Dear Parents and Community Members,

As we are currently experiencing long, wet wintery days, we look forward to the sun coming back a little bit more every day help to chase away the winter blues. We certainly notice that our students miss being able to run and play on rainy days, although the rain is welcomed and needed.

Kindness is not just a fleeting gesture but a catalyst for driving positive change and energy around us. Studies have shown that when we perform acts of kindness, our brain releases chemicals like dopamine and oxytocin, which make us feel happy and connected. Kindness is also associated with boosting mood, reducing stress and anxiety and lowering blood pressure.

You may have heard of 'paying it forward' on social media where one person does something selfless in the hope the next person, if they are able, will show that same kindness to another. We are so fortunate at OLC to see many acts of kindness in our community.

How can you be the first stone in the school river to start a kindness ripple in our community today?

We have had a busy couple of weeks at OLC, with our Year 3 students celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation, School Photos and Winter Carnival. Our teachers have also been very busy writing reports to inform parents about student progress so far this year.

I have spent the last few weeks meeting with families for enrolment interviews for our Kindergarten class for 2025. I always ask new families why they are seeking enrolment at our school, and it is heartening to hear them talk about the positive reputation our school continues to have in the community. This is due to a great team effort, with our amazing staff (including our dedicated teaching staff, education assistants, office and admin staff and our hard-working groundsman) and due to the comments, conversations and recommendations made by school families. Most new families have a story to tell about some connection, or something they have heard about our school. Our Kindy 2025 class is almost full, as is our Pre-Kindy class for this year.

Due to inclement weather and delays in delivery of steel trusses, the Pre-primary classrooms that are currently under construction have been delayed and will not be completed until some time next term. Hopefully, the Pre-primary classes will be able to move into their new classrooms during Term 3. Thank you for your patience. We will have some more wonderful spaces once the building has been completed.

Held across the country from 7-14 July 2024, NAIDOC Week will celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This year’s theme chosen by the National NAIDOC Committee, is Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud & Proud.

The theme honours the enduring strength and vitality of First Nations culture – with fire a symbol of connection to Country, to each other, and to the rich tapestry of traditions that define Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

On Friday 28 June, reports will be available through SEQTA. You will receive an email letting you know when reports are available to view. Please celebrate progress with your child and talk about their achievements with them. If you have any concerns, please make an appointment with the classroom teacher.

To ensure that you receive your child(ren)s report for Semester One, please check your SEQTA login before the end of Week 10 (Friday 21 June) and contact Adrian Torrese

(adrian.torrese@cewa.edu.au) if you are having trouble.

In preparation for our participation in the SW Schools Interschool Cross Country next term, we had our Cross-Country event today. Students from Years 1-6 participated. We select students for our interschool team, based on the results of the event.

The Interschool Cross Country event will be held at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School on Thursday 25 July, 10.30-1.45pm.

Thank you to families who have paid their annual school fees, or have commenced a payment plan. Statements reminders were sent home recently to those parents who have not commenced a payment plan. The collection of school fees is essential for the running and improvement of the school facilities and resources. If you have not commenced any repayments and are experiencing difficulties, please contact me to arrange a confidential chat. Thank you.

School fees reminder statements will be emailed shortly. If you have not commenced any repayments and are experiencing difficulties, please contact me to arrange a confidential chat. Thank you.

From time to time, parents call the school to change afternoon pick-up arrangements and we are happy to pass on messages to students. However, when there is only one person in the office and calls to deliver messages are coming late into the afternoon, it is very difficult for office staff to effectively deliver these messages. Please make sure you contact the office before 2.30pm if you would like a message delivered to your child about afternoon pick-up changes. Our friendly, helpful office staff are happy to help out when unavoidable changes are made to afternoon arrangements, but, if possible, it is preferable that your child knows at the beginning of the day how they are getting home. Thanks for your understanding.

This is always a wonderful morning of play, sensory experiences, craft, creativity and fun! Our ‘Little Seedlings’ playgroup will re-commence Monday mornings next term. Come and join Mrs Clark as your child begins their journey at our school and becomes familiar with the Kindy environment. All welcome!

Please note there is no playgroup in Week 1, due to a pupil free day, Little Seedlings will start on Monday 22 July.

Once the afternoon school bell sounds and students are returned to the care of their parents, we have noticed that increasingly, students are staying behind at school and playing on the school playground facilities. During the school day, we have guidelines in place for safety reasons, always having at the forefront the need to keep our students safe. Sometimes, when using the playgrounds after school hours, students seem to be disregarding the usual school safety rules, and playing on the playgrounds, particularly the nature playground and in the trees, in a way that may lead to injury.

Please help us to keep students safe and injury-free, by leaving the school grounds promptly after the bell, and not allowing your children to play on the play areas after the conclusion of the school day. Thank you very much for understanding.

There have been some changes to the CEWA Executive Directive regarding the Administration of Medication. All medication must be administered as prescribed in writing by a registered medical practitioner, in accordance with any instructions attached to the medication, or any written instructions provided by a registered medical practitioner.

If your child needs to take any medication at school, parents are required to provide the school with written instructions provided by a registered medical practitioner. If staff are currently assisting your child with medication at school, at your next medical appointment, please request written instruction to provide to the school. Thank you for your assistance with this.

Please note that the school is not able to provide medication (for example, Panadol) to students, as we are not able to store additional medication at school. Parents will always be contacted should their child become unwell at school.

At OLC, due to the number of students seeing external therapists and limited space at school, only students who have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) will be able to access therapy session at school, if requested, and if they meet the criteria, where the therapy sessions value-add to their IEP.

Teaching time is a priority for us to enable teachers to teach and assess without interruptions, and we thank parents for assisting us to protect teaching time and allow for maximum participation and learning for all students.

Please contact the office if you would like to discuss this further. Thank you.

Please note that for warmth in winter, girls may wear black stockings, available through our online uniform shop. We have noticed that some girls are currently wearing leggings/tights and white socks with their black shoes. These are not part of our school uniform. We have also noticed that some girls are wearing leggings/tights in place of tracksuit pants on sports days.

We appreciate the cooperation of parents in maintaining the standard of our uniforms.

• OLC’s Got Talent on Thursday 20 June at 1.30pm
• Year 3 Cultural Incursion to Ngilgi Cave Fri 21 June
• 2Mc Prayer Assembly Fri 21 June 2.15pm
• Year 2 Family Mass and Pizza on Saturday 22 June 6pm
• End of term Mass on Wednesday 26 June at 11.00am

On the last day of term, our wonderful P&F have arranged a ‘Crazy Hair Day’ as a fun way to finish off a long, busy term. For a gold coin donation, students may come to school with crazy hair or fun hair accessories. Funds raised will go towards a P&F project to purchase school cultural resources.

Please note that Friday 28 June is a pupil free day.

Term 3 commences for students on Tuesday 18 July.

This is the last newsletter for the term. Thank you for a busy term filled with lots of learning, activities and fun. It has been a difficult term, with so many staff and students unwell. I thank our staff for their flexibility and commitment during a long, challenging term. Enjoy the holidays with your families. I look forward to seeing you in Term 3.

May God bless you

Mrs Angela Hegney

Principal

Congratulations to five of our Year 3 students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time on Wednesday afternoon. Reconciliation, also known as Confession, is a Catholic sacrament where individuals confess their sins to a priest, express sorrow for them, and receive forgiveness and spiritual healing from God. It's like cleaning our hearts by saying sorry to God for the wrong things we've done and feeling better knowing that God forgives us and helps us start fresh. Congratulations on this special moment Logan, Will, Makai, Joel and Noah!

We are having a Thanksgiving mass for these candidates and their families this Sunday at 8.30am at the church, with a light morning tea to follow. All OLC families (especially the Year 3 peers of the candidates) are invited to come along to celebrate and show their support. Sincere thanks to Mrs Ricciardone, Mrs Sorgiovanni, and Miss Charlton for their efforts to prepare the students for this special milestone in their faith journey.

Last Saturday evening the Year 5 cohort and their families were invited to attend the parish mass, and to then stay afterwards to share in some delicious Peace Pizza. This is a way of establishing connections and friendships between our school and our parish. We give sincere thanks to the team at Peace Pizza (the Whelan family), for their generously discounted (and delicious) pizzas, and to the OLC P&F who pay for this treat. Our next family mass and pizza night is on Saturday the 22nd June, 6.00pm at the church for our Year 2 cohort and their families. We would love to see you there!

Mrs Amie Meyer

Assistant Principal

Our Lost Property Bin is overflowing with jackets and jumpers. Please check to see if any of your child's items are there. All items remaining at the end of term are donated to the second hand uniform cupboard.

A very big thank you to everyone who purchased tickets in our fundraising activities for our school and to all our generous local businesses.

Below is a summary of money raised from these activities:

Easter Raffle Ticket Sales $2,955

Wine Fundraiser $960

Mother’s Day Raffle Ticket Sales $2,740

Mother’s Day Flower Fundraiser $1,520

In the spirit of recycling, if you have a vase from our recent Mother’s Day Flower fundraiser that you no longer want or need please consider returning this to the school office to be repurposed for future fundraising efforts. Of course this is absolutely optional!

Please see the Firewood Raffle flyer below for details of how to be included in the draw to win 2 x $250 trailer loads of Bills Firewood for winter!

We hope everyone has a safe and happy winter break and we look forward to seeing you in Term 3.

P&F

We are excited to announce the West Australian Marathon Club (WAMC) Perth Kids Marathon is back for 2024.

We invite all school children to be involved in this unique event taking place on Sunday 4th August, 2024.

This event is a great opportunity for children to start an exercise program that will continue over a number of weeks and culminate in the completion of a “marathon" – 42.195km!

Starting on Sunday 9th June, the aim is to run the first 40km of the marathon distance over a number of weeks in the child’s own time (or at school), then on marathon day complete the final 2.195km at the 2024 Perth Kids Marathon, which will be held in conjunction with the 40th Anniversary Perth Half Marathon!

All registered participants receive a FREE T-shirt* and medal, and the school with the largest team receives a magnificent trophy to proudly display at their school – so get your school involved!

For further information and to register online, visit Event details for WAMC Perth Kids Marathon | West Australian Marathon Club | West Australian Marathon Club.

Attached is some additional information to get you up and running! We would greatly appreciate your assistance in promoting this fantastic event within your school community.

Kind regards,

WAMC

Email: admin@ladyofcape.wa.edu.au
Website: www.ladyofcape.wa.edu.au
Location: 245 Cape Naturaliste Road, Dunsborough WA, Australia
Phone: 9781 3200
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OLCDunsborough/