29 March 2018

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

Principal’s Message

We have come to the time of the year where we celebrate the most important day in the church calendar. Easter is an important celebration for Christians. This is the day when Jesus Christ has resurrected. Easter Sunday is one of the most important parts of Christian faith. It promises new hope, new joy and new aspirations. Easter Sunday also marks the end of the Lent season (which starts from Ash Wednesday). During the Lent season, fasting, spiritual discipline and repentance are observed. At the end of this season, there will be a celebration as it’s believed that Jesus Christ has risen .Inspire your loved ones and remind them with the promise of Easter how they should grow to be better.

We may overlook some of the important things in life. When we are carried away by other things that keep us occupied. It is good to step back and slow down so we can recall all of the things we should be grateful for. Easter is a good time for recollection and being thankful for all the blessings that we have in our lives.

Happy Easter!

Condolences

We ask your prayers for Mrs McGann and her family. Mrs McGann’s father passed away last weekend. We wish her our sympathies and ask God to give her strength and support during this difficult time.

Mrs McGann has been on leave this week and will return next week.

Farewell Mr Hammond

There wasn’t much office space when Mr Hammond first arrived – sharing the old canteen in 2001

For those that might have missed the news last week, we will be saying farewell to Mr Hammond at the end of term. Family commitments are such that Mr Hammond needs to take leave until the end of the year to care for his disabled son and relieve some of the stresses his family is experiencing now. His intention is to resign from his position as a teacher and Assistant Principal at OLV at the end of the year. His service to our school and dedication to his profession will be sorely missed.

Mrs McGann will take on the teaching load for Year 5 but will continue in her position of Leader of Maths (1 day per week).

Monday Liturgy

One of the highlights of the week is the Class Liturgy we have on Monday morning. It is a great way to focus our thoughts and come together as a family community in the name of the Lord. I often wonder what we can do to have them join us in the liturgy especially when we have so many parents dropping children off on Monday morning and staying for the bell and assembly.

Parents are most welcome to join us for the 15-minute liturgy and reflection and even be participants if they wish. Would you like to be someone involved in the liturgy? Please let us know and more importantly, please join us.

Morning Assembly

It is always wonderful to see so many parents at our gathering assembly each morning. It is the perfect way to focus and reflect one the day to come. The Morning Prayer is very important to us and everyone is encouraged to say the prayer with us rather than continue any conversations with those around. The words of the prayer are:

This is our school, let peace be here.
Let the school be full of happiness.
Let us love one another, Love life itself.
And above all Love God.
Our Lady of Victories, Prayer for us.

EASTER WEEKEND TIPS

Make sure you are carful on the roads this week-end. It’s DOUBLE DEMRITS for any infringements. We want to see you all back safe on Tuesday, so slow down.

Don’t forget that DAYLIGHT SAVING finishes on Sunday – so wind you clocks back 1 hr before you go to bed on Saturday night and enjoy an extra hour of sleep. Check this site on how to do that. We should all return on Tuesday refreshed.

PASTORL CARE WORKER

The long process of employing a new Pastoral Care Worker has finally been finalised. I am happy to advise parents that Mrs Karen Johnson has been appointed to this role for 2 days per week. Mrs Johnson will work closely with teachers to continue the work of previous programs including Mini-Vinnies, Garden Grubs, Class Meditation, low level counselling, Season for Growth, Aged Care visits, meeting with parents, to name a few. Karen comes to us from a background in working with children and a keen interest in making life for children less stressful. Her PCW office days are Tuesday and Thursday. We wish her well in her new role.

May you be in heaven 5 minutes

Before the devil knows you’re dead.

Kind regards,
Gerry Vandermaat - Principal.

Holy Week

Holy Week Liturgy

Please support Project Compassion during Lent.

Mass Times over Easter

For those families wishing to attend Mass over this spiritual long weekend. The Mass times at Our Lady of Victories Shortland if you would like to attend are:

Mass times for other parishes, can be found at:

ANZAC Service

We will be hosting members of the Shortland Sub-Branch of the Returned and Services League on Thursday 12 April for our annual ANZAC Liturgy at 10:00am. Please join us as we thanks and pay our respects to all those that have served our country in some way to keep it safe and free.

One extra point we will reflect upon is the “Lone Pine” that is planted in our gardens. Nearly 10 years ago a “descendant” of the original Lone Pine at Gallipoli, was presented to the RSL and kept and cared for at school. It was planted into the garden a few years later and a sitting area around the tree has been developed through a generous donation. A reference will be made to this tree during the service and it will become our focus point to lay wreaths and tributes for years to come.

Please come along and remember the day with us. Morning tea is served afterward.

KINDER Enrolments 2019

The enrolment period for 2019 is now open. Parents who are seeking enrolment for their children at OLV in 2019 should ask for an Application for Enrolment from the office. Alternatively, an enrolment pack may be found our school website at the link below:

If you are aware of any families that are also considering enrolling next year, please pass on this message.

If parents of Year 6 are looking Application forms for a Catholic high school, these will be sent home in week 10. They need to be returned to school by end of Week 1 in Term 2. These will then be forwarded to the respective high schools. Parents have a choice of sending their children to San Clemente at Mayfield or St Pius X, Adamstown. Parents may not make application for enrolment at both schools. Further information regarding enrolling in a Catholic High School is available on the CSO website at the link below:

If parents are looking towards the public or selective high school, they should contact that school.

Playground Upgrade

We have had some suggestions as to where we should head with the Playground Upgrade. Two very simple Options have been put together for parents to consider. Before we send them off to Sean Gale for pricing, one last opportunity for parents to have a say will be held on Tuesday morning (3 April) at 8:30am in the library. Once we have pricing on the different features we can decide what goes in immediately and what could be done in the future

We are looking for some odds and ends to help allay the cost a little. Things on our list include a small dinghy (fibreglass or aluminium), PCV Piping, large tyres, hardwood logs and stumps, river rocks, hardwood cut offs, steering wheels, plastic seats. If you have access to any of there, please let us know.

Mosquitoes

We will be “fogging” the area around the school this weekend (fingers crossed with weather) to try to alleviate the mosquito nuisance we are experiencing at the moment. The contractor recommends that we do this once a month to keep on top of the problem so it will be repeated on the last weekend of the school holidays. After these two treatments, we will assess as to whether we need another or wait until the new summer season. Let’s hope it helps.

Compass Goes Live

There will be a Pupil Free Day on Monday 9 April ahead of the COMPASS platform going “live”. At first, it will only affect how the teachers take the roll and manage attendance. Gradually parents will be given access to different aspects which will assist with their communication with the school (this will become more evident as training for parents is arranged and communicated in next term).

For example, once we switch over, a new App will allow parents to notify the school about a child’s absence and this directly imports into the daily roll without having to fill out slips or communicate with the teacher who would normally have to regenerate the roll and make edits.

There will also be a KIOSK at the front office, which will take the place of the SIGN IN/SIGN OUT Book. A few taps on the screen will send the information straight to the teacher’s roll and record the variation to attendance. Again no paper work.

It will be an exciting and interesting time for all.

Late Arrivals

Once Compass goes live, the reason “LATE” will not be available for arriving late. Parents must enter the reason they are late eg- sick, traffic, could not find shoes, slept in etc. We will be able to track and monitor the reason and offer any suggestions to help if this becomes a chronic issue.

Also, parents are not permitted to drop children off at the gate and have them sign in for themselves. Any child that arrives late must have their parent sign in – if not an unexplained absence will be recorded.

Gate Entry

People are getting used to our new gate and it seems to be working well. The only issue we are having is that people are not making sure the gate has locked behind them- entering or leaving. There is a slight time delay before the magnet reactivates to lock the gate. If visitors swing the gate closed too hard after passing through it, there is a tendency for the gate to “bounce” and remain open too far for the magnet to take effect. Please take a moment to ensure the gate has secured behind you when entering and leaving. THANK YOU

If you enter or exit via the front gate during school hours, please ensure the gate securely closes behind you.

Library Borrowing

Library borrowing is each Wednesday. Each student needs to have a library-borrowing bag. Books need to be returned each Wednesday. Please ensure books are kept safe when at home. Returning them to their library bag after each use would be the perfect idea. Lost or damaged books will need to be replaced. Library bags are available from the uniform pool for $10.

Stage 2 Excursion

Years 2, 3 and 4 will be attending an excursion to Awabakal Environmental Education Centre on Tuesday 3rd April. Notes have been sent home with the students in these classes outlining the day’s program and the cost. Please return the permission slip attached to the note, with payment, to school by Tuesday. Extra notes are available from the Office.

School Fees

Every family should have received a school fee statement for Term 1 fees by now and have made payments or made payment arrangements with the school. If you have not had a chance to get to your school fees, yet we urge you to make some time to look at your fee statement and work out what payment option suits you best. The school takes many methods of payment and Mr Vandermaat is happy to sit down with any family to work out a payment plan that suits your financial situation. Leaving school fees until last minute can make them overwhelming and unmanageable. Please feel free to contact the office regarding; Direct Debit, EFTPOS, BPAY, cash, cheque, credit card or if you would like to make an appointment to meet with Mr Vandermaat regarding your fee situation. Please also remember if you are a Health Care cardholder you are entitled to a 50% discount on the tuition part of the school fees once you provide the school with a copy of your health care card and sign a consent form.

P&F News

If parents would like to add to the monthly meeting agenda, please call Kylie Westaway or send an email to OLVparentsandfriends@gmail.com.

Meeting Minutes Term 1

1. Sadly, we have had to postpone a second meeting this year due to the inability of members to attend. It seems Monday nights might be the reason. We are investigating a time and day change and will inform parents of the new time for our next meeting.
2. Executive positions - Not all positions were filled at the AGM earlier this month, and we are still looking for nominations from anyone interested in filling the role of P&F treasurer. Please contact Sally Walsh or Kylie Westaway,

Easter Raffle:

We had a great response to the Easter Raffle this year and were able to provide some great prizes from the donations received. The Raffle was drawn yesterday If you would like to see who the winners were please check out the attached PDF.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! P&F Association

Pizza Day

The P&F we will be hosting a Pizza Day on Thursday 12 April with notes to coming home soon

Clothing Pool:

The Uniform Pool is now set up and operating from the “Bell Room” next to the Year 1 classroom. The Uniform Pool is open every Thursday morning from 8:40am – 9:10am. Unfortunately it will be closed next Thursday 5/4/2018, but will re-open Thursday 12/4/2018 and will be open as usual from then on. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please Note: we can only take cash sales as no EFTPOS facilities are available.

Canteen Roster:

Class News

Kinder

In Religion, we are focusing on the Easter Story. We identified the main events: Jesus entered Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), he celebrated a last meal with his friends (Holy Thursday), he died on the cross (Good Friday) and he rose to new life (Easter Sunday). We viewed video clips of these events and related the Last Supper to our celebration of the Mass. Some lucky Kindergarten student had her feet washed to demonstrate how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to teach them that to follow him means loving and serving others. Our alphabet letters and sounds this week are /q/ and /r/. In Maths, we have been focusing on 3D shapes. We identified those that roll and those that slide and learnt that the shape of an object makes it move in a special way. We named shapes of objects that we are familiar with (ball, box, cylinder and cone). In Science, we made a wormery to investigate the needs of worms. We found a few in our vegetable gardens, but would like a few more please, if you have time over the Easter break to go digging in your garden. We are doing our best colouring to make a beautiful Easter card for our families and in Art/Craft we made an Easter basket. We hope the Easter bunny will visit us and leave us a nice surprise. Have a happy Easter and keep safe.

Year 1

In Religion, we have been discussing the significance of Holy Week. We watched 'The Easter Story' from The Beginner's Bible online to give us an overview of the major events including Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Jesus' Resurrection on Easter Sunday. When learning about the special meal that Jesus shared with his friends on Holy Thursday (The Last Supper), the children noted that we remember this every time we go to Mass and see Father bless the bread and the wine for Holy Communion. In English, we have begun reading assessments to gauge our reading development over the first term of Yr 1. We practise our Recount-writing every Monday and the children are becoming confident now at using appropriate time connectives (firstly, secondly, then, next, after that, finally) to structure their recounts. Last week in Maths, we were learning about time: days of the week, months of the year and the calendar. This week we have been learning about Three-Dimensional Space: we have been sorting and recognising different 3D shapes. In PDHPE we have looked at the importance of wearing a helmet correctly in our road safety topic. In History we viewed a short clip from the ABC children's series based on the book 'My Place' by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins. It highlighted children's chores from the past, and we then compared with the chores we do at home today. We decided that technology has had a huge impact on the household jobs we do now and how life has changed! We hope all the Yr 1 children and their families enjoy a happy and blessed Easter together.

Year 2/3

In week 8-9, year 2/3 continued learning about persuasive texts. We read The Perfect Pet by Margie Palatini and noted the arguments used by the main character to convince her parents to let her get a pet. We also wrote our own texts about the best pet. In maths, we continued to focus on measurement issues including area. Year 2 used informal units including playing cards to measure the area of their desks. Year 3 commenced using formal units and learnt about the square centimetre. This week we are learning about time. Year 2 is working towards telling time to the nearest quarter hour and year 3 is progressing towards telling time to the nearest 5 minutes. In History, we considered changes to the Shortland Wetlands over the last 30 years, which have included the introduction of an education centre. In science we are beginning to learn about the formal classification of animals into different groupings such as mammals, fish and amphibians. This week in religion, we are learning about the church’s traditions and ceremonies for Holy Week. Wishing all families a very Happy and Holy Easter.

Year 4

In Yr 4 in Religion time we have been learning about ‘The Stations of the Cross’ and the importance that this meditative prayer has for Catholics during Lent, especially during Holy Week. In Maths we have worked on measuring the area of shapes using square centimetres, and we also have been working on reading digital and analog time. In English we discussed the meaning of ‘personality traits’ and compared characters from the book ‘The Tale of Despereaux’ using personality traits. We also began writing a narrative with Despereaux as the main character. In History we have been working on completing research PowerPoints about traditional ways of life for Australian Aborigines. We also have been learning about some early explorers, such as Christopher Columbus and Abel Tasman. In PE we completed our ‘Static Balance’ activities this week and moved onto ‘Running’ today. We are very much looking forward to the Awabakal excursion next Tuesday and pray that the weather is fine. Wishing everyone a very Happy and Holy Easter.

Year 5

In Maths with Ms McGann, we have been focusing on multiplication strategies. We have worked on multiplying 2 and 3 (and in some cases, many more) digit numbers by one digit in extended form, contracted form and later this week, in an area model form. In English, we have formulated questions which, if it was possible, we would ask one of our characters. We have continued reading our novel, predicting the content of each chapter using prior knowledge of the storyline, history and the image at the beginning of each chapter. In Science, we have been conducting research in pairs in order to become ‘experts ‘ on a species of plant or animal found in desert environments. We will prepare an oral presentation of this information for later in the term. In Sport, the Stage 3 girls continue to build their skills in throwing and catching frisbees, incorporating defending skills as they head towards their first game of Ultimate Frisbee. The Stage 3 boys continue to develop their skills and game play in Oz Tag. PE continues to show our development across 6 different areas of fundamental movement skills. The enthusiasm we show is impressing the teachers. In Art, we are now building our version of a self portrait in a Margaret Oxley/Kieran Hall mash up. The results will certainly be interesting! We are looking forward to Easter and all that it brings. It’s been a big term and, although not over yet, we are ready for a break. Happy Easter everyone.

Year 6

In Religion this week we talked about the impact of Jesus’ death and resurrection on the disciples and we worked in groups to summarise various aspects about Easter:’ What is Easter?’ ‘Why do we celebrate Easter?’ ‘What is the Paschal Mystery?’ using Ten Word Strategy Summaries. We discussed symbols of Easter and Lent and we each chose symbols to draw in our books and labelled them. We also each made a triptych displaying the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. In English, we each took part in a simulation of being an asylum seeker in an online activity. It has really shown us some of the difficulties and hard decisions faced by asylum seekers! In Maths, we have been working on Area. We measured the area of regular and irregular shapes. We are also learning how to find the area of a triangle. In History, we are learning about our parliament and we looked closely at the Westminster system and discussed its features. We all enjoyed participating in today’s Holy Week Liturgy. It has really given us a reminder of the true message and meaning of Easter.

LEXIA AT HOME

It is great to hear that so many children have been able to download the Lexia Core 5 program at home. Some are even using it with their IPads!

Here are the details again if you would like to do Lexia at home.

If you would like to use the program at home you will need to download this new version. You can download from the link below:

Or, you can use it via your web browser:

You do not need any codes but will need the admin user email address. lady@victories.com.au from their children log on with their usual Lexia username and password. I Pad and I Pad mini users can download the Core 5 app from the App store- search for “Lexia Reading Core 5”.

If you have any problems, please contact me at the school on a Tuesday or Friday. – (Jenny McCallum - Learning Support Teacher)

SPORTS NEWS

School Cross Country

On April 5 all the children are invited to participate in the School Cross Country trial to select our representative team for the Diocesan trials in May. A course will be laid out in Northcott Park (adjacent to the school on Lovell Pde) and the children will compete, running different distances according to their age groups.

The infants up to the age of eight will participate in a 1km event, 8-10yr olds in a 2 km event and our seniors in a 3 km event.

The children are encouraged to participate at their own pace and complete as much as they can, or more if they like. However, if children wish to represent the school at the Diocesan trials in Term 2, then they will have to complete their distance under the qualifying times.

Racing commences at 10am and parents are invited and encouraged to come along and join in the exercise with their children.

Stay tuned for a permission note to come home after the Easter long weekend.

Coles Sport for School

For every $10 spent at Coles, customers will receive one SFS voucher. Send these vouchers in to school and put them in the collection box in the foyer. There is also a collection box at Coles, Wallsend for our school. Final days for vouchers will be in May. Get your friends and relatives collecting and send them into school.

It is time to finalise collecting those vouchers from Coles. If you have any at home, you should send them into school next week, as we have to send off what we have collected. Thanks to all those that have been propping up the Coles shares and helping out the school with some great sporting equipment.

Class Awards

Class awards for Week 8

PLEASE NOTE: Week 10 awards will be presented on Thursday at 2:30pm next week – not Friday