From the Principal's Desk
Welcome to Week 9, Term 4!
We have had a jam-packed fortnight at Rocky River with lots of learning, extra-curricular activities and excursions. We've also had many student birthdays recently and have enjoyed the daily choral 'Birthday Song' singing at morning assembly each day. It's been a pleasure to lead our school and I look forward to formally recognising our wonderful students for their achievements at our Presentation Day assembly this coming Friday.
Building A Update
On Monday, I shared the latest update from NSW Infrastructure regarding the initial Building A preparation work to be completed onsite during the Summer Holidays. As the work will require bobcats, excavators etc, the school grounds will be considered a construction site, and general access to the school will not be permitted while these works are on (6/01/25 - 24/01/25). In case you missed it, please see the project update from NSW Infrastructure, below.
If you have any questions, please contact myself or NSW Infrastructure directly at the contact details below:
Uralla Bowling Club Bingo
Last Saturday, The Uralla Bowling Club hosted a charity bingo afternoon, with all raffle proceeds donated to Rocky River Public School. Thank you to the families who attended the afternoon and supported the Bowlo. Lots of prizes (and chocolates!) were won, and it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon together. I was pleased to win one of the lucky door prizes, which was a hand-made, crocheted blanket, made by a generous woman, who's husband had attended Rocky River Public School as a child. The lovely Margaret Scott and her dedicated team of Bingo organisers presented our school with a cash donation of $600. What was originally a $495 amount, was rounded up to $600 thanks to the generosity of the organisers. We will be using this donation to pay for the new school captain honour board that the Uralla Men's Shed has already started making for our school. We are pleased to be able to use the proceeds from this event in a way that both benefits the school, and also directly supports a local organisation.
I would love to thank every wonderful person who supported the event by purchasing raffle tickets, attending the Bingo and those who went above and beyond in honouring their special connections to our school.
McMaugh's Gardens Christmas Cards
Yesterday, our school travelled to McMaugh's Gardens to hand-deliver special Christmas cards to the residents. Our students selected their own artworks that they were proud of, which were scanned, reduced down to size and printed on card. Each child wrote a special, personalised message for their chosen recipient. All of the ladies and men who received the cards were so grateful for an in-person visit. Our school received a thank you card today from McMaugh's Gardens which was unexpected and appreciated.
Thunderbolt Street Parade Recognition
We received a certificate and $50 cheque in recognition of our Thunderbolt Festival Street Parade march!! Rocky River students were commended on their efforts in tie dying their own shirts, especially for the street parade. Thank you to the wonderful Uralla Rotary Club for your generosity and recognition!
Swim School 2024 Completion
Swim School 2024 is complete and we were so grateful to fit all ten lessons in without any rain or unexpected interruptions! Our students truly had the best team of swim instructors, with big progress recorded in water confidence, skills and stamina from Day 1 compared to Day 10!! Thank you to Miss Miller, Molly, Charlotte and Mrs Brown. Also, a big thank you to parents to kept their children organised and prepared for each day. We received positive feedback about the organisation of 10 consecutive lessons, at the same time each day, which assisted student skill development, and also supported students with the timetable change, as they knew what to expect each day. We are looking forward to doing it all again in 2025, and are working closely with Martin at the Uralla Pool, and Kentucky Public School to schedule our bookings in a way that eases the search for qualified swim instructors.
Thank you: Miss Brooke & Miss Jenna
I would like to take the opportunity to thank our wonderful Student Learning and Support Officers (SLSOs) Miss Brooke and Miss Jenna. Both of our SLSOs will be venturing onto new horizons in teaching next year and we wish them both the best of luck in their endeavours. Miss Brooke and Miss Jenna delivered the MiniLit program, provided in-class support for students in the Lower Division classroom, prepared toast each morning for Breakfast Club, supported specific health needs for students, and assisted with a "can-do" attitude whenever asked for support from the school. We have appreciated such hard-working and friendly SLSOs at Rocky River this year.
Kindergarten 2025 Transition
Tomorrow is the last day of Kindergarten 2025 transition, from 9:00am-11:30am. We are
looking forward to welcoming our lovely Kindergarten students on school grounds again, who will commence next year for their first day of school on the 6th of February. We are still taking enrolments for Kindergarten spots in 2025, and encourage anyone with enrolment enquiries to contact myself or Anne in the office to assist.
Headspace Passport to High School Program
Our Year 6 students have completed their "Passport to Highschool" program with the lovely team from Headspace. It was so valuable to have our outgoing students work through each session in support of their transition into the world of high school for 2025. Lots of strategies, timetable-reading skills, insightful questions and laughs were shared. I'd like to thank the Headspace team for their donation of high quality wellbeing diaries for the current Year 6 students, and for our entire Stage 3 cohort of students in 2025 which students will receive after the Summer Holidays.
Sausage Sizzle Lunch (Tomorrow)
The P&C are running a free sausage sizzle BBQ lunch tomorrow for all students. This means student lunch orders will not be available. I'd like to thank Erica and all of the amazing student lunch order volunteers who have dedicated their time each Thursday to come in and prepare lunches for our lucky students (and staff!). Lunch order day is a special part of the week that we all really look forward to, and exists because of the wonderful P&C and generosity of our parent volunteers. As next week finishes on a Wednesday, there will be no more lunch orders this term, with regular ordering resuming again in Term 1, 2025.
Presentation Day assembly
Parent responsibilities for the day
You will be responsible to bring your own child to the Uralla Memorial Hall that morning, and for taking your child home after the day's proceedings. Supervision by teachers will occur between 8:30am-3pm at the hall. Please contact us if you are unable to attend, or pick up your child from this venue. A note was sent out a note with organisation for the day's proceedings to remind families about the logistics of the day, and we thank you for your flexibility with this offsite event.
Formal Proceedings
Invitations have gone out for our 2024 Presentation Day event. This will occur on Friday 13th December 9am-11am at the Uralla Memorial Hall. The kind volunteers at the Neighbourhood Centre have offered our school the hall, free of charge, to support our first, offsite Presentation Day event. Our wonderful P&C are coordinating a morning tea offering after the assembly, and are selling the Christmas raffle prizes. throughout the day. Our students will then perform their end of year musical item, and the P&C will draw the raffle prize winners. Check out the fantastic prizes which are up for grabs in the raffle this year:
Please take the time to check out the P&C page in this Newsletter to read more about end of year proceedings, the free student BBQ, and more!
Donations
We have been overwhelmed with the generosity of local organisations who have sponsored awards for our Presentation Day event. We would like to acknowledge the following wonderful businesses who have donated financially to the cost of purchasing awards for our students, in recognition of their 2024 school achievements.
We look forward to hosting representatives from each of these businesses at our assembly, who will assist in the presentation of their sponsored awards. Our students are so lucky to have such wrap around support and encouragement from the beautiful Uralla community!
Attendance & Extended Leave
Reasons for absence
Thank you to the families who have been vigilant in notifying the school of their child's absences, including the justified reason of why their child was absent. It is important that this communication comes through to the school via the correct channels:
- Phone call to the school office: (02) 6778 4122
- Email to the school email address: rockyriver-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
- Notification through the school Audiri app
School mobile
The school mobile will no longer be used as a contact point for parents to communicate with the school. The phone will not be switched on over the weekends or after school hours, and is not able to be regularly monitored during teaching hours, so please do not rely on messaging or calling this number, as your call or message may be missed.
The purpose of this mobile phone is for outgoing contact from the school, in the event of an emergency, when we must evacuate or if we are at on offsite excursion and need to call a parent. All communication must come through our regular communication channels as listed above, to ensure families are able to access the correct support through the approved school channels.
This change is in line with our NSW Department of Education Secretary, Murat Dizdar's, announcement for improved wellbeing, to help school staff 'switch off' when outside of school operating hours. If you have any concerns around this change, please arrange a time to meet with me.
Extended leave
Thank you to the families who have used the extended leave form to notify us of planned family holidays during the school term. If you haven't yet done so, please complete the form to Anne below, and send through to the school office.
Happy Holidays!
All students (K-6) will return to school on Thursday 6th February 2025. We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday break. Best of luck to our high-flying Year 6 cohort who move onto high school next year, and we look forward to welcoming back all other students for a fantastic new year of learning, opportunities and memory-making in 2025.
Kindest regards,
Dani Clyde-Smith
Principal