Our Lady of the River School eNewsletter

We would love to feature your story in our 'Called to Community' newsletter section each fortnight. In sharing our stories, we will get to know each family a little more and hope that in reading family stories, you may discover connections with other families and possibly even branch out to make new friendships.
The survey has been sent to families via Seesaw. You can also access the survey using the QR code below.

We look forward to Getting to know a little more about our Community.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Mrs Perre.

Class Mass Year 2/3 class

The Year 2/3 class and Miss Remkes hosted a beautiful Mass celebrating lent and our almsgiving. It was lovely to hear their uplifting singing.

Our next Mass will be a whole school Mass hosted by the Year 1 class in the church. Everyone is most welcome to join our celebration.

Project Compassion

Thank you to all families for their generous support of Project Compassion. The money raised is sent to Caritas, who works with underprivileged communities worldwide to build capacity and leadership so that individuals receive basic needs and communities can become self-sufficient and experience positive growth.

You are invited to watch the video of Priscilla's Story. Priscilla lives in Zimbabwe, where over 50% of the population lives in Extreme poverty.
Priscilla's story is one of many that the Project Compassion initiative has supported.

You may have heard some excited chatter about our Project Compassion initiative this year. We are hosting a Soak the Staff event on the last day of Term to encourage the students in their almsgiving. Each class will have a fundraising goal to work towards during Lent. At the end of our Lenten season, if the class reaches their target, they can vote for a staff member they would like to soak.

The Year 2 and 3 students and the year 4 and 5 students are working with Miss De-Gregorio to action their 'Call to Community' and raise funds for Project Compassion. The Year 2 and 3 class are coordinating some splash day events (weather permitting) on the last day of Term, and the year 4 and 5 students are coordinating a casual day and bake sale next Thursday.

Congratulations to Miss D and these two classes. What a great way to help our global community and learn that despite our origins and beliefs,  we are all a part of God's family, and we do all we can to help our brothers and sisters in poverty, access basic needs and live with some sense of dignity.

Compassion Café

It has become a little OLOR tradition to host a Compassion Café each year during Lent. Staff work in teams to provide a shared lunch that other staff members can purchase. So far this year, we have been treated to treated delicious Loaded Nachos and Baked Potatoes. It is a fantastic way to unite us in our community, discover each other's culinary talents and support our global community.

Encounter – Sitting with Jesus

The Port Pirie Diocese uses a Lenten Program produced by some wonderful Riverland Parishioners together with Fr. Hau. Each week people are invited to sit with Jesus in prayer and reflect on the Gospel stories for the Sunday liturgy of the Word in the time of Lent. Some of the Year 5/6 students have worked with me to produce a short reflection which will be shared with our school and parish community via our Facebook page this Thursday at 4:00 pm. You are invited to journey with us in prayer.

You call us to be people of journey.

You call us to enter into the story of your people

that stretches back through all of time.

Remind us that our faith journey

is walked in and with this community.

We ask this in the name of Jesus, who walks with us.

Amen

May God’s peaceful Spirit be with you always,

Rosemary Perre
APRIM

With over half the term already gone, things have continued to be vibrant, busy and exciting. The students and staff are looking forward to the long weekend to have a short reset and get ready for the rest of the term.

This week all classes took part in sessions in the Life Education Dome. Students learnt age-appropriate lessons on being friends, being safe online, keep ourselves and our bodies safe, and making decisions as we grow up. These are all important life lessons that students need in an ever-changing world. We thank Life Ed and particularly our presenter Jade for these opportunities.

Earlier this week many of our Year 5 and Year 6 students took part in SAPSASA Football at the Berri Oval. They displayed great efforts, fantastic sportsmanship and a keen endeavour throughout the day. A big thanks to Mr Canavan for his organization, and to Miss Stewart and Kailey for their support on the day.

School photos are always an interesting time in the year. We see the growth in students and how they change from year to year, and they mark a moment in time in the life of each child. We thank families for their support in getting students ready and getting the orders back to us so quickly.

Last weekend one of our students, Jack Burnett, made his First Communion rite of commitment. This year Bishop Karol has asked families of Sacramental students to support them in extra church commitment. Jack proudly read out his commitment at the weekend parish Mass, as did parents Paul and Sarah. This is a fantastic expression of the faith commitment that not just Jack, but the whole family, has undertaken to support Jack as a Sacramental candidate.

Next week we also start NAPLAN testing for this year. This has been moved to Term 1 this year, and once again involves our Year 3 and Year 5 students. NAPLAN testing forms one part of our assessment cycle each year, and gives a snapshot of what students are able to do, show and understand on a certain day. We know it can be stressful for some students, and try to minimize the anxiety for students by treating it as just another day. Good luck to our students who are taking part.

In the last couple of weeks we have had a few visitors to the school to support our teachers and ESOs with adjustments they make to support our students with extra needs. Erica Handley, who previously worked with Autism SA, came to support us with reviewing our structures we implement with ASD students. We also welcomed Sue Willcock, the Catholic Education Advisor: Learning Diversity and Equity, to our school to support all students with extra needs and give us advice and resources to support this. Next week we welcome our Director, Nichii Mardon, and Bishop Karol Kulczycki to visit the school and meet the students. We look forward to welcoming them to our lovely school.

Mr Slagter
Principal

This term in science we have been learning about natural change. We have learnt that the earth changes by processes such as weathering and erosion. Weathering is when rocks and minerals break down slowly due to things like water, ice, acid, plants and weather.

We made posters to show how these processes happen over time and how different landforms can change. Here are some of our posters.

SAPSASA FOOTBALL

Students from OLOR represented both Berri (Boys) and OLOR (Girls) on Wednesday 8th of March at Berri. Miss Stewart coached the girls on the day, and we had sixteen girls play modified 9-a-side Football against other Riverland schools. Charlize was awarded the best team player for our girls' team at the carnival. We had 4 boys from OLOR represent the Berri district. The boys competed well, winning the whole day without defeat. Charlie Kregar was named the most valuable player in their competition. Some of our students' efforts have given them the opportunity to try out for the Riverland team. Charlie, Bailey and Bode were successful, and we wish them all the best.

Thank you to the parents who came out and supported the students. Special thank you to Kailey and Gemma who were able to take the girls' team enabling them to take part in the carnival.

James Canavan
OLOR SAPSASA coordinator.

Football Representatives

Girls

Charlize Camilleri-Turner

Ocea Vallelonga

Ally Sweet

Ishmeet Kaur

Jacinta Mundy

Lily Marsden

Zoe Stevens

Zillah Awou-Sluggett

Lilly Andrews

Jasreet Kaur

Siri Gudipati

Grace Li

Xanadu Olney

Cailin Altus

Lilly Grant

Alice Colligan

Harriet Dixon-Chapman

Boys

Charlie Kregar

Isaac Martin

Harley Martin

Bailey Exarheas

Harmony Week is coming up in Week 8 of this Term. Harmony Week is about recognising diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds.

The Year 3/4 class have organised a casual day and bake sale to raise money for Project Compassion on Thursday 23rd of March in Week 8.

Please bring a gold coin donation if you wish to wear casual clothes. Students are encouraged to wear a splash of orange (the colour of Harmony Day), or to wear traditional clothes from their culture.

Baked goods will be available to purchase at lunch and recess. These goodies will range in price from $2-3.