St Colman's School Mortlake eNewsletter

A Prayer for Catholic Education Week 2023

Loving God, may I use the gift of listening to hear your voice in others.

May I use the gift of my voice to speak your words to others.

May I be an instrument of your grace and use the gift of my life to share your love with others,

Amen

From the Principal

Dear St Colman's community,

This week all schools across our Diocese are celebrating Catholic Education Week.

This year’s theme is “Let the words you speak always be full of grace”. This quote is taken from the following scripture passage.

A Reading from Paul to the Colossians (4:3-6)

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let the words you speak always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

This quote provides all within our school community a reminder of the importance of speaking with kindness, empathy and understanding in all of our interactions. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians to encourage all followers of Jesus to live and speak in a manner that will invite others to Christ.

As we open our doors to encourage prospective enrolments into our community, we acknowledge that many parents are facing the difficult decision about where to send their child to school. I believe that Catholic schools hold at their core, a positive and inclusive environment. They use words filled with grace that are uplifting, respectful and considerate. They inspire others and cultivate healthy relationships, positive self-identity and confidence as well as a sense of belonging.

So this Catholic Education Week, we should pause and reflect upon how our words have the immense power to change lives.

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 May 22nd- Catholic Education Week commences

Tuesday May 23rd - Open Morning at St. Colman's

- Tri Sports for Year 5/6

Wednesday May 24th- HCSN Combimed SAC Dinner @ 6pm

Friday May 26th- Catholic Education Week Network Day

Sunday May 28th - Sacrament of Confirmation

Friday June 2nd - Little Colman's Playtime 9-10:30am

Monday June 5th- Kinder visit to St. Colman's

Tuesday June 6th- Structured Literacy professional learning- Janet and Shandell to attend

Friday June 9th - Little Colman's Playtime 9-10:30am

Monday June 12th - King's Birthday Public Holiday

Tuesday June 13th - Parent Support Group meetings

Thursday June 15th - School Advisory Council meeting

Friday June 16th - Little Colman's Playtime 9-10:30am

Thursday June 22- Whole school excursion to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Lighthouse Theatre Warrnambool

Friday June 23rd-Little Colman's Playtime 9-10:30am

End of Term 2 @ 2:15pm

School Closure Dates 2023

Term 3: Tuesday 22nd August (Literacy)

Term 4: Friday 10th November (Catholic Social Teaching) NB change of date

Working Bee

A big thank you to the Carmody, Dale, Greig and Baulch families for their work at the Working Bee on the weeekend. Giving up a few hours of your Sunday to help out was greatly appreciated.

Confirmation

Please keep Archie, Gus, Zoe F, Sadie, Adia, Remy and Ivy in your prayers this week as they prepare to recieve the Sacrament of Confirmation next weekend. We congratulate them and their families on the work they have completed in order to prepare for this special day in their Christian life. All members of the school community are invited to show their support of our students and join in this celebration at St Colman's Church on Sunday at 9am.

Covid Information

As we have had quite a few reported cases of Covid 19 within our community, it is timely to remind ourselves of COVID Safe arrangements. We will be encouraging greater vigilance with our hand washing procedures at school.

Although there are no mandated isolation arrangements, the following is strongly recommended:

It is strongly recommended that students:

● Who test positive for COVID-19 should stay home and isolate for five days.

● Should not attend school after five days if still symptomatic.

● Who are symptomatic but have not tested positive should not attend school.

Where students become symptomatic at school, they should:

● Be collected by their parents/carers.

● Undergo testing for COVID-19.

It is strongly recommended that staff:

● Who test positive for COVID-19 should stay home and isolate for five days.

● Should not attend school after five days if still symptomatic.

● Who are symptomatic but have not tested positive should not attend school.

If families require RAT kits, please contact the school office.

COVID-19 reporting requirements.

The Department of Health recommends that a person who tests positive for COVID-19 should inform those with whom they have recently been in contact, including their workplace, school and household.

Schools no longer have to alert their school community of positive cases, however we will continue to do this informally.

Face masks.

Staff and students who wish to wear a face mask should be supported to do so, and schools should continue to make face masks available for staff, students and visitors.

The Department of Health recommends that masks should be worn by a person who is a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 when leaving home.

Additionally, the department recommends that masks should be worn by a person who has COVID-19 for 10 days after a positive test when they need to leave home.

Term 2 Classroom Information

Please read on to find out what is happening in our classrooms this term.

Term 2, 2023 Information

Playgroup at St. Colman's

Little Colman’s Playtime is designed for babies and pre-schoolers and will be held for four Fridays in June (June 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd) . We are blessed to have a qualified and experienced Early Childhood educator as Chair of our SAC and Lily has kindly volunteered to run these sessions in June, which will utilise our art room and playground. We encourage you to spread the word about this initiative as it presents as a wonderful opportunity to create a further visible presence in our great little community. If you know somewhere that we could place a poster advertising our playgroup, please let me know and I will send you one. If you would like to help in any way please contact Lily or myself.

Lunch Orders

A reminder that as of the start of Term 2, LUNCH ORDERS are only available twice a week on Monday and Friday.

St. Colman's Community Garden

We are so grateful to local community member, Marie Varley, who has volunteered to work with our students each week to re-establish our neglected community garden. This week the Seniors and the Junior students will be spending some time getting their hands dirty!

You can help by donating any of the following items needed for this project.

Used soft drink bottle (1.25 or 2 Lt)
Any herb or vegetable seedlings
Old carpet off cuts, door mats or hessian bags
Old plastic pots
White plastic that can be cut up and used as name tags (for example, ice-cram containers).

St. Colman's Enrolments

Changes to eating times

We began our trial of changes to eating times last week. Initially, we were only going to do this three days a week, but from an organistaional perspective we need to run it every day. We will then be able to report back at the next SAC meeting (Week 8) if we want this to go ahead permanently. Please discuss these changes with your children and we would welcome your feedback as this 'experiment' continues.

8:55- School bell

10am - Fruit and Brain Break

11am- Bell- Children take their lunch boxes to UCA and then go and play

11:20- Music- All children sit in UCA and eat LUNCH

11:30- Bell- in class and learning

1pm- Bell- Children take their lunch boxes to UCA and then go and play

1:35- Music- All children sit in UCA and eat AFTERNOON SNACK

1:45- Bell and in class and learning

3:15- School bell

Enrolments at MRC

Are you enrolling your child to attend our sister school, Mercy Regional College in 2024? If so, please note that enrolments are now due.

Mercy Regional College is committed to giving every student a fair chance to receive a Catholic education. The College offers a number of scholarships to support student learning and assist with tuition, fees and levies.

If you would like further information on accessing financial support or any other part of the enrolment procedure, please contact College Registrar Ms Nicole Darcy:
T. 03 5593 2011
E. office@mercy.vic.edu.au

A live link is avaliable on the Mercy website.

Mercy Live Enrolment

Wonder Recycling Rewards for Schools

This year we are participating in this program that will raise reward points that can be cashed in for sporting equipment for our school. Ask all your friends, neighbours and family members to save their bread bags and bring them to school and put them in the big white box at the front door at school. All bread bags (including muffins and wraps) are accepted. These bags are then returned to Wonder to be responsibly recycled.

So let's get recycling!!

Footy Tipping

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

Methodical Flame Thrower and Stacey Atkins are tied in first place with 64 points. However, they shouldn't get too complacent as there are quite a few nipping at their heels!

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.

Weekly Award Winners

Congratulations all students who received an award at our weekly assembly last Friday. Remember, you are all most welcome to join us at the assembly, starting at 2:50 in the Undercover Area.

🎂 🥳 Happy Birthday 🥳 🎂

We hac a very special birthday celebration in our school community this week. Our wonderful Business Administrator, Jane, notched up a milestone birthday on Sunday. We surprised her by singing Happy Birthday to her this morning. When you see her, be sure to wish her a Happy Birthday also.

Next weekend Steff and Mrs Anna Bourke also celebrate their birthdays and we hope that they enjoy a very special day too.

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 Child Safety Officers.

Contact them on:

Phone: 55992285 or 0490539167

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

Standard 11: Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.

In complying with Child Safe Standard 11, St. Colman's must, at a minimum, ensure:

11.1 Policies and procedures address all Child Safe Standards.

11.2 Policies and procedures are documented and easy to understand.

11.3 Best practice models and stakeholder consultation informs the development of policies and procedures.

11.4 Leaders champion and model compliance with policies and procedures.

11.5 Staff and volunteers understand and implement policies and procedures.

NCCD

Please read the attached information sheet for parents regarding NCCD.

NCCD Information.pdf

Term 2 Week 5 Monday 23rd May 2023