From the Principal's Desk

Welcome to Week 4, Term 3!

We have had a wild fortnight at Rocky River Public School with the impacts of the unforeseen snow storm event temporarily affecting our school operations, and leaving some long lasting damage to our trees and shade sails. I'd like to thank our hardworking staff who work behind the scenes to ensure our school is back up to operational status as soon as possible in events like this. 

Roy (our Asset Services Officer) oversees many schools in the region, including ours. He worked tirelessly to ensure we could operate out of Uralla Central School on Tuesday, after an unavoidable closure on Monday, providing our students a warm and safe place to attend school. It was clear students needed a chance to decompress and re-connect with their teachers and peers, especially as many were still without power at home. 

Mr Hunt and his staff at UCS welcomed us onsite without batting an eyelid. Despite server issues and delayed arrival of the generator, Mr Hunt still made the time to personally welcome us and invite our students to breakfast club where students enjoyed toast and a hot Milo. Again, thanks to Roy for organising the generator and a thank you to Mr Flood who works in the Armidale Education Office to get the network back up.

Mr Hine (our GA) shone bright on the Monday, clearing a large fallen branch across the entry to our school with his own equipment, which fast tracked our re-opening. Contractors and arborists were inundated with work around the region, so we thank Mr Hine for his unwavering dedication and service to our school which made the initial work easier once we had the experts onsite.

Our P&C and broader parent community, all whom reached out with offers of support, were greatly appreciated. It's a special thing to be a part of the Rocky River community, and it's lovely to see everyone come together to support one-another in an event like this. 

Finally, our school staff; Anne, Miss Miller, Mr Ridley, Mrs Morris, Mrs Kirkaldy and Mrs Casburn - all who could have easily chosen to stay home and tend to the needs of their own homes and families which were impacted, but who showed up each day for our students, organising engaging learning activities with the resources we had. 

After a three day power outage at school, and longer in many neighboring patches, the snow left behind a bittersweet taste, with many joyful stories of snowmen and snow angel creations, whilst the loss and damage across the region is so widespread. In the coming months, a few trees will be removed, including the large pine tree at the front of our school. I thank the P&C for opening the conversation last night at our meeting about how we can begin to plan for the replanting of trees and rejuvenating our wonderful space here at the school. May we not see the magical blanket of snow again for just a little while!

Public Education Week Awards

I was honoured to attend the Armidale Network Public Education Awards on Thursday last week. It was a joy to boost some positivity into our week, taking the time to recognise outstanding contributions to Rocky River Public School. This year the awards were hosted by Uralla Central School. Our 2025 Award recipients, highlighting the true essence of public education this year were:

Staff Member - Anne for exceptional dedication and outstanding contributions over more than a decade, as not only our School Administration Officer, but the backbone and heart of Rocky River Public School.

Student - Anna for exceptional academic performance and outstanding involvement in all extra curricular activities offered to her.

Community Member - Amy + the Moon's Bakery Team. In recognition of their generous support and invaluable contribution to the Rocky River Public School community. Fueling our students with supplies for our breakfast club.

It was lovely to celebrate the inclusivity and support public education provides our community, and in the spirit of public education, we stopped off at Moons Bakery after the awards to present the hard working Amy with her certificate in person! What a wonderful way to celebrate Public Education Week.

Principal's Prize Box

It has been a pleasure to see some hard working students strive to reach their full potential in the classroom. As a special reward, students are being individually recognised for reaching personal bests, by being sent up to my office to share their work with the principal and pick a special little prize from the prize box. I have had the pleasure of reading wonderful pieces of writing, seeing fabulous equivalent fractions drawn in workbooks and hearing young readers reading aloud with confidence and fluency. Well done Rocky River learners!

Rescheduled Events

PLP Interviews:

Due to the non-operational status of our school last Monday, the parent-teacher-student interviews were postponed. We would like to invite parents to rebook shortly when prompted by the School Bytes app for a 10 minute timeslot on Monday 1st September 3:00pm - 5:00pm.  We look forward to the opportunity to sit with you and your child to discuss their goals and targets for the semester ahead. 

PSSA Zone Athletics & Assembly:

The PSSA Zone Athletics has been rescheduled to Friday 22nd August at Harris Park. This was the scheduled date for our first assembly for the term as well as our book week parade. As we will have staff and many students attending Athletics this day, we have postponed the book week dress parade to the Week 9 assembly. This means we will only have one assembly this term, and it will be a wonderful celebration of learning for Term 3. Thank you all for your flexibility and understanding with this change.

Building A Project update

Please see the latest update on our school re-build project below. We are excited for the new state-of-the-art building which we will be teaching and learning in, in 2026.

Regional Spelling Bee

Yesterday, our school spelling bee champions; Ivory and Anna competed in the Regional Spelling Bee competition via zoom. Ivory made it to Round 4, Anna made it to Round 2 of what was a very competitive challenge. Thank you to Mrs Kirkaldy for facilitating our school's participation in the event. Congratulations to Ivory and Anna for your achievements and for representing our school in this domain with pride.

Tilbusters Wind Ensemble

Some of our students are committed members of the Tilbusters Wind Ensemble who rehearse every Wednesday evening with instructors from NECOM. Henry plays the clarinet, Anna plays the flute, Harrison C. plays the alto saxophone, Ivory plays the clarinet and Phoebe plays the tenor saxophone. The Tilbusters group have two performances coming up this term in our community. If you happen to be around and are able to watch, we are sure they would love your support!

Events:

• Beginner Music Program Winter Concert: August 26, from 5:15pm at NECOM
• Armidale Farmers Market: September 14th, approx 9:30am, Curtis Park

Jeans for Genes Fundraiser

We are proud to announce that our school raised $306.25 with Jeans4Genes matching dollar for dollar amounts for online donations made on the day. Well done to our community for fundraising a big amount for a great cause!                                           

An Evening with ACOS

We are looking forward to Rocky River students in Years 3-6 performing in the Massed Choir items on the night. Selected students from Stage 3 will be participating in the Combined Orchestra and selected students from Stage 2 will also be performing in the Aboriginal Dance Group on the night. 

Tickets are now sold out. We look forward to seeing you there!!

Kindergarten Enrolments 2026

We are still enrolling for Kindergarten 2026. If you are thinking of enrolling your child to start school next year, or know someone who is interested, please contact our school office (02) 6778 4122 or pop in for a visit any time! We will be releasing some transition to Kindergarten dates and times soon for all students planning to enrol at Rocky River next year and look forward to welcoming lots of smiling, new faces!

Attendance

Reasons for absence

Thank you to all who are prompt in notifying the school of their child's absences both full day and partial day, including the justified reason of why their child was away. It is important that this communication comes through to the school via the correct channels:

• Absence submission through the School Bytes app (preferred method)
• Phone call to the school office: (02) 6778 4122

• Email to the school email address: rockyriver-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au 

   

Extended leave

Please remember to complete the extended leave or travel form if you are planning to take your children on holidays during the school terms. This must be completed prior to the planned travel.

Kindest regards,

Dani Clyde-Smith

Principal