In the past fortnight we have celebrated a number of events where our community is beginning to be able to come together again as one; the Mother’s Day Stall, Walk Safely to School Day and our Cross Country day to name just a few. It is on these occasions we see the power of working together as a community for our students and the impact this can have on all.

Our Kindergarten 2022 new families enrolment interview process is well under way and positions will be offered this week. It truly is a privilege to meet with those wanting to join our community to share the story of our community. The first question asked at the interview is, ‘Why have you chosen Holy Rosary Catholic School for your child? And why have you chosen a Catholic School?’ I would love for existing families to hear the responses to these questions. It is extremely heart lifting to be a part of this conversation.

Our community, staff, students and parents are held in high regard by the wider community. Every new parent has a story about knowing or meeting a Holy Rosary family. Their stories reflect the shared goals and beliefs of our community. The most common themes include:

• They know a family who cannot speak highly enough of their experience at Holy Rosary
• They are friends with a Holy Rosary family and cannot wait to share in this experience and become a part of this community
• They want nothing but the best for their child and the reputation of our school speaks for itself
• They have seen how our students conduct themselves within the wider community and share these same values
• The Catholic experience of Holy Rosary is authentic to their faith
• They have done their research and can clearly see the learning process that we have in place.

It is appropriate for us all to be mindful of how fortunate we are to enjoy such a vibrant, engaging and supportive learning environment.

Over the past week our Grade 3 and 5 students have been involved with Naplan assessments. We are incredibly proud of the students. They have shown resilience, persistence and had wonderful growth mindsets during these assessments. We saw this same persistence and resilience in our Crosss Country events last week, the support students gave each other as they cheered and celebrated their peers' efforts was wonderful. 

Kind Regards

Bernadette Brooks

By tradition the Catholic Church dedicates each month of the year to a certain devotion. In May it is the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This devotion became especially popular among the members of the Jesuit Order in the late 18th Century and quickly spread throughout the Western Church.  May crownings and other special May events in honor of Mary, such as public recitation of the Rosary, stem from this time.  Events include:  Our Lady of Fatima: Monday 13 May,  Our Lady Help of Christians: Friday 24 May,  Blessed Virgin Mary: Saturday 25 May,  The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary:  Friday 31 May.

Holy Rosary Catholic School was so called because Father Nowlan felt he owed the arrival of the Dominican Sisters to the intercession of Our Lady Queen of the Rosary. A special novena was arranged in the Parish to pray that the Claremont Parish would get an order of sisters to come to Claremont. What a fitting name for our school.

Knowing the ‘Hail Mary’ and praying it together as a school community is helping us pray the Rosary in Staff Prayer, in our classrooms and at assembly.  Each month on a Thursday students from Grade 3 to 6 join with our Parish Community to pray the Rosary.

I sincerely thank Mrs Carmel Maynard for her incredible organisation and coordination of this stall and all our very willing helpers. It was such a wonderful experience for our students who missed out last year as they were  Learning from Home during the COVID-19 restrictions.

As the pink light of morning tickled the mirrored expanses of the Derwent River, the HRCS PE Dept set about setting up the Cross Country in a new home for 2021, the picturesque Shoobridge Park at Austins Ferry. 

Mother nature delivered a delightfully still and calm morning, perfect for athletic pursuits and providing an atmosphere for much mirth and merriment. The Grade 4 group, fresh from an inspirational speech from Mrs Spotswood were first off the mark. Mr Beven who promised a demonstration in physical greatness was a notable omission, ‘general soreness’ was the rumour amongst the troops. A light zephyr provided the perfect cooling agent as the Grade 4s flew around the course.

Next up were our Grade 3s, revelling in the opportunity to qualify for the inter-primary carnival. As always the pace was frenetic at the start. The sound of gravel crunching underfoot slowly dissipated as the pack disappeared towards the bay with some speeding over the terrain and some cruising along chatting to the spectating turbo chooks. A mighty effort from the grade 3s!

The Grade 2s came next, with enough energy to power a light rail network.  They ventured out onto the course aware that this was their last run as members of the junior school. The pace was electric, the gathered masses marvelled at the full completion in near record time!

Following on were the grade 1s…a mighty year group; competitive, ambitious and directed with military precision by Sergeant Fitzpatrick and Sergeant Perkins. Names like Holborow, Morrison, Carr and Marney will become household names here at HRCS in the future I’m sure. The grade 1s were tremendous but unfortunately they would be our last competitors. By this time, mother nature had discarded the pleasantries and decided that HRCS was no longer worthy of her time in the sun. With a heavy, gloomy cloud that descended over Mt Faulkner, she deposited 10mm of her finest rain on us. 

This left our Preps, Grade 5s and 6s to lament a lost opportunity for athletic glory. However with some organisational wizardry the PE Dept rescheduled the remaining grades to complete their run in normal PE times.  Alas!  Not all was Lost!

Big thanks need to go to Mr James Bourke for going to bed a little earlier and getting to school with the sparrows to help the ever reliable Mr Riza and myself in setting up. Mr Van Tienen whose tireless efforts on the recorder’s desk helped us put together the Inter Primary team and determine the House points. The wondrous efforts of our office admin staff for always keeping the PE Dept on point and all the classroom teachers who braved the roads and footpaths of Claremont to get the students safely to and from the venue.

Mr Johnson

HPE Dept

At assembly on Monday our Student Council who were elected by their peers received their badges. These students will be led by our School Captains, Riley and Mikayla and Vice Captains, Josh and Ella to be the student voice for initiatives. 

Grade 5 Girls Netball

Well done to the Grade 5 girls netball team (Hollie, Jordan, Maddie, Hayley, Remi, Zoe, Bella, and Asha) having just completed the Primary School Roster at Creek Road. These girls have represented their school at the highest level for grade 5/6 netball and have proven themselves extremely successful winning 8 games and drawing 1. All of the girls have been a pleasure to coach (as always) and have shown complete respect for their team, the opposition and umpires alike. The sportsmanship this group of girls displays is impeccable, and better than I have seen amongst many club teams.

This is the third school netball roster the girls have played representing Holy Rosary. They wear there sports uniform with pride each week and continuously uphold the values of Respect, Safety and Learning.

Well done girls, you should all be very proud of yourselves

A very big thank you to Anna for coaching the girls and the parents for their continued support.

HRCS Soccer

The following students have coaches awards for Round 2, May 8th.

U11 Lily,   U9 Ned,   U8 Malakai,    U7 Sadie, Ollie     U6 Lucah, Harlan, Lacy 

Assemblies will now be held in the Hall and will be held fortnightly. While we are still restricted due to social distancing requirements, students of the class hosting the assembly are welcome to attend and parents of students receiving Student of the Week awards are also welcome to attend. The assembly dates and host classes can be found in the newsletter.  

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.