Newsletter Term 1 Week 4

This year the Principal Ms Bright will shave her head if the College's World's Greatest Shave team gets to $20 000 raised. Donate here

From the Senior Executive

This week we held our Meet the Teacher event for our 2023 Year 7 parents. The 185 parents who attended were able to see our classrooms, put teachers’ faces to names, ask questions, and get to know the staff and other Year 7 parents over some nibbles provided by the P&C. Year 7 Advisor Georgia Bowd then presented an informative session on how Rose Bay Secondary College uses TEAMS to maximise student learning opportunities. A huge thank you to the Transition Team, the Year Advisors Adele Flack and Georgia Bowd, and Year 7 Deputy Principal Ian Godby for making the event such a success.

Thank you to those families who have completed the Three Wishes Survey. This survey helps us shape the type of school that as parents and carers, you wish to see for your child. We have also surveyed the staff and students for their three wishes and working teams are currently collating the data from all responses. Our first round of the Three Wishes Survey held in 2020 brought in changes to our Mobile Phone Policy and Calmer Classrooms initiatives. These initiatives have seen a decrease of negative incidents evidenced by the What Works Best data with a 17.5% growth in positive classroom management practices. Community voice is a vital part of a schools’ vision and is a powerful tool in creating positive change.

The student community have stepped up and looking sharp in their school uniforms. Uniforms help to create a sense of belonging at our school. We encourage the students to chose which items of uniform they wish to wear, for example a sports polo with a skirt, or a white shirt with shorts, to maximise their comfort. After community consultation and the hard work of our SRC Uniform Committee, we are well on our way to offering feminine fitted shorts and a blue polo option for seniors. More of that news to come…

Year 7 Fortnightly Communication

Dear Year 7 Parents and Carers,

As we finish the fourth week of the school year, I am very pleased to report that the Year 7 cohort has settled into High School life extremely well. The teachers have reported that Year 7 are completing work to a high standard and that their behaviour in class and the playground has been of a very high standard.

Social Media

Rose Bay Secondary College is committed to being a safe school both in the playground, classroom, at co-curricular events and when our students engage on social media. The College appreciates the value of social media for students as a fun and effective way of communicating with their peers. We are also aware that it’s much easier to say negative things behind a computer than face to face with someone. The negative message on social media can be read over and over causing further anxiety for the student who received it.

The use of social media has strict guidelines about when students can start with Snapchat for instance being 13 years of age. The experts advise that the longer students stay off social media, the better for that individual. Our experience at Rose Bay Secondary College most certainly endorses the delay in registering for social media for as long as possible as the most inappropriate use of social media is found to be committed by students in Years 7 and 8. This is despite the fact that students are often reminded of their rights and responsibilities in using social media. At RBSC we work closely with  ySafe with students and parents receiving timely talks on how best to use social media during Semester One. More information about Snapchat

Homework

The commencement of High School can be daunting in many ways for students and their parents with the navigation of homework often being the one that can cause some stress. At Rose Bay Secondary College there is an expectation that Year 7 students will spend between 30 minutes to one hour of homework a night. This is only a suggested time frame. It is suggested that homework should take the following form;

1. Complete any set homework issued on the day

2. Review notes and ensure content on the day has been understood

3. Use study aids such as Excel Mathematics/English texts to compliment work being studied in class

4. Work on assignments. To assist with this there is an Assessment Planner on the RBSC website. https://rosebay-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/assessment-planners/year-7.html

5. Read a novel

The College also has the Homework Centre every Monday and Wednesday 3.30 – 5.00pm in the RBSC Library. The Homework Centre provides free tuition for students, with teachers and recent high achieving graduates returning as tutors.

N.B. Please note that the Fortnightly Year 7 newsletter will be placed into this school Newsletter every B Week.

From The Year 7 Advisors

As Week Four comes to a close both Mrs Flack and Miss Bowd are so glad to see Year 7 settling in and enjoying high school life. We have been so impressed by the plethora of positive comments we have received from Year 7 teachers, and we know that are really enjoying their time with Year 7 in the classroom. We are also very pleased with the level of enthusiasm and energy being channelled into extracurricular school events, as Year 7 involve themselves in all aspects of College life. From debating to drama, sports teams to musicals; our Rose Bay community is strong, and we encourage Year 7 to continue to participate in as many groups, clubs and school events as they can.

We want to remind Year 7 to continue to show kindness and respect towards one another, as we as a cohort continue to establish our identity and shape who we want to be. Kindness and respect are core values of our school community, and we encourage Year 7 to think before they act; considering ‘Is this how I would want someone to treat me?’

With many upcoming whole school events, the new few weeks will be very exciting around the College. With the swimming carnival next Friday, the World’s Greatest Shave in Week 8 and the production of the College musical well underway - there is a lot to look forward to!

Finally, as assessment task notification begin to be distributed over the coming weeks, we encourage Year 7 to begin these early to reduce stress later in the term. Navigating the first term of assessment tasks can be challenging, as the volume of tasks due around the one time period is typically greater then in Primary School. We encourage Year 7 to begin these tasks early, seek help and ask questions from their class teachers in advance and reach out to one of us if they find they are feeling quite stressed.

In addition to this, Year 7 also have access to the Homework Centre in the Bob Bellear Memorial Library every Monday and Wednesday afternoon (3:30-5pm). This is a secure and supervised environment where students have access to paid and specialised tutors.

Thank you to all who joined us on Tuesday afternoon at the 'Meet the Teacher' event. It was a pleasure to have you all and we hope you enjoyed the event and found it informative. If you have a spare moment, we would greatly appreciate if you could complete a short feedback survey. Please click on the link below to access the survey. https://forms.office.com/r/eKSQN7ZXf8

Word from the playground. Students were asked to describe their time at Rose Bay in three words. 

Ruby Jean- Arnup: Fun, Educational, Exciting

William Lanham: Opportunities, Exciting, Friendship

Flynn Larsson: Very Good, Fun, Exciting

Year 9 Fortnightly Communication

Dear Year 9 Parents and Carers,  

As we conclude the fourth week of the school year, I am very pleased to report that the Year 9 cohort is performing extremely well. The students are enjoying participating in their electives, working with other students that are also passionate about the subject that they have chosen. It gives me great pleasure to update you on the progress of our Year 9 cohort and their engagement in their classwork. We are pleased to report that the students have been showing great enthusiasm for their learning and have been demonstrating responsible and respectful behaviour in the classroom. 

 As many of you are aware, to ensure a productive learning environment, we implemented a mobile phone policy at the beginning of 2021. It is pleasing to note that most of our Year 9 students have embraced this policy with only ten students being reported to be on their phones during class since the start of the term. Our goal for the remainder of the term and the year, is to have zero students using their phones during class, and we are confident that with continued reinforcement of this policy, we can achieve this goal. 

 As part of our commitment to providing a high-quality education for our students, the senior executive team regularly visits classrooms to observe student engagement and progress. We have been impressed with the Year 9 cohort and their dedication to their studies. 

 Homework  

At Rose Bay Secondary College there is an expectation that Year 9 students will spend between 45 minutes to one hour of homework a night. It is suggested that homework should take the following form:  

1. Complete any set homework issued on the day 

1. Review notes and ensure content on the day has been understood  

1. Use study aids such as Excel Mathematics/English texts to complement work being studied in class 

1. Work on assignments. To assist with this there is an Assessment Planner on the RBSC website. https://rosebay-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/assessment-planners/year-9.html  

1. Read a novel 

The Homework Centre is available every Monday and Wednesday 3.30 – 5.00pm in the RBSC Library. The Homework Centre provides free tuition for students, with teachers and recent high achieving graduates returning as tutors.  

From the Year 9 Advisors

Year 9 continue to engage well with their electives. This week, we were able to drop into some classes where we saw: commerce students evaluating ACCC decisions to uphold or deny community advertising complaints; French students practising vocabulary around families; visual art students composing still-life sketches on subjects of their own choosing; and PASS students getting active on the basketball courts.

Walking around roll call each morning, it's a pleasure seeing the mature and polite cohort the Class of '26 is growing into. It's particularly gratifying hearing students drop the 'Word of the Week' into their conversations. You might like to ask students at home if they can use this week's word in conversation - 'ponder'.  

We look forward to sharing more about Year 9 with you next fortnight.
Mr McEvoy and Mr Regina

Courage to Care

Rose Bay had the pleasure on Feb 20, 2023, to once again invite Courage to Care, a not-for-profit organization that draws on the context of powerful first-person accounts of the Holocaust to tell courageous stories of upstanders who risked everything to stand up for justice and humanity.

Year 7, watched a brief film about the context of the Holocaust, heard rescuer stories of ordinary people risking their lives to perform extraordinary acts of kindness and shared the unique experiences of the survivors who talked about the deadly impact of racism and discrimination on their near and dear ones. Finally, the students participated in a workshop aimed at raising their awareness of upstander tools they could draw from to help them combat such prejudice in the future.

Change of Details

A reminder to all parents/carers to please update any change in details for students ie address, email, phone numbers. This ensures all correspondance from the school is going to the correct place and important information is not missed.

Fortnightly Star Awards

Students receive Star Awards for their positive behaviour, academic achievements, community involement, and contributions across a range of other areas that form part of each day at Rose Bay Secondary College. As a school community, we are committed to recognising the great number of Rose Bay students that achieve excellence on a daily basis. We would like to congratulate the following students on receiving a significant number of star awards this fortnight:

School Tours and Open Night

Rose Bay Secondary College is scheduling school tours for interested prospective parents and carers and child/ren.

Tours will be held Tuesday and Thursday at 10am – beginning Tuesday 21 February 2023.

The tours will run for approx. 1 hour.  Tour numbers are limited. Contact the school on 9301-0300 to book.

We will also be holding Open Night on March 21st -  please RSVP via this link

NAPLAN online 2023

Years 7 and 9 students will be completing the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Online tests in Weeks 8 and 9 of Term, 2023.

NAPLAN online is a nationwide measure through which parents, teachers, schools, education authorities, governments and the broader community can determine whether or not young Australians are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community.

The tests provide an important contribution to monitoring and evaluating the performance of schools and school systems in these fundamental capabilities. They also provide schools, states and territories with information about how education approaches are working, the areas to be prioritised for improvement, and those schools requiring support in the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy.

The results can assist teachers by providing additional information to support their professional judgement about students’ levels of literacy and numeracy attainment and progress.

Students in Years 7 & 9 will complete the following four NAPLAN tests:

● Reading

● Writing

● Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation)

● Numeracy

All NAPLAN tests will be conducted on a device. All students taking part in NAPLAN Online tests must install a locked down browser app suitable for their device. This also applies when schools have a ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) policy. Locked down browser applications are available for devices that meet the minimum device requirements.

More information about NAPLAN will be emailed to parents of Year 7 and Year 9 students in the coming weeks.

IEFH Community Access

Last Friday, IEF H set out on Community Access to the Museum of Sydney. Not to be confused with the Australian Museum, the Museum of Sydney is a small museum on Bridge Street, built over and around the remains of Sydney’s First Government House. 

After looking up ferry times and planning our day, IEF H went on an exciting walk to Rose Bay and ferry ride into the city, passing seaplanes, yachts, Garden Island, Fort Denison and other harbour sights. On arrival IEF H examined a map of the city, locating famous Sydney landmarks: the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay station.  A student then guided us to the Museum using the map. At the Museum we looked at the exhibition, ‘Sydney snapshots,’ and took pictures of our favourite photos to research back at school. We also had a chance to weave a bracelet in the weaving room, a room celebrating the history and diversity of First Nations weaving traditions in NSW. 

We visited the Museum’s café and each student had the opportunity to buy some lunch. They all practised financial literacy and independently paid for a sandwich, chatting over lunch to classmates at their table.  

We caught the ferry home and then began the ascent to Rose Bay Secondary College. At school, we have been learning about the History and Geography of Sydney. We look forward to our next excursion! Here are some photos from the day. 

Social Inc

Social Inc has started and happiness, puzzles, games, ice blocks,  lollies and students having fun abounded. It's on Tuesday's Break 2 in the IEF Playground, everyone is welcome.

Sports Updates

BASKETBALL:

On the 14th of February, the Rose Bay Secondary College opens boys’ basketball team faced off against Gymea Technology High School. In the early stages of the game and throughout the first half, the score was back and forth, mainly consisting of inside scoring from Rose Bay and 3pt shooting from Gymea Tech, and as the half came to a close, the score read 23-18 Rose Bay leading. By the second half, nerves were gone and the plan was for Rose Bay to make a stronger effort to score, electing to take 3pt shots and get easy transition buckets by outlet passing to the open man, while still maintaining good defence. This proved successful, Gymea’s 3pt shots were no longer landing under increased pressure and Rose Bay was scoring effectively. As the game ended Rose Bay Secondary College was victorious with a final score of 56-35.

VOLLEYBALL:

In 2022, after a few years of covid restrictions, our RBSC Volleyball  team were able to finally return to competition. Early in 2022, our senior girls team competed in the Volleyball schools cup in Homebush which saw us top our pool but were unfortunately knockout out in the semi finals. In November we returned to Volleyball schools cup where we came runners up but we brought home the first medal in Volleyball for RBSC. Bring on 2023.

On Tuesday 21st Feb students from our RBSC volleyball team attended Sydney East Volleyball trials. Unfortunately our students were not selected, but it was a tough competition and all student did their best and performed really well. However, Congratulations to Juliana Adetunji who was selected to join the training squad.

NETBALL:

A reminder that the 2023 Netball Season kicks off in Term 1.

If you’re planning to play, even just thinking about it, please fill in your details on the google form here to receive information on how to register.

Open to all years, 7 and up.

Parents, we need team managers! Please email us at rbscnetball@gmail.com if you’re game to support the players with some straightforward duties.

More info on registration coming soon. Internal Grading is on 4th March at school gym. 

Y7: 10 to 11am

Y8: 11am to 12noon

Y9: 12 to 1pm

Y10,11,12: 1 - 2pm

Google form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pYsLdoMGnAMbkY_Mio8ZTuRXiGlmhhfbpKVunTg-7sU/edit

Expression of Interest closes on 27th Feb 5 pm

Homework Centre

The Homework Centre provides a quiet, secure environment where students can get help, support and guidance from specialist tutors with their research, homework and assignments after school. It takes place in the library. The tutors, all ex- RBSC students give current students the opportunity to ask questions and get assistance with all subjects. The Homework Centre runs on:

 Monday 3.30pm-5pm  

 Wednesday 3.30pm-5pm  

Every student is a member of the Homework Centre Teams page.  Information and notices regarding the Homework Centre will be posted on Teams.  We have two tutors each afternoon and four different tutors altogether. Please check the Homework TEAMS to see which days the tutors come so that you can receive the specialist help that you need. 

 If you have any questions, please contact either Ms. Sara Debono or Ms. Henrietta Hawke.  

WORLD'S GREATEST SHAVE

World's Greatest Shave is back at RBSC and better than ever. The World's Greatest Shave is a campaign led by the Leukaemia Foundation, an Australian charity dedicated to supporting people living with blood cancer by providing information, treatment, and care. Last year, with the promise of our principal Melinda Bight dying her hair, we were able to raise over $12,000 dollars for this fantastic charity, smashing our goal of $10,000.This year however, we have raised the stakes, upping our goal to a whopping 20,000 DOLLARS. The event will be held at the school, available for the whole student and teacher body to watch. Applications are open to all students and teachers, who want to either shave, cut or dye their hair. If you are interested please sign up at the following link;  http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/RBSCShavers2023 or scan the QR code in the posters. We hope to see all of you either joining or donating the event, and supporting this amazing cause. For any questions feel free to email me at Zachary.villa@education.nsw.gov.au

 Thanks to all of you,

Sincerely Zac

RBSC WGS Team leader

Careers News

A great 'career planning' website for students (and parents) to explore is myfuture.edu.au this online platform can be a useful tool in career and transition planning. It includes resources that are relevant to your young person including a simple psychometric career interest test (under My career profile), occupation and course information, videos and pathway information.Parents and students might like to connect in with Ms Lockton, the Career Teacher at RBSC for some individualised Career Planning support.

Defence Force Recruiting would like to give your students the chance to explore the Navy at the upcoming Open Days happening at HMAS Penguin 25th February and HMAS Kuttabul 26th February.

An Open Day is a great opportunity to learn more about the trade, communications, IT & intelligence or leadership roles available in the Navy. Your students will meet current Navy personnel to receive expert insights and gain a first-hand account of their lives both on base and on board. By attending an Open Day they’ll learn more about the training and ongoing opportunities for growth and development and see if a career in the Navy is for them. Even if they aren’t thinking about a career in Defence or are unsure of their next steps, the HMAS Penguin and HMAS Kuttabul Open Days may provide an exciting future they haven’t considered before.

To register your interest, please visit www.defencejobs.gov.au/events

High Potential and Gifted Education

Thriving Minds is an internationally recognised organisation that provides challenging and engaging thinking days for senior students. This year's event is called More Able and Ambitious and is targeted at improving students' critical thinking skills. It will take place at Ascham Senior School on Monday, 5 June 2023 and costs $50. More information can be found in the attached brochure. Interested students can register their interest by completing the attached form by 24 February 2023. Please come and see Ms Beiglari and Mr Weavers in the A-Block staffroom if you have any further questions.

https://forms.office.com/r/Y9YgjCp95E

Department of Education: Parent webinars and resources

The NSW Department of Education has a collection of webinars and resources from the eSafety Commissioner and their trusted partners to aid families in setting up good digital habits.

These webinars are aimed at supporting young people to have safe, positive experiences online as well as providing resources for young people living with a disability. To access these valuable resources please follow this link.

Library News

The 2023 scholastic year is in full swing and it has been wonderful to see many of Rose Bay’s younger readers borrowing so many books already in February. As ever the graphic novel section is very popular, but non-fiction has also been getting a look-in, mainly from the history and coding collections.

Speaking of graphic novels, have you ever thought about how your friendships began? A new Manga Collection, Komi Can’t Communicate, about how a journey to 100 friends begins with a single conversation... has hit the RBSC Library shelves!

Visit the library and be among the first students to read this new series.

Pride Week 2023

In recognition of world Pride Week, there will be a pride display in the Library next week. Thanks to Bella White, Molly McFayden and the Pride Group for collaborating to make this happen.

2023 Premier’s Reading Challenge

Several students in Year 7 have asked about the 2023 Premier’s Reading Challenge already and it’s now the time of year for students to kick off their Challenge. The 2023 PRC opens next week and the earlier you start, the better your chances are of completing the challenge.

Key dates for the 2023 Challenge:

27 February 2023 - challenge opens for student entries Friday 18 August 2023 - challenge closes for student entries Friday 1 September 2023 - final date for coordinator validations of completed reading records.

There are some updated rules for this year’s challenge, which we think make it even more student-friendly. Namely, students can now include up to 10 choice books on their reading records (up from 5), and can count 5 books from an approved series (up from 3) as PRC books.

Registration, information and challenge rules can all be found on the PRC website (below). Students will also be inducted in this year’s challenge during their fortnightly Library lesson in the cycle ahead. Or, of course, you can always ask the Library staff! https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

ANU Open Day

ANU is holding their Open Day on Saturday 18 March 2023. This is your chance to learn about life after Year 12 – what it’s like to live, study and play at university. ANU direct applications are open from March to May, so you might even score an early offer – and take some of the stress out of your final year. Don’t miss it – take the whole family!