24 October 2019

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

Principal’s Messages

CAPTAINS 2020

Thank you to those that came along last Tuesday evening to discuss what might be done. It was good to have a wide cross section through the school from K-6 as whatever model we opt for will affect all children in the future. The points that came out of the discussion to be considered included:

• Leave it the same – this would exclude only three children from leadership roles which brings a lot of issues around self-esteem, popularity rather than suitability,
• Reducing the number of positions – should we do away with vice-captains and have only one house captain?
• Having prefect positons for those that do not get a “badge” – this is unofficially how the year 6 leadership opportunities are delegated, whilst not “badged” positions
• Having a “Parliament” which elects a “Prime Minister” each term
• Sharing the roles around the whole group with different children each term

We will continue to have discussions and let parents know shortly which model we will adopt for next year and probably the following two years.

CLASSES FOR 2020

At this point in time, I would like to let parents know that we will be working with 6 classes again in 2020. There will be, however, a change in the class structures and the teachers for the classes. We envisage there being a Kinder (28), Year 1 (17), Year 2 (22), Year 3 (20), Year 4, (11), Year 5/6 (23). We have decided to split the current Year 3/4 class so that we avoid a cross stage composite of Year 4/5. This will also give the opportunity for our Stage 2 classes (years 3 & 4) to work and collaborate closely for this stage.

BUDDY TRAINING

Our “buddies” next year will also be affected by our small numbers at the top end. So that we are able to provide the best support for our new Kinders, we have seconded the Year 4 children to join the Year 5 children to train as “Big Buddies” for 2020 – this will also be the case for Kinder 2021. Our “Buddy” training happened last week and we thank the children for their wonderful enthusiasm and generosity to take on this role – see more in Mrs McGann’s report.

GRANDPARENTS DAY

We are looking towards celebrating the wonderful gifts our Grandparents are. We will be doing this on Friday 25 October. We will begin with a celebratory Mass at 9:15am. This will be followed by Morning Tea and a visit to the classrooms (a craft activity with your Grandchild/ren). We will then entertain you with a mini-concert and our dancers. We invite you to bring along a picnic lunch to share on the oval. All are invited to celebrate these special people in our lives.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Unfortunately, we will not be holding a Christmas Concert this year. We chose to focus on dance this year and our recital at the end of Term 2 was wonderful. With our concert format becoming repetitive and the need to expand our talents within the school and the curriculum, we are looking towards a more significant song, dance and drama production in 2020 to compensate for the disappointment of not having a concert this year.

PUBLIC SPEAKING

This term, interested children from each class will put their skills forward in an attempt to be selected to represent the school at the Regional Public Speaking Competition to be held in Week 3 – 31 October. Good luck to all those that wish to try out.

BUS PASSES

Children in Year 2 who wish to have a bus pass for 2020, will need to make a renewal application. There are stricter guidelines for children in Year 3 and above when they apply for a new pass. Children moving up to Year 7 will also need to apply for a new pass. Applications can be made online at the link below:

HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGE

During the school holidays I had the extreme privilege of travelling with 32 other members of the Diocese, including our Bishop, William, to the Holy Land visiting many of the sites we hear so much about in the Gospels. It began with a visit to Mt Nebo where Moses looked upon the “promised land” after leading his people out of exile. It finished with a moving tracing of Christ’s last moments along the Via Dolorosa, retracing the Stations of the Cross. If you are interested in following this pilgrimage you can go to the link below where I recorded my thoughts, insights and experiences each day. There are still two days to post.

The Promised Land

The church of the Holy Sepulchre- where Christ died and was buried

MRS NOBLE RETURNS

Mrs Noble returned last week. She has resumed her part-time role of 2 days per week (Monday and Tuesday) with Year 1. Mrs Hingston will continue in her role as Year 1 teacher but drop back to 3 days per week. Both Mrs Hingston and Mrs Noble have made a great team in the past and we look forward to every success for the children in Year 1.

YEAR 6 GRADUATION DATE

We have had to change the date for the Year 6 Graduation in December. It will now take place on Thursday 12 December. Apologies if this will cause some changes to previous arrangements.

PUBLIC SPEAKING

We will be sending a team to Corpus Christi at Waratah to represent OLV at the Regional Public Speaking Competition next week. Congratulations to the following children who have been selected:

Kinder: Grace G, Sienna S
Year 1: Maya R
Year 2: Harrison S
Year 3: Isla W
Year 4: Layla R
Year 5: Deacon W
Year 6: Jodie W

YEAR 6 FUN DAY

Year 6 will be putting on their fun day on Friday, 15 November. There will be stalls and games for the children to enjoy beginning at 10am, as well as a BBQ lunch for those who want to partake. After lunch is the OLV Talent Quest from 12noon– so get your entertainment shoes on kids and start practising. This is always a fun community day. Our awards assembly will follow the Talent Quest.

NEW WEBSITE

OLOV has a brand new website. Please copy the following link and paste it into Chrome.

RE News

Grandparents Day

Tomorrow, we will be celebrating Grandparents Day. We will begin with Mass at 9:15am followed by open classrooms so all the grandparents can view the lovely work their grandchildren have produced. Throughout the morning grandparents can buy a book from the Book Fair for their grandchildren, enjoy a cuppa or mingle with other grandparents and visitors. We will have a small concert in the hall where each class will present an item to entertain you. We would encourage people to bring a picnic lunch to have out in our beautiful gardens – don’t forget the blanket. (Special thanks to Indigo’s Granddad for getting the gardens looking so great)

Monday Morning Liturgies for Term 4

Please join us each Monday morning for our school Liturgy.

Week 3- Saints- Yr 3/4 - Friday 1st November All Saints Day Mass 9:15am
Week 4- Leadership- Yr 6
Week 5- Remembrance Day- Yr 5
Week 6- God’s Colourful World – Kindergarten
Week 7 - Peace- -Yr 1
Week 8 - Advent- Yr 2
Week 9 - Immaculate Conception- Yr 3/4

Thursday 12 December Graduation Mass 10am.

Week 10- Thanksgiving- Yr 6

Why not stay and play with the kids each week on Monday between 8:30am and 8:55am when you drop them off? The Liturgy is right after that.

Visiting AVEO

Over the next few weeks, the children will be visiting the local Retirement Village – AVEO. As we did last year when visiting St Joseph’s Nursing Home, the children will interact with the residents for an hour – reading to them, playing simple games, sharing their school work, performing etc. Each class will take turns, beginning with Yr 2 next week. The children will walk with their class to AVEO Village which is located beside the Shortland Waters Golf Club. They will leave at 12:30 and return by 2pm. Keep an eye out for your child’s class permission slips.

P & F News

NEXT MEETING

Our Association’s next meeting will be on Monday at 7pm in the Library. Please come along for the discussions and decisions. Some of the items to be discussed will include School Captains, uniform alternatives for girls, air conditioning for the hall, a change of times for meetings, and a Christmas Concert alternative.

CANTEEN NEWS

We are always looking for volunteers to help out with the activities of the P&F. If you might be available for the canteen in Term 4, please access the following:

TERM 4

Pastoral Care News

Our Gardens are looking great thanks to all the students at OLV. OLV chickens are laying and doing well. I personally wish to thank Ava and her family for taking such good care of Speedy, Sunshine, Ella and Grace. You are all wonderful!

Reports from Ava’s family were “The girls had a fantastic time looking after them & the eggs were yummy. 1 day we got 3 eggs all different sizes, Lexi thought this was great, a tiny little egg just like her.”

At the moment our Year 6 Vinnies group are running a craft group at lunch time. Everyone has the opportunity to create a Christmas card for children who are doing it tough on the land. We are letting them know we are thinking of them.

The Lemon Grove held a raffle on Friday night to raise funds for Juvenile Diabetes and in support of Archie. They raised $500 towards the cause. Great job Archie and family.

On Sunday Archie, his family and friends will be participating in the JDRF One Walk. Entry is free. Please join us to show support for Archie - 10am Speers Point Park, Sunday 27th October.

I will be hosting another afternoon tea soon.

Take Care and God Bless

From the Office

Office Hours

The office is unattended between the hours of 11.30am to 12.00pm.

School Fees

Term 3 school fees are now overdue. It would be appreciated if all accounts are paid promptly.

If you would like to manage your account with regular payments, please contact Leanne in the office, who can help you with a payment plan. Those who are experiencing legitimate financial hardships, can make application for consideration by making an appointment to see the Principal.

Swimming

Swimming fees have now been invoiced for Term 4. Swimming will commence Week 1 in Term 4 for 6 consecutive weeks. Payment is to be made weekly $10.85 prior to swimming or you may pay upfront for the six week program cost $65.00. I would like to thank all the parents who have paid in advance or weekly prior to swimming commencing.

Family Discount Form

A form was sent home this week for parents to complete in preparation for 2020 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. Please ensure this form is returned to the office by Friday 15th November, 2019.

Class News

Kinder

The countdown has begun and we are getting ready for Year One! We are learning to read and write words containing the /e/ sound eg, pet and met. There are five vowels and we will cover the last two; /e/ and /u/ this term. We will then be ready to spell bigger words when we go to Year One. Our reading is progressing very well and we will now focus on improving our writing skills. We want to be able to write more than one sentence and to include adjectives, pronouns and adverbial phrases in our writing. The English text we will be using to help develop our skills is “A Year on our Farm” by Penny Matthews. It covers the Maths content on ‘Seasons of the Year’ as students learn about the role of weather and seasons in the activities that take place on the farm. We have a “Farm Play” provocation in our classroom with resources for children to manipulate and play. There are farm animals, fencing materials, building blocks, farm characters, visuals, books about farms and farm animals, clip boards and writing materials. If you have any farm resources at home and are happy to share them we would love to borrow them for the term. In Maths we are learning to make the numbers 11-30 using tens and ones eg 16 is one ten and 6 more, 26 is two tens and 6 more. We have started a new unit in Religion, “The Bible, a Special Book”. We are learning about stories and how families have special memories they pass on by telling their stories to their children. We viewed an Aboriginal story (You and Me Murrawee) and found out that storytelling was a very important part of Aboriginal culture. Please share memories with your children so they have a story to share with the class eg. something memorable they did when they were a baby. In Science we are learning about “ MATERIALS- WHERE FROM AND WHAT FOR’. We will identify that objects are made of different materials such as wood, plastic, glass, metal, rubber and paper and examine how the properties of materials affect their use. Kinder 2019 are looking forward to welcoming our new Kinders for 2020 this term and we have been practising two items to perform for them. Lots to do this term but I’m sure we will make it.

Last term in English we had a huge focus on public speaking to prepare for the Diocese Public Speaking Competition. I am very proud of all Year 2 students with the hard work they have put into this. I am happy to announce that Harrison Scott will be representing OLV for Year 2. We wish Harrison all the best.

Last week in Mathematics we focused on money. Most children need to spend more time learning how to give change. We had questions like “I went to the shop with $5. I spent $2.25. How much change did I receive?” Please allow your children to play with your spare coins. It might be a good idea to put prices on the items in your pantry and allow them to pretend to go shopping.

The children are becoming very excited about presenting their play “A Little Bit of Christmas” on Friday. Please make sure all students have their costume at school on Thursday. I hope to see a number of parents and grandparents on Friday.

Buddy Training

I felt so privileged on Thursday last week as I worked with our future 5/6 class in preparation for the arrival of their buddies next week.

We reminisced about memories of our first day at ‘big’ school, discussed and developed a list of the characteristics of a big buddy, discussed our concerns, developed solutions and then formed our groups and discovered which little buddies would be a part of our groups. They spent the last part of the day writing letters of introduction to their little buddies.

The students approached the day with sincerity and enthusiasm. Congratulations to the group!

Ms McGann

Buddy Training

Library News

Book Club

Book Club order forms have gone home this week. Please fill order forms in clearly with your child’s name and items to be ordered.

Place money and order form in an envelope and place in your child’s classroom note bag. Orders can also be made on-line.

All orders need to be completed by Monday 28th October, 2019. Late orders cannot be accepted as there will be a delivery fee charged by Scholastic.

Sport News

POLDING ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

We had a wonderful athlete representing OLV, the North Region and the Diocese at the Polding Athletics Trials on Friday last week. These trials select a team to represent at the State Trials. JESSIE F performed with great success at the trials achieving Gold Medals in the 100m, 200m, Shot Putt and Long Jump. What an awesome performance, Jessie, well done!!

Jessie F

Class Awards

OOSH

One issue that may arise is the need for Casual Care on occasions. If you think that you might need this, it will be necessary to be enrolled in the service prior to making a booking. Remember that you need to contact St Nicholas OOSH to book your child in, as we can’t do it through the school.

Their contact details are, Christine 0447 288 040 or tracey.sweetman@stnicholasoosh.org.au

If you intend to use the OOSH either before or after school, you might like to download the application forms, fill them out and send them into school to pass on for processing.

Check out this link for more information on St Nicholas OOSH.