Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School East Warrnambool eNewsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

Today we acknowledge and pay our respects to the First Peoples, the traditional custodians of the lands and waterways and thank them for their continued hospitality.

We acknowledge and celebrate the continuation of a living culture who have lived with Creator God through creation of land, sea, waterways and life.

Prayer

Leadership & Stewardship

Principal's Message

Dear members of the OLHC school community,

Foundation interviews for 2025 have continued in earnest this week. Our soon to be students are “Covid babies” with many born in mid-2019 just before everything went south. Interestingly, we often associate negative thoughts to Covid and understandably so in many circumstances. That being said, the pandemic did provide some families with more opportunities for connection and face to face time and this has shone through in some of the Foundation interviews. Next year we have 40 girls and 29 boys at this stage.

Important Dates

Term 3

Saturday 10th August @ 6pm - Eucharist Celebration OLHC

Saturday 17th August @ 6pm - Eucharist Celebration OLHC

Tuesday 20th August - Foundation Pet Parade

Wednesday 21st August - Book Week Dress-up Day

Thursday 22nd August - SSV AFL Girls Footy - Melbourne

Friday 30th August - Father's Day Breakfast

Friday 30th August - Assembly 3CS

Friday 6th September - OLHC Disco - TBC

9th - 18th September - Yr 5 Swimming Program

Tuesday 10th September - PFA Meeting

Thursday 19th September - Grandparents/Special Persons Day

Thursday 19th September - Assembly FNM

Friday 20th September - Staff Maths PD - Student Free Day

Teaching & Learning @ OLHC

A Message from Mr A

Week 4 Term 3

OLYMPIC FUN @ OLHC

There is plenty of Olympic fever across the classrooms the last week or so with lots of activities tailored around the Games and highlights replayed in class time. It is an exciting time that comes around every four years so students will only experience this twice in their primary schooling. I caught two exciting events in the courtyard this week. Our Grade 4 level has been competing in a mini Olympics with events such as tug-o-war and Keepy Upee with some balloons. Our Foundation level learning about Equestrian. They had some pretty cool horses to jump on and run through some routines, courtesy of the big fella, Paul Dwyer, husband of Mrs Dwyer. I feel like those horses need to make another appearance at some stage throughout the year. Thanks Paul! We are lucky to have the courtyard, which is covered in, and available for students to access throughout each day.

LOVED AND SHARED- GRADE 4 INQUIRY THE BLUE MARBLE UNIT

Our Grade 4 level has been travelling to Loved and Shared this week. This not-for-profit organisation works in partnership with our community to gift and rehome high-quality donated nursery and children’s goods, ensuring all families have access to essential resources needed to raise thriving children while reducing the amount of goods sent to landfill in our region. The students have been volunteering their time sorting donated goods. This links to their sustainability unit, The Blue Marble, and is also a branch of our Catholic Social Justice action here at OLHC. Well done Grade 4 level and big thank you to the OLHC community for the donations.

GRADE 2 EXCURSION- STUDENT WRITING

On Wednesday the 7th of August, we went for an excursion to the recycling station at K-Mart. We put one recyclable container each into the machine. It is a good way to keep rubbish out of the landfill. We collected the voucher and will donate it to ‘Loved and Shared’. Next we went to see our colouring competitions that were on display at K-Mart. Our last stop was Wendy’s Ice-creamery. We each got a vanilla ice-cream cone. It was really good. It was a fun excursion. Thank you to K-Mart for helping to organise the excursion, and paying for our ice-creams!

Harper Holloway

GRADE 6- GET AROUND THEM!

Isn’t this great to see! Ollie Carr and Maya McLeod, a couple of our Senior leaders, looking after the place. Well done you two! Brendan, Tanya and Noel do a fantastic job of looking after the school but we can all do our little bit to make our school a better place.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Naish

Technology Toolkit with Mrs Fitzgerald and Mrs Murfett

New technology updates, cyber safety tips and snapshots of the learning experiences happening in the digital classroom. Let’s work together to make the online space a positive space! If you have any questions or concerns please contact us:

Mrs Sarah Murfett: smurfett@olhcwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au

Mrs Ellen Fitzgerald: efitzgerald@olhcwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au

Cyberbullying - Michael Carr-Gregg

Most people have never heard of Keeley Houghton. The 18 year old from Malvern, in Worcestershire has however gone down in history, as the first person in Britain ever to be jailed for bullying on a social networking site on the 21st August 2009.

The Court heard that Keeley posted a death threat online saying she would kill Emily Moore, whom she had bullied for four years since they were at school together. On her personal page, Houghton wrote of her victim: 'Keeley is going to murder the b####. She is an actress. What a ******* liberty. Emily ****head Moore.'

In addition to being sentenced to three months in a young offenders' institution after pleading guilty to harassment, Keeley was also given a restraining order banning her from contacting Emily in person, via the internet or in any other manner for five years. While her case made headlines around the world, (Click here to see the article) the reality is that in Australia today, research by UNSW's Social Policy Research Centre found one in five young Australians aged eight to 17 experiences cyberbullying each year. The research shows that cyberbullying is most prominent in children aged between 10 and 15 years, with prevalence decreasing for 16-17 year-olds. The estimated number of children and young people who were victims of cyberbullying each year was 463,000, with around 365,000 in the 10-15 age group.

Cyber bullying is a way of delivering a type of bullying using information and communication technology to support deliberate repeated and hostile behaviour by an individual or group that is intended to harm other people. This type of repeated harassment involving death threats, such as in the Keeley Houghton case, insult or humiliation – all if which occur through electronic mediums such as emails, mobile phone social networking sites, instant messaging programs. chat rooms, websites and online games.

Who does this?

It usually occurs between people who are known to each other - such as students at school, members of the sporting club or someone from the same social clique or a friend of a friend, It is usually someone that the target knows. As the renowned cyber bullying expert Susan Maclean writes: "… cyber bullies do not normally drop from cyberspace and attach themselves to your child." (Sexts, Texts and Selfies 2014).

What is the difference between cyber bullying and trolling?

…

Continue reading here.

Foundation

Pearl Morris

Hugo Small

Alice Green

Yr 1

Nicholson Niruban

Hudson Dillon

Lincoln Cleverly

Mason Nadaraj

Raff Lynch

Yr 2

Harriet Jess

Zavier Burrows

Matilda Attrill

Alice Coxall

Yr 3

Esther Dillon

Vincent Lamb

Isaac Paul

Maggie Harris

Yr 4

Lyla Shiells

Toby Sedgley

Hallie Lewis

Jordan Levett

Yr 5

Bella Warburton

Kyson Rogers

Harrison Watson

Logan Rae-White

Yr 6

Xavier Sherlock

Indi Griffin

Harley Wickenton

Spirit of Our Lady's Award

Aleah Wenga

Arzdeep Kaur

Hazel Davison

Pippa Byrne

Indi Pickford

Hamish Auld

Logan Miller

Faith & Culture

Parish Office Hours: 9am - 4pm Monday - Friday

P: 5562 2231

E: southwestcoast@ballarat.catholic.org.au

webpage : https://www.southwestcoastparish.com.au/

Weekend Masses

Saturday Vigil

6:00pm OLHC, Warrnambool East

Sunday Morning

9:00am Infant Jesus, Koroit

9:00am St Pius X, Warrnambool West

10:30am St Joseph’s, Warrnambool

10:30am St Patrick’s, Port Fairy

6:00pm St Joseph’s Warrnambool

*11:00am St Anne’s, Purnim

2nd Sunday of the month (Eucharist)

Weekday Masses

NB: MASS OF THE DAY IS REPLACED WHEN A FUNERAL IS HELD AT THAT CHURCH

Tues 10:00am St Pius X

Wed 10:00am St Joseph’s

Thu 10:00am OLHC & 11:00am Mercy Place

Fri 10:00am St Joseph’s

Sat 10:00am OLHC

Piety Shop

With the celebration of the First Eucharist coming up, parents and grandparents may be interested in purchasing items from the Piety Shop.

The Piety Shop sells a wide selection of suitable Christian gifts for the significant sacraments and liturgical times of the year. Marita Flannigan can be contacted on 0402 431 053 for items from the Port Fairy Piety Shop.

Updated Changes - Eucharist Dates

Eucharist Celebration Mass at OLHC church on Saturday, 10th & 17th August at 6 pm

Kind regards,

The Sacrament Team

Get Up and Eat
(John 6: 41 - 51)

At this, because he said, “I am the Bread that came down from heaven,” the Jews started arguing over him: “Isn’t this the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father? Don’t we know his mother? How can he now say, ‘I came down out of heaven’ and expect anyone to believe him?” (John 6: 41 - 42)

Some people liked it when Jesus criticised the religious leaders of his day – though it didn’t go down well with the leaders, obviously. And some liked it when he upheld every jot and title of the law. Unless they were lawbreakers, who liked it when he broke the law. Jesus was popular when he held out hope for sinners, though not with the righteous. The problem with Jesus was, he couldn’t please ALL of the people ANY of the time.

But he could manage to offend everyone at once. When Jesus said he was manna from heaven, nobody was happy with that. It sounded like blasphemy, a claim that reached too high. How could anyone say they were from heaven? This bread from heaven thing was going too far.

Jesus offers himself as living bread to feed that part of us that will never die. When Jesus says, “get up and eat,” it’s a bad time to start doing theology. The right response is to tuck in your napkin. I know people who run around in circles trying to decide what they believe about the Eucharist, whether or not they’re worthy to receive, whether or not they can take the Host from a layperson or a gay person. If Jesus is the bread of life, and dinner is served, I don’t want to be the one who says no, thank you.

Think a moment before you answer: Why do you receive holy communion?

Make a Choice
(John 6: 41 - 51)

Most shopping centres have large food courts with a number of different styles of food. Certain streets feature one fast food restaurant after another. Some neighbourhoods become noted for their upscale restaurants. Even university accommodation, boarding schools and hospital cafeterias, once notorious for bad food, now sport elaborate food stations.

So much of the world subsists on a particular starch – like rice or pasta or potatoes – as a basis of its food intake, and the same food is prepared and eaten in the same way day after day.

But in our land of incredible bounty, we insist on variety. Feel like a hot dog for lunch? There are all sorts to choose from – regular, all beef, low fat, vegetarian, kosher, chicken, turkey – just to name a few.

Jesus offers us a choice today. He never forces himself on us. It is an invitation. And included in that invitation is the gift of eternal life in heaven. It’s there for our taking, no matter how bad we may be feeling about ourselves. After all, Elijah prayed for death, but instead the angel of the Lord brought him food.

So among the many choices available to us, we can choose Jesus as our Bread of Life and be guaranteed eternal life. What more could we ask for?

Our Diocesan Community Magazine - tap here

Wellbeing

If you want to learn to ride a skateboard or get better at maths, you need to practise. It’s the same when you want to feel happier!

Here are some easy ideas to give Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness and Emotional Literacy a try every day. Because the more you practise, the better you will feel.

Let's Practice!

Tap here to access SchoolTV

Why won’t my kids listen to me? A psychologist explains

Have you ever asked your child to do something simple but no matter how many times you ask, they keep ignoring you?

For example, on a school morning you may call out, “Sarah, put your shoes on. We have to go!” as you are trying to finish an email, clean up breakfast dishes and make it to work on time yourself.

You get no answer and no signs of shoe wearing. So you repeat it, this time a little louder and then again. You finally get a frustrated response from your child: “but I can’t find my shoes!”. And so you yell back, “well you should have had them organised last night like I told you!” Yet again, you are all starting the day stressed.

You may find yourself wondering why it seems your kids listen to their teachers, coaches, friends’ parents … basically anyone else but you.

Why is this? And how can you talk to your child so they listen?

Your child’s development and their ability to listen

As a starting point, it may help to understand children don’t have the same capacity to listen as adult. Or the same capacity to care about what you are asking them.

Children between two and seven are naturally ego-centric.

This means they think mostly about themselves and their immediate needs. They are not are likely to to be able to take on other people’s perspectives. So they don’t care that if they muck around and don’t put their shoes you might miss your important 9 o’clock meeting.

Around 13, the brain starts to change. Research shows teenagers start to find voices that are not from their family more interesting. This is part of growing up, preparing them for life beyond their family.

This marks a significant shift from younger children, whose brains are primarily attuned to prioritise their parents’ voices. But it also means when you ask your adolescent to unpack the dishwasher before they leave for school, they are less likely to think it is important.

This situation can be made more complex if a child is neurodivergent and has issues with attention or taking on new information. Or if they have hearing issues.

Why do they listen to their teacher but not me?

Kids also tend to be more comfortable with their parents than any other adults. So they know they can zone out from us and we will still love them.

This is not the same with a school teacher, netball coach or other adult they are less familiar with. There are extra factors working in a teacher’s favour (although teachers will tell you, students do not listen all the time).

Schools have a structured approach that naturally enforces rules and consistency. For examples, bells ring to signal the start of the day, the teacher stands at the front of the class to signal the start of a lesson. Teachers are also trained in how to teach as well as skills to manage classroom dynamics effectively.

Peer pressure – and the desire to fit in – can also work in a positive way here, too. If all the other kids in the class or soccer team are doing what they are told, other kids are likely to follow suit.

Communication is not just talking

So there are some things stacked against us as parents. But there are things we can do to approach this parent-child dynamic differently.

According to psychologist Albert Mehrabian’s model of communication, only 7% of our feelings and attitudes are conveyed through the words we use in spoken communications. He suggests 38% is via tone and voice and the remaining 55% is conveyed through body language.

So when our children are not speaking back, they are still communicating with us. They could be doing this via facial expressions, posture and hand gestures. These can all give us clues to help us connect and communicate with them.

For example, their silence may mean, “I can’t find my shoes. But I’m worried I might get in trouble” Or it could mean, “I don’t want to go to school today”. Or, “I am finding this drawing I am doing really fun and I don’t want to stop”.

What can you do differently?

So if Sarah has not responded or appeared with her shoes on, instead of yelling out again, you could try going and finding where she is. Crouch down to her level, make eye contact and with a smile, ask if she has any ideas where her shoes are? Would she like some help?

Where you can, it is important to give children choice, so they feel like they have some control over their life.

You are also being what psychologists call a “trustful parent” here. You are signalling to your child they are competent and their opinion matters. You are supporting them to find their lost shoes (rather than fighting against them).

Tips for getting your child to listen

There are also some things we can do as parents to stack the odds in our favour:

try not to communicate when we are distracted or on the go. This is more likely to result in a calm and gentle instruction or request to your child. If children feel like they are “in trouble” they can go into a defensive mode and zone out
keep your instructions simple and achievable. Break things down if needs be
thank your child for doing things.

In the meantime, keep observing the world through their eyes. This may not always result in them doing what you ask, when you ask it. But hopefully it will mean less parental angst for you and your child will also feel heard.