Term 4 Week 1 Newsletter - 14/10/22
Principal News
Our New Worm Farm!
A huge THANK YOU and congratulations to one of our Leaders of Sustainability, Amarli, for her hard work in fundraising to purchase a worm farm for our school garden! This week, the worm farm was installed by Amarli's mum, Dee.
Amarli came up with the idea of fundraising by collecting cans and bottles, and we are very grateful to all the families who sent cans in. She created a great poster with all the information we needed and shopped for the worm farm with the money collected. Thank you to our other leaders for the sorting and cleaning out of the bins each week.
We are very grateful to the whole Goulding family for all their effort in making this happen. Well done again, Amarli!
Hope in the Future
I understand that the letter received last week regarding the insurance update, along with media stories, may be concerning and raise some questions about the future of our school.
Please let me reassure you that there is no imminent plan to alter our current circumstances. OLHC will continue to operate as we are now.
The consultation process with families and staff will commence this term. As soon I have been provided with the details of how we all can participate, I will distribute this to you. I have been assured that we will all have the opportunity to share our thoughts on what the future of our school looks like.
I know that we all; families, staff, students, Father Peter, the Bishop, the School Review Commission, the Catholic Schools Office and myself, want to work together to ensure that all of our children continue to have a safe and permanent school to attend everyday, where they know they are loved, cared for and belong.
I thank you again for your continued support of everything we do here at OLHC.
Welcome Back to Term 4
It is already shaping up to be another big term with lots of events and activities planned for all in our school community. It's hard to believe that we are commencing the last term of our school year as it only seems like yesterday we were commencing a whole new school year.
We are looking forward to another wonderful term at OLHC as we work together to support our children in their learning and wellbeing, as well as the joy of preparing for Advent and Christmas as we approach the 25th December.
HSC Exams
With many senior students taking their HSC exams during the coming weeks, we wish them all the very best on the culmination of their school days. All of these students have had a challenging few years as a result of COVID-19. Well done to all the families and their respective schools for supporting the Class of 2022 as they prepare for their exams.
I ask that you keep these students and their families in your thoughts and prayers during this time.
Art Showcase
We look forward to seeing you at our Art Showcase on Wednesday afternoon. Classrooms and displays will be open between 5-6:30pm with families able to access the displays during this time.
Families will be able to visit all classrooms, complete art activities, look at student learning and vote on different student artworks.
We can't wait to see you.
Mission News
Sacrament of Confirmation
The Sacrament of Confirmation will take place on Thursday, 27th October at 6pm at our parish church. All candidates and their families are asked to be seated by 5:30pm for an audience with Bishop Homeming.
Please keep all our candidates in your prayers, we look forward to sharing this very special evening together!
Month of the Rosary
By tradition, the Catholic Church dedicates each month of the year to a certain devotion. October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary, one of the best known of all Catholic devotions/prayers. The best way to celebrate the month is, of course, to pray the Rosary.
The Rosary is a prayer to remind us that Jesus loved us so much that he died on the cross for us. Mary brings us closer to Jesus—we know this from the consistent witness of the saints through the history of the Church. Since we want our children to grow close to Jesus, it makes sense to introduce them early on to Mary, the mother of Jesus, who will help them through all the difficult moments of their lives!
Throughout this term, many of our classes will celebrate Mary through their learning - these are often some of our most favourite and shared units! And below, we share the wonderful morning Year 3 had recently.
Year 3 - Community Rosary
This week, Year 3 shared a wonderful community Rosary experience. The boys and girls were gifted some blessed Rosary beads from the Carmelite Monastery in Goonellabah for them to use in their learning this term.
We began the Rosary as a whole group and then separated into 5 groups and prayed a decade of the Rosary and meditated on the Joyful Mysteries:
- The Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary.
- The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth.
- The Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea.
- The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.
- The Finding of Jesus in the Temple.
The reverence and joy shown by the students made the experience very special to all involved. Thank you, Year 3.
Year 5 - Qualities of Mary
This week, I asked Year 5 to help me with a task for our future newsletters this term. We know that Mary has many qualities that we admire and that we can strive to mirror in our own lives and Year 5 were tasked with writing some newsletter articles and sharing these with us in the weeks leading up to, and during Advent. We can’t wait to see their learning, to share these with our community and hopefully inspire these qualities in us all! Keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks, good luck, Year 5!
Learning & Teaching
Welcome Mini Mack's 2023
In Mathematics Kindergarten have been learning about sharing quantities into equal groups and finding the total of equal groups.
Year 1 are working very hard to learn about and use persuasive devises for Speaking and Listening and to be persuasive in their writing.
Year 2 are challenging themselves in Mathematics to use number lines to represent skip counting with 3 and 4 digit numbers.
Stage 2 Excursion to 'The Farm' in Byron Thursday 13th October
Year 5 dance fun
Year 6 Sport and Art
Sports News
Cricket News
This week, Cooper Williams attended the NSWPSSA State Cricket Carnival in Dubbo. Cooper’s natural leadership ability shined through during the week and he was chosen to be the captain of the team which is a wonderful achievement for Cooper.
Cooper played extremely well throughout the week. He had an impressive first day, with 92 runs, 3 catches, a stumping and a wicket while bowling. Such an outstanding effort.
Today we received news that Cooper has been selected in the NSW Cricket team! On behalf of all the school, we congratulate Cooper on his wonderful achievement with cricket in his final year of primary school.
Gymnastics
It is wonderful to hear about the excitement the children have about the gymnastic program that we are starting this term. Unfortunately, due to factors out of our control, we will now start gymnastics, Thursday the 27th of October (Week 3).
Summers Sports Trial
Students in Years 4 and 5 have been nominated to attend either basketball, tennis, cricket or touch in the Summer Sports Trials. These trials are held for students that are skilled and competitive in their selected sport. As a school, we can only send 5 girls and boys for each sport. We had a high demand for basketball, therefore we had to hold an in-school trial. I would like to congratulate all the students that participated in the in-school trial, the standard was very impressive.
Notes will be handed out early next week and there will be an online google form that will need to be completed too. It’s important to note that it is the responsibility of the parents to ensure their child arrives on time for their chosen event.
Competitive Swimming Event
Unfortunately, the Lismore pool will not be operational for our swimming carnival. We have been lucky to secure a 2 hr timeslot at the Alstonville pool on Wednesday the 7th of December, however, this means we do have to narrow down student numbers to ensure we can complete all the races. As a result, we have decided to run a competitive swimming event this year. The students have been asked to nominate themselves for swimming, but we did make it very clear that it is expected that they are able to confidently swim 50m without stopping. Notes will be provided for the nominated students in the coming weeks.
If you have any questions regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact me via email haylee.mccarthy@lism.catholic.edu.au
Term 4 - Events
Week 3 to 7 - Gymnastics Program
Wednesday the 26th of October - Summer Sports Trials - Basketball (Nomination ONLY)
Thursday the 27th of October - Summer Sports Trail - Cricket, Touch and Tennis (Nomination ONLY)
Wednesday the 16th of November - Newcastle Permanent Primary School Gala Day
Wednesday the 7th of December - Competitive Swimming Event
School News
Picasso Cow Design Competition
At the end of last term, Dairy Australia donated a life size fiberglass cow to our school for our students to enjoy. Our next steps are to name her and to design how we will paint her. We have decided to run a design competition for students who are interested in designing how we paint the cow. Templates and letters were sent home this week with children who wanted to enter.
All designs are due to Mrs Rose by 31st October (Monday Week 4). The winner will be announced at the Week 4 assembly and will have their design painted onto the cow.
Below are some sample designs. Good luck!
Book Club Issue 7
Book Club Issue 7 has gone home with your child/ren this week. All orders are due back Thursday 27th October. No Cash Accepted. Order online using the scholastic Loop App.
Please contact Kim in the schools office on 6621 5490 if you should you need any clarification.
Community News
