From the Acting Principal

Term 4 Week 9

Hi all Parents and Carers,

In preparation for the 2024 school year, our new principal Rudy Vail has already started to make himself visible and available in our school community. He is very excited about his new role and has already attended an assembly, been to a pick up and drop off to meet everyone in our wonderful school community. Rudy is quickly finding out what I already know, that we have great families who are committed to our school and want the best for their own families and the wider OLHC family. Rudy has also commenced calling families to get to know you on a personal level, obviously this will take him a while to get to everyone, but as I have said all year, if you have any concerns please make contact with myself at the school.  

Staffing News

This week, I have some staffing news to share. I am very pleased to announce that we have employed Mrs Maria Wise who will be joining us from St Francis of Assisi, Mill Park and will be working in the Prep/1 classroom. She knows the school well as her own three boys attended OLHC. 

After the good news, it is with some sadness that we farewell a few more staff, but we wish them well on their continuing educational careers.

Firstly Mrs Katrina Smith has accepted a job at Reservoir Primary school. She is sad to be leaving our wonderful community, but is excited and looking forward to embarking on a new phase in her teaching journey. We hope to have some news shortly about Katrina’s replacement.

We are also farewelling Mrs Linda Lawrence after 26 Years at OLHC. She has contributed so much to the community in her classroom role and been a lovely caring and calming member of the junior school team over the last few years. We wish her all the best as she moves into retirement.

The third person we wish well is Mrs Anita Simpson as she returns to teaching in the state system. It was lovely to have a past student back at the school this year bringing her energy and enthusiasm that will be missed especially on Fridays in 2nd and 3rd Term when the dark gloomy weather sets in. 

Finally, we also need to farewell Mrs Gabby Compasso who has accepted an Italian teaching position at Our Lady of the Pines in Donvale. She has been part of our wonderful LSO team for four years and will be missed by all staff and especially missed by the students she has been directly working with. We wish her all the best with this new exciting opportunity.

We wish all these excellent staff well as they continue on their educational journey and hope they know that they will all be fondly remembered as part of the OLHC family.

Further exciting news!  We are proud to announce that OLHC is one of only 20 schools to be accepted into a two year research project, which will commence early 2024.  La Trobe University and the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) have announced a new partnership for a research project about teaching literacy to students in Foundation to Year 2. The research project will focus on implementing evidence - based structured literacy in the early years (Foundation - Year 2).The project, titled Professional Learning Program in Schools,  has been approved by the La Trobe Human Ethics Committee, the Department of Education and the Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools. 

This opportunity has presented itself  with perfect timing  for our school, as this was the direction in which the school wanted to head, moving into 2024.  The school  will receive access to professional learning through the Science of Language and Reading SOLAR Lab at La Trobe University,  access to  Systematic and Synthetic Phonics training through Little Learners Love Literacy, decodable readers and other resources required to implement rigorous literacy focused assessments. The staff will also receive instructional student focused coaching during the length of the research project, provided by La Trobe University and AERO. This research project will be supported and sponsored by both La Trobe University and AERO.  It is an excellent opportunity to investigate the impact of professional learning and coaching in implementing a structured literacy approach, with the ultimate goal of enhancing reading proficiency outcomes for our students.

Berry Street

We are extremely proud to share the news that we have committed to a two year training program for all our staff in the Berry Street Education Model. This is a whole school approach that fosters the overall wellbeing and development of children by creating a supportive and inclusive learning environment where children feel safe, valued, and connected. Through a combination of trauma-informed practices, positive behaviour support, and social-emotional learning strategies, the Berry Street Model aims to address not just academic needs but also the emotional and social aspects of your child's growth. By nurturing resilience, self-regulation, and positive relationships, this model aims to empower your child with the skills and mindset needed to thrive academically and emotionally throughout their primary education journey.

Christmas Carols Wednesday December 6th 

The Christmas Carols are turning into the ‘must attend’ event of the year. If coming along and seeing your children singing their hearts out onstage isn’t enough of an incentive, then we have even more! The PFOL will be running a family BBQ for the hour before the Carols. The FIRE Carrier leaders will be holding a cake stall to raise money for the Opening The Doors Foundation and the Year 5/6 students will be running a Christmas Craft Market Stall. It has always been a great night and now it is even bigger. We hope to see you all there.

Carols will commence at 7.00pm.  Children need to be at school by 6.45pm

BBQ

Cake Stall and 

Christmas Craft Market will commence at 5.45pm

An email was sent out today and a hard copy with all students.

As always I leave you with the message that if you have any questions or concerns my door is always open 

Regards,

Mark Pinkerton

Acting Principal

Please check "Dates to Remember" for important events for the coming weeks.  Children finish on Friday  December 15th at 1:00pm

Congratulations to the McCrystal family on the very exciting arrival of Ellie Jay. Sister to Sophie (1/2CH) Emily and Jacob.

MURAL WALL

Repairs are being carried out on our Mural Wall.  Can you please send along green and blue lids.  Thank you.

Canteen window for (Friday) recess sales.  

Available for sale will be snack packets of Red Rock chips, Grain Wave whole grain chips, Pringles, Raspberry Twisters, Snakes, Smarties (Small 16g pkts), Yoghurt Frogs and Juicies. 

These items can be purchased through CDFPAY (and will be ready to pick up at recess) or can be bought directly from the window. 

If you are interested in helping our PFOL as a recess helper, please let us know. 

Friday Recess Orders

Find and connect with us

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourladyhelpofchristianseltham/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OurLadyHelpElth  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourladyhelpofchristians/

Please refer to our School google calendar for events throughout the year.  

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