Newsletter 23/2/2023- Week 4

Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

This newsletter is full of a myriad of activities that have been happening in the school in the past two weeks.

All children have now completed a Learn to Swim/Water Safety Program at our beautiful local outdoor pool.  We have held our welcome back to school barbecue, celebrated Shrove Tuesday and held our Ash Wednesday liturgy.  Today we have all our  Gr 3-6’s actively involved in our school Swimming Carnival.  Our house spirit is alive and well on days such as these and it is wonderful to see children shine in sporting activities . For some, the show of grit and determination just to get to the end of the race was a wonderful character trait to see.

As we begin to get organised for this year's NAPLAN testing I was delighted to read in The Mercury newspaper yesterday that Our Lady of Mercy received a state ranking of 10 for small regional schools for our students' growth over the past two years.  Whilst scores can vary considerably from year to year for small schools our data on student achievement is certainly trending in the right direction and our children are benefiting from the work teachers have been doing to adopt a systematic and targeted approach to the teaching of synthetic phonics and the impact this has on reading, writing and spelling over the past three years.

Regards,

Mary Bennett

Did You Know??

Our Lady of Mercy Catholic School is proud of its accreditation as a Dyslexia Aware school by the Australian Dyslexia Association. The School is dedicated to providing a supportive and inclusive learning environment for all students, especially those with dyslexia. The School uses evidence-based methodology in teaching reading and spelling, ensuring that all students receive the best possible education. This accreditation demonstrates the School’s commitment to providing quality education for all and creating a brighter future for all of its students.

Canteen 2023

Canteen is run each Wednesday. Orders must be received by midday Tuesday. To place a lunch order please download the QKR app on your phone.  Chicken nuggets have been added to the menu.

Volunteers are still required to help with canteen. Start time is 9:30am - 11:00am.  Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Andrew Chinn Concert

Parents and Friends Meeting

A Parent's and Friends meeting will be on Friday the 24th of February at 9:00am.  Please meet at the school office.  New members are always welcome, it is fine to bring young children along. 

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday, begins Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head which symbolize the dust from which God made us and grief, in this case, grief that we have sinned and caused division from God. Writings from the Second-century Church refer to the wearing of ashes as a sign of penance. The ashes are made from blessed palm branches, taken from the previous year's Palm Sunday Mass. As a school community, we celebrated Ash Wednesday with a ritual prayer service.

PROJECT COMPASSION 2023

 
This week, the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allow Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

The theme of Project Compassion 2023 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good we do today extends to impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues.  We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving in support of Project Compassion. Each family will receive a Project Compassion box for their donations or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

School Life at Our Lady of Mercy

St Patrick's College Production

Scholastic Book Orders.

Scholastic book orders are due in by 27/2/2023