Our Lady of the Cape Primary School
Newsletter - 25th January 2024
Lord,
Thank you for the unique gifts of every child
as they transition into a new school year
at Our Lady of the Cape.
Fill each student with fresh enthusiasm
and a heart that is excited to learn and grow.
Shelter them with your enduring love,
give them confidence and equip them
with the ability to persevere through trials.
Bless their teachers with wisdom
as they embark on the journey together.
Amen
Dear Parents and Community Members,
Welcome!
Welcome back to the start of the 2024 school year. Hopefully, you all enjoyed a relaxing break with your families.
As we start this new school year, we can celebrate new beginnings, and focus on our own expectations, ensuring that kindness guides our actions, as we strive to work together to ‘make Jesus real’ to all we encounter in our daily lives.
A warm welcome to new families joining our school community. It is always lovely to see the excitement on the faces of all students as they come to school on their first day for the new school year. A special welcome to our Kindergarten students, who have brand new classrooms that were completed ready to move into just yesterday. Half of the class will start on Thursday 1 February and the other half will start on Friday 2 February. Our inaugural Pre Kindergarten students will start on Wednesday 7 February, with more joining them when they have their birthdays. We also have a brand new Year 1 classroom, alongside the existing Year 1 room.
Our Lady of the Cape is a wonderful school and community due to positive relationships between families and staff working together to support students. I encourage all families, as the first educators of their children, to continue to work in collaboration with teachers to ensure the best outcomes for our students.
Please take the time to look at the School Calendar, on our website. Please keep an eye out for information in the school newsletters and make note of important dates as opportunities for further developing the Our Lady of the Cape community spirit.
Parent Information meetings will be held on Tues 6 February starting at 5pm, for Pre Primary to Year 6. Please make an effort to attend these. Teachers are preparing these meetings for you, and they really do set the scene for the year. The meetings are short, and information provided is important.
Welcome to New staff
Welcome to Mrs Michelle Blythman as Pre Kindy teacher, Miss Grace Anderson – Pre Primary teacher, Miss Natalie Matthews - Year 2 teacher, Miss Millie Charlton– Year 3 teacher and Mrs Jessica Graham – Music teacher. We welcome back from leave Mrs Monique Wendelin as Kindy teacher and Mrs Alison Martin as a specialist teacher. Mrs Leanne Gibbons and Mrs Misty Hearne join us as Education Assistants. Leah Reilly will also be joining Mrs Kemp to help out in the Library.
Term Dates and Student Free Days Our Lady of the Cape – 2024
Term 1
- Australia Day public holiday – Friday 26 January
- Student Free Days – Monday 29 January, Tuesday 30 January
- Students commence (PP-Year 6) – Wednesday 31 January
- Pre Kindy play sessions - Wednesday 31 January 1.15pm and 2.15pm
- Kindy Staggered start - Thursday 1 February (half class)
- Kindy Staggered start - Friday 2 February (2nd half of class)
- Kindy Commences - Tuesday 6 February
- Pre Kindy Commences - Wednesday 7 February
- Optional 4th Kindy Day commences - Monday 12th February
- Labour Day public holiday – Monday 4 March
- Student Free Day - Friday 22 March (Parent Teacher Meetings)
- Last day of Term 1 for Students and Staff – Thursday 28 March
Term 2
- Students commence – Monday 15 April
- ANZAC Day public holiday – Thursday 25 April
- Student Free Day – Friday 17 May
- Western Australia Day public holiday – Monday 3 June
- Last day of Term 2 for Students – Thursday 27 June
- Student Free Day – Friday 28 June
Term 3
- Student Free Day – Monday 15 July
- Students commence – Tuesday 16 July
- Student Free Day - Catholic Day – Monday 12 August
- Last day of Term 3 for Students and Staff – Friday 20 September
Term 4
- Student Free Day – Monday 7 October
- Students commence – Tuesday 8 October
- Last day of Term 4 for Students – Friday 6 December
- Student Free Days – 9 to 13 December
Newsletters
Newsletters are published fortnightly on Thursdays. Newsletters will be published on ‘odd’ weeks each term, Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. Newsletters are published electronically. An email link is sent to families once it is published each fortnight.
School Times
Assemblies will be on Friday afternoons.
Staff duty of care for students begins at 8.30am. We request that children do not arrive until 8.30am, unless in exceptional circumstances and with prior arrangement with the Principal. Early arrivals will need to be seated outside the Administration office until 8.30am. A reminder that students are not permitted to play in the playground before school
In Term Swimming 2024 (Y2-Y6)
Swimming Day 1!
If your child is in Years 2 - 6 and has advanced a level over the holidays, please email the office ASAP at admin@ladyofcape.wa.edu with their name, class level and new swimming level.
Information to help you prepare for swimming lessons for your child/ren can be found in the attachment.
Building Updates and Classroom Access
Exciting times for OLC, with the current stage of our new Early Learning Centre being completed ready for our Pre Kindy and Kindy classes, and Mrs Neal’s Year 1 class.
Please note the best access to the new Pre Kindy/ Kindy classrooms will be from the oval carpark, as the front entrance is blocked off due to the building program. Alternatively, you can walk around the back of the Year 2 classrooms, past the Year 1 classrooms to enter the Kindy area. Access to both Year 1 classrooms will be through the sliding doors on the oval side of the classrooms. We apologise for the inconvenience over the coming months, as we conclude the current building program, and embark on the next stage, which will see two refurbished Pre Primary classrooms and a foyer area joining the Pre Primary and Year 1 classrooms.
For Semester 1 this year, Pre Primary classes will remain where they are currently located in the library building.
School Advisory Council
The first meeting for the School Advisory Council will be on Wednesday 21 February at 5.00pm in the Staff Room.
P&F
The first P&F Meeting will be held early in Term 1, with the date to be advised. We are excited that a new group have nominated to take over the P&F Executive roles for this year. Please support our new Executive and work out where you can help out with an activity or event. We expect all families to commit to helping out for at least one thing each year. Many hands make light work, and we have over 255 families to share the load. We are so grateful for the wonderful work done by our outgoing P&F to raise additional funds for resources for our beautiful school. There are some wonderful projects being considered this year, and we rely on and appreciated the contribution made by past and present P&F groups. We can’t do without your support and we are so grateful. Thank you very much.
School Fees
Annual accounts will be sent out via email in Term 1. This account will be for the year, with a range of payment options available.
Health Care Card and Pension Card Holders
Parents with Health Care Cards are reminded that they need to come to the office to upgrade their details on our system. Discounts are available on school fees for Health Care Card and Pension Card holders. You need to complete a form and we need to take a photocopy of your card for our records.
Car Park Safety and Drive Through Pick-up
Morning ‘Kiss and Drop’ in the main front car park is a good option for students. It is wonderful to observe the growing independence of students as they carry their own bags and confidently say goodbye at the car. If you would like your child to walk into school without you, please use the ‘Kiss and Drop’ lanes, rather than allowing your child to walk through the car park alone.
Please have your family name displayed on the sunvisor of your car when driving through to pick up your children. New staff will be on duty, and it is helpful for staff to keep the drive-through lane moving smoothly if we can more easily assist children to their cars. If you don’t have a family name card, please contact the school office, and they will make one up for you.
Parent Teacher Interviews (Pre Primary to Year 6)
Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in Week 8, Friday 22 March. Interviews will be held all day. Please note that this is a Student Free Day.
Changes to contact details and medical information
It is of great importance that your address, phone, medical information and emergency contacts are accurate and remain up to date. Please remember to inform the office if your details change throughout the year. A reminder to parents that if your child requires medication to be administered during school hours, you need to provide written detailed instructions by completing a medication request form at the school office. Only medication supplied by parents can be administered to students.
Permission to use images of students
From time-to-time photos of students are used in school newsletters, website, Seesaw and school managed Facebook page. Permission is sought when your child first enrols in our school. If anything changes and you no longer consent for your child/children’s images to be used, please notify the office in writing. Remember that our school-managed Facebook page is an opportunity to connect with our community.
Search for ‘Our Lady of the Cape’ and like our page.
Student Attendance Monitoring Process
Each morning at 8.40am the attendance register will be checked by classroom teachers and recorded though Seqta. If your child is absent and we have not received either a phone message or written notification as to the reason for the absence we are required to contact a parent or guardian. This contact will be by text message, to which we require a response. A reminder to parents, that we must always receive a note for every absence on the child’s return to school. If you need to collect your child before the end of the school day, please sign them out at the office on the Ipad.
Uniforms and Hair Styles
The students wear their school uniforms with pride and this helps to instil a sense of belonging. They look very smart in their uniforms. Thank you to parents for making an effort to support the school uniform policy. A reminder that our uniform policy states that hair styles need to be neat and tidy, and not reflect extreme styles or fashion trends. If hair reaches the collar, it must be tied up, for girls and boys. Jewellery is limited to a functional watch and small stud or sleeper earrings.
Canteen Update
Canteen will commence in Week 3, and will be open on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays this year. It is vital that we have volunteers to enable our canteen to be operational. This is particularly important with the addition of extra canteen days this year. Please consider getting involved and helping out. Your children will love it when they see you in the canteen. Please email pippa.walsh@cewa.edu.au. A volunteer registration link will be made available soon.
Ordering is done through quickcliq, which can be accessed via https://ladyofcape.wa.edu.au/canteen/
Booklists - Kindy - Year 2
As stationery items for children in Kindy to Year 2 are shared in class, please drop your Stationery Orders off to the school on Tuesday as follows:
- Outside the office (on the labelled table) for Kindy and Year 1
- Outside the Pre Primary class for PP students
- Outside the Year 2 classes for Year 2 students
Years 3 - 6 classes to bring their items (labelled) on the first day of school (Wednesday).
Allergy Aware
Our school is an allergy-aware school. Please do not send your child to school with any nut products as some students can become extremely ill when exposed to peanuts and nut products.
Thank you to all the teachers and staff for the hours of preparation that went into making the school year begin so smoothly. Thank you to parents and students for your positive approach to the new school year. Please keep in touch with school communications and we hope and pray for another good school year together.
Welcome back to everyone!
Have a wonderful week.
May God bless you
Mrs Angela Hegney
Principal
The Aussie Shindig Quiz Night. Please save the date, Saturday 24th Feb. Tickets are open for purchase so start planning your tables and lock them in. It will be a welcome event to be remembered!!
COMMUNITY NEWS
Ocean Heroes
I'm reaching out from Ocean Heroes, as we're about to head down for our South West Tour! If you don't know what we do, in a nutshell, we provide free surfing experiences for our neurodiverse community. I've attached a flyer for reference which includes QR codes to the free tickets, or the website link below can be used too.
On Sat Feb 3rd, we'll be holding our free surf event at Redgate Beach in Margs
On Sun Feb 4th, we'll be holding a standup paddleboard event at the Dunsborough Bay Yacht Club
We're super stoked to come back down and have a handful of tickets left. Feel free to share the flyer with any families with neurodiverse children, we'd love to provide them with a free, safe and inclusive surfing event! We also can't run our events without volunteers, if you know of anyone who'd like to lend a helping hand (roles include beach and water support - no surfing exp needed) please let me know!
More about us
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/