6 September 2018

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

Principal’s Message

Good to be Back!

What a wonderful two weeks we have had! It was so thrilling to be back to a place that is so friendly. Whilst travelling in Europe is a wonderful experience, nothing can beat see the smiling faces of the children each morning. Thank you to Mrs Carroll for filling in for me so ably and to Miss Morris and Mrs Paff for stepping up into their acting roles as well. Many people have asked me “What was the highlight of your trip?” The answer would be our visits to the Nazi Concentration Camps in Poland. I feel that all people should do this in their life time, if they have the opportunity. They showed the depravity of a movement that does not think twice about the welfare and care of those around them. Maybe some of our politicians should be made to visit them and see what the effects populous propaganda has on minorities in the community. But, the trip also included some wonderful scenery and great lessons. I was quick to learn one of the two things that Germany is good at – making beer and drinking beer – I will not say which one.

It is great to be back.

Playground

We had an inspection of the new additions to the playground from KIDSAFE this week. All was good to go and cleared to use. When the rain stops and it dries out a bit, the children will be let loose. They have been so patient (and parents too)! For that, I am thankful. A massive shout of thanks needs to go to the P&F for their wonderful support of this project. Whilst it has evolved a bit over the last couple of years, I think we now have some great places for all children to pursue different ways to play and learn. Ms Kim Maroney from the CSO will be working with the Infants teachers on how to incorporate these new spaces into their teaching and the children’s learning

School Photos

Our photographer will be returning on Monday next week to take a whole school photo, which was not possible last week due to the rain. Please ensure your child is in the full winter uniform – including ties.

REC News

Plenary 2020

What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?

This is the question we are being asked by the Bishops of Australia. Together, we are on a journey of listening to God by listening to one another. All Australians are invited to engage in an open and inclusive process of listening, dialogue and discernment about the future of the Catholic Church in Australia. Your voice is needed – join in! Speak boldly and with passion, listen with an open and humble heart. With faith and guided by God’s Holy Spirit, we journey together, toward the future. As a way of clearing our minds and preparing ourselves to listen and share, we are asked to prayer the following prayer:

Plenary Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit of Pentecost. Come,
Holy Spirit of the great South Land. O God,
bless and unite all your people in Australia
and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.
Give us the grace to see your face in one another and to recognise Jesus,
our companion on the road.
Give us the courage to tell our stories
and to speak boldly of your truth.
Give us ears to listen humbly to each other
and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.
Lead your Church into a hope-filled future,
that we may live the joy of the Gospel.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from age to age. Amen.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us. St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.

Mission Incursion

Richard Cootes, the Diocesan Catholic Mission facilitator, will be visiting us on Tuesday 18 September to rally support for the Mission Appeal. All are invited to come along for this very lively incursion.

OLV Feast Day Celebrations

We will be celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Victories on Friday 28 September. It will be linked to our Mission Appeal and the children will be encouraged to wear their weirdest/fanciest/favourite socks to school on that day. There will be Mass at 9:00am with Year 2/3 leading the celebration.

SPECIAL NEEDS MASS

The Diocese is celebrating the special gift we have in the children that come to our schools. Holy Spirit Primary School at Kurri Kurri is hosting the annual Special Needs Mass. All are welcome. Mass begins at 7pm

School Community Code of Conduct

During 2018, the Catholic Schools Office has updated and revised the Enrolment Policy, Enrolment Procedure and Conditions of Enrolment for all students attending schools within the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

A School Community Code of Conduct has been developed to reinforce rights and responsibilities for students, parents and volunteers within our school communities. A copy will be on display in the school’s reception area.

In Term 1, 2019, all existing families enrolled in diocesan schools will be asked to sign the declaration that they have read the documents and agree to abide by the Code of Conduct and the Conditions of Enrolment; parents/carers will be asked to discuss student responsibilities with their children.

If you would like to view the updated documents, please go to the link below and follow the links to the following documents:

• School Community Code of Conduct
• Conditions of Enrolment
• (Privacy) Standard Collection Notice
• Enrolment Policy and Procedure
• School Fees Policy and Procedure

If you have any questions regarding the above documents, please email them to brid.corrigan@mn.catholic.edu.au.

St Pius X Fun Sports Day

The Year 6 students will participate in the annual St Pius X Sports Day on Wednesday next week. They will join with other schools in the area. Please see the separate note for information on this activity. This will be the last year that OLV will be participating in this event.

Deadlines

We live in a time where we are always trying to meet deadlines. They are a part of our lives and give organisers the opportunity to do their job on time as well. I feel that when deadlines are given for a response from parents, sometimes we can be a little lax. Please be aware that if payments, permissions, photographs, volunteering etc are given a date to be returned, then that is when it is needed to process and prepare adequately for the event. Please do not be offended if you miss out in future if deadlines are not met.

Absences

SMS / Email notification of Absence

As part of Our Lady of Victories’ commitment to student safety and welfare, our school has begun notifying parents of their child’s unexplained absence via SMS message & email.

This service provides an SMS / email notification to parents of children who are marked absent from school without explanation once the roll has been checked in the morning.

Where possible, it would be appreciated if parents can notify the school at their earliest convenience regarding a child’s absence.

If a child is going to be absent for the day or is intending to arrive late (eg medical appointments etc), then parents are asked to use the COMPASS APP or call the office to notify the school before 9:30am on the day rather than sending a note afterward.

It is hoped that by providing this service and in partnership with families we can continue to ensure all possible mechanisms are in place to maintain the safety of our students.

Asthma Plans

Reminder letters were sent home a few weeks ago with students whose Asthma Plans need updating and those whose medications were out of date. Please ensure these matters are addressed as soon as possible. It is so important to have the Asthma Plans and medications in order, in case of emergency. Thank you.

NAPLAN Trial & 2018 Results

Both Year 3 and Year 5 classes, completed trials on Wednesday 29th August and Thursday 30th August. For both NAPLAN events, the children were in the Library using laptops or tablets.

You may have heard on the news stories about this year’s NAPLAN. The results and reports had been held back to ensure that the process of some children using technology and some children using ‘pen and paper’ had been verified as consistent. Parents and schools should have the reports by WEEK 9 of this term.

School Fees

Everyone should have received a copy of their school fee statement. The majority of our fee statements are now sent out via email so please check your emails for these statements and notify the school if you are not receiving them or if you email address has changed. Term 3 is the final round of billing for 2018. All families should have their fee payment plans well under way or be ready to make the final payment for 2018. If you do not have a payment plan in place and have outstanding fees that you are struggling to pay, please contact the office and make an appointment to see Mr Vandermaat. It is very important that you make one of these appointments before letters are sent home chasing up outstanding fees.

ASPIRE 2019

Auditions for ASPIRE 2019 will take place during Term 4. Anyone who will be in Year 5, 6, or 7 next year is welcome to try out for the production. There are posters outside the canteen displaying some information. Please Note: There has been a change to the dates since the original poster went up. The new poster has the new dates.

If your child is interested in auditioning, contact Mrs Carroll for further information.

KINDER Enrolments 2019

Letters of acceptance for Kinder 2019 were sent out this week. Parents are asked to make an appointment to meet with the Principal in Weeks 9 & 10 this term.

We still have vacancies for Kinder next year as well as in all other classes. If you know of someone who is looking to move over to OLV, please let him or her know. 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 can be found on our school website below or on the CSO website:

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

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Congratulations to the following children who completed the 2018 Challenge:

Annalise, Xavier, Julian, Maria, Peace, Jessie F, Jodie, Amelia, Chloe, Dakota, Anna, Oscar, Bailey, Sam, Olivia, Isabella, El and Georgina.

A big thank you to Mrs Bradley, Mrs Paff and Miss Speirs for assisting the Infants to complete the challenge as well!

Book Week

Many thanks to students, parents and staff for your support during the week. We had a very busy and fun week celebrating Children’s Book Week. The children enjoyed the Book Week activities, the Book Fair, and the Book Week Parade of pirates.

The students all looked amazing in their costumes. Well done to all of the family members who created them! Thank you to those who purchased books or donated books or money.

The commission raised from purchases at the Book Fair will go to acquiring new books for our library.

Thank you
MM Spencer and C Moore

P&F News

Ladies Movie Night

Ladies Movie Night this is tonight - It’s not too late to purchase tickets and join us for a fun night out without the kids to escape your busy mum schedule. Send Kylie Westaway a text on 0432716545 to book your last minute ticket! We have a whole bunch of great raffle prizes including wine, hair dressing vouchers, Tupperware and more! Raffle Tickets are available for purchase on the night for $2 per ticket or $5 for 3, so come along from 6:30pm onwards so you don’t miss out on tickets. Raffle prizes will be drawn at the end of the movie.

Father’s Day Stall

Father’s Day stall was a success and the kids enjoyed picking their special gifts! We hope all our dads, grandads and uncles had a great Father’s Day!

Entertainment Book

Thank you to everyone who has purchased their entertainment books or returned them. If anyone has any queries or questions about their reminder notes sent home last week please get in contact with Andrea (at the P&F), our rep Holly Matthews on 0447 770 148.

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

Victory Café

You may have noticed the new sign above the Canteen – VICTORY CAFÉ. This was the winning nomination for our naming competition last year. Julie Williams came up with the name. The sign looks great.

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.

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

Canteen Roster:

A reminder that if you do not have a current WWC number on file with the school office you will no longer be able to put on the canteen roster. As we hate to turn volunteers away, we ask that all volunteers submit their WWC numbers to the office ASAP. If you need any assistance with applying for your number or the process involved, please see Nicole P, in the Office or Nicole W, the Canteen coordinator.

LEXIA AT HOME

The way to access, Lexia at home has changed. If your child is using the Lexia program at home please check the new instructions to ensure you are correctly accessing the program.

Good work to all those children working hard at home using Lexia.

Mrs McCallum

Pastoral Care News

While studying over the weekend, I came across this idea referenced in Byron Katie’s book. “A thought is harmless unless we believe it”.

“It is not our thoughts, but the attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering.”

Maybe we can think of one thing we are Grateful for each day, write it down and put it in a jar. After a month, take out the notes, and read. Will this help us focus on the more positive things in our life?

Take care and god bless
Karen

Class News

Kinder

In Religion we have started a new unit “Prayer as Talking to God”. We discussed how and why we communicate with God. We found out how talking to God is similar and different to talking to our friends. In Maths we have completed an assessment task on Multiplication and Division and started a new unit on Data. Data is information. Displaying information into groups or rows is an easy and quick way for us to read and compare that information. We collected data on our favourite fruit, made a pictorial graph and recorded the information on a worksheet. Oranges were the most popular fruit in Kindergarten and apples were the least popular. In English we are learning the ‘ill’ and ‘all’ word families and focusing on the letter Bb. We practised writing the letter b as we were confusing it with the number 6. When we write it we say, ‘ One stroke down, back up and around’ – (something to watch for at home).

Year 1

In English, year 1 have been reading a very different version of Cinderella called ‘Prince Cinders’. We have compared the two stories and discussed how they are similar and different. We wrote a description of Prince Cinders before the fairy appeared and how his appearance changed after. This week everyone is using a picture sequence to retell the story in their own words.

In Maths we have covered Mass and Division. We used an equal arm balance to compare the weights of different objects and order them from lightest to heaviest. Year 1 also were able to use the balance to find objects in the room that weigh the same as a collection of objects. Most recently we have been working on how to share a collection between a given group, to find how many is in each group.

In Geography we have been looking at the weather. We have enjoyed listening to weather reports and finding out what the different symbols mean as well as the language used to describe the weather. This week we are logging the weather daily and will be able to find out which day of the week was the warmest, coolest and what kind of weather happened the most.

In Religion we have looked closely at the ‘Hail Mary’ prayer and found out the meaning behind some of the tricky words and lines of the prayer. We have also been discussing the different ways we can pray. Personal prayer we take part in on our own and communal prayer is when we pray with others together.

Year 2/3

Year 2/3 has continued to develop their understanding about the geographical conditions of Australia. This week we compared rainfall across the country, noting the significance of the drought conditions. In maths we focused on length with year 2 measuring in centimetres and year 3 in millimetres. We noted that rainfall is measured in millimetres and we used a rain gauge to measure rainfall within our school this week. In English we read the poem My Country by Dorothea Mackellar. We studied the imagery and representations of Australia in the poem and wrote our own version of this poem. In religion we considered the way in which the bible was written and the different types of texts in the bible such as poetry as historical texts. In science we designed a home from a box and we included the essential features needed in homes such as windows and facilities for cleaning, food preparation and storage.

Year 4

In English, after finishing the book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S.Lewis, we have been focusing our discussions on some of the themes that are in the story, such as courage and heroism, loyalty and sacrifice, and beliefs and fantasy. We also created some travel brochures to advertise Narnia as a holiday destination. Some ideas were: Stay at the Beavers’ Hotel – Mrs Beaver will look after you!; You might even see some talking animals!; Eat some enchanted Turkish Delight!; Visit the museum of stone statues! In Religion we have been looking at Catholic Social Justice Agencies and ways that these groups show service to others. We have also discussed ways that we can serve others and show love and kindness to everyone. We read John 13: 1-16 (Washing the Disciples’ feet) where Jesus reminds his disciples that their role is one of service and that like him they must serve others rather than be served. In Maths our focus over the last two weeks has been Division and Multiplication. We have had a lot of practice doubling and halving numbers and have learnt some new strategies to help solve multiplication and division of 2 and 3 digit numbers. In PDH we have been discussing the concept of gender images and expectations – Do girls hate football but love dolls? Why can’t boys wear pink? Can you give a girl a birthday card with a car on it, or a boy a birthday card with flowers on it?

Year 5

Week 7! How did we get here so quickly?

We have been busy bees in Year 5. In Religion we have started a new unit on Hebrew Scriptures and are endeavouring to answer the question of “How is God revealed to his people in the Hebrew Scriptures?” In Maths, we have continued to work on our problem solving strategies and this week we have begun to learn how to use DRAW A TABLE as a way to solve certain problems. The change in our approach over the term has made Ms McGann smile, because we used to be hesitant when it came to problem solving and now we feel more confident, particularly when puling a problem apart to determine what information is important and what it is actually asking us to do. In English we have paused “Hitler’s Daughter” to look at another, very similar story, called “Rose Blanch”, written by Roberto Innocenti. We have looked at the similarities in setting, plot, themes and characters and will focus on this book for the next couple of weeks. In Geography, we are moving from looking at several different types of housing throughout the world, to just focussing on one and doing an in depth study on it and on the environmental factors that may have influenced its design. In Science we will be playing with torches and mirrors to see what we can do with them! Sounds like fun!

Year 6

In Religion, we completed our unit on Liturgy and have shown a good understanding of the purpose and structure of Liturgy in our Catholic community. We have started a unit called Christian Scriptures and we looked at stories from the Scriptures and analysed their features. We discussed the difficulty the writers of the scriptures would have faced in writing and compiling this history. In English we are focusing on a media study of the television series “Nowhere Boys”. We have looked at the way scenes and sequences have developed and discussed how the filmmakers communicate important information to the audience. In Maths, we are focusing this week on “Making Tables and Organising Lists” as a means to solving problems. We are currently focusing on the topic, Fractions and Decimals, and found our previous problem-solving technique of “Guess and Check”, useful in some of our class tasks early this week. In Geography we continue our study of Asia and we have completed some really interesting mapping activities. We are also learning about Latitude and Longitude.

The Year 6 Fun Day was an enjoyable and happy day for all at OLV. Congratulations to our class members for their efforts and generosity. A big thank you to all those who kindly donated to our Cake Stall. It was a very well-patronised venue! A wonderfully “Fun Day” was had by all!

SPORTS NEWS

Term 4 Swimming

For sport in Term 4 the children will participate in a swimming program each week for weeks 1-6. Our sports day will go back to Wednesdays. The cost of the program is $10 per week and will be billed to your account in addition to your sport levy or you can pay weekly if you prefer.

Our annual swimming Carnival will be held on Thursday 29 November.

Polding Athletics

Good Luck to Jessie Forbes as she participates in the POLDING Athletics Carnival on Friday next week. We are very proud of her efforts and look for to hearing of her success.

Class Awards

Class awards for Week 8