and counting. We have created artworks and celebrated Halloween. We made fascinators for the Melbourne Cup. We had a great time learning to swim and have had lots of fun combining for group activities every Friday with our friends in Junior 1 and Junior 2. At the moment, we are doing lots of Christmas activities.
Junior 3
Intermediate 1 - Mrs Buckle
We have finished swimming for this year. It was a pleasure to take our students swimming, as most of them truly love the water. We were impressed how well they allowed us to help them with water confidence and stroke development.
For our Christmas Concert item all the intermediate classes are combining together. So, we are coordinating with the other four intermediate classes, to dance to ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’.
The big school events we have left are the P&C Family Fun night, School Concert and PBL Rewards Day at the pool. Lots to keep us busy.
Please enjoy our attached photos.
Inter 1
Intermediate 2 - Mrs Maguire
Wow !! This year has gone really fast and it will be Christmas before we know it. Students have had an extremely exciting start to the Semester participating in cooking and kitchen skills with our older transition students. They are developing some great cooking and cleaning skills in the kitchen. Term 4 has seen students continue to work hard towards goals in class with some enjoyable activities along the way such as our fun run and swimming lessons. They are developing some great cooking and cleaning skills in the kitchen. I hope to see you at the upcoming P&C Christmas party on Thursday 30th November and our End of Year Christmas Concert on Friday 1st December. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.
Inter 2
Intermediate 3- Mrs Bowden
Intermediate 3 have had a lot of fun this semester. The students have worked well and have achieved some of their goals. We have been running a cooking program every Friday and are now making Christmas inspired dishes. The students have enjoyed making Christmas cookies and did a fantastic job of icing and decorating them.
We look forward to seeing parents at our Christmas concert and celebrating with you for the end of term.
Inter 3
Intermediate 4 - Mr Dennis
Intermediate 4 has had a great term 4 so far. We have been learning all about our past and events and people that have been important to us in our lives so far. We used photos that we brought in from home to make a book celebrating our lives so far. We also used these pictures to help us write and tell a story about our lives. In Maths we have been learning about numbers and looking at halves and quarters. This has been especially useful for our cooking program this term, where we have made sprinkle cookies, chocolate freckles and gingerbread.
Intermediate 5 - Mrs Nash
So as the end of year draws closer we are becoming busier in Intermediate 5. We have been working hard to finish off our assessment pieces. Soon we will start on our Christmas celebrations. Concert day is fast approaching and we have been busy practicing. PBL rewards day is on Tuesday 5th December in week 10 and we shall also be having a fun day at school on the Thursday in week 10. I will send out more information around this day. However, you should have seen a note come out about PBL day. Can you please make sure you have signed the permission form and returned it to the school. Look forward to seeing you all at the P&C Christmas Party on Thursday 30th November. Please ensure you have sent your RSVP back for that for catering purposes.
Senior 2 - Miss C
Our travels throughout the world have sadly come to an end. It’s now time to pack our bags for home and safely deposit our passports in a special hiding place until next time. Senior 2 have continued to cook up a storm and have used this knowledge to complete their assessments for Geography, History and English.
We are embedding our Christmas activities throughout our curriculum and Senior 2 are digging deep to apply their unique artistic skills.
In addition, they have been preparing for our Christmas Concert which is sneaking up very quickly.
Thank you for a terrific year and Merry Christmas to you all!
Senior 2
Senior 3 - Miss Harris
I feel like I write this every single time – but gosh time is flying by!
The last day of school is so close; and I am going to miss this class so much.
2023 has been a crazy, fun, exciting and educational experience for all of us, I am sure we have earned the end of year break.
Students have done an amazing job with their assessment work and I have been so pleased when doing my marking and reporting to really be able to see improvement; and that the students have understood what I have taught.
It isn’t always easy to tell mid-learning that things are making sense to everyone, but marking the assessments has shown me that the lessons worked! Plus; these are some very clever young people!
Tehmarni has amazed me with how well she picked up representing numbers in different ways, she is especially good with number lines.
Noah is reading and comprehending so well! He can identify the ideas behind what has been written and why the characters are feeling they way they are.
Sami is a whiz with the maps on our excursions, she knows easily how to interpret a map! She will point to where we are and where we have to go while I’m still thinking about it myself!
Ethan will be ready to go for each activity as soon as we start talking about it, he knows when he needs his hat and when he is heading to the kitchen, and when to get the colours out and be ready to make some wonderful craft.
Beau has understood the concept in Science of why different objects are created to make light and sound, and he knows so many different objects, places and vehicles that have specific lights and sounds they make.
Tyler can tell us what events we are celebrating and what colours and images are related to them. He was especially good at knowing red poppies are for soldiers and purple poppies are for animals.
Tyriq’s biggest area for improvement has to be his willingness to give things a go. It is great to see that he is trying everything rather than assuming it will be ‘too hard’. His confidence has grown and with it his ability to achieve.
Overall, everyone in Senior 3 has done an amazing job this year!
An extra special shout out to our Teacher Aides as well:
Miss Donna with her creativity, craft and wonderful fun nature!
Miss Rania with her cooking, tidying and amazing organisation skills!
Miss Rebecca with her kindness, understanding and gentle supports!
Miss Nicole with her bold personality, playfulness and willingness to change it up!
Miss Nadine with her active nature, energy and keenness to try new things!
And all the different relief staff we have had over the year; most notably Mr Gil who has been moved into my class whenever someone needs to go so many times! He is so good at walking in last minute and working out what is happening and running with it.
Thank you all for your flexibility!
Senior 4 - Mrs Dunstan
Its that time of year again and Senior 4 is enjoying crafting and cooking projects in preparation for Christmas. We have been practicising for our Christmas Concert and look forward to performing for you all. Don't forget our P&C Christmas Party on Thursday 30th November. Make sure to send back your RSVP so we know how many to cater for. I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful term break. Term 1 2024 commences 22nd January 2024. See you then !
Senior 4
Transition 1 - 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 the students. That is what keeps education so interesting and exciting. It might be the 32nd(!) 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 2023 – Kassidy, Lane, Jesse, Troy and Jack - for the work they have done and the growth they have achieved. I wish them all the best for their Year 12 studies in 2024.
Happy Christmas to all Year 11 students, their families and carers.
Transition 2 - Mrs Brierley
It’s hard to believe that the school year is nearly over. We have had a fabulous time in Transition 2 and it has been exciting to see the personal growth in every student over the year. The highlight for so many has been our recycling vocational program where students have engaged every week with their respective business to follow workplace routines. We have now raised $2500 across the year as a result of this program, which is fundamental in ensuring camp costs can be kept manageable for our families.
Camp this term was a wonderful experience with students enjoying a week in the Bundaberg region. We visited the Hinkler Aviation Centre and Fairymead House, took part in strawberry picking at a local farm and enjoyed a cultural tour with the team from Tarribelang Bunda. We also went to Childers and experienced their reptile park and enjoyed eating out at two different restaurants. Everyone had a fabulous time with many lifelong memories made. We look forward to our camp experience in 2024.
Thank you for your support throughout the year. It has certainly been a memorable experience and I look forward to seeing where 2024 takes our Transition 2 students.
Miss Sally 😊
Transition 3 - Mrs Leeson
Its hard to believe that this is our last newsletter for 2023. It does not feel real that our year 12 students have arrived at the end of their schooling journey. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the year 12 families for entrusting me with their young people this year. We have had a very busy year visiting different agencies around Gladstone as part of our post-school options program, checking out all the activities and facilities that Gladstone has to offer to help keep us busy in our spare time, tried many different work experience programs including Endeavour Industries, our school based Tuckshop and Café business and specialised work programs. Your child is as prepared as they can be for the world beyond school and we wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.
Last but certainly not least a big thank you to all the Graduates and their families for making this year’s Graduation Celebrations so successful. Everyone looked amazing. It was a great night of reflection and celebrations. We are happy to give you all a copy of all the photos used on the night as well as the ones taken by our photographer. Send in a USB, photos will be downloaded and returned to you as soon as we are able. If your child has already left school, please make arrangements to collect from the office.
Thank you again for a wonderful year. One I will treasure. Have a great Christmas holiday and its goodbye for now but not forever.
Mrs Leeson
Athletics News
Our school has been lucky enough to have $12,000 worth of athletics equipment donated by the P&C. This is thanks to a Gambling Community Benefit Fund Grant.
The equipment purchased includes a line painter so we can have solid lines for running track events. Throwing equipment such as: shotput, discus, javelin, turbo javelin and practice balls. Training items such as hoops, cones, markers, ladders and bibs. Safety and marking equipment such as a shotput circle, discus cage and distance cones. Plus, equipment to measure performance such as stop watches and measuring tapes.
Using all of this will be great fun, and also great training!
Due to the safety risk of throwing items when other students are here, we are going to have to do throws training outside of normal school hours. As such Miss Harris will get in touch with interested parents early in 2024 to see what times might suit.
If you would like to be one of parents contacted – and have your student included in outside school hours training – please let Miss Harris know. Most of you have my contact number, or my email is charr512@eq.edu.au
As part of Cross Country training there will also be some running outside of school hours as well – Miss Harris is investigating having a 2km and 3km pathway marked on the Gladstone Round Trail so that is a real ‘cross country’ experience. If you are interested in that, also let me know.
Miss Harris has been approved to go with students to Port Curtis level Cross Country and Track and Field; along with Capricornia level; state level … and even Nationals for the Cross Country! She is so excited to be able to see students performing across all the levels and hopes to have a great Rosella Athletics Team in 2024.
If any parents are interested in getting together to run fundraising programs, knowing that their students are likely to end up going to Mackay and Brisbane etc, you can also let Miss Harris know and she will work on putting you in contact with each other to form a fundraising team!
Have a fabulous holiday and get ready for an amazing 2024!
Port Curtis Sport Facebook page
This is the link to the Facebook page www.facebook.com/PortCurtisSchoolSport if you would like to follow.