February 2023

Sure, there will be changes that we will all need to adjust to, but Marsden Park Anglican College (MPAC) is set to be a leading school in the North-western Sydney region as it develops into a Pre-K to Year 12 school over the next 7 years. I want to reassure our Marsden Park families of the continued support from RJ over the next few transitional years.

If you missed the news sent to all families last Thursday, please see this link to access the letter from the Board Chairman. Recruitment company Odgers Berndtson has been engaged to search for the first Principal of MPAC and has already visited the campus to gain a greater understanding of the Marsden Park story. The Community Connect evening planned for February will be used as an information platform to address some of the questions families may have about the transition into 2024.

2024 Year 7 Enrolments

Year 7 enrolment places at Marsden Park are almost full. Marsden Park Year 6 families will be receiving a short survey towards the end of this week to indicate their confirmation of a place in Year 7 at Marsden Park in 2024.

For those Year 6 families currently at Oakhurst, you will also being receiving a notification through the RJ App asking you to indicate your confirmation of enrolment going into Year 7 at Oakhurst in 2024.

For families looking to enrol Year 6 siblings who are currently not enrolled at RJ into Year 7 for next year, you are required to now enrol your students for a place into Year 7 (2024). This can be done through the RJ website. If you need assistance, please call our enrolments registrar at Oakhurst for assistance. Sibling entry is not automatic. You have to enrol them to receive sibling entry.

Community Connect evenings

Our Community Connect Evenings are coming up over the next two weeks. Please mark these dates on your calendar for the Oakhurst and Marsden Park evening events as they are a great opportunity to connect with other families and Executive staff. We have a few new initiatives to share with parents including our new Strategic Plan and our new researched approach to learning across the School called the Building Learning Power Approach. Oakhurst Event: Tuesday 28 February; Marsden Park Event: Tuesday 7 March. Please register to attend: Oakhurst - https://bit.ly/3k3P1Ja, Marsden Park - https://bit.ly/3XLe29I

Year Group Ambassadors

We would like to thank the parents from across both campuses who have put themselves forward to be our Parent Ambassadors for 2023. We appreciate the time you will spend interacting with and communicating with other families as we venture through the year together. Please see the list of ambassadors below. There are vacancies in some Year Groups, so please contact Mrs Ghali, if you would like to be considered for the role: sghali@rjas.nsw.edu.au

We pray that we will go from strength to strength as a school as we continue growing learners, connecting hearts and building community.

God Bless

Mr Alan Dawson | Principal 

Oakhurst Campus
Tuesday, 28 February – Hall - 7:00pm
Registration: https://bit.ly/3k3P1Ja

Marsden Park Campus
Tuesday, 7 March – MP Hall - 7:00pm
Registration: https://bit.ly/3XLe29I

Whilst the focus is to facilitate community engagement, we will also introduce the School's 2023-2025 Strategic Plan and the new Building Learning Power approach. Marsden Park Campus families will also hear from the Anglican Schools Corporation CEO, Mr Peter Fowler, about the future of Marsden Park Anglican College.

Parents are also welcome to nominate other topics of interest when registering for the event (before 10:00am of the relevant morning), and these topics will be covered where time permits. As these are our first Community Connect evenings for the year, we will also offer short tours of Primary and Secondary at the conclusion of the evening (approx. 8:00pm), to assist families who may not have seen our facilities before.

Please register to attend.

This has also brought about some changes for students, who may have found that challenging or annoying, but it is also an opportunity for learning and growth. In this week’s newsletter, I encourage you to consider how effective you and your students are at managing change.

Many people, including teenagers, find it challenging to cope with change. They like sitting in the same seat in a classroom or at the dinner table, they enjoy finding the same place to spend time during each break and they enjoy predictability. Yet at the same time they want things to stay interesting and fresh. So why do some people thrive in change processes and others find it more challenging? The answer lies in our ability to adapt to change and is connected to our mental flexibility. The famous civil rights activist Martin Luther King famously said “The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy.” and Malcolm X believed “The mental flexibility of the wise person permits them to keep an open mind and enables them to readjust themselves whenever it becomes necessary for a change.”

Whilst some students will carry on unfazed by seemingly big changes, other students will start “taking on water” like a leaky boat in a storm. This can be equally true when faced with a big challenge in their learning. As parents and teachers, it can be incredibly hard for us to allow them to struggle, but there is great power and opportunity for learning in that moment of being stuck. We need to get better at allowing our students to “unstuck” themselves. Poor grammar aside, it is critical that we work with our young people in developing resilience, perseverance and flexibility/adaptability. These are the hallmarks of not only effective learners, but are what is being asked of our students as they move into the workforce. We only have to look at the last few years of managing COVID in schools, organisations and the community to realise that skill sets that were employed only a few years earlier, had now become inadequate to cope with a consistently changing landscape. Whilst very few of us have any interest in experiencing another lockdown, there is little doubt that the more flexible organisations and individuals coped best.

So how do we help students “unstuck” themselves rather than doing it for them? Do we simply abandon them to figure it out for themselves? Or do we bail them out when things get difficult? The answer quite evidently lies somewhere between those two extremes. At RJ we believe in adopting High Expectations whilst also providing High Support. What does this look like? It means having High Expectations on students that they will authentically engage in the learning in class (and beyond) and that all students are learners. It means also offering High Support when required by students, but not before. How do we do this when most people are very keen to offer their children or students a solution because they want to see them succeed? The answer lies in effective questioning that allows them to answer their own questions and gives them the opportunity to work it out with guidance and assistance when required.

To give you some guidance on a few questions that may assist students to “unstuck” themselves you can try using some of these questions:

• What have you tried so far?
• What do you think you should do next?
• Which part is getting you stuck? (students often love to say “All of it.” but this is rarely true. They often just haven’t been able to move past the part of the problem that they are unsure about.
• What would a person that knows all about this do here? Why don’t you ask them?

The beauty of learning academic perseverance is that it can be translated into social and emotional situations as well. When we have students who are able to engage with the less tangible aspects of learning, we equip them with a gift that will last a lifetime.

Why not take the next opportunity you have to help your child “unstuck” themselves, whilst allowing them to know that you are there to support them even if it doesn’t work. This builds a sense of autonomy and agency in our students that allows them to thrive when they no longer have the support of their parents and teachers.

Mr Scott Roby
Deputy Principal  

PUNCTUALITY

A reminder that students K-6 must be at School by 8:45am. Our- lining up bell occurs at this time and students hear morning announcements, celebrate birthdays and take part in a prayer time to start the day. Students who come late stand at the back so they do not disturb others getting to their class line. The number of late students is becoming concerning. Please assist your child with morning routines and help them be at School on time.

CURRICULUM UPDATE

As you may have heard in the media, a new K-2 Mathematics and English syllabus is being implemented this year. K-2 teachers have engaged in creating programs that focus on students being able to make connections and build their learning across subject areas and have enjoyed sharing these lessons with their students over the past few weeks. Teachers will continue to develop interesting programs for students in K-2 over the course of the year and we look forward to seeing students develop strong foundations for learning throughout the course of their schooling. 

The Years 3-6 Mathematics and English syllabus will be introduced in 2024 with a similar focus. We have already started looking at how programs can be developed to allow for greater student engagement and growth and this will be a priority over the remainder of the year.

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has put together some valuable information for parents and carers to help you understand the new curriculum reform. I encourage you to visit the link below to gain a better understanding of how this new syllabus aims to support your child’s learning. https://nswcurriculumreform.nesa.nsw.edu.au/home/siteAreaContent/15b6d3f3-d5f5-4d5d-a99d-80f1541246d0

Miss Kate Ross
Primary Curriculum Leader - Oakhurst

STAGE 3 CAMP

Our Year 5 and 6 students enjoyed activity-filled overnight Camps at Teen Ranch in Week 3. It was a great time of attempting new things (challenge by choice), working as a team and enjoying God’s creation. The activities included the giant swing, archery, canoeing, horse riding, water activities and eating lots of yummy food! A special thank you to Mrs Smith, Mr Newmarch, Miss Parata, Mr Hunt, Miss Shannon-Duhigg and Mr Reed who accompanied the students to Teen Ranch.

STUDENT FORUM 2023

Congratulations to the following students who have been chosen by their peers to represent the student body in our Primary Student Forum in Semester 1–                                                                  
YEAR 4 - Ansh P and Sienna F
YEAR 5 – Marli T and Joshua A
YEAR 6 -  Shubi V and Justin C

These students received their badges at our first Assembly.

3-6 SWIMMING CARNIVAL

The Swimming Carnival was held last Friday for Years 3-6 at Mount Druitt Aquatic Centre. It was a hot sunny day which encouraged participation. The addition this year of the 25 metre races also proved popular. The students enjoyed participating in their House meetings last week in preparation for this event. A special thank you to Mr Mitchell for his organisation of our Primary Swimming Carnival and the parent helpers who assisted on the day.

LUNCHTIME GROUPS/CO-CURRICULAR

Our Infants and Primary students at Oakhurst are being spoiled for choice with a number of co-curricular groups on offer most lunchtimes or before/after school. The Hive (Junior Library) is proving popular for various year groups rostered on during lunch throughout the week. Chess, Gardening club, Footsteps, J-Crew, Hot Shots Tennis, Lego club and Debating are starting up and music groups including RJ Singers, Ricky J Dancers, Cantabile Choir, Dance Troupe, Bucket Drumming and RJ Dancestars are beginning to get into their lunchtime or before school groove. Some sport training and workshops are commencing in coming weeks as well. We are blessed to have such dedicated and enthusiastic staff who readily give their time and expertise to make Primary School at RJ such a rich experience.

PARENTS OF K-2 LITERACY INFORMATION EVENING

On Tuesday 14 March at 6:30pm we will be holding a Literacy Information Evening in the Hall for parents of students in Kindergarten to Year 2. This information session will explain the aspects of literacy and how they are approached here at RJ, with practical tips to consolidate literacy progress at home. We encourage parents to attend to better understand the importance of literacy acquisition, which lays the vital foundation of future learning. Email with further information to come.

SUNHATS & WATER BOTTLES

With recent events such as the Stage 3 Camps and the Swimming Carnival held primarily outdoors, it has been disappointing to see the number of our students sent without sunhats and water bottles. The packing list for Camp clearly included these items and with the hot weather we have been experiencing, it is essential that your children have these items every day.

GRANDPARENTS’ DAY

We are finally able to host this event in person again this year. Hard copy invites will be coming home this week so check your child’s bag. The date is Friday 10th March with a 9:30am start in the School Hall. On the back page of the invitation is an RSVP to be returned to your child’s class Teacher as well as a section to be signed if you give permission for your child to be taken home early that day with their Grandparents. Approximate finish is 12:30pm. Please note – due to expected large numbers, this event is for our students’ Grandparents only. Thank you for your understanding.

RJ COMMUNITY CONNECT - Tuesday 28 February

Please take up the opportunity to meet with other RJ parents next Tuesday evening at 7pm. (refer Community Connect article for more information).

GRIP LEADERSHIP DAY

Our Primary Leaders will have the opportunity to join with other school leaders at the GRIP Leadership Day on Wednesday 8 March. Mr Reed will accompany the students to Olympic Park for this worthwhile training day that includes main presentations, interactive activities, discussions, leadership games and entertainment.

STAGE 1 SWIM FUN DAY

This year we are again holding a Swim Day for Years 1-2 on Wednesday 1 March at the Little Fishes indoor pool centre at Oakhurst. Each grade will have an hour of supervised pre-swimming skills activities plus a small water slide to enjoy. We really want to encourage our young students to overcome any fear of swimming and enjoy being in the water. If you are interested in being a parent volunteer and have WWCC clearance, please contact Mr Mitchell.

PARENTING WEBSITE

Have you checked out Rowena Thomas’ website ‘Amazing Me’? https://www.amazingme.com.au/

It’s a wonderful resource especially for parents of Stage 2 and 3 students who are starting to ask ‘those’ questions! Great tips and resources for parents, online courses you and your children can do. Check it out – you can also subscribe to Rowena’s newsletter for podcasts, blogs, book reviews. A winner!

Mrs Karen Shannon-Duhigg
Head of Primary - Oakhurst

With decisions around change sometimes causing concern in people, know that we are all journeying together. If you have any questions about our school progressing into 2024, please refer these to Mr Dawson who has also made some comments in his article this fortnight.  

This fortnights RJ Review will look a little different as I have asked Mrs Karen McLeod to provide an update on the changes to NSW curriculum that are occurring. There are wide sweeping changes to the curriculum over the next few years and I thought that I would provide you with an update.  

Curriculum News 

This year at Marsden Park Campus teachers will be implementing the new English and Mathematics syllabuses for Kindergarten to Year 2. Our teachers are excited by the opportunity to teach in a manner that encourages making connections across each subject area, therefore allowing students to engage with the content more deeply.    

Later this year teachers in Years 3-6 will be introduced to their new English and Mathematics syllabuses and will implement them in 2024.  

NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) has provided information for parents and carers, here: 

The new syllabuses emphasise key concepts, identify essential knowledge and skills, and include new outcomes to clearly show what is essential. They are clearer, easy to navigate, accessible and contain samples and resources. 

English 

• The syllabus recognises that for most students, oral language comes before written language. 
• Teachers should typically provide daily opportunities for students to practise reading, starting with the use of decodable texts.  
• Focus on reading ‘fluency’ as a key component of building strong foundations.  
• More emphasis on writing and ensuring that students have a clear understanding of how to create a sentence.  
• ‘Literature’ is highlighted as essential in the development of core knowledge for subject English.  

Mathematics 

• The new Mathematics syllabus clearly shows essential learning and supports students to make connections across concepts.  
• There is a focus on developing reasoning skills to support a deeper understanding.  
• Content is structured to highlight the parallel connections across Number and Algebra, Measurement and Space, and Statistics and Probability. 

Mrs Karen McLeod 
Primary Curriculum Leader 
Marsden Park Campus 

Grandparents Day – 9 March @9.30 am  

This is a reminder to all families that we will be running a Grandparents Day Event in the coming weeks. This is an opportunity for grandparents to come onsite and visit classrooms and have morning tea. There will be an invitation sent home shortly that students will be able to give to their grandparents in advance of the event. 

Year 5 and 6 Camp 1-3 March 

A reminder to all parents that camp for Years 5 and 6 is on from Wednesday 1-3 March. We hope and pray for students while they are at camp, and we hope that camp is a great time for all attendees. There are various arrangements for camp including an early start on Wednesday morning please read all the details carefully and speak to your child’s class teacher if there are any questions.   

Canteen

There are currently no canteen facilities at the Marsden Park Campus. Therefore, students are required to bring lunch to school every day.  However, a local Cafe has partnered with us to provide a limited lunch service on Fridays. This year, lunch orders will be online only - Tarns RJ Cafe - to assist both the Cafe and to remove the dependence on a parent volunteer. Please save this link to your browser. Lunch orders must be placed before 10:00am on the Thursday for Friday lunch. Individual orders must be placed per student with the student name AND class, indicated in the notes section when checking out your 'cart'. This will commence in Week 3.   

Years 3-6 Swimming Carnival 

Students in Years 3-6 participated in conjunction with Oakhurst students at the Primary Swimming Carnival on Friday. A fantastic time was had by all students, teachers, and community members in attendance. Of note for this carnival was the addition of 25m races in freestyle, breaststroke, and backstroke. These smaller races gave greater access to the races on the day therefore greatly increasing participation for the event, which was hugely gratifying to see.  

RJ Community Connect - Tuesday 7 March

Please take up the opportunity to meet with other RJ parents next Tuesday evening at 7pm (refer Community Connect article for more information).

Term 1 Events

Please see an overview of Term 1 events below. Dates will be confirmed in the note to families across the course of the Term.

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Housekeeping  

• Contact Details: From time to time, phone and contact details can change. If that is the case, please contact the school if you changed any contact details i.e. mobile numbers, email addresses or home addresses, please contact the school via email on mpadmin@rjas.nsw.edu.au or the Parent Portal. 
• Absences: please email the absences email address:  absences@rjas.nsw.edu.au or SMS 0438 657 339 
• Student Medication: Students are not to have any form of mediation in their school bags be it anti-histamine, Panadol, ointments etc. Only Asthma Puffers and diabetic medication are the exception. All other medication is to be brought to the office for safe keeping and a permission form filled in which can be found on our website under resources.   
• After school care arrangements: If you have arranged after school care, please remind your child before dropping them to school. Please call the office to ensure the message is not missed in an emergency.  

Mr Luke Sale
Head of Primary - Marsden Park

Here are some of their reflections:

• I liked the bush skills activity the most - Bethany
• I loved the food! - Skye
• I liked swimming in the pool the best - Lincoln
• My favourite activity was the giant slip and slide - Justin 
• I liked grooming the horses the most - Anna-Sophia
• Canoeing was my favourite activity - Ruby
• Building the bush huts was the best! - Jacob B
• I think the water games were the most fun! - Rayan
• I liked swimming in the river after canoeing - Valentina 
• My favourite thing we did at camp was horse riding - Brandan

Miss Parata & Mr Hunt
Year 6 teachers

At the end of Week 3 our Year 11 students attended Study Camp at The Tops. Given the great variation in weather it was pleasing to be able to get outside on Friday while watching an amazing amount of rain fall on Thursday. Thank you to the students and staff who attended the camp for their flexibility in managing the change to the daily activities on both days of camp.

The Secondary Swimming Carnival has been run and won, taking place last Wednesday on a warm and sunny day. Congratulations to all the students who competed across a range of events and congratulations to Noah's Sharks for winning the carnival overall. Thank you to the PDHPE staff for coordinating the event and also to all the secondary staff who helped the carnival run smoothly.

This week the Year 7 Camp is taking place at Waterslea on the Shoalhaven River. While the weather forecast suggests that  the first day of camp may have a shower or two I am certain that it will be a great time for our Year 7 students. I look forward to hearing about the highlights of the camp.

The last of our information session occurred on Tuesday night for Year 8, 9 and 10. Presentations regarding the camps was the focus of the evening, with the camp notes being issued to those who attended. Spare notes will be available at Student Reception from Wednesday 23 February. It is important the permission notes and any additional information requested are returned on or before the due date to assist in the organisation of the camps.

During the recent Secondary Assembly I acknowledged students who are meeting the schools expectations in relation to wearing the uniform. Additionally I highlighted that for some students it is a "work in progress" with some still needing to address issues around hair length or colour and the wearing of jewellery. The cooperation of students and support of parents is appreciated in this area.

I encourage parents to continue to access the RJ App on a regular basis to keep on top of providing permission for school events and also accessing information shared via the broadcasts. This will help keep you informed and also reduce the time spent by our administration team follow up any outstanding parent permission needed for our students. Please contact the school if you are unable to login to the RJ App.

Learning Mode and Performance Mode are words you may start hearing spoken by RJ students, which reflects the language used around learning. I look forward to seeing how our staff and students embrace our approach to learning about the way we learn, which will see new words being used in the classroom that may overflow into conversations at home.

Finally, it has been pleasing to receive positive feedback from both parents and students in relation to the start of the term. Thank you to the many students who have gone out of their way to help students in Year 7 and those new to the school feel welcome and assist them in navigating their way around the campus. This type of action reminds me of the words of Jesus in Acts 20:35 where He states that it is better to given than receive, an approach that can only benefit the RJ community. 

Mr Brad Maxwell
Head of Secondary

It was great to see almost every child in the water whether that be in the 50m races, 25m races or novelty events. The House Chants were extremely loud and extremely passionate. Congratulations to the following girls for breaking school records: Lucy Delcarte (8 year girls 50m breast stroke and backstroke) and Hannah Carey (200IM) . 

A big thank you must go out to the amazing parent volunteers who were able to assist on the day!

Zone Carnival

Our Zone Carnival will be held this Thursday at Glenbrook Swimming Pool. If you intend on being a parent volunteer, can you please notify Mr Mitchell upon reading this on Tuesday afternoon at gmitchell@rjas.nsw.edu.au 

Mr Mitchell and Mr Reed will be driving students from Marsden Park and Oakhurst respectively. Please meet either Mr Mitchell for Marsden Park students at 7:20am at the Marsden Park Campus or Mr Reed for Oakhurst students at 7:20am at the Oakhurst Campus.

If your child has previously been in the zone squad and they have an RJ swimming cap, they can wear their old one. If your child doesn’t have an RJ swimming cap, they are available for purchase from Mr Mitchell for $5.

Jump Rope for Heart

As mentioned in a message last week on the RJ App, there was an error with the sign up page for Jump Rope for Heart. The team apologise and have provided the correct link which you can use to sign up and start fundraising. I have also provided a QR code which is another way to register your child.

We have raised just over $2200 which is fantastic and will greatly benefit the Heart Foundation.

https://www.jumprope.org.au/fundraisers/richardjohnsonanglicanschool 

Clinics

All football clinics have commenced or will commence this week for both campuses. There is a cricket clinic commencing this Thursday at the Marsden Park Campus from 3:30-4:30 and a basketball clinic starting next Monday at the Oakhurst Campus from 3:40-4:40pm. Unfortunately, all spaces have been taken.

Mr Gavin Mitchell
Primary Sports Leader