Newsletter 5th October 2022

In the spirit of Reconciliation, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land in which we sit, the Wadawurrung people, who have cared for this country for thousands of years.  We would like to pay our respects to the Aboriginal Elders past, present and future for they hold the traditions, memories and wisdom of Mother Earth on which we place our feet upon today.

Upcoming Dates

14th, 21st, 28th October & 4th and 11th November:                     Combined Schools Day St Mary's 

24th October:                          Grandparents, special friends day

31st October:                           School Closure report writing day

1st November:                        School Closure Melbourne Cup day

16th December:                      Last day of school for students 

30th January 2023:                Students first day of school

Principal's News

Welcome back

A huge welcome back to everyone. I love the first day of the term after a break, seeing the children and staff rested and excited to be back. For many the routine and predictability of school life provides consistency and a sense of safety and security.

Please remember to see your child’s teacher with any concerns or if you need anything clarified. It is important to sort any issues out before they become big issues.

We are looking forward to an exciting term to finish up the year.

Go gently and calmly

Inez

Loreto Community

I ask that you keep the Loreto community in your prayers. Many of you will be aware that there was an incident over the holidays that involved a number of students and staff.

We keep the school community in our thoughts and pray that all make a full recovery.

Combined Schools Days

Combined schools days will continue on Fridays this term. Overall, the children, parents and staff see the benefits of them and they provide a number of positives for everyone. Most importantly, the children are learning and socialising with more children and building relationships with other students and staff.

This Friday we have been informed that there could be a possible power outage at St. Mary’s so we will begin with our first Friday at St. Brendan’s. Following this, we will do the following 5 Fridays at St. Mary’s and then the next 4 at St. Brendan’s. These are in the school calendar as well.

Children can bring something to heat up for lunch on these days if they wish.

We are very fortunate to have Trish on Fridays until the end of the Term. With the Art shows now done, Friday afternoons will be split into 2 art sessions and 2 sports sessions. As an example, the Juniors may start with Art from 1.30 – 2.15 and then do sport for the second hour, while the Seniors do the opposite. This will allow some further Art sessions as well as an opportunity to do sport with a larger number of children. 

Uniforms – Hats

Term 4 means that children should be wearing their summer uniform and hats are needed for outside play. It is easier if children leave their hats at school, rather than take them home each day. Teachers will collect the hats on Thursdays to take over for combined school days.

The warmer weather also means that the UV rays are stronger. As we a Sun Smart schools, we encourage all children to come to school with sunscreen already applied however, it will be available at school for the children to use. If your child has sensitive skin and requires their own sunscreen, please let the teachers know and if possible, send along their own sunscreen.

It is also that children bring a water bottle to school each day to stay hydrated, especially as the weather gets warmer. 

The uniform policy is attached. 

NAPLAN

The Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN results are available at school for parents to collect. Please make a time with your child’s teacher to collect the assessment, so that the results can be discussed.

Grandparents Days

We are excited to be welcoming our Grandparents into our schools this term. The invitations were sent out last term so that everyone had lots of notice to make arrangements, We know that some people are coming a fair distance to be with their grandchildren.

St. Mary’s are having their day on Monday the 17^th of October starting at 9am and St. Brendan’s is on Monday the 24^th starting at 10 am. If you have any questions about these events, please see your child’s teacher for clarification.

Closure day

A heads up that there will be a pupil free day on Monday the 31^st of October, providing families with a 4-day weekend. Melbourne Cup is on the Tuesday. Once again, this is in the school calendar which you can access on the school website and your Schoolzine app.

Signs and promotions

Thank you to PDR (Chris Leonard) and Biggin & Scott (Mark Vorstenbosch) real estates for helping us out with getting signage up for our schools. Look out for them on main roads near our schools. Our Vision and Mission banners are being printed and will be displayed in our office areas and banners advertising for enrolments are going on the fences of our schools.

This week Kev Cummins has been at Clarkes Hill finishing of our promotional video so it should be ready soon and will go on our Facebook page and website very soon.

Parents of Year 6 children

A reminder that the country bus forms sent out at the end of last term are due back to school by Friday. The form is for all Grade 6 students wanting to travel into BALLARAT schools for Year 7 in 2023 (this includes Catholic and Non Catholic schools) receive a form.

Please note that some of the country buses already have wait lists, so can you please let parents know that a place on the bus is NOT guaranteed.

The forms for the Year 6 students have been forwarded to the Country Bus network.  Thank you for your promptness. 

RAT tests

We have a number of RAT tests at school that are available for distribution. If you would like some, please let the school know and we can send them home with the children.

School Fees

Just a reminder regarding school fees.  As per our School Fees Policy all school fees must be finalised by the 30th November of the current school year.  If you are experiencing difficulty in managing your school fees please make an appointment to discuss with Inez. 

Junior News

We are all very excited to be back at school.  I loved hearing the children share stories about what they got up to on the holidays.

FINALS TIPPING

Thank you to everyone who could make it on Monday afternoon to our presentation to the winners.  A big congratulations to Oscar, Cal McKay, Jack, Crumpet, Lucy and Emma Dash.  We hoped you enjoyed the biscuits the Juniors made.  It was lovely to see so many parents in the staffroom catching up after the holidays.

GRANDPARENTS DAY

We are looking forward to celebrating Grandparents Day on Monday 24th October.  The students were very excited to receive their RSVPs in the mail this week.

INQUIRY TOPIC

This term our Inquiry Topic is Then and Now. How has life changed and stayed the same?  If you get a chance to share stories with your children, that would be fantastic. Some questions you might like to discuss are:

• What was school like in the past?
• What games and activities did children enjoy in the past?
• What foods did people eat in the past?
• How did people celebrate special events in the past?

You might be able to talk about what it was like when you were at school and when your parents were at school too. 

JUNIOR STAYBACK AND GRADE 2 SLEEPOVER

We have set a tentative date of Thursday 17th November.  More information will follow.

LITERACY

We are looking at direct speech in literacy.  Yesterday we did speech bubbles to show what was being said.  Check out our work in the attached photos.

Speech bubbles

Gardening and tidying roster

It was decided at the last SAC on the 23^rd August that the gardening and tidying roster would be replaced with working bees which would take place throughout the school year.

Simon everywhere App update

Damascus information evenings for 2024 commencement

Loreto Open Day

Brown Hill Cricket Club

Buninyong Little Athletics

Ballarat Little Athletics