From the Principal's Desk
Welcome to Week 7, Term 4!
As we near the end of the term, our staff and students are busily preparing to end our school year well. Our Swim School fortnight has kicked off with a splash! I commend all of our students for their effort and excitement in participating in the lessons. We will deliver a more comprehensive update at the end of the swim school fortnight, in our final newsletter of the year.
All students are also avidly rehearsing their Alice in Wonderland musical for the Presentation Day event which is coming together beautifully. It's wonderful to see such consistent attendance across K-6, daily, and such big smiles from the students as they enjoy their last few weeks together before the Christmas holidays.
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!
Mega Band Day
In review of the year thus far, I am pleased that Rocky River has been able to offer our Year 3-6 students an opportunity to learn an instrument with Paul Marshall from NECOM, during weekly onsite lessons. Paul has worked with students to form a Rocky River school band, who all participated in the recent Mega Band day, with other schools across our region. I thank Mr Hunt for initiating this opportunity for our students at the start to 2024, and am pleased to continue the legacy he has left behind which values and prioritises access to high quality musical education for students at our school. I can see how much of an impact this program has on our students, and am proud to provide our students with such a high quality experience.
Paul and our Upper Division students will be showcasing their instruments to the incoming Year 3 cohort this Friday, so students can begin to think about what instrument they will choose for 2025. A full recap of Mega Band day, last Friday at NECOM, can be found in the Whole School Activities page.
Presentation Day
Invitations have gone out for our 2024 Presentation Day event. This will occur on Friday 13th December 9am-11am at the Uralla Neighbourhood Centre 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 will draw the Christmas raffle prizes, too. Our students will then perform their end of year musical/play item. You will be responsible to bring your own child to the Neighbourhood centre 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.
We will send out a note with this organisation to remind families about the logistics of the day, and we thank you for your flexibility with this offsite event.
Uralla Christmas Street Fair
It was a pleasure to see so many Rocky River families at the inaugural Uralla Christmas Street Fair last Friday. Many of our students joined in the combined school choir. What a wonderful community gathering this was. If you didn't get a chance to pop into Santa's North Pole Post Office to pick up your K-2 child's letter to Santa response, please let our staff know so we can follow this up for you.
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
Please note, we are unable to accept your child explaining their own reason for absence on behalf of a parent or carer. Our school has a legal responsibility to ensure the safety and known whereabouts of our enrolled students on school days, and we really appreciate your partnership in following the correct procedures around attendance explanations.
School mobile
The school mobile will no longer be used as 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 are planning on taking your children on a family holiday, outside of school holiday periods, you are required to complete an extended leave form, for approval prior to the scheduled holiday. Please see Toni in the office for a hardcopy form, otherwise I have attached a digital copy below.
Kindest regards,
Dani Clyde-Smith
Principal