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SAFE & SUPPORTIVE VALIDATION
Today we had our validation in the area of Safe & Supportive which is part of the six-year cycle in the Continuum of School Improvement (COSI). The process looks at the policies, procedures and practices used at OLV to ensure we provide the Child Protection needs of our children. Once the panel has prepared its report we will pass it on.
YR 6 FUN DAY
Year 6 are looking forward to providing some fun activities for all to enjoy on this Thursday. All activities are 50 cents a go. Ten activity tickets can be prepaid on QKR or children may bring some coins on Thursday. Some of the activities include face painting, soccer shots, lolly guesses and much more. It should be a fun day.KINDER '25
We are looking forward to welcoming our 2025 cohort of Kindergarten during next term. The first Orientation Day will be Thursday 7 November. There will be 3 follow ups on 21 November, 28 November & 5 December. Our Year 5 children will go through some buddy training to support the children for the new arrivals. It's an exciting time for all. The year is certainly getting away from us.If you are aware of anyone still considering their options for Kinder next year, please steer them in the direction of the office.
ENROLLING FOR 2025
We still have vacancies in most classes for 2025. Please pass on the message. 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.
PILGRIMAGE
I have been bitten by the wanderer’s bug again and will be venturing onto another pilgrimage during the school holidays. I will be joining a group of people from around the Diocese to walk the Path of Mercy in Ireland. We will be exploring the charism of Sr Catherine McAuley who founded the Mercy order of women who worked with the poor and uneducated women and children of Ireland. Her legacy is very significant in our Diocese as many are “Mercy” schools set up by the Sisters of Mercy. Catherine McAuley also has a connection to the Josephite charism of Mary McKillop which guides our school.
If you are interested in following the Path of Mercy you can go to:
Grandparents' Day
Last Friday we celebrated Grandparents Day which was a great success. It was lovely to see so many grandparents take an interest in their grandchildren's education. The children really enjoyed the activities in the afternoon and I overheard some grandparents tell their grandchildren stories of when they were at school they used to play these games. So a huge thank you to everyone who attended this lovely day.
Sacramental Program
I would like to congratulate Ruby and Osita for completing the Parish Sacramental Program. Both students made their First Holy Communion on Sunday 15th September.
Our Lady of Victories Mass
On Friday 27th September our whole school will be celebrating our patron saint Our Lady of Victory. The whole school will attend mass at 9am. We would like to welcome everyone to celebrate mass with us.
Socktober Liturgy & Catholic Mission Day
In Term 4 Week 1 we will have our first liturgy on Friday 18th October. After liturgy each class will hold a stall and we will fundraise for Catholic Missions. Class teachers will communicate with you via Compass to let you know how you can help out. Parents and friends will be invited to join us celebrate liturgy and participate in the stalls. This will commence at 1:30pm. Stay tuned for more information.
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 |
Elliot R - for excellent drawing skills. Eli I- for being able to read his sight words. Ivy L - for being able to sound out words when writing. |
| Year 1 |
Hayden M - for improved effort in classwork. Sadie S - for making fantastic growing patterns in maths lessons. Will H - for making fantastic growing patterns in maths lessons. Benjamin Z - for being a curious learner who isn't afraid to ask questions. |
| Year 2 |
Micko A- for learning to tie your shoes! Theo B- for an improved effort in your handwriting and attitude towards writing! Sam C- always starting your work straight away and staying focused until it's finished! Elena T- for reading out loud clearly and with expression in drama class! |
| Year 3 |
Ruby H - for her insightful contributions to classroom discussions, particularly during English. Chris H - for being a curious learner who enjoys a challenge in his activities. Osita U - for his improved effort to seek help when needed. Keep up the great work Osita! |
| Year 4 |
Alierah M – the outstanding improvement in her spelling results. Great work! Gibson F – his improved engagement in classroom lessons and activities. Annabelle H – the great improvement she has made in spelling. Keep it up! |
| Year 5 |
Sienna S – for being a determined learner who always tries her best. Daniel Z – for using great examples of language of description in his histroical recount draft. Max B – for taking more accountability for his learning this term. Keep up the great work, Max! |
| Year 6 |
Tobias I - for always applying himself and producing quality work. Shammah N - for asking great questions during lessons and activities. Heath F - for applying himself and working to the best of his ability. |
| V & M Awards |
Kindergarten: always being polite and thinking of others. Year 1: Aleki V for always offering a helping hand. Year 2: Amelia I- always offering support to others and being a responsible member of the class! Year 3: Eleanor T or consistently working to the best of her ability Year 4: Audrey S – spreading kindness and positivity through the school. Year 5: Ziah L for being a loyal friend who looks out for his peers. Year 6: Emmersen P showing great respect to Teachers and a love of learning, keep it up! |
| Lexia Awards |
Maria T - Level 2 |
We would like to wish the following children a Happy Birthday.
| Kindergarten | Mojetoluwa O, Oskar B, Theodore M |
| Year 1 | Kai P, Aubrey B |
| Year 2 | Leo K, Nikita P |
| Year 3 | |
| Year 4 | Brian K, Chase S, Audrey S |
| Year 5 | Gabriella K |
| Year 6 | Tobias I, Maddison H |
Congratulations and we hope you had a happy day
SWIMMING
Swimming lessons will begin next term. The children will be attending the Forum pool at the university each Wednesday. The cost for this is included in the Sports Levy. Please start to get their swimming gear organised and labelled.
Also note our Swimming Carnival will be held in Week 8 - 6 December.
SOCCER GALA
On Thursday, OLV attended the annual North Region Soccer Gala Day at Speers Point. The weather put on a show and our competitors did not disappoint either. We had teams from Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 participate in the day. In my biased opinion, OLV were by far the best-looking school kitted out in their uniforms.
There were a couple OLV derbies throughout the day, with Year 5 and 6 boys versing each other in the first round, followed by the Year 3 and 4 boys and then the Year 3 and 4 girls. There were some silky skills on show and some outstanding teamwork from all OLV teams.
What was most pleasing to see was the sportsmanship shown by every student from our school. There were also comments made to me throughout the day from parents and other schools about how well behaved OLV were which made me super proud. Everyone who attended should be extremely proud of their efforts. They represented our school in an excellent manner.
A big thank you to all the family members who came and supported our teams on the day. An even bigger than you to the Team Managers: Miss Payton, Miss Jones and Mr. Moran. Without your efforts the day wouldn’t have been such a success.
ELECTION BBQ THANKS
The organisers would like to thank all the helpers and cake makers who were able to help out or send in some tasty treat for the BBQ last weekend. We had a great morning and were able to raise nearly $600 for the morning.
Special thanks to the children that helped out also: Sienna S, Lucy & Sophia C, Max & Ruby B, Ruby H, Isabella M. and Josie B.
PIE DRIVE
Thanks to the orgsanisers of the PIE DRIVE. We had quite a good response. We are still calculating the profit margins and will be abkle to report on this at the FACE meeting next week. Very Tasty.
FACE MEETING
Our next FACE meeting will be on Monday evening next week at 7pm. We will be meeting Face-to-Face or via TEAMS. We will be discussing some more fundraising ideas and looking for suggestions for the future. The TEAMS link will be sent out on Monday via COMPASS.
CANTEEN HELPERS
We had a great response for helpers in the Canteen this term and a big thanks goes out to all who have been able to give us some of their valuable time. This week a volunteer calendar was sent home for anyone who can help out next term. Please indicate if you can help and return it to school next week. The roster will then be worked out and sent out with the term calendar next term.
We are also looking for a volunteer to do some training on fiid handling and be a link with the school on managing the canteen in a safe and healthy way. If you are interested, please let us know. It is not meant to be a "Canteen Coordinator" but someone who iwill be trained in this area to offer advice.
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: