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In the Gospel of John that we will hear at Mass this coming weekend, Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment. He teaches them that they need to show love for one another.
John's Gospel does not present a sentimental view of love. This is a type of love that is shown in service and sacrifice. It is difficult to choose to love when faced with hatred and anger. Jesus tells the disciples that all will know that they are his disciples because of the love they show for one another. This description of the early Christian community will be repeated in the Acts of the Apostles: “See how they love one another.” Christian love is the hallmark of Christianity. This commandment is given to each is us to love our neighbour, just as Jesus has loved us.
How will we show this love over the coming week?
Dear Parents and Carers,
The month of May is traditionally the month associated with Mary, the mother of Jesus. As such, it is a very appropriate month for celebrating the great gift of all mothers. On behalf of the students and staff, I would like to wish all the mothers in the Our Lady Help of Christians community a very happy Mother’s Day for last weekend., The special love that a mother can give is always appreciated, but not always as acknowledged as it should be.
To all our mothers, we hope that you all got the chance to relax on Sunday and allow your family to show their love and appreciation of the invaluable role you play in their lives. Our students had the opportunity to select a special gift for the special women in their lives with the support of volunteers who are supporting the wonderful work of the P&F.
Gratitude is extended to the parents who were able to help in the organisation and purchase of these special gifts last week. We also extend our thanks to students from Year Two and their teacher Mrs Medina who led us in a special prayer for mothers last Friday at assembly.
A PRAYER FOR OUR MOTHERS
Lord, thank you for all mothers.
For the new ones, who endure sleepless nights with infants in their arms.
For the busy ones, who juggle the pressures of home and family life.
For the steadfast ones, who nurture and care for our special vulnerable children.
For the patient ones, who always seek to forgive and engage with their pre-teens.
For the persistent ones, who cleverly find new ways to connect with their mini-adults.
For the mother aunts, who step in to cradle and care for nieces and nephews.
For all grandmas, who love and support their precious grandchildren.
For the foster mums that are called to gather and cover the fragile ones.
For the Sunday mums who care for our children and lead them in faith.
For the mums who give far beyond their own resources, who overcome disability to cherish and love.
Thank You Lord, for all our beautiful mothers. Help us to support them and keep them in our prayers.
May you bless them now on their special day. Amen.
Jane Webb
Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers and grandmothers for last Sunday. We hope you had a special day surrounded by the love of your family. The students enjoyed picking out the perfect gift for you from our Mother's Day stall last week. A huge thank you is expressed to the P&F committee members for their work planning and organising for this.
WINTER UNIFORM
As of this week, all students are expected to wear their full school winter uniform. This requires students to wear a tie and their school jumper if they are cold (the jumper must be worn as the first layer of warmth). The sports jacket is only to be worn with the sports uniform.
The girls can choose to wear either grey tights or long grey socks with their winter uniform. As the weather gets colder, some students choose to wear a parka, scarves, gloves, and beanies to and from school. This is acceptable if they are school colours (maroon or grey), and they must be removed in the classroom. Thank you for your ongoing support with following the OLHC School Uniform policy. The pride that the students take in wearing their school uniform correctly reflects your support.
PB4L
The PB4L focus for this week has been the expectations for Community Singing. The teachers have revised these expectations with the students this week and I’m sure we will continue to see how well the students follow the school rules during this time tomorrow afternoon during Community Singing. Please see the poster below that is displayed in each classroom to outline these expectations.
The House Points have restarted for Term 2 and congratulations to Sarkis house who are currently in first place. The current House Point tally is listed below. The students will continue to be awarded house points for following the school rules (both in the classroom and on the playground), wearing the correct uniform, completing their homework and for borrowing from the library.
1st - Sarkis (892 points)
2nd - Ingham (829 points)
3rd - MacKillop (799 points)
4th - Rose (792 points)
Tell Them from Me Survey
Thank you to the parents who have already completed this survey to share with us your valuable feedback to inform our future direction in terms of student learning and wellbeing. Information in relation to this survey has been shared with all parents via Compass stating:
This term all schools in the Wollongong diocese will survey the voice of parents, staff, and students in Years 4-6 via the 'Tell Them from Me' survey. This survey is designed to provide feedback of your experience of our school and is an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process. It will provide important feedback which continues to inform our work in designing improvement priorities that are responsive to the needs of our school community.
We value the role of parents and carers within our school community and 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.
This survey is anonymous, voluntary and you may skip questions that you are not comfortable answering.
It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You can access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device by using the following URL Link:
Please note that the closing date for completion of this survey is this Friday, the 30th of May.
Walk Safely to School Day
Walk Safely to School Day will be celebrated nationally tomorrow, Friday 16th May. This event encourages all primary school children, their parents, and carers to walk safely and regularly to school. This event seeks to promote better health, road safety, public transport, and the environment. Children who are regularly physically active are healthier and perform better academically. We encourage you, if possible, to participate and this will be recognised as you walk through the gates on this day. If walking from home to school isn’t an option maybe you could park a bit further away and walk part of the way to school.
SOME TIPS TO SUPPORT WALKING SAFELY TO SCHOOL
Teach your child about being a safe pedestrian: This includes watching out for driveways, walking facing traffic when there are no footpaths and always Stop, Look, Listen, Think, every time you cross the road.
Avoid distractions: Set a good example by putting your phone away. Focus on your surroundings. If you need to use your phone, stop in a safe place.
Make it fun: Keep the walks enjoyable by talking about what you see and about your day. This can help make the time go quickly and make walking to school something your child looks forward to.
Join forces: Coordinate with other families in your neighbourhood to walk to school together. Not only does this make it more fun for the kids, but it also provides additional safety in numbers.
Celebrate achievements: Celebrate achievements along the way to keep motivation high. Whether it's reaching a certain number of walks or noticing improvements in fitness, acknowledging progress can help reinforce the habit.
Practise, Practise, Practise: The more supervised pedestrian experiences your child can get the better, so they will be ready to safely travel by themselves when they are older.
Parent attention - OLHC Sports Representation Policy and Agreement
Over the coming week, via Compass, the OLHC Sports Representation Policy and Agreement will be released. This is for all students and parents from Years 2 - Year 6. It outlines the expectation for behaviour for all students representing the school at representative sporting events and gala days.
If your child is in Years 2 - Year 6 please read and respond to this, students are also expected to respond. If you have any questions, please contact the school office.
Alison Fazio
Assistant Principal
Diary dates are published on our website home page. You can also check Compass calendar and the events tab. All newsletters can be accessed on our school website.
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Friday 16 May |
Walk to school safely day 3W Reconciliation at 9am Kinder classroom visit by Fr Sarkis at 10am |
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Monday 19 May |
Year 6 Leadership incursion (Explore, Discover, Act) |
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Friday 23 May |
Whole School Mass Feast Day at 9.30am St Joachim Hall. All welcome to attend Mass and Picnic. |
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Monday 26 May |
Flag raising at 8.30am. Merit and Principal Awards |
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Tuesday 27 May |
Cancelled Diocesan Cross Country, Willandra Nowra (selected students, online consent in Compass) |
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Wednesday 28 May |
Year 1 Parish Mass at 9am |
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Thursday 29 May |
Year 3 Parish Mass at 9am P&F Disco - Infants 5pm to 6pm and Primary 6.30pm to 8pm. (More details closer to the event) |
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Friday 30 May |
6M Reconciliation at 9am Year 2 classroom visit by Fr Sarkis at 10am |
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Wednesday 4 June |
Kinder Parish Mass at 9am |
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Friday 6 May |
Year 3 and 5 Benediction at 11.40am |
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Monday 9 June |
Kings Birthday Public Holiday |
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Tuesday 10 June |
Staff Development Day - Pupil Free Day for students |
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Wednesday 11 June |
Year 2 Parish Mass at 9am |
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Thursday 12 June |
Year 1 Parish Mass at 9am |
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Friday 13 June |
4M Reconciliation at 9am Year 3 classroom visit by Fr Sarkis at 10am |
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Wednesday 18 June |
Year 3 Parish Mass at 9am |
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Thursday 19 June |
Year 5 and 6 Parish Mass at 9am |
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Friday 20 June |
5M Reconciliation at 9am Year 4 classroom visit by Fr Sarkis at 10am Assembly - Merits and Awards at 2pm school hall, all welcome |
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Wednesaday 25 June |
Students Semester One Reports released on Compass |
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Thursday 26 June |
Western Region Netball Gala Day |
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Friday 4 July |
Assembly - Merits and Awards at 2pm school hall, all welcome Last Day of Term 2 |
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Saturday 5 July to Sunday 20 July |
********** School Holidays *********** |
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Monday 21 July |
OLHC Athletic Carnival - Narellan Sports hub |
KINDER 2026 ENROLMENTS - CALLING ALL SIBLINGS!
Over the past week, Fr Sarkis and I have had the opportunity to meet many new families who are seeking enrolment for their child to commence school in Kinder next year at OLHC.
It has been quite noticeable that, to date, we have only met 6 siblings of students who are already enrolled at OLHC. This is quite a difference than in other years where we have had several siblings enrol.
If your child is turning 5 by 31 July 2026, please complete an online enrolment form by following the links on our school website. Enrol Now
Assessment and Reporting
This term, all parents from Kindergarten - Year Six will receive a Semester One (Term One and Two) report. This report will provide parents with the opportunity to focus on the aspects of learning where your child has made learning gains as well as areas for future learning growth.
These reports are released to parents via COMPASS. Following this, it is highly recommended that parents attend a Parent Teacher interview. This is where parents meet with the classroom teacher and the report can be further discussed, these will occur in the last week of this term. This is to support your child’s learning gains and growth.
More information will be provided in relation to the features of this Semester One report in future newsletters.
POSITIVE BEHAVIOURS FOR LEARNING (PB4L)
When students exhibit positive behaviour, by following our school rules, their name is written on a raffle ticket and is entered into a draw where two winners are selected at flag-raising on a Monday morning. The students receive a voucher for the Canteen which can be used for treats or put towards a lunch order.
Congratulations to these winners:
Reeva Aquino KM, Teresa Jimmy 5M, Jackson Brunker 6M, Isabella Joukhador 5M
Our next scheduled Assembly will be cancelled due to our Feast Day Mass. Therefore, Merit and Principal Awards will be handed out at flag raising on Monday 26 May 2025 at 8.30am.
Congratulations to the following students who will be receiving a Principal's Award.
| Principal Awards | |
| Class | Student Name |
| 1M | Alex FRANCIS |
| 1M | John Paul KHALIFE |
| 2M | Camilla CHAKAR |
| 3M | Michael SOJAN |
| 3M | Oliver JOYCE |
| 3M | Zac ODRLJIN |
| 3W | Sarah CONNELLAN DIZON |
| 4M | Duke MILLER |
| 4M | Sebastian BARRETT-VIZCAINO |
| 5M | Lilly FENTON |
| 5M | Teresa JIMMY |
Enjoy some photos of our Cross Country ribbons handed out at last Assembly.
Representatve Trials Success
Diocesan of Wollongong - Rugby Union trials 2 May 2025
Congratulations to Lucas for trialing at the Ruby Union event, held at St Gregory College. Lucas was successful in being picked in the team for Mackillop Rugby Union. We wish Lucas every success and what a fabulous achievement.
Lucas MacDiarmid 6M
Diocesan of Wollongong - Rugby League trials 9 May 2025
We also had further success in Ezrah Latilupe being selected for the Mackillop Rugby League team. Trials where held in Canberra recently and Ezrah put in an amazing effort and made the Mackillop team. Great accomplishment.
Ezrah Latilupe 6M
SAVE THE DATE - PROFESSIONAL LEARNING DATES -
Parents are advised that the following dates have been set aside as Staff Professional Learning dates. Thank you for your making alternative arrangements for your child/ren on -
Tuesday 10th June - following the King’s birthday
Thank you for organising alternate care arrangements for your child on this day.
Staff Development Days 2025
Parent Tip - Did you know the newsletter can be translated?
For those families who may have relatives where english maybe a second language, they can translate our newsletter into many different languages for ease of reading. The 'Translate' dropdown box is at the top of each newsletter.
Clothing Pool Open Tuesday Mornings opened
The OLHC School Clothing Pool has a supply of second-hand uniforms available. The Clothing Pool is run by a parent volunteer, and we are grateful for donations of used uniforms in good condition.
The clothing pool will be open weekly on Tuesday.
P&F Facebook
P&F Disco
Please note: this is a fully supervised school event, and students will be required to be dropped off and picked up promptly at correct times for thier age groups.
Parents helpers needed please fill out the google form below.
Parable of the Lost Sheep: A book reading by Bishop Brian Mascord
The Council of Catholic Schools Parents (CCSP) warmly invites all families to join Bishop Brian Mascord in a very special online reading of the classic Bible story ‘The Parable of the Lost Sheep’.
This unique online event, organised as part of the Jubilee Year of Hope, will take place on Tuesday 27 May from 7.00 pm to 7.30 pm. A flyer promoting the event is attached.
Camp Australia newsletter.