This Sunday 26 May marks National Sorry Day and the beginning of National Reconciliation Week. The theme for 2024 is 'Now More Than Ever', encouraging all Australians, from individuals, families, and communities, to organisations and government, to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in their everyday lives. 

As we head into National Reconciliation Week next week, a range of initiatives and events will be held throughout the week as we join, united together, with the understanding that Reconciliation must live in the hearts and minds and actions of all Australians.

This year Rostrevor’s Prefects have once again elected to support the Kick Start for Kids Period Poverty campaign as one of their main philanthropy initiatives. Also partnering with girls’ schools across Adelaide, the campaign aims to open discourse around the issue of young women not having access to period products and acts as a collection point for these products which are then distributed to young women in need. This morning students heard an empowering address from the founder of the non-for-profit, Ian Steel, and ambassadors Matilda Scholz (Port Adelaide AFLW player), Jenna 'With the Pink' (influencer) and Oli Steel highlighting the importance of Rostrevor’s involvement in the campaign. Over the coming weeks, students are encouraged to donate sanitary products to help those in need via a box in the Equity Hub.  

On Wednesday, Junior Years classes celebrated National Simultaneous Storytime alongside over 2 million other students across Australia. All classes enjoyed reading Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker this year, a story about a beloved Australian native bird with a passion for collecting blue treasure and a message about environmental pollution. It was wonderful to again be part of this wonderful annual campaign which promotes the value of reading and literacy and encourages the enjoyment of books. Thank you to Ideas Centre Coordinator Jess Hogan for ensuring that this initiative continues at Rostrevor and to Mhairi Alcorn for blessing our community with her exceptional crafting skills, making two bowerbirds and their nest for students to enjoy in the Ideas Centre in the leadup to National Simultaneous Storytime. 

On Tuesday Gen Bryant and her band performed to Junior Years students in Callan Hall. The boys learned some new songs with actions that we can sing during prayer and liturgy at school. It was an energetic, engaging and life-giving performance of songs written by Gen whose band played for Pope Francis at World Youth Day in Portugal last year.

As part of the Year 10 Pastoral Care Program, students attended a presentation last Friday by Neil Davis, the Founder, Keynote Speaker, and Facilitator of the Sammy D Foundation. Neil’s son, Sam, tragically died at the age of 17 as a result of a one-punch act of violence. The presentation aims to end violence by empowering young people to live their best lives free from tragic consequences. 

This week, as a follow-up to the presentation and as part of the three-day Wellbeing Program, students participated in a pastoral care lesson titled ‘Navigating Conflict’. The goal is for the boys to understand the importance of learning conflict resolution language and developing the ability to remove themselves, and help their friends remove themselves, from potentially dangerous situations. 

The Social Justice group ran a Laudato Si’ Week workshop with the Year 5 classes yesterday, working collaboratively to create imaginative posters highlighting the importance of caring for our home - the Earth which provides for us. The posters were placed in a ‘gallery walk’ for students to see each other's work, and will be on display for all students soon. This week, the Social Justice group have been putting their words into action by conducting daily yard cleanups, keeping the Rostrevor grounds clean for our community.

On Wednesday, the Year 9 Student Leaders, along with teacher Joseph Vorrasi, attended the Big Ideas Challenge at Morialta Secondary College. They participated in various workshops that guided them through Future Anything’s Entrepreneur’s Odyssey, a practical framework supporting entrepreneurial thinking. They worked collaboratively with other schools to ideate problems and possible solutions, choosing "wicked problems" that were passionate, relatable, and aimed at making the world a better place. The Year 9s worked fantastically during the experience, thinking outside the box and ideating problems such as concession, bullying, discrimination, lack of sporting funding, men’s mental health, and addiction to devices. The day culminated in students pitching their solutions to groups, with finalists pitching to the entire group. Two groups in the finals included Rostrevor College students. Undoubtedly, a highlight for all students was Tanek Ozga’s group winning with their helmet with built-in sensors to help measure and report the impact of concussions. 

"It was a great way to learn about the career of entrepreneurs." - Spencer De Lacy 

"It was fun connecting with students from other schools and working collaboratively on problems within our world." - John John 

While Rostrevor puts every safety net in place to help prevent concussions, the risk of sustaining one while participating in sport or outside play cannot be eliminated. To mitigate the effects of concussions amongst students, they were recently offered the opportunity to participate in concussion baseline testing through Your Brain Health who deliver the testing using the Neuroflex testing system. This year over 40 students participated in the testing, which consists of a series of physical and computerised neurocognitive tests that measure healthy brain function before a sports season to aid in the creation of recovery plans in the event a student sustains a concussion.

Teacher Ben Thiel’s Religious Education Class recently produced children’s picture books about key stories from the Old Testament. To practice their leadership skills and contribute to their service learning, they took these books to the Year 2 classroom yesterday, hosting story time with the eager young learners. The activity also served as a bonding experience between the Junior and Middle Years boys.

Edmund Rice Education Australia is reimagining how they work as an authentic overarching organisation governing EREA schools including Rostrevor, CBC and St Paul’s College. Members of our community have been invited to attend a forum to help shape the future of EREA and contribute to the renewed Charter and Mission Strategy.  

Where: Christian Brothers College, Wakefield St Adelaide 
When: Tuesday 28 May 2024, 6:00pm 

REGISTER HERE 

On Monday our Year 7/8 Basketballers competed in Round 1 of the state knockout competition. After a strong start in game 1 against Adelaide High where Rostrevor secured a comfortable 55 to 29 point win, game 2 against Modbury proved to be a tight tussle right until the final siren. Modbury were a very strong opposition and certainly pushed our players to give their best in order to come away with a victory. The game was in the balance the entire time until a strong finish from Rostrevor saw them win by 9 points, 66 to 57. We now progress to Round 2. 

On Friday last week, 15 Junior Years Rostrevor boys travelled up the hill to Fox Field in Athelstone for the SAPSASA Torrens River Regional Cross Country Competition. The runners showed great persistence and determination throughout the competition, taking out the small school shield. Davis Slater, Pascale Calabria and Zak Carberry have all qualified to compete at the state championships in Oakbank in a few weeks, we wish them the best of luck! 

Over the weekend 18 Rostrevor students participated in the Pedal Prix race at the Shell Motorsport Circuit, Tailem Bend. Many of the riders were new to the sport this year and all applied excellent effort across the six-hour race.

The Year 9/10 Knockout Football team played well as a collective on Wednesday with each student playing their role for the team and contributing to the overall result. Rostrevor won Game 1 against Nuriootpa 17.10.112 to 2.1.13, following up with another convincing win against Adelaide High School 11.11.77 to 5.3.33. For a team that had not played much football together, it was pleasing to see students willing to share the ball instinctively with each other which led to some quick ball movement.  

Aiden Knowles, Jarrah Reidy, Will Jennings, Finn McNamara and Malakai Le Rossignol all played well across both games. The team now moves into the Semi-Finals.

Chess is once again thriving this year at Rostrevor, with dozens of students from Years 3-12 participating in weekly training sessions with Chess Life Academy Coach, David. After two successful years of holding the state shield for Division 3, Rostrevor’s Chess trainers decided to move some students to Division 2 in 2024. 

The Division 3 team competes tonight against teams from across the state at the SA Chess Centre before Rostrevor’s four Division 2 teams compete next week. On competition nights, each student plays two games against peers from other schools at the same level, from Years 7 to 12, based on ability rather than age. During the last competition Rostrevor Blue team's opponents couldn't attend in person, so they played online via chess.com for the first time, which was interesting to see. The first competition for 2024 saw the Rostrevor Black team win 8-0, with Rostrevor achieving three wins and one loss overall. 

Rostrevor’s two Year 7 Basketball teams faced off in a mid-week game on Wednesday afternoon. With plenty at stake, the boys put their all into the game, but it was the Year 7 Red team wearing our Indigenous jerseys that came out victorious, finishing 45 to 42. A big thank you to First V Basketballers Noah Sampson and Anton Pascale for refereeing the game and to George Pishas for his coaching efforts so far this year with the Year 7 Red team. The Red team’s MVPs were Sam Scales, Myles Etheridge and Oliver Stace, and the Black team’s were Oliver Coles, Angus Koch and Daniel Caruso.