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Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome to the 2022 school year!
We hope that you have enjoyed a restful holiday break. It was wonderful to welcome the return of students on Tuesday. All members of our school community have returned re-energised and ready for another year filled with learning. Our students in Years 1-6 students displayed great eagerness to be back at school, to resume their learning, to reconnect with old friends and to be introduced to new ones. As a staff it is our sincerest hope that all our students continue to embrace this new school year with enthusiasm, determination and a positive mind set. We all have so much to be grateful for, especially the great opportunities that a Catholic Education, here at Our Lady Help of Christians provides.
We especially extend a warm welcome to all the new families who have joined our school community in 2022, especially those parents who will commence the journey with their child at ‘big school’ for the very first time. We welcome in a very special way all our new staff who are commencing at Our Lady Help of Christians in 2022.
We welcome -
Miss Ainsley Northey - teaching Year 2 Maroon
Miss Celeste Muvceska - teaching Year 4 White
Miss Nancy Faljoun - teaching Year 6 White
Ms Monique Mort - teaching PPT (PE) to Kinder, Year Four, Year Five and Year Six
Mrs Alicia Snushall - teaching PPT to Kinder, Year Four and Year Six
Mrs Emma Cotterill - teaching PPT to Years One, Two and Three
Mrs Helen Williams - SSO Administration/SSO Library Support
Mrs Vanessa Byrum - SSO Support
As we welcome new members to our community, we extend our prayers to all 2021 students and staff including Miss Natasha Ferderer, Miss Miriam Reid, Miss Emma Cavallarro, Miss Alicia Zoccoli, Mr Peter Vincent and Mrs Margaret Hole who are commencing new adventures in 2022. We wish them every blessing for the future and continue to be grateful for the contributions made to our community during their time here.
In our role as teachers and educators, we devise plans and make decisions that directly affect and impact on the life of your child. As a staff we willingly accept the great joy and important responsibilities that come with our chosen vocation. Please keep all our staff in your prayers over the coming months so that we can complete our work with grace, courage, compassion and faith.
In a sense, our school has a double staff; not only the staff who perform within the school, but also the very important “staff” that perform in the home. Your child’s education can be greatly enhanced by your engagement in their learning at home and through involvement in school activities. It is often the enthusiasm, support and involvement of parents that will help to inspire children to do their best.
As members of a Catholic school community, we all teach in Jesus’ name, we all have Him as a wonderful example from which to draw inspiration and confidence as we, the staff at school and the 'staff' at home, work together to create the best possible learning environment for all the students in our school.
Once again, Welcome to our New School Year!
May we enter this new adventure together in anticipation of the possibilities that lie ahead and remember our collective responsibility to Seek Wisdom Love God, a lived reality within our community each day.
Blessed are you, Lord God, Creator of body and mind and heart;
At the beginning of this new school year ask you to bless the students, staff, and families of OLHC, that together we may grow in faith, hope, and love as we learn from you and each other how to follow your Son Jesus.
Expand the horizons of our minds, that we may grow in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge; deepen our commitment to seek the truth of your ways; and enliven our faith to reach out to those in need.
Amen
With every blessing for the school year ahead,
Jane Webb
PRINCIPAL
FOOD SHARING - COVID SMART MEASURES
As we continue to operate within COVID Smart guidelines, when students are having a birthday, they are encouraged to bring in individually wrapped chocolates or treats to share with their class. This would be instead of birthday cake or cupcakes. These treats could be something like Freddo frogs or other types of individually wrapped.
WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN 2022
Next Tuesday 8th February, we are very excited to warmly welcome our newest members of the school community - our Kindergarten 2022 cohort. Parents are invited to bring their child into the school and meet the Kindergarten teachers in the amphitheatre (similar to Orientation).
The Kindergarten teachers will then walk up to the Kindergarten classrooms with the students. We are so excited to meet the Kinder students for 2022!
Kindergarten will start at 8:45am on Tuesday 8 February and then will start at the usual time of 8:25am from Wednesday 9 February.
SCHOOL LEADERS 2022
Congratulations to the following students who have been elected by their peers and teachers as Year 6 Student Leaders for 2022
School Captains - Jye Dickens and Georgia D’Emanuele
Vice-Captains - Lucas Failla and Skye Bishop
House Captains - Isabella Fazio (Sarkis), Steven Brticevich (Mackillop),
Peyton Venters (Ingham) and Euphemia (Miya) Chew (Rose).
COVID-SMART FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS -
What if my child returns a positive Rapid Antigen Test?
If a student receives a POSITIVE test result, you will need to:
- record the positive result through the Service NSW website or Service NSW app
- notify the school of the positive test result as soon as possible
- follow NSW Health advice to isolate for 7 days
Welcome back to 2022! I hope you all had a relaxing holiday and enjoyed the quality time you spent as a family. Yet again, we are faced with more challenges as we begin this new school year but together we will face and overcome them. Thank you to you, parents and teachers, for everything you are doing to follow the COVID Smart directives that we begin with this year. Our afternoon dismissal points remain the same as at the end of last year, these being the parent pick up point at the St Anne gate or through the Pick Up zone via the John Therry entrance. Students waiting for their siblings at John Therry to collect them will wait near the St Joachim hall. Thank you for your continued cooperation with this.
It was a pleasure to see all of the staff last Friday for the first day of the year, everyone was eager and excited to begin with their new class. The classrooms look great with new themes, new ideas, ready to be filled with students. A special welcome to our new staff members, it is great to have them as a part of our OLHC community, I am sure they will bring so much to the team. Welcome also to the new families to the school, we look forward to Kindergarten 2022 starting next Tuesday, 8 February. Starting school for the first time is such a huge step but we look forward to taking this step with the students and their families.
We start our year with our Swimming Carnival tomorrow, Friday 4 February. I am sure it will be a wonderful day and thank you to the Sports team for all they have done in advance to have this day organised and ready to go in the first week back at school.
Looking forward to another productive year and to the many experiences and the wonderful learning that we will all do together.
2022 Sacramental Programs
Sacramental dates for 2022 are below in this newsletter.
The following dates are published, but subject to NSW Health Public Health Orders.
| Date | ActivityEvent |
| Friday 4 February | Swimming Carnival for students in Years 3 - 6 |
| Tuesday 8 February |
Kindergarten students commence at 8.45am St Patrick's and St Gregory's visit to Year 5 and Year 6 |
| Wednesday 9 February | Kindergarten students full day - commence 8.25am |
| Monday 18 February to Friday 4 March | Catholic Schools Week |
| Tuesday 1 March | Shrove Tuesday |
| Wednesday 2 March | Ash Wednesday |
| Friday 25 March | Feast of The Annunciation |
| Sunday 3 April | Daylight savings finishes |
| Friday 8 April | Last day of Term 1 |
| Tuesday 26 April | First day of Term 2 |
SPORT DAYS
| Kindergarten - Monday & Friday |
| Year 1 - Monday & Friday |
| Year 2 - Wednesday |
| Year 3 - Thursday |
| Year 4 - Monday & Friday |
| Year 5 - Tuesday & Friday |
| Year 6 - Tuesday & Friday |
LIBRARY DAYS
| Kindergarten - Wednesday |
| Year 1 - Thursday |
| Year 2 - Thursday |
| Year 3 - Friday |
| Year 4 - Friday |
| Year 5 - Wednesday |
| Year 6 - Tuesday |
REMINDER : SWIMMING CARNIVAL 2022
The Swimming Carnival will be held this Friday the 4 February for Years 3-6.
What to Wear: School or protective hat in house colour, coloured house polo shirt and sunscreen Swimming costume (worn under sports clothes) and goggles (if required) Thongs can be packed.
What to bring:
- Water
- Recess, Lunch – please do not pack any food products containing nuts
- Students will not be able to visit the canteen.
- Sunscreen
- Towel
Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions and Catholic Education Office guidelines, no spectators will be permitted at the carnival. Normal school arrival and dismissal procedures will remain in place. Children will return to school after the carnival via bus for dismissal procedures.
School fees for 2022 have now been invoiced and statements will be issued by the end of Week Two with annual or first instalment payment due on 28 February 2022. You may view school fees in the Compass Parent Portal.
We would also like to advise you of the following important information in relation to school fees and the rollout of new administrative systems. All primary, secondary and K-12 schools have now been transferred to the package which includes Compass and Technology One. This has provided the Catholic Education Office with the ability to perform centralised functions relating to school fee accounts on behalf of our schools.
WHAT CENTRALISATION OF FUNCTIONS MEANS FOR FAMILIES
The invoicing of school fees and the distribution of school fee statements each month, is now a function carried out by the Catholic Education Office. Payment of fees, whether as an annual payment or payment by instalments is due on the date/s provided on your school fee statement.
Please note that if an adjustment is made to your school fee account eg your child changes subjects in a secondary school, etc., we will email a new school fee statement. If you are paying by instalments, they may need to be regenerated and a change may occur in your payments. If this is the case, a new schedule of payments and due dates will appear on the last page of your statement.
REMINDERS FOR LATE PAYMENTS
In 2021, the issue of reminders for late payment via email was introduced and in 2022 the ability to send SMS messages will be added to the system. These reminders are automatically generated by the software based on the number of days a payment is overdue and are distributed by the Catholic Education Office. For those families that may have difficulty in paying their school fees, these reminders may cause some distress. This is not our intention. Our intention is to manage the collection of school fee accounts with new technology and in so doing, alleviate some of the administrative work of our schools.
SCHOOL FEE ACCOUNT ENQUIRIES
Please note, despite the centralisation of various functions, your school/s will always be your point of contact for matters pertaining to fees. If you wish to discuss your school fee account, please contact your school office. The role of the Catholic Education Office is to action centralised tasks on behalf of schools.
IF YOU WISH TO PAY BY INSTALMENTS
Many families have already elected to pay their school fees by instalments. If you wish to avail yourself of this option please complete a Request to Pay by Instalment Form which is available on your school’s website or at your school’s office. On completion of the request either email it to instalments@dow.catholic.edu.au or submit at your school’s office. Following receipt of the request, instalments will be generated on your account and a schedule of payments and due dates will be provided on your next school fee statement. Please note it is only necessary to complete this form once during the period of child/children’s enrolment, unless you wish to amend your payment frequency.
DIFFICULTY WITH PAYMENT
If you are experiencing financial difficulty, we encourage you to contact the school in which your child/children are enrolled to discuss an arrangement that will assist you meet your commitments. This may include the completion of a Diocesan Application for Fee Concession which is available from the administration office of each school. Be reassured that your situation will be treated with strict confidentiality and respect for your circumstances.
For those families that received a Fee Concession in 2021, you will receive an email prior to your annual review date attaching a further Application for Fee Concession. If you wish to submit the application, please do so at your child’s school. Please note, if you have children in more than one school, it will only be necessary to submit one application.
For further information regarding school fees, please access the Diocesan School Fee Management Policy and Frequently Asked Questions which is available on your school’s website.
Newsletter Translation
Did you realise that the Schoolzine Newsletter platform allows for the Newsletter to be translated into any language? Please follow the prompts from the attached flyer for further information.
Use of School Bubblers
School bubblers are no longer accessible to students. Students who are on-site will need to bring sufficient water for their needs each day.
This app should be downloaded so you can be kept up to date with the latest events and information from the school. This app is also used for distribution of the Newsletter. Please download the app from your relevant store. For more information please see the attached flyer "Accessing the Compass App".
eSafety Website
Congratulations to the following students who celebrated a January birthday:
Braxton Clark, Andre Meoushy, Kadence Begg,
Alicia Dowds, Acueek Malek, Zerena Besatu,
Cohen Lacey, Sabrina Oraz, Leandro Moncada,
Euphemia Chew, Chloe Hailes, Ava Callaghan, Noah Mickan.
Welcome back, all new and existing families to OLHC for 2022. Please join us at our first P&F meeting for 2022 at 7.30pm on Monday 7th February in the school staffroom. We would love to see some new faces and gather some new ideas for 2022.
As per the current guidelines for schools, all attendees must be fully vaccinated and wear a mask.
We wish to correct the incomplete notice published in the last two newsletters of Term 4 2021. We confirm all positions of the Executive Committee are available for re-election at the AGM in March. If you have any questions or would like to find out more about these roles, we encourage you to join us at our next meeting on 7 February 2022.
Nominations are now open for the 2022 Executive Committee. Nominations are required by 3.30pm on Monday 7 March 2022. For further information please see the attached notice.
Clothing Pool
As parents can no longer enter our site, if any item of uniform is required, please contact the office and we will arrange for items to be sent home.
The Canteen is open for lunch orders and over-the-counter sales of snacks and treats at Break 1 (11.00am - 11.30am). A price list is attached. Please support the Canteen in their endeavours to support our school community.
Lunch orders are required at the Canteen by 9.00am. Please write your child's name, class and what they wish to order on a paper bag and enclose the correct money, if possible.
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 0422 469 489.
They may find what they are looking for in our group sessions. These face to face group sessions are available to adults who would like to strengthen relationships, support children's development and build resilience within a supportive environment, alongside others who share similar life experiences.
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation all Term 1 courses have been moved online.
Click below to view our Term 1, 2022 courses.
For more information or to make a booking please contact our Intake Service on 4254 9395 or email IntakeService@catholiccare.dow.org.au