Term 3 Week 6 Monday 14th August 2023

Our Weekly Prayer

Tomorrow we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. On this Feast Day we celebrate that at the end of her life on earth, Mary was fully taken into the presence of God in that state of peace and joy we give name to as “Heaven”.  Mary’s faithfulness is rewarded by the wonderful presence of the One who is love. We will be attending a Parish Mass, as a whole school, tomorrow at St Colman's Church at 9:30 am. You are all welcome to attend.

From the Principal

Key dates for the Diary

Term 3

Monday 14th August- Staff online Sounds Write training- week 4

Tuesday 15th August - Feast of the Assumption Parish Mass at 9:30am

Thursday 17th August- MRC production The Addam's Family

Friday 18th August- Bullying. No Way! Day

Monday 21st August-BOOKWEEK- Dress Up and Book Fair

                                           - MOW all week

                                           -Staff online Sounds Write training- week 5

Tuesday 22nd August- School Closure Day- Structured Literacy PL for staff

Friday 25th August- 3/4 Rookies Hooptime

Monday 28th August- Staff online Sounds Write training- week 6

Friday 1st September- Father's Day Breakfast

Wednesday 6th September- Sacrament of Reconciliation

Friday 15th September- Last day of Term 3- Footy Colours Day

2023 Meals on Wheels Roster

Week beginning; 21st August and 30th October

School Closure Dates 2023

Term 3: Tuesday 22nd August (Literacy)

Term 4: Friday 10th November (Catholic Social Teaching) 

School Camps 2023

Year 3/4 Camp to Sovereign Hill September 12th and 13th

Year 5/6 Camp to Melbourne November 22-24 

Congratulations.....

Blair in our Junior Room was very excited to share the news that his new baby sister has arrived.

St Colman's community congratulates Andrea, John, Blair and Beau on the safe arrival of Willow. We can't wait to watch her grow!

Volunteers for Meals on Wheels (MOW)

St Colman's continues to prioritise our involvement in the Mortlake community as demonstrated through our ongoing commitment to the Meals On Wheels program. We are rostered on each weekday next week. We required some volunteers to collect some students from school at 11:40 and then collect the meals and instructions from Abberlea at 11:45. It will take a maximum of one hour to complete the run. If you would like to help out next week, please contact Jane in our office.

Father's Day and Grandparent's Day

Advance notice that we will be celebrating Father's Day with a school breakfast on Friday September 1st.

We are excited to welcome Grandparents into our school when we celebrate Grandparent's Day on Tuesday October 24th. 

MRC Production

Mercy Regional College have invited us to attend the final dress rehearsal of their production of The Addam's Family. We can't wait to see the show and enjoy the fruits of all the many hours of work the talented students at MRC have put into their show over the past few months.

Children will be taken to and from Camperdown by bus and permission will be sought via PAM. We will leave at 10:45 and return about 1:30pm

Old Computers for Sale

Our successful fundraising efforts this year have enabled us to purchase 55 new Chromebooks for our students. We will offer the 'good quality' old computers up for sale for $50 each. All computers will have current data wiped from them and they will be restored to factory settings prior to being sold.
If you would like to purchase a second hand laptop, please contact the office.

CASEA Program

St Colman's has been fortunate enough to be selected as the Term 4 target school for the CASEA Program which is co-ordinated and facilitated by South West Healthcare CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services). This Program is an early intervention and prevention program that aims to help children (from Foundation to Year 3) to understand and express their emotions, to develop positive relationship, problem solving and coping skills. Sessions will be held on Tuesdays in the library at school for 8 weeks. Essential for the success of the program is parental involvement in the weekly parent sessions. The time for these parent sessions depends on what suits the majority of the participants. A 6:30pm ZOOM session has proved popular with families as they can attend the sessions from home. 
Staff will discuss who we think would benefit the most from CASEA and contact parents to seek their permission for their child's participation. Please read attached information and contact your child's teacher or myself if you think your child would benefit greatly from this program. We need to provide a participant list to CAMHS by Friday August 25th.

National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence

This Friday August 18th is National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. The NDA is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative for schools, encouraging whole-school communities to work together to implement evidence-informed positive and proactive solutions to prevent and address bullying.

Over the next few weeks, we will be spending times in our classrooms discussing what bullying is and explicitly teaching how to respond to bullying. We will hold a special day on August 18th where we will show our support for preventing and standing up to bulllying  by wearing 'a touch of orange'.

We will also have some Parent Fact Sheets on our newletter over the next few weeks.

Book Fair

Our Book Fair is set up in the corridor and ready for children to browse. Children will write a Wishlist and you can pop into school at any stage to make a purchase. As a school, we receive a percentage of the sales back in books or money to purchase books from Scholastic. We are so grateful to Jenny Stapleton for the extra effort she puts into making Book Week at St Colman's such a wonderful time for our school community.

Book Week 2023

This year’s Book Week theme is ‘Read, Grow, Inspire!’ and Book Week takes place from 19th – 25th August, 2023. 

As is  the tradition at our school, families are invited to purchase one of this year's CBCA short-listed books for our library. All purchases made for the library will have a label placed inside them acknowledging the family who has made the generous donation. These books will be on display in the school's corridor from next Monday August 7th.

Our Book Fair will be set up from Monday, 14th August, 2023. Everyone will be invited to peruse the items on display until Friday, 18th August, 2023. Students will be encouraged to write a Wishlist, which they can take home and discuss a possible purchase with their families. Purchases can be made on the day of the fair, Monday 21st August, or at any stge until they are packed away on Friday 25th August. Payment needs to be made at the time of purchase. THANK YOU to all the families that have supported this wonderful initiative.

On Monday 21st August (Week 7) we will hold our Book Week Dress Up Parade at 9am. This will be followed by a day of book related learning activities.

We will also welcome Ben Harkin to our school on this day to talk to our students. Ben is an inspirational young local boy who, despite being born without any arms, has gone on to travel the world and inspire thousands of people with stories of his adventures. This has turned him into one of the region’s most popular motivational speakers.

PAM, Schoolzine and SIMON

Recently, we have had several parents inform us that they have had difficulty accessing PAM. As this is a major part of home/school communication it is very important that you have access to this platform. I urge you to come into school and Jane and I will help sort out any issues you may have with PAM, SIMON or the Schoolzine App.

Jane and I will be sending out a TEST message this week. If you receive it we need you to respond so that we can determine who is and who isn't receiving these messages.

First Aid Alerts

One of the ways that we will now be using PAM is to alert parents when their child has received first aid treatment here at school. We will create a Sick Pass on SIMON detailing the incident and the treatment received and the parent(s) linked to the PAM account will receive an email notification providing them a report of the incident. This is another compelling reason to ensure your PAM account is set up properly.

Sign in/ Sign out

As part of our obligation to manage child safety at our school, we have introduced Sign in and Sign out protocols. When parents are taking their child out of school early they will be required to enter the school via the office and sign their child out. Similarly, when a child comes to school later throughout the day, they will need to be 'signed in' at the office. This is common practice in most schools these days and helps us fulfil our legal obligations to maintain accurate attendance records.

Discovery Day at MRC

As part of our Transition Program with Mercy Regional College, Year 6 students will be participating in a Discovery Day at the O'Keeffe Campus on Monday 28th August. Details are contained in the flyer below. Parents will receive an email from MRC regarding the day and bus arrangements. Please contact MRC if you have further questions.

Homework at St Colman's

We have recently had a few parents ask about our 'no homework' policy at our school. Several years ago the school investigated the efficacy of homework in primary schools and also surveyed the parent group at that time. The school used the evidence from renowned researcher in education, John Hattie, to support their thinking.

“Research by John Hattie, Professor of Education at the University of Melbourne, has found that homework in primary school has an effect of around zero, as students are completing separate and unrelated projects rather than reinforcing learnt knowledge”.

It was decided that at St Colman’s our homework would prioritise the importance of daily home reading. That being said, we have noticed a decline in the number of students who are reading at home daily and who are getting their diary signed by an adult to indicate that they have been listened to when reading.

We are having a school-wide blitz on this and all children who read at home and have their diary signed by an adult will receive a Dojo point as a reward.

Parents that are wanting to provide opportunities to reinforce their child’s learning at home, are encouraged to utilise the Reading Eggs and Mathletics websites (links below).

Login details for your child can be found in their diary.

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 Middle classroom. 

Term 3 Classroom Information

See attached document highlighting what is happening in our classrooms this term.

Playgroup at St Colman's

We have been delighted by the success of Little Colman's Playtime and we are extremely grateful to Lily Convery-Oborne for her passion and commitment in getting this little initiative up and running. Due to the popularity of this playgroup, we have decided to make this a fortnightly event, and the next session is  FRIDAY week 25th August.

The ongoing commitment to this project will require support from other members of the school community. If you are willing to help out by going on a roster to help organise Little Colman’s, please contact either the school or Lily. 

WE WILL NEED TO PURCHASE SOME GAMES AND EQUIPMENT FOR OUR PLAYGROUP. HOWEVER, WE WONDERED IF YOU HAD ANY OLD TOYS AND GAMES THAT YOUR CHILDREN HAVE GROWN OUT OF AND THAT YOU NO LONGER NEED. IF SO, WE WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE THE DONATION OF ANY PRE-SCHOOL TOYS AND GAMES, INDOOR OR OUTDOOR, THAT ARE IN EXCELLENT USED CONDITION.

Lunch Orders

LUNCH ORDERS are only available twice a week on Monday and Friday.

St. Colman's Enrolments

Birthday Wishes

No student birthdays this week. However, Angela, one of our hardworking LSO's is celebrating her birthday next weekend.

Happy Birthday to Angela and any members of our community who are celebrating their birthday this week!

Many blessings to you on your special day and throughout the year. 

Footy Tipping

Stacey Atkins managed to get 7 tips correct last weekend and she has put herslf back in equal lead alongside Methodical Flame. Both are on 134 points. UptheHawks1 is now two off the lead.

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. 

Our Diocesan Community

Please find below the link for the July 2023 edition of “Our Diocesan Community” 

Please find below the link for the July 2023 edition of “Our Diocesan Community” 

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 10:  Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.

In complying with Child Safe Standard 10, St. Colman's must, at a minimum, ensure:

10.1  The organisation regularly reviews, evaluates and improves child safe practices.

10.2  Complaints, concerns and safety incidents are analysed to identify causes and systemic failures to inform continuous improvement.

10.3  The organisation reports on the findings of relevant reviews to staff and volunteers, community and families, and children and young people.

Our Lady of Mercy Parish Bulletin

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/

Search for Mortlake College P-12

NCCD

Please read the attached information sheet for parents regarding NCCD.

Community News

MRC 50th Jubilee Celebrations

Mercy Regional College is celebrating 50 years of Catholic education in our community. If you are a past student you may wish to attend one of the events they have planned.

Jubilee Day

We would love our past students, families and staff to join us in this celebration on Saturday 25 November from 11:30 to 3:30 in Camperdown. School tours, roll calls and displays for each decade, food trucks and music, tree planting, free family portraits, afternoon tea and more. This event is free.

Jubilee Dinner 

On Saturday evening (25 November) we will gather for dinner and the presentation of the inaugural Spirit of Mercy Awards, and the Annual Car Raffle. Then you are invited to kick up your heels to the lively music of The People’s Poets. 

Click on the link below for more information and to secure your spot!

Parent Event in Warrnambool

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.