28 November 2018

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

Principals Message

The Business End

We are coming to the end of the school year and things are getting hectic. It is around this time that children get tired and lose focus on what they need to be doing to stay successful in their learning. It’s a time when everyone needs to be conscious of supporting the children and encouraging them to keep going in the right direction. The speed of the term will quicken as the holidays approach and assessments and activities are being completed. It is important the children do these to the best of their abilities. HANG ONTO YOUR HATS !

OOSH 2019

At the last P&F meeting I presented a proposal for the instigation of an OOSH service at OLV in 2019 by Camp Australia. Since then, the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has announced it had successfully applied to be an OOSH service provider. With this announcement, the Diocese of Maitland Newcastle will take on the commitment to commence an OOSH at OLV in the New Year. Ms Tracey Sweetman, the Project Manager for St Nicholas OOSH (the Diocesan Service Agent) will be visiting the school on Tuesday 11 December to meet with any interested parents in the library at 3:15pm. She will explain the service and program they will provide and answer any questions you might have.

The hours for the service will be:

There will also be a provision for holiday programs if there is a need.

Pupil Free Days

There will be two Pupil Free Days this term. Friday 30 November and Monday 3 December are set down for the Staff Retreat and a Professional Development Day. Please note the school will closed on these days. Enjoy the long weekend with your children.

From The Office

Family Discount Form

A form was sent home for parents to complete in preparations for 2019 school fees. This is an important form that we then use to calculate the fees for the coming year. It is vital that all parents complete this form and indicate if we need to apply a family discount (including siblings across both primary and high schools within the Catholic system), Health Care Card discount and the optional contribution to the Diocesan Pastoral Care program. The Diocesan Pastoral Care program contributes to the ongoing wellbeing of those most in need within our Diocese.

Receipts

All receipts are now being emailed to all fee payers. If you have a new email address could you please contact the office so we can send the receipts to you.

FEES

School, Dancing & Swimming

We have sent out invoices to all parents for Tuition, Dancing and Swimming with what we can determine as outstanding amounts. If you are certain that you have paid the fees please jot me a note to explain, if not, then please forward your payment. Apologies to all those that might have been caught up in this misunderstanding.

School Fees

2018 Fees are now due for payment. Please ensure payment is made ASAP. If you are making payments via BPAY or Direct Debit it is up to you to ensure that your payments are adequate to clear your account by the end of the year. If you require an extension or wish to discuss the matter please contact Leanne in the office.

Voluntary Contribution

If your latest statement is showing Voluntary Contribution amounts outstanding at the bottom then you MUST advise whether the payments you make can be allocated towards this or whether you would like these amounts removed from your Statement.

REC News

VINNIES CHRISTMAS APPEAL

Next Friday, 7th December, we will be holding our Annual Vinnies Christmas Appeal. A note with a donation envelope was sent home with the eldest child in each family on Wednesday afternoon.

Our Lady of Victories always shows great generosity for this special appeal each year. Thank you, in anticipation, for your kind and very much needed contribution to help those in our community to have a brighter Christmas.

The day will involve:

• Out of Uniform – wearing a Christmas T-shirt, dress or costume
• Sausage sizzle lunch
• Ice block sticks for sale
• Fun lunchtime activities run by Mini Vinnies

We are looking forward to having a fun day for a very special cause!

Absences

SMS/Email notification of Absence

As part of Our Lady of Victories’ commitment to student safety and welfare, our school has begun notifying parents of their child’s unexplained absence via SMS message & email.

This service provides an SMS / email notification to parents of children who are marked absent from school without explanation once the roll has been checked in the morning.

Where possible, it would be appreciated if parents can notify the school at their earliest convenience regarding a child’s absence.

If a child is going to be absent for the day or is intending to arrive late (e.g. medical appointments etc.), then parents are asked to use the COMPASS APP or call the office to notify the school before 9:30am on the day rather than sending a note afterward.

It is hoped that by providing this service and in partnership with families we can continue to ensure all possible mechanisms are in place to maintain the safety of our students.

Compass App

At the end of Week 9, your children’s reports will be released on the COMPASS Parent Portal. It will be necessary for all parents to ensure they have a working knowledge of how to access the reports through the website or the APP. We are coming to the end of the term and we will soon be posting the Semester 2 Reports on COMPASS. There will be a refresher session for parents on Monday Week 9, 10 December, at 3:15pm in the library. Log in at the link below to access details if you are confident

Using the Attendance Notifications through COMPASS is the preferred method of informing the school that your child is away. By sending it through COMPASS, it is immediately updated in the class roll.

Schoolzine App

Go to this link to download the Schoolzine App:

You will be able the school newsletter there and notifications will come through Schoolzine similar to SkoolBag.

Skoolbag Has Stopped

We are no longer using Skoolbag as a means of communication. Parents are asked to delete this App from their Smartphones and refrain from using it.

P & F News

P & F ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The AGM will be in FEBRUARY 2019. Please give some thought to nominating for a role with the P&F next year. The AGM will be held in March and all executive positions must be vacated. The current position holders cannot be re-elected to those positions under the constitution, which states you may only be elected to that position for two consecutive years. So please, to keep the association running next year come along to the meeting and put your hand up for a role. Position descriptions were sent home yesterday.

MACCA’S FUNDRAISER

What a great evening we had on Tuesday. There were lots of families sharing a meal at Macca’s, playing together and having a good time. Thanks to everyone that came along. We will keep you posted with the fundraising result.

UNIFORM POOL NEWS

School Bags ($60) and Library Bags ($15) are now available from the uniform pool. The Uniform Pool is open every Thursday in the Bell Room next door to year 1 classroom from 8:40 – 9:10am during school terms.

Please remember cash only, as no EFTPOS facilities are available.

Pastoral Care News

Mini Vinnies and our thoughtful students are in the process of making gifts to give to residents of a Retirement Village. Giving your time and caring for others is the most generous gift any person can give. Christmas is a time when we can give a moment to others to demonstrate how much we care.

I am hoping to trim some trees and generally tidy up our school grounds in the next few weeks. If you have some spare time, a saw, or a trailer to assist in disposing of excess compost, could you please contact me. I would really like to get a working bee together. Once I have had responses to the request, I will organise a suitable date.

Take Care and God Bless
Karen Johnson

Class News

Kinder

In Religion, we have started our Advent and Christmas unit. Advent is the period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus and its name comes from the Latin word adventus, which means "coming". We discussed how hard it is to wait for something special such as our birthday and the arrival of a new baby. We shared the ways we could prepare for Christmas. Some examples were trying hard to be good, buying presents and making decorations. In English, we are learning about the four kinds of sentences: statement (a telling sentence), question (an asking sentence), command (a command sentence) and an exclamation (an exciting sentence). In Maths, we are working on Multiplication and Division. We learnt how to name groups and rows eg. Three groups of six or three rows of six. ‘Rows of’ is trickier than ‘groups of’. In PDHPE, we are discussing how to keep safe at home and at school. In Geography, we are studying our world on a Globe and in Atlases. We are locating our country, Australia and other countries of personal interest. In Visual Arts we completed our class mobile and it can be viewed hanging outside our classroom.

Year 1

This week we had a wonderful surprise visit from Mrs Noble and her beautiful new daughter Sophie! It was wonderful to meet little Sophie and ask Mrs Noble a few questions about what she likes.

In English, we have read the story called ‘Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type’ by Doreen Cronin. Year 1 took a close look at one of the letters the cows typed to Farmer Brown. We worked together to edit the letter and make it sound more persuasive using strong words and reasons. Everyone then wrote their own letter to Farmer Brown from the ducks. These letters used good persuasive techniques to ask for a diving board for their pond. This week we have read the story called ‘The Day The Crayons Quit’ by Drew Daywalt. We looked closely at the letter written by Orange Crayon and found the different ways he made his letter persuasive: using capitals, underlining words and using exclamation marks. Together, we made a list of all the different things the crayons wanted from their owner, Duncan.

Year 2/3

Year 2/3 has considered the topic position and data. In year 3, we have developed our understanding in relation to our geography unit through studying the position of different towns in New Zealand as well as comparing and graphing the temperature in Wellington and Newcastle this week. Year 2 constructed a simple map of the playground as well as making a pictograph of types of transport used to get to school using an online program. In religion, we have commenced our unit on advent and we considered events in our past, present and future. In science, we completed a shadow stick experiment as we recorded the direction and length of shadows formed by the stick. In English, we considered the text Monsoon Afternoon by Kashmira Sheth and we looked at the clues that indicated this text was set in a different country. We are looking forward to the swimming carnival tomorrow.

Year 4

Year 4 are working very hard as we approach the end of Term 4. In Religion, we are learning about the sights, sounds, symbols and gestures of Liturgy. It is interesting to think about the various aspects of something we participate in so regularly at school. In English we are enjoying our novel “Fern Gully” and we are learning about the effects the destruction of our environment can cause. We are working to develop our writing skills and we have also been practising foundation cursive using blue pen in our Handwriting Books! In Maths, we are working on division with remainders. It is quite tricky but we are becoming more skilled each day.

We had a fun day at San Clemente yesterday and we can’t wait to go to high school in 2021!

Year 5

Whilst we are working hard in the classroom, there have been outside experiences that we have participated in over the last two weeks.

Last week we went to Raymond Terrace to participate in the Leadership Day run by the Spirituality Team at the CSO. It was an amazing day, with many opportunities to reflect upon the true meaning of leadership and about how leaders do not work for their own gain, but work hard at serving others. We are now in the midst of preparing our leadership speeches which will be heard from later next week onwards.

The other exciting out-of-class experience was the return of our buddies, which was on Tuesday. We had an opportunity to play and interact with them again whilst their parents were in the hall. Then while they played outside with their parents, we went back to class, but were able to share our lunch time with them. We can’t wait to see them again in 2019.

Year 6

In Religion, this week, we are working on our Advent and Christmas unit. We have discussed examples of waiting for something, in relation to our own lives and in the lives of people in the scriptures. As the season of Advent approaches, we prepare ourselves for the holy celebration of Christmas! In Maths, we are working with fractions and decimals paying particular attention to revising fractions of collections and to the conversion of fractions, decimals and percentages. We are gaining a good understanding after lots of practice. In Geography, we have looked at various aspects of life in New Guinea by observing portions of photographs and predicting what they were representing. When we looked at the wider picture, we discovered more about the situations. We discussed how this can be true about lots of things in life. We should always try to see the bigger picture to gain a better understanding. We attended our last Swimming Carnival at OLV yesterday. A big congratulations to those who participated so well!

Sport News

We had a great day at the carnival today. Thanks to all the helpers who gave us some of their valuable time. The children competed well and encouraged each other to do their best. We will be presenting ribbons and trophies at the Awards Assembly on Friday next week starting at 2:15pm.

Class Awards

Class awards for Week 6