Last Sunday's Gospel ....

We heard from the Gospel of Matthew

Jesus teaches that his disciples are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

The widespread use of electricity in our society can make us less aware of the value and importance of light. To re-engage with the power of the metaphor that Jesus offers us, gather your family in a darkened room. Bring only one flashlight.

Sit together for a minute and consider what you are able to do and see in so little light. You might try opening the Bible to see whether you can read today’s Gospel. Turn on the flashlight and experiment to see how one might use it to achieve the greatest amount of light. Then read today’s Gospel by the light of the flashlight. Ask everyone to consider what it means to say that Christians are to be the light of the world. How might your family act in a way that is a light for others, a light that is worthy to put on a lamp stand? Choose one thing that your family will do this week to show that you are the light of the world. 

Stewardship Thought ....

This Gospel reminds us that our lives and our deeds must serve as examples to others, pointing the way to the Father.  Not for our own benefit do we labour, but so that others may see our good works and give the glory to our Father in Heaven.

Dear Parents,

Thank you for the wonderful warm welcome to the OLHC School Community. Some of the hallmarks of a Catholic faith community include being a place of welcome, working together in partnership, deepening our relationship with and love of God and our neighbour and being a place of hope.

Over the past few weeks, I have found all of these characteristics to be alive in the OLHC school community. Thank you for coming to introduce yourself to me and for your words of welcome.

Safer Internet Day

This week’s newsletter is dedicated to Safer Internet Day. Although this is one day where the awareness of internet safety is raised, it is our collective responsibility to aim to create a safe environment for our children when they are using the internet. 

This newsletter aims to highlight some of the excellent resources for parents that are readily available from the eSafety Commissioner. 

Have you started the 'chat' yet?

Talking to your children about their online activity can be tricky as it will often involve personal subjects or topics that they may not want you to know about. Starting the chat is the first step. Click here and you will read more about how to begin these critical conversations.

Are they old enough?

‘All the kids seem to have some sort of social media!’ ‘I’ve seen children as young as Year 2 having Facebook and Instagram accounts!’ ‘Can you believe that some parents simply allow their children to have a social media account?’ ‘If they didn’t have access to social media they wouldn’t have the social problems they do!’

These are just some of the statements and comments that are heard from year to year about children and social media.  So …

What’s the best age for a child to be on social media?

Read here to help your child navigate the world of social media.

‘Meet and Greets’

Thank you to the parents who took advantage of the opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher during this week for a ‘Meet and Greet’ meeting. I encourage you to maintain this connection with the teacher during the course of the year to ensure we are all supporting your child with their learning.

Arranging for a teacher meeting

If you need to meet with your child’s teacher, please be conscious of the fact that immediately before and after school our staff are often engaged in our own meetings, as well as the planning and preparation that is required for their class. A teacher may not be able to meet with you straight away and trying to 'catch them on the run' can distract them from their supervisory role of looking after the children. Therefore, the best way to arrange an appointment is to contact the school office via phone or email. Please leave some options of dates and times that suit you, and indicate whether an appointment over the phone would suit you as well.

Entering and Exiting the School

Parents are asked to use the pathway near the St Anne Hall when dropping or picking up children from school. The main school gates are for use when entering and exiting the school during the school day (between 8:30am and 2:30pm).

For the safety of the students all gates are locked during the school day. Thank you for your cooperation using the pathway near the hall before and after school.

Opening School Mass

Next Friday, 21^st February we will gather together as a school community to ask for God’s blessing on the year ahead. During this Mass we will join together to pray for all members of the OLHC school community.

Parents are most welcome to join us at this Mass which will commence at 10.00am.

During the Mass we will have a special blessing and commissioning for the student leaders for 2020.

Congratulations to the following leaders who will receive their badges next week –

Captains –  Abigail Turner, David Abraham

Vice Captains –  Maya Gomez, William Chanhdara

House Captains - Ingham:  Atong Chol,  MacKillop:  Harry Morell,  

                          Rose:  Elizabeth Lisita Cocheci,  Sarkis:  Benjamin Robin

God bless,

Jane Webb

Principal

We have certainly made a positive start to the 2020 school year with the students working very hard to complete a variety of assessment tasks to show the teachers where they are at with their learning in English and Maths. The teachers analyse this data to plan teaching and learning activities that address the needs of the students. Thank you to the many parents who attended Meet and Greet interviews earlier in the week. I know the teachers appreciated your time and the information that you were able to share with them. It is important for us all to work together to meet the needs of the students here at OLHC. Congratulations to our Kindergarten students who have made a very smooth transition to big school. I am sure they will all be very tired at the end of this week after their first whole week at school.

As a part of our PB4L (Positive Behaviours for Learning) structures here at OLHC we all begin the year by explicitly teaching the three school rules Be Respectful, Be Safe and Be an Active Learner. The students are taught what is expected of them in order to follow these rules in the classroom, when walking around the school, when playing on the playground or at whole school activities like Flag Raising and Assembly. The students are awarded house points for following the school rules both in the classroom and on the playground. They are also awarded extra house points for borrowing from the library each week, for completing their homework and for wearing their uniform correctly. Every Monday morning at Flag Raising we draw two names of students who have received a house point on the playground for following the school rules and they are awarded a canteen voucher. The House Captains count the house points every Friday and the winning house is announced at Flag Raising each week. The winning house half way through the term is awarded an ice block and the wining house colour at the end of the term is awarded a mufti day.

 Thank you for your support in ensuring the students come to school each day wearing their uniform with pride and following the uniform policy. Teachers will remind students if they are wearing the wrong uniform, socks (no ankle socks), the wrong earrings (must be plain gold or silver studs or sleepers) or the wrong colour hair accessories (they must match the colours of the uniform). Please be mindful of the boys haircuts, the policy states that it must be no longer than the eyebrow or collar and there are to be no extreme haircuts eg: no shaved sections or lines. If you have any questions about the uniform expectations please refer to the page in the parent handbook or speak to your child’s teacher.

I look forward to our first whole school Mass next Friday, I hope to see many of you there. It will be a special Mass for our Year 6 captains as they are commissioned into their leadership role for 2020.

Alison Fazio

Assistant Principal

Thank you to the families that have returned their RSVPs for our Welcome Mass and BBQ on the 29th of February. We are looking forward to a wonderful celebration of our community. We are seeking volunteers to help cook the BBQ on the night. If you are able to help please contact the school office.

The Sacrament of First Reconciliation (Confession) will be celebrated on Thursday 2nd April from 4.15pm.  It is available to all children who are in Year 3 or above and have been baptised.  If you wish your child to make this Sacrament, with the option of receiving their First Holy Communion later in the year, and did not come to the enrolment night last year, you must attend the first lesson for this programme on Saturday 29th February, commencing at 4.15pm. Children will participate in lessons within the parish school classrooms and parents will meet with Father in the Parish Meeting Room.  This is the last opportunity for you to enrol for 2020.  The programme fee of $25.00 is payable at the first lesson.  If you are enrolling, please arrive at 3.45pm to the parish meeting room before the lesson to complete the paperwork.  You will need a copy of your child's birth and baptism certificate to attach to the enrolment form.

Children will also start attending Mass as part of the Parish next week. We welcome families and friends to join us at Mass each week. 5W will be attending Mass on Wednesday at 9.00am and 4W at the same time on Thursday.

Shrove Tuesday- February 25th

The word Shrove comes from the past tense of the English verb “Shrive” which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of confession and by doing penance.

Shrove Tuesday takes place before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday and is a day for Confession. Over the years it has also become a time for Catholics to feast on and use up eggs, sugar and dairy which are traditionally restricted during the Lenten fast.

As a school we will be acknowledging this day with pancakes. For a gold coin donation children will be able to receive a pancake. All money raised will go towards this year's Project Compassion appeal.  Order forms will be sent home closer to the day.

Swimming Carnival

On Friday 31st January, our Primary students battled it out in very warm conditions to attend our annual OLHC Swimming Carnival. Knowing how to swim is an essential and potentially life-saving tool so it was great to see all our students dive into the pool and give it a go. Getting yourself from one side of the pool to the other means not giving up and this was seen on the day by all our students. We would like to congratulate everyone for their dedication and perseverance when taking part in this carnival. We would also like to congratulate our parents on winning the relay and beating the teachers. 

Thank you to Mrs Foweraker, Mr MacDiarmid, Mrs Bishop, Mr and Mrs Barrington, Mrs Drake and Mr Dunbar, and Mrs Federico for all their help on the day. 

Thank you to the very supportive families and friends who came along to spectate and cheer on our students.

 Just a reminder all our parent helpers at the sport carnival and gala days are awarded 10 house points to their child’s house colour.

Congratulations and best wishes to the following students who celebrate a birthday in February:

Mason Burke, Masen Teran, Qaia Foeh-Pierce, Braxton Clark, Andre Meoushy,

Kadence Begg, Tom Abbott, Acueek Malek, Isaac Athanassiou,

Anabel Martin, Anthony Bell, Zerena Besatu, Lacey Cohen, Matilda Antony,

Sabrina Oraz, Dennis Tran, Euphemia Chew,

Noah Mickan, Ava Callaghan

PARENTS & FRIENDS ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)

Notice is given that the Parents & Friends (P&F) Annual General Meeting (AGM) will held in the staffroom on Monday 2nd March 2020 at 7.30pm.

The primary purpose of the P&F is to provide an opportunity for parents to be involved in the school through social events, fundraising and through support for school initiatives. Involvement in the P&F is a concrete way of fulfilling the commitment made during the enrolment process to support the school.

At the AGM all positions will be declared vacant and an election will take place.  Please consider nominating for any of these positions. Information regarding each of the roles is included below for your information. We look forward to welcoming as many parents as possible at this meeting. We will commence at 7pm

Looking forward to seeing you there.

President - Preside at all Executive and Ordinary P&F meetings. 
Vice President - Fill in the role of President in there absence.
Secretary - Work closely with President. Prepare agendas,minutes.
Treasurer - Manage financials, banking, annual audit.

Clothing Pool

The Clothing Pool is open every Wednesday from 8.00am - 8.20am.  The Clothing Pool is located between the Years 1 and 2 classroom.

The Relics of St Therese of Lisieux plus Her Parents

This year there is to be a national pilgrimmage of the relics of the much-loved St Therese of Lisieux, the "Little Flower" (statue in the Marian chapel), together with the relics of her recently canonised parents, Louis and Zelie Martin.  The Parish is blessed to be able to  host their relics in the parish on Thursday 19th March from 4.30pm to 9.30pm.  A full schedule of devotions, which will include liturgical reception, Mass and Veneration, will be published in due course.  Mark the day and time now to be able to participate in this rare and unique event which will bring many graces and blessings upon all those who venerate these unique saints and seek their holy intercession.

New Altar Servers

New altar server training will commence shortly.  Training sessions will be each Friday from 4.00pm - 5.00pm in the Church, commencing on Friday 14th February.  Those who wish to train must have made their First Holy Communion and be regular Mass attenders.  A parent or guardian will need to be present at the first session to complete information details.  Please ring the parish office on 4628 1385 with your name and telephone number if you wish your child to undertake this training.

Busabout

Attached is a letter from Busabout reminding students to tap on and top off.

St Gregory's College Open Day