Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School East Warrnambool eNewsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

Today we acknowledge and pay our respects to the First Peoples, the traditional custodians of the lands and waterways and thank them for their continued hospitality.

We acknowledge and celebrate the continuation of a living culture who have lived with Creator God through creation of land, sea, waterways and life.

Prayer

15th August - Feast of the Assumption of Mary

Dear Jesus

May we do all things in the way of your Mother Mary

And give of ourselves totally in the service of each other

Especially those who are most in need.

May our actions be marked by compassion and love

And bring about justice and peace in the world.

Inspire us with the courage we need to always say ‘yes’

And continuously bring your message of hope and goodness

To those struggling in the difficult terrain of the hill country of life.

Amen

Leadership & Stewardship

Principal's Message

Dear members of the OLHC school community,

This week saw another wonderful family join us at OLHC.

David and Siobhan Roberts have moved from Cork, Ireland and Megan (Gr 6 OB), Liam (Gr 4 DJ) and Kieran (Gr 2SL) started on Wednesday morning. We wish them all the best on their move and extend a heartfelt welcome on behalf of the OLHC community.

This week I began the long process of meeting with individual staff members for their ARMs meetings - (Annual Review Meetings.) This is a formative process and an opportunity for the teachers to consider their current experience at school, reflect upon their teaching practice and plan for the future. It gives me a chance to show appreciation for their efforts and also enter into dialogue on how we can continue to improve both as a school and as individuals who contribute to the culture of OLHC. My expectations for all staff remain high, varied and complex but at a base level I get to reiterate my two non-negotiables - be kind to these children and teach them something!

Looking forward to seeing you around the school. Have a relaxing weekend!

Steve

Term 3 Important Dates

Friday 1st September - Father's Day Breakfast

Sat 2nd & Sun 3rd September - Eucharist Celebrations

Sunday 3rd September - Father's Day

Friday 8th September - Literacy staff PD - Student free day

Friday 15th September - PFA Secondhand Uniform Sale

Friday 15th September - Term 3 concludes @ 2.30pm

Teaching & Learning @ OLHC

A Message from Mr A

FUN LOOP FRIDAY- IMPORTANT READ

Today’s question prompted lots of answers about looking after the environment by picking up rubbish, recycling and not cutting down trees. Overwhelmingly though, the responses were about being kind to each other. We promote this as a school through our vision statement of peace, love, respect and inclusiveness. This is an easy thing to say, but as a school, we need to ensure this is the community we are fostering and developing for our students. Being kind starts by accepting everyone for who they are and treating people equally. This is a great topic of conversation to have around the dinner table.

MIDDLE AND SENIOR BASKETBALL

Our middle school students attended basketball on Monday and our senior students were able to participate on Friday. This is another example of promoting opportunities for all students to partake in extracurricular sporting events.

STRUCTURED LITERACY PD- TUESDAY 22nd AUGUST

We have a number of staff attending a professional development day at St Pius next Tuesday to further develop our collective understanding of structured literacy and plan to implement this across F-6. The majority of our efforts have focused on the Junior area and the implementation of our phonics program, Little Learners Love Literacy. Our 3-6 students have been developing their understanding of morphology to improve spelling knowledge. Our next step is to systematically implement a structured literacy approach across F-6 over the next 12 months.

BOOK WEEK- WEEK 7

Book Week is back next Friday. The theme is Read, Grow, Inspire. The students are invited to dress as their favourite book character on Friday 25th August. This is always a great event and the students have an opportunity to parade in front of each other in the Eugene Dalton Hall at 9am.

Have a great weekend with your family.

Thanks,

Naish

Yr 6 Basketball

Cyber Safety Bits with Ms Fitzgerald and Mrs Murfett

Hello Parents, Guardians and Friends,

Each week the Digital Technology teachers Ms Fitzgerald and Mrs Murfett will be bringing you new cybersafety tips and what is going on in the technology room this week. If you have any questions or concerns regarding cybersafety please contact us on:

Ellen Fitzgerald: efitzgerald@olhcwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au

Sarah Murfett: smurfett@olhcwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au

We are eSmart!

Exciting News!!

Our school is officially an eSmart school

eSmart, an initiative of the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, helps schools maintain a supportive and connected community to reduce online and offline bullying, and increase wellbeing. Achieving eSmart status is a significant milestone and should be celebrated. Thank you to all the students that have been super cyber legends and help make our school eSafe! A huge thank you to Ms Fitzgerald, a cyber safety champion who started us off on this project, let's continue her fantastic work.

In the classrooms this week we are continuing our work to create safe online environments for our young people. We have been working on developing a shared understanding around what it means to be a good digital citizen and what cyberbullying looks like in the online world.

What is going on in the classrooms this week?

Cybersafety Week!

Foundation: Will be learning about cyberbullying - the traffic light idea for safe sites. .

1s: Exploring how adults around us help to keep us safe online.

2s: Be Internet Awesome! Skills for safe searches.

3s: Being media creators that think before we post-media t-shirt design.

4s: Looking at the comparison of Screen Time vs Green Time

5s: Interland - a cyber safety world online. We explore kindness online.

6s: Interland - a cyber safety world online. We explore how permanent our digital footprint may be.

Awards

Foundation

Angel Karunarathne

Fergus Mahney

Darcy Weetra

Sonny McKean

Yr 1

Indigo Butler

Theo Mills

Zavier Burrows

Dotty Fitzpatrick

Rylee Timms

Emmy Drake

Yr 2

Mia Southwell

Ruby Rae

Ollie Doherty

Brooklyn Surridge

Amit Hurria

Bella Green

Yr 3

Evie Lowe

Eliza Lawrence

Max Couch

Isabella Moore

Annabel Rea

Molly Inia

Yr 4

Quinn McNulty

Julia Harrington

Hugo Lamb

Kaiden Mitchell

Holly Sudiro

Flynn Murphy

Yr 5

Emmy Dyer

Louie Metcalfe

Indi Griffin

Logan Miller

Yr 6

Isabella Berry

Lilly Crawford

Ollie Dowie

Ethan Lawrence

Lenny Thornton

Lenny Ross

Spirit of Our Lady's Award

Ava Skene

Audrey Fraser

Pippa Wallace

Lucas Davey

Hamish Kermond

Lachlan Kerr

Walk Ride Champion of the Week

Walk Ride Champion is if you ride or walk to school you receive a prize and get to have your profile in the school newsletter and an interview on ClassDojo. So start riding or walking today to be in the running for a prize.

Name: Hudson Dillon

Age: 6

Grade: prep

Class: FJF

House: Green

Favorite food: Apple

Favorite color: Red

Favorite animal: Hippo

Sports you like: Footy, basketball

Football team: Carlton

How far do you walk to school: A block

How much did you walk this week: 5

How long does it take you to walk to school? A minute

How long have you been walking to school? 1 year

What is one tip you would give to anyone wishing to walk to school for the first time?

“Walk on the footpath “

Faith & Culture

Parish Office Hours: 9am - 4pm Monday - Friday

P: 5562 2231

E: southwestcoast@ballarat.catholic.org.au

Eucharist Dates

Eucharist Practice: 24th August @ 2 pm

Celebration of Eucharist: September 2nd & 3rd

Building a Bigger House
(Matthew 15: 21 - 28)

Even dogs have hope! This is what the woman says to Jesus, when she asks him to heal her tormented daughter. She classifies her family with dogs, knowing the average Israelite would describe a Canaanite that way. Jesus is astounded by her faith and gives her the desire of her heart.

Some scholars claim Jesus was testing the woman by not responding to her request right away. Others say Jesus learned from her that his mission was larger than Israel. This seems strange to those of us who were taught that Jesus had the mind of God from the time Mary first laid him in the straw. But if Jesus is also fully human, he’d have to grow in wisdom and grace, as Luke says Jesus did.

This woman summoned up the courage to tell Jesus how to run his own ministry! The best of the prophets and saints showed this kind of spirit, sparring with God over matters of importance to them. Who knows what could happen if more people prayed with such confidence? Who knows how many of us could wrestle with God like Abraham, Jacob, Hannah, and the Canaanite woman - and win?

All Are Welcome

My father told me the story about his being an immigrant teenager desperately looking for work with his two brothers. Employment office after employment office had signs that said, “Italians need not apply” or “No Italians wanted”. To find work, they had to go inland and take the dangerous job of working in the coal mines, work that nobody else wanted.

Perhaps that is why when he opened his grocery store, he was tolerant of all who wanted to work for him or shop there. He always said that the money people spend was green, not black or white or brown. He was pragmatic, if anything.

So, too, the church is welcoming, or should be, of all who choose to believe its message. Paul makes that clear as be brought the Gentiles into the church. Isaiah states that God’s house “is called a house of prayer for all people”.

So, we gather, all of us, with our differences, but united in one faith and ask for God’s help in all that we do. It is that faith and our need for God’s help that joins us together. All are wanted and welcome.

Parish Bulletin

Wellbeing

If you want to learn to ride a skateboard or get better at maths, you need to practise. It’s the same when you want to feel happier!

Here are some easy ideas to give Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness and Emotional Literacy a try every day. Because the more you practise, the better you will feel.

Let's Practice!

Flourish Wellbeing eMagazine – August 2023

The August 2023 edition of Converge International’s Flourish Health and Wellbeing eMag is now available.

Parents & Friends Association

Community

Term 3: Concluding on Wednesday 30th August

Term 4: Monday 9th October, concluding on Wednesday 22nd November

The students participating, meet staff in the courtyard after school where they have some fruit before heading over to the school hall.

This program runs from 3.30pm to 4.45pm

We appreciated parents/guardians being prompt on pick up.

Enrolment forms are in the school foyer or can be found on PAM in the "Knowledge Bank" under forms and then selecting sporting schools or on the link below.

These forms need to be returned to the school office prior to your child/ren participating in the program.

If you have any further queries please contact the school office.

Out & About in our Community

Congratulations to alumni, Mia Cook on being named Life Saving Victoria's athlete of the year.

Mia has put a huge amount of work in and has had a stellar year highlighting her bronze medal in the under 17 women's board race at the Australian championships in March, along with winning the prestigious Jim Wall Iron in January, as the two results she was most proud of last season.

She also won five medals at the Victorian championships, including gold in the open ironwoman while medalling at various other competitions across the summer. A massive effort as a 16 year old.

Mia is in off-season training for a jammed-packed state and national schedule this summer.

Well done Mia and good luck with the season ahead, enjoy!

https://www.standard.net.au/story/8284410/

Our Diocesan Community - July 2023

Lingapiny Ajak Inc. Is a registered non-profit charity organization, established in March 2023. Our mission is to teach and empower underprivileged individuals, families and communities in Sudan and continue to develop projects that assist creating a better life for all.

Earlier in the term we included in our newsletter, an article that was in the local newspaper putting the spotlight on Teresa Padiet (Yr 6 student Evans Ajang's mum) and the wonderful work she is achieving in Sudan. Please see details on the webpage below.

Webiste: lingapinyajak.org

Email: lingapinyajak@gmail.com