OLHC News Issue 30 Term 4 Week 3 - 21 October 2022

WELCOME TO COUNTRY...

Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School acknowledges that God has been walking with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, making God's presence known through a continuous living culture over many thousands of years. We pray in thanksgiving for these ancient peoples who have enriched and sustained our continent over all that time. In particular, we praise God for the people who nurtured the lands where our schools are built and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families who continue to support Catholic schools.

As partners in Catholic Education and open to God’s presence, we pursue the fullness of life for all.  Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School is committed to the safety and well-being of all students.

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Victoria and pay respect to the ongoing living cultures of First Peoples. This newsletter comes to you from the lands of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia, and Jupagalk Nations.

Principal Report

Dear Parents, carers, families, and parishioners,

Staffing 2023

An interview panel has completed the employment process for our school.  I am excited to announce that Mr. Jordan Collie has accepted a full-time position at OLHC from January 2023.  Jordan is currently teaching at Horsham Primary until the end of this year.

As you are aware, Ms. Kirby has accepted a full-time position at St Patrick's in St Arnaud beginning in 2023.  It gives me great pleasure to announce that Miss Jessica Bedford has accepted a part-time position at our school commencing 2023.  Jessica has been teaching at schools across the Northern Grampians region.  

I look forward to formally welcoming Jordan and Jessica to our school community in the future.  

Important Dates for your diary for Term 4

• Pie Drive - Pre-Harvest.  Date for actual Delivery/pick up, end of October
• NEXT WEEK - Friday 28th October - OLHC P&F Family Trivia Night - Themed costumes for the night.
• Saturday 29th October: Jung Market - 8:30 am-12 pm; 4 parent volunteers are needed to sell tickets at the Jung Market.  The times of the two shifts are 8.30 am (set up) to 10 am and 10 am to 12 pm (pack up).  The raffle will be drawn at 12 pm.   Raffle tickets have been sent home with children to sell to their families, friends, and neighbours. Please return the money by 27th October.  Each individual ticket is $1 and please write the buyer's name and phone number on a ticket.  You don't need to give the buyer a ticket as we will have their name/number.  Tickets will also be for sale at Foodworks Supermarket & the Murtoa Newsagent.  If there is somewhere you would like to take a raffle book, please let us know.  The prize for the raffle will be a Spring Garden Hamper.  Donations are very welcome for the hamper.  Items can be dropped off at the General Office at school. 
• Monday 31st October - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS - Pupil Free Day: Staff Professional learning on SWPBS (School Wide Positive Behaviour Support)
• Wednesday 7th December to Friday 9th December:  Year 5/6 Camp to Creswick.  More information when it comes to hand.
• School Christmas Concert - which was scheduled for the 8th of December needs to be rescheduled due to the change of date of the Year 5/6 Camp.  Once a new date has been set we will let you know.
• Wednesday 14th December - Graduation Mass at St Mary's Church, Murtoa at 6 pm
• Friday 16th December - Last day of school for students

Kind regards

Mrs. Cathy Grace                                                                                

Next Friday 28th October at Murtoa Mechanics Hall a music family trivia night with a Halloween theme will be held.  Please mark the date in your diary as it will be great to have every family represented plus extended family, friends, and community people. The cost is $10 per ticket (Child and Adult).  This cost will cover the hall rental, the Trivia company costs, decorations, and prizes.

All of Our Lady's families  are asked to provide one or more of the following:
• Slices and/or Sandwiches and/or Sausage Rolls/Party Pies and/or bag of lollies. These can be dropped off at the General Office the week of 24th October.  Please see the OLHC P&F Facebook Messenger page for updated information or if you need to post a question to the group.  This is a great means of communication among our parents and friends group.  It keeps everyone in the loop at the same time.

Thank you to the families who have offered to help set up the hall.  We are still in need of more helpers. Black tablecloths will be provided along with some decorations made by the children. Help is needed to set up the supper table on the night. Supper will be served at intermission, which will be approximately 45mins after the trivia starts.
Payments for tickets can be directly deposited to P&F Account with the first initial & Last name as the reference.  Names can also be registered and paid for at the General Office at the school.

Details of the Trivia Night in a nutshell:

• Friday, 28th October at Murtoa Hall
• Doors open: 6pm, Start time: 6:30pm
• Cost: $10 per person
• Prizes for Best Costume: Child, Adult & Teacher
• Supper provided
• No Alcohol (Family friendly event)
• BYO soft drinks and any extra snacks for your table
• Please call Carling to book your spot on 0429 001 415.  Table reservations are welcomed (8-10 people)

Mission Month

This October, we are celebrating World Mission Month, a month dedicated to the life-giving work of missionaries around the world. This year, we walk hand-in-hand with the Church of Ethiopia and the local communities towards providing life-changing opportunities to those most in need.
Pope Francis, in his 2022 World Mission Sunday message, invites everyone to answer the call to be
missionary, sharing that "Mission is carried out together, not individually..."
Through the Pontifical Mission Societies’ international network, Catholic Mission is answering the
call to help build brighter futures. Working at a grass-roots level and closely collaborating with the
local communities, Catholic Mission aims to find sustainable solutions which will bring hope to
those in most need. Their work is currently supporting a range of mission development programs
in Ethiopia addressing malnutrition, the lack of access to education for young children, and the vulnerable position of women in society.
In the rural region of Emdibir, where 70 percent of families struggle to put food on their tables,
Catholic Mission is working towards providing them with a sustainable source of nutrition by building a goat-rearing centre. The resources produced through the Centre will help fight malnutrition, a phenomenon that contributes to 50 percent of child deaths. This project is led by Fr Habte, a local priest who is dedicated to raising the local community out of poverty by creating employment, providing sustainable food resources, and bringing hope.

Your support of fundraising activities organized by our students will help to support this project! More information next week.

Art Workshop

Last week our students were fortunate to participate in a free  art workshop  hosted by the Horsham Town Hall and Gallery.  This was held at OLHC Art Room, with artists Kate Rohde and Troy Emery.  Rupanyup Primary School Students joined us in both workshops.  Below is a gallery of photos from the sessions.

Art Workshop

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Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse. It is a hands-on way for you to bless children in need across the world by filling shoeboxes with toys, hygiene items, school supplies, and fun gifts. The boxes will be collected and distributed in the name of Jesus Christ to children living in vulnerable situations.

Please returned filled boxes to the school by Monday, so we can send them off to the Operation Christmas Child Project.

Acts 20:35
^" In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive."

What is happening in the Senior Room?

We have had a challenging week. :(

This week the Year 5 and 6 camp was cancelled due to flooding. Good news is it has been rescheduled for later in the term. 

In maths we have been learning about decimals, fractions, line and rotational symmetry.

In Literacy we have been reading about Kakadu, Dry to Dry, a book written by Pamela Freeman and Liz Anelli. It has the most amazing illustrations. We watched an interview with the illustrator who explained the process of producing this book.

In our integrated studies we explored our school yard and wrote and drew examples of producers, consumers and decomposers. We went on to learn about food chains and food webs and created our own using computer software. 

Please read some examples of our writing. We are focusing on personification and using creative adjectives and adverbs in our writing to explain the thinking and actions of characters.

Senior Writing

A Great White’s Day

Ahh just a nice day with my 

Fish juice!!!

Wait, what…?

OOOOOHHHHHHWWWW!!!

Super, stupid humans always trying to ruin my day off. I mean I need some days off from my job which is hunting fish.

 Wait a minute, I have the best thought ever. I can get rid of them with a plan which I just came up with, hahaha. Ok so I’ll jump up on their boat in three…two..one.

Roar, roar. I’m a scary shark and I bet they’ll never… Aaaahhhh! Ohhhwww! That spear thing really got me good. That really hurt my head.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaa Chew on this you super stupid humans, you won’t escape me. Ha I’m actually taking their boat down. Sort of like how that shark took down the ORCA, in Jaws one. But I’m not eating any comprest spear. That stuff is not good for any being as it can really kill me so year.

Hahahaaa I’m going to eat you humans. Aaahahaha, die, die, you idiot. Hahahahahaaaaaa. 

Ow maybe I ate too many humans.

 Ahhhhh I’m so tired…  aaaaaaaah. Good night fish juice. Good night humans, shoooooooooooooo.

            The End. or is it?

Play Dead

I was waiting patiently in my drenched water stream, when suddenly I heard, saw and smelt what I wanted. A muzzle having a noisy gulp of the water, a “MOOO!” sound and the smell of fresh cattle…

JUMP! I went for it. I got it. YUMM! I ate it all and it was delicious.

The next day I smelt some fresh pig that I was scavenging for and after a while I found it! But for some reason there were metal bars everywhere. I thought I heard rattling last night. I entered but as soon as I chomped on the pig the gate shut. I was trapped but because I am so smart I went under the tender sand and I escaped.

The next day (once again) there was a fresh pig surrounded by metal bars, but there were extra bits of material on the outside. I banged on it hard- but still I managed to escape out under the soft sand. 

There were more fresh pigs for months but I didn’t go in there. I couldn't risk it.

A few days later I was getting hungry again. I found the pig inside the silver bars so I went in and I couldn’t get out! They had put an extra bar on the damp, soft sand! I WAS STUCK!

Child Safe Standards - Commitment Statement

Below is a link/file attachment that is the updated Statement of Commitment to Child Safety from the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV). This statement has been updated in light of the revised Child Safe Standards that came into effect on July 1st.
Please take the time to read the updated statement.
We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further
strengthen our child safety policies, procedures, and practices.
If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions, please contact Cathy via phone or email.. 

Next Wednesday 26th October, 10 am - 2 pm at St Michaels & Johns, Horsham (Parish Centre), 4 of our leaders will represent our school in a School/Parish workshop unpacking the Child Safe Standards (CSS), identifying what they mean and what action we can all take.  Upon completion of the workshop, our leaders will then come back to school and facilitate learning for everyone else.  This is one way to empower our students and enhance their understanding of CSS.

Mass Times & Parish Information

Mass: St Mary's Church, Murtoa
Sunday 23rd  October LLA 9.00am

SunSmart

Just a reminder that our SunSmart Policy is now active. Therefore everyone needs to wear a hat whilst outside - 'no hat, no play'.

Any child who doesn't have a hat on will need to stay on the verandah in the shade.

Calendar Dates

Please click on the link below to take you directly to our School Calendar.

Changes to Pandemic Orders & Easing of Requirements.

The Victorian Government has announced the end of the pandemic declaration and associated pandemic orders. This change also saw an easing of masks and isolation requirements, becoming strong recommendations.

An updated CECV School Operations Guide is now available to schools. The School Operations Guide: Term 4, 2022 (17 October 2022) has been significantly reduced considering the end of the pandemic declaration and associated orders.

Included in the revised Ops Guide:

• COVIDSafe measures for schools: continue to implement important practices to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission
• COVIDSafe Plan: Schools must keep their COVIDSafe Plan in place, which should be regularly reviewed and updated as required. 
• Ventilation: continue to direct inquiries to airpurifier@macs.vic.edu.au.
• Vaccinations: Vaccination is no longer mandatory, however staff and students are strongly recommended to keep up-to-date with all recommended and available COVID-19 vaccinations
• Rapid Antigen Testing: It is recommended that rapid antigen tests (RATs) are used by students and staff when symptomatic.  Positive results for staff and students should be reported to the school.
  
• Face Masks: Staff and students who wish to wear face masks should be supported to do so, and schools should continue to make face masks available for staff, students, and visitors.  Face masks are strongly recommended for close contacts if leaving home and for 7 days after returning a positive test if leaving home.
• Infection Prevention and Control: Continue to practice good hand hygiene, noting staff should direct or supervise young children where required.
• Management of Suspected Cases of COVID-19 in Schools: Anyone who is symptomatic should be recommended to undergo testing.  Schools should seek to have symptomatic students collected from school and kept at home until no longer symptomatic.
• Management of Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 in Schools: The Department of Health recommends that a person who tests positive to COVID-19 report the results to their employer, school, and household.  Students and staff who test positive are strongly recommended to isolate for 5 days.  
• Students who may be Medically-At-Risk: Schools must ensure students with medical needs have an up-to-date Student Health Support Plan and accompanying condition-specific health management plan.