Term 1 Week 6 Monday 27th February 2023

Our Prayer this Week

From the Principal

Key dates for the Diary

Term 1

Monday 20th February Years 3-6 Swimming Carnival

Tuesday 21st February Shrove Tuesday

Wednesday 22nd February Ash Wednesday service at 9am

Friday Feb 24th to March 2nd F-6 Swimming Program to be conducted at Mortlake Pool

Friday Feb 24th to March 17th Mrs O'Connor on Long Service Leave

Tuesday 28th February School Nurse visit

Thursday 2nd March Division Swimming

Monday 6th March Aberlea Visit- Senior room

Friday 10th March Athletics Carnival in Terang

March 15th-March 27th NAPLAN Testing Period

Monday 20th March Aberlea Visit- Middle room

Tuesday 21st March World Down Syndrome Day- wear ODD socks

                                            Parent Teacher Interviews

Monday 27th March Young Leaders Day, Melbourne

Tuesday 28th March School Photo Day

Wednesday 5th April Sacramental Meeting

Thursday 6th April Last day of Term 1

School Closure Dates 2023

Term 1: Monday 13th March Labor Day Public Holiday

                 Tuesday 14th March (Literacy)

Term 2: Monday 24th April (Compliance)

                  Thursday May 4th Warrnambool Cup Holiday

Term 3: Monday 14th August (Catholic Social Teaching) 

                  Tuesday 22nd August (Literacy)

Project Compassion

During the Ash Wednesday mass, Father Gary spoke of the importance of using Lent as a time to help those less fortunate than ourselves. He encouraged us to get behind Caritas' Project Compassion. As a school we have Project Compassion boxes in all of our classrooms to encourage children to donate money and we will also be supporting Project Compassion through several fundraising initiatives. 
One of these ideas is to sell Zooper Doopers each day for 50c. Our Year 6 school leaders will be selling them daily and all money raised will go into the Project Compassion box.

Division Swimming Carnival

This Thursday Imogen Barr and Charlotte Allen will be representing St. Colman's at the Division Swimming Carnival in Warrnambool. We wish them all the best!

St. Colman's Swimming Program

The program will continue this week and concludes on Thursday at the following times:

Juniors: 12:30-1pm

Middles: 1pm-1:30

Seniors: 1:30-2pm

As Wednesday is a Rest Day for our Foundation students, we will run two lessons.

Years 1-3: 12:30-1pm

Years 4-6: 1pm-1:30

You are more than welcome to come in and watch your child's lesson and if you'd like to help out with organising children at the end of each lesson that would be greatly appreciated (especially with our youngest students).

Term 1 Classroom Information

Read the attached document to find out what is going on in your child's classroom this term

Health Education at St. Colman's

This year we have allocated 90 minute weekly lessons to Health and PE. These lessons will be conducted by Anna Bourke, where she will teach Health for 30 minutes and PE for 60 minutes each week. Janet Cain will be teaching the Middles their weekly health lesson. During the health lessons, we will be teaching from the DOBCEL endorsed document Fullness of life for All - Relationships and Sexuality Education F-6.

“Relationships and Sexuality Education is a key element in the education of the whole person and becoming fully human. Sexuality, which is a beautiful and sacred gift from God, is an integral part of our identity and affects all aspects of the human person. Therefore, all students have the right to high-quality Relationships and Sexuality Education that is relevant to their lives today, and to good educational foundations for them to negotiate the difficult terrains of current and future challenges of fostering and living good healthy human and sexualrelationships. The aim of this guidance is to support schools to:

• reflect on their existing Relationships and Sexuality Education provision;
• update their provision if and where appropriate, to ensure that it is relevant to their students’ lives today whilst engaging and dialoguing with the wisdom and guidance of the Catholic Tradition regarding relationships and sexuality education.
  
• to support compliance with Child Safe Standard 3 – Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken Seriously.” (FULLNESS OF LIFE FOR All Relationships and Sexuality Education F-6 Diocese of Ballarat)

As sensitive topics are covered and anatomical terminology will be used, your child may wish to discuss what they have learned during these lessons when they get home.

If you have any questions about this mandated curriculum area, please contact either Anna Bourke or Janet Cain

Farewell to Frank

This week we will be farewelling Frank who has been our Maintenance and Groundsman for more than seven years. We thank him for the care he has taken with our school, keeping everything neat and tidy and in working order. We wish him a long and happy retirement. 

We will introduce Frank's replacement next week.

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.

Each week we will profile a member of our SAC and this week we will profile Jo Van Den Heuvel.

I am mum to Steff in Grade 4 at St Colman’s and I love our school and the opportunities it provides our children.
I am a self employed Massage Therapist and Yoga teacher in Mortlake and I teach the local Kinder kids through to people 80+ years old which I love to do. I enjoy gardening, cooking,  tennis, travelling and time with my family. 
This is my second year on the Student Advisory Council, and we as members provide an important voice from our school families to the school.  We discuss all matters in relation to the running of the school such as student health, safety and well-being, engagement between the school and our wider community, finance, fundraising, volunteering and any matters that parents/guardians or students bring up to be discussed at our meetings.

We are always striving to make St Colmans' the best school for our children and community. Our input is very important to the running of St Colman's in supporting our children and our wonderful teachers and Principal, Janet Cain. 

Annual School Nurse Visit

The School Nurse will be visiting our school on Tuesday 28th of February. This free service is offered to all Foundation students in their first year of school and involves screening tests on hearing and vision and addresses any other concerns that the family and school have expressed.

Parents and carers are asked to fill out the form sent home with thier child and return it to school ASAP.

St Colman's Jacket found

One of our students took two jackets home at the end of last year.

If your child is missing a size 6-8 jacket, please contact the school office.

Award Winners

Each week during our Friday assemblies, teaching staff award students who have achieved great things in the past week. This year we are inviting all parents and friends to attend these weekly assemblies which take place at approximately 2:45pm each Friday in the Undercover Area.

Mercy Regional College Open Day

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/

Many of our students have already begun to use this program and the feedback from both parents and children has been overwhelmingly positive. Everything has run seamlessly so far, so if you are considering sending your children to Before or After Shool Care, you can be assured that this program is extremely easy to utilise.

TheirCare are also promoting community engagement through the fundraising initiative WeCare. See attached letter and support them however you can.

Feel free to contact the office if you have any questions about accessing TheirCare or use the contact details at the bottom of the flyer to contact them directly.

St. Colman's School is a Child Safe Community

Child Safety Officers

Janet Cain and Rosie O'Connor are our Chuild Safety Officers.

Contact them on:

Phone: 55992285 or 0490539167

Email: jcain@scmortlake.catholic.edu.au or roconnor@scmortlake.catholic.edu.au

Child Safe Standard 3:

Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.

To comply with this standard, at minimum, St. Colman's must:

• inform students about all their rights, including their rights to safety, information and participation
• recognise the importance of friendships and encourage support from peers, to help students feel safe and be less isolated
• to develop a culture that encourages participation and responds to what students say
• give students opportunities to participate, and respond to their contributions to strengthen confidence and engagement
• offer students access to sexual abuse prevention programs and related information in an age-appropriate way. School boarding premises are required to offer sexual abuse prevention programs and related information where it is relevant to the setting or context
• develop curriculum planning documents or other documentation that details how the school will address these requirements.
• make sure staff and volunteers:
  • • • • • • • are attuned to signs of harm
              • facilitate child-friendly ways for students to express their views, participate in decision-making and raise their concerns.

NCCD

Please read the attached information sheet for parents regarding NCCD.

Our Lady of Mercy Parish Newsletter