Category: Updates from Rose Bay Secondary College

Well done to the 15 girls basketball team who played in a knock out tournament making the semi finals. The team played with these results:

• Rd 1 v Carinbah High School won 28-25 
• Rd 2 v Blakehurst High School lost 29-22
• Rd 3 v Sylvania High School won 44-20
• Semi Final v Endeavour Sports High School 60-28 

Student coaches Kayla Pretlove, Taea Schmidtke and Mrs Flack were very proud of the team, who are majority yr 7 students. A special thanks to these coaches for their amazing job in coaching the girls. We are looking forward to this team developing their skills and representing Rose in the years to come. 

Year 8 students have been learning to graph lines and non-linear relationships this year. Students in 8M1 had a STEAM Art Competition where they had to create a piece of art by inputting equations, regions, and restricting domain and range on the online graphing program DESMOS. The winning submission by Emma was created using 200 circles with different radii translated around the number plane to form “The Face”. Tied in second place was “The Butterfly” with parabolic wings by Lili and “The Mouse in a Suit” with an absolute value function for a jacket, by Riva. Well done girls!

Year 8 students have been learning to graph lines and non-linear relationships this year. Students in 8M1 had a STEAM Art Competition where they had to create a piece of art by inputting equations, regions, and restricting domain and range on the online graphing program DESMOS. The winning submission by Emma Osmen was created using 200 circles with different radii translated around the number plane to form “The Face”. Tied in second place was “The Butterfly” with parabolic wings by Lili Lonchampt and “The Mouse in a Suit” with an absolute value function for a jacket, by Riva Burkett. Well done girls!

Recently, nine girls in Yr 10 went to UNSW for the L’Oreal Australia For Girls in Science forum. During the forum we meet four inspiring women with outstanding achievement in their chosen scientific careers.  These included astronomy, engineering and medicine (a skin specialist and a researcher in influenza). During the forum we learnt some fascinating information on each individual scientific field and what those women do in these fields. For example, we learnt that people with diabetes have an increased risk of death from flu. The astronomer was the sole Australian female NASA employee and they just the other day landed InSight on Mars! After the forum we had a small tour around the UNSW campus, guided by current science students and later had lunch.

It was a great day overall, we left feeling very inspired.

We spoke with a group of Kindergarten students to find out what they had to say about going against the herd. They had some wise words for us on how we can care, respect and support each other in our schools.

Let’s start the year off right and prevent student bullying happening in our playgrounds, classrooms and online. If a group of 5-year-olds know the difference between right and wrong, shouldn’t everyone?

Video – Wise at 5

Duration – 1:08

We know the quality of the relationship between families and schools has a direct impact on student wellbeing and educational outcomes.

There will be times when parents and carers want to ask a question, raise an issue or make a complaint about our schools and it can be hard for families to know where to start. Families have told us that it can be difficult to find the right person to talk to, or don’t know what steps to take to bring an issue to someone’s attention.

A short video, produced in consultation with schools, is helping families find the right person if they have a question or want to raise an issue, make a complaint or provide a compliment. The video encourages families to contact their school or the department early and in a positive way to help resolve any issues together.

The video complements information on our website and is an accessible way for families to find out about the complaints process. Positive feedback is also important and families are encouraged to let us know when something has gone well.

Visit the complaints, compliments and suggestions webpage for more information.

Tuesday February 19 was our annual RBSC Open Night and it was once again a resounding success.

The Open Night is a wonderful evening where we showcase all the fantastic faculties and extra-curricular activities that we offer. Even though the School Renewal project at the front of the school was not completed in time for this event, the school looked amazing and our passionate and committed staff and students presented professionally and enthusiastically.

The event was attended by over 400 people with many commenting on their departure to the senior executive staff that; “You should be very proud of this school”, “You have passionate and dedicated staff”, “Your students are so mature and were excellent ambassadors for the school”.

Overwhelmingly, the feedback we have received since the event has been extremely positive.  Parents were very impressed with the efficiency and high quality of the presentations.

A very big thank you to all students and staff who assisted in making this event so successful. 

Congratulations to our Integrated Education Facility (IEF) who recently won 2 awards in the Waverley Garden Award.  IEF & SRC representative Oliver accepted the awards with teachers Kathryn Dobb and Niki McDonald on behalf of IEF students at a ceremony held at Bronte House.  The Waverley Garden Award has been running since 1886. 

Students in all years have been enjoying the recently installed artificial turf, in what was, up until recently, a very underutilised section of the school. This has brought students together at both Break times, providing them with more ‘green’ space to enjoy socialising with their friends. It also provides another outdoor learning area for students in the IEF to plant and cultivate a sensory garden, that they will use for both Project Based Learning (PBL) activities, as well as contributing their skills in helping to beautify the school environment, for everyone’s use’. We would like to acknowledge the very generous contribution that the P&C made to this project. 

The boys and girls open volleyball teams travelled to Olympic Park to compete in a round robin volleyball tournament on Friday November 16. It was an excellent opportunity to play some highly competitive volleyball against some of the best schools.  The teams have been training exceptionally well each Wednesday afternoon and often adding an extra training session in as well.