Term 2 Week 4 Newsletter 20-05-2022
Principal News
Love and Generosity.
As we continue working hard to replace learning resources, classroom technology, sporting eqipment and classroom furniture, I would like to personally thank all those who have so generously contributed to our efforts. No matter how big or small, every act of kindness is helping making a difference to our children.
$114.80 St Joseph's, Gloucester
$1000 Presentation Sisters
$1201.65 Siena Catholic College, Sippy Downs
$3000 Norma Grant
240 Individual gifts for our students and teachers - Mt Carmel Primary School, Cooparoo
What Are Our Children Saying?
During the week I had the privilege of asking our students how they are going with their learning and their learning spaces. I love hearing their feedback about learning and what things are working well.
Our teachers are beautiful to us and I love seeing their faces everyday. I love when we do our reading groups.
We do really cool activities and our teachers help us to learn to read.
We love having everyone in the same classroom because we get to learn with all our friends.
Our teachers are helping us to become better writers, we do it EVERYDAY!
We love when our teachers let us have some free time with our friends after we have worked really hard and then we get a reward.
I love our walls that help us to learn. We do lots of hands on learning and our teachers always show us how to do things.
Our teachers love us and always make sure that we are okay.
I love it when we get points for great learning. Our teachers help us learn how to be good learners.
Our teachers love having fun with us. They are always happy.
We Must Stay Strong
If we have learnt anything during the recent events, it is that the road to recovery is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. We need to journey together while remaining focused, firm in faith and strong in resolve; especially when the task feels overwhelming and we feel as though we are unable to make a difference. As we continue to work together to not only recover from recent events but improve in how we do things, I would like to thank all of our families, students and staff who have remained strong and supported our parish school community.
Our site at OLHC is currently undergoing a review of the works needed moving forward. This is an extensive scope of works which will need to be finalised and approved before costings can be calculated and decisions made. I would like to acknowledge the work of our team here at OLHC, Father Peter, Ray Dunn, our Catholic Schools Office, Segwicks and CCI (Catholic Church Insurance) for focusing their attention to bringing us back together after the devastating impacts the floods had on our community. Our efforts have allowed our children to return to their friends, return to learning in a safe and positive environment and return to a sense of consistency and normality in our lives.
The next stage of our journey now turns to our site at OLHC and this will take some time. I look forward to sharing more information with our school community as we progress.
National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week
Thursday the 26th of May is National Sorry Day, this marks the beginning of National Reconciliation week commencing on the 27th of May to the 3rd of June. These dates commemorate significant milestones within our history which includes the successful 1967 referendum and the landmark Mabo Decision in 1992. The theme for National Reconciliation week for 2022 is
“Be Brave, Make Change!”
We all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation. At OLHC, we acknowledge the Widjibil people of the Bundjalung Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which our school resides. We recognise their long history and culture and continue our commitment to the reconciliation process.
To acknowledge the significance of National Sorry Day next Thursday the 27th of May, Mrs Papworth will share her insights and knowledge of the history behind Sorry Day and classes will engage in arts activities. We invite all students to wear purple, black, green, blue and white to school in recognition of this day.
God of this great ancient land Australia,
You call us to be people of love, people of peace, people of reconciliation.
On National Sorry Day, we especially seek forgiveness from our Indigenous people who have been treated unfairly and unjustly.
May we work together to bring hope and healing
where all people may be treated with dignity and respect
bringing Australians closer together.
We ask this in Jesus’ name,
Amen
Learning Conferences
We will be holding Parent/Teacher/Student Learning Conferences in Week 7 of this term. The focus of these conferences is to discuss student learning and wellbeing and look at future areas for development. These conferences are a very important part of strengthening our parent partnership.
Our Learning Conferences will be held from Monday, 6th June to Thursday, 9th June, 2022. Conferences are 15 minutes in duration and will be held in your child’s classroom. If you are running late or miss your time, please negotiate another time with your child’s teacher. If you feel you will need a longer interview than 15 minutes, I encourage you to organise another time to meet with the teacher.
We will be using Schoolworx Parent Portal for our Parent/Teacher/Student Learning Conferences and accessing the Report Card. All parents and guardians also have access to NAPLAN results and student attendance through the Schoolworx Portal.
Interview bookings will open on Monday 23rd May at 5:30pm.
Traffic Safety
Over the past two weeks our school has been notified by Council Traffic Authorities that some of our parents are stopping in No Parking Zones infront of the pedestrian crossing on both sides of the road, parking in house driveways and blocking access, pulling up in the bus zone for pick up and drop off and this is causing safety issues for our children.
I am currently working with with Lismore Council and the RMS to install flashing lights and employ a Crossing Supervisor. In the meantime, it is important that all families follow the road rules to assist with keeping our children safe. Please don't be offended if you are asked to move from where you are parked.
Lismore Council parking inspectors will contniue to monitor Dibbs Street during the coming weeks. Please follow the road rules to avoid any potential accidents and also avoid receiving a fine.
Professional Learning Day-Pupil Free Day
A reminder that Friday 10th June is a Staff Professional Learning Day and Pupil Free Day for students. OSHC will be available for any families needing this service. Please contact Kate Maclean if you will be requiring OSHC on this day.
Mission News
Tuesday, 24th May is the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians - our school's feast day! This is an important Feast, not only in our school but also in our country because Our Lady, under the title “Help of Christians”, is a spiritual Patron of Australia, along with St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Most images of Our Lady Help of Christians depict the virgin standing on a globe of the world, holding the child Jesus in one arm and a sceptre in another. Her head is always crowned and the child Jesus in her arms in often crowned as well. In some images the map of Australia is featured on the globe to signify the Virgin’s special relationship to Australia under this title.
Incitare 2022
I had the privilege of attending the Year 6 Diocesan retreat - Incitare with 6 of our exceptional school leaders last Thursday. The retreat, held out at Tullera Hall, was a wonderful experience for our students. We learned about having the courage to be a proud Christian - a theme that recurred during the day was 'feeling the fear and doing it anyway'. We might not feel confident in being a faith leader in our school and community and we may feel fear when doing it, but let's do it anyway! Something our school leaders do so well at their young age.
We role-played situations where we showed non-Christ-like actions and then reset to show the same situation, but how we would change it to be more Christlike. Ben led the whole retreat in prayer before our meal and we couldn't be prouder of his courage! In our final liturgy, each of our students played a special part and were given gifts by their group leaders.
A huge thank you to Mrs Simpson from St. Mary's, Casino for being our retreat convenor, the fantastic Year 10 Ministry Class from St John's College, Woodlawn (including two of our past students Billie and Hamish) and Amarli, Georgie, Isabella, Amber, Sonny and Ben for a fantastic day of faith and friendship.
Sacraments 2022
Our Sacramental program for 2022 was placed on hold as we assessed the impact of the flood; however, I am pleased to confirm that our Sacramental program will now take place in Term 3. Further information will be forwarded to students and families once details are confirmed. I thank Father Peter for his commitment to the students and families at OLHC.
Making Jesus Real Awards
KP
Alaura P - For her Kind and gentle manner towards classmates.
1L
Nahri J - For taking the time to help others with their learning.
1P
Finnan MT - For being a kind and helpful classmate. Keep shining your light, Finnan!
2L
Blake P - For thinking of others, including them in your game and making sure they knew how to play.
2P
Dominic R - For consistently being polite, courteous and kind to his friends. You're such an amazing role model, Dom!
3L
Kaden S - For always showing reverence during prayer and meditation.
3P
4L
Milla C - For being a kind and caring friend and helping those who are in need. Awesome work, Milla.
5P
Sophie N - For always being there ready to help out in any situation with a HUGE smile on her face.
6L
Toby B - For always being willing to lend a helping hand and being a kind and friendly member of our class.
Learning & Teaching
Kindergarten - Learning to share collections into equal groups
Year 1 - Playing Addition and Subtraction Bingo
Year 2 - Carefully editing and publishing their Bee Information Reports
Year 3 are learning about solar and eolic (wind) energy. They made pin wheels and a solar oven to see how these energy sources work.
Year 3 - Learning about language and vocabulary choices at the word and sentence level
Year 4 are learning about volume in Mathematics.
Stage 3 Co-constructing success criteria for writing.
Stage 3 - Having fun practising their addition and subtraction strategies
OLHC Achievement Awards
KP
Cody S - For fast recall of number facts. You are the "Around the world champion".
1L
Cleo F - For you dedication and giving 110% towards all your writing tasks. You are a super star Cleo!
Lennox H - For your enthusiastic attitude towards learning. It is lovely to witness - well done!
1P
Curtis S - For displaying high expectations with his behaviour and learning. Keep up the great work Curtis!
Madeleine F - For her outstanding information report about Koalas. Great work Madeleine!
2L
Isabella F - For applying EMU strategies to rich tasks in mathematics.
Klaire R - For using subtration to solve and check addition problems.
2P
Rhett P - For showing great resilience when resolving problems and taking on challenges. Keep working hard, Rhett!
Xander T - For putting in a huge effort towards his learning , especially in writing. Keep it up Xander, You're a super star!
3L
Charlotte F - For extending your thinking during mathematics learning.
Brody C - For writing an excellent compound sentence, using interesting vocabulary and correct punctuation.
3P
Kaiden K - For positivelyu approaching all learning tasks. Excellent!
Harper S - For using TEE paragraphs to structure your story. Excellent work!
4L
Xavier B - For an active contribution to class discussion and putting in a huge effort in mathematics. Well done Xav!!
Cooper J - For using excellent vocabulary to persuade the reader in persuasive arguments. Great effort Coop.
5P
Hugh B - For returning to school this term with a positive attitude. Keep it up Hugh.
Anneliese F - For always being a conscientious student in all areas of her learning. Keep up the great work Anneliese.
6L
Amarli G - For putting in 100% effort into all tasks and having a 'never give up' attitiude. Well done, Amarli.
Isaac G - For consistently working hard and succeeding in all mathematics tasks. Keep up the great work!
Sports News
Zone Cross Country
Congratulations to the 45 students that competed at the Zone Cross Country on Wednesday the 18th of May at Hepburn Park. Our school was placed 4th overall and we had 8 students selected to attend the Dio Cross Country in Grafton next Tuesday.
It was wonderful to hear the great school spirit and sportsmanship that took place on the day. Thank you to Mrs Hague, Mrs Anemaat and Mrs Papworth who supervised and supported the students throughout the day.
Congratulations to the following students that earned points for our school with their top 10 placement. The students that were in the top 8 progress to Dio.
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