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SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE VALIDATION
As part of your NESA compliance obligations, we take part in the COSI (Continuum of School Improvement) process with the Catholic schools Office and the Diocese. There are six areas that are validated/checked on a rotating six yearly cycle. This year our school is being validated on registration requirement B8: Safe and Supportive Environment, inclusive of B8.1 Schools must meet child protection requirements and B8.2 Schools must provide for student welfare.
As part of the validation, we seek to speak to a student group, usually around six students (two from each stage) to obtain their views on the school, along the lines of what makes them safe and is there anything the school needs to do to make them feel safe/safer. To this end the attached letter explains in more detail and asks parents to notify the school if you would like your child NOT to participate.
CHILD PROTECTION WEEK
At Our Lady of Victories Shortland, we recognised National Child Protection Week with a vibrant display that embodies the theme ‘Every Conversation Matters.’ Students wrote meaningful phrases on ribbons, which were used to decorate a prominently placed tree on our school grounds. This eye-catching display highlights the importance of dialogue in child protection and engages the broader community. Parents and staff also contributed their own messages, providing diverse perspectives. Kindergarten students added their creative touch by decorating butterflies, symbolising the idea of “spreading the word” about the essential role of communication. This collaborative effort visually reinforces that every conversation has the power to support and safeguard our children, fostering a safe, informed and caring environment for all.
Please walk up the path and check out the messages.
OLV BOOKWEEK & BOOK FAIR
On Friday parents and children will be able to purchase their books from the stall in the morning.
The character parade will commence at 12:30pm - or shortly after. The theme this year is "MAGIC". So get creative and see what you can come up with. But, please do not feel obliged to go to the expense of buying costumes. Please note that the students are to remain at school until after the Family activities which begin at 2.00pm.
PUPIL FREE DAY
A reminder that the school will be closed on Monday 16 September (Week 9) so that staff can attend the Professional Development opportunity "Love in Action". Staff will be working with Bishop Danny Meageher to explore service to the community.
MORNING ARRIVALS
Now that we have our new entrance and security access complete, just a gentle reminder about drop off in the morning. We ask that all children enter the school via the bottom gate on Lovell Pde. This will ensure the children receive a friendly greeting and hand sanitiser when starting school for the day.Parents with office business only should use the intercom to access the office. Please remember to sanitise upon entry.
ASPIRE AUDITIONS
Registrations for ASPIRE 2025 Auditions are now OPEN for current students from Year 4 to Year 12. The auditions will be held at the Newcastle Convention and Exhibition Centre NEX, King Street Newcastle (West City)
To register, please follow the link or scan the QR code on the information sheet below and complete the online registration form.
Audition Applications close of Friday 25 Septemebr, 2024. If you require further information, please contact Anne Atkins on 49791331 or email anne.atkins@mn.catholic.edu.au
During Term 2 and Term 3, the staff at OLV have been working on our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) framework, which is one of our School Improvement Goals for 2024.
Positive Behaviour for Learning is an evidence-based framework that brings together the whole-school community to contribute to developing a positive, safe and supportive learning culture. The development of the framework will assist to improve the social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes for the students at OLV.
With student input, the staff have developed a matrix of expected behaviours which covers the following settings at our school: All the time, the classroom, the library, the playground and the toilets. These behaviours will be explicitly taught to the students throughout the rest of the year and into next year.
Each of the expected behaviours are aligned to our school’s Vision and Mission- ‘In truth we LOVE’, focusing on everyone in the OLV community showing respect, care, inclusion, tolerance and acceptance; ‘In truth we SERVE’, focusing on building our school community and looking after our environment, and In truth we LIVE, which focuses on student learning, their actions and how they grow into people of God.
Below are the behaviour expectations for all the time and in the classroom.
As part of the development of the Positive Behaviour for Learning framework, we seek parental involvement in its creation and implementation. Below are links to two surveys which I encourage you to complete. The information received will help us identify the expected behaviours that you see as most important in creating a positive, safe and supportive learning culture at OLV. This data will assist us in prioritising focus lessons.
EXPECTED BEHAVIOURS PARENT SURVEY - ALL THE TIME
EXPECTED BEHAVIOURS PARENT SURVEY- THE CLASSROOM
Over the coming weeks, I will share the expected behaviours across the other settings and provide you opportunity to contribute your thoughts.
Have a great week!
Amber Deegan
Assistant Principal
Grandparents' Day
On Friday 13th September we will celebrate Grandparent's Day. On this day we will also have our Book Fair with our Book Parade.
The organisation of the day is as follows:
The day will begin with the Book Fair opening at 9am till 3pm in the library.
Morning Tea in the Hall at 11:15am.
Liturgy in the Hall at 12:00pm
Book Week parade from 12:30pm
Free Sausage Sizzle 1:00pm
Family Activities 2pm.
If you would like a sausage sandwich you will need to complete the online survey form - once per family.
As a staff we have come up with seven activities that the children will rotate around with their grandparents and parents.
Our Lady of Victories Feast Day Mass
On Friday 27th September the whole school will attend mass at 9am to celebrate Our Lady of Victories Feast day. We would love to see many parents celebrate with us.
MISSION "SOCKTOBER" LAUNCH
Our Year 6 leaders will be attending the launch of Catholic Mission's annual Appeal. This year's theme is "Go and invite everyone to the Banquet". The launch will take place on Tuesday 17/09/24 at McDonalds Jones Stadium from 9.15am to 12.00pm.
Children will be transported to the event in teachers’ vehicles. When you give permission via COMPASS, this will be for the event and travel arrangements.
Children are to wear full sports uniform and hat. Your child will need to bring their water bottles.
Pastoral Care
Did you know we are running a "Play Group" for our OLV families? It is held each Monday morning in the hall and is available for all current families and enrolled future families at OLV. It's a great way to meet other families and get to know our community. Check the flyer for contact details.We have finally completed the ICAS Competition. I am so proud of the children who participated in the variety of areas. Each of them enjoyed the challenge and were a pleasure to work with! We will receive the results and certificates very soon, and they will be presented at an assembly at the end of term.
A group of students across Year 4, 5 and 6 participated in the Newcastle Permanent Mathematics Competition. These children were a joy to work with. They relished the opportunity, and engaged in great conversations afterwards about they different ways that they solved the questions. These results will be shared with the students and their families when they become available.
Teagan Payton
Gifted Education Mentor (acting)
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.
| Kinder |
Samuel - for working well in a group to construct an area of the school using any materials. James - for working hard at sounding out CVC words. Keep up the good work James. Ted - for working well in a group to construct an area of the school using any materials |
| Year 1 |
Lola C - for fantastic improvement in reading and sounding out words. Luca S - for his enthusiasm and great effort during science lessons. Kane S - for working hard to improve his reading. Evette C - for having a positive attitude to all areas of learning. |
| Year 2 |
Mason G - for an improvement in the presentation of your book work! Alexis G - for an outstanding effort in your speech writing! Amelia I - for always applying yourself to all learning areas and displaying maturity! Adamma U - for a fantastic improvement in your ability to start a Maths task and your growing confidence on Maths! |
| Year 3 |
Matilda B - For her engagement with her learning and her demonstration of a positive growth mindset. Maksim S - For fearlessly tackling challenges in his learning journey and excelling as a problem solver Tomi O - For being a curious learner who seeks to challenge herself, particularly with her writing. Tesa S - For her determination to thrive with her fluency and for not being afraid to ask questions. Thomas O - For his positive and creative contributions to classroom discussions. |
| Year 4 |
Eli O – applying creative strategies to solve maths problems. Ariana S – consistently being a role model for positive behaviour. Chase S – showing great focus and responsibility in all independent tasks. |
| Year 5 |
Isabella T - for her excellent use of positional language in her writing this week. Kasey S - for effectively using Newman’s Prompts when solving word-problems in mathematics. Jesse M - for always being a responsible student who take accountability of his learning. |
| Year 6 |
Maddison H - for great work using conjunctions in writing activities. Maxwell W - for always applying himself during independent activities. Millie H - for producing quality work during English and Mathematics activities. |
| V & M Awards |
Kindergarten: Cali Sporne by looking after the school environment by picking up papers without being told. Year 1: Maria T for being a caring friend to those in need. Year 2: Isabelle M- always helping in the classroom without being asked! Year 3: Lucy C for being kind and determined to make everyone in our class feel valued. Year 4: Lily P for keeping the classroom tidy for everyone to enjoy. Year 5: Max B for always making good decisions in the face of adversity. Year 6: Benjamin T for always being respectful and kind towards students and staff. |
We would like to wish the following children a Happy Birthday.
| Kindergarten | |
| Year 1 | Florence C |
| Year 2 | Milli I, Afia A |
| Year 3 | |
| Year 4 | Erleen S, Levi A |
| Year 5 | |
| Year 6 |
Congratulations and we hope you had a happy day
SOCCER GALA
Interested children from Year 3-6 will be involved in the Regional Soccer Gala Day on Thursday 19 September. The event is being held at the Speers Point Sporting Centre. The children have nominated their interest in participating and parent should have received a COMPASS notification about this event to give permission to attend. Because of numbers involved we will require a bus to transport toa from the venue. Parents decided at our last FACE meeting to subsidise the cost of the bus. Thank You.
Parents are more that welcome to come along and cheer as well.
MONTHLY FACE MEETING
Another successful meeting last week discussed the following:
- PB4L - Mrs Deagan gave and overview of how we are progressing with the introduction of this philosophy. Parent input is being sought to glean ideas.
- Playground Modifications - temporary fixes have been made to some areas with a long-term replacement plan being planned with support from the CSO - Parent input will be sought during Term 4
- Pupil Free Day - Mrs Dunn outlined the in-service - "Love in Action" - Staff will work with Bishop Danny Meagher to explore service to the community - Monday 16/09
- Fund Raising Reports: Father's Day, Pie Drive, Election BBQ
- Yr 6 Sports Shirts 2025 – options to go to parents by end of term - Yr 6 "Fun Day" being organised to support cost for 2024 Jerseys.
- School Disco - to be organised for Term 4 – input from parents to be sought to organise.
- Other Events to plan - Christmas Concert and Party, Grandparents Day.
- Soccer Gala - 19/09 - 43 children attending - support for bus to be provided from fund raising effort - discussion around purchasing more "special" uniforms for these types of events in the future.
- 12 attended (4 x F2F & 8 online - 1 apology)
ELECTION BBQ & CAKE STALL
We are drawing closer to our Election Morning BBQ on Saturday next week - 14 September. Thank you to those that have put their hand up to volunteer during the morning with the BBQ and Cake Stall. If you are available, please send in your Volunteer Sheet.We will also be looking for donations of cakes, cookies and treats to sell on the stall as well. Parents can drop these off at school on Fridy prior or at the stall on Saturday morning.
Thank you, Mrs B and Mrs O, for organising for this event.
PIE DRIVE
The orders for our Pie Drive are still open and will close on Sunday. Please jump into QKR and place your orders. Orders will be available for collection on TUESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER.
Thanks Mrs M & Mrs W for organising this event.
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: