Week 9

Parents and Carers,

Congratulations to Clare Bisby, Katrina Smith and Susie Camilleri for the great job they did with organising and preparing the Year 4 students to receive the Communal Rite of Reconciliation on Monday night. I'm sure everyone who was present in the church will remember for quite some time, the sight of a couple of hundred burning taper candles on the altar. It gave a very clear focus for a moment of personal reflection that is an integral part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Congratulations also to the Year 4’s themselves, who were so reverent on the night, as well as to their parents for their contributions in the preparation of their child for the Sacrament. With the parish model for Sacramental programs being ‘parent initiated, school supported and parish based’ we are all working together to support the children as they continue on their faith journey. Thanks to Father Michael for presiding over the Sacrament and to the staff of HT and SFX who also helped with the organisation of the evening.

Well done to all of the Year 3 and 5 students who have now completed their NAPLAN testing activities. From all appearances, they seemed to take everything in their stride, doing the best they could. Remember that this is merely a snapshot of where they are at. Thanks to Dina Rubini, our Leader of Learning and Teaching for overseeing the process and to all of the classroom teachers who assisted in delivering the tests or supervising the Year 4’s and 6’s, while the tests were on.

A reminder that Dina has put out an open invitation to any prospective parent classroom helpers to attend a training session on either Thursday 30th March at 2.30pm or Friday 31st March at 9.15am. These sessions will run for approximately 30 minutes.

In Sporting news, the senior students started practice today for the weekly inter-school sports competition which will begin in Term 2. The students selected to participate in either: Football, Netball, Korfball or Bat Tennis. They are also gearing up for the annual House Cross Country carnival on Friday 31st of March at Central Park. We would love to have as many parents as possible helping out at the oval and we also will require parents to assist with walking to and from the oval. This event is a stepping stone toward the District carnival on Wednesday 17th May.

The school-based uniform shop is now closed. A huge thanks to Liz and Loretta for all of their work this week in getting ready for the transition. The online order portal will open on Monday 17th of April (second week of the school holidays). We will send out an information flyer with all the details of the new ordering process in next week's newsletter.

Another huge special thanks to the members of the PFOL and the School Advisory Council who were able to help out with this year's Annual Prep Parents’ Dinner on Wednesday night which was held in the school community centre. It was a wonderful opportunity for our Prep parent community to get together socially. There was plenty of awesome food and loads of conversation. I think the fact that some parents were still there at 10.00pm speaks volumes about the amount of fun they were having.

As we rapidly head toward the end of Term One and the holidays, I would like to take the opportunity to remind families that we will be finishing at 1.00pm on Thursday 6th April. Term Two will begin for the students on Wednesday 26th April, which is the day after the ANZAC day public holiday. For those families not travelling, you are warmly welcome to attend one of the many Easter celebrations in the parish church.

As always, I encourage you to take a moment to read about all of the other exciting things happening at OLHC in the other areas of this newsletter.

Regards,

Mark

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Just a quick note to congratulate the students who rode to school today on a bike or scooter. Please send any photos to school@olhceltham.catholic.edu.au and we will publish next week.

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Links

Prep Parents' Dinner