Newsletter 5th October 2022

Upcoming Dates

7th October:  Combined Schools Day at St Brendan's

14th, 21st, 28th October &  4th, 11th  November:  Combined Schools Days at St Mary's

18th, 25th November & 2nd, 9th December:  Combined Schools Days at St Brendan's

17th October:  Grandparents & Special Adults in My Life Morning, 9:00am

31st October:  School Closure Day - Report Writing & Planning Day for Staff

1st November:  Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

11th November:  Remembrance Day

29th November:  Orientation Day for Year 6 students at Catholic Secondary Schools

16th December:  Last Day of Term 4

30th January 2023:  First Day of Term 1, 2023

Principal's News

Welcome Back

A huge welcome back to everyone. I love the first day of the term after a break, seeing the children and staff rested and excited to be back. For many the routine and predictability of school life provides consistency and a sense of safety and security.

Loreto Community

I ask that you keep the Loreto community in your prayers. Many of you will be aware that there was an incident over the holidays that involved a number of students and staff.

We keep the school community in our thoughts and pray that all make a full recovery.

Combined Schools Days

Combined Schools Days will continue on Fridays this term. Overall, the children, parents and staff see the benefits of them and they provide a number of positives for everyone. Most importantly, the children are learning and socialising with more children and building relationships with other students and staff.

This Friday we have been informed that there could be a possible power outage at St. Mary’s so we will begin with our first Friday at St. Brendan’s. Following this, we will do the following 5 Fridays at St. Mary’s and then the next 4 at St. Brendan’s. These are in the school calendar as well.

Children can bring something to heat up for lunch on these days if they wish.

We are very fortunate to have Trish on Fridays until the end of the Term. With the Art shows now done, Friday afternoons will be split into two Art sessions and two Sports sessions. As an example, the Juniors may start with Art from 1:30–2:15pm and then do sport for the second hour, while the Seniors do the opposite. This will allow some further Art sessions as well as an opportunity to do Sport with a larger number of children. 

Uniforms – Hats

Term 4 means that children should be wearing their summer uniform and hats are needed for outside play. It is easier if children leave their hats at school, rather than take them home each day. Teachers will collect the hats on Thursdays to take over for Combined Schools Days.

The warmer weather also means that the UV rays are stronger. As we a Sun Smart school, we encourage all children to come to school with sunscreen already applied.  However, it will be available at school for the children to use. If your child has sensitive skin and requires their own sunscreen, please let the teachers know and if possible, send along their own sunscreen.

It is also important that children bring a water bottle to school each day to stay hydrated, especially as the weather gets warmer.

NAPLAN

The Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN results are available at school for parents to collect. Please make a time with your child’s teacher to collect the assessment and discuss your child's results.

Grandparents' & Special Adults' Day

We are excited to be welcoming our Grandparents and Special Adults into our schools this term. The invitations were sent out last term so that everyone had plenty of notice to make arrangements.  We know that some people are travelling some distance to be with their grandchildren on the day.

St. Mary’s are having their day on Monday,  17^th of October, starting at 9:00am and St. Brendan’s is on Monday, 24^th October, starting at 10:00am. If you have any questions about these events, please see your child’s teacher for clarification.

RAT Tests

We have a number of RAT tests at school that are available for distribution. If you would like some, please let the school know and we can send them home with the children.

Closure Day

A heads-up that there will be a pupil-free day on Monday, 31^st of October, providing families with a 4-day long weekend.  The Melbourne Cup public holiday is on Tuesday, 1st November. Once again, this is in the school calendar which you can access on the school website and your Schoolzine app.

Signs and Promotions

Thank you to PDR (Chris Leonard) and Biggin & Scott (Mark Vorstenbosch) Real Estate companies for helping us out with getting signage up for our schools. Look out for them on main roads near our schools!

Our Vision and Mission banners are being printed and will be displayed in our office areas and banners advertising for enrolments are also going on the fences of our schools.

This week Kev Cummins from DOBCEL has been at Clarkes Hill finishing of our promotional video so it should be ready soon and will go on our Facebook page and website shortly.

Parents of Year 6 Children

A reminder that the country bus forms sent out at the end of last term are due back to school by Friday. The form is for all Grade 6 students wanting to travel into BALLARAT schools for Year 7 in 2023 (this includes Catholic and Non Catholic schools).

Please note that some of the country buses already have wait lists, so please be aware that a place on the bus is NOT guaranteed.

Please remember to see your child’s teacher with any concerns, or if you need anything clarified. It is important to sort any issues out before they become big issues.

We are looking forward to an exciting term to finish the year.

Go gently and calmly,

Inez

Junior, the Kindness Monster

This term we welcome a new member to the Junior Room!  His name is Junior and he likes to see kindness wherever he goes. 

Junior is going to take turns visiting our homes, going home on a Thursday and returning to school on the following Monday. During this time, he will take part in acts of kindness that we show outside of school. For example, setting the table, helping with the washing up, etc. 

Junior will visit homes with his own backpack containing a notebook, a pencil case with writing equipment and a packet of coloured pencils. These items are for us to use when we write and draw about our acts of kindness that we shared with Junior. 

We look forward to sharing Junior with our families and showing him plenty of kindness.

Class Members of the Junior Room.

Happy Birthday!

A big Happy Birthday to Liam Riordan who turns 12 on 14th October.  We hope you have a great birthday Liam!

Simon Everywhere Update

Loreto College Open Morning & Year 7 2024 Parent Information Night

Loreto College would like to invite prospective families to come along to their upcoming Open Morning and see why a Loreto Education is so special. The Open Morning will be led by student representatives between 9am to 12pm. You can expect to see interactive displays and activities as well as meet with students and staff. There will also be the opportunity to chat with the College Leadership Team. Please note that availability is limited.

For further information, please visit our enrolments page at https://loreto.vic.edu.au/loreto-education/enrolment/ 

Damascus College Information Evenings for 2024 commencement

Ballarat Little Athletics

Buninyong Little Athletics

Brown Hill Cricket Club

Gardening & Tidying Roster 2022