Dear Parent/s & Carer/s,

Welcome to another exciting edition of our newsletter. We have had a busy two weeks here at Our Lady's with two camps! Last week, we had both the Grade 3/4's heading off to Harrietville and our Grade 5/6's heading off to Melbourne. It was certainly a lot quieter at school and the older students were greatly missed by the junior grades. We are happy to report that both camps were a huge success!

Opening Mass

On Friday the 28th of February, we will be coming together as a school community to celebrate the commencement of our school year.

Please note;

Foundation students will be presented with a candle
Grade 6 students will receive their badge

Children absolutely adore when you can come along to our events so if you can, please come along.

Cribbes Road Convenience Store have come to the party to support families with our BYO picnic following Mass. This is OPTIONAL for families. You can order;

Family pack small - small chips dim sim x 2 potato cake x 2
Family pack Large - Large chips dim sim x 4 potato cake x 4
Large chips
Small chips
Hotdog
Dim Sim
Potato Cake
Salad roll, roast chicken roll /wraps

PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a lunch order day. Please order as a family for this event. Jump into Spriggy Schools and pre-order now!

There are plenty of opportunities to be involved with our school at the moment through all of our Catholic Identity Events. Come along to school for Shrove Tuesday and join in with our traditional pancake breakfast. We will be here from 8am serving delicious pancakes for the whole family. This is one of our Caritas fundraisers so come along with your gold coin donation.

We begin our Lenten Season on Wednesday, the 5th of March - Ash Wednesday. Our Lady's will be holding a Whole School Liturgy at 9am and we invite our families to join us. This is a season for prayer, reflection, almsgiving and fasting to help us to deepen our relationship with Jesus and to live out his mission of service to others. We will once again be supporting the Caritas Project Compassion fund and awareness raising this term.

I ask you to pray for Pope Francis as he battles pneumonia. He is currently in hospital and his condition is currently being described as 'critical' as his health condition worsens. We ask our loving God to heal our much-loved Pope so he can continue to spread the Gospel message with his unwavering passion, love and commitment to all of humanity.

Student Medication

Parents are reminded that any medication administered or taken at school or on camp, needs to be done in compliance with our school policies and procedures.

Our Lady's needs to be notified of types of medication, dosages and administration instructions that have been medically approved. It is important that we keep our students safe.

Students are not to bring medication to school to be self-administered.

Contact the office if you need further assistance.

NAPLAN

Coming up in the near future for our Grade 3 & 5 students is NAPLAN. Please find below all the information you need around this topic. If you have any concerns or questions, please reach out to your child's classroom teacher.

Parking Reminder - White Street

Just a reminder for our parent/s & carer/s who are picking up children at White Street. We have been made aware that sometimes our parents are blocking the driveways of the residents. Please ensure you are parking respectfully to ensure no impact occurs to our neighbours. If you are turning in off Murdoch Road, please avoid using a personal residence driveway to turn around or park in. Children crossing at White Street need to be accompanied by an adult.

Enhancing Schools Catholic Identity (ECSI) Survey

We would love your input into the ECSI survey for our school. The ECSI surveys utilise a variety of research features to capture a snapshot of the attitudes among students, teachers, staff, leaders and families towards the foundations of Catholic school identity.

We invite you to complete the survey by 14 March. Please note our school's Survey Access Code is: q23432

Prayer

2nd Sunday of Advent