During the holiday break our very much respected and loved John Ploughman (JP) passed away. JP commenced as the Utility Officer at Holy Rosary Catholic School in 1984, a position he held until 2015. During this time he saw the school population double in size and the school facilities and buildings increase significantly.  He provided pivotal support to building programs on the school site as well as carrying out renovation and extensive maintenance and gardening work.  He worked tirelessly for the many hundreds of children who attended Holy Rosary Catholic School over a period of 31 years. JP's attention to detail and work ensured that Holy Rosary Catholic School was a safe, orderly and aesthetic environment for the staff and students to go about teaching and learning and take pride in their school.

I was incredibly blessed to have JP by my side as I started my journey in a new role and school in 2013. His advice, jokes, ability to fix anything I needed and kindness to me will remain with me forever.

I am sure by the time he got me as a new Principal in 2013 he was completely over having to “train” yet another person but I am forever thankful that JP still had the patience and generosity to guide and encourage me and share his knowledge of our school community.  While I always felt very honored that he called me “boss” I really firmly believe that the title belonged to JP.

How lucky have the hundreds of Holy Rosary students, staff and parents been to have had JP in their lives and how lucky was I to have his guidance for my first years as a Principal at HRCS.

JP was indeed an institution at HRCS and his legacy can be seen all around us in our school. I know all in our community will join me in sending our loving support to Robyn and family. 

Please also keep in your thoughts and prayers those members of our community who have lost loved ones, parents, grandparents, and other family members in the past weeks.

 “Those we love don’t go away.

They walk beside us every day.

Unseen, unheard, but always near.

Still loved, still missed and very dear”

  

Bernadette Brooks

Principal

PRAYER FOR MOTHER’S DAY 

Loving God, we thank you for the love of the mothers you have given us,

Whose love is so precious that it can never be measured,

whose patience seems to have no end,

May we see your loving hand behind them and guiding them,

We pray for those mothers who fear they will run out of love or time, or patience,

We ask you to bless them with your own special love,

We ask this in the name of Jesus, our brother.

Amen

Classes will be visiting the Mother's Day Stall on Thursday and Friday and I sincerely thank Mrs Carmel Maynard for her incredible organisation and coordination of this stall and all our very willing helpers. It has been such a wonderful experience for our students who missed out last year as they were  Learning from Home during the COVID restrictions. 

This term in Grade 2 we have been investigating how we can measure different objects. During one lesson last week we measured objects inside the classroom and outside in the playground. First, we had to cut out the dinosaur feet which we used to measure the objects. We used three different sizes of dinosaur feet and talked about which would be the best to use to measure each object. Then, we measured tables, windows, whiteboards and even the length of the whole classroom. We went outside and measured swings, fences, benches and the sandpit. We worked together to make sure we measured our objects accurately and recorded the results. Then, we came inside and made a graph of our results as a whole class. It was a lot of fun!

During the term break the Early Learning Centre was completed for occupancy and the Prep buildings decanted, craned into a new area and reset up and construction began on the Grade 2/3 deck area.  We were absolutely thrilled to be able to move into the Early Learning Centre on the last weekend of the holidays. The staff involved in the move worked tirelessly to ensure that inviting spaces were ready for the first day of Term 2. We would sincerely like to thank our parents and students for their patience and support during the challenges of Term 1 with the building project and our OSHC educators for their resourcefulness in sharing the space with Ludo.

The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), will again take place in 2021.  All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will complete these national tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy.

These tests provide information on how students are progressing against national minimum standards of literacy and numeracy skills expected for each year level.  These tests will once again be completed using an online platform with the exception of the Grade 3 writing test, which will still be paper based.

Parents of students in Grades 3 and 5 will receive an individual report that shows their child’s results and a comparison of their child’s performance against all other Australian students in their year level.

For students in Years 5, 7 and 9, the results from the 2021 tests will provide parents and schools with important information on progress made since they last participated in NAPLAN testing in 2019. 

The formal testing process for NAPLAN 2021 will occur from Tuesday 11th May 2021 to Friday 21st May 2021.

Students in Grades 3 and 5 have already completed practice NAPLAN tests to ensure they are comfortable with using the online platform.

Parents of Grade 3 and 5 students will receive an information brochure explaining the testing process.  For further information about the national tests, including test samples, frequently asked questions and the test schedule, please visit the national NAPLAN website at: http://www.nap.edu.au

BOARD REPORT FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

As I report to the Board at the AGM in March 2021, it is time to reflect on the year that has past at Holy Rosary Catholic School. It has completed another very busy and rewarding year. With many highlights once again, Holy Rosary Catholic School continues to go from strength to strength.

Throughout the year, we have continued to see Holy Rosary School strive to be a school that bases its teaching and pedagogy on student-based learning and giving all students every possible opportunity to thrive. The measure of success we can see from this is not only in the academic results but also through the social and emotional learning which we know is so important to a child’s development regardless of their age and ability. It has been even more evident in the way our students returned from at home learning into the school-based learning with minimal disruption.

Many thanks must go to all staff – teachers and support staff for their willingness to give so much to make a difference in all our children’s lives. I can only imagine how awesome Zoom was with 30 kids.

 What a year it has been!!

Covid – What can we say but hopefully never again.

The School did a great job with supporting the children and parents. I’d like to take this time to acknowledge all the parents of the school. With many changes to the school year, I believe our parents handled this well for the most part and the school was very supportive of parental frustrations.

Home schooling was a challenge for many but having the resources available to attempt to continue educating our children was great. This year was difficult especially for the new parents to the school as the normal avenues to get to know each other were not available but we got through it as a community.

Thank you to all the staff for helping us through this time

The building project continued without much disruption to the school community. As parents we were kept up to date with the progress and I really felt well informed of the changes.

As a school we have been leading the way with taking part in successful pilot programs. We continue to go from strength to strength in our programs and this shows what fantastic staff we have and their commitment to the advancement of Holy Rosary.

Special thanks to everyone on the school board, your time is invaluable to the school community. Thank you to Elyn, Alison, Emily and Kate who have completed their time on the board and the many contributions they have made to assist our school community.

I would also like to acknowledge Bernie, Lauren and Sue for their continued hard work to enrich the lives of our children. We have had a tough 2 years at the school and you as our leadership team, you have helped the children and parents ride the wave. Thank you so much. I look forward to another rewarding year for Holy Rosary and 60th birthday celebrations.

Peter Montalvan

Board Chair

March 29th

May 3rd

Fire Fighter Drew from the Tasmania Fire Service is currently visiting our school present a Fire Safety Program to our students. The program is an initiative of the Tasmania Fire Service which aims to deliver appropriate fire safety education to every primary school child in Tasmania.  The program is part of the Tasmania Fire Services ongoing commitment to educate the public for a fire safe Tasmania. All our students are certainly enjoying participating in the program. 

Due to Covid-19 we couldn't have the Sacramental Programme in 2020. We will roll out the Programme again this year. The preparations for the Sacrament of Reconciliation will take place in Term 2. The preparation for the Sacrament of First Eucharist will take place in Term 4. Children in Grade 6 who have already made their First Eucharist will be able to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in Term 4 (they will do the preparations separately). Mrs Brooks, Mrs Piesse and Fr Suresh are working on a programme that will involve parents, parish and the school in helping the children in their faith journey. More details will be provided at the beginning of  Term 2.  If any child needs Baptism or wants to become Catholic please speak with Mrs Piesse. Thank you.

At regular intervals we ask parents to refrain from parking in front of the shops. We do understand the challenges of parking and it is a challenge in the majority of schools across Hobart. However please remember when you park in front of the shops you are parking in front of businesses who rely on customers being able to access parking.