Term
2, Week 2 - Friday 8 May 2020
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Important
Update:
Due to COVID-19 disruption, please note that
Semester One will now conclude on
Wednesday 1 July at 3.15pm for all R-12 Students
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Thank you!
We have been delighted in the way our students have responded with persistence and flexibility
to all the challenges associated with our response to COVID-19. From social distancing, greater care with
hygiene, to learning online and now returning to face-to-face teaching. We are also grateful to parent(s)/caregiver(s)
for your patience, understanding and willingness to support us over the past few months.
It was
great to return to face-to-face teaching this week with the majority of our boys back at school. After
three weeks away, and restrictions at home in relation to going out, I suspect that most were pleased
to be out of the home and back seeing their friends.
It is hoped that most
of our local boarders will return next week. There will be some changes in how the Boarding House operates
to ensure that social distancing requirements are met and that appropriate hygiene practices are in place.
Plans for isolation for infection control and prevention are also being refined.
We are pleased
to report that approximately 12 of our boarders from Darwin are attending lessons at MacKillop College,
Palmerston in the Northern Territory, where several key staff have generously offered to support them
in their learning.
Edmund Rice Day
One of the main celebrations
of our traditions at Rostrevor is the Feast Day of Blessed Edmund Rice (Tuesday 5 May). This is a celebration
of the life of the founder of our schools, Irishman, Edmund Rice, who became a holy man through the great
work of providing schooling to uneducated boys and young men, particularly the poor and disadvantaged.
Through the order he founded, the Christian Brother schools were started all over the world, including
many in Australia.
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Thirty-eight of these schools now continue under the banner of Edmund Rice
Education Australia, the body that now carries on the founder's work, and of which we are all a part.
The depths of poverty in our world reminds all of us who live comfortable lives that we must take
action to help others. Edmund Rice Day is a time when we come together to celebrate; central to our celebration
has been our fundraising. Due to the current restrictions in place, this year the focus was simply the
celebration, with students participating in a range of activities during their extended pastoral care
class on Tuesday morning.
Student Standards and Expectations
We pride
ourselves on the wonderful relationship we have with our community and are overwhelmingly delighted with
the way most of our students present themselves in terms of uniform and grooming and how they behave.
Given that families were not anticipating a return to school from Week 1, some leniency has been
granted regarding uniform and grooming. Generally, our boys take pride in their appearance and how they
present themselves. From time to time, however, there can be some scenarios where young men make decisions
that go against the College's standards.
Our expectations are set on what we believe are appropriate
standards; we cannot attempt to keep up with society's ever-changing fashions. When we ask a student to
alter a hairstyle or to have a shave, we hope parents appreciate that is all it is - a simple request
to abide by our standards.
We thank you for your support in this matter.
College
Uniform
Given the changes made last year, we have updated our Uniform Requirements.
Please refer to full document by clicking here.
Thought for the Week
"A mother's love for her child is like nothing
else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that
stands in its path." - Agatha Christie
Happy Mother's Day to all mums!
Frank
Ranaldo
Deputy Principal - Dean of Students (R-12)
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Edmund Rice Day 2020
Edmund
Rice Day looked quite different, this year, without the traditional assembly, liturgy and Unfair Day activities.
But this year, more than ever, we are reminded of the power of simple kindness and, with this in mind,
our Junior Years took the time to write letters of thanks and hope to frontline healthcare and emergency
workers and elderly family members.
View on Facebook,
View on Instagram
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While our teachers have been instrumental
in learning new tools, sharing great initiatives and looking for creative ways to engage our boys who
have been learning online, we are pleased to have most of our students back here at the College. The wonders
of technology allow us to create interactive, thought provoking lessons that encourage our learners to
be critical, creative thinkers and synthesise this information to make meaning for themselves and the
world we live in. Our teachers have demonstrated resilience, initiative, camaraderie and collaboration
during this time and we thank them for this. All of these skills are crucial in our modern world, but
never more so than now. To have these valuable life lessons modelled for our boys may hopefully equip
them with skills that go way beyond the scope and sequence of curriculum outcomes.
While we practice
the importance of social distancing, it has also reminded us of the fundamental beauty of human connection.
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The thoughtful ways that our boys look out for one another, a teacher reaching
out to a family who needs support or simply an ear to listen when things are not going to plan.Our teachers
at Rostrevor have well developed curriculum outlines and readily adapt as we learn new information, so
the curriculum scope and sequence are never in question. The introduction of SEQTA has enabled us to clearly
outline goals, expectations and release timely feedback whether our students were learning on campus or
at home. We will schedule our Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews at the end of Week 10 for our Reception-Year
11 families and our Year 12 subject teachers will be available for online interviews during May. As always,
if you have any questions please feel free to contact your son's teacher via email or phone and we will
get back to you. Full details on how to schedule interviews will be emailed to Year 12 families
in the week beginning Monday 11 May.
These recent times have also highlighted the significant
difference that an education at Rostrevor can provide. The care, versatility, seeking new ways of understanding
and sense of support that have been so strongly emulated in the life of Blessed Edmund Rice, have been
present in our community. We thank all of our families and their sons for working in close collaboration
with us during this time and look forward to continuing the wonderful new learnings that we have embraced
and developed.
Nicole Laube
Deputy Principal - Dean of Faculty (R-12)
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Enrolment of siblings
As a reminder to our parent community, if you would like to enrol a sibling of a current student
please contact our Enrolments Officer on enrolments@rostrevor.sa.edu.au
or phone (08) 8364 8244. Specifically, if you are seeking a 2021 enrolment of a sibling, applications
should be being completed and submitted now. Further information can be found on the College website
'Enrolling at Rostrevor'.
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2020 Term
Dates
Term 1: Wednesday 29 January to Thursday 9 April 2020
Term 2: Tuesday 28 April to Wednesday 1 July 2020
Term 3: Monday 20 July to Friday 25 September 2020
Term 4: Monday 12 October to Friday 4 December 2020
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