23 July 2021

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Yesterday was the Feast of Mary Magdalene, a favourite saint of mine. My image of Mary is a strong woman with a strong love for Jesus;  a great saint to reflect on in these uncertain times.

According to the Evangelist John, Mary is the first one to whom Christ appears after the Resurrection, surely a sign of his great love for her. Jesus asks Mary to return to the fearful and uncertain disciples and proclaim what she has seen. I can almost hear her joyfully shouting, “I have seen the Lord!” in this painting by UK artist, Michael Cook (@Hallowedart).   Notice the broken egg in the bottom left corner?

This week’s Walk Worthy of God Good Sport award was presented to Austen Foy at Assembly (It's not the same without you, parents and grandparents!)  this morning. Mr Madden spoke of a young man who is kind, encouraging and an all-round good sport!

NEWS FLASH!

Our senior girls AFL team has just won the regional final of the Paul Kelly Cup!! Go MHOC!

We say a warm welcome to the O’Brien and Pearson families who have joined the school community this week.

Warm regards,

Liz

Liz Watts
Principal

UPCOMING EVENTS

TERM 3 

• 19th-29th July - Book Fair - Extended
• 26th July - MHOC Grandparents' Day - Postponed
• 5th August - Confirmation practice in the church 3:30pm
• 5th August - Coffs Cup Half Day Public Holiday - School closes at 12pm
• 6th August - Jammies for Joeys
• 10th August - Confirmation with Bishop Greg - 5pm & 7pm 
• 27th August - Book Week Dress-up day (Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds)
• 2nd September- Fathers’ Day stall
• 3rd September-  Fathers’ Day breakfast and Footy Colours Day
• 6th November:  'Faith in the Future' Combined Schools Music Presentation (Save the Date)

2021 Pupil Free Days

• 17th September (last day of Term 3)
• 5th October (first day Term 4)

WHAT'S THE BUZZ?

Raffle Winner

Congratulations to Molly Jones who won the Captain's raffle and well done Year 6 on your great fundraising efforts $340, what an achievement!

Coffs Cup Half Day Public Holiday

Thursday 5th August is currently a gazetted half day public holiday in the Coffs Harbour area. Please note that this could change at short notice if the public holiday is revoked as it was in 2020.

Should this public holiday go ahead, the school will be closing at 12pm. If you are unable to collect your child/ren from school by 12pm on this day, you will need to make other arrangements for the care of your child/ren on that day. 

Faith in the Future

In 2020, we were fortunate to be the successful recipients of the Lismore Diocese Arts Partnership Grant. This grant has enabled us to begin a combined schools choral project called ‘Faith in the Future’.

Choirs and bands from our four local Catholic schools will be joining together for a musical concert on November 6th, 2021. We are working with our Artist in Residence, Paul Jarman, who is an internationally renowned composer, musician and conductor, based in Valla. More information about Paul and his work can be found at this website: http://www.pauljarman.com/

We will be performing some of Paul's songs at our concert and he is working alongside our teachers and students to put together a concert similar to our 2017 performance ‘From the Heart’. Paul will be meeting our choir students in an outdoor setting on Tuesday 27th July for a workshop and rehearsal for our upcoming performance. 

More details surrounding "Faith in the Future" will be provided this term as we finalise the programme and logistics. We are looking forward to our performance with Paul and our combined schools’ choir.

August Census

Please see the below, privacy notice regarding the August Census.

FROM THE MISSION DESK

Learning about God’s Family in Kindergarten

Who is in God’s family? Kindergarten are undertaking the task of finding out just who we are talking about when we mention God’s family. They have dedicated a wall in their prayer space for adding any information they find about people who are part of this great family. So far they have learnt about people in the Bible, Abraham and Sarah and their son Isaac who married Rebecca. We also added the names of all the children in Kindergarten to the wall. It certainly is a BIG family!

Socks and Jocks - Mini Vinnies

The collection boxes in classrooms are starting to fill up with socks and jocks ready to be donated to Pete’s Place on Friday 13th of August. Thank you to the Mini Vinnies group for all their hard work so far and to those who have already donated. Keep those socks and jocks coming in!

HPL HAPPENINGS

Over the past few weeks, students from Year Four to Six have been working on Australian Mathematics Trust challenge booklets. Students work in small groups to solve complex problems using any means possible to find a solution. The conversations amongst peers and logical reasoning utilised to justify an answer is quite astonishing.

ICAS ASSESSMENTS

We’re delighted to inform you that we will be participating in ICAS again this year to recognise and reward academic achievement. ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies. The assessments are suitable for students wishing to extend themselves academically and take up the personal challenge of competing in an international assessment.

Every student will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals and are invited to attend special award ceremonies to have their academic excellence publicly recognised. 

The assessments are now fully online and sitting dates will be during Term 3

Writing & Digital Technologies Monday, 9 August 2021 to Friday, 13 August 2021

English Monday, 16 August 2021 to Friday, 20 August 2021

Science & Spelling Bee Monday, 23 August 2021 to Friday, 27 August 2021

Mathematics Monday, 30 August 2021 to Friday, 3 September 2021

To confirm your child’s participation, visit https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps and enter our unique school code AEI552 to make a direct payment to ICAS Assessments. Online payment closing dates are as follows:

Digital Technologies 23/7/2021

Writing 23/7/2021

English 1/8/2021

Science 8/8/2021

Spelling Bee 8/8/2021

Mathematics 15/8/2021

LOVING LEARNING

The Value of Making Mistakes

Thomas Edison said that he did not fail at making the light bulb one thousand times, but rather that "the light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot... and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed."  (Michael Jordan)

Making mistakes is a natural part of all learning. 

The latest research around student learning shows that mistakes are a very important part of a student’s learning process.  When a person makes an error in their work and they have the opportunity to learn from it, they actually develop a much deeper understanding of whatever the topic may be. In fact, the research states that students learn more from making mistakes than from getting all the right answers. When a child makes an error, it offers insight into what understanding he/she has about a topic, concept or idea. It allows us, as parents and teachers, to talk to the child about what they know, and ask questions to stretch their thinking around where they are currently developing their understanding. 

Good questions to ask  include: 

How do you know that? 

What was your thinking here? 

Is there another way you could do that? 

Can you tell me more?

Asking these types of questions helps to develop the skills of reasoning and communication and can be more helpful than simply showing a child how a particular task is done or giving them the answer. When we support an attitude that values learning from mistakes, we  are communicating to our children that mistakes are good things when learning and can lead to deeper understanding. Encouraging our children to adopt this mindset supports lifelong learning.

Habits of Mind - Habit of the Week: Finding Humour

A unique attribute of human beings is our sense of humour and our ability to laugh. Laughing has positive effects on psychological functions including a drop in the pulse rate, the production of endorphins and an increased oxygen in the blood. It has been found to promote creativity and higher level thinking skills. People who engage in the mystery of humour have the ability to perceive situations from an original and often interesting point of view. They appreciate and understand other people’s humour and are verbally playful when talking to others. They are able to laugh at situations and themselves. They don’t laugh AT others, rather they laugh WITH others and can identify situations when laughter and humour is appropriate.

Some common behaviours of students who don’t find humour:

• Some students find humour in all the “wrong places”- such as laughing at others because they are ‘different’ or less capable. They will laugh at behaviour that is dangerous, vulgar or violent.
• They laugh at others, yet are unable to laugh at themselves.
• They rarely find humour in their own mistakes; rather, they become upset or embarrassed.

NEWS FROM OUR PARENT BODY

The Parish School Forum met on Tuesday night with reports provided by all committees.

We will provide a summary in next week’s newsletter.

SPORT NEWS

Athletics

Unfortunately, the Zone and Diocesan Athletics carnivals have both been postponed due to current restrictions. Rebooking venues after multiple event postponements can get very tricky, so new dates will be notified as soon as possible.

Sporting Event updates

We have already relayed specific information to parents, but below is a list of the upcoming events. Obviously things can change at short notice and we will contact parents as soon as possible as announcements are made.

• Zone Athletics 3rd August - postponed. New date tba
• State Netball 19th-21st July - cancelled
• Paul Kelly Cup (AFL) regional final 23rd July - no change
• Chris Gangemi Cup (NSW Catholic Schools Rugby State Final) 9th August - cancelled.
• All Schools State Rugby Union 17th-19th August - no change
• Diocesan Athletics 13th August - postponed. New date tba

NEWS FROM OUR PARISH

Inquiry night for becoming a Catholic

Unfortunately, this event was postponed from this week to next week. If you or someone you know is interested in discovering more about this journey, please invite them to join us next Thursday 29th July in the parish meeting room.

FFFF

This week there were games of  wink murder and all-in tips and some yummy afternoon tea from Eillen and Marie. In our prayer, we thanked God for the many gifts of God’s creation, and in our team puzzle-solving activity we focused on working together and reflected on how to be inclusive with our words, actions and body language.

Sacraments- Confirmation

At this stage, the planned celebration of Confirmation will go ahead with some restrictions. If you are involved with this, please keep in contact with your companions and watch out for messages in our Facebook group, emails, etc. Remember that on Thursday 5th August at 3:30pm there will be one practice session for all the children, with one adult only to accompany each child, due to number restrictions.

The Sacrament of Baptism is available to those requesting it.  Please ring Jennifer at the Parish Office (66583544) or talk to Margaret Ryan or Liz Watts at school if you have any questions.

Parish Website , E-bulletin & Facebook Page

For all the latest news from our parish, check out the Parish website or subscribe to our  new e-bulletin which can be sent directly to your inbox each week. Why not sign up today by entering your details in the sign up box on the Homepage or Contact page of the website!

And don’t forget to check out our FaceBook page

SENSEI'S CORNER

Today was Japanese Tea Ceremony day in the library.

Sensei  wore a traditional Japanese  kimono and the students wore happi coats.

The tea ceremony gave the students a chance to try Japanese flavoured teas, including the most bitter- green tea (with a little honey!). 

This video shows a typical ceremony.

We learnt that it's important to sit seiza style on your knees with a straight back. Ouch!

Thank you to our regular club committee members who helped serve the tea.

We had to remember to:-

1. Bow once to greet.
2. Bow again when you receive your tea.
3. Turn the pattern on the cup outward so you look gorgeous as you sip!
4. Delicately "slurp"  the last bit to show great enjoyment.
5. Pass the cup back to the server with your last bow of thanks. 

This video shows a traditional game that we tried after tasting.

Have a go at home!

LIBRARY WHISPERS

Exciting news! Due to popular demand, the MHOC Book Fair has been extended until next Thursday 26th. Don’t forget you can pay online through www.scholastic.com.au/payment and send your child with the order form (please don’t forget to put the receipt number on the form) and I’ll give them the books. If we’ve run out of the book they’ve purchased, I will order it in for them.

Don’t forget to send your ‘Reading In a Crazy Place’ photos. The competition ends on Thursday next week. Email them to me at rachael.hewitt@lism.catholic.edu.au or send a copy of a photo in with your child (no originals please)

It’s always exciting to receive book donations for the library, but even more exciting when the book is written by someone connected to the school! This week Adam McDonald in Year 2 donated a book written by his Aunty!

MERIT AWARDS

Awards: Term 3 Week 2

OSHC

Another fun week at MHOC OSHC! We have had lots of interest in soccer, arts and crafts lately. We had so much fun with the recent school holidays and we can’t wait to see what fun and excitement Term 3 brings.

CANTEEN NEWS

Sushi

Sushi is now available on Mondays as well as Thursdays. Order on Flexischools by 8pm the night before.

Canteen Roster

Monday 26th July
Jess Power

Tuesday 27th July
Cheryl Jones
Robin Courtney

Wednesday 28th July
Bella Baldock

Thursday 29th July
Penny Johnston

Friday 30th July
Liz Jackson
Vanessa Hiller

Flexischools

For easy ordering and convenience, order your child/children's lunch order from Flexischools: https://www.flexischools.com.au/

WOOLWORTHS

Thank you to Woolworths at Toormina who sponsor Free Fruit Friday every week with a generous donation of fruit.

COMMUNITY NEWS