St Colman's School Mortlake eNewsletter

A Prayer for Anzac Day

God of love and liberty,

We bring our thanks this day for the peace and security we enjoy, which was won for us through the courage and devotion of those who gave their lives in time of war. We pray that their labour and sacrifice may not be in vain, but that their spirit may live on in us and in generations to come. That the liberty, truth and justice which they sought to preserve may be seen and known in all the nations upon earth. This we pray in the name of the one who gave his life for the sake of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Welcome to the start of Term 2. I hope that you and your families are all feeling refreshed after a restful break.

Term 1 was full of many achievements and wonderful school activities. On behalf of the staff here at St Colman’s, I wish to thank all of you for your ongoing support and partnership with our school community. We value your involvement and contributions, and we look forward to working together with you again this term.

We are entering into what will be a very busy term, and as it is only nine weeks long, I suspect it will just fly by! We have many whole school events coming up this term, including the Cross Country, Mother's Day Breakfast and our major school fundraising raffle. So please consider joining in and helping out in any way that you can.

Read on to find out what is happening in our school community. It is always a good idea to familiarise yourself with the key dates section of the newsletter. Please feel free to contact me at any time with any questions, concerns or suggestions you may have.

Have a great week.

Kind regards,

Janet

Key dates for the Diary

Term 2

Monday 24th April School Closure Day for staff to complete online Compliance Modules

Tuesday 25th April ANZAC Day

Wednesday 26th April - First day of Term 2

Parent Sacramental meeting @ 3:30 at St Colman's Church

Friday 28th April - St Colman's Cross Country at 11:30am

Monday 1st- Friday 5th May-Meals on Wheels

Monday 1st - Friday 19th May- Ms Stape on LSL

Thursday May 4th - Warrnambool Cup Holiday

Tuesday May 9th - Whols school mass

Friday May 12th- Mother's Day Breakfast

Sunday May 14th- Confirmation candidates to attend Mass

Tuesday May 16th - Whols school mass

Sunday May 21st- Confirmation candidates to attend Mass

Monday May 22nd- Catholic Education Week commences

Sunday May 28th - Sacrament of Confirmation

School Closure Dates 2023

Term 2: Thursday May 4th Warrnambool Cup Holiday

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

Tuesday 22nd August (Literacy)

A warm welcome

We welcome Japnoor and her parents, Ranjit and Rupinder, to our school community. Japnoor is starting this week in the Middle Room and we know that her family will love being a part of such a welcoming community.

St. Colman's also welcomes Lola Dussart who is volunteering as a language assistant to support the delivery of our French program. Also welcome to Angela Absalom who commences this week as a Learning Support Officer in the Senior Room. Angela replaces Mikayla who has commenced her family leave.

If you see some new faces around the school, make sure you say hello and introduce yourself!

Helpers Needed

We are calling for voulnteers to help out in the following ways:

We are rostered on for Meals on Wheels for the week Monday 1st -Friday 5th May. We would love some new volunteers to help with this. We will try to partner new helpers with old helpers so that you can do it together and enable new people to learn the ropes from veteran helpers!! This job involves collecting the students who will be helping you up from school and taking them to Aberlea by 11:45. You will receive your instuctions for delivery when you get there. It takes a maximum of one hour to deliver the meals.

We also need some corner supervisors for the cross country being held on Friday. Voulnteers will be asked to stand along the streets and corners that the students will be running around to ensure their safety. You would need to be at school at 11:15 and the event only takes about an hour.

Please contact the office if you are able to help out.

ANZAC Day March

St Colman's School community is honoured to take part in the local ANZAC DAY each year. All members of the school community are invited to participate. We all gather at the Mortlake Post Office at 9:50am as the March commences at 10am. Students are asked to wear their school uniform. Our school leaders will place a wreath at the memorial on our behalf.

DOBCEL Consultative Committee Vacancies

The Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited (DOBCEL) Board provides opportunities for members of the diocesan education community, and others with relevant expertise, to participate in the mission of DOBCEL, to assist its governance and decision making and to inform faithful stewardship of the mission through DOBCEL Consultative Committees.

A range of vacancies exists across the DOBCEL Consultative Committees. These committees are an invaluable opportunity to ensure that the work of the Board and CEB reflects the needs of DOBCEL school communities right across the Diocese. Typically, the committees meet once each term for a duration of 90-120 Minutes. The opportunity exists to attend face-to-face or virtually. For volunteers to the organisation, compensation for expenses is available.

Opportunities exist for parents/guardians/carers with a child/children enrolled in a DOBCEL School to join one of the following;

Catholic Faith Community & Culture Consultative Committee
Children & Young People Safeguarding & Wellbeing Consultative Committee
Family and Community Engagement Consultative Committee
Learning and Teaching Consultative Committee

In the event of multiple nominations, the Board will invite Consultative Committee members on the basis of the general balance of the committee, taking into account factors such as gender, diversity, skill mix, location, school size, etc.

For more information please contact Jo Mckee jmckee@dobcel.catholic.edu.au or speak with your school principal. Expressions of interest are open until Wednesday, 3rd May.

Shaving Will's Mullet

Our school community was extremely proud to host Will's Big Haircut on the final day of term. Will's fundraising for the Royal Children's Hospital raised in excess of $6,000, which is an amazing effort.

Well done Will!! We think you are a superstar! And your new haircut looks pretty good too!!

2023 Sacramental Program

Our Lady of Mercy Parish is implementing some changes to our Parish based Sacramental program that will take effect this year.

As of this year, all three sacraments (Confirmation, Reconciliation and First Communion) will be celebrated by children in Year 3. However, our Sacramental Program has been greatly affected by Covid-19 for the past two years. This means that there will be children in Years 4, 5 and 6 who will also need to celebrate some, or all, of these three sacraments.

A COMPULSORY parent/carer meeting will be held this Wednesday 26th April at either 3:30 in Mortlake or 7pm at St. Thomas’ Terang, so please keep this date free. Information has been sent to families and copies of those letters are below if you haven't received them yet.

All children who have been baptised are welcome to participate in the Sacramental Program. If this is something you think you may be interested in, but your child isn't Baptised yet contact Janet to discuss your options. We have had several children baptised during school masses in the past and this may be something you wish to consider.

Sacrament_Parent_Letter_March_2023_1_.pdf

Sacrament_Enrolment_Form_March_2023_1_.pdf

Unwanted School Uniforms

At the end of last year we were looking for a solution as to what we should do with our old school uniforms. Jane has signed up to a company called ‘Wornup’ who collect old school uniforms and put them to good use for schools in need. If you have any of the old, out dated uniforms at home please drop them off at school so they can be passed on to this company.

We are also keen to start up a Second Hand Uniform cupboard at school for families who are currently suffering financial hardship to access. If you have any uniforms or shoes that your children have outgrown and that you no longer need, please consider donating them so they can be given to families in need within the school community.

Easter Raffle

Thank you to all the families that have donated something that will be given as a prize in the raffle and sold your raffle tickets. It was a great success and an easy fundraiser for our little community.

Project Compassion

Please return your Project Compassion boxes to school as soon as possible. Each class will be creating a coin line with the contents of these boxes at our Assembly on Friday 12th May at 2:30. The class with the longest money line will win a hot chip lunch.

2023 Footy Tipping Competition

Our Footy Tipping Competition is up and running and we have 35 registered entrants.

Entry fee is $20 adults and $10 school aged children and is due to be paid ASAP

If you haven't already done so, please pop into the office to pay for your entry.

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.

🎂 🥳 Happy Birthday 🥳 🎂

Happy Birthday to Charlotte O'B and Zoe S, who will be celebrating their birthdays this week. We hope you enjoy your special day!

Mortlake Auskick

Auskick is back in Mortlake!!! It commences this weekend, Sunday April 30th at 10am. If you haven't already registered your child, hop on and do it now!

Mortlake Auskick Registration

Cheap trees for sale

Yellow Tail Nursery has grown thousands of native trees from seeds. See attached flyer for more details

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.

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.

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 7: Processes for complaints and concerns are child-focused

In complying with Child Safe Standard 7, St. Colman's must, at a minimum, ensure:

7.1 The organisation has an accessible, child-focused complaint handling policy which clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of leadership, staff and volunteers, approaches to dealing with different types of complaints, breaches of relevant policies or the Code of Conduct and obligations to act and report.

7.2 Effective complaint handling processes are understood by children and young people, families, staff and volunteers, and are culturally safe.

7.3 Complaints are taken seriously and responded to promptly and thoroughly.

7.4 The organisation has policies and procedures in place that address reporting of complaints and concerns to relevant authorities, whether or not the law requires reporting, and co-operates with law enforcement.

7.5 Reporting, privacy and employment law obligations are met.

NCCD

Please read the attached information sheet for parents regarding NCCD.

NCCD Information.pdf

Term 2 Week 1 Monday 24th April 2023