Dear Parents and Carers,

Term 3 certainly hasn’t begun the way that we would have all hoped with the strict lock-down of the greater Sydney region affecting how we go to work, attend school and, indeed, our daily lives.

I would like to express my overwhelming gratitude to you all for the way in which you are supporting the learning of your child at home. The staff really value the way that you have again embraced this mode of learning for your child and the support that you are providing your child on a daily basis while you juggle other responsibilities and commitments. These life lessons will be something that your child will look back on and remember long into the future. This will help your child to learn how to be resilient and cope when things do not go to plan.

As we work together through the coming weeks of remote learning, we can look back on what we learnt from the same experience in 2020. You may recall responding to some questions last year about your experience. This has helped us to better understand how you were affected and it has certainly supported us in the planning of remote learning this time. We are conscious that families are sharing devices, we are also mindful of the complexities that accessing remote learning can have and we are trying to streamline these processes.

The school remains open for the supervision of children whose parents are essential workers. Please ensure that if your child is attending school, they bring sufficient food and drink as the canteen and bubblers are non-operational at the current time. We also ask that if your child is unwell that they stay at home.

I would, in particular, like to pay tribute to our amazing staff who continue to be at the front-line of our new normal. Each of our staff continue to juggle the competing demands of their own family commitments, some supporting the home learning of their own children, battling concerns for their own health and the implications that the work they do may have on family members, all the while keeping at the forefront, the continuing learning needs of our students. We continue to be grateful for the support of our parent and parish community. Thank you to those parents who express their gratitude for the tremendous work our teachers continue to do in the preparation of remote learning.

Staffing News

Last term we farewelled Ms Trish Coffey as she commences retirement after a career in education that has spanned 44 years of service in a range of Catholic schools. We thank Ms Coffey for this outstanding service and wish her every blessing as she commences her well earned retirement.

The teaching of 2 Maroon, for the remainder of the school year, will be shared by Miss Jessica Mudie and Miss Megan O’Sullivan. Both teachers will be responsible for the planning of remote learning experiences over the coming weeks.

We also farewelled Mrs Gemma Wild as she prepares for the birth of her first child next month.

Mrs Wild will be providing remote learning experiences for the 5 Maroon students for the next week before she commences maternity leave.

For the remainder of the school year, 5 Maroon will be taught by Mrs Alison Fazio and Miss Natasha Ferderer.

Remote learning will be provided by Mrs Fazio and Miss Ferderer from Week Three.

We wish both Gemma and Trish many blessings as they begin this exciting new chapter.

Staffing at OLHC During Remote Learning

All staff at OLHC must follow and adhere to the strict COVID safe practices whilst on the school site during this critical lock-down period. This includes the wearing of masks and physical distancing. There is an exemption of mask wearing where it may affect the ability of a student or students to hear or engage with them, such as where clear enunciation and communication is essential. Other than this, all staff will be wearing masks.

In addition, teaching staff will be operating on a rotational roster. This means that not all teachers will be on-site each day; however, the school will operate with adequate staff for on-site supervision.  Teachers will also be working remotely throughout the week.

School staff who display any ‘flu' like symptoms must also follow the COVID safe practice of not coming to work.

Staying in Touch

During this time of remote learning parents and carers are asked to continue to communicate with the school in the following ways in relation to your child -

• Contact the school office and ask for the classroom teacher to make contact with you
• Liaise directly with the classroom teacher by sending them an email or send an email to info@olhc.dow.catholic.edu.au with your child’s name and class in the subject line
• Parents and carers can also expect to see COMPASS alerts which provide up to date information in relation to Remote Learning.
• If your child is unwell and unable to access remote learning, please contact the school office on 4626 5655 so that the roll can be marked as them being absent.

Please do not hesitate to make contact with the school, or your child’s teacher, if you require any support in accessing Remote Learning.

Please remember:

Learning is a complex process, therefore, teaching is a highly skilled profession. Staff at OLHC do not expect you to teach your child as they would in a face to face learning environment. We understand the frustrations and the anxiety that some parents are feeling during remote learning. Do not hesitate to reach out to the school for any support that you may need during this period. 

We will do all that we can to support you and your child’s learning.

We keep in our prayer those who have been directly affected by COVID-19 and those who are supporting them.

We offer the following prayer for our school community at this time.

Bless us, Lord, and bless this uncertain term.

Bless who we are and the life we bring to everything we do.

Bless our community and keep us true to one another.

Bless our struggles and our joys. 

Bless our disappointments and our triumphs.

Bless our hopes and bless our fears.

And bless the new paths we are forced to walk. 

We offer all this to you.

Our Lady Help of Christians - Pray for Us.

More detailed information will be provided about the return to face-to-face teaching when this becomes available.

Parish Masses

Mass will be live-streamed every Tuesday (6.30pm Mass) and Saturday (6.00pm Vigil).  

https://www.olhcrosemeadow.org.au/

As Mrs Webb mentioned, this is not the way we hoped to begin Term 3 with all of us in lock-down and experiencing remote learning. Schools are usually alive with students, teachers, families and ongoing activity and learning. It is hard for us all to adjust to this new way of doing things, again. We keep all of our OLHC community in our prayers and please remember to reach out to us if there is anything we can do to help. 

Our teachers have been very busy creating learning opportunities for their students via online platforms. They have collaborated with each other and we are working on new ideas each day. Your children are able to access this learning whether they are at school or at home. The teachers will be providing feedback to the students via the online platform they are using. Please talk to your children about reading this feedback and applying it to the next activity they complete. If your child has questions, or is unsure of a task, they can also post a message for their teacher to read and respond to. It is a transition time for us all so please let us know if you have any questions or if there is any way we can support you at home.

It is important to encourage your children to continue to read as well.  The teachers will also be urging them to do this. Please encourage your child to spend some time each day reading independently, reading to you or even you reading a favourite book to them.

I’m sure the coming weeks will bring further changes which I know we will adapt to together as the wonderful school community we are.

Take care

We are so grateful to the students and families in our community for their support as we have made the transition to remote learning. We want to make sure that we keep communication open so we can continue to support each other. 

• Students in Kinder, Year 1 and 2 are accessing their learning through SeeSaw. 
• Students in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will access their learning primarily through Google Classroom. 
• Teachers are available to answer questions or concerns between the hours of 9am-3pm. 
• If you need support please contact the school office and they will be able to assist you. 
• Currently our teachers are planning and providing learning opportunities for their students across a range of learning areas. The recommended daily time on learning is approximately 2.5 hours for Kinder, Year 1 and Year 2 and 3 hours in Years 3-6.This learning content is primarily focused on English, Maths and Religion.
• For support with remote learning you can access our website https://sites.google.com/dow.catholic.edu.au/olhc-remote-learning-landing-p/home

Congratulations to the following students who celebrate a July birthday:

Selam Besatu, Kon Kon Chol,

Jye Dickens, Anabelle Federico,

Maci Hunter, Geon Joseph,

Asher Khanarbkaew, Xavier Korkise,

Teiarra Latulipe, Adieu Majak,

Hayden Phyakeo, Samuel Shaji,

Adwin Shiju, Luke Siroki,

Olivia Smith,  Justin Soares,

Riley Tabone.

P&F Meeting - August

When known, we will advise parents of the meeting arrangements for Monday 2nd August.

Clothing Pool

As parents can no longer enter out site, if any item of uniform is required, please contact the office and we will arrange for items to be sent home when on-site learning resumes.

School Banking

School banking will resume when on-site learning resumes.

School banking is available on Tuesday of every week.  Please remember to bring the deposit book and savings in on this day.