Volume 4
20.3.2023
Principal's Message
📷 Musical Recap
From the Assistant Principal
First of all, love God … and love your neighbour
📷 SRSC News
From the Dean of Learning
Hospitality Excursion
Visual Arts Excursion
📷 TAS News
Languages News
House Updates
📷 From the Student Leaders
Professional Learning at Rosebank
PACE News
🔗 Community Links
You're Invited: Parent Seminar - ‘How to Combat School Refusal’
In the past few years, the need to oscillate from face-to-face attendance to remote learning has challenged teenagers and many schools, including Rosebank, have reported an increase in students struggling to attend school. There has been a lot of rhetoric around this challenge in the media.
We invite all parents to join us in the College SRSC (Library) on Wednesday, 3 May at 6pm for a seminar on ‘How to Combat School Refusal’, presented by the Rosebank counselling team.
RSVP: Please click here to register your attendance by Friday, 28 April 2023.
For any additional information please contact counsellor@rosebank.nsw.edu.au
Lost property
A friendly reminder that lost uniform items, stationary, drink bottles and food containers can be found in the Uniform Shop, including items left behind at carnivals and on camp.
Principal's Message
Every month Rosebank gathers for a whole school Assembly where we celebrate the achievements, diversity, and potential of our students.
Last week’s Assembly was no exception. We had the privilege of listening to several young women and men in Year 12 reflect on International Women’s Day. As a female leader, I bring an added passion to advancing and empowering young women, and it is a privilege to do this as I lead young men and women in a co-educational school.
Rosebank empowers young people through two fundamental purposes, learning and leadership. Raising women and men for a world that empowers, respects, and loves can only lead to great outcomes when all genders commit, show compassion and work for the ideals of free speech, education, kindness and love.
My voice is only one of many voices at Rosebank. Last week I had the privilege of listening to student voice through Gabriel, Natalia and Mikaela, who shared their insights around International Women’s Day. Click here to read their speech.
We also heard from several students who reflected on their experiences as part of the National Youth Science Forum and the SANTOS Science Experience, held in January 2023. These opportunities are brought to Rosebank through the great work of Ms McArthur, who continuously provides our students with opportunities to extend their learning outside the gates of Rosebank.
The Assembly finished with a resounding rendition of Warrior, sung by Chiara Sorbello, (Year 10), who silenced the room with a huge voice and a huge heart. Chiara competed in the Year 10 Hornsby singing competition and placed second in musical theatre and first in the Contemporary and Senior Championships. The prize for winning the Senior Championships was a studio session to record any song.
We are extremely proud of our public speaking team, who, under the guidance of Mr Sinclair-Kydd and Ms Whiticker, represented Rosebank in the CSDA Public Speaking Zone Finals at Marcellin College Randwick last week. The students spoke with maturity and insight well beyond their years. Pictured from left to right: Hudson Van Reyk (Year 12), Ava Caryofyllis (Year 7), Oliver Hogan (Year 7) and Lola McKenzie (Year 10).
I want to acknowledge Mia Mullan (Year 8), Jack Maiden-McBryde (Year 9), India Maiden-McBryde (Year 7), and Alexis Edwards (Year 8) who volunteered with the Kids Giving Back organisation during the last Term of 2022 and December/January school holidays. They were among 980 young people who assisted in providing over 12,500 hot and cold meals, breakfast boxes, snack packs, care packs, and writing empathetic, positive messages to 13 charities around Sydney. These students demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities, compassion, and a strong sense of civic responsibility and embody the spirit of giving back.
I can’t speak highly enough of our fabulous musical ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. The calibre of the performance was a formidable testament to the culmination of nine months of work. The excitement in the room at the end of each show was incredible. We are so fortunate to be able to showcase our student’s talents, commitment, and hard work through this joyous performance. As I said at the end of our closing night, I am filled with gratitude. Bravo to every staff member, student and parent who worked together with such passion, talent and commitment to make a show like this possible.
And finally, as we prepare for Open Day, I am continuously reminded that while we have excellent facilities, our greatest asset is the calibre of these wonderful young Rosebank people.
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Ms Iris Nastasi
Principal
📷 Musical Recap
Thank you to all of our staff, parent and student volunteers, and to our sponsors:
Megadeck Staging Systems, Voyager Productions, Vittoria, The Ark Haberfield, Capral Aluminium, Kwik Kopy Five Dock, P&F Advisory Committee, Navarra Venues, Swadlings Timber & Hardware, and Vincent M Aboud Chartered Accountant
From the Assistant Principal
Thank You and Congratulations
Thank you to all members of our community who contributed to a record breaking attendance at the College musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last week and over the weekend. I am once again in awe of our incredible students and staff for putting on another unforgettable Rosebank production.
I also thank the Year 7 parents who attended the P&F Social on Friday night and for your efforts in enduring another busy week at home putting together some very imaginative costumes for Book Character Day. This is always one of the most entertaining days at the College, as we enjoy the sights of some of our favourite literary characters wandering around the campus.
Congratulations also to our Year 7 students who have been elected to the Student Representative Council, adding their voices in representation of the student body. I include here the link to the SRC badging excerpt from last Friday's Assembly.
Harmony Week
After an engaging Literacy and Numeracy Week, we have the opportunity to balance our learning as we commence Harmony Week, which culminates in a Harmony Day celebration for students on Friday, 24 March. This week is an opportunity for our students and staff to take a moment to reflect on the theme of ‘Living in Harmony’, celebrating our diversity, as we come together to share experiences as Australians from different backgrounds, cultures and walks of life. We are reminded that all avenues of our lives, including teaching, learning and socialising, should have at their core, inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.
Caritas Fundraiser – Mufti Day
On Friday, 31 March the College will be fundraising for Caritas, raising money in support of the Turkey/Syria earthquake disaster fund. For a gold coin donation, students are permitted to dress in their mufti clothes (per the guidelines in the Student Diary - page 12). This a truly worthwhile cause and we ask you to please encourage your children to show their support.
Two Week Summer Uniform Option in Term 2
The start of Term 2 has traditionally been the time when students commence wearing their winter uniform. Given that at this time of year temperatures can still fluctuate a great deal, this year, the College will trial a two-week summer uniform option at the start of Term 2. This means that students have the option of wearing their summer uniform for the first two weeks of Term 2 (26 April - 5 May). Winter uniform will be compulsory for all students starting on Sunday, 7 May when the College holds its annual Open Day, for the remainder of Term 2 and 3 as normal.
Student Insurance
All students who attend Rosebank are insured under the College’s policy with Catholic Church Insurance Limited. If your child is injured whilst at school, or whilst undertaking a school related activity, you may be able to claim out-of-pocket medical and rehabilitation expenses. Any incident that results in an injury must be recorded and reported by the College. This report begins our internal processes associated with facilitating a safe return to school for your child. If it appears that the injury may result in an insurance claim, you will be contacted by a member of the College finance team and provided with the information you will require to make such a claim. It is important to note however, that if your child needs specialist or rehabilitation style treatment, that you are referred to those providers by a GP or doctor. Should you require any additional information, please contact Mr James Jeffery (Dean of Finance): jjeffery@rosebank.nsw.edu.au
Year 7 P&F Social
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Mr Paul Hardwick
Assistant Principal
First of all, love God … and love your neighbour
(Matthew 22 and Rule of Benedict 4.1)
In Chapter 4 of the Rule, Benedict sets out an enormous list titled “The Tools for Good Works”. He opens with the words I used for the heading - love God and love your neighbour. He then writes a little later on.
You must honour everyone …
You must relieve the poor …
Go help the troubled and console the sorrowing …
Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way.
Prefer nothing to the love of Christ. (RB 4.8, 14, 18, 20)
Over the last couple of weeks our community has been host to several events where we are invited to help our neighbours.
On Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras a pancake breakfast to mark the last day before Lent raised funds to support Project Compassion.
As the sounds of Irish music filled the air on St Patrick’s Day, staff and students feasted on bacon and egg rolls raising money to get our World Youth Day contingent to Portugal in August. And, the canon lawyers among us, pointed out that Padraig’s feast in Australia holds the rank of a solemnity, and therefore the Lenten penances - including meat abstinence are lifted for the day.
On the last Friday of this term, 31 March, there will be a special mufti day collection to support Caritas Australia’s Emergency Appeal for the suffering people of Syria and Turkey. This appeal grew out of the heartfelt concern of Joshua Ngyuen of Year 12. With the persistence that only the young can often have, Josh put together a proposal and presented it to the Leadership and Ministry Teams, which was embraced with gusto. I appeal to your generosity once again to support this fundraiser. The earthquake has touched the families of many of Australia’s Turkish community, including a number of families here at Rosebank. To use the words of Benedict, “console the sorrowing.”
The Good Samaritan Foundation is the fundraising arm of the Good Samaritan Family. New director, Andrew Markwell, visited the College earlier this month and outlined his vision for the Foundation. One of his projects is to present areas where our community could support the Good Samaritan Kinder in Bacolod, Philippines in a way that quite literally put the face of a child in need of our help. McLaughlin House supports the work of the Kinder as its House Charity and will work hard to help Carlo, whose story can be found on this link.
So today, on the feast of St Joseph, let us ask him to walk with us on our Lenten journey and support us in our efforts to “prefer nothing to the love of Christ” and help our neighbours.
Dr Paul O'Shea
Dean of Ministry
Since 2021, the Rosebank Ministry team has run a faith formation group for recent graduates of the College. Meeting on multiple occasions throughout the term at the Oxford Hotel, Drummoyne, it has been an excellent way for alumni to remain connected to the College, to build community between year groups, and to grow in their faith. Some of the alumni use the experience to then give back to the College by attending the senior retreat for our Year 11 students, as well as contribute to their own parishes.
The next meet-up is on Thursday, 23 March. If any alumni are interested in joining they can reach out to cmccaughan@rosebank.nsw.edu.au or Molly Hayes (Class of 2019) who leads up the group at mollyhayes.mail@gmail.com
Mr Colm McCaughan
Assistant Dean of Ministry
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📷 SRSC News
Book Character Day
Literacy and Numeracy Week concluded spectacularly with our traditional celebration of Book Character Day! Year 7 students and staff dressed up as their favourite characters. And WOW! didn’t you all go to amazing effort. We were simply blown away. Prizes were awarded to the two best dressed in each House. 1st and 2nd prize overall, as judged by our Principal, went to William Locke who was Holly from “Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom” and Samuel Irvine who dressed as Zaphod Beeblebrox from the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Thank you Year 7. Hopefully you are energised and inspired to immerse yourself in a new book after today's demonstration of ‘CHARACTER’.
Staff were also fantastically dressed. The English Department was judged the best department by our guest judges and individual first prize went to Mr Moreira.
A special mention goes to the Diverse Learning Department and TAS Department who both showed great collaboration and creative skills dressed as Max and Wild Things from “Where the Wild Things Are” and the “TAS Team Dictionary”. SRSC staff would like to thank students and staff for rising to the challenge and showing us all what wide and varied AND passionate readers we are at Rosebank.
Australian Reading Hour
Rosebank students and staff participated in ‘Australian Reading Hour’, an initiative led by Australia Reads, on Thursday, 9 March in the lead up to Literacy and Numeracy Week. It was lovely to see everyone get cosy in the SRSC with their heads in a book, reading to their heart's content! A special thanks to the staff who made it to the SRSC and modelled silent reading for us. Fantastic effort!
Literacy and Numeracy Week
Literacy and Numeracy Week aims to recognise the achievements of students and the work of teachers, parents and community members who support young people to develop stronger literacy and numeracy skills.
For Rosebank’s Literacy and Numeracy Week, students competed in daily literacy and numeracy brain-teasers in Home Rooms for House points. In the first few days, the competition was very close, but by the end of the week, one House was miles ahead of the others! In third place was BRADY, in second place was VAUGHAN and in first place was… HAYES! Congratulations to all students who participated in solving the brain-teasers and contributed to their House, receiving some well-deserved points. There are many astounding minds here at Rosebank. Thank you to Home Room teachers for your support and encouragement of students. We hope you all had fun while being challenged.
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Mrs Leanne Plesa
SRSC Library Assistant
From the Dean of Learning
Years 7 and 9 Learning Progress Meetings
Years 7 and 9 Learning Progress Meetings will be held on Tuesday, 28 March and Tuesday, 4 April respectively. A reminder that Learning Progress Meetings are compulsory and are currently held via Zoom. Parents of these year groups will receive further instructions in relation to their bookings and accessing meetings closer to these dates.
Years 7, 8 and 9 Interim Reports
Parents and carers of Year 7, 8 and 9 will receive Interim Reports later this term. Year 7 Interim Reports will be released on Friday, 24 March and Years 8 and 9 Interim Reports will be released on Friday, 31 March. These reports are designed to provide a snapshot of the child's learning habits. A more comprehensive report which assesses syllabus outcomes will be sent at the end of the semester.
Stage 6 Assessments
Students sitting a Stage 6 Assessment received their assessment timetable at the end of last week. The Stage 6 Assessment Block runs from Friday, 31 March - Thursday, 6 April. This assessment block is designed to provide subjects which run over multiple lines an opportunity to sit their assessments at the same time under the same conditions. Classes will continue as per normal during this period. As such, students are expected to be here everyday of the assessment block. Parents and carers are reminded to follow the illness and misadventure process as outlined in the Assessment Handbook if their child is absent for an assessment.
Mr Greg Georgiou
Dean of Learning
Hospitality Excursion
On Friday, 10 March we visited the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club and had the opportunity to complete a coffee course. Our trainer was Tim and he taught us how to make 10 common coffees made in cafes with a professional coffee machine. Out of the 10, our favourite to make was the mocha as it tasted like it was made professionally. We enjoyed being out of the classroom for the day, learning important skills like steaming milk, tamping coffee grounds and creating simple patterns like flowers, clovers, emojis and hearts. Along with those skills, we learnt how to apply hygienic practices in cafes. Overall, this was a very enjoyable experience that was very useful in teaching us many skills for the future in hospitality environments.
Olivia Petousis and Sarah Kayem
Year 10
Visual Arts Excursion
On Tuesday, 14 March, Year 12 Visual Arts students visited Newington Armory to see one of the many venues of ARTEXPRESS across Sydney. During the excursion, through viewing other students' HSC works from 2022, pupils further developed their knowledge about contemporary art practice and were able to take away many ideas to influence and inspire the creation of their own Body of Work for the Visual Arts HSC course. Through engaging in critical dialogue with one another and their teachers, students additionally refined their understanding about art criticism and postmodern understandings of the visual arts.
Ms Aimee Leal
CAPA Teacher
📷 TAS News
Engineering your Future
On Tuesday, 7 March, a group of Year 7-10 students went on an excursion to the Powerhouse Museum to participate in an Engineering event for women organised by Engineers Australia. Present were various representatives from both Politics and Engineering who encouraged the students to break the stigma that Engineering is "only for boys". Students then participated in workshops where they were able to hear about the various engineering disciplines and participate in hands-on engineering activities. Overall, it was a most valuable day.
Mr Dimitrios Stivaktas
Science, iSTEM and Engineering Studies Teacher
Stage 5 Food Technology ‘Freakshakes’
Year 11 Food Technology Mango Pancakes and Sushi
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Languages News
Extension Italian students granted Interpreting and Translating Scholarships
Congratulations to (from left to right) Eve Canale, Gabriel Giuntoli and Gianluca Arlotta, who have been selected to participate in the Multicultural NSW High Achievers in Language Scholarship program. Due to their impressive academic achievement in the Italian Extension course, the Minister for Multiculturalism, The Hon Mark Coure MP has offered these students an opportunity to turn their valuable language skills into a formal qualification as NAATI certified interpreters and/or translators. NAATI is the National accreditation body for Interpreters and Translators. What an amazing achievement for Eve, Gabriel and Gianluca, who sat their HSC examination as accelerated students.
Such good news! Bravissimi!
Italian University Scholarship
Congratulations to our alumni Yasmin Arlotta (Class of 2022) for being the recipient of the Club Italia University Scholarship. She is recognised for her love and passion of the Italian language and her proficiency in the language. We are so proud of her achievement. Congratulations!
Mrs Maria Philpotts
Italian and French Teacher
House Updates
Sailing in the shoes of Jessica Watson
Ruby Schafer (Vaughan Year 9) competed in the 46th NSW Taser Sailing Championship on the George's River over Saturday, 4 March and Sunday, 5 March. In her first ever sailing championship, Ruby manned a 15ft, 2-person skiff and competed in "open" races, with all sailors being predominantly adults. Ruby came within the top 20 in the state. We are so very proud of her achievement and hope to hear of future sailing stories.
Ms Rhonda Goodenough
Vaughan House Coordinator
Rosebank Students Compete Nationally in Futsal
Caulfield and O'Connor Houses are thrilled to congratulate Domenic Ciano (Caulfield Year 10) and Georgia Bivona (O'Connor Year 11) on their selection and participation at the National Futsal Championships in January, 2023. They both represented NSW at the competition in Melbourne. Domenic’s team were quarter finalists and Georgia’s team were semi finalists. We are all very proud of your achievements.
Ms Heather Clark
Caulfield House Coordinator (Acting) and
Ms Emily Davis
O'Connor House Coordinator
📷 From the Student Leaders
Rosebank Student Leadership Afternoon
On Wednesday, 8 March, Rosebank's Culture and Identity leaders had the pleasure of hosting our very own leadership afternoon. We welcomed leaders from a variety of schools for an afternoon of games and brainstorming. We spent time discussing what 'Student Voice' is and what it meant to us, the responsibility that comes with leadership and more. This provided a great opportunity to brainstorm initiatives and fundraising ideas with like-minded people and achieve new ways to improve Rosebank's identity. We engaged with a variety of lighthearted games and icebreakers, including trivia, where we initiated friendly competition between groups to see which was the most knowledgeable of them all. The Rosebank Student Leadership Afternoon was a successful and enjoyable experience which we are unlikely to forget anytime soon!
Olivia Mazzotta
Year 12 Culture and Identity Leader
Ascham Prefects Afternoon Tea
As Culture and Identity Leaders, Hudson Van Reyk and I were invited to the Ascham Prefects Afternoon Tea on Thursday, 2 March. I personally decided to attend because I thought it would be an enjoyable experience to meet new people and see what they are doing at their schools. It was an excellent way to get to know people our age from a different area in Sydney. Most of the students there were from schools in the Eastern Suburbs, who had grown up differently from us, and we noticed the differences between our schools. The activities that the Ascham girls organised included, “Speed-Dating” where we introduced ourselves to each other and talked about our initiatives. Then they organised a Kahoot about the Ascham Student Leadership Team. And we finished with a game of dodgeball on the tennis court. However, the highlight of the afternoon was simply just meeting new people from different backgrounds.
Jamie Truong
Year 12 Culture and Identity Leader
On Tuesday, 14 March 2023, Lorena Mifsud, Lola Arnold and I were invited to attend the annual Archbishop’s Luncheon in the house of his Grace, Archbishop Anthony Fisher. It provided a great opportunity for us to think deeply and discuss the theme of virtuous leadership with other like-minded leaders. Having shared the discussion with his Grace, a great leader within the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, along with other student leaders of Sydney Catholic schools, we came to the conclusion that as a general consensus all leaders are urged to motivate others, attempting to bring out the best in our fellow peers - the same way in which Jesus Christ teaches us. With our ever changing society, we are reminded that Chrisitans are made in the likeness and image of God and regardless of students wearing a badge or not, there is a moral obligation as a Chrisitian to actively serve the community out of good will - without seeking any reward. It was a great opportunity and we extend our sincere appreciation to his Grace for hosting such an amazing event.
Jonas Kapsanis
College Captain
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Professional Learning at Rosebank
On Tuesday, 7 March teachers new to Rosebank College took part in a professional development opportunity to discuss and develop their craft of teaching. They investigated the important link between school, home and community in the social and intellectual development of their students. During the workshop, teachers learnt about different strategies to effectively communicate about educational issues both professionally and ethically with a range of stakeholders. We are fortunate to have these dedicated practitioners here at Rosebank because they are so willing and eager to learn from each other, reflect on their practice and implement new strategies to improve their craft of teaching. I look forward to facilitating more workshops through this Professional Learning Community.
Mrs Jessica Fallone
Coordinator of Accreditation, Professional Practice and Induction
PACE News
Click here to view full Rep and Club Sport results (Term 1)
Club Sport Update
Rosebank College Club Sport runs a very professional Judo program on site each Monday and Wednesday from 3.30pm to 5.30pm. Two of our current students have recently reached their first level belt, with Jeet Dawson (Year 9) and Ethan Tran (Year 10), both grading to yellow belt status. Contact jamos@rosebank.nsw.edu.au if you wish to try Judo with our wonderful Coach Amber McIndoe.
This weekend, 2 of the 3 Rosebank Baseball teams featured in finals. Our Under 14s team played a semi-final against Westboomers at Glovers Road Sports Complex at 10am, with Rosebank progressing straight to the grand-final this coming weekend! Our Under 16s team (pictured) played their grand final on Saturday at 8am at Majors Bay Reserve against their arch nemesis, Thornleigh! They triumphed by 10-1 which was truly an amazing result. Congratulations to our Under 16s and lets all get behind our Under 14s this weekend!
Mr Jason Amos
PACE Administrator and Club Sports Coordinator
SCS Conference 2 Swimming Success
On Tuesday, 7 March 39 students represented Rosebank at the Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) Conference 2 Swimming Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. These students represented the College exceptionally well trying their best, being competitive and placing across various events, distances and age groups. The Rosebank spirit was on display all night with students cheering loudly from the stands and giving each other high-five’s on the pool deck.
Congratulations to the following students who were named Age Champions:
Christian Alouan - Boys 16 Years Age Champion
Jacob Wong - Boys 14 Years Age Champion
Adriano Sorrentino - Boys 15 Years Multi-Class Age Champion
Rosebank was also crowned Intermediate Boys Champions.
Following their results at these Championships, 26 students have been selected into the SCS Conference 2 Swimming Team to compete at the SCS Sydney Championships next week. Congratulations to all swimmers.
Ms Annalisa Di Bella
PACE Coordinator - Representative Activities
🔗 Community Links
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