7 - 15th March, 2024 - Term 1, Week 7

Principal's News

Dear Families,

Today the school was coloured green (more so than usual!) as we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on Sunday this year. As well as learning about St. Patrick and his life, the students also had some fun searching for leprechauns in the playground, which they then swapped for a treat at snack time. As always, our students showed their generosity by donating a gold coin towards the purchase of a Virtual Brick for Foundation House, the planned accommodation for the Mildura Base Hospital. Our pot of gold was overflowing! Our student leaders will count the donations next week and we will let everyone know how much was raised.

We have quite a number of students who walk home or to the local library after school. It has come to our attention that some students are taking what they think is a short cut, by walking down the lane behind Box Street. This week there was an incident where some of our students felt unsafe, leading me to speak with all of the walkers yesterday to make it very clear that they are not to leave the main path on Box Street to walk through the lane. Not only do they not know who could be lurking in the lane, but it is also used by many cars, who may not expect to see children walking along. For the safety of all, we would appreciate it if parents could reinforce this message at home.

Our Grades Three and Five students have done very well this week while sitting their NAPLAN Writing and Reading assessments. Tests such as this can cause some students stress and anxiety, but all students have been taking it in their stride! NAPLAN assessments are one way to gauge how students are tracking with their learning, but they are by no means a definitive picture of achievement, which is why we have other assessments in our schedule each year. Next week, Language Conventions and Mathematics NAPLAN assessments will take place. We wish all of our students the best as they sit these tests and encourage them to do their best.

The next two weeks are going to be very busy, with a number of activities taking place, including:

• School Photos this Tuesday (full summer uniform must be worn)
• Our STOMP dance program each day next week
• The Family Night, including the STOMP performance, BBQ tea and open classrooms on Thursday
• Our Easter Liturgy in Week 9
• The drawing of the Easter Raffle in Week 9

We thank all of those families who have bought tickets, donated prizes, sent back reply slips and have sent in photo money. A checklist went home on Wednesday to help families keep on track with everything that’s happening.

On the last day of term (Thursday, 28^th March) school finishes at the earlier time of 2.30pm. For those students who travel on the NSW bus, we ask that you make alternate arrangements on this day for your children, as the bus doesn’t come early to collect our students. Victorian bus travelers can still catch their bus, as it will pick up at the earlier finish time.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Narelle Gallagher

OLSH School Calendar

Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) Survey

Information was emailed out to parents several weeks ago. We appreciate your participation in this survey to help drive our teaching and planning.

Religious Education News

Sacrament of Confirmation (Grade 3 and above): Children in Grade 3 and above who have been baptised, have the opportunity to continue their sacramental journey by making their Confirmation. Below are the dates of Confirmation and parents need to contact the parish office to register their child. The children from OLSH making the Sacrament of Confirmation are: Violet Dimasi, Morgan Dowling, Isaac Lohmeyer and Jacinta Wagner. Please keep these children in your prayers.

Parent Information Meeting: 27th March 7pm, Sacred Heart Church.

The  celebration dates are as follows: Friday 17th May, Saturday 18th May and Sunday 19th May.

Project Compassion: Project Compassion is an important project that Caritas Australia runs during the season of Lent. The aim is to raise as much money as possible to help those in need around the world. 

The money is used to help educate adults and children living in poverty, help communities develop infrastructure to gain clean water and produce food independently, provide medicine to communities living in poverty and to help communities become self-sufficient.  

So during the last weeks of Lent, please give generously to help those in need around the world. Every little bit helps.

All Project Compassion boxes (sent home on Ash Wednesday) can be returned to school by Thursday March 28th (the last day of Term One).

Altar Servers Guild: The parish is founding an Altar Servers Guild to provide practical training and ongoing formation to Guild members. The Guild will meet weekly during school terms. If you are interested in joining the Guild and becoming an altar server visit: 

www.sunraysiacatholic.org/altar-servers or call the parish office on 5021 2872.

Easter Liturgy: will be held on Thursday March 28th at 12:30pm in the OLSH Church. All families are welcome to join us in our celebration. 

ANOINTING MASS

• 21st March, 9.30am, Merbein

St Patrick's Day Celebration

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Learning and Teaching

This week, Grade Three and Grade Five students have been participating in the NAPLAN tests, completing the Writing and Reading assessments. All students have been working to the best of their ability.

Meanwhile, this term teachers have engaged in Peer Observation. This involves teachers visiting each other's classrooms to observe lessons. This process is beneficial for both teachers, providing an opportunity for feedback to enhance teaching, and to learn from each other. Teachers have been observing the implementation of The Daily Review, which is an integral part of Structured Literacy.

Adam Lawrence

NAPLAN BROCHURE

School Photos - Tuesday 19th March

Our Schools Photos are NEXT TUESDAY.  Please make sure you have your envelopes back by Monday.

OLSH Family Night - 21st March

Enrolment at OLSH

The link below will take you to our website where you are able to fill out the online enrolment form.  To finalise the application you will need to upload your child's Birth Certificate and Immunisation Record. 

If you have any questions please call the school or email admin@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au

OLSH School Leaders Profiles

Dane Alderson - School Captain

Hi, my name is Dane and I am a School Captain for 2024.  One of my favourite sports is basketball. I currently play for Mildura Heat and am a leader in the game play.  My commitment to Heat is the same for OLSH students - to do my very best to help my team!

Paley Hammet - Student Leader

Hi, my name is Paley Hammet.  I am a Grade Five Student Leader.  Some things about me are that I live on a citrus block, love reading, play netball for Merbein and I am learning how to water ski.  I am really excited for all the activities we get to help with this year. 

OLSH Easter Raffle

Please keep your generous donations coming in for the raffle! We have had some fantastic items brought into the office so far. The more donations we receive, the more prizes we have to give away! 

More tickets are avaible from the office.  

Tickets are due back: Monday, 25th March & the Raffle will be drawn on the last day of Term 1.

SchoolTV

In this edition of SchoolTV - MANAGING SCREEN TIME

As a result of the global pandemic, there has been a noticeable shift in the amount of time people spend on screen-based devices. Families are transitioning back to pre-COVID routines but many are still struggling to re-establish the boundaries and rules around screen use. Some continue to deal with digital conflict and tech-tantrums on a daily basis. The latest research found that 77% of teenagers spend more than five hours on screens per day, but it is important to note that not all screen time is considered equal.

Parents play a crucial role in modelling a positive and healthy approach to using screens and assisting children to navigate the content they watch. It is better to model and mentor screen use, rather than monitor it. Children tend to do more of what they see us do, and less of what we tell them to do. However, it is still important to outline the risks and highlight the benefits of screen use to ensure you keep a balanced attitude. Encourage discussions around the issues that people experience in monitoring their screen time and be honest about your own difficulties.

Parents need to remain firm in their approach to managing screen time. Excessive screen time can be detrimental to a child’s overall wellbeing. Ensuring the correct privacy settings are in place is vital to prevent children from being inadvertently exposed to inappropriate content or online predators. Parents need to also be mindful of the potential impact screen time can have on a child’s social, emotional, educational, behavioural, and even physical domains.

In this edition of SchoolTV, care-givers will be provided with a range of guidelines and strategies to help manage screen time at home.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Managing Screen Time edition of SchoolTV
https://olshmerbein.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/managing-screen-time

Hot Cross Bun Fundraiser

This year OLSH Merbein will once again be taking part in the Banjo’s Hot Cross Bun Fundraiser. For every order made, Banjo’s Mildura will donate 20% of all sales back to OLSH Merbein.  We are yet to decide on what we put the funds towards this year. Banjo’s Hot Cross Buns are delicious and great toasted or fresh with a cuppa so we hope that all families will support this drive! 

How it will work:

• Collect your orders/money and keep a record on the form below - this will be for your records                (we will be sending these forms home on Monday)

• Log on to CDF Pay and complete your order by the following date:  Wednesday, 20th March

• All orders will be delivered to the school for collection on Tuesday, 26th March at 3.20pm on wards.

NSW Bus Information

Happy Birthday

We wish the following students a Happy Birthday:

• Tori O'Shea - 20th March - 7 yrs

• Indiana Williams - 20th March - 7 yrs

• Alissa Leunig - 22nd March - 5 yrs

• Pippa Annand - 23rd March - 12 yrs

• Jasper O'Shea - 23rd March - 9 yrs

Student of the Week

Prep News

School Photos- Please don’t forget to return your school photo forms. School photos are on the 19th of March. Please make sure students are in the correct summer school uniform on this day- no nail polish, correct earrings and hair accessories and shoes.

STOMP- Next week (18th-22nd March) students will participate in the STOMP dance program. On Thursday the 21st of March all students will perform at the Family Night. Please make sure you have returned your form to help with catering for the night.

Easter Raffle and Donations- Thank you to those parents who have kindly donated Easter treats for the prizes. Please keep bringing in donations and selling raffle tickets.

Week 7

Grade 1 News

Mathematics- We have been focusing on telling the time to the hour. Students have done well to tell the time and understand the difference between the hour and minute hand.

Literacy- We have kept the focus of nouns from last week and we have learnt about the two different nouns- proper and complex. Students have also started to plan a narrative which they will start to write next week.

Science- This week we learnt about pests and which animals are classified as pests. The students designed their own bike helmets that would help deter swooping magpies!

Reminders-

*Please ensure you have returned your form for the Family Night.

*Easter Raffle books can be returned to the office.

*Donations for the Easter Raffle can be sent to the office.

Grade 2 News

 The students came back refreshed and ready to learn on Tuesday, but I think we were all grateful for the cool change later in the week!

Mathematics

This week we have been revising three-digit place value and all of the students have demonstrated confidence in this area. We will continue to revise Time during our Daily Review at the start of each lesson to build on our learning from last week. 

Literacy

This week we have been learning about the prefixes 'dis' and 'un' and discussing how they change the meaning of words. We have also continued to learn about the different noun types including pronouns and proper nouns. 

RE

In RE we have been learning about St. Patrick in anticipation of our St. Patrick's Day celebrations today. We have also learnt about the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the meaning and traditions of this sacrament for Catholic Christians. 

Reminders:

*Please ensure you have returned your form for the Family Night.

*Easter Raffle books can be returned to the office.

*Donations for the Easter Raffle can be sent to the office.

 Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Grade 3 & 4 News

It has been a short, but very busy week this week. Our Grade Three students completed two NAPLAN tests on Wednesday (writing) and Thursday (reading). The remaining two, (maths and language conventions) will be done next week.

This week in Religion we have been studying the Good Samaritan parable and focusing specifically on how Jesus’ followers regarded Samaritan people (people who lived in Samaria) as their bitter enemies. We have also been researching a bit about Saint Patrick and his significance in regard to Saint Patrick’s Day, which we celebrated as a whole school today.

Thanks for coming to watch our assemblies the past couple of weeks. It’s always great to see family members support their children during these occasions.

Next week we have STOMP every day. Students must come prepared each day with their runners (in their bag) and their water bottles.

Adam and I are looking forward to our FAMILY NIGHT next Thursday and welcome you all to come and visit our classrooms!

Julie and Adam

In Respectful Relationships with Mrs. Lohmeyer, 3/4L has been learning about personal strengths and the skills that make working in a team easier. This week, they explored these concepts by playing 'Keepy Uppy' with a partner, where they weren't allowed to let go of each other's hands. This activity highlighted the need for effective communication and concentration on the task to work well with peers.

Grade Five News

• This week we have completed Naplan writing and reading. I have been impressed with the effort students have put into their work and how positive and encouraging they have been of each other. Next week we will do the Numeracy and Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and puntuation).
• We completed our science work for the term and started a new unit on Civics and Citizenship. This week we have explored the origins of democracy and what the Australian way looks like. 
  
• Next week is going to be super busy with STOMP lessons each day, the Family Night and our assembly item on Friday.  Please join us if you can. 
  

Grade Six News

• This week we have been learning about democracy. Students were able to write some great sentences about the role of elected representatives in a democratic country. 
• In Mathematics students have been working hard to read and interpret timetables and calculate elapsed time. This is a tough concept which we will continue to work hard on. 
• Some information went out last week around Executive Functioning. This week students have been learning about planning and how good planners prioritise tasks, manage their time well and work most efficiently. This is an important skill because it helps us to use our time most effectively to get a job done. 
• We are excited about STOMP next week, and I look forward to seeing you all in the classroom when we open it on Family Night.
  

St Joseph's College, Mildura 2024 Open Evening

General News

School Advisory Council Members:

Thel O’Shea, Hannah Mills, Grant Finlayson, Courtney Portaro, Amy Cupper, Sandra Hammet, Lana Borchard, Adam Lawrence (Staff Rep) & Narelle Gallagher (Principal). Our first meeting for the year is on March 5th.

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.