Our Lady of Mercy
NEWSLETTER | TERM 1 | WEEK 0 | 27 JANUARY 2023
Almighty God
We give you our school.
We give you all the teachers and staff who work here,
We give you all the children who learn here.
We pray our school will continue to be a place of great discovery, adventure and creativity.
May it be a place where we love to learn and where we learn to love,
A place where every one is respected and all are deeply valued.
We ask all this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Message from the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome back to school, we are very excited to see you all again after this long summer break. We extend a very special and warm welcome to all our new families too. We know your family’s journey with us at OLOM is going to be a fulfilling one, as we work together to provide a rich teaching and learning environment for the children.
Moral Purpose, Mercy Values and our Code of Conduct
Our moral purpose is very clear. We are a Christ-centred, collaborative community, that nurtures, inspires and educates the whole child, so that they can flourish. Our Mercy values of Excellence, Service, Compassion, Justice, Integrity and Respect, guide our attitudes, actions and behaviours, as we make Jesus a living reality in our school community.
Our school has a Code of Conduct which establishes expectations for appropriate behaviours for staff, students, parents/carers, volunteers and visitors to keep all in our community safe.
Embedding the Science of Learning and Parent/Carer Classroom Welcome and Sundowner
This year our school is anchoring into many of the teaching and learning practices we have introduced over the last two years. Our teachers have been professionally developed in effective teaching practice to ensure that we achieve excellent growth in student learning outcomes.
When parents and educators work together, student achievement is enhanced and enriched. The first step in this partnership is establishing a relationship with your child’s classroom teacher.
On Friday 17th of February, we will have our annual Parent/Carer Welcome and Sundowner on our school oval. We strongly encourage every parent/carer to take the time to meet your child’s classroom teacher so that they can say hello and make you feel welcome.
Important information from your child’s teacher about the year, will be sent home digitally and if you have any questions or if you need help connecting to your child’s SeeSaw account, please use this parent/carer Welcome session to have a quick chat to your child’s teacher.
Classrooms will be open from 4.30 - 5.30pm and the Sundowner will commence at 5pm. Our P&F will soon be advertising in our school newsletter, some of the fun things that they have planned for the Sundowner.
Performing Arts Trial in 2023
We are going to trial having an Edudance Concert for the whole school which will be held at our Open Night in Term 3 on Wednesday 13th of September. This means that there will be no grade assembly performances this year. We will still hold regular assemblies to address important matters with our students. Parents are always welcome to attend any special assemblies like the ones we have in Naidoc Week and for Remembrance Day. Parents are also always welcome to attend our regular class Masses. Merit Certificates will be handed out in classrooms by the leadership team where children can be more appropriately recognised for their achievements and efforts.
Additional Pupil Free Day in 2023
Our school staff have been given the opportunity by Catholic Education Western Australia to undertake specialised training which will enable our teachers to increase student engagement and to successfully improve all students’ self-regulation, relationships, wellbeing, growth and academic achievement. To accommodate this additional professional development, our school has been granted one additional pupil free day in 2023 and 2024.
Our Pupil Free Days for 2023 are as follows:
Term 2
Monday 24 April 2023
Wednesday 26 April 2023
Term 3
Monday 17 July 2023
Friday 18 August 2023
Monday 21 August 2023
Term 4
Monday 9 October 2023
Please ensure that you diarise these dates and make the necessary arrangements to have your children cared for, as school will be closed on these days.
Newsletter Day Change
In 2023, our newsletter will be published digitally on a Thursday.
We wish you all a wonderful year and look forward to many exciting learning opportunities and experiences, as we grow together in 2023.
Kind regards
Ondine Komnick
School starts on Wednesday 1st February
For the first day of school ONLY, classrooms will open at 8.15 am so that children can settle in before the bell goes to start the day at 8.30 am.
On Thursday 2nd February, we are back to our usual school times, where children should only be on the school property from 8.10am onwards and classrooms open at 8.30am when the bell rings.
Important Dates
Friday 3 February - Whole School Mass
Thursday 9 February - Confirmation Introduction Meeting 5.30 pm (Parish)
Friday 17 February - Sundowner / Parent Welcome Night
Uniform
- Year 1 to 6: wear full summer uniform on the first day of school
- Kindy: wear play clothes or faction sports shirt
- Pre-Primary: wear sports uniform with faction colour shirt
- Remember hats with clearly labelled name!
Uniform is purchased from Nell Gray Uniform Concepts:
STORE LOCATION: 5/7 Delage Street, Joondalup WA 027
STORE PHONE: (08) 9270 4660
STORE EMAIL: joondalup@uc.nellgray.com.au
ORDER ONLINE: https://www.nellgray.com.au/Schools/Our-Lady-of-Mercy
Bring booklist items in on first day
Please bring in all your booklist items on the first day. Remember to bring in the additional classroom items that appear on your booklist, such as tissues, hand sanitiser etc.
Please ensure items are labelled with your child's name.
Welcome to Kindy
Welcome to our Kindy families!
Please meet on the Kindy veranda to collect your child’s name tag. Then place their bag on the hook, water bottle on the trolley and their hat and lunchbox in their pigeonhole. The spare change of clothing can remain in their bag.
Parents are welcome to come inside and join in with some activities before the bell rings.
Please remember to bring in your child’s Student Profile Form.
Welcome to new starters for other years
We warmly welcome new families in other grades to our school.
Meet at the office at 8.20am and our Administrator, Mrs Young, will take you to class. Wear your summer uniform and bring your booklist items, recess and lunch, water bottle and hat.
Canteen orders can be placed from Monday
Canteen operates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for recess and lunch.
LUNCH ORDER BAGS:
Lunch orders must be in a clearly labelled lunch order bag (available from the supermarkets) - please write your child’s full name, year group and lunch order on the bag. Correct money or small change only. All lunch orders must be drop off via the classroom by 8:45am. Any change is taped onto the bag. Children with no lunch bags will be charged 10c for the bag.
Please note that Kindy and Pre-Primary children can pre-order recess.
We encourage parents to make use of the online ordering system which can be accessed at
Follow OLOM news and photos on Facebook
Follow us: https://www.facebook.com/ourladyofmercygirrawheen/
School Term Dates 2023
Term 1: Wednesday, 1 February to Thursday, 6 April 2023
Term 2: Thursday, 27 April to Friday, 30 June 2023
Term 3: Tuesday 18 July to Friday, 22 September 2023
Term 4: Tuesday, 10 October to Friday, 8 December 2023
Our Lady of Mercy Primary School
Email: admin@olom.wa.edu.au
Website: http://www.olom.wa.edu.au
Location: 55 Hudson Avenue, Girrawheen WA 6064, Australia
Phone: (08) 9207 7677
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourladyofmercygirrawheen/