The Rosewood Report - Issue 4

March

Thursday 24th - Earth Hour (2.30-3.30pm)

Friday 25th - Ride to School Day

April

Friday 1st - School photos

With only three weeks left of Term 1, I thought I would give a short update on a few things that have been happening around school recently.

Thankfully, our current capital works project is very nearly at an end. The school has been a construction zone for over 12 months now and we will be glad to see this all wrapped up in the next few weeks. Parents will have noticed the huge improvements to the external roofing but the work inside the school is even more impressive. Although there are still restrictions to parent access inside our buildings, I'm hopeful that parents will be welcome to enter school buildings in Term 2. I will be inviting families to tour the upgraded facilities inside the school once the works are complete and current restrictions are eased.

We have had a number of extra-curricular activities on at school in the last few weeks. We have had more than 50 students from grades Prep-4 participating in our after-school Auskick clinics on Wednesday afternoon. We have also had families participating in the Active Families Program which has been run on Wednesday afternoons by the local council. Our Unit B students have been lucky to join in with special AFL-run footy clinics over the last fortnight which have been led by representatives from the St Kilda Football Club.

Our Grade 3 and 5 students took part in our first NAPLAN online practice sessions. This is the first year that the school will be completing NAPLAN online and these practice sessions have been very successful and helped our students to become familiar with the online testing format.

Now we're back into our school routines, we have once again begun offering a lunchtime food service twice a week. Subway lunches will be available for students on Thursdays and Lunchiez will be available on Fridays. Subway order envelopes are available from the office and Lunchiez orders can be placed online.

Compass continues to be the best way to stay up to date with all of this latest news from school. Please download the Compass app if you haven't already and enable notifications so you're kept up to date on all the school happenings. Compass lets you see all the important calendar dates, which are available in the newsfeed, along with links to all our newsletters from throughout the year.

Our school photos will be taking place on Friday 1st April. Envelopes were sent home with students today that allow you to pre-order photos. You can also order photos online which means that you don't have to return the envelope. If you have multiple children at the school and would like a sibling photo, please ask your child to collect an additional envelope from the office. For any enquiries or questions, please contact Shelby at the office.

Although we have now moved into Autumn, we are still getting many sunny and warm days during the school week which is lovely. As a SunSmart school, all students are required to wear a wide-brimmed hat when outside during Term 1 and Term 4. Unfortunately, I am seeing lots of students coming to school without a hat or leaving them in their classrooms during recess or lunchtime. Please make sure your child is sent to school with a hat every day during Term 1 and 4 and remind them of the importance of being SunSmart.

Australia has the world's highest rate of preventable skin cancers and wearing a hat helps to prevent sunburn and skin damage to the sensitive skin of the face. Students who don't wear their hats outside during break times will be sent to our shaded 'quiet area' and may miss out on play time with their friends.

As a very multicultural school, we're aware of the effect that the unrest in Ukraine and Russia has on some of our families. As a school, we wanted to express our concern and sympathies for the people of Ukraine and Russia who have been affected by the current crisis.

The school has undertaken a small project to express our solidarity with our families who have families and loved ones in the affected nations. Each grade made a sunflower and which we have 'planted' in our front garden to let our affected community members know that we have been thinking about them at this very tough time.

Our school captains, Sophie and Todor, are pictured with our special sunflower tribute.

We have unfortunately been seeing some inconsiderate and frustrating driver behaviour around school recently.

Please show courtesy and patience during peak traffic times at school, especially in the afternoons, as dangerous and illegal driving and parking poses a very significant risk to the safety of our students. We have had a number of parents parking across some of our neighbours' driveways, preventing local residents from exiting or entering their property. We have also had parents parking in the disabled parking zone in front of the school. Please don't park or pull over in the disabled zone unless you have a clearly displayed disabled parking permit.

U-turns in driveways close to school and double-parking along Murray Road is also becoming an increasing concern and is creating a traffic hazard. You may have noticed that we have had parking inspectors patrolling Murray Rd quite regularly and I have been told by local council that this will continue throughout the year.

Another safety concern for the school is the use of the staff car park as a pedestrian thoroughfare in the morning and afternoons. I would request that parents and students don’t use the car park to park or to enter and leave the school grounds. We also ask parents not to park in the staff carpark during drop-off or pick-up times.

Happy birthday one and all!

I would like to congratulate Allison Esmonde and Kelly Halliwell who have been renominated for school council for an additional two-year term. I would also like to congratulate Kristy Telford who will also be returning to school council as a DET representative for a further two-year term. Our re-elected members join Eleni Banasios, Sanela Trakilovik, Snez Zivak, Deborah Lucas and myself as the Rosewood Downs School Council in 2022. The school looks forward to working with all our councillors throughout the year.

Our first meeting will be taking place during Week 9 of the term and I look forward to reporting back to our community on some of the upcoming school council work.

Dear Unit A Families,

So much is happening in our unit, never a dull day! The preps are continuing to explore their feelings through picture storybooks, and they are also getting to know more about their friends through the Show and Tell sessions. With regular fine motor skills rotations, we have noticed a great improvement in our Prep's cutting, drawing and colouring skills.

The Grade 1 students are enjoying their hands-on Maths lessons. This week, they designed robots out of recyclable materials, built number groups using playdough and created masking tape 2D shapes on the rug.

As we progress through this term, it is rewarding to watch how quickly the Unit A students are making new friendships and embracing their school life.

From the Unit A Team

We want to say a big welcome to Mrs Rumney into the Unit C family! Our Maths/STEM rotations are now in full swing and are a hit with both Grade 3s and Grade 4s. The Grade 3s also have started their preparation for NAPLAN.

Over the last two weeks the students have been lucky enough to participate in two AFL footy sessions in association with the St Kilda football club. The students learn skills such as hand balling, kicking and general fitness. Everyone enjoyed the sessions and are inspired to watch the 2022 AFL season.

We hope you all our families had a wonderful long weekend! Over the last two weeks, Grade Two students have been looking into Dreaming stories and how Indigenous people believed the world was created. During maths, we have been investigating the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. The students enjoyed building 3D shapes using matchsticks and playdough.

The Grade Ones have enjoyed their literacy rotations where they have made funny hats and described them. Next week, the students will be building their own robots with boxes. If you have any shoe sized boxes or smaller, please send them along. The Grade One students have been enjoying the Topic of this term ‘Our Family’.

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!

Greater Dandenong Division Swimming Trials – Tuesday 8th March

Well done to the 11 students who represented our school at the Division Swimming trials last week. Thank you to the students and their parents for being available to attend the competition and support our team. We had a very successful day, with all of our students competing really well.

4x50m Freestyle Relay

9/10 year old girls – Isabella, Jada, Arya and Sarah (2nd)

11 year old mixed – Luke, Ivan, Mingqi and Daniella (2nd)

12 year old mixed – Ruby, Luke, Ivan and Mingqi (2nd)

9/10 year olds

Isabella – Freestyle (3rd) and Backstroke (3rd)

11 year olds

Ivan – 50m Freestyle (2nd)

Mingqi – 50m Backstroke (1st)

Luke – 50m Breaststroke (1st)

Daniella – 50m Freestyle (2nd)

Fiona – 50m Backstroke (6th)

Maggie – 50m Breaststroke (2nd)

12 year olds

Ruby – 50m Freestyle (3rd) and Backstroke (3rd)

Congratulations to all of our team for their great effort at the trials!

AFL Clinics and Afterschool Auskick

Over the past two weeks the students from Grade 5 and 6 have participated in a series of AFL clinics. We are preparing for our first Gala Day at the start of Term 2 so it has been great to get some more footy practice in.

The Prep to Grade 4 students who have registered for our Afterschool Auskick have enjoyed their first two sessions. The weather has been great and with over 50 students taking part, footy is definitely back in town!

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.

Someone ripped the fifth month out of my calendar the other day.

I'm completely dismayed.

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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