Our Lady of Grace Newsletter No Images? Click here Dear Almighty God Thank you for the nice, hot summer’s day that takes worries off my mind. It does make me sad and frightened seeing unique and beautiful animals becoming endangered. Please help those who abuse animals to stop as too many are hurt or have sadly passed away. God, help us make a better world. Thank you for making me act with kindness toward animals. Amelia Chester TERM 4 WEEK 5 NOVEMBER 7, 2018 PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGESister Joseph, after 21 years at OLG (according to the board in the reception area), is being transferred to the east coast from the start of next year. Over those years she has been a classroom teacher and more recently, School Counsellor and Chaplain as well as teaching Religion in a number of classes each year. This role is her passion and she is quite marvellous at it. She has both a teaching degree and a Masters in Counselling. Latterly, she has also conducted Sacramental Retreats for OLG, Our Lady of Good Counsel and St Dominic’s as well as being a school Board member. Sister Joseph has been hugely influential in OLG’s journey over the past two and a bit decades and will be greatly missed. Honouring the Order’s commitment to attempt to keep a presence in WA through until about 2022, Sister Lucy, the Provincial, is believed to be replacing Sr Joseph with Sister Anita, who will hopefully take on the role of School Chaplain and Counsellor in tandem with Sr Maureen. Sister Joseph, after 21 years at OLG (according to the board in the reception area), is being transferred to the east coast from the start of next year. Over those years she has been a classroom teacher and more recently, School Counsellor and Chaplain as well as teaching Religion in a number of classes each year. This role is her passion and she is quite marvellous at it. She has both a teaching degree and a Masters in Counselling. Latterly, she has also conducted Sacramental Retreats for OLG, Our Lady of Good Counsel and St Dominic’s as well as being a school Board member. Sister Joseph has been hugely influential in OLG’s journey over the past two and a bit decades and will be greatly missed. Honouring the Order’s commitment to attempt to keep a presence in WA through until about 2022, Sister Lucy, the Provincial, is believed to be replacing Sr Joseph with Sister Anita, who will hopefully take on the role of School Chaplain and Counsellor in tandem with Sr Maureen. Kate Johnson Achievement Congratulations, Kate. International Standard She has done extremely well and had a lot of fun too. Out of 13 teams and 7 countries, Olivia came 3rd on floor and vault and overall 4th. The Rock Frogs Channel AC/DC They opened with a strong performance of “High Voltage”, followed it with one of their own compositions and then ended with a rousing rendition of “T.N.T”. Members of the band are: Luca (12) and Dion Calcei (9) of OLG and Luka Babich (9) and Kaden Griffin (9) of Padbury Catholic. It is hard to come to grips with the fact that a nine year old can work a crowd the way these boys did. They were awesome. Photos courtesy of Mark van Poppel of LAUNCH MEDIA Driving Safely for our Children’s Sake May I also ask that parents only park in designated parking bays. Parking on the grassed area to the north of the church for pick up is both unnecessary, probably against City bylaws, and in some cases sees these drivers performing highly questionable manoeuvres in order to re-enter the traffic flow. Building Works · The old ‘sound booth’ and a good part of the old music room have been demolished. · The walls on the replacement sound booth have been erected to lintel height. · Retic will soon be reconnected to the northern part of the school so that the Kitchen Garden can be rejuvenated. · The old Year 1 and PP rooms, which have acted as temporary office, site office and Phys Ed storeroom will be demolished this weekend. With this work done, the Grand Plan regarding the use of the school block will be revealed – a maximisation of playing space. · We are promised that the hall will be available for use by 7 December. The hall itself probably a few days earlier and the audio visual equipment by the 7th. A Defining Feature of OLG Despite the relative affluence of families attending OLG, at least according to government measures such as the school’s Socio Economic Status (SES) and Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage (ICSEA) the only indication of this is the general quality of the cars that pass through the Kiss and Drive! The attitude, friendliness and down-to-earth nature of OLG’s families is a testament to how unaffected they are by the relative success they have had in life. Mind you, we all have our pride, and if our personal situation takes a turn for the worse, we will make efforts to conceal this. Sometimes it is related to marital issues, sometimes financial, often both. Rarely do any of us know how those around us are truly faring. There are many, many examples of the caring, inclusive nature of this school’s families: · The annual Clontarf welcome packs came out of one of our parents seeing a need and moving to address it. · Support of Brother Ollie’s Wheelchairs for SE Asian landmine victims, again came from a parent’s recognition of the need to support those less fortunate. · What was once ‘Christmas hampers’ for refugee families and is now Christmas hampers for St Vinnies, again arose from the concern of some parents that there were families less fortunate in the wider community that would benefit from our support. · I remember the case of an OLG family losing it all in a financial downturn and the amazing generosity shown by others in this community. · The weekly groceries given to St Vinnies at Wednesday masses. · The acceptance that OLG enrols families, not individual children. We do not ‘screen’ children with a view to accepting only the brightest, the most able sportspersons, or the like. We treat each and every child as a gift from God and deserving of all the love, attention and support that they need. · OLG is blessed by the high level of parental involvement in school associated activities such as canteen and class rosters, attendance at assemblies, the willingness of parents to be active in netball, basketball and carnival events. I say again, that we are rarely privy to the true state of another’s affairs. It therefore behoves us to ensure that individuals or families are never disadvantaged by their inability to meet the price of participation. While OLG, like every Catholic school, depends on school fee income to operate, we, as a matter of policy, will never deny a child/family enrolment in the school on the basis of their ability to pay fees. Nor will we prevent a child from participating in a school event because of the family’s inability to pay. It would be difficult to claim to be a truly Catholic school and behave in any other way. I guess, at the core of the Sisters’ charism and the school community’s culture, is their Catholicity in practise. Classroom Technology Upgrade Pupil Free Day God bless Canteen Specials for Term 4 Our online canteen provider Quickcliq is running a competition next week. Parents have the chance to win $50 voucher's daily for the week. Please see attached flyer. Our canteen can also win one of $500 prizes if we beat our best ever total order's for the week. We need to place over 331 orders for the week through Quickcliq and we could win $500 for our canteen. If you are not registered for online ordering please go the the link, register and place an order for next week. Congratulations to the students who received Merit Awards at last week's assembly. Library Roster URSTRONG - Language of Friendship Shopfront Support 2019 PLACEMENTS: Please let the office know as soon as possible if your child is not returning to OLG in 2019 or if you are changing address over the holidays. This help us with planning. Many thanks to those who have let us know that they are moving. Uniform Shop: If you have received notification that your order is ready to be collected, please do so as soon as possible. Thank you. Orchestra Practice has resumed each Friday after school in the Music Room! Looking forward to seeing everyone this week! BOOK FAIR! BOOK FAIR! Rhyme Time A reminder to parents that the children need to be accompanied down the ramp and through the carpark. LAP - EXPRESSION OF INTEREST It focuses on the wellbeing, emotional and social needs of students through the powerful and positive contribution of trained mentors. All LAP volunteers must complete training to participate in the program. They must have a valid Working with Children Card, follow the OLG Code of Conduct and adhere to the requirements of Confidentiality. We are fortunate to have many volunteers at our school that are happy to commit to supporting children that would benefit from one to one time for half an hour each week. This time may be spent setting goals that will then be worked on to aim for successful learning in the classroom, it may involve the child pursuing a hobby, they may participate in confidence building activities, there are many possibilities on how the time is used. It does not involve tutoring or extra time for completion of school work. Potentially LAP:
Please contact Nerida Hince via the email below if you think your child would benefit from participating in LAP in 2018. Participation is voluntary, and the sessions may be ongoing, long term or short-term support/help. P & F AGM – Wednesday 28th November WE NEED YOU! The Annual General Meeting of the Our Lady of Grace School Parents and Friends’ Association is being held on Wednesday 28th November, 2018 at 7.00pm in the OLG Staff Rooms. The quorum for the AGM requires at least 12 parents to be in attendance. Please save the date and come along. If you have any comments or agenda items which you’d like considered please email exec@olgpf.com by Tuesday 20th November 2018. The purpose of the AGM is to: 1. Confirm the minutes of the previous AGM: and 2. Receive and consider: - The Executive Committees Annual Report on the Association’s activities during the preceding financial year; and - The financial statements of the Association for the preceding financial year (under Part 5 of the Act); and - A copy of the Auditors’ report on the financial statements as required to be presented for consideration (in accordance with Part 5 of the Act); - To elect the Office Bearers of the Assocation; - To appoint of remove and auditor of the Assocation (in accordance with Division 7 of the Act; - To confirm or vary the P & F voluntary contribution to be paid by members; - Any other business of which notice has been given in accordance with these rules may be conducted at the AGM Parents Sundowner – Friday 2nd November OLG Business Community To find out more and register your interest please email OLGBIZCOM@cewa.edu.au Have a great week everyone! Parish Special Christmas Celebration A perfect opportunity for us all to come together to celebrate a special time in our calendar. We’re planning a wonderful evening of carols and need your voice! (smiles and enthusiasm also graciously accepted…) Please come down and join our choir. First practice is on Wednesday 31st of October 7pm in the Church. All ages and all abilities. Any questions email Stephen stephen.lee@sglsystems.com. 2019 Columban Art Calendar ON SALE NOW Mater Dei College - Is your child currently in Year 4? Mercedes College Class of 1968 - 50 Year Reunion: To celebrate this milestone, the College invites ex-students from the Class of 1968 to reminisce with school friends over lunch. Join us on Friday 16 November at the Mercedes College, Conference Room from 11.45am for lunch. Hear from the current Principal, Mrs Kerrie Fraser and after enjoy wandering through the College’s Art Exhibition viewing some of the student art works. For more information and to book, visit https://www.trybooking.com/YNVQ/. WAAPA Summer School 2018/2019 Perth Wildcats After School Program Each Wednesday 7th November to 19th December Years 1 to 3 – 3.45pm to 4.30pm (7 sessions) - $135.00 Years 4 to 6 – 4.30pm to 5.30pm (7 sessions) - $180.00 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
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