March 2021

Principal's Message

I can't believe we are in week 8 of term 1. I apologise that this newsletter has taken so long to get out to you, but I do have to say that we have had a very busy start to the school year. To be honest, I can't remember a start to the year like it - we have certainly all been running. What is comforting to hear is that all schools are feeling the same. I am very happy to report that things have definitely settled and we are all now in a much better routine.
One of the challenges we still face every day is COVID-19. Whilst we are lucky here in Gladstone with limited exposure to the virus, we are still governed by the same restrictions and rules as the rest of the state and country. The impact this has on us is staff and students being unwell, and the fact that if anyone is displaying symptoms of coronavirus that they need to remain at home until all symptoms have gone, or they have received a negative COVID test. We have seen a number of staff having to remain a home due to this, and we have certainly had a lot of students away sick as well. Unfortunately we have had to send some students home, as during the school day they have displayed evidence of these symptoms. Please know we know this places a strain on the family unit, however we need to remain vigilant in this space to protect the vulnerable students at our school. Please continue to work with us to stay as safe as possible.

Parent Information Session and Individual Curriculum Plan (ICP) Meetings

Thanks to all the families that came to our Parent Information evening earlier in the term. Even if you have been a part of the Rosella community for years, this is a great opportunity to meet your child's new teacher for the year and hear about the focuses for the classroom.
ICP meetings are currently underway. This is a further opportunity to discuss specifically your child's curriculum goals for the semester. It is a time for teachers to show you the data they have to support your child's learning, illustrate exactly where they are engaging with the mandated Australian Curriculum and together look at next steps in learning. If you haven’t already returned a note to your child's classroom teacher to indicate a time you are available for a meeting, I encourage you to do so as soon as possible.

New $9.5 million Learning Centre

Many plans are happening behind the scenes to ensure our new learning centre comes to life. Over the Christmas holidays rooms 10/11 were relocated, and now sit out the back of the school near adventureland. The new build is currently undergoing the tender process, and we should know in a couple of weeks which construction company will be partnering with the Education Department and GHD in Gladstone to begin construction phase. We hope to see works begin just after the Easter school holidays. It will be very exciting to see this new facility emerge.

Parent pick-up in the afternoon

The afternoons are seeing the parent pick up area very busy this year. Unfortunately it is an area that we need to support some students getting onto taxis, as well as parents stopping to collect their child. I would encourage parents that don't need to discuss anything with a staff member to use the Stop, drop and go line. I know this line can seem long, however I can assure you it does move through quickly, and in some instances can be quicker than waiting for a park in the parking area. I do plan to approach the Council, and see if we can wait in the bus area along Park Street if the queue is outside the school gate, as I am aware this has been problematic for some. I will provide further information on this as it becomes available to me. Please try to be patient and work together. At the end of the day, we are all there for the same reason, and I know we all want to see everyone get home as quickly and as safely as possible. Thanks in advance for your help and support here.

Rosella celebrates 50 Years

I am very excited to announce that Rosella Park School will celebrate its 50-year anniversary in May 2021. The school opened on the 17th May 1971 as the Gladstone Opportunity School and has certainly undergone many changes. I am sure many will say it really looks like a completely different school. What we cannot ever change are the memories and celebrations that have happened in the school over these years, and it seems only fitting to celebrate this major milestone for Rosella Park School. Conversations are happening behind the scenes to plan a celebration, which we will distribute to you all in the very near future.

A huge Shout-out to Chappy Cathy

It is with much sadness that we will have to say farewell to this amazing lady at the end of this term. The funding that was there to enable Chappy Cathy to come to our school one day a week has ceased, and whilst we will always advocate, and look for new ways to support a Chappy at Rosella, this has to stop for now. Chappy Cathy, you have been an amazing asset to our school. Not only have you helped establish our Brekkie Club, you have also been a fantastic person for our students to talk to and interact with throughout the day. Thank you for your dedication to our students in such a short time, and we wish you well at your other schools. Please come back and visit when you can! I am pleased to announce however that we will continue Brekkie Club in Cathy's absence. She has established some fantastic links with the community, which we will continue working with. We have 2 keen teacher aides that will look after this program next term, which is exciting.

P&C Annual General Meeting Wednesday 17th March

At this time every year, and whenever I get a chance throughout the  year, I will always try and advocate for new parents to join our P&C committee. We have a very small group of mums and dads that work so hard in the background to support the school, and we always need new faces to help share the load, and bring on new ideas within the committee.

Why join the P&C?

• Meet other parents and community minded people
• Show your children you value their education
• Help create a positive and inclusive learning community
• Support fundraising events and investment in our school
• Learn new skills and share a laugh while working with others
• Stay informed
• Be a part of the decision-making process.

A lot can be achieved through the P&C and school working together towards common goals. To do this we need people who are committed to delivering great outcomes for our students and our school. 

Please consider coming along to our AGM meeting this week - Wednesday the 17th March at 6pm. It would be great to see some new faces attend.

Yours Sincerely

Kate Hucker

Admin Office News

Absences

We would like to send a gentle reminder to all parents and carers to please contact the office to report all student absences. The school has a dedicated absentee line where you can leave a message. It is not always best practice to advise the class teacher as they may not be on class or absent themselves.

School Uniform Policy

The P&C of Rosella Park School, in conjunction with staff and the Leadership Team supports a student dress code. The intention of a dress code is to provide a safe and supportive teaching and learning environment by:

• Ready identification of students and non-students at school
• Eliminating the distraction of competition in dress and fashion at school
• Fostering a sense of belonging; and
• Developing mutual respect amont students through minimising visible evidence of economic or social differences

We would like to remind all parents and carers of Rosella Park School to make sure you send your student to school each day in correct uniform. Our uniform is a Navy and Red polo shirt, which can be purchased at Everything Uniform on Hansen Road, and Navy shorts (mid thigh length preferred)  or navy blue skorts for girls. For winter, students may wear navy track pants and a navy fleecy jumper/cardigan (No hoodies). Footwear should be white socks and closed in shoes (either black or white). Please note that football shorts, jeans and gym wear are not considered to be part of the school uniform.

If you have any queries, please contact the Administration office on 49768333. Thank you for your support.

Administering of Medication at school

The administration of medications to students by school staff is only considered when a prescribing health practitioner has determined that it is necessary or when there is no other alternative in relation to the treatment of a specific health need. Schools require medical authorisation to administer any medication to students (including over-the-counter medications such as paracetamol or alternative medicines). Medication will only be administered if it is prescribed, in the original container and has a pharmacy label. If the medication is more complex with specific administration requirements then a letter from the medical practitioner should be provided. Before any medication can be administered to your child at school, you will need to complete the appropriate record sheet. Please call into the school office and speak to a staff member.

Community Support

We are always so lucky with the community support we receive at Rosella Park School. This month we would like to acknowledge the local businesses that support ongoing programs at Rosella Park School. If you get a chance to support them, and purchase from their store, I know they would be very appreciative.

We would like to send a huge shout out to Craig's Bakery for supplying bread for our breakfast club every Monday. It is very much appreciated by our students.

We would also like to acknowledge and send a huge thanks to Port CIty Meats, who have always supported our school fundraising each year. We really value this partnership, and appreciate their ongoing support. They will be providing sausages by way of a donation for our next PBL rewards day for the staff and students. Thanks Port City Meats!

Mark the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence by attending the free webinars to explore the latest research and how parents and carers can support young people to have safe and respectful online relationships.

There’s also tips on what to do if things go wrong, conversation starters about online friendships, and discussion about the rules of social media use, and where to seek help if your child is involved in a cyberbullying incident.

P&C News

The next meeting for the P&C will be Wednesday 17th March at 6:00 pm. This will be the AGM for the year.

The next MyTime get together will be on Friday 19th March starting at 11:30 am. The venue is Salt Water Cafe (next to Pie World on Dawson Highway).

Junior Cohort

Room 1 - Mrs Thomas

We have been using our spatial awareness and creative skills to build a class train. It was constructed and designed by the students who initiated the play through learning. They also were able to practise social skills with sharing and turn taking. They have begun learning letter and sounds of the week along with completion of literacy activities. We are beginning to write our own class books and are always reading books. We have begun doing writing one on one with pictures as a stimulus. We are continuing to develop our social skills and use problem solving through play.

There is lots of singing, including counting songs and using counting in meaningful ways in games like; rhymes, counting toys, utensils, dress ups and collections of objects. We are always taking advantage of the many great opportunities to practice math naturally! For example, we are beginning cooking and gardening soon. We are already playing role play cooking, cars, trains, dolls, shops and restaurants which involves estimating, adding, subtracting, sharing and counting.

Room 1.5 - Mrs Coulston

Hello from the gang in room 1.5!  We have spent the last few weeks getting to know each other, establishing routines and developing friendships. We are excited about the semester before us and know that we are going to have fun while we learn heaps. Some of the things we will be exploring this semester include; the weather, how we move, about our bodies, counting, reading, writing and technology.  Our teacher will put a photo on Class DOJO when we do something special like fill up our awards chart or do our best writing or learn a new skill. We all enjoy drawing and taking our pictures home for you to put on the fridge. We hope you enjoy getting these pictures as much as we enjoy making them.

Room 1.5 goings on

Room 2 - Mrs Wellsteed

We have been having a lot of fun together in Room 2; settling in and getting to know one another. We have been exploring and building on our letter knowledge through a range of fun activities and exploring numbers through counting songs and games. Soon we will start regular water play and cooking activities to further enrich our work on literacy, numeracy and communication.  Keep an eye out on Class DOJO for updates. 

Cheers

Kate W

Room 2

Room 3 - Mrs Hayne

Welcome the start of  a new school year. All the students in Room 3 have settled well into the class and school routines. It was so great to see familiar and new faces to our room.

Our day begins with the students completing set tasks which include placing our lunch box and school bags in the correct places and then to sign in. This activity is designed to assist the students with skills to build independence and for name recognition.

The morning session begins with  the Balanced Literacy program, the middle session is Mathematics and the afternoon session is a mix of subjects including Science, Health Physical Education and Technology. The lunch breaks are spent either playing in the Library or in the Undercover Area whereby the students make a choice of their playing area preference. It is pleasing to see the Room 3 students  transition around the school with confidence and ease.

As part of the ongoing communication in Room 3 the staff regularly post photos and class information about the student activities. Please check DOJO regularly for weekly updates. This week are the ICP meetings. If you would like to meet to discuss your students ICP please make contact with the class teacher to arrange a day and time.

Room 3

Intermediate Cohort

Room 5 - Mrs Nash

Hello from Room 5!!!

We have had an amazing few weeks getting to know each other.  A lot of fun games have been played and also a lot of testing has been completed to ensure we create an ICP that meets the needs of your child.  One of the games we love playing is Pop to the Shops; a firm favourite in Room 5.  This semester Room 5 will be undertaking the following subjects; Math, Literacy, Science, HPE, Digital Technology and Design.  Mrs Maguire  is our Technology teacher and she visits us on Mondays and Tuesdays. 

Our Balanced Literacy program is underway.  Students took part in testing earlier on in the term to confirm which area of the program was best suited for each student eg Emergent, Transitional or Conventional.  Some students may have a different Intermediate teacher for Literacy because of this.  We will discuss this in more detail at our upcoming ICP meetings.

ICP meetings will be held in week 7.  Watch your communication books for a letter regarding this.

Finally a big shout out to Room 5 parents: all notes that have been sent home have been returned signed, where needed, super quick.  Well done guys.

Nicole and I look forward to an amazing year with your child.

Room 7 - Mrs Thompson

WALKING RAINBOWS

Room 7 have been exploring Science experiments with Miss Helen as they learn how the environment affects them and other living things.

The experiment in Week 5 was learning about Walking Rainbows. We started with 8 cups; 4 were empty and 4 were half full of water.

We then squeezed food colouring into the cups with water and stirred them with a spoon. The colours we used were green, blue, yellow and red.

Paper towels were then folded into thin strips so they looked like the letter V.  The paper strips were then placed into each cup; some were right way up. Some were upside down. 

We then had to wait until the next day to see what might happen.

“SURPRISE” The next day there was water in the empty cups too. We also discovered that the green and red colours had mixed to make the colour brown. The blue and yellow had made green.

We also decided that the paper towel had absorbed (sucked up) the water and filled the empty cups

Room 7 Science

Room 8 - Ms Schulze

Welcome to Term 1 2021 in Room 8. My name is Miss Jill and our amazing Teacher Aide is Miss Emily. We started the term off getting to know each other as I am excited about taking on my first class at Rosella Park.

In English we have started our literacy groups each day and we have been revising our letters and sounds knowledge and are now building our word family knowledge. We have enjoyed reading ‘The Rainbow Fish’ to support the development of our reading comprehension.

In Maths we enjoy our counting, days of the week, months of the year and seasons of the year song.  The students have been using the star fish number cards to practice our counting to and backwards from 20. We have also been building our pattern recognition skills and knowledge using interactive activities. This also allows us to develop our social skills as we practice taking turns and passing the pointer onto the next person when our time is over, talking about going in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions.

In Science we have been observing the weather each day, looking at the BOM radar for Gladstone each morning and discussing what it shows compared to what we observe outside. This is helping us build our awareness of how the weather and environment can impact us such as the choice of clothes that we wear or the activities that we do.

HPE has been about practicing our fundamental movement skills which includes completed obstacle courses with our entire Intermediate cohort. Additionally, we have enjoyed some Room 8 quiet time using the library space to practice our yoga moves using Cosmic Kids Yoga.

We are enjoying ourselves and learning everyday.

Room 9 - Ms Herberts

It has been a bustling and busy start to the new year in Room 9. We have begun our Intermediate whole cohort Literacy groups, which is a fantastic opportunity for students to make new friends outside their usual class groups whilst they learn. We have been practicing spelling our words of the week using playdough, sand, foam letters, pipe cleaners and stamps. In Maths, we have begun our measurement unit by discussing things that are longer and shorter. The students loved playing detectives and measuring everyone’s hands to discover who stole the cookies from the cookie jar, as well as making our rollercoaster height chart. Our shared HPE afternoon has been a student favourite, as we have been testing our coordination to navigate obstacle courses and movement challenges (watching Miss Dana attempt obstacle courses is the source of many laughs). In Science, we have been learning about the world around us and conducting an experiment to see if we can grow some ‘hair’ (chives) in the pots we decorated as monsters. If successful, we hope to put the chives in our cooking activities later in the term. Finally, we have begun a pen pal campaign with our friend Jack who has gone on an adventure for the remainder of Semester 1. The students are very excited for Jack to write back about his adventures.

Room 9 happenings

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Senior Cohort

Room 6 - Mrs Buckle

Welcome back to the busy life of Rosella Park School. We have settled into our new routines and friendships. Being our first newsletter item for the year, we thought we’d ask the students what they liked about school so far.

Lane loves the writing work we do in our room. We write for a different purpose each day. Like a letter, description, recounts and BTN summaries.

Jack loves the soft play room. He plays in the yellow tunnel. He says it is quiet and cool.

Seth loves the oval. He likes to watch the other students playing ball.

Troy loves his free choice option of playing UNO with Lane.

Chilli likes to take Miss Deb on lots of walks around the school while listening to Miss Deb explain left and right and up and down the stairs.

Miss Deb says all the students have made a fantastic, respectful, positive and safe start to the new year.

Mrs Buckle loves how the students have quickly settled and responded to the classroom tiered behaviour reward system.

We want our parents to know we are happy to meet with you to discuss any concerns you have regarding your child, please ring for an appointment.

Room 6 goings on

Room 10 - Mrs Bickle

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Blast Off Room 10.

This year Room 10 staff include Miss Donna, Miss Wendy, Miss Simone and Miss Andrea. The students have been enjoying dodgeball in the mornings with the other Senior cohort students. They have also been earning money for making good green choices and we have a classroom shop where we can buy treats like ice blocks, cordial, toast and toys. The children can also buy the right to be the class teacher for a session or be the class DJ and select the songs we listen to.

We have been kicking goals with our maths goals and have been examining halves and shapes. We are getting ready for our PE goal of testing and solving movement challenges where we will participate in activities similar to the new TV show called the ‘Cube’.   In English, we have been working on reading and listening to stories and then re-telling the story.

We are looking at writing our fiction/make-believe stories.

Our Science topic is looking at ‘weather and the seasons’ and how it affects us and other living things. We will be growing some plants in the future to test out how the weather affects them, as well as designing and creating houses for different weather conditions.

The Room 10 staff receive a gold star for their conquering of Class Dojo and having now learnt how to upload photos of all the exciting things we do throughout the day, keep an eye out on Dojo for our Class photos.

Here’s to an awesome year filled with lots of learning and fun.

It is all systems go and it’s all happening in Room 10.

Room 10 shop

Room 11 - Mrs Dunstan

This term we are focussing on acknowledging and accepting change in both our learning and social environment and the positives that come with change. In our day-to-day work across all curriculum areas, the student’s focus is taking  personal responsibility for their learning, their equipment and their belongings. With the support of the Room 11 staff, the students are becoming increasingly independent and self-confident and are more willing to problem solve to tackle new concepts.

To illustrate this, we’ve had a lot of fun setting up our new classroom. Putting their ever-improving comprehension skills into action in a practical real-life situation, some of the students built new storage units for the class. The work was completed independently and Miss Tina, Miss Anet and I were truly impressed with how well the students worked as a team and with the quality of the construction. Brilliant work team!

Room 11 working as a team to solve problems!

Room 12 - Mrs Ward

I would like to welcome Shontae, Sami, Blake, Joshua and Beau. I would also like to welcome to the teaching team Miss Sandy and Miss Lin. It has been a great start to the year with the class creating their own classroom rules and revising the PBL school rules. The first day the students walked into the classroom wearing full school uniform, I could see they were going to be great role models for the school.

As a class, we discussed what should be written in this month’s newsletter. The student’s decided that they wanted to tell you about the things they like about school. It’s exciting to read that the students actually enjoy learning.

Transition Cohort

Room 13 - Mrs Oliver/Mrs Williams

We would like to like to take this opportunity to welcome you all back to the new school year. We hope everybody enjoyed the holidays and are well rested for the busy year ahead? Room 13 are well into the swing of things with their programs and it’s hard to believe that we are over half way through term one already! So much has happened so far. Work has commenced on expected ICP goals for the semester, so please keep your eyes peeled for information regarding parent/teacher interviews to further discuss these targets. Please remember if you have any concerns do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to discuss them with you.

Just so you know who is working from room 13: Mrs Oliver works Monday to Thursday and Mrs Williams is in on a Friday and Mrs Ross teaches maths throughout the week. The teacher aides are Miss Tammy, Miss Carmel, Miss Casey, Miss Rhonda and Miss Sally. These ladies work across the whole cohort.

For those of you who are new to transition and aren’t familiar with the set up; the students in the transition cohort move from room to room. Year 10 students spend a lot of time working out of Room 13 and have been extremely busy so far this year. They have been working hard on all their subjects across the Australian Curriculum. A snap shot of what we have been doing so far; in geography we have been looking at and researching maps, in history we have been looking at how technology has changed over time, through art we have been getting creative with designing toppings for cupcakes and biscuits using fondant and icing and in ICT we have been learning about algorithms, internet safety and exploring different types of software. We are looking forward to a productive year and excited about the adventures ahead!

Room 13 staff

Room 14 - Ms Harris

We have had an awesome start to the year in Room 14. The students have completed numeracy assessments, literacy testing and have developed a list of tools they can use to help them regulate their emotions. They have all worked really hard to show that they have maintained and improved on their skills since the start of last year. Our school captains, Tina and Ethan, have been great representatives for the school as they are consistently being respectful, positive and safe in all environments. All the students have remembered the school rules and are able to tell us examples of how to be respectful, positive and safe in the classroom, the playground and in the community. Our classroom puts in good work and are supportive of each other with both familiar and unfamiliar staff. I have loved hearing positive reports from the new teachers and aides when they come in to our room and have great experiences with our students.

The Certificate I students have shown they are able to log in to the course, navigate the pathways to load the different aspects, and communicate confidently with the teacher in Brisbane and other students from all over Queensland. I have been very impressed with their ability to handle the new situations and new uses of technology that the online course provides. All eight of the students have completed their first assessment of the first module and are on track to have completed the entire module by the end of week 7.

When the students have been given opportunities to play together and use team work they have shown great communication skills. It has been really enjoyable seeing everyone work well together and develop stronger friendships.

When asked what they would like me to tell you about in this newsletter students responded with the following:

Ethan: We played soccer on the oval and I had fun with my teachers and friends.

Smithy: I have been doing lots of writing and we can all write stories.

Tina: In room 14 when we can do anything when we put our minds to it.

Keira: Maybe we will get a classroom pizza party on the last day of school.

Shayla: We have worked hard on the Zones of Regulation.

Angel: A before photo of us in front of the new building; and how well we do in literacy and Cert 1.

Overall the main message from the students is that this year has been good so far, and they are excited for things to come. The year 12s are very excited to graduate this year. The year 11s are keen to start Work Experience. Everyone is looking forward to camp in September and I have heard that they hope we go to Dream World or Wet n Wild.

My hope for the year is that we all continue to work well together and can carry our wonderful choices over in to the playground. I also hope that they are respectful, positive and safe in the community and at home with you.

Please get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

Caroline Harris    charr512@eq.edu.au

Room 14 learning

Room 15 - Mrs Leeson

Welcome to another exciting year in Transition. Can you believe we have been at school for almost six weeks already? I have to say that we have an amazing group of students again this year and they have all settled in well. In room 15 English some of our students have been reading a chapter book called “Matty Forever” by Elizabeth Fensham. So far we have read four chapters and we are hooked. I’m sure if you ask your child about the book, they would only be too happy to tell you all about the disgusting first challenge Billy had to complete to get into Matty’s club. Other books we have read over the last few weeks include, “This Zoo is Not for You”. “Too Cute” and “There’s a Big Green Frog in the Toilet”. The Year 11 students in Technology in the Community have finally ventured out. Our first destination was the library. There are plenty of examples of technology that we could use for free in the library. We even got to check out some interesting technology in the form of a microfish reader where we could look at very old newspapers and the 3D printer. The Year 12 students have also been very busy working on several subjects in room 15. One of note is the organisation of the Clean Up Australia Day Event on Friday. Take a look at the photos to see how well it all went.

Room 15

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