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Greetings,
With the term skipping away I thought I would begin this week with some information around resilience. I hope you find something here that will help you.
All children are capable of extraordinary things. The potential, for happiness and greatness lies in all of them. We can’t change the fact that they will face challenges and setbacks along the way. What we can do is, give them the skills so these challenges turn from ‘brick walls’ into ‘speed bumps.’
The art to raising our children into healthy, thriving teens and young adults isn’t about clearing adversity out of their way, the goal is to build their self respect, their resilience and positively shape their beliefs and identity.
Parents desire to “protect” their children can backfire, since overparenting prevents children from navigating the outside world on their own terms, developing a ‘learned helplessness’ when faced with a challenge, instead of developing coping mechanisms or confidence in their ability to negotiate a challenge.
Of course, if we could scoop them up and lift them over the things that would cause them to stumble, that would be a wonderful thing, but it wouldn’t necessarily be doing them any favours. A little bit of stress is life-giving and helps them to develop the skills they need to flourish. Strengthening them towards healthy living is about nurturing within them the strategies to deal with that adversity.
As Aristotle once wrote, ‘man is a social animal.’ Even today, social sciences agree that most of our beliefs, behaviours, attitudes, rituals, and ideas, are shaped by our surrounding social world.
Personal beliefs, towards ourselves and what we view as possible, are made by what we hold true. The “I can” inside of our heads.
A lot of our core ideas, habits and coping mechanisms are formed in childhood. Every interaction or relationship has an impact on us, including dynamics between parents, close relatives, siblings, and teachers.
Children who show resilience are able to bounce back from stress, challenges, tragedy, trauma or adversity. When children are resilient, they are braver, more curious, more adaptable, and more able to extend their reach into the world.
“Children who develop resilience are better able to face disappointment, learn from failure, cope with loss and adapt to change. We recognise resilience in children when we observe their determination, grit, and perseverance to tackle problems and cope with the emotional challenges of school and life.”( Marilyn Price-Mitchell 2015)
The metaphor of Kintsugi
The ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi offers a rich metaphor around this idea of resilience.
Kintsugi means ‘to join with gold.’ It is a crafting method that consists of assembling “broken pieces of an accidentally-smashed pot”.
The broken pieces of the pot are glued together with lacquer inflected with a very luxuriant gold powder. The visible fractures are adorned with gold rather than hidden.
Symbolically, the golden cracks represent the worth of the bowl because of its imperfections rather than in spite of them. The bowl is like a human, cracked by the contingency of life.
The gold endows the pot with unassailable beauty, uniqueness, and strength.
There is a lesson here for all of us, embracing failures and experiences that crack our spirit and turning those cracks in life cracks into gold?
Here are a few ways you can encourage your child to be resilient.
Modelling healthy social behaviour and discuss challenges. Avoid the blame game and focus more on making right choices. Identify a ‘sagacity’ in the situation. A Sagacity is the wisdom and insight that you hold onto. It will help them next time they face a difficulty.
‘You’re a superstar when it comes to trying hard things. You’ve got what it takes. Keep going. You’ll get there.’
Nurture this feeling in them – that one that reminds them they can do hard things. You’ll be doing this every time you acknowledge their strengths, the brave things they do, their effort when they do something difficult; and when you encourage them to make their own decisions. When they have a sense of mastery, they are less likely to be reactive to future stress and more likely to handle future challenges.
Children won’t always notice the people who are in their corner cheering them on, so when you can, let them know about the people in their fan club. Anything you can do to build their connection with the people who love them will strengthen them.
‘I told Grandma how brave you were. She’s so proud of you.’
Play board games with them (good for impulse control (taking turns), planning, working memory, and mental flexibility (the ability to shift thoughts to an alternative, better pattern of thought if the situation requires);
Giving them opportunities to think and act independently.
Providing opportunities for them to make their own decisions.
Optimism has been found to be one of the key characteristics of resilient people. The brain can be rewired to be more optimistic through the experiences it is exposed to. If your child tends to look at the glass as being half empty, show them a different view. This doesn’t mean invalidating how they feel. Acknowledge their view of the world, and introduce them to a different one.
‘It’s disappointing when it rains on a sports day isn’t it. Let’s make the most of this. What’s something we can do on a rainy day that we probably wouldn’t do if it was sunny?’ The idea is to focus on what is left, rather than what has been lost.
Remember that growth and resilience comes from making mistakes. We need to encourage and allow our children to build mental elasticity in recognizing their emotions and work through them and thus being more resilient.
Calling all budding artists who love being active on their way to school
We want to see how you are active on the way to school and what makes your trip fun and special. Whether you choose to colour in, draw, paint, photograph or something else, this is your chance to let your creativity run wild.
Scan the QR CODE for more information and submit your artwork and you could win!
The competition is open to all school students in the Newcastle Local Government Area. Winning artworks will feature in a calendar celebrating active travel to school in Newcastle.
FACE UPDATE
New ViewSonic Board is up and running.
We are thrilled to share that the new ViewSonic board for the library, approved for purchase during the last meeting, has now been acquired!
Its educational value is truly priceless, and we can’t wait to see the positive impact it will have on our students’ learning experience in the library.
This accomplishment would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of the parent body in their fundraising initiatives. Your hard work and commitment to enhancing our school community continue to make a meaningful difference.
Thank you once again for your unwavering support!
Hope you have a great week
David Treloar- Principal.
Boost Your Child’s Vocabulary at Home to Support Reading ComprehensionAt Our Lady of Victories, Shortland, one of our School Improvement Goals for 2025 focuses on implementing consistent practices in all classrooms, with a particular emphasis on reading and comprehension. This goal is essential for our students as strong reading skills are the foundation for success across all subjects. By ensuring a unified approach to teaching literacy, we aim to provide every child with the strategies they need to understand, analyse, and enjoy texts effectively.
Parents play a crucial role in supporting this learning at home, and expanding vocabulary is one of the most impactful ways to do so. Building a strong vocabulary is key to developing reading comprehension skills. When children understand the words they read, they can better engage with texts, infer meaning, and enjoy the reading experience. Here are some simple and effective ways you can help your child expand their vocabulary at home:
Encourage Conversations
Engage in rich conversations with your child about their day, interests, and the world around them. Ask open-ended questions and introduce new words naturally. For example, instead of saying “That’s a big dog,” you could say, “That’s an enormous dog. What other words could we use to describe it?”
Play Word Games
Games like Scrabble, Boggle, crossword puzzles, and online vocabulary games make learning new words fun. Even simple activities like rhyming games or ‘word of the day’ challenges can help expand your child’s vocabulary.
Use Words in Context
Help your child remember new words by using them in different situations. If they learn the word ‘spectacular,’ encourage them to describe a sunset, a movie, or an event using that word throughout the week.
Explore Synonyms and Antonyms
Teach your child how to expand their word choices by learning synonyms (words with similar meanings) and antonyms (opposites). Instead of always saying “happy,” encourage them to use words like “joyful,” “cheerful,” or “ecstatic.”
Make Use of Technology
There are many educational apps and websites that can support vocabulary development. Audiobooks and interactive e-books can also introduce children to new words with proper pronunciation and usage.
Lead by Example
Children learn best by observing adults. Use a rich vocabulary in everyday conversations and model curiosity by looking up words together when you encounter unfamiliar ones.
Expanding your child’s vocabulary takes time and practice, but small efforts each day can lead to big improvements in reading comprehension. By making vocabulary-building an enjoyable and natural part of daily life, you can help set your child up for reading success!
Amber Deegan
Assistant Principal
Term 1 Fundraising
Thank you to our whole school community you have raised $387.90 for Caritas Australia. This will make such a difference to many people’s lives.
Up Coming Events
Week 11: 10th April Stations of the Cross in the church.
VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION
In order to Volunteer at OLV you are required to complete the Volunteer Induction and be cleared by the Catholic Schools Office to Volunteer.
Please follow this link
https://www.mn.catholic.org.au/people/volunteer/
and complete the steps.
EXTERNAL PROVIDERS
If your child will be seeing a provider (e.g. speech therapist or occupational therapist) this year at school, please complete the attached application form and return to school. If you require further information, please don't hesitate to contact the office.
COMPASS
OLV uses the "Compass" App. Log in details for parents/carers have been emailed to all new parents. If you are still unable to login, or your account has been made inactive, please contact Leanne in the office to arrange a reset of your password.
- For all new families please familiarise yourself with the information booklet you received in your information pack or enrolment pack, "Parent Portal Compass User Guide" This is also attached
- Only Parents/Carers have access to Compass Parent Portal. Parents must have separate email addresses in order to both have access to compass
- New Users when logging into Compass are given the opportunity to update their details. It has been noted that some parents have updated their mobile phone number by taking out the gaps within the phone number. This is not required. The system requires phones numbers to be in this format
- REMINDER: PLEASE ONLY EXPLAIN WHOLE DAY ABSENCES - PLEASE DO NOT REPORT PARTIAL ABSENCES through the Compass App. Reporting partial absences will cause inconsistences with your child's attendance
- SMS's are sent to parents of students who are absent from 9.35am each weekday morning. You will receive a text message if your child was not present during the marking the roll process. Please logon onto compass and explain your child's absence. Do not reply to the text as compass does not accept reply texts
- Please notify the office beforehand if your child is going to arrive late; you will however still receive an SMS. The arrival time of the student will be logged as an explained absence when they present to school on their arrival
- On occasion you may be sent a text message even though your child is in attendance at school, this may be because they have arrived late and not come to the Office for sign in. If your child is late, please come into the Office with your child and sign them in via the compass kiosk.
QKR APP
Part of “progress” is moving towards a cashless society. To assist with the banking, ordering and handling of money, we are moving more of our payments to the Qkr system.
You will find attached instructions for the QKR App. This easy to use phone app gives you the flexibility to place orders for Canteen and fundraisers from your phone. It also reduces the need for your child to bring cash to school. Please remember to amend your child's year group on the QKR App to aid the timely collection of their order. We will be moving to a wider usage of this app as the year progresses.
- Make sure your child matches the class they are in now. You may need to go to your account settings and change their class. This will have to be completed at the beginning of every school year
- Please do not send in a paper bag as well as ordering online; this will stop any double up of ordering
- If your child is away or sick and you have ordered their lunch, you have until 8.00 am to cancel your order on QKR and receive a credit for next time
- All ordering is now closing at 8.15 am Monday morning. This allows enough time to print out the relevant reports for our volunteer ladies
- As of Term 2 all lunch orders will only be able to be ordered through QKR. Cash on the day will only be for ice blocks, lollies and chips.
We will be looking at providing this service for other quick financial transactions such as sausage sizzles, raffles, pie drives etc,
Thaks to everyone for taking up this service.
Health Care Card
All families with a valid Health Care Card can receive 50% of their tuition fee. If you have a valid Health Care Card please email it through to leanne.fry@mn.catholic.edu.au, I will then return your email with the link for you to complete.
I
| Kinder |
Blessing N – Making significant progress when learning to write his name. Grace I – Being able to write her name. Well done you've been working hard. Hudson H – productive engagement and contributions to class discussions. Samuel S – Showing great interest in his family history during our class History lessons. |
| Year 1 |
Hannah F – for always trying your best and a great improvement in your Literacy skills. Archie R – always contributing to class discussions and trying your best. Remi W – using a growth mindset and hard things a go! Mojetoluwa O – being a fabulour |
| Year 2 |
Luca S for being a respectful listener during IntialLit lessons! Oriana H for being a hardworking and respectful member of class! Evie C for always trying her best no matter what! Dahlia C for settling in well to OLV life. |
| Year 3 |
Mason G- For demonstrating a remarkable improvement in handwriting, spelling and completing work on time. Well done! Afia S- For demonstrating dedication, perseverance and excellence through quiet dedication. Sam C- For embracing challenges with confidence and showing a fearless approach to learning. |
| Year 4 |
Ruby B – confidently asking questions and sharing ideas in class discussions. Christopher H – his outstanding work in our mathematics assessment this week. |
| Year 5 |
Audrey S – for showing determination and effort during reading activities Eli O – using vivid metaphors and similes during writing lessons |
| Year 6 |
Dylan C- for settling into O.L.V so beautifully. You are always ready to learn and you are willing to try new things. Gabi K for your great work representing numbers this week. |
| V & M Awards |
Kindergarten: Deborah K for always following school rules and respecting everyone. Year 1: James T for being a kind friend to others Year 2:Hayden M for seeing a need and doing something about it. Year 3: Harry W for showing kindness, empathy, and a willingness to support others. Year 4: Henry W for always using manners and kind words with his teachers and friends. Year 5: Ariana C for always helping clean up even if she hasn't made the mess. Year 6: Isabella T for always being a responsible and helpful leader. |
We would like to wish the following children a Happy Birthday.
| Kindergarten | Deborah K |
| Year 1 | Elliot R |
| Year 2 | Sophia C, Emmet M |
| Year 3 | |
| Year 4 | Jemima K |
| Year 5 | Ariana C, Gibson F, Sophia T |
| Year 6 |
Congratulations and we hope you had a happy day
You will be able to access the school newsletter here, special dates notifications and other messages from time to time.
Go to this link to download the Schoolzine App: