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WELCOME BACK
How wonderful it is to be back on deck at OLV. Being away from home travelling for so long might sound exciting but one starts to miss the, not just the comforts, but the people who are important. The community of OLV is an important part of my life and it was certainly missed.
Welcome back to all the students and the families for Term 3. It is going to be a busy one as usual.
PILGRIMAGE
Some have asked what is a pilgrimage and why do I do it.
Pilgrimage is common to all faiths. The journey, physical or spiritual, becomes a symbol to the pilgrim for the longing of the soul to find its true place. Through our faith we share this pilgrimage with others, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish...
JRR Tolkein explains it like this:
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
Pope Francis says: "God is encountered walking, along the path....God is always a surprise, so you never know where and how you will find him."
And a final thought from the Gospel of Luke:
Two of the disciples of Jesus were on their way to a village called Emmaus....Jesus himself came up and walked by their side, but something prevented them from recognising him....while he was with them at the table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him..."Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?"
Walking a long distance over many days gives the mind and body a chance to reconnect without the pressures and expectations of everyday life. It was a privilege to have the time to do it and a great reward for having done it. Our goal was to complete the Camino de Santiago de Compastella in Spain. It took 755km and 46 days to finally reach the Cathedral Square in Santiago after leaving St Jean Pied de Port.
I would recommend the experience to everyone. If you missed the updates, you can read the BLOG at:
THANK YOU
I need to express my thanks to Mr Craig McNee who took over and steered the ship well in my absence. He has told me how wonderfully welcomed he felt and the genuine community feel about OLV.
COMMISERATIONS
We ask you to keep Indigo H and her family in your prayers who lost her grandfather recently. We extend our deepest sympathies and sincerest condolences.
MINDFULNESS GROUP
We are planning to support a "Mindfulness" group during the lunch breaks for children in Year 4-6.
- What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the practice of focusing awareness by paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity and without judgement.
- Mindfulness is a skill for life.
Mindfulness can calm the mind, focus our attention, and help us make the most out of life.
Mindfulness is about focusing attention on the here and now, rather than thinking about the past or worrying about the future.
Good mental health in childhood sets young people up for the future and their career.
- Mindfulness can improve memory and learning
Mindfulness has been found to improve emotion regulation, mental health, attention, memory, and learning.
The group will meet during first break each Tuesday in Term 3. This group is a voluntary group and children can choose to attend if they wish following their meal break. Children may choose to come weekly or pop into the group on an occasional basis if they find it helpful or enjoyable. The group will be facilitated by the School Counsellor, Mrs Clare McMahon, and located in the Library. The Smiling Mind mindfulness resource will be used. This group is not a therapy group, therefore, a referral to the School Counselling service is not required.
We do ask that interested children have their parents permission to attend so please fill out the slip attached and return to school or post your permission on the COMPASS notice that went home this week.
KINDER 2024
The enrolment period for Kinder 2024 is open. Any families seeking to enrol their children for Kinder next year should contact the office for an enrolment pack.
SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM
Children who are eleigible to receive the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist are encouraged to atend the support sessions during the lead up to the next steps in their faith journeys. Please read the attached letter for details. Lessons start next week on Monday 24 July.
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
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.
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. Log in 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" This is also attached
- 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 9.35am 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; you will however still receive an SMS. The arrival time of the student will be logged as an explained absence when they present to school on their arrival
- On occasion you may be sent a text message even though your child is in attendance at school, this may be because 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
Part of “progress” is moving towards a cashless society. To assist with the banking, ordering and handling of money, we are moving more of our payments to the Qkr system.
You will find attached 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 year 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 until 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,
Thanks to everyone for taking up this service.
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% off your tuition fees.
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 | Evie C, Solomon T |
| Year 1 | |
| Year 2 | Josie B |
| Year 3 | |
| Year 4 | Toma V, Max B |
| Year 5 | Virginia V |
| Year 6 | Furahisha 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: