Term 4 Week 9 Monday 28th November 2022

Acknowledgement of Country

St Colman’s acknowledges the Girai wurung people as the traditional owners of the land on which our school stands and we respectfully recognise elders both past and present.

Our Prayer this Week

Peaceful God,
As we wait this Advent, we watch for your way of peace: a way of deep breath, where worried minds are settled and tired bodies find rest.
As we wait this Advent, we also pray: for all in our human family who look for the peace that comes when daily needs are met.
Peaceful God, help us share your peace.
Amen

The Second Sunday of Advent is this coming Sunday. 

From the Principal

Dear Families,

It was great to celebrate our school feast day last week. We certainly have a great school where we welcome, learn, have faith and care. There was lots to celebrate. 

This week we are holding PSGs on Thursday. Each meeting will have the student's current teacher as well as their 2023 teacher. This will assist in a smooth transition to 2023. 

There is lots of information about the end of year in this newsletter, including transition and end of year celebrations, so please take the time to read it carefully. 

Kind regards, 

Stacey

End of Year Celebrations

We look forward to celebrating the 2022 school year as a community on Tuesday 13th December!  The evening will begin at 5:30pm with a mass, we ask all students to wear full school uniform. Following this, our graduation ceremony will begin and we will have farewells to staff and families including Tim Bourke who will be returning to officially farewell the community. We will then have some carols from the children, they are welcome to bring Christmas headbands or Santa hats for this part. The formalities will conclude with an invitation to BBQ dinner back at school. A survey will be sent out for catering purposes, please let us know if you have any dietary requirements. This will be supplied by the school, families can BYO drinks. 

School Advisory Council

On Wednesday we had our final SAC meeting for the year. We farewell and thank Brianna Barr for her contribution to the SAC. Brianna works tirelessly for our school, both in her role as a staff member but also as a parent. Her commitment, passion, clear thinking and community connections have made her a valuable member of our SAC. 

We welcome Zion Palmer, Rachel Baulch and Sophie Allen (with Nick) to the SAC for next year. We thank them for their willingness to take on this role and look forward to welcoming them. 

Please find the summary of the meeting and the principal's report linked below. 

St Colman's Feast Day

Thursday was a great celebration for our school feast day. Thank you to our Grade 6 students, Arlo, Indi and Layla, who organised the activities during the day. A big thank you to all the families and friends who were able to come along to help us celebrate. It was a great day! 

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Transition to 2023

With only 3 weeks left of school we are beginning to prepare for 2023.

Our 2023 foundation students have been visiting on Fridays between 9-11. It is great to see their confidence growing as they make new friends and learn about life in the Junior Room. 

Important dates

* Whole School Move Up Day - Friday 9th December

All students will go to their new classes for 2023. Janet and Bridget will also be at school on that day. 

* MRC Transition Day- Tuesday 6th December

* Mortlake College Transition Day- Tuesday 13th December

Christmas Art- Come and Try

Fun at Springers!

We all had a great time at Springers. Thanks to the team there for having us. 

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Awards

Congratulations to our award winners this week, who were recognised at assembly. Noah, Connor, Charlotte, Ivy, Milana, Isabella, Scarlett and Dakota. 

Happy Birthday!

A big week for birthdays this week! Happy Birthday to Remy, Adia, Layla, Indi, Millie and Charlotte A. 

Out of School Care

Want to find out more about TheirCare and what that will look like for our students? An information session will be held via Zoom on Wednesday 7th December at 6pm.

A link will be made available prior to the meeting. 

New PAM accounts

In 2023, all parents will be given a new PAM account. Instead of having one account per family, each parent will have their own account. In preparation for this, you need to login to your current PAM account and complete the survey that has been created which asks for your email addresses as this is what you will use to login to your new account. If you are having difficulty accessing the survey, please try going to our website and clicking on the PAM tab up the top or contact Jane at the office.

Key Dates for the Diary

Term 4

30th November- Come and Try Christmas Art 

5th and 6th December- Gr 3/4 Camp to Halls Gap

6th December- Global transition day (MRC and Mortlake College)

7th December- TheirCare information session

9th December- St Colman's Transition Day

13th December- Graduation and end of year celebrations

16th December- Last day for students. Mortlake Community Christmas Carols

Advance Notice: First day of 2023 for students will be Monday 30th January

MRC Car Raffle 2022- LAST CHANCE

Mercy Regional College Car Raffle 2022 will be drawn on Wednesday 30 November! Purchase your tickets for a chance to win one of the 10 wonderful prizes, including a Renault Captur valued at nearly $35,000, a $2,000 Betta Home Living voucher, an Apple Watch and many more. Tickets are available online at https://cutt.ly/car-22, at MRC reception an at numerous businesses around the region. Don’t miss MRC raffle stall at the Noorat Show to purchase an extra ticket with cash. Tickets are $10 each, 6 for $50 or 13 for $100. 

Mortlake Christmas Carols

Save the date! We're hoping to have a group of students to sing on the night. 

Our Lady of Mercy Parish News

Mercy Regional College

Warrnambool Surf 'T' Surf

The 40^th Annual Warrnambool Surf T Surf Fun Run/Walk event is once again being run on Sunday the 8^th of January 2023.   This correspondence is to let you know that we have an exciting opportunity for Primary Schools in the form of a Primary School Challenge. Our aim is to encourage young children to get out and be active with the added benefit of potentially raising funds for your primary school.    Winner of the Challenge will have the most participants registered under your team’s name across all 4 fun run events. The events being 10km run, 6km run, 6km walk and 3km Lap of the lake.  The prize is $1000 donation to the winning school.   

Register using this link to be counted in the St Colman's team. 

https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=47978&G=165630

COVID Reminders

New settings are now in place. 

Most settings are changing from must to highly recommended.

For example, you must stay home when testing positive is changing to, it is highly recommended that you stay home.  

Changes to COVID-19 isolation requirements.

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.

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. 

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.