The Rosewood Report - Issue 2
Week of February 7th
Dates to remember
Monday 14th - Valentine's Day!
Wednesday 16th - No Preps at school today
Wednesday 23rd - No Preps at school today
Mr G's Good News Gazette
The RATs are back!
The school received another delivery of rapid antigen tests from the Department. Each student was given another box of five RATs which was sent home with them on Friday. Please check their bag if they didn't pass it on when they arrived home from school.
Rapid antigen testing is voluntary but helps us to stay COVID-free at Rosewood Downs PS. I encourage all parents to test their children twice a week, on a Wednesday and Sunday. I am expecting this to be the last delivery of RATs for a while, but we will continue to distribute tests to families if more arrive later in the term.
If your child is in Grade 3-6, please send your child 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 are handing out lots of disposable masks for the children that forget or don't bring their own mask each day. This generates a lot of waste and rubbish that ends up in landfill.
OSHC
Our before and after school program has really established itself well now. They are well and truly settled into the dance studio, which adjoins the fully refurbished kitchen. We had two large split system air-conditioners installed late last year which will ensure the facilities are cool in summer and cosy in winter.
Before school care runs from 7am - 8.45am and after school care runs from 3.30pm - 6pm. Entry is via the dance studio side door at the rear of the school. Parents can drive into the rear of the staff carpark to drop off children in the morning and collect them in the afternoon.
If you have any questions about the service or would like to sign up for before and/or afterschool care, please call Bella at CommunityOSH on 0413 544 966 or visit https://www.commosh.net.au/rdps
Before and after school and gate supervision
In the mornings, the rear of the school is licensed for use by our before school service provider, Community OSH. Any students who arrive at school before 8.45am will need to remain at the front of the school until teachers begin yard supervision. If your child is arriving at school particularly early, please book them into before school care or make alternative arrangements so that they're arriving at school after 8.30am.
Over the last couple of weeks, we are seeing more students leaving the school via the rear exit on Buldah St. This is great as it means there is less pedestrian and vehicle traffic at the front of the school. However, we only supervise this gate until 3.45pm and then it is locked for the day. If your child is being collected at the rear of the school but you are running later than 3.45pm, we will lock the rear gate and take your child to the front office for collection.
Goal Setting Interviews
We will use the Compass booking system for parents to book an interview time and you will be able to select a phone or Webex call. We will send a Compass notification on Monday to let you know when the booking times go live. Please contact the school next week if you have issues booking in a time.
RDPS party people
Unit D news
The Grade One and Two students have settled back into Unit D successfully after a long summer break! These first couple of weeks have been spent establishing school routines and expectations and re-connecting with their peers. Grade Two students have begun their unit on descriptive writing by using exciting adjectives to describe a setting in the book ‘Window’ by Jeanie Bake. The Grade One students have been investigating 3D shapes and enjoyed building different shapes using Popsicle sticks and Play-doh.
Unit B News
Welcome back to all of our Unit B Families! We hope you have all had a great start to the year. The Unit B staff and students have jumped straight into learning and setting up good daily learning habits. Here are some pictures of our grades doing our daily sustained reading.
Words from the easel
Welcome back to ART for 2022!
The last two weeks we’ve worked on expressing our creativity through the humble heart shape in preparation for Valentine’s Day! Once again our students had tremendous results in the artwork they produced.
I’d like to introduce our Art leaders & team for 2022. This group is already throwing around ideas of an Art competition for Term 1 so stay tuned!
Art captains: Emilia Pantelic & Kannon Vasavan
Art team: Sia Savasta, Charlie Pikoulos, Liana Thomas & Summer Barnett
Artwork by:
Amelia Crayford 3T, Yash Banga 3W, Ted Laliotis 3W
Sofija Simic 3W, Ruby Kendall 6S, Charlie Pikoulos 6R
Havish Jayashankara 4PT, Sophie Fitzgerald 6R, Aiden Boby 5F
Mikaila Fairweather 3W, Belma Cerim 4PT, Kai Esmonde 4W, Lily Fletcher 5F
Musical Notes
Welcome to all our students participating in Music this week. Prep to Grade 2 students learn to love music with experiences in listening, singing, moving, playing hand bells, glockenspiels, non-tuned percussion and creating. Grade 3 and 4 students continue to become more familiar with tuned percussion instruments and playing recorder. Students in Grade 5 and 6 focus on learning guitar chords and strumming patterns.
All music ensembles have commenced in week 1 of term. Students are offered the opportunity to take part in Grade 2 Percussion Group, Junior Choir, Rock Band, Senior Choir, Grade 5/6 Recorder Group and Instrumental Ensembles. I look forward to making some fun music with all our primary musicians!
Sports report
Congratulations to our new Sports Team for this year.
Sport Captains – Emonefe and Ruby
Barwon – Deen and Elissa
Goulburn – Dev and Harry
Rubicon – Sikander and Yune
Yarra – Fiona and Lana
These students will be responsible for running morning assemblies, handing out the sports awards, organising the sports equipment for borrowing, setting up PMP, Platoon and Unit sport time and assisting the teachers at all of our sporting events.
We are looking forward to an exciting year of sport with lots of opportunities for the students to be involved in House activities and fun events.
Lindsay Campbell
Greater Dandenong Division Swimming Trials – Tuesday 8th March
We are starting the selection of our Swimming Team. To be selected, students from Grade 3 to 6 need to have Squad level or equivalent grading in the correct swimming techniques over 50m. They will be competing at the Noble Park swimming pool against students from around the Greater Dandenong Division. Each student selected can enter in a maximum of 2 individual events plus a relay. There is also a maximum of 1 student from each school in each race classification.2022 school council
This year we have three vacancies for parents on School Council. I invite parents to nominate for a position as a way of serving our school community. Eight meetings are held each year on a date and time that is agreed on by all members of the School Council. You do not need any special skills to be a school councillor, but it is essential that you have an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future. If you would like to know more about being a School Councillor, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Timeline for School Council Nominations
Friday 18th February Call for nominations
Friday 25th February (4:00pm) Close of nominations
If you would like to nominate for School Council, application forms will be available from the school office from Monday 14th. School Councillors come to our monthly meetings, attend sub-committees and support the school in many positive ways. All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within statewide guidelines. The Rosewood Downs school council is made up of 8 members: 5 parents and 3 Department of Education employees.
Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund (CSEF)
CSEF will be provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities. If you hold a valid means-tested concession card or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for CSEF. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. The allowance is paid directly to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions or sporting activities that benefit the child. The annual CSEF amount per student is $125 for primary school students. If you applied for the CSEF at your child's school in a previous year, you do not need to complete an application form in 2020 unless there has been a change in your family circumstances. Rosewood Downs will apply for the CSEF on your behalf. You will only need to submit an application form in 2022 if any of the following changes have occurred:
- new student enrolments: your child has started or changed schools in 2022 or you did not apply at the same school in a previous year
- changed family circumstances: such as a change of custody, change of name, concession card number, or new siblings commencing at the school in 2022.
Schools are able to accept and process applications up until the end of term two each year. CSEF payments are made to schools from March onwards each year. Notices are available from the front office and more information can be found at https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/csef.aspx
Dad Joke of the week
Why can't you hear a Pterodactyl go to the toilet?
Because the P is silent
About Us
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