Dear Parents and Carers,

At this time, we are reminded especially of those in our local and wider community who are in most need of our prayers.  We bring to mind those most in need of our prayers during this time of pandemic.

We pray for those who are suffering ill health and for those who care for them.

We pray for those who have lost their income as a result of the pandemic.

We pray for those who are researching a vaccine, seeking prevention to this illness.

We pray for those who are isolated and lonely as a result of the pandemic.

We pray for those who have lost loved ones

We pray:

 Lord Jesus Christ, our true physician and healer, be merciful to us and bring us your aid in these troubled times. 

Drive out our infirmities of soul and body; free us from all disease and especially from this pestilence.

We place in your gentle Heart the elderly, the frail, people with disability, children, young people and families, our indigenous peoples, those who are poor, lonely and isolated. As you walk with us, free them from fear, and give them patience and hope together with our loving care.

In your mercy deal also with the causes of our pitiful condition, that in curing our lack of faith and spiritual weakness, you may also remedy our bodily ills.

We place our trust in you, the risen Lord, who lives and reigns forever and ever.

Amen.

Updated Directives - Term Three

As you would be aware from updated communication from the Director of Schools, Mr Peter Hill and myself,  that some updates to school procedures will be in place for the remainder of this term.  This is to continue to safe guard our students and staff members and provide preventative measures.

I would like to personally extend grateful thanks to our parent community who have been most accommodating and supportive during this time. I would also like to extend my thanks to the hard working and dedicated staff who have had to make many adjustments this year as a result of COVID-19.

Some of the most recent directives include –

• Following sickness with flu-like symptoms, students and staff are required to be free of symptoms AND present a negative COVID-19 test, which must be sighted by the school, before they can return to school.
• Students will now stay within their relevant cohort (i.e. class, year group or stage) for all learning activities. 
• Schools cannot travel outside of their geographic region, including for all inter-school activities.
• Student activities at offsite locations are no longer allowed, except in very limited circumstances (i.e. inter-school activities within our region and day field trips to outdoor locations within walking distance of the school).
• Participants in attendance at inter-school sport and physical activities must be limited to 100 people per venue, including staff.
• Singing, chanting and use of wind instruments in group settings is not permitted. 
• Assemblies are limited to stage groups (primary) and cannot run for longer than 15 minutes.
• Only incursions/external providers essential to curriculum delivery are permitted. 
• Community groups using school facilities must now have a COVID-19 Safety Plan. 
• Playgroups – including Transition to School Through Play – are not permitted. 
• P&F meetings must be held online and P&F social events are not permitted.
• Parent/teacher meetings must be held online or via telephone, except in very limited circumstances. 

As a result of these recent directives, the planned St Vincent de Paul Winter sleep out that was scheduled for this Friday 21^st August can no longer go ahead. Some of the staff have elected to sleep out at home on Friday evening. As a school community, we have been most grateful of your generous support in donating items for the raffle, purchasing raffle tickets and making donations to this most worthy cause. Thank you for your support of this initiative.

Students are now encouraged to use hand sanitiser on the way into school as well as during the school day before eating. All of these combined efforts are to support in minimising the current risks associated with the transmission of COVID-19.

Your ongoing prayers and support are truly appreciated

Jane Webb

The Catholic Education Office has developed a podcast to support the spiritual formation of staff and parents.

Ripples seeks to offer a space where people can draw on the wisdom of a series of guest speakers and can experience some treasured stillness through meditation. On Tuesday of each week a new Episode and Meditation are released. Practices like these create a ripple effect. They have the potential to impact the way we respond to family, friends, colleagues, to others in our world, to creation and to our loving God.

The Ripples Podcast is available on the Continuity of Faith and Learning website, on Podbean. and Apple Podcast.

Natasha Ferderer

Religious Education Co-ordinator

Seesaw

In Week 7, students will be sharing a work sample with parents via Seesaw Family. It is important that to prepare yourself for this time each family download the free app "Seesaw Family". In the coming weeks you will receive your child’s QR code. This QR code will allow you to access your child’s work on Seesaw.

You will be encouraged to provide feedback to your child. Giving feedback to your child can be challenging. It is important that when you are trying to support your child’s learning, you do it in a positive way. It is important to listen to your child and ask them questions about where they may be struggling.Here are some tips that may help you:

1. Identify something they have done well in the task.
2. Discuss the area where they could improve and suggest ways to achieve this. Focus on the skills and strategies, for example in Writing look at their use of capital letters and spelling, in Reading concentrate on the strategies they use when reading when faced with an unknown word.
3. Finish by mentioning how they have improved or how hard they have worked.

Staff have continued engaging in professional learning in reading. Some classes are working on comprehension. For comprehension to occur, students need to be able to recognise the words on the page and retain this information. It is important for students to understand what they read, remember what they read and communicate with others about what they read. When your child is reading ask them questions related to the text. For example, 

• Who did…
• When did…
• What happened to…
• Why do you think...
• What do you predict will happen...

Social and Emotional Learning

Emotions can confuse or overwhelm our students. It is important to help children learn to understand the connection between their emotions. Over the last few weeks students explored a variety of tools (calming techniques and thinking strategies) that they can use to regulate what zone they are in. Students have developed a range of skills in how to manage and move between the Zones of Regulation.

With the tools students have been exposed to we are hoping to support students in being able to self regulate their emotions. Self-regulating or self-controlling is when a child has the ability to do what needs to be done in a given situation. For example, when a person may be in a stressful situation or frustrated, a person who can self-regulate is able to remain calm and organised to successfully overcome the event. If a person who struggles with self-regulation encounters the same frustrating experience, he or she will have difficulty coping and display behaviours.

It is important to have a discussion when your child may be in a particular zone. 

Discuss: I can see you are in the red/yellow/blue/green zone [child’s names]. 

• What caused you to get in this zone?
• What strategy could you use to move to another zone?
• What could you do differently to overcome the same problem again?

Zones of Regulation

Facebook

Please give our school Facebook page a like. We regularly upload photos of students through this platform and would love to keep our school community updated. Select the link below for our OLHC Facebook page.

Alana Stroligo.

School banking has been suspended for the remainder of the year.

The Canteen is run by Made Fresh.  Should you have a need to contact the Canteen, please email Maria at "made.fresh@yahoo.com" or telephone 0410 481 150.

• Monitors will be present to assist and ensure required protocols and health requirements are fulfilled.  Once Mass starts, the doors will be closed.
• After Mass you will be provided with a disinfectant wipe to rub over surfaces where you have been sitting or come in contact with.
• Toilets will not be open