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COVID UPDATE
Again, well done everyone. We have been able to settle the children into school routines without too much effort. We are now back to our normal dismissal time (2:55pm) and with everyone's cooperation we are able to send everyone off home within 10 mins.
Just remember when you pick up your child, please be patient, no car pick ups from the top of Lovell Pde gate, no leaving the queue until the car in front moves on. It helps if children who are to walk home know in advance. With everyone's cooperation we are able to shorten the wait time.
Unfortunately, our surrounding areas are being fairly well represented in COVID exposures. It is important to keep safe and disciplined in our hygiene with hand washing and sanitizing, keeping our distance and wearing masks when required. Remember that children, and the parents, should stay at home if they are experiencing any symptoms. Children who present at school with symptoms will be required to go home and not return until a negative test result is provided.
Siblings of children in families of close contacts at other schools or exposure sites should also follow NSW Health advice in this regard, that is to isolate and be tested on day 2, day 6 and day 12 after the notification.
This information sheet from NSW Health will help answer some of the questions you might have.
From 8 Novemeber the school will move to LEVEL 3 restrictions which allows us to have more interaction for parents and carers. These will communicated to parents via COMPASS from the Director of Schools. This is certainly good news for our Orientation, Transition and Graduation programs.
In the words of William Wallace "......." -- maybe soon?
KINDER 2022 ORIENTATION
We will be welcoming our future Kinders to our school next week. COVID has forced us to change the Orientation process a little, so our first experiences with OLV will be without their parents. This will be a big step for these little folks, but I know they will feel welcomed and comfortable in their new setting. Yr 5/6 have been working on a "virtual tour" of the school which will help in the transition process.
With restrictions being moved to Level 3 from next week we will be in a position to invite 1 fully vaccinate parent/carer onto the site to participate in the Orientation process. Our second day is planned for 25 November and then weekly from there, if parents wish to participate.
NEW CLASS
With our student numbers growing, we are in the fortunate position of adding another class to our school. We will be having 7 classes for 2022. A merit selection process has taken place and Mrs Lisa York has been appointed to our teaching staff. Mrs York comes very experienced and is excited to be joining us.
With the new class we are able to explore an exciting new class structure for our Stage 3 children in 2022 and beyond. More information on that next time.
STAFF CHANGES 2022
With the new class, and some staff movement next year, there will be some changes with class teachers. One significant change will be for Kinder in 2022. Mrs Dunn will be taking on the role of Kindergarten teacher. Mrs Carroll and Miss Morris will be taking extended Long Service Leave next year for terms 1 & 2. We are in the process of finding temporary replacements for them.
BUDDY TRAINING
The children in Years 4 & 5 will be undergoing "Buddy Training" tomorrow in preparation to welcoming and supporting the new cohort of children we are expecting next year. Its is always an exciting event for these children and we wish them well in their training. It is comforting to know our new Kinders will have such a wonderful bunch of leaders to help them settle into "big" school life.
BULLYING WEBINAR
It was encouraging to see so many parents tuning into the Bullying webinar presented by Craig Moore last Monday evening. Sadly, the time was short and I am sure there are many questions left unanswered. Apologies to those that couldn't make it and that we were unable to record the session. Craig has provided the PowerPoint slides of his presentation and would make good reading for those that couldn't tune in. Craig has also offered to answer any question that parents might like answered. You can email them directly to him at craig.moore@mn.catholic.edu.au
The next step in our review is to finalise the policy and implement and new Positive Behaviours 4 Learning program into the school life.
TELL THEM FORM ME SURVEY
In 2020 we asked parents and carers to participate in a survey conducted by Tell Them From Me®. (TTFM®). The survey data provided us with valuable feedback on what our students think about their faith, school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them.
The information gathered from this survey helps our school community to be better informed about what we are doing well, where we need to focus more attention and how we can sharpen our planning to ensure we achieve improved outcomes for our students. This year, we are seeking your help and participation to improve on our parent/carer response rate from 2020.
As parents and carers of students in our school, we deeply value your feedback and encourage you to partner with us and complete this survey. The information we gather is critical to us and allows us to hear directly from you and gain insight into what you think is important about the work we do, how we communicate with you and where you think we need to improve.
From the 2020 TTFM® survey data we learnt the following as both areas of strength and improvement:
What we learned:
- Information about events or expectations was not getting to parents.
- The two-way communication about your child’s progress and learning was limited.
- Verbal and Social Bullying were the main areas of concern for the safety and wellbeing of the children.
What we did:
- Provide parents with information in a variety of formats including School Newsletter – online and paper on request, Facebook, COMPASS
- Trialed child inclusive reporting and feedback during Parent/Teacher interviews, added class programs overviews to newsletter at the beginning of each term.
- Reviewed Anti-Bullying and Student Behaviour policies, engaged the Police Parent Liaison, engaged CSO Student Support Unit, provided counselling for children experiencing difficulties, investigating and developing a new Positive Behaviour 4 Learning programs to develop respect and resilience in children.
As you can see, we use the feedback you provide us to action strategies.
We want all children in our schools to thrive and we know that working together, listening, and sharing ideas helps our schools to improve and grow as strong learning and faith communities.
The 2021 survey is now open and closes FRIDAY NOVEMBER 12. We welcome your timely feedback.
If you have questions about this survey, please don’t hesitate to email us at admin@shortland.catholic.edu.au
Please click on this link
http://tellthemfromme.com/olov1 and it will take you to the survey.?
CHILDREN'S TTFM
The children in Year 4-6 will have their say during next week. Parents were asked last week to "Opt Out" if they did not want their child to participate. Please send the return slip sent out last week back to school by Monday if you do not want your child to participate.
KINDER VIRTUAL EXCURSION
Our Kinders attended a Virtual Excursion to the Shortland Wetlands today. They become Geographers and explored the regions using maps and virtual tours of different places. Not as much fun as going in person but still very educational.
Kinder
Year 1
Year 2
This term Year 2 are writing procedures. The children had to build a block construction and then write the instructions for someone else to reconstruct their creation.
Year 3
Year 4
During Home Learning, Year 4 completed a variety of writing tasks.
These included Narrative using a stimulus picture and also Poetry and Information Reports, connected to our English and Geography Units .
It was great to see such excellent efforts from the children!
Here are a few samples we would like to share.
Year 5/6
Since returning to school, we have been working on adding dialogue to images from our new story, Rose Blanche, as there is very little dialogue within it. First we worked in groups to add speech bubbles, then we individually turned the speech bubbles into dialogue, working hard on the punctuation and word choice to clearly convey the thoughts and feelings of the characters involved. After that we worked as groups again to combine and BUMP UP our ideas into one super dialogue, again with the emphasis on punctuation, word choice and word order. We think we did a spectacular job! (And so did Miss Payton and Ms McGann)
WAY AHEAD
Do you have a primary-aged child who is worried about being sick at school after lockdown, or do you work with children who express worry and anxieties about attending school?
Way Ahead has developed a brand-new deep dive session into back-to-school attendance anxiety post-lockdown. You can join them on MONDAY 8 NOVEMBER AT 5PM online. To register go here:
This 30 min presentation is followed by an optional 30 min Q&A, so it is perfect for after work.
The session covers what to look out for in primary school aged children experiencing excessive worry about attending school, specifically after lockdown.
We'll also look at practical approaches to supporting these children to engage with school and lessen their anxieties.
2022 School Fee Information Form
Please find attached your 2022 School Fee Information Form. Could you please fill in the attached form and return to school no later then the 30th November, 2021. This form helps the school prepare the correct school fees for next year. Your nominated person responsible for school fees is the name that is currently on your fee statement now.
You can fill in the form online through your compass notification and return by email or you can print the form out and return to school next time you are dropping off or picking up your child/ren, or place in the school letterbox.
Every child attending OLV MUST have a form submitted which helps the school prepare the correct school fees for next year. Please ensure nominated person responsible for school fees is indicated clearly in the form.
FEE ACCOUNTS
During these current COVID conditions, we understand that there may be families that are doing it very tough at the moment. We want you to understand that support for families in financial difficulties is available and they should not stress with this notice and may reach out for any concessions that might be available. Those that are able should continue with their payment plans to finalise their accounts by the 30th November 2021.
Because we are not having a swimming carnival and athletics carnival, as well as not completing the Dance program last term, parents will be given credit against the their sport levy fees of $75 per child.
Book Week 2023 – “Read Grow Inspire”
“Ignite imaginations and help kids learn and grow”
A couple of reminders about our Scholastic Book Fair on Friday 8th Sept.
- Each class will be given a time to visit and explore the books on offer and complete a ‘Student Wish List” to take home and share with parents.
- There is no obligation to buy.
- Most titles have 2 (or in some cases more) copies available for purchase on the day.
- We will endeavour to ensure that all families can access the book title of their choice. Any stock that is no longer available can be paid for, ordered, and delivered to the school at a later date.
- Every book sold benefits our school, adding resources to our library and classrooms.
We would love to see you there and thank you for your support!
As this is a cashless Book Fair Payment: EFTPOS Payments Only.
Ordering and payment via Online from 4pm Thursday to 4pm Friday.
If families would like to purchase from the Book Fair and cannot attend on the day there will be an option for families to purchase from their wish list and process payment online only.
- Select titles from Wishlist
- Tally items and prices.
- Go to the online payment link www.scholastic.com.au/payment or scan the barcode at the back of the Wish list.
- Complete your details and TOTAL amount of your payment.
- Process the payment details and record receipt number on back of wish list and return to the Library.
It is important that the completed form is returned to the library.
We would like to wish the following children a Happy Birthday.
| Kindergarten | Matilda B, Beatrice S |
| Year 1 | Savannah E |
| Year 2 | Kasey S, Isabella T |
| Year 3 | Heath F, Charlotte H |
| Year 4 | |
| Year 5/6 | Caleb J |
Congratulations and we hope you had a happy day
Please find attached P & F minutes.
PARENTS FEDERATION AGM
The Federation of P7F Associations is holding its AGM and General Meeting on 24 November via ZOOM from 6:30 - 7pm and then the Genral Meeting from 7:00pm to 8:30am.
If you would like to tune in please RSVP your intentions to cath.garrett-jones@mn.catholic.edu.au with your email contact to receive a ZOOM link.
We look forward to these meetings as an opportunity to affirm our commitment to Catholic education and the important role of parents and carers in the partnership that exits between schools, parishes and the broader community.
ST NICHOLAS OOSH VACATION PROGRAM
How to enrol for our OOSH Services:
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: