Term 4 Week 5 Monday 4th November

Acknowledgement of Country

From the Principal

End of Day Arrangements

A reminder that if your child's usual end of day arrangements change, for example, if they are not to go home on the bus, it is essential that you inform the school of these changes. Then easiest way to do this is via the PAM app and if that isn't working please ring the school. If we have not received a notification from you, your child will be required to go home via their normal method.

Important Dates:

Term 4

 Saturday November 9th: Mortlake Rose Show

Monday 11th November: Middles to visit Aberlea

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

Friday November 15th: 9am- 11am Kinder Transition Session 1 

Monday 18th- Friday 22nd November: Meals on Wheels week

Tuesday 19th November: F-2 excursion

Friday November 22nd: 9am- 11am Kinder Transition Session 2

Monday November 25th: St Colman Feast Day Mass @ 9:30am

Wednesday November 27th: School Advisory Council AGM, 6pm @ Macs Hotel

Friday November 29th: 9am- 11am Kinder Transition Session 3

Friday December 6th: 9am- 11am Kinder Transition Session 4

Tuesday December 10th: Whole school Move Up Day/ Orientation Day

Thursday December 12th: Whole school Aberlea Christmas visit

Friday December 13th: Mortlake Community Christmas Carols 

Saturday 14th December: Bunnings BBQ

End of Year dates:

Tuesday 17th December: End of Year Mass, Awards and Picnic

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

As part of their 10-year strategic plan, DOBCEL are prioritising 'deeper collaboration between schools'. To support the implementation of this practical principle, Tom Sexton, Executive Director of Catholic Education Ballarat, is allowing schools two extra student free days in 2025. The letter below was sent to all families last week regarding the impact this will have upon our school community, in particular, the anticipated change to the school holiday break at the end of Term 1 2025.  

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

Congratulations to the children who were acknowledged for their achievements at last week's assembly.

Specialist Teacher for 2025

We have recently held interviews for the role of our specialist teacher for 2025. Nicole Moulden will once again be providing the specialist subjects of STEAM and Health/Phys Ed in the new school year. We look forward to working with Nicole once again!

Police Visit

The 126th Mortlake Rose Show

The Mortlake Rose Show is on this weekend and St Colman's is pleased to be playing an important part in events. All of our students will be working in pairs to create an entry in the "Decorate a saucer" competition and our Pre school playgroup Little Colman's, will be organising Kidz Corner to keep the little ones entertained while their parents explore the show. If you are able to help out on the day, please contact the school. Please support this local community event by popping in at some stage over the weekend. 

SATURDAY 9TH NOV
Open from 11.30am for a Light Lunch and stalls in foyer.
Exhibits open at 12.30pm - 3.30pm
Presentation & Guest Speaker from 2pm

SUNDAY 10TH NOV
Open from 10.30am to 2pm
Raffle drawn @ 1pm
Kidz Corner with free activities for the kids to have some fun.

Entry to view exhibits - gold coin donation

Advance Notice- Save the Dates

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!

Below is a form to complete to let us know your availability to help out. A hard copy will be sent home or you can register your intent to support your school via the web form link below.

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

our highly successful, Little Colman's Playtime will have one more session for the 2024 school year. It will be a Christmas celebration on Friday December 6th from 9am.

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

Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader 2025

We are pleased to advise that we have recently employed Narelle Marsden as our Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader for 2025. Narelle brings a wealth of experience and passion in her commitment to supporting schools to better meet the complex needs of our most vulnerable students. We look forward to welcoming Narelle to our school community next year.

School TV-SPECIAL REPORT

Navigating AI Relationships

"Artificial Intelligence is transforming many areas, including how we form relationships and their impact on identity development is significant. It is essential to understand both the opportunities and challenges these technologies present."

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

Click on the link below to find out more

Michael Grose Parenting Toolbox

Social Media Safety

Parents and carers play an important role in supporting their children to be safe online and on social media. You can help your children safely navigate their digital world and educate them to avoid harmful online experiences. You can explore websites, games, apps and social media together and set some rules and boundaries.

Your support and guidance can give your children the knowledge to make sound decisions online and confidence to ask for help when they need it. It is also important to stay informed about online safety.

The Department of Education recognises this important issue and has developed fact sheets about supports to help keep students safe online and what to do if they are involved in an online incident.

The fact sheets contain links to evidence-based information on supporting positive and safe online experiences, signs a child or young person might need support, what to do if something unsafe happens online, and where to reach out to for more support.

To access the fact sheets, refer to the Safe Socials webpage. The fact sheets are available in 19 community languages.

The government is also launching public consultation on age limits for social media.

You and your children can share your experiences to inform proposed changes via an online survey, before 5 pm on Friday 1 November 2024. For more information on the survey and to take part, refer to Proposed changes to social media age limits on the Engage Victoria website.

If you have any queries about this information, you can contact the department by email: bullystoppers@education.vic.gov.au

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. At their most recent meeting the Junior SRC decided on the following rewards;

250 tickets= Movie and popcorn afternoon

500 tickets= Hot chip lunch at Tea Tree Lake

750 tickets= Casual clothes and free time afternoon/ rotation games 

1000 tickets = Day trip to Lake Pertobe.

Our current Behaviour blitz is on "Using a respectful tone".  Last week we collected another 39 tickets , bringing our total to 192 tickets.

Thunderstorm Asthma

What is Thunderstorm Asthma?

Thunderstorm asthma is a serious and potentially life-threatening phenomenon that can occur during specific weather conditions. It is common throughout all parts of Victoria, particularly during spring when thunderstorms coincide with high levels of pollen in the air.

This combination can trigger severe asthma symptoms, even in people who have not previously experienced asthma or allergies.

Schools should have staff trained in asthma first aid, and DOBCEL will monitor the VicEmergency app to receive thunderstorm warnings and notify schools, and when appropriate, students should be kept indoors when weather forecasts identify greater risk. 

By raising awareness and being prepared, schools can protect their students and staff from the risks associated with thunderstorm asthma, ensuring a safer environment for everyone.

Find out more

Further information regarding thunderstorm asthma can be found at https://asthma.org.au/triggers/thunderstorm-asthma/ and https://www.health.vic.gov.au/environmental-health/epidemic-thunderstorm-asthma-risk-forecast.

St. Colman's School is a Child Safe Community

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

Child Safety Officers

The Child Safe Standards

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

Standard 8 asks schools to ensure:
Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.

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.

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.