From the Principal's Desk

Welcome to 2026!

We are already in Week 3 of Term 1, with lots of achievements and high quality learning under our belts! We welcomed back our students last week and it has been a pleasure to see everyone's bright and happy faces back on our playground. We welcome the McRae and Higgins family to our community this year, and have enjoyed getting to know our new students. We look forward to a strong start to the year through established routines which honour our school rules; be safe, be respectful, be a learner. 

We are excited to announce some new and exciting programs which we will be offering this year, which include weekly Anaiwan Language Lessons delivered by Mima (Uncle) Dave Widders, weekly tennis at the Uralla Sporting Complex, monthly BackTrack dog visits. In addition to this, we welcome the continuation of weekly STEM lessons delivered by Associate Professor Brendan Jacobs (UNE), weekly music and orchestra lessons delivered by Jess and Paul (NECOM), and many more offerings throughout the term/s ahead. 

Amongst all of the exciting happenings, we have the honour of witnessing a bittersweet moment in Rocky River history, as Building A will finally come down this term. It is sad to farewell this building, however, we are celebrating the resources we are given in the form of a purpose-built, state-of-the-art new school rebuild, set to commence this year. We have lots to look forward to at Rocky River and we look forward to celebrating each milestone with our supportive community.

Building A Project Update

Please see the most recent project update below, which I shared at our P&C meeting on Monday 2nd February:

• The project received planning approval in December 2025, allowing demolition preparation works to start. 
• Fencing around the demolition area of the school was completed on Tuesday 20 January 2026. 
• Preliminary works to prepare for the demolition, including service disconnections and site establishment, are underway. 
• The demolition works are expected to start in March 2026, subject to weather conditions. 
• A project update will be shared with the school community in Term 1 2026, providing further information, including details of next steps of the project. 
• We are continuing to ensure the design is completed taking into consideration advice from our Internal Heritage Team.  
• Procurement and design finalisation for the new building are currently underway, with the tender process for a construction contractor expected start in February 2026. 

• Once demolition is complete and planning approval construction for the new building is finalised, NSW Education will progress to appoint the awarded construction contractor. 

   

  The department is the best point of contact if you have questions about this project. The department can be contacted by phone on 1300 482 651 or by email schoolinfrastructure@det.nsw.edu.au. While these processes take time, the department is proceeding as quickly as possible. Thank you for your cooperation during this important work. 

New Building Design Competition

If you would like to have input on part of the new build design, check out our competition flyer. We are looking for designs which can be included on the perforated steel parapet which will wrap around the covered walkway along our classrooms and administration building. Entries are open with submissions welcome from any community member which a design or photo which meets the brief. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school. We can't wait to see your wonderful ideas!

Vale Lone Petrov

It is with deep sadness that we were informed of the passing of Lone Petrov, a cherished member of our school community. For many years, Lone served as our scripture teacher, generously sharing her faith, kindness, and dedication with generations of students. She was also a familiar and valued presence at our presentation days and many school events on behalf of Uralla Shire Council. Lone was a true supporter for Rocky River remaining an area in it's own right. Her genuine love for our community shone through in everything she did, and she will be sincerely missed. We extend our heartfelt condolences to her family during this difficult time. 

School Development Days - Term 1

In Week 1, staff engaged in four School Development Days which provided the opportunity to set up classrooms, programs, engage with colleagues to complete mandatory training including our annual CPR and Anaphylaxis refresher, with a chance to start the year feeling prepared. 

On Wednesday 28th January we attended the Armidale Network Professional Learning day at Armidale Secondary College, listening to inspiring speaker Louka Perry about wellbeing and longevity in our roles. We later had a chance to collaborate with our small school colleagues and share some of the work we are doing around embedding explicit teaching across our schools. 

On Friday 30th January Rocky River hosted our Thunderbolt Alliance school colleagues for a day of professional learning. We gathered to plan our next inquiry cycle process around the explicit teaching of punctuation in writing, with a focus on effective feedback as a high impact assessment strategy. It was a joy to collaborate, explore the writing rope together and deeper understand the interconnected nature of the syllabus content around writing. 

Staff also underwent Verbal Intervention and Safety Intervention (VISI) training which provided us with a trauma-informed skillset to support students through the sensitive prevention of dysregulation and safety for students and teachers.

New Play Equipment Shade Sails

It was a pleasure to see our new shade sails put up yesterday, rejuvenating the play equipment area as a lovely shaded space, again. Our old sails were compromised in the August 2025 snow storm due to snow load damage, so it is refreshing to see the bright new sails which makes the space even more inviting for our students again.

Friendly Reminder: No Sharing Food at School

As we re-enter the school space after a long holiday break, we are kindly reminding our students that everyone must eat only what their family has packed for them in their own lunch boxes. Due to safety reasons around allergens and unsafe foods, we are unable to allow students to share food between each other. We thank parents for supporting us by reiterating this message to their children.

Uralla Show Prizes

As always, we were VERY proud to see the phenomenal reward of our school and individual student placings received from their artwork submissions to the 2026 Uralla Show. Our whole-school totem pole sculpture placed first, with Rocky River awarded the 'Best School Entry' medal for the fourth consecutive year. This is a massive honour and achievement for our students and staff who all dedicated a lot of time and effort towards this piece. We also congratulate the many students who received individual placings, including some of our talented Year 6 2025 cohort who have now commenced high school.

Henry R - Champion - School Section Boy - Art

Henry R - First Prize Stage 3 Boy - Art

Phoebe P - First Prize Stage 3 Girl - Art

Charlie T - Second Prize Stage 3 Girl - Art

Sarah S - Champion - School Section Girl - Art

Sarah S - First Prize Stage 2 Girl - Art

Chanse G - Second Prize - Stage 2 Boy - Art

Lawson F - First Prize - Stage 2 Boy - Art

Alahna S - Second Prize - Stage 2 Girl - Art

Elyse S - First Prize - Stage 1 Girl - Art

Reagan N - First Prize - Stage 1 Boy - Art

Zack N - Second Prize - Stage 1 Boy - Art

Rocky River P.S. - First Prize Group Project Stage 1 to 3

Personalised Learning Plans

Teachers are working with students to establish new learning goals for Semester 1, which will be documented in each student's Personalised Learning Plan (PLP). We are excited to have the opportunity to formally meet with parents and students to discuss plans towards the end of this term. Please keep an eye out on the School Bytes app for a notifcation when timeslots are made avialable to book in. We look forward to working in partnership with parents to achieve the best personal outcomes for each individual child.

Student Safety

Afternoon pick up

We thank parents for their diligence with notifying the school when their child needs to be picked up by a different person of an afternoon. Sometimes, children may forget a pick up arrangement, especially when it's a variation to their regular routine. Notifying us gives us the confidence to reassure and support your child to be prepared for the planned arrangements. We encourage parents to continue to let us know when a different person has been organised to pick up your child, so that we can ensure their safety for the journey home.

Stranger danger

We shared a notice out to parents on the School Bytes app today regarding some child protection guidelines that we encourage you to discuss with your child at home. I would like to clarify that this was in relation to a weekend incident not involving any students at our school, however, an instance which we have been advis occurred in Uralla where a child was approached by a car near the bike track. Their parent was nearby and able to keep their child safe, away from the unknown adult. We want to ensure all children are safe and confident to seek their safe adults when feeling uneasy in a situation, when outside of school, and are pleased that no student at our school was affected by this event. Please see the attachment below to read the full message.

Gabi Gabun 2026 Schedule - Terms 1 & 2

We are pleased to welcome a permanent play session at Rocky River Public School in 2026. The Gabi Gabun team will be back this year, fortnightly on Wednesdays 10am-12pm, of odd weeks. Today was the first session, and we look forward to seeing more and more little ones enjoy our school grounds as the year continues.

Parent Satisfaction Survey

Thank you to the parents who have completed the brief parent satisfaction survey which was sent out on the School Bytes parent app. If you haven't already, I ecnourage you to please have your say and contribute to the responses, to allow us to continue working towards excellence in all that we do at Rocky River Public School.

Aboriginal Mural Design - Community Consultation

On Monday 2nd March at 4pm (before the next P&C meeting which will be a special meet and greet event for kids and parents) we will hold a community consultation meeting for our Aboriginal mural and uniform design. We welcome Mima (Uncle) Dave Widders who will be creating the mural artwork, to meet with any interested school or community people who would like to have input in the design. All members of the community, including our Anaiwan families, are encouraged to attend. It is important to us that the consultation around the design is genuine, and truly reflects the history of Rocky River Public School, and the families which make up/have made up, the school community over the years. This conversation will allow Mima Dave to develop a design idea which will be displayed at the front of the new building, to be visible from the road and the welcoming visual when you walk into the new entry to the school. We look forward to the design being digitsed into a permanent school uniform piece for all students to enjoy and wear at Rocky River.

Photographs at school

To ensure safe keeping and responsible storage of photos of your child at school, you will notice staff will no longer use personal mobile phones to take photos of students as of Term 1, 2026. We are utilising school iPads to ensure photographs taken, and their necessary upload to our secure digital storage drive is controlled and kept at school.

Attendance

Please ensure your child's absences reasons are logged with the school. 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.

Enrolling Now for 2027

We are enrolling now for our 2027 Kindergarten intake! Please contact the school office to chat with Anne or myself or visit our website to complete an online enrolment application https://rockyriver-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/ 

Kindest regards,

Dani Clyde-Smith

Principal