Volume 1 2025

We have had a tremendous start to the 2025 academic year, and I commend our students for the positive and enthusiastic energy with which they have returned. I also extend our gratitude to all members of our Rosebank community for the overwhelming support we have received following the announcement of Stage 3.

As the wheels of the College begin to gather speed and we start to settle into our routines, there are a considerable number of events to navigate in the weeks ahead. To assist with that planning, I have included a reminder here of three significant events for which parents have received invitations.

Parent Welcome and Information Evening – Wednesday, 12 February at 6:30pm
I look forward to catching up with all Rosebank parents this week, at our first big event of the year on Wednesday evening. At least one parent from each family is requested to attend. If you haven’t yet RSVP’d, please do so here.

Twilight Tour & Tastings - Tuesday, 25 February at 6pm
This is a unique opportunity to discover some of the fascinating stories about Rosebank’s rich history. While it may not be the Camino de Santiago or even the Inner West Ale Trail, we hope that you will join Iris and I for a glass of wine and canapés before we head off on a walk of discovery around the campus, led by Dr Paul O’Shea, former Dean of Ministry at Rosebank. Paul has led many Good Samaritan staff pilgrimages around Sydney through the years and we are excited at the opportunity to share a small part of that experience with our parent community. Click here to RSVP.

Mary Poppins the Musical – 13 to 15 March
Families and staff new to the College are in for a treat, as this year it is once again time for the always unforgettable Rosebank musical. The musical is a biennial event not to be missed, to which audiences of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and ‘Shrek’, to name but a few, will attest. Rehearsals are well underway, the popcorn machine is ready to go, the red carpet is getting a final clean and the Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious earworm has taken hold… in the most delightful way! All four shows are filling up fast, so be quick to buy tickets and reserve seats for your family and friends – all ages welcome.

Photo: Mary Poppins preview performance at Presentation Evening 2024

To ensure that you don’t miss out on any of our 2025 events and to help with planning for the year ahead, parents are able to view ‘Key Dates’ for each year group on the Parent Portal, as well as a live Events Calendar, which includes an option to view year group assessment dates.

I have no doubt that after the Parent Welcome and Information Evening on Wednesday, you will have all the pieces you need to be able to support your children through the exciting year ahead.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Bus service concerns
The College has received a number of concerns from the community around changes to local bus services including the 502, 503, 406 and 492 routes. We are aware of the impact this is having on our students and have logged these shared concerns with relevant parties including TransportNSW and Stephanie Di Pasqua, Member for Drummoyne. If your child has been affected, you are welcome to add your voice via ‘TransportNSW - Feedback, questions and complaints’

Staff at Rosebank College had a high energy and engaging Staff Development session on their penultimate day of Term 4, coinciding with the first day of holidays for students and families in the College community. All staff focused their attention on updating First Aid - CPR, along with anaphylaxis awareness and asthma training.

We are grateful for the expertise of our trainers at All Aid First Aid for taking care of us and teaching the teachers for a change! Along with taking care of physical health and training, the College hosted a visit from Super fund, NGS who talked with staff about financial health. 

Important training such as CPR brings all staff members together as a school community, creating not only a compliant workplace, but one where we are able to support each other’s health and wellbeing, but also as a community of learners.

Rosebank College has been passionately engaged in developing our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and the College community may remember that we had a whole day of Staff Development on Monday, 14 October, 2024, to work together on raising awareness and building our vision of Reconciliation together at Rosebank. Together, we are working towards creating Rosebank College’s Reconciliation Action Plan forms as a lived expression of our commitment to reconciliation. 

Together, our aim is to develop our understanding of, value and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, perspectives and cultures, including their unique connection to the land, waters and skies and teaching the same to our students. 

Rosebank Colleges Visual Arts teacher and First Nations woman, Simone Small, gave us an informative, knowledgeable and passionate presentation about “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture and Perspective”. Simone generously shared with us her perspectives on appropriate terminology to use, when and how to use it, protocols for published artworks and teaching about culture. Teachers moved again into Faculty groups and shared ideas for creating lesson sequences and learning activities featuring complex texts on or by First Nations people.

Simone’s perspectives and knowledge built on the presentation our staff had at the Monday, 14 October Staff Development Day, a training day still stuck in our memories, where Dharug and Gubbi Gubbi man, Stuart McMinn, founder of the Gawura Culture Centre shared his cultural knowledge and spoke to teachers about culture, relationships and language. The collaboration from that day was carried forward to Monday, 9 December, when Faculty groups moved into researching texts to teach students that featured information about First Nations Culture, Places and People or texts which are by First Nations people themselves. Small teams looked for ways to embed learning activities and our Rosebank Complex Text Routine into programs with high energy and passion for building student knowledge and understanding.

In the afternoon, staff from across the College engaged in the Rosebank College First Nations Cultural Immersion, organised by the RAP Committee and facilitated by Rosebank College Staff. We joined together to cook, learn about traditional herbs and plants in Birra Birra, play First Nations games, watch documentaries or read and have the capacity to be creative through making baskets or singing together - all generously prepared and facilitated by some of our talented staff. 

Thus, knowledge and understanding about the impact of one of the oldest cultures in the world was developed through experiential learning. We are very grateful to our staff who created these sessions for colleagues across the College, putting us all in the shoes of the learner for the afternoon: 

• Cooking lemon myrtle cookies with TAS Coordinator, Melissa Gal 
• Experiencing First Nations Sports Games with PDHPE teachers Nick Latsinos, Ellie Taggart and Helena Svinos
• Sensory Garden Walk through the Fig Tree outdoor area with RE teacher, Rachel Burke 
• Singing together and learning culture with Amanda Hill, CAPA Coordinator - Blackfella/Whitefella by Warumpi Band
• Learning more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, people and place through documentary
• Traditional First Nations basket weaving with Simone Small, Visual Arts Teacher
• Reading for Pleasure - from the array of First Nations authors and texts in our SRSC

We continue to work together and develop our Reconciliation Action Plan into 2025, and learn from each other, as well as experts in a range of different areas of education. Stay tuned for more news from Professional Learning and Culture as we share the journey our staff are taking as lifelong learners and passionate advocates of developing themselves and others in our contemporary, co-educational Catholic College. 

On Thursday, 12 December 2024, during the first week of the school holidays, 22 Rosebank students competed in the Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) Badminton Gala Day. The team is to be commended for their commitment, with many early morning training sessions to hone their skills, improve their stamina and build their confidence for the day. 



Congratulations to all students representing Rosebank, including the handful of teams who made it to the Round of 32 or 16. A special mention goes to Elroy Jin and Jonas Limtungan who came 4th overall in the Boys Junior division.

If students are interested in trying badminton, come along to J-Courts during Thursday lunch for a fun session or two!

We are very excited to meet our newest staff members, who officially started their Rosebank College journey on Thursday, 23 January. Experienced teachers with a wealth of knowledge and practice, passionate Early Career Teachers and Support Staff from the SRSC and Diverse Learning were welcomed together in the Rosebank College Chapel by the College Principal, Assistant Principal and Leadership Team. 



Our orientation took place in the welcoming SRSC, and we were able to showcase the range of Learning, Co-Curricular, House and Professional Learning offerings we have. They spent the day connecting with one another, soaking up insights from our Leadership team across all sectors. 

The Rosebank College Head of ICT, Dean of Administration and Online Learning Designer helpfully shared what is in store over the first few days, with a range of support and strategies to set up classroom and work processes. Our Diverse Learning Coordinator and Accreditation and Professional Practice Coordinator took the group on a tour of the College to orient new staff to key places including classrooms and features of the beautiful College grounds. 

The purpose of the day was to welcome our new staff and share with them what it means to be part of the Rosebank College community - a Good Samaritan-Benedictine College. We were able to talk through ways Rosebank College supported staff wellbeing on a range of ‘health’ elements: physical, mental, financial and emotional, which was followed up with a delicious lunch for all!

New staff have been linked in with a buddy from their Faculty or sector of the College and we can already see how easily our new community members are settling in and are excited to meet their students and colleagues this coming week.

You’ll see our teaching staff from a range of Faculties and subject areas — whether in our classrooms, PACE or on the grounds across the year. I am sure you will, like us, welcome them to Rosebank College, and wish them all the best for the coming weeks, months and years ahead with us.