Filter Content
Dear Parents and Carers,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents, staff, the wider community, but especially the children, for a wonderful term. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I have enjoyed, given the limited time I had, being a part of the strong community at Our Lady of Victories.
Sorry for such a long section from me this week, but I am passionate about the importance of family.
In 2019, His Holiness Pope Francis and The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, published a document on HUMAN FRATERNITY - FOR WORLD PEACE AND LIVING TOGETHER.
In the document it states how "...the family as the fundamental nucleus of society and humanity is essential in bringing children into the world, raising them, educating them, and providing them with solid moral formation and domestic security...".
It also talks about the importance of "...awakening religious awareness and the need to revive this awareness in the hearts of new generations through sound education and an adherence to moral values and upright religious teachings. In this way we can confront tendencies that are individualistic, selfish, conflicting...".
The community of Our Lady of Victories have, as part of their Vision and Mission, the statement Love, Serve and Live the truth of Jesus. By working together, we can help achieve the goals of this document.
Parenting is a hard but wonderful experience. Recently I was sent an opinion piece titled, How Helicopter Parents Broke a Generation By A Helicopter Parent (Mia Freedman). Although long (click the link if you would like to read it but note there are some swear words), it very interesting and worth reading.
The article goes through parenting styles throughout generations. The one thing we all want for our children is for them to succeed in life - the question is, what is the best approach we can take?
I always say to parents that school is the best place for your children to "have a fall" because together, parents, teachers, community, we are there to support them.
Have a great break,
Craig McNee
Dear Stage 3 Parents and Students,
In Semester 2, Stage 3 are participating in the BECOME.ME program. It’s a fun, interactive way to teach young people the adaptive skills and curiosity they’ll need to explore, design and navigate the fast-changing world of work. BECOME.ME will be integrated with our regular curriculum.
The program isn’t designed to direct them to particular occupations but to inspire them:
- To reflect on their unique and evolving strengths, interests and aspirations.
- To broadly explore the dynamic, exciting world of work, recognising and breaking free of gender and social stereotypes.
- To come up with multiple possibilities for their future that excite them.
- To design and implement experiments that allow them to test out and adapt those ideas.
Research demonstrates that providing the time, tools and space to think about this helps students become more inspired learners today as well as improving longer term academic and career outcomes.
WHAT WE’D LOVE FROM YOU
Parents and guardians are the most significant influence on young people’s future aspirations and your involvement in the program will help the students get more out of it. Here are some ways you can be involved:
- Your child will have some learning activities during the course of the program that we’d love you to discuss with them as part of their Home Learning.
- Talk to them about the twists and turns of your own career
- Explore the BECOME.ME app with them once they have accessin week 2
Kind regards,
Miss Slattery and Mr. Watmore
Stage 3 Teachers - Our Lady of Victories Shortland
Useful links:
You can read more about the program https://www.become.education/
Check out the data privacy policy https://www.become.me/privacy.html
ICAS Assessments
Dear Families of Students in Grades 3-6,
As part of supporting Gifted Education opportunities at Our Lady of Victories Shortland, we will be offering students in grades 3-6 with the opportunity to participate in the 2023 ICAS Competitions. The International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) is an optional online academic competition organised by the University of NSW.
Important information to note:
- Sitting an ICAS test is optional
- Tests are available for students in Years 3 through to Year 6 in the specific subject areas of:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Families have until the 31st of July to complete their registration and payment to confirm their child’s ICAS 2023 participation
- Tests will be held online andcompleted at school between these dates:
- English: 14th-18th August (Term 3, week 5)
- Science: 21st – 25th August (Term 3, week 6)
- Mathematics: 28th August – 1st September (Term 3, week 7)
ICAS Results and Rankings
Each assessment celebrates students accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition. Every student who participates in an ICAS test will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. The UNSW will provide students who sit ICAS with an overview of their results.
How to participate:
1. Read about ICAS subject here: https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas
2. Visit the ICAS Parent Payment System Parent Portal to select tests to complete.
https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps
Access code: GEL384
- Make the online payment of $19.25 per test paid directly to the University of NSW.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Miss Slattery
laura.slattery@mn.catholic.edu.au
Gifted Education Mentor
Our Lady of Victories Primary School Shortland
Dear Parents and Carers,
As we approach the school holidays, let us take a moment to reflect on the important role we have as parents. This prayer is inspired by St. Francis. Help us to be an instrument of peace in our families and in our own lives.
Mark Fren
Acting REC
VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION
In order to Volunteer at OLV you are required to complete the Volunteer Induction and be cleared by the Catholic Schools Office to Volunteer.
Please follow this link https://www.mn.catholic.org.au/people/volunteer/ and complete the steps.
EXTERNAL PROVIDERS
If your child will be seeing a provider (e.g. speech therapist or occupational therapist) this year at school, please complete the attached application form and return to school. If you require further information, please don't hesitate to contact the office.
COMPASS
OLV uses the "Compass" App. Login details for parents/carers have been emailed to all new parents. If you are still unable to login, or your account has been made inactive, please contact Leanne in the office to arrange a reset of your password.
- For all new families please familiarise yourself with the information booklet you received in your information pack or enrolment pack "Parent Portal Compass User Guide" I have also attached this.
- Only Parents/Carers have access to Compass Parent Portal. Parents must have separate email addresses in order to both have access to compass.
- New Users when logging into Compass are given the opportunity to update their details. It has been noted that some parents have updated their mobile phone number by taking out the gaps within the phone number. This is not required. The system requires phones numbers to be in this format.
- REMINDER: PLEASE ONLY EXPLAIN WHOLE DAY ABSENCES - PLEASE DO NOT REPORT PARTIAL ABSENCES through the Compass App. Reporting partial absences will cause inconsistences with your child's attendance.
- SMS's are sent to parents of students who are absent from 9.35 am each weekday morning. You will receive a text message if your child was not present during the marking the roll process. Please logon onto Compass and explain your child's absence. Do not reply to the text as Compass does not accept reply texts.
- Please notify the office beforehand if your child is going to arrive late; however, you will still receive an SMS. The arrival time of the student will be logged as an Explained Absence on their arrival.
- On occasion you may be sent a text message even though your child is in attendance at school, this may be becuase they have arrived late and not come to the office for sign in. If your child is late please come into the office with your child and sign them in via the compass kiosk.
QKR APP
To assist with the banking, ordering and handling of moneys we are moving more of our payments to the Qkr system.
Attached are instructions for the QKR App. This easy to use phone app gives you the flexibility to place orders for Canteen and fundraisers from your phone. It also reduces the need for your child to bring cash to school. Please remember to amend your child's year group on the QKR App to aid the timely collection of their order. We will be moving to a wider usage of this app as the term progresses.
- Make sure your child matches the class they are in now. You may need to go to your account settings and change their class. This will have to be completed at the beginning of every school year.
- Please do not send in a paper bag as well as ordering online. (this will stop any double up of ordering)
- If your child is away or sick and you have ordered their lunch, you have to 8.00 am to cancel your order on QKR and receive a credit for next time.
- All ordering is now closing at 8.15 am Monday Morning. This allows enough time to print out the relevant reports for our volunteer ladies.
- As of Term 2 all lunch orders will only be able to be ordered through QKR. Cash on the day will only be for ice blocks, lollies and chips.
We will be looking at providing this service for other quick financial transactions such as sausage sizzles, raffles, pie drives etc,
Thaks to everyone for taking up this service.
FINANCE NEWS
Health Care Card
Most families have already completed the attached Health Care Card Forms and returned to the school with a copy of their Health Care Card. If you have a Health Care Card and have not handed it in please contact the office. Health Care Cards gives up to 50% of your tuition fees.
Kindergarten
When reading a new book, we often will do a picture walk first. This means we look through the book and look at all the pictures predicting what we think the story is going to be about. During this process a lot of questions are ask such as What can you see?, How are the characters feeling? This created great discussion within our room. The book we are looking at is Thunderstorm Dancing by Katrina Germein and Judy Watson. After this process the children were given- I wonder what you think is going to happen in the story. The children then wrote what they thought would happen in the book.
Year 1
In Year 1 we have been looking at asking questions before, during and after reading a story. This week we read A Coconut named Bob. We looked at the cover and thought of some questions about the story. After reading some of the story we had some more questions. After the story we got some of the answers to our questions, but we had a lot more questions for the author. Have a look at some of or questions.
Year 2
Year 2 have been asking lots of questions before, during and after reading. We have learnt about the words we can use to start off our questions. These include who, what where, why, how, I’m wondering, We have learnt that we can ask questions before and during the text that might be answered within the text as we read and that we can do further research to answer the questions we have after we read, and that these can help us to better understand what we are reading.
Stage 2
Stage 2 has been busy incorporating fluency passages during reading instruction to improve their ability to read fluently and aid their comprehension. We have been focusing on students’ accuracy in reading words, their rate or speed of reading a text and the expression they employ. Over the coming weeks, we will include various fluency passage routines, including repeated reading, choral reading, paired reading and reader’s theatre. Stage 2 has enjoyed adding this new routine to their reading instruction and are already seeing the benefits!
Stage 3
In Stage 3, we are reading the novel Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly. This is a story of a deaf girl's connection to a whale whose song can't be heard by his species, and the journey she takes to help him. This novel is a great connection to our Science unit (Growth and Survival of Living Things) and Geography unit (Factors that Shape Places).
We have been exploring how to ask questions before, during and after reading to deepen our understanding of the text.
| Kinder |
Henry B - for showing great interest and participation during our jungle animal discussion. Sophia C - for being able to organise objects into a simple data display using a grid. William F - for knowing his friends of ten, Maria T -for drawing a fabulous owl for our jungle animal display. Max F - for being able to read hour time on digital and analog clocks. William H - for being able to catagorise objects into particular groups and explain why. |
| Year 1 |
Zephyr K - for continually making good choices about where you sit and who you work with. Harry W - for having a positive mindset when confronting challenging tasks. Afia A - for developing your confidence to share your ideas with the class, especially in Religion. Josie B - for always trying your best, asking questions and challenging yourself in all areas of the curriculum. |
| Year 2 |
Eleanor T - enthusiastically participating in our lessons about the six syllable types. Ruby H - the excellent leadership skills she displays in our classroom. Kaidence G - the outstanding improvement she has made with her reading. Allison A - her great understanding and application of the six syllable types. |
| Year 3 |
Amerti S - for being a capable student who can learn and achieve whatever she sets her mind to. Gibson F -for ensuring that he learns from his mistakes and enthusiastically approaching new tasks. Brian K - for enthusiastically embracing new learning experiences and relishing in challenges. Sophia T - for being an inspiring learner who is always eager to aim high. |
| Year 4 |
Hope H - for her diligence to work hard at school and for her never give up attitude. Isabella T - for her wonderful sense of humour and her happy personality which is evident at all times. Daniel Z - for his inquisitive mind, his general knowledge and his attitude to strive for excellence. Grace G - for her wonderful reading skills, and her willingness to read in class when volunteers are needed. |
| Year 5 |
Oliver W - for showing great enthusiasm, determination and problem-solving during our Digital Tools Workshop (using Tinkercad) on Wednesday. Maxwell W - for listening to others with respect and beginning tasks with a can-do attitude! Maddie H - for displaying a Growth Mindset towards her learning and for sharing her Science project with confidence. Ben T - for learning to check-in with others and review the Success Criteria if he's unsure about an activity in class. |
| Year 6 |
Indigo H - for showing an improved work-ethic during research tasks such as Interest Hour Lochlain H -for showing hard work and perseverance during mathematics lessons. Furahisha S - for her great ideas during class discussion in all learning areas. Margreit K - for applying a growth mindset to all tasks completed in class. |
| Leader Awards |
Mrs T - for being kind, caring and very welcoming Thomas E - for being respectful to his classmates |
| V & M Awards |
Kindergarten - Evette C for always being kind and caring towards others. Year 1 - Caleb S - for supporting your classmates with their learning when they need it and being a great friend to others. Year 2 - Christopher H - embracing new and challenging learning concepts and experiences. Year 3 - Paige W - for being kind, caring and sensitive to the feelings and thoughts of others. Year 4 - Sienna S - for demonstrating care, concern, and consideration towards all students, living the qualities of service at OLV. Year 5 - Michelle A - for being a kind, inclusive and respectful friend to all. Year 6 - Mark M - for being an outstanding servant, refereeing and helping soccer whilst out injured. |
| Lexia Awards |
Nikita P - Level 3 Taylor P - Level 1 |
DIOCESAN ATHLETICS
We had a great day at the Regional Athletic carnival at the end of last term. Everyone competed with great entusiasm and many were successful in gaining selection to the next level in the Regional team. Well done to the whole team.
Congratulations to the following children who were selected to represent the North Region:
Michelle A, Freya B, Charlie F, Max G, Suma M, Gemma M, Lily P, Harper S.
A special mention to the girls senior relay team who blitzed the field to make it trough as well: Gemma M, Suma M, Harper S & Freya B. Their performance was something special.
REGIONAL SOCCER GALA
The North Region is conducting a Gala Day on Thursday 14 September for children in Years 3-6. The day will consist of teams of 7 or 8 with 5 on the field and no goal keeper.
If your child would like to participate, there will be a sign up sheet to nominate from tomorrow. We would like to finalise numbers by Monday. If you would like your child to play, get them to sign up on the sheet. Details will come soon after to those that are interested.
We would like to wish the following children a Happy Birthday.
| Kindergarten | Kane S |
| Year 1 | Elena T |
| Year 2 | Lucy C, Christopher H |
| Year 3 | |
| Year 4 | Grace G, Hope H |
| Year 5 | Oliver W, Emmesen P |
| Year 6 | Freya B, Meti S |
Congratulations and we hope you had a happy day
ST NICHOLAS OOSH Services
How to enrol for our OOSH Services:
You will be able to access the school newsletter here, special dates notifications and other messages from time to time.
Go to this link to download the Schoolzine App: