Rozelle Public School Newsletter

Rozelle is a place where Aboriginal children learned, played and celebrated their culture for thousands of years on this beautiful, natural land. As we learn, play and celebrate together on this land, we honour the Wangal people of the Eora nation and pay our respects to elders both past, present and emerging.

Over the past fortnight it has been wonderful to see students settle so quickly into routines and classroom learning. Term Four is always busy so it is important to take every opportunity to maximise learning opportunities. 

As the term progresses, the executive team will begin planning for the 2024 school year. I would like to extend a big thank you to all families who responded to the ‘intention to return’ survey. This information is essential for staffing organisation and class formation. 

At Rozelle, classes are mixed ability, they are not streamed (graded). Over the coming weeks, staff will spend hours carefully considering the makeup of each class. Forming a class is complex and many factors are taken into consideration. Academic, social, behavioural, complex needs, student combinations are all taken into account. Students will be asked to identify five friends who they would like in their new class. While all five may not be in the class, staff will do their very best to ensure at least one or two friends from their list are in their new class. At the start of the year, once classes are formed and announced, requests to move are not possible. Therefore it is important to communicate any concerns before the end of the school year. 

COVID 

This week, the school was informed by parents that a very small number of students had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. These have been in preschool and Year One. It is important that students who are unwell for any reason remain at home until they have fully recovered. Thank you to those families who followed guidelines, kept their child at home and informed the school. All these steps help keep our community healthy. 

TERM FOUR EVENTS 

Term Four is always a busy time for the community as we move towards the end of the school year. There are many special events and assemblies planned for students and I encourage families to keep up to date by reading the fortnightly newsletter which includes a calendar of key events, dates and times. 

GRANDPARENTS ASSEMBLY

Grandparents are very significant people in the lives of our students. This year we will have our annual Grandparents assembly on Monday 30 October starting at 2pm in the Hall. The assembly will feature special performances from our band, dance group and choir. The assembly will finish just before 3pm, giving students an opportunity to walk home with their special visitor. 

STRATEGIC SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN 

Currently the school is reflecting on our programs and initiatives as we prepare the new Strategic Improvement Plan. The 2024 plan will guide future directions and priorities for the next four years. As part of this evaluative process, the school has conducted focus groups with students and staff. Our students provided great insights into how they like to learn and receive meaningful feedback. With Mrs Tovher, some students spent time looking at the vision statements of larger organisations which provided inspiration for our own vision statement. Over the coming weeks, the school looks forward to sharing our findings with the community. 

PUBLIC SPEAKING SUCCESS

This week, four of our students represented Rozelle PS at the Iron Cove Network Public Speaking Final. The final, held at Annandale Public School, saw our students compete against others from local schools. Congratulations to Liam P, Jane AN, Sophie F and Mili M on reaching the finals and representing our school. WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU! Special mention must go to Liam and Sophie who both returned to school with Highly Commended medals. What a great outcome! 

OFF TO STATE ATHLETICS…

Next week, we have three Rozelle students who have qualified for the NSW State Athletics Championships. This is a significant achievement and we wish Davin C, Harley W and India B the very best of luck. We are so proud of you and your success.

We’re holding the Rozelle Pop Up Bookshop again this year with all money raised being donated to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF).

Students get the opportunity to bring in some coins to buy secondhand books for themselves or give away as gifts.

If you have any books (children’s only) you would like to donate, they can be left in the Book Donation Box in the School Office or the Library.

Thanks everyone for your ongoing support.

Students from K-6 will be participating in the Filmmaking in the Library program during Term 4. This year the program is being expanded into the Bangawarra space and now includes three green screens as recording spaces, pre and postproduction skill development, a selection of props and costumes and loads of opportunities to build on their collaboration skills.

The finalists will be screened at the Rozcars Ceremony in Week 10 with winners being awarded their very own Rozcar trophy.

We can’t wait to see what the budding filmmakers at RPS create this year!

Well done to all those students who represented Balmain at the Regional Athletics meet last week.  Balmain came second in the tally results. A big congratulations to India B (6 Mombassa), Davin C (5 Honjo) and Harley W-W (4 Namatjira) who all placed in their event and will be competing at the upcoming State Athletics Carnival. 

Our very own RPS budding year 5 entrepreneurs Mili and Amelie have started a business "Branch Out for Nature" to support WWF!! These eco warriors sell products they have made themselves including artwork, sugar scrubs, lip balms and more. $230 was raised for WWF recently - make sure you keep an eye out at the Rozelle markets for this dream team. Keep up the great work!

Join the P&C for just $1 annual membership - next meeting next Wednesday 25 October 7.30-9pm in the staff room - OR dial in from wherever, please contact the P&C for dial in details.

rozellepublicschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au

Congratulations and welcome to our newest member of the P&C executive committee Lisa Smajlov, who has joined us as a Vice President!

NEW UNIFORM ORDERS

Please order new items online from LW Reid Made for Schools with deliveries direct to your home. New orders can be made using this link madeforschool

All uniform orders are delivered direct to your home address by Australia Post. Uniform orders are no longer available for collection from the office. 

SECOND HAND UNIFORM

Second hand uniform shop is looking for donations in particular sizes 6 & 8. Please drop off any uniform donations to the office, ensuring they are suitable for re-sale i.e. not rips, stains or tears

THE TELL THEM FROM ME PARENT SURVEY TERM 4 REMINDER

This Term, our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher and parent surveys) on student engagement. The survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement.

Running this survey will help our school understand parents’ and carers’ perspectives on their child’s experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements.

The survey is conducted entirely online on smartphones, ipads, tablets, laptops or computers. The survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be open until Friday 3 November. Although participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, your responses are very much appreciated.

More information about the survey can be found here: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/images/FAQs/TTFM_Parent_Survey_FAQs_Parent_and_Carers_T32018.pdf

To access the survey for our school go to: https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/survey/splash/jzx37

PARENT ONLINE PAYMENT SYSTEM
RPS is now using the upgraded School Bytes finance system for online payment and permission form consent. If you have not done so already, parents should access the School Bytes portal and register using https://portal.schoolbytes.education.

When logged online, go to the "Activities Section" to give parent consent and payment. PLEASE NOTE: Consent must be given before a payment can be made. 

You can access your portal at anytime, using the portal link https://portal.schoolbytes.education.

You an also access your portal via the Rozelle Public School website - by clicking on the button "Make a Payment" located at the bottom of the home page screen.

If you should have any questions, or have difficulty logging in, please get in touch with the School Office. 

SURF HATS

Rozelle has a supply of Small and Medium Surf Hats for sale from the office for $15 cash.

PARENT VOLUNTEERS
Helping out at school is a great way to get involved in your child’s education as well as get to know the staff and other parents and carers.

You can help by:

• listening to children read in the classroom
• volunteering on sports days
• helping supervise excursions
• getting involved in fundraising activities
• joining school committees.

Parent volunteers are not required to have a Working With Children's Number, however they are required to fill in a 'Declaration for Child-Related Workers' Form, as well as provide 100 points of ID to be photocopied at the school office (including either a passport OR birth certificate, along with drivers license OR Medicare / bank card.  

THE SCHOOL CANTEEN
The School Canteen operates as an order-only service five days per week. All orders are made online through Spriggy Schools app and delivered to the school in time for students to enjoy at lunchtime and recess. Orders need to be placed by 7:30am on the day or can be placed weekly in advance. Families will need to download the Spriggy Schools app and create a profile for their child. If you need assistance visit spriggyschools.com.au.

NUDE FOOD TUESDAYS
Nude Food Tuesdays are back! On these days, students are encouraged to bring lunch and recess that are not wrapped in foil, plastic or commercial packaging. Please be mindful of packaging that is put into lunch boxes each day to minimise any rubbish that needs throwing away. Instead, opt for reusable containers for packaging food. Each Tuesday, class nude food lunchboxes will be tallied so please help the Green Team with this great initiative to reduce the waste/rubbish in our school.

NUT AWARE
A number of students at Rozelle have been diagnosed with a life-threatening allergy to nuts. While it is not advised for the school to declare itself “nut-free” we are definitely a “nut-aware” school. This means that we ask parents/carers to carefully consider the food they provide for their child and avoid foods that contain nuts. Before sending in food for special occasions for your child’s class, please check with the teacher. The school appreciates everyone’s effort in keeping all our students safe and supporting their families to manage this difficult situation.

MORNING DROP OFF
Families are reminded that students should not be arriving at school before 8.30am unless they are attending OSH Club or a before school activity such as band rehearsal. There may be occasions where you need to drop your child off 10 minutes earlier. In these instances, students must go to the middle playground, where they sit and wait for teacher supervision to begin. 

LOST PROPERTY
When parents are up at the school they may have seen the lost property trolley which is located inside the building entry from the Darling Street playground. Should your child misplace a hat, jumper, water bottle or lunchbox…you may find it in the trolley.