Term 3 Week 5 Monday 8th August

Acknowledgement of Country

St Colman’s acknowledges the Girai wurung people as the traditional owners of the land on which our school stands and we respectfully recognise elders both past and present.

Our Prayer this Week

From the Principal

Dear Families,

It is going to be another big week at St Colman's! A reminder that it is short week, with the circuit breaker weekend coming up.

On Thursday, the whole school is off on an excursion to Warrnambool to help make connections with our History unit.

Tomorrow we will have an evacuation drill. This is an important part of safety protocols. Students will know about this drill before hand.

Kind regards, 

Stacey

Circuit Breaker Long Weekend

A reminder that there will be no school on Friday 12th and Monday 15th August. It is hoped that this weekend will help students and staff to recover from all the bugs around during the first half of the term and recharge for the remainder of the term. 

Thanks for your support of this long weekend. 

What's been happening in the classroom....

Mrs Shandell Moloney says that....

In the junior room we have been continuing to learn our sounds and using our blending and segmenting skills to write colourful sentences. We have been learning the names of some of our 2D and 3D shapes as well as counting over 100 by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. In the afternoons we have been exploring our own personal histories. We have talked about our families and who is in our family. We have also discussed significant events and milestones that have happened in our lives so far.

Miss Maddie Tegelhuter reports that...

In the Middle Room we are currently exploring ‘The Past and Local Indigenous History’ as part of our Inquiry learning and will be undertaking an excursion to Flagstaff Hill this Thursday to participate in a hands-on experience, where students will learn about education and living in the past and are excited about making scones during this. 

We are continuing to explore different genres of text in addition to researching sports that are being competed in at the Commonwealth Games and writing explanations based on these chosen sports. 

In Numeracy we have been focussing on geometry with 2D and 3D shapes and are now looking forward to our unit on fractions, decimals and percentages. 

Finally we have been looking at Call during Religious Education, specifically how and why people are called by others and by Jesus.

Mrs Rosie O'Connor tells us that....

The seniors have been developing their understanding of writing and comprehending procedures. This will be capped off with the completion of their cupcake designs this week. The students have written their own procedures for this, including an advertising prologue and recipe notes. After having completed our recent numeracy unit on geometry we are now focusing on fractions decimals and percentages. This will be a big unit of learning for the children as there are many skills to cover. We have been focusing on the concept of hospitality in our Religious Education unit, specifically what it means to be a good host as well as a good guest. The seniors are very excited about our upcoming excursion to Tower Hill this Thursday as we have been learning about colonisation in Inquiry. This has also included the impact of settlement on the Australian landscape.

History Excursion this Thursday

As you can see from what's happening in the classroom, this term we are focusing on History. To complement this learning, we will be heading off on an excurison on Friday.  The P-3 students will be heading to Flagstaff Hill to experience a classroom from the 1800s. The senior students will be going further back in time as they head to Tower Hill to learn about the Indigenous History of the area. We will all gather at Lake Pertobe for lunch. Children are asked to bring their lunch, wear their sports uniform and bring along something warm to wear. Permission will be given via PAM. 

Rugby Jumper Orders

It has been decided by the School Advisory Council that we add a Rugby Jumper to our uniform. The Rugby Jumper will be navy blue with a white collar and with the St Colman's yellow logo on the front. This jumper can be worn any day of the week and will take the place of the woollen school jumper and the polar fleece jumper, which will be phased out. If you would like to order a jumper, you must do so by completing the following survey by next Tuesday, 16th August.

Hooptime Basketball Competition

Congratulations to the students who represented St Colman's at the Hooptime Basketball competition held in Terang. Despite not coming away with a win, a good time was had by all. Thanks to Rosie O'Connor and Brianna Barr for coaching the teams. 

The Grade 3/4 teams will be competing on Friday 26th August. 

Victorian Government Shade Sail Program

We are all enjoying the new cover on our court outside. 'The Shed' has been a great addition to the school. 

We would like to acknowledge and say thank you to the State Government who contributed $25 000 to the project through their Shade Sail Program. The shed certainly helps to project us from all the elements, including rain and sun, and thus, contributes to the overall health of the children. 

We are very hopeful that stage 2 of the project, the resurfacing of the court, will take place prior to the end of the year. 

Catholic School Parents Australia 2022 Parent Survey Now Live

Have your say on what matters regarding the wellbeing and learning of your child.

For example, has COVID-19 or your partnership with the school affected your child’s wellbeing and learning?

If you are a parent or carer with a child in a Catholic school, CSPA would love to hear from you.
Click on the survey link and share your feedback to assist CSPA in reporting to the Federal Government and Catholic education.

Your feedback will remain anonymous.  

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2022CSPAParentSurvey

Book Week

This year Book Week will be celebrated during week 7, August 22-25.

There will be a number of activities that will take place throughout the week with the highlight being our annual dress up day on Thursday August 25th.

On this day children are invited to dress up as their favourite book character or as the theme for Book Week, which is 'Dreaming with Eyes Open'. 

It is important to remember that this is not meant to cause stress in families but that it is an opportunity to celebrate books and the joy that they bring.

When selecting a costume, please remember that some children may be scared by things that other children enjoy including characters from scary movies or tv shows (such as Pennywise). We want to ensure that our Book Week celebration is enjoyable for everyone. 

More information will be circulated in the lead up to the event. 

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday this week to Dom. We all hope he has a great day. 

Enrolments Close September 9th

Enrolments for the 2023 school year are now open. New and existing families are invited to obtain an enrolment form from the school office or kindergartens to indicate your intention to send your child to St Colman's next year.  

Tours can be made by contacting the office. 

Please consider sharing our social media posts.  

Anxiety: What you can do to help

Thanks to Clare Jehu for providing the next installment on Anxiety in Children. Some families will find this helpful 

Congratulations

Congratulations to Arlo whose team came first in the level 3 Gymnastics competition in Warrnambool.  A great effort. 

We love sharing our student's achievements. Please feel free to email me anything that you would like to share. principal@scmortlake.catholic.edu.au 

Footy Tipping Competition

With only two rounds to go things have certainly tightened at the top with myself and Ticketyboo66 now tied. Ticketyboo's love of Richmond certainly helped their cause this weekend. 

Well done to Night Ninger who tipped 8. Very impressive. Kate Parker, BreadwardLee, Bomber Remy and Bommerz were also impressive, tipping 7. 

After a big couple of weeks with the Commonwealth Games (Go Diamonds) it's now time to focus and make those tips count. Good luck! 

Key Dates for the Diary

Term 3

12th-15th August-Circuit Breaker Long Weekend

18th August- Kaboom Sports at St Thomas'

25th August- Book Week Dress Up Day 

25th August- SAC Meeting

26th August- 3/4 Rookies Basketball

2nd September- Father's Day Breakfast

9th September- Enrolments Close

8th September- School Closure: Liturgy (Religious Education) 

12th September- MRC Discovery Day 

Commonwealth School Data Collection Notice

In August each year a census is conducted involving all schools. 

The Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment (the department) would like to advise all parents and guardians that it collects certain information about your child’s school, its staff, and student body.

More information can be found at this link. 

Our Lady of Mercy Parish News

Are you headed to the Folkie?

MRC Care Raffle

COVID Reminders

A few reminders:

* Masks are highly encouraged but not mandated.  They are required on the bus. 

* Positive cases must isolate for 7 days and report these cases to school.

* Positive cases do not need to test again for 4 weeks. 

* RATs are still available and are to be used when someone has Covid symptoms. 

* Close contacts can attend school if they test negative on a RAT each school day. Close contacts must wear a mask indoors. 

Rapid Antigen Tests.

The Victorian Government is continuing to provide Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) in Term 3 and again in Term 4 to schools. Household contacts are required to test negative using a rapid antigen test on at least 5 out of 7 if they are attending or working at a school onsite.

Schools will be able to provide these RATs to parents/carers, staff or students on request, as the previous settings that required weekly or daily testing of students and staff have ceased. 

Staff and students are only required to test for COVID when symptomatic or if they are a close contact of a confirmed case. Individuals who have tested positive are not required to test for 4 weeks (note this has been 12 weeks during last term). If you require RATs please contact the school. 

Face Masks.

We have been asked to remind staff, students and families that the current advice from the Victorian government is that it is recommended face masks are worn in indoor settings (except for close contacts, who must wear a mask indoors unless an exception applies). Everyone including students aged 8 years and above must wear a face mask when travelling on public transport, taxis or ride share vehicles.

COVID-19 reporting to the school community.

Principals must notify staff and the school community through a daily email (where applicable) when a student(s) or staff member(s) have returned a positive COVID-19 test result and had attended the school.

The following still apply:

Managing a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 

As soon as a staff member or student becomes aware of being a suspected case - that is symptomatic (fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, loss of smell or taste):

• The suspected case is required to leave the school site, or be isolated on-site until they are able to leave.
• The suspected case is required to be tested with a rapid antigen test (if at home). A positive test result must be reported to the Department of Health.
• Positive cases must be isolated for 7 days.
• Positive cases can exit isolation after 7 days without testing. 

Close Contacts

A close contact (a person who has spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID 19 inside a house, accommodation or care facility) is no longer required to isolate as long as they follow the additional safety measures:

• Notify the school if returning within the 7 day period.
• Undertake RAT testing on school days within the 7 day period (unless the 12 week exemption applies)
• Wear a mask indoors if an adult or a student Yr 3-6.
• Not visit hospitals or care facilities.
• Avoid contact with people at higher risk of infection.
• If symptomatic take a RAT or PCR test.