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.

At Rozelle, we strive to uphold certain values that we believe are essential for a positive and nurturing learning environment. These values, represented by our HIP Keys (Help Increase the Peace) include respect, thoughtfulness, high expectations, empathy, and collaboration. Now that we have settled into the current school year, I want to emphasize the importance of these values and encourage everyone to uphold them in our daily interactions with one another.

Respect for yourself and others is a fundamental value that we hold dear at our school. We believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and kindness, regardless of their background or circumstances. This includes respecting ourselves, our peers, our teachers, and our wider community. When we treat each other with respect, we create a welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.

Another value that we hold in high regard is thoughtfulness. We encourage our students to think before reacting, to consider the consequences of their actions, and to approach challenges with a calm and reasoned mind. By practicing thoughtfulness, we can avoid misunderstandings and conflicts, and work towards resolving differences in a productive and constructive manner.

At our Rozelle, we also expect the best from ourselves and from each other. We believe in setting high standards and striving to meet them, both academically and personally. By holding ourselves to a high standard, we can achieve our goals and build confidence in our abilities.

Empathy and care for others are also essential values that we promote at our school. We believe that it is important for students to understand and appreciate the perspectives of others, to show compassion and kindness, and to work towards building positive relationships with peers and teachers. When we care for others, we create a supportive and nurturing environment where everyone can feel valued and respected.

Finally, we emphasize the value of collaboration and working together in a non-violent way. We believe that by working together, we can achieve more than we can alone. When we collaborate, we can solve problems, learn from one another, and create a stronger, more cohesive community.

I encourage our students to embrace these values and to strive to uphold them in their daily interactions with each other. By doing so, we can create a positive and nurturing learning environment where everyone can thrive.

P&C WELCOME BBQ

Once again, our hardworking P&C organised a wonderful welcome BBQ for our school community last Friday afternoon. The BBQ was well attended and everyone enjoyed the tasty sausages and ice cream from the Mr Whippy van. It was great to have Jamie Parker and Kobi Shetty join us and take the time to meet staff and families. Audrey Little, a Sydney Swifts team member also came along and spent time with students, on our newly resurfaced court, practicing netball skills. A big thanks to all the parent volunteers who assisted on the day and to Annabella Berriman and Lauren Scott who coordinated this year’s BBQ.

CONTINUED IMPROVEMENTS AT RPS

Over the coming months, the Department of Education will continue to complete essential maintenance and improvement works. Starting next week the Wellington Street retaining wall, which forms the boundary of the preschool, will be completely replaced. This is a complex project and is expected to take 8 weeks to complete. Preschool families who use the Wellington Street gate will be impacted by these works. They will need to enter the preschool via the internal school entrance. 

In recent days, the school also received confirmation from the Assets Management Unit that they are planning to fully fund the refurbishing of the school’s external toilet block. This is great news and has meant the P&C are able to redirect grant funding to the Stage Two (shade structure) of the multi purpose court project. 

Due to a change in scope, the sports court Stage One works are being funded by the school. The P&C are reallocating the funds, which are a mix of government grant and P&C raised funds, originally planned for Stage One to the Stage Two works for the multi-purpose sports court

The Stage Two works plan for a shade structure above the sports court and may also include some fence works/ landscaping. These works will be scoped in conjunction with the school, the P&C and the Department of Education.

During the summer vacation, the Department installed automatic ventilators into all 11 classrooms in the main building. The good news is that they are returning to install another 14 across the school. These ventilators are connected to monitors and can be switched on to help circulate fresh air and reduce high Co2 levels.

As always ….lots of work taking place at RPS!

Attendance at school is essential for academic success, personal growth and wellbeing. Regular attendance ensures that students receive consistent and uninterrupted learning opportunities, allowing them to stay on track with their studies and build a strong foundation of knowledge. Importantly, regular attendance fosters a sense of community and belonging, enabling students to develop positive relationships with their peers and teachers. 

If away from school, it is the responsibility of families to communicate with their child’s teacher as to why they were absent. This can be via email, phone, note or a face to face conversation. This must be done within 7 days of the absence. Teachers then mark the attendance rolls accordingly. 

The Green Team has responsibility for putting forward creative initiatives and taking action to reduce the school’s environmental footprint. One student from each class has been elected by their peers to represent them at regular meetings throughout the year. Congratulations to our following 2023 Green Team Representatives. 

This year the school leaders and senators are working together to make the school and the world a better place. We only have one senator from each class for each semester. The senators aim to promote friendship and help on the playground. Take the senator from 2 Beasley, for example, who has already created a friendship wall in their class and has made a build-up jar so teachers can read them out at the end of the week to make the school an even better place. Overall, we are trying to include the senators to work with the leaders to promote good causes around the school. We look forward to listening to your ideas. Congratulations to our following 2023 Class Senators. 

Jack and Saxon (Y6 School Leaders)

RPS has recently begun to use online permission forms for some upcoming events and excursions that require parent consent and payment. The aim is to have all school permission forms emailed and approved online by the end of Term 2. During this transition period, hard copies of each permission note for your child's activity will continue to be sent home.  

How it will work:

• The School Office will email the permission form relating to your child to the email address linked to your child's account. 
• This email will include a link to "view the online form".
• The online form will list the event details including the activity name, date & time, description, cost, venue, transport, dress code and food requirements a well as the due date for online consent and payment. 
• Parents will be asked to enter their details and sign the consent part of the online form and hit submit.
• At the bottom of the online form, is a section called "make online payment".
• Parents will be able to open this link and pay the amount owing for their child's activity / event at the same time as giving their consent. 
• Alternatively, this can be paid online at a later date but must be paid before the due date given. 
• Once paid the school will issue a pdf of receipt via email.

RPS is now using the upgraded School Bytes finance system. 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. 

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. 

The NAPLAN assessment period for Year 3 & Year 5 students will begin on Wednesday 15 March and will end on Friday 24 March. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills your child is already learning at school and teachers will ensure students are familiar with the format of the tests.

Below is our proposed test schedule which is subject to change. If for any reason your child misses a test on the scheduled day please know that there are days scheduled for NAPLAN catch up.

WEEK 8

WEEK 9

STUDENT REPORTS

Individual student reports (ISR) and additional student reports (ASR) are usually dispatched to schools and then the schools distribute the test results to parents.

Please contact the school if you have any questions about NAPLAN at Rozelle-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Yesterday 24 students represented RPS at the Balmain Zone Swimming carnival. All students swam exceptionally well and gave each race their best effort. Congratulations to Ella G, Lucas S, Charlie K, Oscar E, Hugh B, Phoenix B, Max B, Davin C and Ethan L who have all progressed through to the Sydney East Regional carnival. A huge achievement was also reached by Davin C who broke 2 records in 50 metres breaststroke and backstroke. We wish all competitors great success at the next level and look forward to hearing your results. 

Our Pre-Schoolers have settled in Brilliantly. Here’s some of our great learning!

• Literacy: finger puppet story telling
• Fine motor co-ordination: stacking & balancing and playdough creature designing
• Numeracy: sorting & classifying button colours
• Outdoor Play: making sandcastles, harvesting lentils and experimenting at the camp kitchen
  

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Join us for the P&C Meeting!

The next P&C meeting is Wednesday 8 March at 7.30-9pm in the RPS staff room. Come along and join us for a glass of wine while we plan the events for the year and optimize elements of the school experience for our kids and school community! All welcome.

WELCOME PICNIC

Thanks to everyone who attended the welcome picnic and sports court celebration last Friday. We enjoyed meeting the NSW Swifts netball player Audrey Little who played some games on the sports court with the students. We also appreciate the support of the local outgoing MP, Jamie Parker who came along to help us celebrate the occasion.

A big thanks to Darling Street Meats who provided the sausages for the event

MULT-PURPOSE SPORTS COURT

Due to a change in scope, the sports court Stage One works are being funded by the school. The P&C are reallocating the funds, which are a mix of government grant and P&C raised funds, originally planned for Stage One to the Stage Two works for the multi-purpose sports court.

The Stage Two works plan for a shade structure above the sports court and may also include some fence works/ landscaping. These works will be scoped in conjunction with the school, the P&C and the Department of Education. 

TRIVIA NIGHT

Saturday 1st April 7-10.30pm in the school hall

Book now! https://www.trybooking.com/CGJYL

Book individual seats or a table of 8. Tickets $25p.

This event sells out so get in quick!

BYO Food and Drink.

Get a team together or buy individual tickets and compete to be the Trivia Master!

*All proceeds go towards P&C initiatives*

Donations needed for the prizes for the night. Hamper prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place and Raffle prizes. Please deliver them to the school office anytime! Think bottles of wine, business offers, household goodies or even leftover Xmas gifts can find a good home! New items only thanks

THANK YOU DARLING STREET MEATS

A big thanks to Darling Street Meats who provided the sausages for our Welcome Picnic. 

Darling Street Meats & Eat at ROBs proudly support Rozelle Public School

● Locally owned and operated

● Quality products at affordable prices

● Friendly service

● Daily and weekly specials

● Orders by request

NEW RED LIGHT SPEED CAMERA

The new Red Light Speed Camera outside Rozelle Public at the intersection of Darling Street and Victoria Road will be installed mid 2023.

This is a huge win for the safety of Rozelle Public School students and our local area.

The working group will continue to advocate for further improvements including an extension of the school speed safety zone.

AIR QUALITY MONITORING

You may or may not be aware that the school has an Air Quality Monitoring Unit onsite that is funded by the P&C.

The unit is intended to advise school staff and P&C in the event of very poor or extremely poor air quality. Staff can then take the appropriate action to ensure the health of the children and staff at the school. 

Data collected can also be used to inform parents and carers if both the current and proposed major engineering projects near to the school are potentially having a negative impact on our children’s learning environment.

It is our intention to provide a report once a month of the prevailing air quality metrics and also notify of any recent air quality breaches.

Our monitor collects two types of data:

• The pollutant gases that are the by-products of internal combustion engines (Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone).
• The fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) that are produced by heavy industry and back burning but also to a lesser extent motor vehicles.

The data we have collected so far is consistent with what we would expect with a location sited in the middle of a large city and next to a major arterial road. The pollution is worse on weekdays and during the morning “rush hour” in particular.

The graphs below show the data for February for all five pollutant types we measure. The coloured bands are the air quality categories (from “good” right up to “extremely poor”) as defined by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and the Environment.

On those rare occasions when pollutants spike into the very poor zone during recess or lunch breaks, it is proposed that students with respiratory conditions will be brought inside. The school will continue to monitor the air quality to decide when it is safe for vulnerable students to play outside again. If PM readings spike into the very poor zone then all students will be brought inside for the duration.

You can view air quality data from our unit in real time here: https://airmet.livesense.com.au/login

Login: rozellepublicschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au

Password: rpsaqm

If you are interested in learning more about air quality monitoring at the school, then please get in contact via the P&C at: rozellepublicschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au

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 order are no longer available for collection from the Office. 

SECOND HAND UNIFORM

The second hand shop is not open this week. 

Join RPS mum and documentary maker Mihaal Danziger at the Sydney premiere of her new film A Certain Mother, which follows a day in the lives of four Australian women navigating the challenges of parenthood. The screening is on Wednesday 8 March (International Women’s Day), at Palace Norton Street Cinema. Tickets come with a glass of bubbles and all proceeds go to local charity Good in the Hood. For tickets visit link

The Australian Performing Arts Grammar School is an exciting, innovative school for students with a passion for the creative and performing arts. Established in 2005, APGS is open to students of artistic ability, dedicated to nurturing talent and encouraging rigour and dedication to both the performing arts and academic learning. The school is a boutique institution, designed specifically to meet the needs of young people who, in addition to their academic studies, desire to focus on Music, Drama, Dance and/or Visual Arts. 

These tours will be held on: 

• Term 2 - Wednesday 3rd May, 9 00am – 10 30am - Years 7 to 9
• Term 2 - Wednesday 3rd May,10 00am – 11 30am - Years 10 & 11 
• Term 3 - Wednesday 26th July, 9 00am – 10 30am - Years 7 to 9 
• Term 3 - Wednesday 26th July, 10 00am – 11 30am - Years 10 & 11 
• Term 4 - Wednesday 18th October, 9 00am – 10 30am - Years 7 to 9 
• Term 4 - Wednesday 18th October, 10 00am – 11 30am - Years 10 & 11