8 - 13th October, 2023 - Term 4, Week 2
Principal's News
Dear Families,
It was an exciting week for the Grade Three and Four students, with their camp taking place on Wednesday and Thursday. The students had a ball taking part in activities run by Outdoor Ed company Wild Side Adventures on Wednesday and Thursday, as well having a meal at G&T’s in Merbein and enjoying a movie before bedding down for the night in tents! Even though we had some early risers yesterday, everyone was in good spirits! The students were fantastic and worked well together on all activities. Thanks to Mrs. Phelan and Mr. Lawrence, for their organisation and to Mrs. Watson, Mrs. Norton and Mrs. Marks for their assistance.
At Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, we have some absolutely amazing families who support us fully in our endeavours to not only educate, but also nurture the students we have in our school. We also pride ourselves on ensuring that there is open communication between the school and families at all times. It saddens me to say that recently, our staff have been experiencing some less than respectful interactions with a small but vocal number of parents, which results in anxiety for those involved and a feeling that we are not being afforded the respect that all people, professional or otherwise, deserve. It has always been made clear at OLSH that a direct conversation regarding any concerns will almost always clarify an issue, and we continue to encourage this process. While individuals may not always like the outcome or decision that has been made, please be assured that those decisions are made by us as professionals in our field of education, and with the best interests of our students in mind. When you are interacting with our staff, we ask that you please speak to them as you would wish to be spoken to and the same courtesy will be offered to you. We thank you for your support and understanding.
Some families will be receiving a letter regarding Student Support Group (SSG) Meetings for Term Four. These meetings only apply to families who have a child on an Individual Learning Plan (ILP), which require ongoing discussion and amendments. For some students on ILPs, an SSG meeting is not required every term. Please keep a lookout for a letter from the school regarding these meetings for this term.
Our school has recently ordered some new shade marquees with our school name and logo on them, which we will use for our usual events but which we will also be able to take to sporting events or other offsite activities. We recently received a donation from the Merbein Lions Club for $500.00, which we have decided to put towards the tents. Each year the Lions Club donates an amount of money to our local schools and this is always put to good use. We thank the Lions Club for their generous donation and ask you to support them whenever you can in their community events, as they do an amazing job! We have sent a thank you to the Lion’s Club on behalf of the school community.
Our students are getting very excited for our Grandparents and Special friends morning, which will take place on Friday, 20th October. We have had a lot of replies to our invitation and we are sure that everyone who comes along will have a wonderful morning! The morning will start with mass in the church at 9.15am, followed by activities for grandparents and students in the classrooms, then morning tea for our grandparents. We look forward to seeing everyone on Friday!
The return slip is due back today.
Congratulations goes to Eamon Breewel, who competed in the next stage of the Regional Athletics in Bendigo on Monday. Eamon competed well in the 200m heats and came 7th overall in his section. Well done, Eamon! Our mixed volleyball team also played well on Wednesday in the inter-school carnival and even though they didn’t come away with any wins, they gave the games their best effort. Well done to all involved.
A reminder that all fees are due to be paid in full by the end of October (two weeks). Please make arrangements to see me or Mrs. Clementson if you would like to discuss any concerns regarding payment.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Narelle Gallagher
Email:
- Narelle Gallagher: principal@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
- Office staff: admin@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Office hs: 8.00am to 4.00pm - Monday to Thursday 8.00am to 3.45m - Friday
Teachers contact hrs: 8.45am to 4.00pm - Monday to Thursday 8.45am to 3.45m - Friday
Religious Education News
Sacrament of First Eucharist: The Sacrament of First Eucharist will be celebrated on the weekend of October 20th - 22nd 2023. Please keep the following children in your prayers: Zali Breewel, Ava Barnes, Isaac Longeri, Ember Baylin, Fletcher Pollock, Michele Dichera, Maggie & Alice Parker.
Grandparents Day: Our annual Grandparents Day Mass and celebrations will be held on Friday October 20th 2023. All Grandparents are invited to attend. The reply slips need to be returned to the school by Friday October 13th.
The day will begin with a Mass in the Church then Grandparents and Special Friends will be invited back to OLSH to participate in some activities before enjoying a morning tea. We look forward to seeing all our wonderful grandparents.
Sacrament of Reconciliation: Children in Grade Two have an opportunity to make the Sacrament of Reconciliation on November 22nd. Please contact the parish office for further information. All forms and payments need to be made to the parish office on 11th Street.
Sports News
Congratulations: To Eamon Breewel who represented OLSH at the Regional Athletics Day on Monday October 9th 2023 in Bendigo and finished 4th in his heat.
Volleyball: Congratulations to the OLSH Volleyball teams who represented OLSH on Wednesday. They did extremely well - but unfortunately were unable to win any matches against some very good teams.
Student of the Week
Congratulations to the following students:
| Prep: Isabel Mathews | being a kind and caring class member and always completing her work to a high standard. Keep it up! |
| Grade: 1/2 L: Levi Pluckhahn | recognising the time on both digital and analogue clocks. |
| Grade: 1/2 R: Quinn Bell | always striving to achieve her best in every task and being a caring classmate. |
| Grade: 3/4 L: Oliver Smith | showing great resilience during the Grade Three and Four Camp. |
| Grade: 3/4 P: Alice Parker | demonstrating excellent leadership qualities during collaborative activities on Grade Three and Four Camp. |
| Grade 5: Max Petty | being organised for learning and making best use of his learning time. Well done! |
| Grade 6: Lauren Reed | demonstrating leadership, and being a positive role model at Volleyball. |
Happy Birthday
We wish the following students a Happy Birthday:
Lachlan Cupper - 17th October - 6 yrs
Levi Pluckhahn - 17th October - 7 yrs
Savannah Flett - 18th October - 10 yrs
Cody Pollard - 21st October - 11 yrs
Frankie Roberts - 21st October - 9 yrs
Prep News
Show and Tell- Week 3’s Show and Tell is : ‘Share something that is smooth, crinkly, bumpy or shiny’.
I will be out of the classroom on Monday 16th October and Mrs Lohmeyer will be taking the students on this day.
This week in Religion the Preps have been learning about Joy. They created these stained glass crosses to show the joy you can get from making and looking at artwork.
If you have any questions you can email me at:
Prep: Rebecca Appledore - rappledore@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade 1 & 2 News
We have had a great week of learning this week and everyone has settled back into the routines of school smoothly.
Please let your class teacher know if your Grade Two student is doing their Reconciliation. There is a form that needs to be filled out and returned to the Sacred Heart Parish Office ASAP if you want your child to take part in this Sacrament.
Thank you to everyone who has returned their note for Grandparent's Day. We look forward to seeing lots of Grandparents and/or special friends next Friday the 20th of October.
A reminder to return Art Folders to school if these are still at home.
Today in Science the Grade Ones and Twos investigated the properties of different materials. Grade 1/2L made some monsters out of playdough. See the photos below!
If you have any questions you can email us at:
- 1/2 L: Grace Laity- glaity@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
1/2 R: Lisa Ryan- lryan@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Friday - 1/2 R contact: Emma Garraway - ewood@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade 3 & 4 News
The highlight of this week has obviously been our camp! We worked with Wild Side Adventures in three teams – Pranksters, Scallywags and Rascals. All teams collaborated incredibly well together and worked on developing their communication, team building and social skills. We had lots of fun with ‘minute-to-win-it’ games, fun 'survivor type' activities and walking to G&T to eat a scrumptious meal. We were all famished!
A big thanks to parents and staff who donated their tents to accommodate everyone for the night. This was very much appreciated. Also to the LSO's who volunteered their time after hours to supervise, to Mrs Watson who made us breakfast, snacks and lunch and to Mrs Gallagher who also had a sleep over!
Our students must be commended on their manners, their sense of fun and generally being awesome! Well done! You make our job very enjoyable indeed!
Thanks everyone!
Enjoy the weekend.
Julie and Adam 😊
If you have any questions you can email us at:
- 3/4 L: Adam Lawrence – alawrenc@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
- 3/4 P: Julie Phelan – jphelan@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade Five News
As well as our usual lessons, this week we have started learning more about being a buddy. In preparation for meeting the 2024 Prep students, we are working hard to learn more about the qualities and responsibilities of a Year 6 buddy. To say we are excited is an understatement! Students are becoming very aware that they will soon step up into a new and special role…being a leader in the school.
On Wednesday 8th students joined the Year 6 students to play volleyball at the Sports Precinct. Everyone did their best and learnt from the experience. Opportunities such as these are so good for building confidence and resilience and I'm proud of them all for giving the experience their very best.
Thankyou to the parents and friends that were able to come to assembly today. It was lovely to be able to share some of our term 4 learning with you and I hope you were also inspired by your child’s word for the term. I think they chose perfectly for themselves and I look forward to helping them achieve their goals in the next 8 weeks.
If you have any questions you can email us at:
- 5: Cheryl-Anne Courtney - ccourtney@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade Six News
- We had a visit from primary school nurse Denise and secondary school nurse Antionette on Monday. Students were very mature and asked some great questions. We have now finished all our learning on puberty and personal development for the year.
- In Mathematics this week we have been busy converting between units of length. Students have converted millimetres to centimetres, millimetres to metres and metres to kilometres.
- In Science this week, students investigated the behaviour of gases and connected it to their properties. To overcome the fact that many gases can not be seen, students listened to a compilation of familiar sounds, all caused by the movement of air (a mixture of gases). They performed two other short investigations and related their observations to the properties of gases.
- This week in Respectful Relationships students continued to learn about help-seeking and that sometimes asking for help can be hard. It takes courage and trust. We did a little trust exercise where students had to be led blindfolded by another student. We spoke about how just like asking for help it is hard for some people, as it requires giving someone else control and that can be scary!
If you have any questions you can email us at:
- 6: Danielle Ford- dford@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
General News
School Advisory Council Members:
Thel O’Shea, Hannah Mills, Grant Finlayson, Amy Cupper, Sandra Hammet, Lana Borchard, Adam Lawrence (Staff Rep) & Narelle Gallagher (Principal)
SIMON Everywhere App
This can be downloaded from either the Google Play Store or the Apple Store. The app has been updated earlier this year and an email was sent out to parents. If you are having issues with logging in, can you please contact Mia in the office.
Student Medical Profile
Medical Profile: Please make sure that the school has been notified of any changes that have been made to your child’s Medical Profile on PAM and to also include this on the pink Parental Authority and Consent Form each year.
IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PARENT TO MAKE OLSH AWARE OF ANY CHANGES.
Parent Notified Absence
If your child is unwell and will be absent from school, you are able to complete a Parent Notified Absence (PNA) on the SIMON Everywhere App or Parent Access Module (PAM) which will automatically notify the teacher and a text message will not be sent.
Newsletters
These are distributed every Friday on SIMON Everywhere and the OLSH Website. Please contact us if at any time you have any queries or require any further explanation about events, dates etc. Any items for the newsletter are asked to be handed in at the office by 9.00am on Friday.
Attendance & Sign in
A reminder to parents that the school needs to be notified of a student absence by 10 am on the day. This can be done by calling the school office or by using SIMON Everywhere or sending an email to admin@olsmerbein.catholic.edu.au.
Second Hand Uniform
Please contact the school if you require any second hand uniform.
