Term 1 Week 10 Newsletter -8.4.22
Principal News
We are so very grateful....
Donations from our Southern Schools get us started at our new site!
Schools from the Southern end of the Diocese banded together to gather resources for us to recommence learning this week at our new site. These schools supplied every student with a book, lead pencils, glue, scissors and coloured pencils or crayons to share. They also donated reading books, readers and maths equipment so that we could begin on Monday with the learning materials we needed for our students.
A very heartfelt thank you to the following schools:
- St Francis Xavier Woolgoolga
- St Agnes Primary Port Macquarie
- St Joseph's Laurieton
- St Joseph's Wauchope and
- St James' Yamba
St Mary's Primary Maryborough raised $800 on St Patricks day towards readers for OLHC
Siena Catholic Primary School from Sippy Downs raised $1000 towards readers for our school.
St Francis of Assisi, Glendenning donated over $800 from their Mufti Day on 1st April!
St Augustine's Parish Primary Currumbin Waters donated sporting equipment and 150 laptops!
Our Lady Help of Christians, Warrnambool donated over $2300 towards resources for our school!
St Dympna's and Rebecca Newton
Other donations
NSW North Coast Women's Hockey $3000
Gemma Harvey coordinated a donation drive through Hockey and the ladies donated balls, cricket, teeball, soccer goals, netball poles and tennis equipment along with boxes of books for our library and a monetary donation.
St Agatha's Catholic Primary School, Clayfield
St Agatha's held a cookie bake sale to raise money to help us replace books in our library. They raised $520 for our school. Their P and F association has generously topped up their donation to make it $1000!
St Joseph's, Gloucester
St Joseph's Gloucester's Mini Vinnies group raised $112.00 that the children raised for our school. One of their students, Hamish M, used to attend OLHC was very excited to be able to donate back to his old school.
St Joseph’s Primary School, Goulburn
St Joseph’s Primary School Goulburn is supporting us to begin the process of restocking our school library, with a focus on readers.
Eltham Public School
Eltham Public school has donated hundreds of guided reading books for our infants classes.
Maxwell Beau Furniture
Maxwell Beau Furniture sourced desks and chairs for us to borrow until our new furniture is delivered. They have also supported us to choose the best furniture options for our students moving forwards.
Pymble Ladies College, Sydney
Pymble Ladies College, Sydney held a Gumboot day at their Junior school. They raised $1665.85 f0r our school to go towards replacing our guided readers. They have also pledged to give us half of their Scholastic Bookclub rewards points to purchase new books for our library.
Our Lady of the Way Primary School, Petrie
Our Lady of the Way Primary School are holding an Easter raffle to raise funds to help us replace our library books. They are hoping to raise $1000!
Sacred Heart Primary School, Mt Druitt
Sacred Heart Primary School have organised a class set of children's Bibles, are supporting replacing our sacred items from our classrooms, including prayer cloths and candles, and have organised a special surprise for our mothers!
Our Lady of the Way Primary School, Emu Plains
Our Lady Of the Way have purchased 33 Bibles for our school.
Paula Lisignoli
Paula Lisignoli, from the Brisbane Diocese, gifted us a $100 gift certificate with Booktopia. This supported us to order some of our lost staff resources.
Booktopia
Booktopia have also credited us $100 and are supporting us through the process of replacing books for our library.
Fern Family
The Fern family have donated teacher resources, games cards and other resources for our staff.
Karen DeGuisti
Karen and her family have donated bags of sporting equipment such as soccer balls, netballs and handballs as well as some soccer goals and balancing equipment.
Swan Hill Health District
Thank you to the Swan Hill Health District Community that have donated $500 towards improving the grounds at OLOL.
Some of our donations
Holy Week and Easter
Easter is the central and most important celebration of the year for the Church. Next week is known as Holy Week, a time after Lent where the events leading up to Jesus’ death are remembered, and in the Catholic tradition, a time of quiet reflection.
This Sunday, known as Palm or Passion Sunday, is the first day of Holy Week. Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday are called the Triduum, three days that are the highlight of the Church year.
Led by our Year 6 Leaders, our children have been working on this in their Religious Education lessons and have experienced their own mini-pilgrimage, walking through the events of Holy Week from Palm Sunday to the Resurrection.
Easter Sunday is the celebration of Jesus' resurrection, of new life. The celebration of Easter has been a tradition of the Church from the earliest times and we are a part of that long history.
Jesus rising on Easter Sunday is the greatest example of his love for us and is at the centre of our Catholic faith. I wish you a safe and Holy Easter; enjoy the break and the time with your family and friends.
Happy Easter!
What a Term
I would like to thank each and every one of you for your ongoing support, generosity, friendship and willingness to remain strong during what I can only describe as one of the toughest Term 1's we have experienced at our school.
It has been an extremely challenging term for students, staff and families; from the rain, to floods, to COVID and moving school locations. It would be hard to write a more devastating story. Despite all of these obstacles, we have worked relentlessly to support our community and ensure we returned to a consistent and stable learning environment for all our children and their families. It has taken an enormous effort by our entire school community and for this, I am forever grateful.
I would like to acknowledge the spirit of Jesus that has been in our school which was extremely evident over the recent weeks. These acts of love, kindness, giving, support, learning and joy have certainly made these difficult times a little easier.
I would like to thank our staff. They are an incredible team! I thank them for everything they do for our children. I have never asked more of them than I have in the past 5 weeks and they have taken on every change and challenge in their stride. Their calm manner, dedication, loyalty and resilience certainly leads the way for our school and I can't imagine going through this without them.
I wish you all a safe and happy Easter and I look forward to seeing everyone again on Tuesday 26th Arpil for our School Cross Country.
Go Gently,
Michael
Easter Letters and Chocolates
This afternoon our Year 6 Leaders of Ministry delivered 240 hand made Easter Cards with beautiful messages and an easter egg to the residents of St Vincients Nursing Home. We hope that this small act of kindness may brighten their Easter and let them know that they are loved and cared for by the students and staff at OLHC.
ANZAC DAY
Anzac Day, Monday the 25th of April 2022. Students from OLHC have been invited to represent our school at this very special occasion as we are called to remember and acknowledge the bravery and sacrifice of our ANZAC heroes. As a school community, we will join together to continue this important Australian tradition. With the recent Floods and recobvery efforts, it will also be a time to give thanks to the ADF for what they have done to support the Lismore community.
All students will be encouraged to represent our school at the ANZAC Day March. Students will need to assemble near the entrance to Browns Creek Carpark from 8.30am for a 9am march. All students must be in their full school uniform (hats are essential).
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Catholic Schools Week 2022
Catholic Schools Week (CSW), 2022 will take place in Week 2, Term 2, Monday 2 - Friday 6 May 2022. This year's theme "Community, Care, Compassion" echoes the broader mission of Catholic schools within the Diocese of Lismore. CSW provides opportunities for all students to experience life to the full in caring and compassionate school communities. It is particularly pertinent at this challenging time for our Diocese and the world.
A schedule of events to celebrate Catholic Schools Week will come out during Week 1 Term 2.
NAPLAN
Students in Years 3 and 5 will complete NAPLAN (National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy). The NAPLAN tests will be conducted from the 10th – 12th May (Week 3). Students will sit the following assessments;
- Tuesday 10th May- Language Conventions and Writing.
- Wednesday 11th May- Reading.
- Thursday 12th May- Numeracy.
Parents and Guardians will receive their child’s NAPLAN analysis during Term 3, 2022.
Key Messages:
- NAPLAN is used by governments, education authorities and schools to determine whether young Australians are meeting important educational goals in literacy and numeracy.
- As your child progresses through their school years, it is very important that checks are made along the way to see how well they are learning the skills of reading, writing and mathematics – essential skills that will set them firmly upon the path to success as adults.
- It is important to know that NAPLAN is not a pass or fail test. It simply looks at what level students are achieving in literacy and numeracy against the national standards and compared with their peers throughout Australia.
- NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are alreadylearning through the school curriculum. Children can prepare for NAPLAN through studying a broad rich curriculum.
- On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for and students are not expected to do so.
- As a parent, you can help your child by treating NAPLAN test days just like any other school day.
Baby News
Today we wish Mrs Rodda, her husband Jason, Husdson and Oscar a very special congratulations and best wishes as they await the birth of their third child and a new baby brother or sister. Amy will return to OLHC later in the year and we can't wait to hear the good news over the coming weeks.
If we listen to what the children at school are thinking, Amy can certainly expect another boy!
Parent Forum
It has been a little while since we last held a forum meeting, however, I am extremely excited to welcome you all back. I would like to personally invite you to attend our Parent Forum meeting on Wednesday 27th April. The meeting will be held in the school and will commence at 6pm. The Parent Forum is one way of supporting school initiatives, being part of school decisions and developing a stronger sense of community. I thank you in advance for everything you do to support your child’s education and I look forward to seeing you on the 27th April if you can make it.
Mission News
Holy Week Remembrance 2022
Although we will not be at school for Holy Week and our Parish Church will not be operational this year, it was important this week that we took time to focus on the events of Holy Week and Easter and the significance for us as a community of believers.
On Thursday, Year 6 presented a Holy Week Remembrance for our classes. Led by our Leaders of Ministry, Year 6 performed freeze frames for each of the events of Holy Week and Scripture related to each one was read aloud. Each class walked silently between each freeze frame and showed reverence for this important remembrance.
Thank you Year 6 - you did a wonderful job in sharing the events of Holy Week with our school.
Thank you Andrew Chinn & Butterfly House
Our very good friend, Andrew Chinn, has been in contact to check in on our school community and is generously giving our teachers free access to Butterfly House music and Religious Education resources this year. These resources are linked directly to our RE curriculum and will support learning and teaching in our classrooms. He has also offered to replace all of our lost Andrew Chinn and Butterfly House physical resources.
Thank you, Andrew! OLHC is blessed to call you a friend!
Learning & Teaching
Kindergarten Subtraction Squish
Year 1 Maths Number and Fractions
Year 2 Writing - The Easter Bunny is missing!
Stage 2- Year 3 Maths and Year 4 Science
Stage 3 are studying the text 'Wonder'
Sports News
Cross Country
Due to the current impacts of the recent floods, the OLHC Cross Country will now be held the first day back of Term 2 - Tuesday the 26th of April at Hepburn Park, Goonellabah. All students will travel by bus to Goonellabah to participate in the event.
We hope to see as many families there as possible to cheer on the children, however if you or your child/ren are experiencing Covid symptoms we kindly ask that you do not attend on the day.
Winter Sports Trials
On the 18th and 23rd of March students from OLHC represented the Richmond Zone at the Lismore Diocesan Winter Sports Trials. These trials brought Year 5 and 6 students from Tweed to Port Macquarie together to trial for a place in the Lismore Diocesan Team for their representation sport.
The effort, determination and sportsmanship displayed by all our students is to be commended.
Congratulations to the following students:
Rugby League U12: Sonny Butler, Maverick Johnston and Cooper Sullivan
Rugby League U11: Isaac Grace
Hockey: Riley Chaplin
Soccer: Maggie Aylward
Maverick Johnston was successful in being selected to represent the Lismore Diocesan Team for Rugby League. We wish Maverick the best of luck at the next level.
Summer Sports Trials
On Tuesday the 5th of April, the Polding Australian Football (AFL) trials were held in Newcastle. The Lismore Diocese had 11 boys that were selected in the trial. Harvey Power represented our school with outstanding sportsmanship and exceptional skill and effort. Harvey was one of 7 boys who were selected in the Polding AFL team to play in a NSW State PSSA carnival later this year. We congratulate Harvey on his success and we wish him all the best at the next level.
Sport Equipment Donations
Our school has been blown away by the outreaching support that we have received during this challenging time. At OLHC, we strongly believe that it is important to ensure students maintain their physical activity to support their mental health. This has become possible with a number of sports donations that have been gifted to our school.
Over the weeks we have received many generous donations.
We would like to thank St Augustine's Parish School Currumbin, Karen DeGiusti, and Gemma Harvey and The Hockey Ladies for their generous contributions, which has brought so much joy and happiness to our students.
Leader of Sport
Mrs Haylee McCarthy
Riley and Harvey
School News
Community News
