www.olshrandwick.catholic.edu.au Email—[email protected] Dear Parents and Carers, This week term 1 concludes. An eleven week term which has been fulfilling, with the education of our students at the forefront of all our activities as the photographs depict. Yesterday was Divine Mercy Sunday, a term usually identified with compassion and forgiveness. The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has declared this the Year of Mercy and states ― It is my burning desire that, during this Jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy‖. Pope Francis also speaks of solidarity and vigilant care of those on the fringes and to offer mercy that must have a lasting impact. It is pleasing to see the variety of ways support for those on the fringes of society is offered through the Family Educator initiatives, both during the term and for the future. Thank you to all who have been active participants in the Jubilee Year of Mercy. A reminder that both the junior and senior choirs, and the junior and senior bands, will perform for the school and parents tomorrow at 8.45am in the hall. All welcome. Term 2 begins on Tuesday 26th April. We usually wear winter uniforms in terms 2 & 3, but depending on the weather, students may have a two week window of wearing either summer or winter depending on the weather. However, it is expected that all students wear their winter uniform on Wednesday 4th May for the annual school photos. We haven‘t had photos in winter uniform for a few years now. Staff changes. On Friday we‘ll farewell Mrs Ghattas, who has worked in the office each Thursday and Friday this term. We appreciate her professionalism, her knowledge of system processes and her genuine care for the students. We wish her well in retirement but hope to see her back occasionally when we need a replacement secretary. Next term we‘ll welcome Mrs Karen Preece in the role of assistant secretary on Thursdays and Fridays. Next term I will be taking leave for the first 6 weeks of term. Ms Hodgins will step into the role of Acting Principal, Mr Payne will become the Acting Assistant Principal and the Acting Religious Education Co-ordinator role will be announced at the beginning of next term. Thank you all for an excellent start to the 2016 academic year. Just some of the key events for next term include the following, in addition to those listed in the students‘ diaries. * Interviews for Kindergarten 2017, both sibling and new families. * The Sacrament of Confirmation will be held on Thursday 9 th June at 7.30pm with Bishop Terry Brady presiding. This is preceded by the parent information meeting on Tuesday 3 rd May at 7pm in the church and the Confirmation retreat for students and parents on Thursday 2nd June. * Liturgies to Celebrate Mother‘s Day and the feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. * Naplan for Years 3 & 5 and the Archdiocesan Religious Education test for Year 6. * Years 5 & 6 Personal Development courses for parents and students. * Claymation for Year 4. * 6 weeks of Interschool sports for Year 4 boys and girls, beginning week 4 through to Week 9. * Annual Athletics carnival and Cross country . * Staff Spirituality Day on Friday 17th June when we will visit Mary MacKillop Place. * Distribution of Semester 1 reports followed by opportunity for parents to meet class teachers to discuss the report. * OLSH‘s Got Talent – Week 10. Students are asked to begin preparing their items during the holidays. In week 5 the class teachers will hold grade auditions and select 3 items to go forward to next level. In weeks 6-10 Ms Katralis will assist the groups to polish their items, with the finals to be held on Thursday 30 th June from 9.30 – 11am. * P & F initiatives include a bingo afternoon for students; a guest speaker for the P & F meeting and a Mother‘s Day celebration before and after the liturgy on 6th May. * Grade showcases for Years 6, 1 and 5.

Of course the staff will be engaged in a variety of professional development initiatives, including further development of the History and Geography syllabus, continuation in the Quality Literacy Teaching (QLT) program, Conferences and retreats for specific staff and weekly staff meetings which cover a wide range of topics. One of the main goals for our 2016 Annual Improvement Plan is to implement the KidsMatter framework. To date the team of 6 has attended a full training day, two members have received further training as leaders, staff have begun the first of 4 units called ―Getting Started‖ and have completed a staff survey. Students will also complete a survey and this week we invite parents to complete the parent survey and return by the end of the week. KidsMatter Parent Survey I wish everyone a safe and happy Autumn break. Time to enjoy your children‘s company, to refresh and re energise, even if only a break from preparing lunch orders and ironing school uniforms. Happy Holidays and thank you to our priests, parents, grandparents, to the teaching, administrative and learning support staff for their valued contribution to the term. God bless Natius McAdam Principal

Dear Parents / Caregivers, With the last days of term now just days away, I wish you all the best with the parent teacher meetings as well as the upcoming school holidays. I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to participate in some of the initiatives I am organising for all in Term 2. Please see details attached. Vinnies Sleepout *Register via Google Form link below https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18Q7BlE57azMXScfitvd3dG9mUwANxmCAdma2RVfPrJQ/viewform Have a safe and relaxing school holiday. Loretta Lam Family Educator “Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14)

Choir news Please arrive at school at 8.15am tomorrow so that we can all be ready for our assembly. If you have a choir t-shirt you should wear it with your sports shorts. There will be NO choir rehearsals before school this week, enjoy a sleep in, and come back to term 2 nice and refreshed! Band News Senior Band Players of the Week: Ella and Kaladi from the clarinet section for always playing beautifully and leading the section well! Junior Band section of the Week: well done percussionists Nathan and Ryan for showing good initiative and for playing all your pieces with fantastic rhythm! Junior and senior band will be receiving new music this week to practise over the school holidays. We are looking forward to a very musical term 2!

Last Thursday Year 1 with the help of their parents and other family members built a house that they had designed for the Science topic Weather Detectives. The students had to design and make a house that could withstand a variety of weather conditions using a range of materials. Year 1 had so much fun putting their houses together and appreciated all the help. Thank you The Year 1 Team

TERM 1 IN REVIEW

Be Respectful

Be Responsible School-Wide Positive Behaviour for Learning

Be Safe

Be a Learner

This week we are focusing on being responsible. This means: Keep your own space tidy Look after your belongings-(check lost property if you need to) Care for your classroom and leave it super clean and tidy for the holidays Make sure all work has been completed to the best of your ability and handed in on time, with your name on it Return all books to the library Be ready to think about your goals for next term and how you can improve on the great work you are already doing. Thank you for following our PBL Expectations this term and we hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

On Friday, the whole school will engage in house sport activities for 45 minutes in an aim to build whole school well-being and to introduce Kindergarten to their house team. It will be a great way to celebrate a very busy term. Well done to the Year 5 and 6 students who participated in a Regional Touch Football Gala Day. Although there were wet conditions the students had an enjoyable day. Congratulations to Alice Norbury for making the Mackillop Swim Team. She will be competing at the NSW PSSA Championships in the 50m Butterfly. What a brilliant achievement and we wish her all the best. A reminder that Regional Cross Country is Thursday 28th April (Week 1 Term 2). Regards, James Kennedy PDHPE Teacher / Sports Coordinator

AWARDS: Celebrating Student Achievement You are most welcome to attend the award presentations on Friday at 8.45am assembly. KG KS 1G 1S 2G 2S 3G 3S 4G 4S 6S

Zachary Sneddon, Paige Kilcran, Jacinta Glass and William Chen Tarik Appel, Marietta Wahome, Penny Saurine and Zara Kauter Talia Dametto, Ethan Howard, Liam Gardiner, Jade McInness, William Fong and Koby Hume Taj Graham, Dominic Smith and Sorcha Weakner Oscar Leonard and Alannah Sheehan Max Boyce, Giselle Dueza, Alexander Birrell and Skye Treanor Will Bruce, Toby McDonald. Mia Cliffe and Kristiane Rivera Anna Moran and Ella Thurlby Sophia Markovic, Minami Konda, Amelia Willimott and Callum Stevens Camilla Byrne and Luca Cogin Siobhan Reynolds and Marcello Simi

Library News What a fantastic first Term we have had in the Library. Congratulations and well done to the Library Monitors. We would not be able to keep it going without your help and knowledge. We appreciate your lunch time that you give up to assist in the Library in so many ways. We have 244 OLSH students now registered for the Premier's Reading Challenge. This is wonderful! We love it when students let us know they have signed up and tell us about the books they are reading and adding to their list. These 25 students have already finished the Premier's Reading Challenge - well done!! Lola Scevity-Atton(5G) Lauren Sheehan (2S) Samuel Byrne (5G) Hannah Berry (4G) Jackson Glekis (4G) Joel Hammerschmidt (4G) Ashlin Jose (4G) Minami Konda (4G) Kai McDermott (3S) Dominic Jury (6G) Aislinn Walsh-Sams (2G) Aoife Walsh-Sams (KS) Coco Wing (2G) Zack Mollica (4S) Toby Currenti (3G) Isabelle Byrne (1G) Amelia Byrne (2G) Eva Gardiner (3S) Gabriel Bailey (4G) Ava Kennedy (KG) Parker Campbell (2S) Hannah Worthington (2G) Tyra Dymock (3G) Eamonn Kennedy (4S) Ben Wapshott (6G) Parents, please encourage your child/ren to sign up for the Premier's Reading Challenge, keep reading and log the books they have read. We would love to have every OLSH student registered and finish the PRC. Keep reading and logging over the holidays. Remember: the more you read, the more you read. IMPORTANT!! Can we please have all books back to the library this week before the holidays! Have a lovely break Mrs Milne & Ms Hogan

From the P and F A Kids Bingo afternoon will be held in the school hall on Friday 13th May from 3.30-5pm. Cost will be $5 per child which will include their bingo marker pen and a snack bag for afternoon tea. Children will need to be supervised by a parent for this event. See attached flyer. If any parents are able to assist on the afternoon, please contact Liz Argent [email protected] The next P and F meeting will be on Tuesday 10th May. We have arranged a guest speaker for this meeting - Brenda Janschek is a health coach and local mum and will speak on ‗‘Teaching our kids to eat produce not packets, why it‘s more important than ever before.‘‘ She will cover the importance of wholefoods, real foods in a world where packets of food are more the norm and what they are doing to our health, then will touch on the topic of fussy eaters, importance of family rituals and mealtimes, and will provide a handout with a few recipes plus take questions at the end. The P and F meeting will be held from 7pm-7.30pm then Brenda will speak from 7.45pm-8.45pm. The cost to attend Brenda‘s session will be $10 per person. Children may attend free of charge if they are interested but will need to sit with their parent during the talk. See attached flyer. More details regarding payment and how to RSVP for this evening will be provided shortly.

Jacob Pegorer Aoife Walsh-Sams Claire Campbell Isabella Moran Rosie Robinson Harry Trinca

Tilly Kennedy Jack Ledden April Stodart Nathan Chin Luella Bartolomei Alex Farrugia

Tess Quilligan Elyssa Chaaya Joey Welling James Kennedy

Attachments Please note that in keeping with the OLSH Environmental standards all attachments can be found on our website under parent information (no password required). Only permission notes will be distributed as a hard copy. * Kindy Parent Night Out * Family Educator Iniatives

* P&F Bingo

* P&F Speaker Presentation