Term 1 Week 8, 2021

Parent/Teacher Conversations

Parent/Teacher Conversations will be taking place next week.  In these meetings, teachers will share the goals they have written for each student in the areas of Literacy, Numeracy and Well-being.  After reflecting on the experiences from these meetings held last year, the staff and I have decided that due to the different maturation levels of the students and their different capacity to participate in a meaningful way, that the following will apply:-

Reception/Year 1      Students do not attend 
Year 2 - Year 3          Optional for students to attend
Year 4 – Year 6         Highly recommended that students attend

These meetings respond to the call of Catholic Education SA’s learning statement:

To every child in a Catholic School,

We are committed to knowing you deeply.

We value you as a capable and competent learner and will support your active engagement in the learning process.

In partnership with you and your family we commit to high expectations for your learning progress, wellbeing and achievement.

You matter to us.

This is an opportunity for you to engage with your child’s teacher in regard to their learning plan for your child. These learning plans are individualised and reflect the data/testing profile we have on each child, which will ensure that their learning needs will be met.

Harmony Day

Harmony Day is observed annually on the 21^st March in Australia. Harmony Day is intended to celebrate the cohesive and inclusive nature of Australia and promote a tolerant and culturally diverse society.

Initially celebrated in 1999, Harmony Day coincides with the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which was established in 1966 with the aim of eradicating racism and racially-fuelled hate crime.

The continuing message of Harmony Day is 'Everybody Belongs' and its annual observance aims to encourage inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural background, and to celebrate core Australian values.

Here at Our Lady of the Visitation School, we welcome people from all cultures. Together, we strive to create a peaceful, more tolerant and kind world, where each person can grow into fullness of life in a world that God desires.

Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect.

Naplan

Next Thursday 25th of March our Year 3 and Year 5 students will be participating in a Coordinated Practice Test from 10.30am – 11.30am.  This test serves two purposes. Firstly it allows the students to look at and attempt an online test and secondly it will determine if the school and system can support the running of NAPLAN online.

We are confident of our school's capacity to complete the test but as a system we have been asked to logon as close to 11:00am as possible to see if there are any problems.

Classroom teachers are aware of this and are supporting your children to participate in this test.  If you have any questions or concerns about your child participating in the 2021 NAPLAN online testing, please do not hesitate to contact myself or Tina Ida as we would be very happy to talk to you about any concerns you may have.

NAPLAN will take place in Term 2, commencing 11th of May 2021.  A detailed schedule will be sent home to parents prior to this date.

Holy Week

Easter is not that far away.  We did not celebrate Holy Week last year due to COVID restrictions.  At OLV we celebrate Holy Week with prayer services led by various classes.  Parents are invited to attend.

Holy Week Prayer Services

Monday 29th March               10.30am           Palm Sunday                       R/1 Y & R/1 P

Tuesday 30th March                2.45pm          Washing of the Feet             2/3 R & 2/3 B

Wednesday 31st March         12.30pm          Last Supper                          R/1 B & R/1 R

Thursday 1st April                                          - Good Friday -                                

                                                                     Stations of the Cross            4 B & 5/6 R

Tuesday 6th April                    9.30am           Resurrection Mass               SRC’s

Morning Classroom Routine

Earlier this week I sent information to parents in regards to beginning to relax our morning classroom routines.  It has been approximately 12 months since our world was changed with the spread of COVID-19.  This has had a dramatic impact on our lives in many different ways.  One of the major changes at OLV has been the drop off procedures with parents not being able to be in the classroom in the mornings to join their children for the morning routines.

This has provided both positive and negative outcomes.  For some, this has been an opportunity for children to develop independence and resilient skills and for others (parents)  it has been a challenge.  I have always taken advice from SA Health and Catholic Education SA in making decisions in regards to COVID-19.  I have taken time to discern on our current procedures and given that SA has had no community cases of COVID I see this is an opportunity to relax our drop off procedure and allow parents back into the classrooms at drop off.

This will be controlled to allow 5 – 6 parents in each class on a morning.  We still need to be conscious of social distancing and tracking who was in a classroom.  I also believe that this should be equitable for each family.

Our aim is to gradually and in an organised way begin to allow parents back in to the classrooms.

This week we celebrated the feast of St Patrick & St Joseph

Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick was born in England, but when he was a teenager, he was captured by Irish pirates who took him to Ireland as a slave. After six years, Saint Patrick escaped and returned to England and his family.

When Saint Patrick became a priest, he traveled back to Ireland as a missionary so that he could teach the people about God. He used examples to explain the mysteries of the faith in simple ways. One day, Saint Patrick compared the Trinity to a shamrock. He said that the shamrock has three leaves, but it is only one plant. In the same way, God is three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—but one God.

God used Saint Patrick’s kidnapping to convert the Irish people. In our lives, God uses the bad times to bring about a good we do not always see. We must be patient and trust Him.

Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph was the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster-father of Jesus. He was a very good and patient man. Even though he never speaks in the Bible, Saint Joseph was a man of action. When God told him in a dream that it was okay to marry Mary, and when God told him to go to Egypt to save Jesus from Herod, Saint Joseph listened. He always obeyed God even though he did not always understand.

Through his love and care for Jesus and Mary, Saint Joseph showed his love for God. Because he trusted God, Saint Joseph allowed Him to work in his life. Trusting God can be very hard, especially when we cannot see how our story will end or why God is asking us to do something. We can pray to Saint Joseph to help us trust God just as he did. 

Beat Circles – The Reception/Year one classes have been having fun tapping out the beat. All kinds of music has been experienced – fast or slow, energetic or restful, new releases and old classics, music we all know and music we have never heard before – and the fun of tapping out the beat every time a new track is selected.

Percussion and Chime Bars – In our World Music unit for the Year 2/3 classes we have been adding percussion detail with a song called 'Fill the World with Peace'. It is a folk song from Hungary, and can be sung as a round. The students enjoy marking key moments with metal-sound percussion (mostly triangles!) and with selected chime bars. Our observant students noticed the sound quality changes when the chime’s tubes have their end stoppers removed.

Good singing habits – Our older students are building their confidence as singers. With a wide selection of songs being enjoyed by our students, we have investigated how to take our lovely natural singing voices to a new level. We have started with noticing our breathing and how it helps our singing sound.

Songbooks – an old favourite! Wonderful songbooks with great illustrations and irresistible songs. A lesson that always finishes with children wishing for time for more selections.

Our Lady of the Visitation School had a great day at the recent Port SAPSASA Swimming Carnival at Largs Bay Swim Centre.

151 students! 35 staff & officials! 13 schools! No parent spectators due to Covid-19!!

81 Individual Heat Races!! Speed Swimming!!!!

Multiclass!! The student's appreciation & applause to this race gave me goosebumps!!

Below are the children who were successful in scoring points for our school:              

THIRD

Jaydan Poulton            Backstroke
Lucas Kalaitzis             Butterfly

FOURTH

Jordan Smith               Backstroke
Alexandra Jackson      Butterfly

Thank you to Tina Ida for supervising and organising the students at the Carnival.

A special thank you to Debbie Sarunic, Amelia Maddern, Shey Angove, Tyson Sarunic, Yolette Gale and Kym Meers for helping with the organisation of the carnival. The carnival was certainly very well organised as a result of your brilliant help!

Also a special thank you to Michelle Edwards & Matthew Lewis for helping as officials/timekeepers.

Good luck to OLV’s Swimming Team who are competing today at the Catholic Schools Swimming Carnival at Marion Aquatic Centre.

Special News: Congratulations to ex-OLV student Emilia Shea who just swum an Olympic qualifier time at a National Swim meet! Wow, amazing effort!