WELCOME

A number of new students started with OLV this year.  Welcome Daniel, Ella, Xanthie and Tyson and their families.  We wish them a fruitful time at Our Lady of Victories.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK - DRAWING FROM THE WELL

Schools across the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle will celebrate their strength of community when they open doors to families and friends for Catholic Schools Week (CSW) 2020.

CSW runs from Sunday 1 March to Saturday 7 March and the theme is  “Drawing from the well. Invitation, Encounter, Witness”. This acknowledges that Jesus Christ is always at the heart of everything we do. Recognising this is the foundation of a Catholic school education, the lens through which everything is viewed, and the belief that informs all policies and decisions.

“Invitation, Encounter, Witness” celebrates the connection of the school community with Jesus Chirst. Our students are invited to the well, where, with Jesus as their guide they encounter diversity of learning in a supportive and inclusive environment, and witness service to others and the community.

We will be opening our school to the community to come and have look at the great things we do. We will be opening the week with a liturgy on Monday morning followed by a “Meet and Greet” morning tea in the hall from 9:30am. From 10am the classrooms will be open for your inspection and interaction. There will be different things happening in different classes, so feel free to wander about and check everything out.

On Wednesday and Friday mornings of that week from 10am, the school will be open to interested families looking to enrol in 2021. We will start with a short presentation ad move to school tours conducted by the students. We have invited all the preschools in the area to come along as a group or as individual families.

Please come along and celebrate with us if you can.

Catholic Schools Week also marks the start of the 2021 enrolment period for all 58 schools across the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. The region’s newest Catholic high school, Catherine McAuley Catholic College, Medowie, will welcome its first enrolments in Year 7 and Year 8 for 2021. 

With so many activities happening across all schools throughout the week, check out our Catholic Schools Week's Events Calendar or contact your local school to make sure you don’t miss out on the chance to get involved in the celebrations and see why so many families choose a Catholic education for their child.

If a member of your family is a student of one of our schools, or if you are considering a Catholic education for your child, please come along and celebrate with us.

 1-2-3 MAGIC

Expressions of Interest

Are you interested in attending a parenting program to learn:

• Why children behave the way they do
• How to support your children to manage their own emotions and behaviour
• How the brain effects behaviour
• How to maintain a successful relationship with your child
• Learn to manage difficult behaviour in children 2-12

The Family Action Centre of the University of Newcastle is offering to provide a proven successful parenting strategy called “1-2-3 MAGIC” They would like to offer this course to interested parents and friends at OLV in the near future. The course consists of 3 x 2 hour sessions and would be provided free. We would like to gauge any interest by filling out an Expression of Interest form in the office. It asks if you are interested, know someone who might be, when the course could be offered.

CHILDREN’S UNIVERSITY

Learning doesn’t always happen within the classroom setting. Children experience a myriad of learnings outside the formal school setting without really realising it.

At our assembly next week, we will be visited by a representative of the Children’s University. She will explain to the children (and any interested parents) about a program offered by the University of Newcastle as a way to encourage children to explore their learning outside the prescribed curriculum, be it in sport, the arts, technology and more.

Shaye Bourke will provide some information flyers for parents and with their children to express an interest in participating in the program. The main idea is for children to explore learning opportunities outside of school hours and to interact with this learning in a positive manner.

There will be opportunities in school (lunch times and after school) as well as recognising the learning activities they are involved in themselves. The children are given a “passport” to get stamped when they recognise learning in which they have participated. Their aim would be to participate in 30 extra-curricular hours by the end of the year.

Shaye would also like to present the program to interested parents at our next P&F meeting (2 March).

COMPASS COMMUNICATION

As COMPASS has been with us now for over a year, the teachers are ready to explore new ways of engaging parents on their children’s learning. The App will be used to convey messages, reminders and notices relevant to each class. It will be a forum to communicate.

To ensure you have this access parents will either need the APP or access COMPASS through the webpage at:

https://shortland-nsw.compass.education

A Compass App “training” for new parents and any else who would like a refresher will be available  on Wednesday afternoon (12 Feb) at 3:15 in the library. In the meantime parents could use the instruction booklet below to begin using COMPASS.

Compass Instructions

SCHOOL ACCESS

One of the new learning structures we would like to introduce is uninterrupted literacy and numeracy blocks. To achieve this is to reduce the number of interruptions to the class prior to 2pm. To help achieve this goal we ask parents not to go to the classrooms after morning assemblies, bringing lunches, hats, etc to the classroom if forgotten. Rather, we ask parents to report prior to the office and leave messages there. Teachers will be notified prior to lunch and recess of any outstanding matters.

The only real interruption will be if you child needs to leave early. Please report to the office to sign them out and Mrs Fry will notify the class of this and your child will come to the office. If your child arrives late, please sign them in at the office kiosk as your child goes to class.

Remember gates on Sandgate Rd and the bottom gate on Lovell Pde are not opened before 8:30am. These gate will be locked again at 9:15am. Access into the school is only through the intercom on the top gate on Lovell Pde (main entrance) outside these times.

SPELLING UPDATE

As mentioned in the last newsletter, Spelling is the focus of our explicit teaching in 2020.

Last week all teachers met and discussed how they are already implementing the ideas put together towards the end of 2019. It was an amazing and uplifting discussion and with such dedication and focus on the task, we will see a marked improvement in the spelling abilities of the OLV students in no time.

No doubt in the parent sessions your child’s teacher has held recently (except 5/6) you would have received an outline of how spelling will be structured in your child’s classroom and how you can help at home to reinforce the rules and spelling strategies being taught and practiced at school. If this is something you missed, you are more than welcome to make an appointment to see your class teacher and discuss this with them.

CONDOLENCES

We had a very sad time at OLV last week.  We wish the Tum family (Ojo Year 3) and the Bradley family (Maree Kinder) our sincerest sympathies and condolences for the loss of their mothers. It is a very sad time for everyone involved and we wish them all God's blessings and comfort during their time of grief.  These events will also have some effect on the children, parents and staff at OLV and we acknowledge that and wish to let people know if there are any continued anxieties in your children to please contact the school or access the Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.