From the Acting Principal

Week 5 Term 2

Parents and Carers,

We could not have had a nicer afternoon for our Picnic in the Park to celebrate Our Lady Help of Christians feast day. The students walked across to Alistair Knox Park and Central Park in lovely Autumn sunshine. The impact of our SWELL sessions where the students work in Prep to Year 6 groups seemed to be on full display. The students were engaged in a range of self directed games that often involved groups with a wide range of year levels. They found so many creative ways to use the space and equipment. The feedback from the students has been so positive, that we will ask parents and carers to mark Friday 26th May 2024 on their calendars for next year’s celebrations.

Mary Help of Christians was adopted as patron of the new Church of Australia in 1844. British settlement was just over fifty years old, the transportation of convicts was coming to an end, and the first elections in Australian history had been held in 1843. Issues of land, immigration and education had begun to surface and the Church was involved in these social problems. It seems unfortunately that these are still issues that impact our society today. 

We finished off the celebration of the feast day with the whole school attending the 9.30 am Friday Mass celebrated by Father Michael. It is always special when we get the opportunity to gather as a whole school in the church or as Father Michael likes to call it the No 1 Classroom. Today he focused on helping each other to be successful as Mary would have. It seems so far off, but this week is the seventh week of Easter, in the church's Liturgical calendar, which I guess is why we can still find hot cross buns in the supermarkets. This mass also traditionally kicks off our St Vinnies winter appeal each year. Students in each class are being asked to bring in non perishable food items that we pass on to the St. Vinnies Group in the parish, who distribute them to families in need at this time of year. 

As a school each year we wear a touch of orange on the last Friday in May to help raise money and the profile of Prader-Willi Syndrome. We do this to not only support one of our own students Alex, but to help support all families who have children with this condition. Alex presented some information to a couple of student assemblies this week and I know he and his family greatly appreciate the support shown through the gold coin donation today and over the years. 

Today, National Sorry Day, marks the start of Reconciliation Week which runs from 27th May to 3rd June. This year's theme is "Be a Voice for Generations". The theme encourages all Australians to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in our everyday lives - where we live, work and socialise. As a FIRE Carrier school we choose to work for generations past, and the benefit of generations future, to act for a more just, equitable and reconciled country for all. As Catholics, we are called to be reconciled with all people and work towards the ongoing commitment to reconciliation with our First Nations people.

We finished the week by playing our weekly Eltham District Inter School Sports of netball, and bat tennis against the students from Eltham College. Just for something different some of our footballers swapped the aussie rules ball for the round ball of the world game and played soccer against EC who don’t have an AFL team. 

There have been a number of Operoo permission requests being sent home lately, which means we have some different and extra exciting learning opportunities in the works. So as always, please take a moment to read about all the other things happening at OLHC in the different areas of this newsletter. 

Regards, 

Mark  

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