Term 1 Week 7 Monday 6th March 2023

Our Prayer this Week

From the Principal

Key dates for the Diary

Term 1

Friday Feb 24th to March 17th Mrs O'Connor on Long Service Leave

Monday 6th March Aberlea Visit- Senior room

Friday 10th March Athletics Carnival in Terang

March 15th-March 27th NAPLAN Testing Period

March 15th- Foundation children attend school on Wednesday

Monday 20th March Aberlea Visit- Middle room

Tuesday 21st March World Down Syndrome Day- wear ODD socks

                                            Parent Teacher Interviews

Monday 27th March Young Leaders Day, Melbourne

Tuesday 28th March School Photo Day

Wednesday 5th April- Foundation children attend school on Wednesday

 Thursday 6th April Last day of Term 1

School Closure Dates 2023

Term 1: Monday 13th March Labor Day Public Holiday

                 Tuesday 14th March (Literacy)

Term 2: Monday 24th April (Compliance)

                  Thursday May 4th Warrnambool Cup Holiday

Term 3: Monday 14th August (Catholic Social Teaching) 

                  Tuesday 22nd August (Literacy)

School Pupil Free Days

Students will not be attending school next Monday March 13th as it is the Labor Day Public Holiday and Tuesday March 14th as staff will be attending professional learning on Structured Literacy. Children can enjoy a 4-day weekend!

Foundations to Attend Wednesday

Whenever we have a short week, it is always customary for the Foundation students to attend school on Wednesday for that week.

Therefore, the Foundation students will be at school on Wednesday March 15th and April 5th. Shandell will still be taking her Long Service Leave days and a CRT will be employed to teach the juniors on these two dates.

Athletics Carnival

Aberlea Visits

As part of our Social Justice Program and community engagement activities, we will be commencing regular visits with the residents from Aberlea. These visits will provide the children with a valuable learning experience that can help them develop important social skills and build empathy for others. These visits are always appreciated by the elderly residents and helps decrease any feelings of social isolation they may be experiencing

Our senior students will be the first to visit, next Monday, 6th March from 2pm. They will be playing board and card games with the residents.

The Middles will visit on Monday March 20th.

Unfortunately in these Post-Covid times all visitors to Aged Care facilities are mandated to produce a negative RAT before entering the premises. 

If you agree to your child’s participation in this activity, you can either give your child a RAT in the morning of the visit and write their name and date on the test and send it to school with them. Alternatively, we will do the RAT here at school before they go. Aberlea will provide us with saliva tests which are less intrusive than the nasal ones.

If you do not wish for your child to participate in these visits, please notify the office ASAP.

Project Compassion

During the Ash Wednesday mass, Father Gary spoke of the importance of using Lent as a time to help those less fortunate than ourselves. He encouraged us to get behind Caritas' Project Compassion. As a school we have Project Compassion boxes in all of our classrooms to encourage children to donate money and we will also be supporting Project Compassion through several fundraising initiatives. 
One of these ideas is to sell Zooper Doopers each day for 50c. Our Year 6 school leaders will be selling them daily and all money raised will go into the Project Compassion box.

Division Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to Imogen Barr and Charlotte Allen who represented our school at the Divison Swimming Carnival last week. Imogen and Charlotte along with Quinn and Matilda from St. Thomas' have made it to the Regional Carnival in Horsham next week! Go Girls!!

Welcome to Tim McKenzie

Last week we farewelled Frank as our Groundskeeper and Maintenance person.

This week we welcome Tim McKenzie as he takes over this role. Many of you will know Tim as he is a local who has worked at several places around town. He is also the Dundonnell bus driver so he is a familiar face for many of our students. Please make Tim feel welcome when you see him around the school.

2023 Footing Tipping Competition

Our Footy Tipping Competition is ready to go. This year we will be running the comp through the ESPN app/website. Please hop onto www.footytip.com.au to join the "St. Colman's 2023" competition.  Entry fee is $20 adults and $10 school aged children.

Details below but if you need help to regisiter please come into the office and see Jane or Janet for help.

St. Colman's Swimming Program

Some photos from our Juniors enjoying the Swimming Program.

Swimming Program

Term 1 Classroom Information

Read the attached document to find out what is going on in your child's classroom this term

Health Education at St. Colman's

This year we have allocated 90 minute weekly lessons to Health and PE. These lessons will be conducted by Anna Bourke, where she will teach Health for 30 minutes and PE for 60 minutes each week. Janet Cain will be teaching the Middles their weekly health lesson. During the health lessons, we will be teaching from the DOBCEL endorsed document Fullness of life for All - Relationships and Sexuality Education F-6.

“Relationships and Sexuality Education is a key element in the education of the whole person and becoming fully human. Sexuality, which is a beautiful and sacred gift from God, is an integral part of our identity and affects all aspects of the human person. Therefore, all students have the right to high-quality Relationships and Sexuality Education that is relevant to their lives today, and to good educational foundations for them to negotiate the difficult terrains of current and future challenges of fostering and living good healthy human and sexualrelationships. The aim of this guidance is to support schools to:

• reflect on their existing Relationships and Sexuality Education provision;
• update their provision if and where appropriate, to ensure that it is relevant to their students’ lives today whilst engaging and dialoguing with the wisdom and guidance of the Catholic Tradition regarding relationships and sexuality education.
  
• to support compliance with Child Safe Standard 3 – Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken Seriously.” (FULLNESS OF LIFE FOR All Relationships and Sexuality Education F-6 Diocese of Ballarat)

As sensitive topics are covered and anatomical terminology will be used, your child may wish to discuss what they have learned during these lessons when they get home.

If you have any questions about this mandated curriculum area, please contact either Anna Bourke or Janet Cain

School Advisory Council

We would like to introduce you to our SAC members for 2022-2023.  Lily Convery-Oborne (Chair), Jo Wallis, Alison Greig, Michelle Lehmann, Jo Dolling, Zion Palmer, Sophie and Nick Allen, Rachel Baulch, Rosie O’Connor (School rep), Janet Cain (Principal) and Fr. Gary Jones (Parish Rep)

These people are the voice of the parish and parents in the school. If you have any questions or anything that you would like raised please contact one of these people.

The SAC meets twice a term and we thank these people for agreeing to be a part of this group that provides an essential link between the school and its families.

Each week we will profile a member of our SAC and this week we will profile Zion Palmer.

My name is Zion Palmer and I am a father to Leonardo, year 2 and Thoren, foundation. I’m a part time butcher's assistant at Bouchier’s butchers Mortlake and in my spare time I enjoy exercise, spending time taking care of my kids and wife, going on family adventures and am an animal lover. I am new to the SAC this year, and find it’s a great way to be a part of the school community, meet some of the families, and also to voice any concerns or ideas heard from student and parents alike. It has also enlightened me to what goes on behind the scenes and how much effort is put into running and keeping a school going, which St. Colman’s does very well. Thankyou for having me on the council and  look forward to meeting many of you around.

Award Winners

Each week during our Friday assemblies, teaching staff award students who have achieved great things in the past week. This year we are inviting all parents and friends to attend these weekly assemblies which take place at approximately 2:45pm each Friday in the Undercover Area.

Mercy Regional College Open Day

TMFNC Auskick and Net Set Go

Out of School Care

A reminder that during 2023 we have access to Out of School Care, supplied by TheirCare, at Mortlake College. Registration is made via the TheirCare website. https://theircare.com.au/

Many of our students have already begun to use this program and the feedback from both parents and children has been overwhelmingly positive. Everything has run seamlessly so far, so if you are considering sending your children to Before or After Shool Care, you can be assured that this program is extremely easy to utilise.

TheirCare are also promoting community engagement through the fundraising initiative WeCare. See attached letter and support them however you can.

Feel free to contact the office if you have any questions about accessing TheirCare or use the contact details at the bottom of the flyer to contact them directly.

Terang Mortlake Health Services Newsletter

St. Colman's School is a Child Safe Community

Child Safety Officers

Janet Cain and Rosie O'Connor are our Chuild Safety Officers.

Contact them on:

Phone: 55992285 or 0490539167

Email: jcain@scmortlake.catholic.edu.au or roconnor@scmortlake.catholic.edu.au

Child Safe Standard 4: Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.

In complying with Child Safe Standard 4, St. Colman's must, at a minimum, ensure:

4.1    Families participate in decisions affecting their child.

4.2    The organisation engages and openly communicates with families and the community about its child safe approach and relevant information is accessible.

4.3    Families and communities have a say in the development and review of the organisation’s policies and practices.

4.4    Families, carers and the community are informed about the organisation’s operations and governance.

NCCD

Please read the attached information sheet for parents regarding NCCD.

Our Lady of Mercy Parish Newsletter