Welcome to Week 5, Term 3!

After another productive fortnight at Rocky River, with progress across daily classroom learning and extra-curricular activities, I would like to sincerely thank everyone for the warm wishes and celebration on Primary Principal’s Day on Friday 7th August. While I don’t expect any thanks for the work that I do, I was truly moved by the kindness and thoughtfulness from our beautiful students, staff and generosity from the P&C. Being a principal at our beautiful, small school is a privilege in itself. Every day, I get to work alongside dedicated staff, caring families, and inspiring students. It’s a wonderful community, and I feel lucky to be part of it. The joy and reward I find in seeing our young people learn and grow far outweigh any recognition. Thank you again for making me feel so valued. It’s an honour to serve our school, and I’m grateful to all of you for your continued support!

Foodbank Support

Occassionally, Foodbank are supplying us with some unexpected fresh items to add to our free breakfast club program. Apples were the latest delivery, in more numbers than locals! It was wonderful to share this supply across our student cohort, with everyone taking home bags of apples to enjoy with their families, in addition to enjoying a crunchy, fresh apple at fruit break or during eating time. Thank you to Foodbank for their ongoing support!

P&C Bunnings BBQ

The Rocky River P&C ran the Bunnings BBQ on Saturday 15th August. All profits from the day will directly benefit our beautiful students; with the P&C currently subsiding the Year 3-6 Great Aussie Bush Camp for families, and additional proceeds going towards the new playground. With our brand new school building well underway, it's a very exciting time for the Rocky River community! We thank everyone who attended the BBQ and supported our wonderful school. A massive thank you to the P&C volunteers who put hours of work in preparation during the lead up to the event, ran the BBQ on the day, and the pack down required afterwards. This was no mean feat, and we thank you all for your dedication to our school.

I would also like to thank Bunnings, Armidale for their recent donation of a $500 gift voucher, for Helen Hine to use on the revitalisation of the grounds. This will assist in the purchasing of items like pots, plants, potting mix, watering cans etc to enhance our school grounds. This will also financially support any costs incurred for grounds maintenance which Helen incurs in her day-to-day work at Rocky River for the remainder of the 2026 school year. With complimentary organic fertilizer also supplied, suitable for our garden beds as we head into Spring. Thank you to Adam at Bunnings Armidale for your generosity - this will go a long way at our school.

Armidale Zone Athletics Success!

Congratulations to Elyse Swilks and our Nigel Bagley Relay team; Lucy, Chanse, Finn and Patrick who will progress to the North West Athletics Trials on Friday 4th September in Tamworth. We are very proud of our our students and the phenomenal sportsmanship we know they will showcase at this event.

NRL League Stars Clinic

Last Friday, we had two NRL Game Development Officers facilitate an NRL League Stars Clinic at our school. The session featured non-contact rugby league skill-building drills, mini-games, and fundamental movement activities. The session focused on catching, passing, playing the ball and agility for children in K-6. The session proved to be a fun and engaging experience for the students while giving them the opportunity to learn new skills and connect with the game in a positive environment. We received the following communication from one of the Game Develoment Officers and I would like to commend our students on their excellent display of respect and positive attitudes when working with the facilitators:

Good Morning,

Thank you for having me visit and deliver the session with your students. It was a pleasure spending time at your school and being able to share the experience with everyone involved.

The students were awesome throughout the session. Their enthusiasm, positive attitude, and willingness to participate made the day extremely enjoyable and rewarding.

I would also like to thank the staff for their support and assistance in making the session run so smoothly.

I would love the opportunity to visit Rocky River Public School again later in the year and work with the students once more.

Kind Regards,

Trent

Personalised Learning Plans

Personalised Learning Plans were sent home last Friday. As I mentioned at assembly, we value parental input in your child's plan. Please have a look at your child's learning goals with them, add anything extra you would like to, sign or inital the bottom of the page, then send back in to school to be stored in student's learning portfolios. These plans are a working document which are used in the classroom for students to self-assess with when reflecting on personal achievement. As done in previous years, the completed plans, alongside a folder of wonderful work samples created by your child will be sent home at the end of the year. Thank you for your support in this collaborative process.

Book Week Dress Up - Week 9

This years Book Week Dress up parade will occur at our second assembly of Term 3, in Week 9. This will ensure warmer weather and the potential to hold this in conjunction with hosting the Diggings RFS Get Ready Weekend, as we did last year. We look forward to seeing everyone's exciting costumes!

2026 NRL & NRLW Grand Final Raffle

Here's your chance to win 2 tickets to the 2026 NRL & NRLW Grand Final while supporting the Rocky River School P&C's fundraising for our new school playground.

A huge thank you to Brendan Moylan MP and the NRL for generously donating this fantastic prize, and to Peta Swilks for organising it.

Prize

2 x tickets to the 2026 NRL & NRLW Grand Final
Sunday, 4 October 2026

Ticket prices

1 ticket – $10
3 tickets – $25
10 tickets – $70

The more tickets you buy, the better your value and your chances of winning!

Tickets are available online through RaffleLink.

Raffle details

Ticket sales close at 10:00 am on Friday, 4 September 2026.
The raffle will be drawn at 2:00 pm on Friday, 4 September 2026 at Rocky River School.

The draw will be conducted by school staff with student representatives assisting. To ensure the draw is fair and transparent, it will be filmed and shared on our school Facebook page. All funds raised will go towards our new school playground, which will be built once our new school building project is complete. Thank you for supporting the Rocky River school community. Every ticket purchased helps us create an exciting new play space for our students.

To buy a ticket go to: https://tickets.rafflelink.com/rocky-riverpandc

Good luck, and thank you for your support.

New Build Project Update

We saw lots of exciting action on the ground with concrete pouring in the works last Friday - a thrilling sight for our students durng lunch time! I am attending monthly meetings with NSW Infrastructure Project Manager Peter Richardson and the contracting team. All progress is going to schedule at this point in time. When the next set of communications are received, I will share with the community.

The department can be contacted by phone on 1300 482 651 or by email  schoolinfrastructure@det.nsw.edu.au

New School Fencing Upgrade

We are awaiting final aprovals for the boundary fencing work to recommence and be completed. We look forward to receiving an update this week about the go ahead of this work which is scheduled to take no longer than two weeks in duration.

GABC Excursion

The countdown is officially on - our Thunderbolt Alliance Small Schools Upper Division Camp is only 3 weeks away! Final payment for the excursion is due on the 28th August 2026. Information has gone out on School Bytes and students have received an information booklet about camp, along with a camp timetable last Friday. If you have any questions about camp, please contact Anne at the office. Miss Miller and I are looking forward to this wonderful experience together with our excited students!

Rocky River Aboriginal Mural

We are beyond thrilled to invite all community members to our next consultation meeting for the Aboriginal mural design to be displayed at the front of the new school building. Mima Dave Widders and his daughter Narmi are currently working on the artwork, incorporating themes and ideas from our initial community consultation meeting held in Term 1. We are looking forward to Mima Dave presenting the design on Monday of Week 7, 31st August 2026 at 4pm (before the P&C meeting at 5pm). We will host the gathering in the bottom classroom again, and look forward to welcoming members of the Uralla AECG, senior Anaiwan elders and Anaiwan community peoples as well as interested students and parents.

Gabi Gabun Play Sessions

We love seeing little ones aged 0-5 attending the Gabi Gabun service at our school. Sessions are held on even weeks this term on Wednesdays between 10am-12pm.

The resources from Gubi Gabun are wonderful, we encourage all to take up this enriching and FREE service to all!

Please spread the word to ensure everyone can make the most of this fantastic offering!

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.

Transition to Kindergarten 2027

Our transition program for students commencing at Rocky River Public School in 2027 will run on Mondays in Term 4, 2026. Please see the flyer below and contact our school office to let us know you're coming.

You can enrol your child online now: https://rockyriver-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/

Dani Clyde-Smith

Principal

Community Announcements and Information