3 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

News from the Principal

Dear Families,

This week we commence the liturgical season of Lent….the season in the Catholic church’s calendar that commences with Ash Wednesday.

The observance of Lent is related to the celebration of Easter. The word Lent derives from the Middle English word lenten, meaning springtime – the time of lengthening days. By the fourth century, Lent had developed into its current length of forty days, the length of the fast and temptation of Jesus in the desert (cf. Luke 4:1-13). Recently, research has suggested that the development of Lent was also influenced by the forty-day span of fasting practiced by many in the early Church (especially monks).

Our current generation would remember Lent as a time when you gave up something. The act of penance is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defence of justice and right, by the admission of faults to others, reflection of life, examination of conscience and spiritual direction.

In 2017, we invite staff, students and community members to take up something. As we take the time to reflect on our own lives, it is important that we reach out to our community through our actions and daily life gestures.

Next week, we had scheduled in the school calendar the Wonder of Living Programme. Due to an urgent need, the team has asked if they could reschedule to Term 3 to which we were happy to support. Further information will follow closer to the end of August.

In Weeks 8, 9 and 10, staff will be hosting Parent/Teacher Interviews. In an attempt to be flexible and meet the needs of staff and parents, the teachers will be forwarding a schedule next week for parents to nominate their preferred time and dates that are offered by teachers over the three weeks. It is important that all parents and teachers meet throughout these weeks to provide an opportunity for open communication to support the learning and wellbeing of each child.

Staff look forward to catching up with all parents over the three week period.

Throughout this term, we have been reviewing the resource of EDI to support the learning of English since meeting with the creator of the programme. We have made a number of changes since that meeting as discussed at the recent Parents and Friends Meeting. Our review has been finalised and a separate letter from myself concerning the review will be attached to the newsletter.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Our strategic goals for this year are focused on quality learning and wellbeing for all. It is through this statement that we are guided by the wisdom of staff, parents and the wider community and the Holy Spirit.

Take care, Au esoau
Sharon County
Principal

Year 5/6 Class News

The Grade 5/6 class are exploring personal and communal prayers during R.E. this term. To connect with our integrated learning journey on Climate Change we have embraced Pope Francis' encyclicalLaudato Si . We have also been inspired from the Catholic Earthcare website where we found the idea to create our own Tree of Life. Our tree offers solutions to climate change and the impacts it will have on the Torres Strait.

Year 4/5 Class News

In Year 4/5 our class rules are Respect for Self, Respect for Others and Respect for Property/The Environment. We are striving to live these out in our actions and behaviours.

We have been learning about the impact various weather patterns have on the environment around the globe and we know more about erosion and how it impacts on Australia, especially the Torres Strait. Everyone has been engaged in this learning and sharing their understandings to the class. Erika, Beka and Brendan made some great models of whirlwinds in bottles to show the effects of a cyclone and some various card houses made to differing strengths. Well done on your creative work children!

We have been learning about what makes a good narrative and how we can plan a narrative and use that plan as a reference and checklist. We are also learning about the need to edit our narratives in our English lessons and to use a checklist.

In Maths we have been focusing on learning strategies to solve problems and learning to estimate using cues to help us. We have been revising our times tables and quick recall of number facts. We have been learning the language of maths such as sum, product, solution, array, remainder, etc. in our rounding off of numbers.

In our RE we have been focusing on what makes a great community and what our needs and wants are. We shared Bible stories about how Jesus was on a mission to improve every community that he visited with his knowledge, wisdom and love. We learn from one another and share our learnings and the well being of all students and members of our school community is discussed each day.

Thank you to Mrs County for organising the pancakes for Shrove Tuesday celebrations and we also thank our many helpers in the pool and for being part of this great school community.

Regards,
Peter Shorthouse

Year 2/3 News

From the photos, we can see that Year 2/3 are really enjoying researching and working together collaboratively in a group or with a partner. As part of our Geography unit "Australia, Our Place" we found out some fun facts about sea life around our island.

Xander Lemke found out from his reading that stonefish are well camouflaged to look like coral and a sea turtle can stay under water for 20 minutes.

Shauna Sagigi wrote, from her reading about reefs is that recreational fisherman catch 4000 tonnes of reef fish every year off the Great Barrier Reef each year. This is worth $200 million!!!! Now that's a lot of money!! This could have devastating effects on the survival of the reef.

We also say goodbye to Dulcie Lane, who is going around Australia with her family. Have fun Dulcie and don't forget us!!

Prep News

Congratulations Jarrah Hillier and Kaitlyn See Kee on being our award recipients in week 4 for getting along with all your new classmates and doing your very best in all activities in prep. Last week’s award winner was Jarrah for his involvement in outdoor play and help in creating our tadpole tank with Miss Katrina.

In Prep this fortnight we have had fun with;

• Ash Wednesday Mass and beginning the Lent season in preparation for Easter…with our Lenten promises, Project Compassion and fruit of the spirit in Religion activities.

• Working at home with Mum and Dad to make our family trees and comparing how we have changed since we were babies.
• Creating our tadpole tank with Miss Katrina and watching them grow.
• Making our Prep BIG book of Counting.
• Beginning real writing in our journals.
• Starting to play the Ukuleles in music time.
• Swimming lessons on Fridays-thanks to Ms Corinna, Ms Bec and all those parents who have come to help or support the prep class. We are becoming more confident in the water and especially like squirting the teachers at the end!

DON’T FORGET students will need a pair of thongs on Fridays to wear to and from swimming along with their swimming gear.

JUNK-Prep families are welcome to bring in their “JUNK” recycling from home on a regular basis. This will help us in art activities/construction and also reduces your landfill contribution in the bin each week. Donations could include but are not restricted to…egg cartons, empty boxes, cardboard rolls (not toilet rolls), margarine containers, LIDS, ice-cream containers. Thanks.

Please contact us at the school/email below if you have any further queries,

Helen Osborne
hosborne@cns.catholic.edu.au

Hammond Pre-Prep News

Welcome children and parents to a very busy and wet beginning to Pre-Preps at Hammond.

All of the children are settling into their daily classroom activities and are making their choices to do different activities.

The pre-prep children will not be attending the swimming lessons.

We do have a quiet rest period which is provided for independent reading and activities in the afternoon. Don’t forget to bring in your child’s sleeptime requirements; a sheet, blanket, pillow and coat as it sometimes gets a bit cold in class. Remember to take the bedding home on Wednesdays for cleaning.

Please check our daily noticeboard outside of our classroom for news or upcoming events.

It is important to ring me on my mobile 0439 241 734 or the Hammond Campus Phone 4069 2955 if your child is sick or absent. You are most welcome to come in and read with your child or participate in their indoor or outdoor activities. We welcome parents with interesting background knowledge and talents in cooking, stories, art and craft that they would like to share with our Pre-Preps and teachers is greatly appreciated.

Please ensure all of your children’s belongings are clearly labelled to avoid mix up and loss.

Also, please remember our school is a peanut free zone so please avoid peanut products in lunchboxes.

Regards,
Marion Ball & Dorothy Cowley

Hammond Campus News

Wow! Week 5 is finished. We only have 5 weeks of term 1 left. The next few weeks will be busy with students soon commencing their assessment for all areas of learning.

Students have enjoyed our trips to TI for swimming lessons and discussing ‘Good Foods’ and ‘Bad Foods’ with Miss Tilly. Miss Grant recently visited our campus showing us how to use Bee Bots and computer skills.

In English one of our focuses is practicing our reading and comprehension skills daily and writing a different text type each week. It is important for students to read a book every night for 15 mins. Encourage students to look at the pictures and words prior to reading. Stretch out the sounds in unfamiliar words before asking for help. Please let us know if you would like any strategies or tips in helping your child with their reading.

Students have been enjoying hands on activities during our Maths lessons and are learning about place value and addition and subtraction strategies.

If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to come me see during school hours or contact me on bjones6@cns.catholic.edu.au.

Eso for your support.

Yours in Education
Briohny Jones

Good-bye and Thank you Miss Paige

Thank you Miss Paige for all your hard work and arranging the fun activities to keep us busy at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School. We will miss you and wish you well in your new job.

Our Award Winners

Week 4 Award Winners

Week 5 Award Winners

Congratulations to Ben, Jacob & Victor on your Sport Stars Award

Ash Wednesday Preparation & Mass Photos

We celebrated Ash Wednesday on 1st March this year with a School Mass in the Parish Church. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent which lasts for 40 days. The Lenten season will end after Easter Sunday.

The school also celebrated Shrove Tuesday (which is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) with a pancake breakfast in all the classes during the morning session. Thank you Miss Katrina for all the cooking.

Adopt-a-Cop

We are very fortunate at OLSH to have two “Adopt-a-Cop” Police Officers, Senior Constable Gary McNeil and Sergeant Jade Taylor. Both officers will be working with the school to help keep us safe during school and travelling safely to and from school.

Keep an eye out for activities that we will be doing with our “Adopt-a-Cop” in the coming terms.

Music Notes

THEY’VE ARRIVED…
ALL CLASSES PLAYING UKULELE IN ARTS LESSONS.

Students may bring their own Ukuleles to school on their music lesson day (either Tues or Wed) as we will be doing ukulele every week until at least the end of term. These can be left in a safe place in their classrooms.

Ukulele lessons will focus on

• Basic technique, hold & handling of a ukulele.
• Simple chord and strumming patterns.
• Working together as a class to play in unison, partnering up with a buddy to assist each other with new information.
• Introduction to training our ears and tuning.
• Singing and playing known and new songs.

Please contact me at the school/email below if you have any further queries,

Helen Osborne
hosborne@cns.catholic.edu.au

Choir News

The OLSH choir continue to work hard for our big trip to Cairns in June. We have 30 members currently learning songs and dances with the help of Aunty Rita Dorante, Aunty Nay Gabey, Aunty Tassie McDonald, Mr Leroy Pedro, Mr Anson Dorante and Mr Benny Mabo.

RAFFLE TICKETS

• Tickets for sale $2 each from all choir members and various school community helpers.
• Ms Chi Chi has been working to make sure the prizes are exceptional…see below…

Friday Island Lunch/Tour for 2 donated by Kazu Pearls and Chi Fuji
Camping pack tent/2x camping chairs donated by Godfrey Constructions
Breakfast for 2-donated by Chris Lemke at Grand Hotel
Gab Titui Voucher $50 donated by Leilani bin Juda
Easter Pack (Cooler bag/Easter eggs, goodies)

• Drawn Monday 27th March (week 10)

ALL UNSOLD RAFFLE TICKETS CAN BE BROUGHT BACK TO MS CHI CHI NOW PLEASE! - we have many families who can sell more and we have no books left…

Please contact Miss Chi or myself at the school/email below if you have any further queries,

Helen Osborne
hosborne@cns.catholic.edu.au

Swimming Photos

Term 2 Date Claimer

Our Library is hosting Book Fair again in Weeks 2 & 3 of Term 2. The Theme for this book fair is “Bookaneer – Where Books are the Treasure”. As usual we will have a Book Fair Themed Dress-Up day with prizes for best dressed outfit.

Wonder Of Living Program

Please note that the Wonder of Living Program scheduled for this term has now been postponed until Term 3 – Thursday 31st August to Friday 1st September.

Term 1 Events

2017 Special Events and Public Holidays

Community Announcements

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