Dear Parents / Carers,

The start to the 2023 school year has been sensational.

Our staff have returned from the break re-energised and ready for the new school year. A warm welcome is extended to staff who returned to Rowville in 2023. We also welcome Mrs Baker to our team as Leading Teacher. We farewelled Mrs Mastorakis who commenced maternity leave last week and we wish her all the very best as she prepares for the arrival of her first child.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to the 2023 school year to our families with whom we have had a long-term association and to those who have joined our school community for the first time. It really is an exciting time of the year. We had our first assembly last Friday. Eva, Ashton, Ayla and Josh are the 2023 School Captains and delivered their introductory speech at this assembly.

Their speeches can be viewed on the link below . . .

https://youtu.be/Nwbxta9MzxY

A special welcome is extended to the sixty-two Foundation students who joined our school community for the first time this week and are enjoying coming to school.

We also welcome the fifteen students who have joined us from other schools and are looking forward to welcoming International Students in Term Two.

Starting school for the first time is a very important milestone. I can still remember my first day of school. It was an extremely hot day. There were probably forty children in each Prep class. At lunchtime we were all sent outside to play. I thought that it was the end of the day. I collected my school bag and walked home by myself. My mother saw me walking across the backyard and assumed that we had all been sent home early because of the extreme heat but wondered why the school hadn’t let parents know that children would be going home early. Nobody at the school realised that I had gone home early. Nobody tried to contact my mother or even mentioned it to her when she dropped me off at school the next morning. Times have certainly changed!

At the end of every Year Six Graduation Ceremony, I state that I look forward of hearing of our students’ future achievements. I was so pleased to hear of the achievements our students from the Year Six Class of 2016 who completed their VCE in 2022 at Rowville Secondary College.

Pictured below are the 2022 Dux of Rowville Secondary College, Shiyao Han, with runner up, Lochlan Challis. Shiyao Han received ATAR 98.55 and Lochlan Challis ATAR 90.65, they will both be starting Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Science at Monash Clayton.

Also pictured, Bradley Bruckner 89.85 ATAR will be studying Bachelor of Music at Monash. Ayana Osmond 84.60 ATAR will be studying Sports Management at La Trobe University.

On Monday 13 February all families will receive notification of the call for nominations for the 2023 School Council. The last meeting of the current School Council will be held on Wednesday 22 February.

Annual Privacy Reminder For Our School Community

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy. Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found within our student enrolment form and also below.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use technology safely at our school by reviewing our Digital Technologies Policy and Acceptable Use Agreement which can be found on our website and below.

If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using technology at school, please contact their classroom teacher.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/schoolsprivacypolicy.aspx

This information is also available in ten community languages:

* Amharic

* Arabic

* Dari

* Gujarati

* Mandarin

* Somali

* Sudanese

* Turkish

* Urdu

* Vietnamese

Kind regards,

Anne Babich

Principal

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