Filter Content
CELEBRATIONS
We have been and will be enjoying a few special celebrations over the next couple of weeks.
Yesterday we had a fun time sharing our favourite book characters with each other and our guests. Thanks to all those that came along and to the parents in helping their children with costumes. The smiles on the children's faces said it all.
Today we celebrated the wonderful dads, granddads and significant men in our children's lives. The B&E breakfast was enjoyed by many and our liturgy prepared and presented by Year 3 was certainly very special.
Next week we will be celebrating or grandparents with a special liturgy, dance presentation and BBQ lunch. Celebrations begin at 9:15am. Please access your QKR App to indicate how many from your family will be attending. If no-one can make it, please still indicate that your children will still need a sausage for lunch.
PUPIL FREE DAY
A reminder that the school will be closed on Monday 11 September. The staff will be attending the Diocesan faith development day.
WELCOME
We welcomed Grace and her family to our Year 4 class this week. I am sure she will enjoy her learning experience at OLV.
NATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION WEEK
National Child Protection Week is a campaign held annually across Australia to raise awareness of child abuse prevention. This year’s campaign is next week between 3 – 9 September.
National Child Protection Week aims to engage, educate, and empower Australians to understand the complexity of child abuse and neglect, and work together to prevent it. The campaign does this through the sharing of events and resources to encourage communities to engage in conversations around children’s safety and wellbeing.
This year, the theme is: ‘Where we start matters’.
SCHOOL DISCO
A great night is coming up oin Friday 15 September. We are holding a Disco fo the children and their families. Come along in your best Hawaian gear to Hula the night away.
Go to the the QKR App for details to order tickets and a Sausage Sizzle dinner for the night. Order need to be made by 11 Sept.
PROFITABLE PARENTING
The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle’s Federation of P & F Associations has invited teacher and high-profile author, Daisy Turnbull, to share practical advice with parents and carers on ways you can develop your child’s independence and confidence. Daisy’s presentations will draw on the knowledge of some of the world’s leading psychologists, but it’s her relatable style and realistic suggestions that reflect her experience as both a parent and the Director of Wellbeing in schools that will leave you feeling empowered to navigate the modern-day challenges associated with raising children and teens.
Parents and carers are invited to take part in free, online presentations that will empower you with engaging and practical ways to raise your child or young person to be resilient and ready to take on the world!
Lower Hunter Boots and Ballgowns Fundraiser
Mcdonald Pavilion - Maitland Showground, Saturday, 28 October 2023 5:00 PM
• Dust off your boots and put on the ballgown.
• Bring the family along for a fun evening of music, dancing, food and entertainment
• Hosted by Vinnies Hunter, the Boots and Ballgowns event will raise funds to support the highly anticipated Community Hub opening in Maitland where our amazing volunteers will be delivering their much needed Community Support
• This all ages event will be catered by the amazing team from Hot Luck
• Entertainement will be by the very talented solo artist Karen Soper
• We can not forget the kids with face painting by Silly Street + lots of fun activities
• A prize will be given for the best dressed person that can show a receipt for their outfit purchased from one of our Vinnies shops.
• A raffle will be held on the night with many great prizes from local businesses including a $500 Bunnings voucher!
https://www.stickytickets.com.au/8p49x/lower_hunter_boots_and_ballgowns_fundraiser.aspx
Year Six Diocesan Religious Literacy Test
On Monday, 4th September, Year Six students will sit the Religious Literacy Test. The assessment of Catholic Religious Literacy takes place annually across all schools in the Diocese. It focuses on students’ knowledge and understanding of key concepts addressed in the Religious Education program, the achievement of the outcomes set out in the Diocesan Religion syllabus, and the ability of students to communicate this knowledge and understanding about the Catholic tradition.
Altogether, the data produced from the various testing instruments is designed to give RE teachers meaningful feedback about the students’ learning and to assist in developing the classroom teaching of Religion.
Below are some multiple-choice questions from previous tests:
Upcoming Dates
1st September Father's Day Breakfast & Liturgy-Stage 2
4th September Year 6 Religious Literacy Test
8th September Grandparents' Day Liturgy- Stage 3
15th September Parish Mass- Yr. 2 & Yr. 5 Catholic Mission Day
18th September Happiness Liturgy- Yr. 4
22nd September Whole School Mass Celebrating ‘Our Lady of Victories’ Feast Day (7th Oct), BBQ Lunch and Family activities to follow school assembly.
Katrina Friend- Acting Religious Education Coordinator
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
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% off your tuition fees.
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.
| Kinder |
Henry B - for an enormous improvement on learning his sight words. Elizabeth K - for being able to compare the area of two objects. Maria T - for knowing all sounds taught this year. Gianna D - for being able to read our fluency passages with ease. Evie C - for being able to compare length using the words longer and shorter. Kai P - for being able to compare the area of two objects. |
| Year 1 |
Harry W- for remining focused on your tasks and putting effort into everything you do! Cooper G- for explaining the strategies you use to solve equations in a very detailed way! Josie B- for your exceptional sentences and story writing! Nikita P- for always trying your hardest and making great progress in Literacy! |
| Year 2 |
Eleanor T – working hard to do her best in all learning areas. Lucy C – her enthusiastic attitude towards class tasks. Tomi O – her persistence to improve her reading fluency and accuracy. Thomas O – his outstanding knowledge and application of phonics skills. |
| Year 3 |
Elsa S: for her positive and enthusiastic approach to Maths activities. Chase S: for his excellent listening skills and thoughtful contributions to class discussion. Grace B: for her high level of interest and participation in a Science experiment. |
| Year 4 |
Kasey S – for her amazing research skills when completing information tasks. Well done! Grace G – for her consistent involvement in classroom discussions and for her wonderful bookwork. Keep it up! |
| Year 5 |
Leisha K - for being a kind, friendly and respectful member of Year 5! Blake B - for his willingness to try another prove it strategy in Maths tasks. Michelle A - for her improved confidence in contributing to class discussions and for her willingness to try her best! Clayton S - for assisting his Kinder Buddy with a positive and smooth transition into big school. |
| Year 6 |
Max G – for his application during mathematics lessons. Mark M – for impressive note taking during Geography lessons. Furahisha S – for taking great pride in her presentation of her home learning tasks. Lochlain H – for showing great enthusiasm and determination in his swimming lesson this week. |
| V & M Awards |
Kindergarten: Kane for being a kind and caring friend to his peers. Year 1: Lorcan H- for playing beautifully with other and including them in your games! Year 2: Chris H for being kind and inclusive. Year 3: Natalia W for being a friendly supportive class member. Year 4: Isabella T for always being a kind and positive influence in the classroom. Year 5: Maddie H for never seeing a need without doing something about it. Year 6: Meti S for always being a caring, supportive member of Stage 3. |
| Leaders Awards |
Shammah N - for being a good sport on the field. Margreit K - being a good friend. |
| Newcastle Permanent Maths Competition |
Congratulations to students in Year 5 and Year 6 for your participation and efforts in this activity! |
| Lexia Awards |
Oriana H Level 5 Nikita P Level 5 Michelle Abraham Level 12 |
REGIONAL SOCCER GALA
A number of children have indicated their desire to represent OLV for the Regional Soccer Gala Day. COMPASS notification for information and pemission. All the details are explained and your permission is sought. Please complete the permission and your availability to provide transport.
If there are any parents who did not receive this notice and your child wants to participate, please let me know on Monday.
SOME SUCCESS STORIES
Two children shared some significant success stories these last coulpe of weeks.
Harrison S joined the team at St Joseph's, Merewther, in the Paul Kelly Cup in Australian Rules. His team made it all the way to the Semi-FInals but just fell short. Well Done, Harrison.
Gemma Mooney competed in the State PSSA Soccer trials representing the Polding Region. Whilst her team came 6th and she wasn't selected for the state team, she was snapped up by the Jets to join their Newcastle Jets Academy Under 13 Squad for next year.
We would like to wish the following children a Happy Birthday.
| Kindergarten | |
| Year 1 | Isabelle M, Taylor P |
| Year 2 | Malachi K |
| Year 3 | |
| Year 4 | Jesse M |
| Year 5 | Indi P |
| Year 6 | Mark M |
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:
ST NICHOLAS OOSH Services
How to enrol for our OOSH Services: