Term 4 Week 1 Monday 7th October 2024

Acknowledgement of Country

From the Principal

Important Dates:

Term 4

Monday 7th October: Staff and students commence Term 4

Friday 11th October: Whole school Mass @ 11:30am

Thursday 17th October: Grandparent's Day at 10am

Friday 25th October: 5/6 Cricket

Saturday 2nd November: Montgomery Pavilion Centenary Community Event from 11am

 Saturday November 9th: Mortlake Rose Show

Saturday December 14th: Bunnings BBQ at Warrnambool

2024 School Camps (with St Thomas’ Terang)

Nov 13^th-15^th: Year 5/6 Dunkeld Adventure Camp

End of Year dates:

Wednesday 18th December: Final day for students

Thursday 19th December: Student Free Day- Final day for staff (2025 Planning Day)

Friday 20th December: Student Free Day- DOBCEL Approved TIL acquittal day

Our Lady of Mercy Parish News

WEEKEND MASS TIMES
ST THOMAS’ TERANG
Saturday 6.00 pm
Sunday 10.30 am
ST COLMAN’S MORTLAKE
Sunday 9.00 am

Michael Grose Parenting Toolbox

St Colman's School is always looking for ways to best support our families. We have signed up to receive fortnightly advice and tips from Australia's most highly regarded parenting educator, Michael Grose via his newsletter; Parenting Toolbox.

What is Parenting Toolbox?

Where parenting meets personal development.

Parenting Toolbox is an online learning manual for parents who wants to accelerate their child’s development, while maximising their own parenting, personal and professional growth. Oh, and enjoying family-life!

Every parent wants the best for their child, but good intentions aren’t enough. The difference between parents who struggle and those that thrive, lies with the tools and know how that you possess.

The article this week is titled  "The dumbest thing I've ever heard a parent say." Michael Grose explains;

"There are many ways to be a great parent, but hoping for the best is not one of them. Chance is not a successful parenting strategy."

Click on the link below to find out more.

Advance Notice- Save the Dates

Term 4 looks set to be another busy term. We have planned a couple of community engagement and fundraising projects and we would love for you to keep the following dates in mind so that you can help to support them in some way.

 Saturday November 9th: Mortlake Rose Show. Our students will be entering some of the competitions on offer and we will run a play corner to keep the children entertained while their parents look at the displays. 

Saturday December 14th: Bunnings BBQ at Warrnambool. We have been offered a spot in the hotly contested Bunnings BBQ  fundraising calendar. This is the first time our school has had the opportunity to run the BBQ at Bunnings and being so close to Christmas it should be an incredibly busy day!

Second hand Uniforms

We have collected a selection of 'pre-loved' school uniforms that are available to ALL members of our school community. These items are free of charge, but it really is the 'luck of the draw' if the item you want is there or not! You are always welcome to come into the office to have a look at what is available.

Also, if you have any unused uniform items that you no longer need and are in good condition, please consider donating them to the second hand pile. All pre-loved items can be left at the office. Thank you!!

Playgroup at St Colman's

We look forward to welcoming back our local pre-schoolers every second Friday, with our next session being held this Friday October 11th.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD WITH YOUR FRIENDS WHO HAVE PRE SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN. EVERYONE IS WELCOME!!!

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.

Congratulations to these wonderful student whose achievements were acknowledged at our last assembly.

SchoolTV Wellbeing Platform

Internet Addiction

"For children and teenagers, there is no doubt that the Internet can be an excellent resource for information, communication and entertainment, but more and more Australian parents are concerned about excessive time online. Today’s youth are the early settlers in a remarkable new world. Unfortunately, parents feel as though they are shut out of this world, often not knowing, nor understanding, what happens in this online environment. It is up to parents to monitor, not just what their children do online, but also the length of time they spend online." Michael Carr-Gregg

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support

At St Colman's, we are excited to introduce a new positive behaviour acknowledgement system this term, inspired by the School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) framework. This evidence-based approach helps schools improve social, emotional, behavioural, and academic outcomes for students from Foundation to Year 12. Our new system will focus on promoting and rewarding specific behaviour expectations within our school community.

Here's how it works:

1. Staff members will distribute RAFFLE TICKETS to students demonstrating the targeted positive behaviour.
2. These tickets will be collected in a large jar and counted weekly.
3. Progress will be tracked on a barometer displayed in our school foyer and pictured above.
4. School-wide rewards will be offered at various milestones, with a grand prize when we reach 1000 tickets.

To ensure student engagement, our Student Representative Council will help determine the focus behaviours and rewards for our "BEHAVIOUR BLITZ" initiative.

Our guiding principle will be "When we see it, we will reward it." Our goal is to make these positive behaviours intrinsic to our students, setting them up for future success. We aim to develop confident, resilient, compassionate, and capable individuals who embody our school values, appreciate diversity, and actively contribute to their communities.

Through this initiative, we're not just acknowledging good behaviour – we're nurturing the leaders of tomorrow by ensuring they are emotionally strong enough to cope with anything life throws their way. 

As with all things involving your child's educational journey, we ask for your support with this initiative. We will be providing you with updates on upcoming editions of our newsletter so that you can continue these  positive discussions around socially accepted behaviour expectations at home with your children.

Our current Behaviour blitz is on "Using a respectful tone".

Year 5/6 Fun Day and Footy Colours Day

Congratulations to our Year 5/6 students for successfully organising a fantastic end-of-term fun day for everyone! While the day was filled with enjoyment, it also had a significant purpose: to raise funds for Ainaro Hospital in Timor Leste, specifically to purchase two new blood pressure cuffs suitable for children and infants.

We are thrilled to announce that we exceeded our fundraising goal, raising $350, which will be handed over to Ann-Maree Convery for delivery to the hospital. Thank you to our students and families for your enthusiastic support of this fundraiser. 

A patient at Ainaro Hospital using the blood pressure cuff our school bought for them

A special shout-out goes to Yr 5/6 teacher Anna Bourke and the senior students for their exceptional organisation and hard work.  We are incredibly proud of you all!

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

The Child Safe Standards

St Colman's has an ongoing commitment to implementing all 11 of the Child Safe Standards .

Standard Number 6 asks all schools to ensure:

People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice

Watch the clip below if you would like to see an overview of this standard. If you have any suggestions about how we could better in bed this standard into our school community please let us know.

Would you, or someone you know, love to join our wonderful school community in 2025. Applications for both of these positions are due on Monday October 14th.

Spread the word!!

Our Student Representative Council will be co ordinating our partnership with Cooinda Terang to become a collection point for Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic).

We will be collecting all eligible empty drink containers and then returning them to the CDS collection point at Cooinda. The 10c raised from each return will go back to the SRC. They will nominate various charities to support as well as using 50% of the funds to upgrade school resources.

So please start collecting and sending in your empties. 

Most aluminium, glass, plastic and liquid paperboard (carton) drink containers between 150mL and 3 litres are eligible. You can keep the lids on, we recycle them too. The easiest way to know if your drink container can be returned is to look for the 10c mark on the label, often located near the barcode.

You can help in two ways:

1. The first is by far the simplest. Just return your empty eligible containers to the tubs in the corridors at school.
2. If you have a large amount of containers to deposit, you may wish to take them to a Container Deposit Depot and return them yourself. Please download the CDS Vic West App (instructions below). When you return your containers, nominate St Colman's School Mortlake as the charity you want to donate the money to.

Please note, that as we are in partnership with Cooinda Terang, our preferred deposit depot is their Reverse Vending Machine located at 49 Dow St Terang.

Toastie Tuesday

Lunch Orders

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

Menu and price list below

Out of School Care

A reminder that we continue to have access to Out of School Care in 2024, supplied by TheirCare, at Mortlake College. Registration is made via the TheirCare website. https://theircare.com.au/

Search for Mortlake College P-12

AngliCare Energy Assistance

As part of Anglicare Victoria’s FREE Energy Assistance Program, they provide assistance with energy bills to support Victorians to:

• Talk to their energy retailer and get help with debt
• Access extra financial support
• Check they are receiving eligible concessions on their bill
• Find and move to an affordable energy plan
• Understand bills and fix any possible errors
• Support your child's education with free internet at home

They can provide immediate assistance for clients who are struggling to pay for their gas or electricity bills to prevent disconnection to their property!

The follower two flyers provide further details.

NCCD

Please read the attached information sheet for parents regarding NCCD.