The Rosewood Report - Issue 3

March

Friday 4th - Kaboom Kids Sport Olympic edition

Friday 11th - Curriculum Day - no students at school (full day vacation care available)

Monday 14th - Labour Day Public Holiday

The school received another delivery of rapid antigen tests from the Department, with all students receiving another box of RATs which were sent home with them on Friday. We will be sending home RATs every fortnight and encourage you to continue testing your children every Sunday and Wednesday. Although rapid antigen testing is voluntary, it has certainly helped us to stay COVID-free at Rosewood Downs PS. With two young kids, I realise that conducting a rapid antigen test is not much fun for them. However, a few seconds of discomfort can help us to ensure that unwell students aren't attending school. Thanks to our families who are testing regularly and making sure they're children don't attend school when unwell. We are aware of ongoing positive cases in our community, but thankfully, the rapid testing has prevented many of these cases from attending onsite.

If your child is in Grade 3-6, please continue sending them to school with a mask, unless they have an exemption. If you're able to send your child with a reusable mask, that would be preferable. We have a few students that are collecting disposable masks every day and we would prefer they use reusable masks to minimise waste and reduce the number of discarded masks in our school.

For the remaining five weeks of Term 1, we will continue to restrict access to classrooms and events for parents. Although we look forward to welcoming parents back to classrooms, assemblies and other activities soon, we believe that our current measures are very important in keeping our students and staff safe and well. We really appreciate your ongoing support and understanding with this.

It's not OK to be away. With the exception of illness and urgent family matters, it’s vitally important that all students attend school all of the time. With so much time away from school during the two years of the pandemic, it is more important than ever that kids attend school every day.

Children should not be having a day off for their birthday, a special shopping trip or to catch up with friends or family. Every day away from school is a day of missed learning opportunities and can disrupt their learning and longer term achievement.

As with missing a day of school, regular late arrivals and early pick ups can also be detrimental to your child’s learning. At the moment, we are seeing too many parents calling school before 3.30pm to collect their children. If we have advance notice that you have a pre-arranged appointment then that’s ok. But otherwise, please don’t call the office late in the day to pick up your child 10 or 15 minutes early. This is inconvenient for our office staff and teachers, but more importantly, is very disruptive for your child and the class. Please wait until all our classes are dismissed for the day at 3.30pm. The graphic below shows how regularly missing short periods of time at school can soon add up.

Sadly, today was Mrs Watkins’ last day as a teacher at Rosewood Downs. Mrs Watkins is leaving to join her family business in the childcare industry. Mrs Watkins has been a very popular teacher at our school for the last four years and she will be sadly missed. We Caitlyn all the best and hope that she comes back to school for a visit sometime.

Mrs Rumney will replace Mrs Watkins in 4W

We were very excited that Kaboom Kids Sports returned to Rosewood Downs on Friday 4th March. Kaboom Sports is a high-energy, fun morning of tabloid sports and games for all our students from Prep - Grade 6. This year's event had an Olympic theme, with kids competing in the spirit of fair play, complete with an opening ceremony and international flags. It was a fun and exciting morning for all our kids, irrespective of their sporting abilities or skills.

This really is a great experience for our students and we hope to see Kaboom Sports return next. Hopefully next time we'll be able to have parents attend the session and join in the fun.

On Friday 11th March we have a curriculum day and no students will be required to attend school. If you require supervision for your child on the curriculum day, our before and after school care provider CommunityOSH, will be offering full-day care on the curriculum day. The service is available from 8am - 5.30pm and any students attending will participate in lots of fun pirate-themed activities and games on the day. If you would like to book go to www.commosh.com.au/rdps or ring Bella on 0413 544 966.

As a very multicultural school, we would like to express our concern and sympathies for the people of Ukraine and Russia who have been affected by the current crisis.

The media is currently saturated with confronting images and news stories. Please be mindful of what your child might be accessing on social media. TikTok, Facebook and Instagram have disturbing images and photos that are not appropriate for primary school-aged children. If you are a parent of a child in an older grade, we advise that you speak to your child about the seriousness of the situation in Eastern Europe and make yourself aware of what they may be viewing online.

The school will be undertaking a small project soon to express our solidarity with our families who have families and loved ones in the affected nations.

We have had quite a few birthdays in the last couple of weeks. The following children have had their birthday celebrations recently:

Prep - Dunja, Isaak, Layal and Charlie

Grade 1 - George and Nathan

Grade 2 - Valentina and Ella

Grade 3 - Mikayla

Grade 4 - Isabella

Grade 5 - Yehia, Aaliyah and Noah

Grade 6 - Isabella, Fiona and Isaac

For the past fortnight, the students have been involved in a variety of hands-on and sensorial activities across the curriculum.

They are being encouraged to adopt a growth mindset as they face the challenges of beginning a new school year. This week, they have also been learning about the brain and how incredible it is.

Lastly, we all had a wonderful time on Tuesday when we had a lovely teddy bear picnic outside with our favourite plush toys. We concluded the day with a delicious teddy bear biscuit!

More wonderful experiences to come shortly!

Unit C students have had a busy couple of weeks. They have enjoyed Unit C sport, gardening and exploring different areas of the school grounds. Next week we will begin our Maths/STEM rotations and our environmental studies, which we know the students are very excited to begin.

During the week grades in Unit C elected their Junior School Council representatives for 2022. It was great to see so many students giving it a go. We would like to congratulate Angelina Zakhary (3T), Themelina Rozakis (3W), Sarah Silk (4W) and Arya Mehra (4PT) for becoming our JSC representatives.

Unit B have been exploring shapes this week in Maths. We have looked at the names and properties of 2D shapes, 3D objects and angles. Here are pictures of our 3D objects exploration where students used their knowledge of prisms to build their own.

Reminders: Can students please bring a tissue box and an Art smock/old shirt to school if they have not already done so.

This week we've been exploring colour, perspectives and composition. It is a joy to see our students begin to understand the links between colours and the possibilities it brings for their artwork.

Our art team has been behind the scenes creating an art competition that will run until week 7. The theme is animals and sea life. When you have your entry ready please pop it in the box outside the art room with your name and grade on the back. We look forward to seeing as many artworks as possible!

pictures: Yune 6R, Yara 1S, Jake 5F

The JSC team is happy to welcome our new class representatives.

6S Luke Tokanovic : President

3T Angelina Zakhary

6S Cedra Tabit : Vice President

3W ThemelinaRozakis

6R Areyana Singh : Secretary

4PT Arya Mehra

6R Fraser Boyle : Treasurer

4W Sarah Silk

5S Liana Serdar

5F Luka Babalj

Our JSC reps meet regularly with teachers to discuss new ideas, concerns, fundraising and social service. It’s a forum for students where ‘student voice’ is encouraged and respected.

Greater Dandenong Division Swimming Trials – Tuesday 8th March

Congratulations to the following students for being selected in our Swimming Team; Ruby 6S, Luke 6S, Daniella 6R, Fiona 6R, Maggie 6R, Mingqi 5S, Ivan5F, Isabella 4PT, Jada 4PT, Arya 4PT and Sarah 4W. They will be competing at the Noble Park swimming pool against students from around the Greater Dandenong Division. Thank you to the students and families who will be going along to support our team.

AFL Clinics and Auskick Program

It’s time for footy! With the AFLW season getting closer to the finals and the AFL season about to kick off, we are able to deliver FREE footy clinics for our students. The Grade 5 and 6 students will be visited by coaches from the St Kilda FC Academy over the next two Wednesdays starting in week 6. The Prep to Grade 4 students are invited to register for a four-week Auskick program on Thursday afternoons on our school oval. The sessions start on Thursday 10th March between 3:30pm and 4:30pm.

These sessions are part of the AFL community program that encourages children to participate in junior football, as well as other physical activities. The coaches will be emphasising the benefits associated with playing sport such as building teamwork, leadership skills and resilience. Students will also learn about the main aspects of AFL including the basic skills and rules to play the game.

Students are welcome to bring along football jumpers and boots to wear for the sessions, but normal school uniform is required for the normal school day.

NRICH Learning, a well-established tutoring company, have begun operating from Rosewood Downs on Saturdays. They offer tutoring in English, Maths, Science and NAPLAN preparation for students from Grade 1 to Year 12.

If you would be interested in enrolling your child into this tuition service, please contact NRICH Learning on the details below.

The next Federal Election will be held before the end of May this year.

Did you know the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) will employ up to 100,000 people across Australia to help deliver the next federal election? As a Polling official, you play an important role not only on election day, but right throughout the election period at polling places and counting centres in varying roles. No election experience is required as full training is provided.

The AEC is currently looking for people in our local community to work with us on election day, and in the weeks before and after. People from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

To register an expression of interest or for more information, please visit www.aec.gov.au/employment/working-at-elections. If you’re good with people and have an eye for detail, there’s a role for you. Working at elections is a great opportunity to earn extra money, contribute to your community, and expand your skillset.

Yesterday, my wife asked me if I had seen the dog bowl.

I said 'No, I didn't even know he could'

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Email: rosewood.downs.ps@education.vic.gov.au
Website: https://rosewooddownsps.vic.edu.au/
Location: 25 Murray Road, Dandenong North VIC, Australia
Phone: 03 9795 3744
Facebook: facebook.com/rosewooddownsps