Our Lady Help of Christians School Murtoa eNewsletter

Our Lady Help of Christians is a Child Safe School and is committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We acknowledge the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia, and Japagulk peoples as the traditional custodians of the land upon which our school was built.

Principal Report

Dear Parents and Friends of Our Lady's,

Thank you to all the students for their participation in school photos on Tuesday. I know that all the staff were very proud of our students, seeing them lined up and looking smart in their school uniforms.

We have a busy week ahead, with Buffy visiting on Monday for a face-to-face Auslan lesson, the morning tea for mothers on Tuesday, the Shrek performance in Horsham on Wednesday, and Athletics on Friday in Rupanyup!

A reminder to parents about the new School TV resource I mentioned last week. With all the events of the past few weeks, and with some of the topics in the news at the moment, our society is fragile and children may need support. School TV offers a range of resources to help discuss difficult topics with children, and is a great resource for parents to tap into, especially in times like this. The article in the our newsletter contains a link to the OLHC School TV site, and I encourage you to check it out.

Finally, congratulations to Eimer and Kaden on their effort and achievement at the cross country yesterday. Both students represented our school well and should be proud of themselves.

All the very best,

Chris McCumstie

principal@olhcmurtoa.catholic.edu.au

Mother's Day Liturgy

Murtoa College HPE

We're very grateful to Keanu from Murtoa College, who with his teacher Mr. Frost, and his classmates in HPE, volunteered to run some sessions with our students. We had the first session on Wednesday, with the junior class playing soccer and the seniors playing basketball. It's great to see cooperation between our two schools and we look forward to these sessions continuing throughout Term 2.

School Wide Positive Behaviour

We introduced students to our behaviour matrix on Monday. This is a document that helps guide our students in exhibiting positive behaviours across all areas of our school. The matrix frames what positive behaviour looks like, and provides our teachers opportunities to explicitly teach and model good behaviours to our students.

We will continue to share SWPBS with our school community, as the children respond well to the teaching and reinforcement of this program.

The Minyip-Muroa Football and Netball Club support OLHC in promoting good behaviour in sport. Our Sport Captains have been looking out for high standards of participation in school sports, and this week awarded Maggie Frost the netball and certificate from the Burras. Well done Maggie!

Child Safety

Our Lady Help of Christians is a Child Safe School. We implement the 11 Child Safe Standards, and work to embed these in our school culture. Our newsletter is just one place among a number where we educate our community about Child Safety. Below is a concise and helpful guide to the Child Safe Standards. The Child Safety Officer at OLHC is Chris McCumstie, and he can be contacted for information at any time.

principal@olhcmurtoa.catholic.edu.au

CCYP_Child_Safe_Standards_Plain_Language.pdf

Introducing School TV

Our Lady Help of Christians School is very excited to introduce a new initiative to help support parents in the education and formation of their children.

Because parenting doesn't come with instructions, SchoolTV is a wellbeing resource implemented at our school to help support you in the challenges of modern-day parenting relating to youth mental health and wellbeing. Parenting is a learning journey and SchoolTV supports families by providing credible information from trusted sources with practical strategies to help alleviate some of the challenges being faced by young people today.

Watch video interviews with leading wellbeing specialists and browse a library of resources. Each topic is accompanied by factsheets, podcasts, books, articles, apps and other videos.

This award-winning resource helps families build relationships, foster connections, enable understanding and break down barriers to navigate a pathway towards better mental health and wellbeing for young people. It will assist you in starting those conversations on topics that can sometimes be awkward or difficult to tackle.

Parents and caregivers are the greatest influence on a young person's life and SchoolTV focuses on empowering confident parenting.

Explore SchoolTV today, by clicking on the link below.

OLHC School TV

'Shrek the Musical' at Horsham Town Hall

Students and Staff will be attending Shrek the Musical on Wednesday, 8th May 2024.

Travel by bus
Cost $10 per student
Wear school uniform
Take lunch and water bottle
Permission on Simon

DSSA Athletics

The Dunmunkle Cluster School Athletics will be held on Friday 10th May at Rupanyup Recreation Reserve. Students have been practising each day to become familiar with all the events.

Murtoa College has offered the services of some of their senior students to assist on the day, to allow the teachers to be in charge of an event. This provides the Murtoa College students leadership opportunities in sport and allows all our parents to watch their child or children compete in each of the athletic events. Thank you to Dr. Bec Carter and the staff from Murtoa College for offering this service and we appreciate the thoughtfulness of the gesture.

Students need to arrive at the oval by 9 am. The sports will officially begin at approximately 9.30 am. Rupanyup Primary School is the host school and will be running the Canteen.

Parents are responsible for taking their children to the Sports at Rupanyup.
All students need to be at Rupanyup Recreation Reserve (located at Gibson Street, Rupanyup) by 9.00 am.
On arrival please report to Mr. Collie and Ms Mock
Students need to wear their school uniform including shorts for competing
Warm clothes including a coat would be advisable
Programs will be sent home prior to the Sports Day
At the end of the day, parents need to notify teachers that they are taking their children home

The Athletics program will be sent home prior to the Sports Day. The Sports format will be similar to last year - Sprints & Hurdles first, followed by field events, 800 metres for 10, 11 & 12-year-olds, and relays after the lunch break. Presentations and closing ceremony will conclude the day. The day should be completed by approximately 2 pm or soon after.

Students need to wear their school sports uniform. All students need to have a cut lunch and a drink bottle with water. During the running of events, students are not to be going to the Canteen. Students may visit the Canteen accompanied by their parent/carer during the lunch break. Parents are welcome to purchase items from the canteen and take them to their child at an event.

Further explicit information is outlined in the Athletics Program - so please take the time to read this when your child brings it home. Please remember to bring your program to the sports as there will not be copies available on the day.

Bright Sparks at St. Brigid's College

The Bright Sparks program kicked off at St Brigid's College this week. Students from across the Wimmera, including four students from OLHC, joined together for a variety of workshops.

Below are pictures from the Robotics and Art workshops enjoyed by Hunter, Kaden, Andre and Charlotte.

All Bright Sparks families and any other prospective families from OLHC are invited to visit St Brigid's for their Open Day on Monday 6th May. Guests can receive a Student Led Learning Walk, a Self-Guided Tour or can attend the Enrolment Info Evening. Register here: https://forms.gle/Aniun32Q7tT1DwkGA

If you would to arrange an alternate time to tour the College, please contact the Front Office on (03) 5382 3545.