VALE BISHOP BILL

On Saturday last week, our Diocese lost a wonderful Pastor and servant of the people. Bishop William Wright passed away after a short battle with lung cancer. He had resigned his position as Bishop of Maitland Newcastle in September and passed away in hospital last weekend.

He had the difficult task of healing the broken people of our Diocese due to the sexual misconduct of some of its priests and leaders.  His work on this is recognised as being an important conduit for this healing.

I had the pleasure and honour of joining Bishop Bill on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2019, and it was his presence that brought a calmness and holiness to the experience. I had the honour of renewing my wedding vows with my wife, Narelle, in the church in Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle at the wedding there, along with three other couples on our pilgrimage. Bishop Bill presided over the ceremonies. His words were full of love and God's blessings. A great gift to his people.

May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, Rest in Peace. Amen

KINDER ORIENTATION

We had a great time last week introducing our 2022 Kinder cohort to the OLV community. Everyone was very excited about coming to a new place, meeting their buddies and finding out what was in store for them. With  the little ones coming from different Pre-School settings, it is important to encourage new friendships and social interaction.

Our Year 4 & 5 children also showed great leadership and responsibility in caring for their little buddies.

We look forward to the next gathering on Thursday 25 November.

Here is a glimpse of the morning.

https://olovps.schoolzineplus.com/_admin/cms/media/file/1323

Congratulations to the Butler family for welcoming a handsome baby boy, Henry, into the world last Thursday.  Matilda is a great big sister.

SEMESTER 2 REPORTS

Your child's Semester 2 Reports will be available through COMPASS from Friday 10 December. Due to COVID (and similar to last year's lockdown, the report format will be different than usual.

The Semester 2 Report is focused on the Religion, English and Mathematics outcomes and content taught between when the Semester 1 Reports were written and the timing of the reports in Term 4.

• The Commitment to Learning is a scale from Emerging to High and based on RE, English and Maths
• The Student Achievement in these same subjects will be recorded as Working Towards, Working At or Working Beyond class expectations for the semester.
• The Learner Profile Section includes Personal and Social Development as well as Learning Dispositions on a scale from ‘Requires Support’ through to ‘Consistently’.
• There will be opportunity for teachers to provide a comment for parents identifying a student’s strengths and any challenges that can be developed in coming months. These will continue to link learning between the school and home as we transition to the new year.

Every student in NSW has had their learning impacted by these experiences and educators are intensely aware of the consequences. As a faith community, we acknowledge parents as the primary carers, educators and formators of their children. For this reason, you are uniquely situated at this time to provide additional insight in the progress and ongoing support of your children's learning now, and into the future. Together, we will work to reduce the long-term broad impact of COVID-19 on student outcomes.

If parents would like to discuss anything about their child's learning, please feel free to contact their teacher to arrange an appointment.

YEAR 6 GRADUATION

We are working hard at holding a meaningful and celebratory occasion for our Year 6 children. In the past, we have included the whole school, children and parents, to celebrate and send off our Year 6 children, but it is looking like this will be scaled down this year to only include the parents of the Year 6 children. If restrictions change we should be able to celebrate in a bigger way.

Graduation will be on Tuesday 14 December from 9:30am