Filter Content
Dear Parents and Carers,
I continue to have a wonderful time here at Our Lady of Victories! It has been great to visit classes and see your children hard at work.
Recently I read an article by John Hattie, Professor from the University of Melbourne, Graduate School of Education. In 2008 he published the book Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement, which aimed to explain what works best to help student learning.
He has continued to research this area and has a new book, Visible Learning: The Sequel.
In this article he mentions how the most important thing for teachers to do is to have high expectations for all students, seeing all students as learners who can make leaps of growth in their learning.
Hattie also talks about the importance of parents. He believes that parents are not “first teachers” but “first learners” – as the parents learn, so do their children. Parental expectation about learning is among the most powerful home influences, and at home it is important to promote a “language and love of learning”.
This means talking to your children about their learning, encouraging them to enjoy the struggle, failures and successes, and setting fair boundaries so that they take on increased challenges. It is an opportunity for parents to explain to their children what success looks like for them in all things they attempt, even what a ‘clean room’ looks like. And, if your child makes errors, talk about it as an opportunity to learn.
Have a great fortnight,
Craig McNee
Acting Principal
Easter Sunday Reflection
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.” Psalm 118:1
Christ is Risen! Alleluia, Alleluia! For the past forty days, followed by Holy Week, we have been called to an intentional time focused on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Some of us may have chosen to offer up a sacrifice each day, or maybe do something extra, to draw us closer into our relationship with God and our faith.
Whatever the circumstance, Easter greets us with joy, and we come together to rejoice, for Jesus has risen from the dead! We give thanks, for it is through his example that we learn that new life can come from death, and death is not the end.
No matter where we have been, no matter what we have or will endure, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection will continually serve as a reminder of God’s unending love for each one of us. And God will always be at our side.
Stations of the Cross
Thank you to Stage 2 for presenting the Stations of the Cross on Holy Thursday in such a reflective and meaningful way. Congratulations to all students involved, and the school community for their reverence. Special thanks to Isabella Thomson’s dad Murray for making the extra two crosses for the Liturgy and to Max Barrett for suggesting the idea.
Sacramental Programme
Congratulations to families that have enrolled their child into the Parish Sacramental Programme. We pray for each student as they continue on their faith journey.
Important Dates Friday 12th May – Mother’s Day Breakfast and Liturgy
Week 4 Catholic Schools Week
Thursday 18th May – Whole School Mass 9.15am to celebrate Catholic Schools Week
St Vincent de Paul
Mark Fren -Acting Religious Education Coordinator Term 2
Congratulations to our Cross Country Champions
Well done to our winners. There were also some students that missed out on receiving their Athletics Carnival ribbons.
Pearls for Parents
- The number of Catholic parents/families who actively practice their faith within the context of the faith community is small.
- Those families who are Catholic have intermittent and limited experiences of their Church and the communal celebration of their faith.
- In order to value the Religious dimension of the school, families may need orientation to some of the rituals of Catholic faith life practices in the school.
- The demands of the twenty first century make it difficult for parents on weekends to seek catechesis or formation, or to attend additional meetings during the week.
- Families other than Catholic or Christian may have mis-information or no information about a lived expression of the Catholic faith.
- Principals and teachers are engaged in the education of young people and do not have a lot of time to give to planning formation for their parents, even though this is beneficial to the community life of the school.
- If you would like more information on the Catholic faith practices in the school, feel free to contact the school.
Catholic Schools Week
Catholic Schools week will be celebrated next week. We will celebrating Mass on Thursday 18th May at 9.15am. After Mass everyone is invited back to school to have a picnic lunch with their children. Once lunch has finished we will have open classrooms for parents to take part in different activities in the children's rooms.
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 (eg; 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" I have also attached this.
- 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 becuase 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 – which is for discussion on another day. To assist with the banking, ordering and handling of moneys we are moving more of our payments to the Qkr system.
You will find attached instructions for 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 term 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 till 8.00am to cancel your order on QKR and receive a credit for next time.
- All ordering is now closing at 8.15am 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.
FINANCE NEWS
Fee Statements have been emailed out last week.
- Any school fees that are outstanding, without an agreed payment arrangement with the Prinicpal, will be actioned per the Diocesan Fee Collection Policy.
- For those families experiencing financial hardship it is not too late to contact the school office to arrange an appointment with the Principal or Finance Office, to discuss payment options.
- Payments can be made via BPay, Direct Debit, or credit card over the phone or in the office.
- Calculations have been sent home to most families. This will help you to pay a weeklly amount to have your fees paid by the due date 30/11/23.
Any fee payers that wish to establish a new direct debit or adjust their existing direct debit, please contact Leanne in the office.
We encourage families not to pay their fees via the COMPASS App. The bank fees are significantly higher than if paid via Bpay or credit cards at the office.
Health Care Card
Most families have already completed the attached Health Care Card Forms and returned to the school with a copy of their Health Care Card. If you have a Health Care Card and have not handed it in please contact the office. Health Care Cards gives up to 50% of your tuition fees.
Compass Events
It has been brought to our attention that parents feel they may miss out on events the school is having. Please ensure to follow the following ways of communication.
- A notification is sent to your phone that an event has been added to compass
- An email is sent to your nominated address notifing an event has been added to compass.
- Date claimers are up to date per term.
- Please always check the newsletter in case upcoming events are advertisied.
If you receive a notification you can logon onto your compass app. The following screen will appear if you have an outstanding event. (You may click on your notifications tab for this.
You can then click into the event and see the following page.
All parents have access to many sources of notifications on any upcoming events. If you happen to miss any of these notifications reminders are sent out from the office via email and push notifications and lastly text messages.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten Term 2 Overview
Year 1 Term 2 Overview
Year 2
Year 2 Term Overview
Term 2 Overview
Dio Cross Country
AFL - Paul Kelly Cup
The boys were undefeated all day. This didn't mean the games were easy, they were not! At times the boys were on the backfoot and needed to reset, refocus and after half time chats, were always able to bring home the goods.
The final game which was the hardest game and was the deciding factor if they made it through to the next round of the competition. The boys didn't become complacent. They dug deep and fought hard. At the end of the game, when they all knew they had won and were off to Regionals, they did not gloat or boast in front of the opposition. There were a few high fives and smiles, but they ultimately kept their composure, went straight to their opponents, and congratulated them on a great game. They came back to their coaches took a knee and debriefed about the game. This is a team that are destined for greatness. The team were gracious in their wins. They were respectful to everyone. They kept their cool when things didn't go their way.
It is important to provide opportunities for all to experience new sports (and familiar ones) and I feel honored to be a part of a team of students who genuinely look out for each other. The team will now play in the Regionals on 21st June and hope to do well there as well to make it to Sydney later in the year for the State finals.
- Thank you to our volunteers at the athletics carnival canteen and election day BBQ. All money raised will go towards literacy and technology resources for the school.
- Unfortunately, at our March AGM we received no nominations to form a P&F executive committee. Without parents to fulfil the executive roles of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer our P&F will be unable to operate. If you have been thinking about joining the P&F and would like further information, please read the link. Alternatively contact the current P&F via email olvparentsandfriends@gmail.com if you would like to indicate your interest.
- Our next meeting will be on Monday May 22nd at 7pm in the school library. We invite all those interested in taking an executive role to attend. We also invite all parents to attend this meeting as should no nominations be received, a decision on the future direction for our P&F will be discussed.
Our Lady of Victories P&F…... What is it all about?
The P&F provides opportunities to connect with other families to find out what is happening at OLV and to have a voice on a range of matters.
The P&F can only operate with the involvement of parents and the time commitment is not too demanding. We meet in school terms once a month for approximately an hour and all parents/guardians of our current students are able to participate.
The P&F has multiple roles including:
President- Provides leadership and acts as the association’s representative. Chairs P&F meetings. Ensures decisions made at the meeting are acted upon promptly.
Vice President- To act in place of the President in their absence from meetings
Secretary- Responsible for creating and distributing meeting agendas and minutes and communication to families via the school’s online platforms and notes.
Treasurer- Manage all financial dealings for the association, keep records of receipts and expenditures, bank any money regularly, ensure financial records are audited.
Canteen Co-ordinator- Responsible for the running of the canteen this includes ordering stock, food menus, pricing and co-ordinating canteen roster.
Uniform Pool Co-Ordinator- Responsible for the running of the uniform pool including ordering new stock, sorting and displaying donated stock, and being available at the time suitable to yourself to open the uniform pool for sale of items.
General Members- Any parent of our school community is welcome to attend and contribute to P&F meetings. They are able to contribute to items of discussion and have a vote on decisions being made.
Would you like to join the P&F this year? Our next meeting will be Monday May 22nd at 7pm in the school library.
We welcome any parent or guardian of current students to nominate themselves for a position. If you have any questions or would like to know more about the P&F, please contact the P&F on olvparentsandfriends@gmail.com
We hope to see you there!
Good for kids Snippets
| Kinder |
Gianna D - for beautiful drawings of her family in History. Nicholas O -for taking the concepts we are learning in class home and gaining more responsibilities. Kane S - for being an absolute legend at weather! So interested and shares such profound ideas. Elizabeth K - for her engaged interest in weather and water safety. Ivy S - for making lots of progress with her handwriting. Hailey S -for being a caring classmate who likes to help in the classsroom. |
| Year 1 |
Cooper G - for always trying your best and challenging yourself, especially in maths. Amelia I - for thinking deeply about a range of topics and giving great explanations of them to the class. Israel L - for taking on challenges with a positive attitude and sharing your ideas with others. Nikita P - for demonstrating persistence with challenging tasks and asking for help when you need it. |
| Year 2 |
Malachi K - for persisting to do his best and always focussing during class. Ruby B - for her growing confidence to ask questions and contribute to class discussions. Christopher H - for demonstrating respect and responsibility in the classroom. Fetui Toleafoa for an outstanding improvement in her reading and comprehension. |
| Year 3 |
Erleen S - for working hard and striving to achieve your best! Well done! Brian K - for his enthusiastic approach to all learning activities. Keep it up! Levi A - for his focus and interest to achieve his best in all areas of learning. Thea W - for her positive attitude and constant effort that she has put into classroom activities. |
| Year 4 |
Sienna S - for her consideration towards everyone, and her positive attitude in greeting her teachers every morning at OLV. Thank you, Sienna. Luka S - for his willingness to share his positive attitude with other students in Stage 2. You are valued, Luka. Max B - for his dedication to his schoolwork, and his determined effort to complete his work and improve in all areas. Well done Max. Isabella T - the ‘quiet achiever award, for always working hard and succeeding. You should be proud of your work, Isabella. |
| Year 5 |
Charlie F - for working cooperatively in groups and for being an active listener in class. Emme P - for actively contributing in group activities with a positive attitude. Virginia V - for being a respectful and kind member of Year 5! JosephB -for listening in class and for displaying a can-do attitude towards his learning. |
| Year 6 |
Mark M - for making a conscious effort to contribute more in class discussions. Thomas E - for excellent use of literary tools when writing sizzling starts. Summer P - for excellent use of literary tools when writing sizzling starts. Ava G - for working cooperatively in groups and being |
| Leader Awards |
Lucy C - for always being quiet and cooperating in morning assemblies Toma V -for being a good friend on the field |
| V & M Awards |
Kindergarten: Maria T - for a great sense of social justice. Seeing what is right and committing to it and trying to get her peers to do the same. Year 1: Afia A - for always demonstrating respect to teachers and your peers. Year 2: Tomi O - for always greeting people with a smile in the morning. Year 3: Chase S - showing respect to teachers and students both in and out of the classroom. Year 4: Kasey S - for demonstrating what a great role model is and doing the right thing. Year 5: Shammah N - for being a kind friend and for looking out for others. Year 6: Indigo H - for being a kind and respectful member of Stage 3. |
| Lexia Awards |
Isabelle M - Level 6 |
| Principals Awards |
Charlie F Soloman T Paige W |
We would like to wish the following children a Happy Birthday.
| Kindergarten | Gianna D, Benjamin Z, Sadie S, Diesel D |
| Year 1 | Matilda B, Elodie D, Josephine B |
| Year 2 | Ruby B |
| Year 3 | Alierah M, Annabelle H |
| Year 4 | |
| Year 5 | Isabella C |
| Year 6 | Alek S |
Congratulations and we hope you had a happy day
ST NICHOLAS OOSH Services
How to enrol for our OOSH Services:
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: