Term 3 Week 4 Newsletter 12-08-22
Principal News
St Mary of The Cross MacKillop
On Monday 8th August, we celebrate the feast day of St Mary of The Cross MacKillop ~ Australia’s first saint. As a young woman (born in Melbourne in 1842) Mary was concerned that so many children in rural Australia could not afford education.With the support of Fr Julian Tennison Woods and like minded women of faith, Mary started up schools for children who would not have received an education without her. Mary knew that this was part of God’s plan, she saw a need and did something about it.These women of faith are known as the Sisters of St Joseph and they hold a special place in our hearts and the history of our Parish School here at OLHC.
We honour Mary as a courageous Australian who, at great cost to herself, believed in God’s plan for her and made a difference to children all across Australia. Together we continue to celebrate this amazing Australian leader and model of faith to us all.
Talking About Learning
Your child's been at school all day and you've walked to meet them out of school with a big smile on your face, looking forward to seeing them and hearing about their day. However, it's a common theme to ask them what they did at school today, and all they say is "Nothing!"
To support students with their learning we are helping them to understand what they are learning and why (learning intentions) and how to be successful (success criteria) - this not only gives purpose to our learning but it also helps the students take ownership of their learning as they can check in as to how they are going. You might also like to ask them questions that align with this.
- What are you learning about in Maths / English?
- How are you going with your learning?
We support students by explicitly teaching learning dispositions. You might like to ask questions along the lines of;
- What did you find challenging today?
- What did you do to overcome this challenge?
- What is something you are proud of today?
- Tell me about a time you worked with your friends today?
Try to ask 'open' rather than 'closed' questions. A closed question only requires a 'yes' or 'no' or another single word answer; for example, 'Did you have a good day at school?' An open question needs a fuller answer: 'What was the best thing that happened at school today?
Tell Them From Me
The Tell Them From Me survey invites students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.
We would like to invite our parent community to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community, we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at Our Lady Help of Christians Parish School. The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.
Please use the following link to complete the survey http://tellthemfromme.com/
Book Week-Dreaming with Eyes Open
Book Week is fast approaching with our online book fair later in the term and our Dress Up Parade on Friday 26th August. This means plenty of fun here at OLHC.
The Book Fair is being held online this year and parents are more than welcome to purchase as many books as you like for your children or to donate to the school. A link will be sent home on SeeSaw with an outline of the books available to purchase, their cost and ordering instructions.
With all the fun things happening it is good to pause and reflect that we have this week to generate some enthusiasm for reading and the obvious benefits that can be gained from reading. I encourage all our students to make a special effort to read a bit more during this week. All students are encouraged to dress up as a book character or an interesting word. Our Book Character/Vocabulary Parade will be at 9am on Friday 26th August.
Costume Ideas
Mission News
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Liturgy
On Monday, we celebrated the feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, the first Australian saint. Mary was a person of great faith and hope. She believed that God would look after her and provide her with the things she needed to help others. Mary didn’t worry because she was a person of hope and courage. Mary shows us how to be trusting and patient and to know that God loves us and will look after us.
Mary MacKillop and the Sisters of St Jospeh hold a special place in our hearts and the history of our Parish School. Our MacKillop Youth group is founded on the example on of Mary and her sisters and aims
- to have Mary MacKillop known and loved by the children and their families – as an inspirational Australian ‘Gospel woman’ and role model
- to foster a sense of belonging that supports and empowers our children to follow in her footsteps, responding to the needs of our time.
We look forward to the re-introduction of MacKillop Youth in the coming weeks!
Thank you to our Year 6 students who continue to be faith leaders in our school. I am never shy of volunteers and you do us proud every time you stand and share the Word of God with our community. Mary MacKillop would be proud!
NAIDOC Week Liturgy
We celebrated NAIDOC Week 2022 - Get up! Stand up! Show up! last week. It was a wonderful week of celebrating our Indegenous culture & spirituality, all culminating in a celebration of a Liturgy of the Word on Friday afternoon. It was very special to have some of our families join us and we look forward to sharing more liturgies in the future!
I have to make mention of Mrs Papworth and her organisation of a fantastic calendar of events - your passion and commitment to sharing your culture with our community is exemplary, thank you Mrs Papworth.
Thank you to our Deadly Jarjums, and Year 6 leaders for their involvement and in leading our liturgy. Thank you to Aunty Doreen, who lent us her Spirituality Kit so that our prayer space reflected our Indigenous culture.
Aboriginal Prayer Kits
In the lead up to NAIDOC Week, Mrs Papworth worked incredibly hard on a number of projects, one of those was sourcing, preparing and putting together Aboriginal Prayer Kits for each classroom. As we reflected in our Liturgy, these kits will be used to acknowledge the links between our Catholic faith and Aboriginal spirituality and not separate them.
"When early Christians introduced the Bible to Aboriginal people, the Elders recognised many similarities between the Old Testament stories and traditional stories, laws and the teachings of God (or a creator Spirit). They believed and had faith in their Ancestor Spirit and relied on this spirit for all their needs. The spirit was their Protector, Provider, Carer and Saviour." (NATSICC, 2022)
Each child also received a prayer card containing the words to the Aboriginal Our Father for them to learn and reflect on.
Each kit contains: A cross with an indigenous design (designed and made by our Deadly Jarjums), Prayer posters - A Prayer for Aboriginal People, Prayer of Acknowledgement, Aboriginal Our Father and; material for prayer spaces featuring culturally significant designs.
Rock Art for our Prayer Garden
During NAIDOC Week, Mrs Papworth led the students in some rock art featuring indigenous designs. These rocks now take pride of place in our garden that we are developing as a prayer garden and meditative walk. We are so impressed with the quality and effort that our students put in to making them meaningful to themselves and Indigenous culture. They are a beautiful addition to our garden.
Making Jesus Real Awards
KP
Elle W - For bringing sunshine to our class through her enthusiastic and cheerful attitude. Thank you Elle.
1L
Charles D - For never seeing a need without doing something about it. Keep shining your light Charles.
1P
Robbie S-A - For always being so thoughtful and considerate towards others. You're a star, Robbie!
2L
Isla D - For being a kind and helpful friend when others are upset. You helped them get through a tough day Isla.
2P
Alistair P - For approaching every day with enthusiasmand cheerfulness. Thank you for brighteningmy mornings!
3L
Rhiannon F - For being friendly and welcoming to others and being inclusive in words and actions to others. Well Done!
3P
Noah M - For always bringing a bright smile into our classroom. Thank you for showing the face of Jesus with your kindness and by helping others.
4L
Harper J - For consistently being a caring and kind classmate, who helps others with their learning.
5P
Pippa T - For always being a bright and positive person in our class room and always putting a smile on my face. Keep smiling Pip!
Hugh B - For making a difficult decision, easy - through kindness and sportmanship. Thanks, Hughie!
6L
Jed H - For being a kind and considerate friend to everyone he encounters. Thank you also for always being willing to lend a helping hand.
Learning & Teaching
Kindergarten - Enjoying developing their mathematical skills through games and technology
Year 1 - Segmenting and blending to improve spelling skills, and having fun with measurement
Year 2 - Setting reading goals and working hard to develop their fluency and comprehension skills
Year 3 are learning about living things (plants) in Science and are growing some herbs. They are also learning about constructing better sentences in writing.
Year 4 are writing fact files about sports from different countries and learning how to use Canva to publish them.
Year 5 are learning about grid referencing in Mathematics and have created Solar System and comet artworks.
Year 6 are learning about water condensation and evaporation in Science.
OLHC Achievement Awards
KP
Harvey J - For always completing tasks to the best of his ability and focussed attention to the neat presentation of his work. Keep up the great work Harvey.
Madison C - For outstanding forcus and comittment to her learning. You are on fire Maddison, keep up the great work.
Cooper E - For persistent effort during reading time resulting in great improvement. Keep up the great work Cooper.
1L
Nahri J - For challenging yourself and extending your learning in all maths tasks. Well done Nahri!
Ollie D - For building a positive attitude towards all your learning. Keep up the good work Oliver!
1P
Madeleine F - For always having a positive attitude about her learning and consistently presenting her work to a high standard. Keep up the great work, Madeleine!
Jack G - For developing a more responsible attitude in the classroom, and for working hard on hand-writing. Well Done, Jack!
2L
Lily B - For your creativity and enthusiasm when writing a fractured fairy tale.
Mia B - For exceptional expression when reading out loud and fantastic reading comprehension. Amazing effort Mia!
Flic F - For your perserverance and determination in using the split strategy to solve addition problems. Keep it up Flic!
2P
Mason E - For using efficient strategies to solve two-digit addition problems. Keep working hard, Mason!
Bradley B - For showing creativity and imagination when writing a modern version of Little Red Riding Hood.
3L
Kaden S - For improved participation in all class activities and his amazing spelling contributions. Keep it up!
3P
Shelby D - For settling into the Year 3 classroom beautifully. Well done on your confident contributions to all learning.
William D - For sharing your ideas and thoughts with the class more often and with confidence. Well done!
4L
Cohan D - For displaying interesting thinking and using different strategies using Maths lessons.
Marlee S - For growing confidence and initiative in all areas of learning. Well done Marlee.
5P
Maggie A - For your use of our success criteria to write a well structured paragraph and an excellent use of persuasive language.
Harlan G - For the pride you take in presenting your learning in your books everyday. Keep it going!
6L
Jack C - For his excellent attitude towards all learning tasks. Thank you for enlightening us with your 'Word of the day' each day.
Amber B - For her excellent work ethic. Amber always strives to do her best and takes pride in the presentation of her work.
Sports News
Netball Gala Day
On Thursday the 4th of August, 25 students in Year 5 and 6 traveled to Casino to participate in the Netball Gala Day.
Thankfully we were blessed with beautiful weather. The day ran very smoothly and the students proudly represented our school. There was a mixture of students that have played netball before and some that have never played it. It was wonderful to witness great sportsmanship and encouragement from all the students.
A big thank you to Mrs Hague, Mrs Jefferys and Miss Aleisha for coaching the students on the day.
Netball Gala Day
Diocesan Athletic Carnival
On Wednesday the 10th of August, we had 8 students attend the Diocesan Athletics Carnival at Coffs Harbour. The event was extremely well organised and it ran very smoothly. Well done to all the students that represented OLHC. It was a strong competition on the day and the children gave it their all and displayed exceptional sportsmanship.
The students competed in the following events:
Cooper Williams: 12 Years Boys 100m Sprint,1 2 Years Boys 200m Race, Senior Boys Relay and 12 Years Boys Long Jump
Sonny Butler: Senior Boys Relay
Maverick Johnston: Senior Boys Relay
Tyler Brown: 11 Years Boys 200m Race, Senior Boys Relay
Harper Jasmin: 8-10 Years Girls 1500m Run, 8-10 Years Girls 800m Run
Harriett Johnston: 8 Years Girls 100m Sprint
Congratulations to Cooper Williams who came first in the 100m Sprint and 200m Run. He was selected for the Lismore Diocesan team and he will travel to Newcastle on the 9th of September to attend the Polding Carnival.
Lismore Diocesan Athletics Carnival
Upcoming Events
Friday the 19th of August - Year 5 and 6 Multisports Gala Day
School News
2022 Book Week and Book Fair
2022 Book Fair
Our Book Fair will run online this year as we don't have a space large enough to display our books. A link will be sent home on SeeSaw with an outline of the books available to purchase, their cost and ordering instructions.
Book Fair catalogues have been sent home this week for families to look through.
Community News
