Term 1 Week 7 Newsletter - 17.03.23
Principal News
LENT
As we continue our journey through the season of Lent, we reflect on the ways we have celebrated it in the past and how we are c alled today, to use it as a time to make changes in our lives. The tradition of observing Lent in some way recaptures the period in Jesus’ life when he spent 40 days alone in the desert contemplating the task that lay ahead of Him. Christians today are invited to use the 40 days of Lent to reflect on their lives and adjust them in order to become more generous, forgiving, compassionate and prayerful people.
We are given the opportunity to look carefully at our lives and identify attitudes and situations that perhaps do not reflect the Gospel values that we believe. In our school, much of how Lent is
celebrated is focused on helping us to understand what this season of the Church’s year is all about, and how we can use it to help us become better people as we grow closer to God.
Why Sports
I share this each year with our school community because I think this speaks volumes about what we are trying to teach our children here at OLHC.
One of my friends asked "Why do you pay so much money for your kids to do all their sports?"
Well I have a confession to make; I don't pay for my kids to do sports. Personally, I couldn't care
less about what sport they do. So, if I am not paying for sports what am I paying for?
I pay for those moments when my kids become so tired they want to quit but don't.
I pay for those days when my kids come home from school and are "too tired" to go to their
training but they go anyway.
I pay for my kids to learn to be disciplined, focused and dedicated.
I pay for my kids to learn to take care of their body and equipment.
I pay for my kids to learn to work with others and to be good team mates, gracious in defeat and
humble in success.
I pay for my kids to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don't get that placing or title
they'd hoped for, but still they go back week after week giving it their best shot.
I pay for my kids to learn to make and accomplish goals.
I pay for my kids to respect, not only themselves, but other athletes, officials and coaches.
I pay for my kids to learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years of hard work and practice
to create a champion and that success does not happen overnight.
I pay for my kids to be proud of small achievements, and to work towards long term goals.
I pay for the opportunity my kids have and will have to make life-long friendships, create lifelong
memories, to be as proud of their achievements as I am.
I pay so that my kids can be out on the field or in the gym instead of in front of a screen...
I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for sports; I pay for the opportunities that sports
provide my kids with to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and
give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others.
From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment!"
Author~Unknown
Communication
At OLHC we aim to have a parish school that is welcoming to all. We are working incredibly hard to continue improving our communication between school and home and home and school. Parents and community members play an important role in our students' education. Communication acts as a bridge to engagement and, ultimately, strong partnerships with our parents and families.
It is important however to highlight a number of things to ensure teachers are afforded the opportunity to keep the focus on learning and care for all our students. We are all working together for our children to enable them to achieve the fullness of life, so I ask that we are all respectful in communication.
Emails – Emails ensure we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please respect that teachers have other commitments and their own families, so please consider the most appropriate time to communicate. No teacher is expected to return emails outside of their normal working hours.
SeeSaw- SeeSaw enhances our ability to connect learning at school and at home. This is a very positive way for you to engage in your child’s learning, make comments or even just like what the teacher has posted. SeeSaw is for sharing the learning and important information occurring in classrooms. If you need to get a message to your child regarding travel arrangements etc, please continue to go through the school office.
Teachers on Duty – Teachers are providing duty to not only keep our children safe but to also interact in a less formal way with our students in order to build greater relationships. Please refrain from having deep conversations with them during this time. A short conversation of course is totally fine.
Appointments – If you need to see a teacher for a lengthy period of time or about something that needs attention, then it is appropriate to make an appointment with them to ensure we give due attention and work together to solve any issues. Please feel free to send an email to the class teacher and together a suitable time can be arranged for a meeting.
Gratitude – It is easy to find the negative in any situation and focus on this. You just have to jump on social media and see some of the negativity that many hold for each other. Please, if you feel the need, show some gratitude to the efforts that our parish school community is putting in to helping all our children thrive and love coming to school.
Child Protection
Our updated Child Protection Policy is available on our school website and the School Office.
Children and young people have a fundamental right to grow, develop and feel safe in
environments that are free from violence, exploitation and harm. The Catholic Schools Office and
our parish school have clear expectations that all students in will be protected from all forms of
harm including sexual, physical and psychological harm as well as ill-treatment and neglect.
The Catholic Schools Office and our parish school have certain responsibilities and expectations to
ensure the safety and protection of children in their care, including supporting measures to
ensure that children and young people will be taught how to protect themselves, and to seek help
if they are concerned about their safety.
This document aims to:
I. Clarify the expectations of employees who work in child related employment;
II. Provide a safe and supportive environment for children and employees; and
III. Build and maintain a contemporary Catholic workplace that is safe, respectful, professional and legally compliant.
The care and protection of children and young people is paramount. All staff at OLHC are Mandatory Reporters and are required to report if they have any concern regarding the safety, welfare or well-being of a student.
End of Term Rewards Activity
Each day we are faced with many opportunites that require us to make choices. As we grow and learn together, we begin to understand that the choices we make not only have an impact on us but also those around us. Most of the time our choices lead to many positive opportunities for us. Sometimes our choices lead us to a learning opportunity which helps us understand the consequences of our choices.
On Thursday 6th of April, we will be holding our end of term rewards activity for students who have consistently met school expectations during the term. This is a wonderful achievement for the majority of students across the school and this deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated.
This term, the reward activity will be a colour fun run. As per our School Expectations Policy, students who have received two or more Reflection Forms or a School Suspension will be unable to particpate in this activity. It is an expectation that students unable to participate in the rewards activity are still present at school on this day.
Mission News
Project Compassion
Today we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day wearing green and eating delicious baked treats to raise money for Project Compassion, Caritas’ Lent fundraising drive.
A huge congratulations and thank you to Year 5 and their families for the wonderful donations of baked goods! Year 5 raised an incredible $701.55! A massive thank you again to all Year 5 families for your support and delicious treats!
Our gold coin donations from our green dress up came to a total of $235.20. We are so grateful to our families for the support of Project Compassion this year and helping to create lasting change for all future generations!
St Patrick & St Joseph Feast Day Liturgy
Today we gathered to mark the feast days of St Joseph and St Patrick. St Patrick has a special place in our diocese as he is the Patron Saint of the Lismore diocese. His total faith and trust in God enabled him to bring the message of God’s love to the people of Ireland.
We also remembered St Joseph; he always took care of others, he especially took loving care of Mary and Jesus. He was a patient and just person who trusted God in all things. He was always faithful to what God asked of him.
We prayed together that with Saint Patrick and Saint Joseph’s help we may have the same faith and strength to do God’s will in our own lives.
As always, we thank our wonderful Year 6 students for leading our liturgy with reverence, especially when we had to change our plans at the last minute to combat the heat, and lead in 6 different classrooms! The liturgies could not have happened without Year 6's confidence in leading us in prayer. Well done Year 6.
OLHC Celebration Day and Messages of Hope
Our Celebration Day on Monday was a wonderful success! We are very grateful to Mr Brad from Fitness Kidz and the amazing Tory and his Year 10 Ministry class from Trinity Catholic College for the enthusiasm, energy and love that they poured into our students, celebrating all we have achieved in the last 12 months since moving to the Our Lady of Lourdes site.
As part of our activities, our students made a heart collage as a message of hope for our community, both our parish school community and the wider Lismore community. We are very proud to share these here to spread our love!
Ancient Words
Last Monday, our teaching staff undertook professional learning around the Gospels and teaching strategies in Religious Education. It was a valuable day for our teachers, where we learned about the person of Jesus by breaking open the Gospels focusing on Honour and Shame in Jesus’ time. We learned some engaging teaching strategies and are already seeing these used in our classrooms to support our students in their learning. We thank Dr. Dan White for his time, knowledge and engaging presentation.
Making Jesus Real Awards
KP
Nina Q - Being a thoughtful and kind helper in the classroom - thankyou for seeing a need and doing something about it Nina.
1L
Willow F - For showing consideration towards others and being thoughtful in your actions. 1L is so blessed to have you in our class Willow.
Seraphine C -For always showing a kind and generous heart towards others. Keep shining your light, Seraphine!
2L
Teilani B - For being a kind and thoughtful class member who is being a great friend to others in our classroom.
2P
Ariana P-B - For being empathetic and compassionate towards others. We are lucky to have you in Year 2 Ariana!
3L
Heidi W - Who shows the spirit of Jesus through being a vibrant and joyful class member.
3P
Harriett J - For the way that you are an image of Jesus in all that you do. Your cheerful greeting each morning and always offering a helping hand is why your class appreciates you so much.
4L
Will D - Thank you for always spreading positivity and being kind to others. You make our room shine.
4P
Grace C - for always bringing a happy face and smile into the classroom. Your shining light brightens up our room, Grace!
5L
Cooper J - Thank you for always bringing a smile and the face of Jesus to our classroom. You are a good friend and classmate.
6P
Pippa T - Thank you for the sunshine you bring to the classroom every day with your smiles. You are a shining light in Year 6
Learning & Teaching
Kindergarten - Developing writing skills and knowledge around characterisation in imaginary texts.
Year 1 - Enjoying creating their own compound sentences. Developing their Measurement skills by exploring how we can use 10 as a reference.
Year 2 - Exploring different forms of Measurement and learning how to correctly record their findings.
3P- Investigating vocabulary from our shared book
3L- Ordering Historical Events- Captain Cooks Voyage
4P- Measuring the length of our field
4L- Learning to identify personality traits in PDH
5L- Developing more detailed descriptive writing
6P- Publishing descriptive writing
OLHC Achievement Awards
KP
Elsie D - Increasing your confidence in class. It is awesome to see your personality starting to shine through. Keep it up Elsie!
Charlotte W - For being a focused and consistent learner. You set a great example Charlotte, well done!
Theodore P - For consistently demonstrating a diligent work ethic and believing that you can achieve your goals.
1L
Elle W - For working hard to improve her super sentences.Well done, Elle!
Harvey J - For displaying a positive and can do attitude during reading. Keep up the great work Harvey!
2L
Finnan M-T - For being an independent learner who always listens attentively and gives 100% effort in everything he does.
Jethro P - For being a motivated and independent learner who always tries his best.
2P
Michael W - For being positive, happy and motivated to take on new tasks and challenges in Year 2. Keep up the fantastic work Michael.
Madeleine F - For consistently showing persistence and aiming high with all learning tasks. You’re a star Maddy.
3L
Seb S -For your improved concentration and participation in classroom discussions. Keep up the good work Seb!
Juliet W - For having a growth mindset and not giving up. Well done on your perseverance with challenging Math tasks!
3P
Bradley B - For the superb work you have completed in maths where you used bridging the decade to solve tricky addition and subtraction problems. You are a Whiz!
Blake P - for the AMAZING job you did writing your narrative and publishing it into a story for everyone in our school to enjoy. You are a great author!
4L
Alenna C- For always demonstrating excellence and enthusiasm towards activities. Keep it up Aleena
Wyatt E- For using great descriptive language in writing tasks. Awesome work Wyatt!
4P
Harlee C - For always working hard and listening carefully at all times. Keep up the great effort!
Tilly P - For demonstrating great persistence in Mathematics this week when using written algorithms.
5L
Laini L - For excellent research and presentation of information on the Moken People of Burma and Thailand during Geography.
Ava O - For improved efforts and enthusiasm towards Mathematics tasks. Keep up the great work Ava!
6P
Archie W - for his excellent descriptive writing. Your perseverance and hard work is paying off! Keep up the fabulous learning, Archie.
Paige J - for demonstrating resilience and a more dedicated attitude to her learning this week. Keep up the awesome work, Paige!
Sports News
School News
Book Club Issue 2
Book Club Issue 2 went home at the begining of week 6. Orders are due in by Wednesday 22.03.23. Online orders only. Please order using the LOOP App. If you have any issues please contact Kim in the schools office.
Happy Reading
Community News
