Newsletter Term 1 Week 5

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

Week 6 and the pace of College life is fast and dynamic. Planning is in full swing for Year 8 Camp with great excitement, as the students plan their cabin groups. Senior students doing blended Stage 6 are embarking on School based apprenticeships, online and face to face TAFE courses. Senior English students experienced Shakespearean performances, Year 10 Geography explored Cronulla and visiting sports teams are back onsite for competitions.

 As we walk the corridors we see classes immersed in learning, whether music, cooking, acting and debating.

Our bell music this week was chosen by Ms Bright and featured disney powercovers which mingled with the strains of Grease as our cast began rehearsals hand jiving.

We welcome the community in experiencing this through our student tours which commenced this week as well.

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 7 Art

Year 7 students have settled in well in Visual Arts. Here are some students experimenting with drawing their self portraits in the lead up to a larger painting this term.

Year 7 P&C Social Event

Please book early to ensure a space at the year 7 social event as bookings will close March 24th. Book here

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

SRC News

The 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. Last year, with the promise of our principal Melinda Bright dying her hair, we were able to raise over $12,000 dollars for this fantastic cause, smashing our goal of $10,000.This year however, we have raised the stakes, increasing our goal to $20,000. 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 on the posters around the school. We hope to see all of you either joining our team or donating to the RBSC page, and supporting this amazing cause! 
Harmony Day is also coming up on Friday of Week 9 of this term. Please come to school on this day wearing an orange accessory (such as a hat, ribbon, wristband etc) to be part of celebrating the RBSC community's incredible diversity. We will also be holding a bake sale and having rock band performances in both breaks. More information will be coming soon, so make sure to keep an eye on Sentral and Teams. 

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

V-Fest

The V-Fest poster Design Competition is now open and entries need to be given to Miss Cave (B Block staffroom) by Monday 27^th March. 

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.

Uniform Shop

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:

NAPLAN online 2023

Parents/carers of students in Years 7 and 9,
Early last week an email was sent out with information regarding NAPLAN Online 2023. NAPLAN Online will be taking place in Weeks 8 and 9 in the school hall. Students will need to complete all 4 NAPLAN Online tests on their device. This will mean that all students must download the compatible Locked-Down Browser onto their device before Monday 13^th March, 2023. 
More information about NAPLAN Online including how to download the Locked-Down Browser and examination timetable can be found on our school website: https://rosebay-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/naplan.html 

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 24^th of February, the Rose Bay Secondary College opens boys’ basketball team versed Lucas High Community School in round two of this competition, coming off a win against Gymea Technology. The energy was electric, Rose Bay students in the mezzanine cheered, chanted and celebrated, helping to push us forward. The game started and the score was back and forth, with both teams trading inside points. Both defence and offence were excellent throughout the first half, including a huge block early in the game from Malcolm Richards and difficult layups from Liam Watts, as the half came to a close Rose Bay were winning 27-24. The game got more physical as it got later in the game, in the second half, assists and ball handling from both Jamie Poulos and Jai Brugman became critical, and notable three-pointers from Toby Farquharson and Jakub Vasina helped push Rose Bay forward in the final minutes. Ultimately, Rose Bay’s scoring was led by Aiden Norris throughout the whole game, as he scored 28 points, earning himself a clear player of the game. As the final buzzer rang, the score read 55-46 and Rose Bay Secondary College had won again, advancing to the 3^rd round.

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.

Library News

World Pride Week
World Pride Week is upon us and to celebrate the Library, together with the RBSC Pride
Alliance, welcomed students to come together to celebrate diversity in our school community
with gatherings that saw large turnouts of students in Breaks 1 and 2 on Friday last week.
Library staff set up a Pride display for all students visiting the Library to enjoy for the duration of
the World Pride Week. Thanks to all who involved in the creation of the display and to all who
attended the Pride events this past week. 

Renaissance Reading Program
Following a pilot program run with select Year 7 classes in Term 4 last year, the Renaissance
Reading Program is currently being rolled out across all Year 7 classes. The program aims to
improve reading ability in all students, while simultaneously attempting to foster a general love
of reading in our younger readers to help them achieve greater academic and general success
in the future.
The benefits of wide reading are well researched, with studies showing improved levels of
comprehension, information retention, accuracy in spelling and grammar and cultural
awareness in those who engage in reading for leisure.
Students in Year 7 are currently completing a short reading test as part of their regular
fortnightly Library lesson to determine their base reading level. In future Library lessons, they
will spend time reading books of their choosing and complete short quizzes to test their
comprehension of their chosen books, the aim being that their reading score increases over
time.
To enhance the effectiveness of the program, it is recommended students spend 20-30 mins
reading each day, most likely to be completed at home. This will help to maximise the amount of
reading they do across the year. More information about this will follow from the Library.
For more information you can go to the Renaissance website, or contact the Library teaching
staff who are more than happy to assist.

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.

P&C Meeting & AGM - Tues 14 March 2023

We are very excited to let you know that the next P&C Meeting is Tuesday March 14 at 7pm in the school hall. Entry will be via the gates in front of the hall. Please note this is also the AGM, including election of the P&C Executive and Subcommittee representatives. All positions will be vacated and filled at the AGM but we note that several parents are leaving RBSC and will not stand for re-election. Please see the information below. Membership of the P&C and voting rights is by gold coin donation.

The P&C plays an active role in the school community, supporting important programs (eg. Homework Centre, legal mock trial, Writers Day, Science Day and the debating program), contributing to capital expenditure to improve the school environment (shade covering and divider in basketball courts), as well as resources to assist students and staff (eg. upgrading digital cameras for the photography department and purchase of equipment for the marine science labs).
 
It is very worthwhile developing closer relationships with the school and the parent body. All parents, carers and school community members are welcome. We especially look forward to welcoming those new to the school. 

Membership of the P&C and voting rights is by gold coin donation which will need to be paid either at the meeting or online. 

Please note, the P&C voluntary contribution paid with school fees is separate from the gold coin donation for P&C voting rights. In order to vote the P&C Federation requires you to be a financial member, this is achieved with a gold coin donation. The P&C voluntary contribution allows RBSC P&C to provide funding to many school programs and projects.

The bank details for a gold coin donation are:
 
Name: RBSC P&C  
BSB: 062238
Account: 10113005

Payments should note ‘P&C 2023 + name’ so membership can be verified.
Please also send an email address with bank receipt to rbscpandc@gmail.com. 
 
Please feel free to email us at:  rbscpandc@gmail.com
 
The agenda and meeting documents are available 7 days prior on the P&C Public Drive.