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WELCOME BACK
What can we say? What a ride we are on at the moment. Usually this first Newsletter of the term welcomes everyone back from a fun holiday. We haven’t had a chance to get back to everyone, but the stories of the few that are at school are telling us about their holidays at home --- of what was supposed to be and what is hoped for in the future, but the main common thread is how much they miss their extended families and friends.
I want to thank and congratulate all the families that have taken up the challenge of trying to keep their children focused on their learning tasks as well as manage work, pre-schoolers, household chores and feeding the family as well as keep the children from being – dare I say it – BORED.
Next week we begin a new phase in the “LOCKDOWN” with school opening for 2 days a week for each child for the next 3 weeks. We are looking forward to having everyone back, eventually fulltime if things work out with the “curve”. Parents would have received a correspondence from the Director of Schools yesterday and last week outlining the gradual return to school.
See the latest advice here:
RETURN TO SCHOOL
The way back to full attendance is to be managed by a staggered return for each class. Considering available staffing, siblings and many other factors, we will be providing the following model to begin the process.
| Monday and Tuesday: |
At school: Kinder, Year 1 & Year 5/6 |
Learning at Home: Year 2, Year 3 & Year 4 |
| Tuesday and Wednesday: |
At school: Year 2, Year 3 & Year 4 |
Learning at Home: Kinder, Year 1 & Year 5/6 |
| Friday: | All children working at home |
This arrangement will continue for the next 3 weeks until the end of week 5. During this time teachers will provide Face to Face (F2F) instruction and guidance to those children that attend and provide work based on these days for children to follow through on the days they are Learning at Home. Parent may choose to continue their isolation without affecting their child’s attendance record.
We ask that parents continue to support the schools plan by keeping children at home if it is not their rostered day at school. We will continue to provide supervision for those families that do not have suitable care arrangements for their children due to work commitments during this time in the same way we have been operating to date.
PARENT ACCESS
During the next 3 weeks we will be welcoming back the children to class 2 days a week. Sadly, however, we have been asked to restrict the access to the school for adults. In the light of this, we ask that when dropping children at school, parents do not enter the ground past the gates. Drop offs should be quick and social distancing should be practised – this means do not congregate at the gate. To spread the crowd,
- Kinder and Year 2 will leave via the bottom Lovell Parade gate in the afternoon
- Year 1 and Year 3 will leave via the main Lovell Parade gate
- Year 4 and Year 5/6 will leave via Sandgate Road gate.
- Families with children in multiple groups will leave from the eldest childs gate.
Drop offs can be at either gate on Lovell Pde or the gate on Sandgate Rd. Again please do not congregate at the gate on Sandgate Rd either.
If you need to discuss something in the office please observe the social distancing practices.
WINTER UNIFORMS
As we move to the cooler weather, we need to bring out the winter uniform. Whilst the mornings are a little cool the days ahead are still predicted to be warm. We will begin wearing our winter uniforms from the start of Week 4. Please make sure all items are labelled with names. Many jackets are discarded throughout the day as the day warms. Name labels make it much easier to reunite lost items with their owners.
SEMESTER REPORTS
As per the advice from the Director of Schools, we are looking closely at how best to report on the progress of your children. I am sure you would appreciate the huge inconsistencies that have arisen during this lock down period and how difficult it would be to assess children in a fair way. How will we report this semester? We’re working on it and will let parents know in the near future.
2021 ENROLMENT
We are currently taking enrolments for the 2021 school year for Kindergarten. If you have a child, or know of a family that does, that is looking to be enrolled at OLV in 2021, please contact Leanne in the office for an Enrolment Application. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we won’t be conducting interviews until Term 3.
If you are seeking enrolment in Year 7 for your child next year, please ensure you send your applications into the High School ASAP.
CHILDREN’S UNIVERSITY
Those children that enrolled in the Children’s University, will receive their Passports and Activity Book next week. There are lots of activities that the children can do whilst isolated that will qualify for a stamp. Once the activities have been completed the children can present the work to the Principal and receive up to 5 hours credit for their passport.
For those who need a reminder about the program, go to the CU website at https://cuaustralasia.com/ or their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ChildrensUniversityNewcastle/
GOOD FOR KIDS
In such a difficult time we are still trying to provide families with our planned Liturgies. I hope most people took the time to watch our Stations of the Cross, ANZAC Liturgy and our Week 1 Liturgy which were all posted on Compass. Over the next few weeks we will try to continue sharing these experiences with you.
This Friday we will post our Mother’s Day Liturgy. I would like to thank Sister Mila and the School Choir for taking so much time in recording the song within this liturgy. We hope you enjoy listening to our Liturgy and have a restful day on Sunday.
Mother’s Day is a day you get to show your mum (or the mother of your children) how grateful you are that she is in your life. Don’t waste the opportunity. There are many more than ten reasons I have included, but that was all I could fit in.
1. If it weren’t for your mum, you wouldn’t be breathing right now. If nothing else, you should thank her for that.
2. Mothers are the emotional backbones of the family. They provide the holding place for everyone’s feelings and do their best to keep us from being hurt.
3. Who would kiss your boo-boos to make it all better if she weren’t around? Mothers have the magic touch (and kiss) to help us heal our wounds, physical and emotional.
4. Truly, our mothers worked hard and made sacrifices, so our lives would be better. There are not a lot of people willing to do that, so let her know you appreciate it.
5. Mothers are forgiving—so forgive her in return. Perhaps nothing will be as valuable a gift to both of you as forgiveness. Open your heart and drop your resentments. Now that’s love.
6. When you want to climb the tallest mountain, your mother will make your lunch for you. She is the one who will support your dreams when no one else will. She will also remind you to wear clean underwear.
7. Her boundaries made you a better person. You may not have liked some of her decisions, especially when you wanted to party with your friends, but she did keep you out of trouble. Look at some of your friends without a mum who has cared that much.
8. A mother’s ears and eyes hear and see everything. They also have a computer-like memory for all the good (and some of the bad) that came your way. It’s nice to have someone with whom you can reminisce about your whole life.
9. Mum taught you to be a functioning adult. That was her job, and without that, making it through the modern world would be very hard. Your mum may have forced you to do your homework, but now you see how important it was.
10. A mother’s smile, when it is directed toward you, makes your day a whole lot better. All she needs is to know that she has helped you to be and feel your best. Say thank you.
As with most holidays, Mother’s Day comes only once a year. Make it special for her, and it will come back to you. There is something beyond words to express to the person who helped you to walk and talk, who gave you your first puppy, who helped you with school, and who gave you all the love she possibly could. Show her you care by acknowledging her value in your life. And if you don’t have your mum around, make someone who is like a mother a cuppa.
KINDER
Welcome to Term 2. Our Religion unit is “The Creation Story”. Genesis, in the first chapter of the Hebrew Scriptures, is the Biblical story of the creation of Earth and life and tells the story in the form of a seven-day period. Kindergarten viewed the Creation Story online as part of Home Learning.
In English they are learning to read and spell words that belong to the ‘at’ and ‘am’ families eg. at, mat, sat, am, Sam, ham. The children make the words using letter blocks before writing them in their Spelling book. In Shared Reading, they read “Mr. Gumpy’s Outing” and “Alexander’s Outing”. As an introduction to “Alexander’s Outing” the class should have viewed images of the Sydney foreshore (Botanical Gardens, Art Gallery, College Street and Hyde Park). Alexander is a duck who lives with his mother and siblings in the Royal Botanical Gardens. They leave the gardens in search of adventure.
In Maths Kinder have been working on Whole number. The focus this Term is on the numbers 11-20. The class should be practicing counting to 20 and back again, ordering the numerals and playing online games in Matific and Studyladder.
In Science Kinder are learning about the weather. The content for this topic is online, in a program called “Inquisitive”. The children viewed videos on the weather, identified weather symbols and should have completed at least two worksheets on Weather. They would be observing the weather each day and recording it on a Weather Chart.
Mrs Bradley looks forward to seeing completed work next Monday as we begin our school week so please send back all the resources in the Home Learning packs.
YEAR 1
Thank you so much to the children and parents of Year 1 who have responded so well to their home learning tasks during this really unsettling time. Both Mrs Hingston and Mrs Noble have felt very supported by the Year 1 families as we've been navigating this path together. The teachers have enjoyed being in touch with the children and parents via email and 'Seesaw', and we have been impressed by the enthusiasm of the Yr 1 students. We are looking forward to getting back to some face-to-face teaching on Monday and Tuesday of next week, as well as a continuation of our home learning on Wed-Fri. Thank you again to the Year 1 Parents, for your understanding and collaboration with us over the last weeks.
YEAR 2
It is great to see so many students completing the set tasks.
Last week in Mathematics we looked at 3D shapes and their properties. This week we are looking at 2D shapes and their properties. The children had to draw 3D shapes which most students did extremely well at. Keep working at this Year 2.
In our Justice Unit for Religion we have been looking at different communities and our own school community. The children were asked to write a prayer at the end of the week and most prayers asked for COVID-19 to be over so that the children could return to school.
Our English this term looks a little different with each child starting the day by working on a program called Lalilo which focuses on phonemic awareness skills. All students are working through set tasks in Spelling City. We have a writing task which has a stimulus picture to encourage students to be creative. Over the next few weeks our focus in reading is increasing our fluency and comprehension skills.
Our Science Unit this term is called Food for the Future. Last week the children leant the difference between fresh and processed food. Their task was to look through their kitchen cupboards and fridge and list foods that are fresh and foods that are processed. This week the students will be working on an experiment which requires them to plant seeds and record the growth rate of their seeds.
HISTORY
This term in History, students will explore how technology has changed overtime and the impact this has on people's lives. They will continue to understand that they are historians and are exploring history by using the inquiry process to analyse and evaluate historical sources. Students will be given a history task each week to complete at home until school returns as normal.
In music, students will complete a home activity once each fortnight that works towards developing their skills in rhythm, tempo, pitch and dynamics. The activities will be based on music-making and creativity, including students designing their own instrument, reading music notes, creating and playing compositions and creating their own song lyrics.
We would like to wish all Mothers a Happy Mother’s Day.
Patty Dunn and Kate Gallagher
YEAR 3
Year 3 has worked hard completing their ‘home learning’ tasks over these past two weeks. We have had some successful Zoom meetings to help us with different tasks. Our Religion unit is ‘Values’ which has involved thinking about ‘happiness’ and learning about ‘the Beatitudes’. In English, we are reading the book “The Tale of Despereaux’ by Kate DiCamillo and enjoying hearing about the adventures of a tiny, sickly mouse who takes his fate into his own hands. In History, we have looked at local, national and international symbols. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be discussing significant Australian celebrations and commemorations. In Science, we are learning about ‘Solids, Liquids and Gas’. The PDH unit we have started is about overcoming adversities and learning ways to respond to challenges that we may face in our lives. Overall, it has been a very busy start to the term. I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to the children and parents for the positive way you have adapted to these new and very different circumstances that we find ourselves in. Take care and stay well.
YEAR 4
It has been a different way to start Term 2…..working at home!
Year 4 have shown great interest in all their work and are becoming great participants in Zoom Meetings!
In Religion, we are thinking about Happiness and relating it to living out the Gospel values, daily, in our lives. In English, we are enjoying our novel for the term, Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White. It is teaching us a lot about friendship and emotions. Our focus in Maths is Bar Graphs. We have had a lot of fun activities to help us learn more about them this week. In History, we are studying Early Exploration and have learnt about a 15th Century Chinese explorer, Zheng He. We built a model of a 15th Century Chinese Sailing Ship in Creative Arts. It was a lot of fun! Thank you to Isla for sending a photo of her model.
Year 4 are to be congratulated on their effort since Home Learning began and our Year 4 parents deserve a big THANK YOU for the support given during this unusual time. Hopefully, we will be back to our classrooms full-time, before too long!
YEAR 5/6
There really aren’t enough words to explain how incredibly proud Miss Gallagher and I are of the amazing efforts of the students in 5/6 over the last two weeks of Term 1 and the first two weeks of Term 2! Yes, there were and continue to be a few issues, but the majority of these have been sorted. The technological skills that the students have developed in this time are far ahead of where they would have been, had it not been for this pandemic! A silver lining perhaps?
We are incredibly thankful for the support and patience of our 5/6 families in getting ‘our’ kids up and running with their At Home Learning. We acknowledge that it can’t have been easy, but we hope that they are now far more independent with these tasks and are flying along, mostly unassisted.
Miss Gallagher and I can’t wait to see their smiling faces next Monday and Tuesday. During these two days we will be focussing on giving the students the input for their learning for the rest of the week. When they are not rostered to come to school (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday), they will still be expected to continue with the learning tasks set for them, based on the activities taught on Monday and Tuesday. These activities will continue to be on One Note and online as they are accustomed.
We can’t wait to have our little OLV family back together again!
LEARNING SUPPORT
Mrs McCallum is VERY impressed with the great progress many children are making on Lexia with their Home Learning.
Keep up the great work everyone!!
Autism Awareness Australia
Autism Awareness Australia has compiled autism specific resources, videos and information to make managing life during this crisis a little easier for families.
NDIS Update
NDIS Update - For the next five months, eligible participants will be able to flexibly use existing NDIS plan funding to purchase low-cost Assistive Technology, including smart devices, to enable continued access to disability supports through telehealth and telepractice while physical distancing regulations are in place for coronavirus pandemic. See the link for further details as this will be fantastic for many families.
Check out this link for more info on St Nicholas OOSH.
Term 2 School Fees
Term 2 Fee statements will not be emailed this term. If you would lilke a copy of your statement please contact Leanne or email admin@shortland.catholic.edu.au and request a copy.
Families that are expereincing difficulties during this time, may make application to the Catholic Schools Office for a Fee COncession or a Fee Deferral. You wll need to make an application via this link.
VOLUNTEERS AND WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK
All new volunteers who wish to volunteer at Our Lady of Victories (or any school/parish in the Diocese) are required to complete the Volunteer Induction Handbook. This hand book covers all aspects of volunteering at school from Induction through to Code of Conduct, WHS, Confidentiality and Privacy. Volunteers are required to complete a National Criminal History Check Consent Form (150 point of ID required), Working with Children Check Clearance, Registration Form, Volunteer Policy Declaration and Code of Conduct Declaration. Volunteers are only able to assist in schools once all documents have been received and cleared (this can take up to 3 weeks).
The steps to obtain a Working with Children Check Clearance Number are as follows:
- Fill out an online application from www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au/check
- When you have completed the application form, you will receive and Application number (APP by email.
- Take this Application number and proof of your identity to a NSW motor registry or Service NSW Office. As it is not paid work the $80.00 fee will be waived.
- Once your application has been processed and you are cleared, you will receive your Working with Children Check number (WWC) by email( or post if you do have an email address).
Thank you to all the children who have sent me their library work. It has been amazing! Keep up the good work! I love seeing your work and I hope you are enjoying listening to the stories.
Today I have included some Choose your own fun book activities. Select from either the Infants or primary grid and have a go at some of the activities.
Primary Don’t forget the Premier’s reading challenge is on. You can borrow the ebooks from SORA and log your books on the PRC site or if you prefer you can keep a record of the books you read and I can log them for you! These has been a change in the rules this year you can read 10 of your own choice and 10 from the list!
If you need any help with PRC passwords or SORA email me.
margaretmary.spencer@mn.catholic.edu
During these unprecedented times we are doing most things a little different, and so is Book Club. For the first time Scholastic will be having a Virtual Book Club for Term 2.
Orders can be placed online or payment can be made at the office or by phone via card payment only. All Orders will still be delivered to the school as per normal.
Final orders will need to be placed by Friday 15 May 2020.
Click on the link below to take a look at Scholastic Virtual Book Club catalogue.
Christine Moore
| Kinder | |
| Year 1 | |
| Year 2 | |
| Year 3 | |
| Year 4 | |
| Year 5/6 | |
| Principals | |
| Captains | |
| Lexia Awards | Jesuloba, Jimmy H, Andre C, Jensen W, Junior H, Levi A, Summer F, Joyce H, Thea W, Annabelle H, Freya B, Grace G, Caleb J, Deegan C, Indigo H, Ruby A, Sienna S, Jesse C, Suma M, Harrison S, Alek S, Tobias I, Ava G, Harry F, Charlie F, Billy F, Khal D |
We would like to wish the following children a Happy Birthday
Isla W, Isabella C, Margreit K, Alek Stankovski, Junior H, Annabelle H
Congratulations and we hope you had a happy day
NOTIFICATION OF ABSENCE
Next weeks we will be continuing to count children learning at home as "present" using the 'F" code meaning flexible timetable. This does not count as an absence on the attendance record. From week 6, parents who decide to continue their child's "isolation" by not sending them to school will be classed as absent for those days.
Where possible, it would be appreciated if parents can notify the school at their earliest convenience regarding a child’s absence.
You will be able to access the school newsletter here and notifications will come through Schoolzine. Please DO NOT use the old SkoolBag App. It is no longer used for communications of notifications and messages..
Go to this link to download the Schoolzine App: