Our Lady of Grace Newsletter No Images? Click here We are community of faith united by the Christian vision expressed in Catholic Education. God of love and compassion fill us with your spirit as we journey together through this new school year. Amen TERM 1 WEEK 1 FEBRUARY 6, 2019 PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGEDear Parents/Guardians It’s been a pleasure to meet and greet many of you and your children this week, what a delightful way to start the day. I would like to congratulate staff and students on the professional and calm start to the school year. I have been impressed by the dedication of staff many of whom have been here for several weeks preparing to start the school year. Of course you are our partners in this journey and I thank you for the trust you place in us as you walk through the gates and hand over your precious child. We have many new families and staff to welcome this year a full list of all who contribute to your child’s education is provided in this newsletter. In particular I would like to welcome staff new to our school and new families. Our community is richer because you are here. This newsletter includes information about staffing positions, important dates and events and general information for 2019. All of these details take up our time and attention, in an effort to make sure that our focus is on what is important, our staff spent several days last week looking at not just ‘how’ we do things but ‘why’ and ‘what’ we do. We went right back into the history and purpose for Catholic education to draw on OLG’s special relationship with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Our foundation with this religious order means we have a special focus on families as we model how we show love for each other and love for God on the Holy Family. We explored how God’s love in action looks in our school and how we can find God in ordinary life. We are fortunate to have Sister Maureen and Sister Anita working with us this year. Staff took a deep look at the ‘what’ in our teaching and learning and have begun the process of clarifying this into a Vision for Learning at OLG. Parents and children will be invited to share in the development of this Vision for Learning over the year. It will help us bring our mission statement to life – We empower all students through knowledge, faith and wisdom to live fulfilling lives in our ever changing world. This week our Year 6 leaders venture off to camp to explore what it means to be the leaders of the school based on their gifts and talents. Collaborating, leading, communicating and being inclusive of everyone in the three Year 6 classes will be the focus of the three days. As part of our first whole school Mass on Wednesday 13th February all the leaders in our school Year 6 Ministry, Parent & Friends Executive, School Board Executive, School Leadership Team and Staff will be blessed and commissioned for their important work this year. You are very welcome to join us for this special beginning of the year Eucharistic celebration 9am. An information evening for all parents from Year 1 – Year 6 will take place on Wednesday 20th February. Please join me in the school hall for a 5.45 pm -6.00 pm information session, following this community gathering parents are invited to attend the 30 minute classroom meetings at 6.00pm and a repeat 6.35pm. Feeling connected and informed is an important way you can support your child and the school, I strongly encourage you to attend this evening. Pre-Kindy, Kindergarten & Pre-Primary held their information workshops last year. God Bless Term Dates 2019 Swimming Trials/Carnival 4B, 5B, 6B 9am - 11.30am If you can help please put your name down in the office. Anybody with a pool bronze will be most welcome. Junior / Senior Carnival - 7th March 10.30 - 2.30pm - Senior Carnival. Help will be required. Anybody with a pool bronze will be most welcome. Please also indicate on list in office. Medical Emergency Response Plans If your child is asthmatic, anaphylactic or has other potentially life-threatening health issues please call in to the office and review the currency of our information. Family Information Sheets will be sent home this week. Please check them carefully and return them to the office even if there are no amendments to be made. Food Allergy Alert It is extremely important that no extra food is brought into the classroom by you or your children (including siblings on roster) unless it is checked by the teacher. This includes snacks and treats they may carry in their hands, bags or pockets as so many foods contain traces of nuts. This also goes for food you may provide for special occasions such as birthday cakes. When packing your child/ren's lunch boxes could you please ensure that if any of the food labels state that the food may contain traces of nut, that you let the teachers know, as then the allergic children can be steered clear of the food and the area surrounding, and also to ensure that the child's hands and face can be washed after eating. Reachout: The Our Lady of Grace Reachout Program operates with the support of the P&F. Volunteers serve the people of our school community. Reachout provides short-term emergency help to members of our school community. In the event meals provided are not required within the school community, they will be offered to people in need within the wider OLG community. If you wish to assist this program in 2019, please fill out the commitment sheet section and return it to the school office. You will then be added to the Reachout meal roster and/or contacted should further help be required. Please fill out the sheet even if you have previously volunteered your help. Please retain this section with the list of names and phone numbers of committee members for your reference. Thank you, WELCOME TO 2019 - Please find attached the Canteen Menu Ordering is available via https://quickcliq.com.au/ Alternatively you can place your child's order in the class canteen bucket. For existing users of Quickcliq PLEASE CHANGE YOUR YEAR/CLASS BEFORE ORDERING PLEASE ENSURE YOU CHECK YOUR CONFIRMATION EMAIL THAT YOUR ORDER HAS GONE THROUGH. If your child's order does not go through and they have no lunch, we will supply them with a sandwich. We will no longer have additional items available due to food wastage costs. This year we will have available Gluten Free Bread, available for all sandwich fillings, toasted is also available. Any queries please feel free to come and see us. We thank you for your continued support of the canteen. Wishing everyone the very best for a happy and healthy 2019! This is a whole school reminder for everyone to please tick the canteen box on FlexiBuzz for all future canteen related information, including updated rosters, roster swaps and reminders. This informtion will only be posted on FlexiBuzz, not on Facebook, so please tick the box and tell all your friends to do the same, otherwise you'll miss out. Thank you, Jemima and Peta. Welcome back to our parents and friends of OLG! The P & F Committee is looking forward to sharing our events and meetings with you via FlexiBuzz and the newsletter over the coming weeks. OLG 2019 Events – Welcome Back Picnic OLG Business Community A warm welcome back in Term 1 and hoping everyone had an enjoyable school holiday break! P&F Executive Committee OLG Children's Liturgy every Sunday from 9.15am in the Parish Hall We are also hoping for some more volunteers to help us run these sessions - it is very simple and all materials are provided. For more information or to join our fabulous group of volunteers please contact: Carla Christou on 0413 567 462 or email olgliturgy@gmail.com We hope to see you there! Your Liturgy Team: Carla Christou, Deb Tasker, Karen Calder, Tania Paccanaro Nb: Liturgy is suitable for children 4 years and over. If you’d like to bring younger children you will have to stay and supervise them. Christmas - New Year - Blessings and Thanks……… To our many volunteers, ministry groups, from parish and OLG school, who helped organise, set up and participated in all the Christmas celebrations to make them prayerful, and meaningful. Joan Burke. J St Vincent De Paul Bin – between 24th - 29th December. What was found……Soiled underwear, soiled clothes, sandy beach ware with the elastic perished. Broken toys and unusable shoes - worn inside & out. Chewing gum stuck to the sole of boots. All of these items can be placed into the red top general waste bin provided by the City of Stirling. Please Respect……… A Christmas tree – left outside of the bin can be taken to one of the addresses below.. Shop Addresses FYI and convenience: Centre for Faith Enrichment: We endeavour to offer parents within OLG an opportunity for Adult Faith Formation. The attached documents outline the courses and events that are taking place throughout the Archdiocese in Term 1. We acknowledge the original custodians of this land, the Nyungar people, and show our respect for their ancestors and traditions. Our Lady of Grace School |