From the Acting Principal

Term 2 Week 3

Parents and Carers,

We still have cases of COVID around the school at the moment with several families being impacted. We have also had 5 staff test positive this week. So again, I ask that if someone in your household is positive that you continue to show extra caution. If your children are displaying symptoms please err on the side of caution and keep them home.

We had the second of our ‘Come and Try Prep’ sessions aimed at prospective Prep students for 2024 on Wednesday this week. Our young visitors joined Mrs Cumming, Mrs Asdagi and the preps for an hour. They had a great time exploring the classroom and then moved over to our wonderful Library. Mrs Cumming read them the story ‘I Love My Mum’ then they entered the digitech world where Mrs Asdagi worked on an ‘unplugged coding’ activity with them. Our library is a fabulously resourced place, where we can combine the old and the new with 'books meeting technology’. Often staff visiting from other schools are amazed at what an excellent resource we have which is a credit to all the staff who have worked to maintain the library over the years. 

We still have one more of these sessions on Tuesday 16th May between 9.00-10.00 am. If you know anybody with children who would be starting Prep next year please reach out and encourage them to come along to one of the sessions. RSVPs can be made via the school office by phoning 9439 7824 or emailing us using the address school@olhceltham.catholic.edu.au. Any of our current families who have not completed the Prep Enrolment Form for next year, can you please do so as soon as possible, thank you.

We welcome Liz Cox back to the office on Monday after her leave. I know I speak for everyone in the community when I say we have missed her. Thanks to Angela and Loretta who have worked extra days to cover Liz, they have done a wonderful job. 

May 24th is the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians. This is an important Feast Day because not only is Our Lady, under the title “Help of Christians”, our school and parish patron but she is also the spiritual patron of Australia, along with St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop. We plan to have a Picnic in the Park at Central Park, which I know is a very brave call with the weather we have been having lately! The students will walk to the park at 12.45 pm, have some lunch and play. We will need the assistance of parent walkers on the day, so an Operoo with plenty of details will be sent home early next week. If the weather is unkind to us we will have an alternate plan that keeps us at school but also provides us with time to celebrate. We will also be attending the 9.30am Mass celebrated by Father Michael, on Friday the 26th May to bring our celebrations to a close. All families are welcome to join us.

The rain finally stopped, so we were able to play our weekly Eltham District Inter School Sports of football, netball, korfball and bat tennis against the students from Eltham Primary. Notes went out to families of the cross country team about the Eltham District Carnival being held on Wednesday 17th May at Eltham Lower Park. Each year our parents have the best job of the carnival in running the undercover score table instead of standing out in the middle of the park at a cold windy checkpoint! We are still a little short of helpers for the event so ask that you recheck your calendars and see if you can come along and help the team!

Thanks to the parents that were able to attend the Eucharist Parent Faith Formation evening at the SFX church on Monday this week. Father Michael is always an entertaining speaker and gave us some great insights into the history of the sacrament. He also gave parents some context into how and why the parish delivers the sacramental program in the modern setting. Thanks to Mrs Bisby our Religious Education Leader and Mrs Winter who is working with our Year 5 students to deliver the curriculum aspects of the sacrament, for attending on the evening to support the families. 

The dad’s obviously read last week's newsletter because the students all turned up to the PFOL’s annual Mother’s Day Stall on Friday with money to spend. The children put so much thought into picking just the right gift for their mum that they could be cherished gifts for years to come. Just a reminder that Monday morning's assembly next week will conclude with a short Mother’s Day Liturgy and a chance for a cuppa afterwards in the Community Centre.

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

Regards, 

Mark  

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/OurLadyHelpElth  

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

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