Dear Parents / Caregivers and families, 

Last Sunday our faith community celebrated the great Feast of Pentecost. The word ‘Pentecost’ means ‘the fiftieth day’. Historically, Pentecost was a Jewish feast that celebrated God’s gift of the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel. This event took place fifty days after their escape from Egypt. As is often the case in the bible, the themes beautifully come together. Fifty days after God saves his chosen people from slavery in Egypt they receive the laws that will define them as a nation and establish them up as God’s chosen people. They commit themselves to living their lives in accordance with these laws and in doing so, they hope to demonstrate to the world that they are indeed worthy of God’s love. And so, just as on the fiftieth day after the Jewish Passover, God gifted His chosen people with the laws of love.  How beautiful to realise that on the fiftieth day after the New Passover, commemorated through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God once again gifted his people with the means to live the law of love faithfully and fearlessly by gifting them with the Holy Spirit. 

At the Ascension, Jesus commissioned his followers to complete the task he came to do. This mission is continued today through the work of his Church. Jesus promised he would not leave us as orphans and that he would send the Holy Spirit to guide and help us to live out the messages of the Gospels. Pentecost demonstrates how the Church should be if it is to be Jesus’ presence and voice in the world. Like the members of early church, the faithful today must be fearless, relentless, and actively striving for justice. 

The usual image of Pentecost is of the ‘tongues of fire’ alighting the heads of the apostles. 

But there’s another, quieter image, that comes from St John’s Gospel and recounts Jesus’ appearance to his disciples on Easter evening. This was the gospel used on Sunday. The disciples were gathered in the familiar Upper Room, the doors being barred, and the windows shut for fear of the Jews. Jesus enters the room, and his presence fills their hearts. “When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. ‘Peace be with you’, he said, and he showed them his hands and his side.” The presence of the Spirit of Jesus is the presence of peace and joy. Pentecost is about encounter and receptiveness to the workings of the Holy Spirit.

The meaning of Pentecost is the realisation that all of us have been given the abundance of the Spirit — to communicate peace and joy, to preach compassion and forgiveness. These continue to be the gifts of Pentecost that can be brought to life in each of us individually and collectively as the living Church, now and forever.

May your week ahead be filled be moments where you can encounter the peace, joy, compassion, and forgiveness of the Holy Spirit.

Tina Murray

Principal

PARENT / TEACHER CONFERENCES

These are an important opportunity to formally meet with your child/ren’s teacher and to discuss their report and progress to date. 

Reports are scheduled to be sent home on Monday June 20.

The benefits of attending these learning conferences with your child can never be underestimated. They provide an essential opportunity to set goals and targets for continued learning in Semester 2, as well as, strongly reinforcing the notion of partnership between home and school, which research indicates is a strong indicator of student success. 

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES

The safety of your child and all students in our school as well as the safety of the school, staff and support personnel is very important to us. To maintain a safe environment for our students to study and learn, it is a necessary compliance requirement that we practice our emergency and crisis response plans by having drills designed to exercise our procedures. 

In response to previous parent feedback, we are providing the following information to help parents understand the importance of these practices as well as to understand each type of drill.

The students and staff of our school are required to practice the following emergency drills each year. Each type of drill is explained below.

EVACUATION DRILLS

The school is required to conduct a 'evacuation drill' on an annual basis.  

During an 'Evacuation Drill', students will be safely escorted along a designated evacuation route to our pre-determined evacuation site – the Infants Grass Area.  

At the conclusion of the drill, all students will be escorted back to their classrooms. We want each student to understand and be aware of the importance of this drill and not be afraid when the alarm is sounded.  By practising they will know what to do and how to do it in the event of an actual emergency.

LOCKDOWN DRILLS

The school must conduct at least one 'Lockdown Drill' throughout each school year. This type of drill will secure the school building and safely shelter all students, staff, and visitors inside the building.  The purpose of this drill is to keep the students safe from any danger outside or inside the building.  During a 'lockdown drill' all the perimeter doors to the school building will be locked and will remain locked until the danger or issue outside or inside the building is removed.  To enable everyone to remain safe, no one will be allowed to enter the building or leave the building until the drill is completed.  

In the event of an actual emergency, to maintain the safety of everyone involved and to maintain order, we respectfully ask that you abide by the following:

• Do not come to the school site;
• Do not call the school offices (as we will be busy with the drill or actual emergency);
• Do not contact students or staff members via mobile phone or social media (as they will be busy with the drill or actual emergency);
• Avoid social media posts. Correct information will be disseminated through the Compass system as soon as possible;
• Please make sure that all contact information is current at all times so that you can be reached without delay in the event of an emergency;
• In the event of an actual emergency, you will receive Compass notifications about where to pick up your child as soon as practicable.
• Please remember that these safety practice drills are done to help maintain our schools as a safe place to learn and work.
• Please discuss these procedures with your child as both drills will be undertaken in the coming weeks.

Enjoy your week and the moments of grace that may come your way. 

Tina Murray

Principal

PHOTOGRAPHIC CONSENT

During the enrolment process parents are requested to provide direction regarding consent to use photographs, visuals, audio content and other work relating to their child for promotion and communication within the school and or the Diocese of Wollongong. This information must be updated each year to allow us to update our Compass records. If you believe this information has not been updated recently please return the consent form attached below. Additional information about consent is included on the form.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN YEAR 3

Year 3 have been working on a unit in History about celebrations and commemorations. They have been learning about celebrations and commemorations of significance in Australia and around the world. They have described how significant individuals, groups and events have contributed to changes in the local community over time and the importance of symbols and emblems. 

The students completed an inquiry into different celebrations. Aiden, Antonia and Naea shared some of the things they have learnt over the last six weeks.

Aiden learnt about the festival of Diwali. It is a five-day festival that celebrates the victory of light over darkness. Hindus across the world are celebrating Diwali. The five-day festival of lights is one of the most popular holidays in India, and Thursday is the main day of festivities, when the faithful pray to the Hindu goddess of wealth.

Naea learnt about Hanukkah, which is an eight day Jewish celebration known as commemorating the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. The Jewish people celebrate traditions such as lighting the menorah, playing the dreidel game, eating gelt, cooking and baking delicious food, and enjoying the fun of Hanukkah gifts. 

Antonia investigated Holi which is a Hindu festival that celebrates spring, love and new life. It is a colourful festival with dancing, singing and throwing of powder paint and colourful water. Holi is also known as the “festival of colours”. 

This unit of work culminated in a cultural awareness picnic. The students brought in foods from their own cultural background or other cultures to share with their classmates.

Mrs Lillian Del Giudice

Assistant Principal

Sacred Heart Mass - Friday 24 June 2022

Every year we hold a very special Mass on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. During this Mass we award one student our very special Sacred Heart Award. This is awarded to a student who has displayed loving, caring and empathetic qualities towards others and who opens their heart to the needs of others.

Mrs Debusch, who used to be a Principal at our School, introduced this award many years ago. This award is a long standing tradition at our School. 

Assembly - Friday 10 June 2022 at 1:45

This Friday Year 1 will be holding a very special prayer during

their K - Year 2 Assembly

1:45 pm

Congratulations to all those students who have remembered to bring their Library bags and return their books, well done, an awesome effort!!! There are still over  300 books which are overdue from students who continue to forget their Library bags, so please have a look around at home and see if you can find them. Students with outstanding loans are encouraged to bring them back as soon as possible. The Library is open at Lunch 2 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week, and students are welcome to come in then and borrow. Thank you.

Lessons this week:

Thursday – Year  4

Next week:

Tuesday – Year 6

Wednesday – Year 5

Thursday – Year 3

Friday – Year 2

Damaged Books

If a book is damaged or torn while at home, please do not attempt to repair it. While we appreciate your efforts, we have the correct materials at school and it is easier for us, and better for the book, if we repair it here. Using sticky tape to attach torn or loose pages is not ideal. Please just ask your child to let us know, and we can fix it. The students do not get into trouble if a book is accidentally damaged, we would rather know about it so we can do something about it! If a book is damaged beyond repair, then we do ask that it either be paid for or replaced by something similar. Please try to keep the books away from younger siblings (and pets!)  – we have had a number of books which have had to be thrown out because they have been scribbled in and torn, or water-damaged. Thank you for your support in this matter.

Scholastic Book Club

The brochures went home last week, ordering is available online as indicated on the brochures. No orders or money are able to be accepted at school. Orders close for this issue, Issue Four, this Friday 10 June. Thank you for your support of this program, it is a great way to buy books for your children.

Premiers' Reading Challenge

Remember to keep reading for the PRC, we have plenty of time to read the required number of books and register them online. If you are familiar with login details you can login at home and register all completed books. If not, we will be able to login at school and complete the lists. The website has the list of books as well as the login button for each student:  https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

You can also go to our Oliver home page at oliver.dow.catholic.edu.au/miev and click on the link to take you to the website. Remember Kindergarten – Year 2 must read 30 books, and Years 3 - 6 must read 20, with 5 Personal Choice books allowed.

"Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read." 

Marilyn Jager Adams, Child Development Expert

Happy reading!

Mrs Sue Bryant

Teacher-Librarian

On any given night in Australia 1 in 200 people are experiencing homelessness. This figure includes a staggering number of children and young people:

• More than 17,000 Australian children under the age of 12 have no permanent home
• 60% of the homeless population is under the age of 35 and in the prime of their life
• Children face an 18% higher risk of poverty compared to other age groups

So how can we support these people and put our faith in action?

We need to experience and feel what these people do, therefore we will be hosting a Mini Sleepout. 

What is A Vinnies School Sleepout? 

The Vinnies School Sleepout allows students and school communities to get a glimpse of the realities of homelessness on a personal level by ‘sleeping rough’ for one afternoon. The Sleepout encourages students and teachers to gain a deeper understanding of homelessness, raise awareness of the realities faced by people experiencing homelessness and raise funds to support Vinnies homeless services in the local community.

Mary Immaculate will host a Mini Vinnies Mini Sleepout on 12 August (Term 3 Week 4) 3pm - 6pm for interested Year 5 and Year 6 students. 

Interested students will be asked to sign up via compass in the coming weeks and then organise sponsorship for themselves prior to the afternoon. 

What can your donations do?

• $15 pays for a day’s meals for a family struggling to put food on the table.
• $30 provides someone a bed for the night.
• $50 provides school supplies and excursion fees for a child experiencing disadvantage. 
• $80 pays for a course in life skills such as cooking, preparing for job interviews or basic computer skills at TAFE.

Further information and details to be provided at a later date.