Our Lady of Grace Newsletter No images? Click here Thank you God for all that grows, Thank you for the sky's rainbows, Thank you for the stars that shine, Thank you for these friends of mine, Thank you for the moon and sun, Thank you God for all you've done! SPECIAL EDITION - 16 APRIL 2020 PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGEDear Parents, It is unusual for a school newsletter to be published during the holidays however, it would be fair to say these are unusual times. I hope this newsletter finds you well and your families adjusting to the changes of social distancing and isolation. Thank you for demonstrating to your children the importance of considering the welfare of the community as a whole by staying at home. Our children are watching us and learning valuable life lessons from how we are handling this current situation. A great reflection question for us “Are we finding God in the everyday?” as Mother Seidliska showed us. From the responses to our Instagram and facebook posts, there are lots of children working on exciting projects at home like veggie patches, driveway art and cooking. I have always trusted in the ability of children to flexible and adaptable to life’s changes given time and support. Our Vision for Learning clarifies this as children having innate strengths and capabilities that we need to encourage and empower. A silver lining in this current situation could be that this is a time for our children to express this in their own way, independently and without many of the constraints of traditional learning. They are ably supported by their teachers and parents in home learning and I look forward to feedback from you and and your children through our school surveys, in Term 2, about what is working and what could improve in our home learning. Our teachers have been asked to be incredibly flexible and quickly adapt their teaching styles to meet the needs of children in home learning. Our politicians are very quick to ask this of our teachers and I hope they look to see and acknowledge the incredible work our staff have done over a very short while. We will continue to learn and adapt to the needs of home learning as we move into Term 2. Father Hyginus and the Our Lady of Grace Parish have also adapted swiftly to needs of parishioners to pray together. Mass online is available everyday at 9.30am. It was beautiful to virtually join with you all on Easter Sunday morning and celebrate Mass together. The comments on the chatline afterwards showed how important it is to connect, to draw on our faith and to reach out to each other in the Our Lady of Grace Community. I look forward to sharing Mass again with you on Sunday at 9.30am. We are using a variety of methods to reach out to families at this time and during Weeks 1 – 4 in Term 2; · instagram/facebook The P&F Association have kindly donated the subscription to Michael Grose, a highly qualified parenting expert, grounded in reality. His article, attached here, is an example of the articles we will publish frequently for you. I am very grateful to the P&F who are assisting in innovative ways to reach out to our parent community. A survey was sent out recently to all families to gain information on prospective numbers of children of essential workers returning to school Week 1 of Term 2. I apologise for the glitches with the survey, it is live and working now. You do not need to complete the survey if you are able to work from home or support your children’s learning from home for Weeks 1 – 4 of Term 2. Thank you again, for your support of our school community and staff. At Our Lady of Grace we look to our faith and belief in God in difficult times, never has our Vision statement been so apt; “Our Lady of Grace School empowers all children through Faith, Wisdom and Knowledge to live fulfilling lives in an ever changing world.” God Bless, Gabrielle Doyle WHAT'S FOR DINNER? Are your kids missing the yummy meals from the canteen? Would they like spaghetti bolognese (meat) sauce just like they get from the canteen? What about the grown-ups? Have you had enough of cooking? How about a chicken curry or a lasagna? KEEP ON CRUNCHING! We've all had to make some pretty rapid adjustments in the past few weeks, but that doesn't mean we should forget about our health and drop healthy habits. Continuing the ritual of Crunch&Sip over the holiday period is a great way to remind children to eat their fruit and veges everyday. If you are stuck on ideas, visit the Crunch&Sip website for inspiration, resources and recipes for parents. 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 |