Our Lady of the River School eNewsletter

November - Month of Remembrance

November is referred to as the month of remembrance in the Catholic church. We began our month with our two significant feast days, All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

Miss Remkes and her Year 2 and 3 class organised a whole school All Souls Day Mass. During the Mass, we commemorated our departed family members by inscribing their names on a big heart, symbolising their eternal place in God's heart. Our All Souls Mass is a meaningful ritual that is a beautiful way to always cherish and remember the stories of our loved ones who have passed away.

In honour of Remembrance Month, Year 4/5 students and Mr Dunn lead the school in a solemn Mass on Remembrance Day (11/11). As a symbol of respect, all students created red poppies and wore them during Mass. At the end of Mass, we followed the Australian tradition of observing a minute of silence and listening to the Last Post and Rouse to pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and the ability to live in peace.

Remembrance Day is dedicated to honouring the men and women who voluntarily served their country to bring peace. However, as we celebrated our Mass, we also paused to reflect on the heartbreaking and turbulent effects of war on our global community. We keep in our prayers the innocent men, women and children trapped in countries where peace has disappeared.

Below are some of the year 4 and 5 students with their Remembrance Day artwork.

Socktober Splash Day

Our school is organising a fundraising event on Thursday, 23th November, to support underprivileged communities worldwide. The event supports Socktober and will involve fun activities to raise awareness and generate essential funds. The cost to participate in the day will be $5 per student. Father Emil recently informed us that schoolchildren in Morogoro lack access to clean drinking water due to the absence of taps on site. With our donations, we can make a difference and provide the necessary support to communities in need.

Our activities will work around swimming lesson times on this day; rest assured that swimming lessons will still go ahead.

Following in the footsteps of our founder, St. Mary Mackillop, we must remember the needs of families in our local community. Last year's Giving Tree was a tremendous success, and we thank everyone who contributed generously. We encourage each family to contribute to this year's Giving Tree by donating a new, unwrapped gift to someone in need. All gifts will be given to St. Vincent de Paul, who will deliver them to local families in time for Christmas. The goal is to help families in need and ensure their children have a joyful Christmas with a new toy or gift. You can place your gift under the tree in the front office starting next Wednesday. If you don't have time to purchase a gift, you can make a cash donation in the Giving Tin placed in the Front Office. With everyone's support, we can ensure that all Riverland Families have a memorable Christmas.

A Prayer for Peace
God of Peace,
Lead our world from despair to hope,
from fear to trust;
from hate to love,
from war to peace;
Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe.

Amen

Rosie Perre
APRIM

The last few weeks have once again been very busy at OLOR. We’ve had a couple of performances at the school, and our Foundation students had their first excursion to the Pevan and Sarah concert in Gawler. They had a great time and enjoyed the very long day.

Our Year 6 students had their Kangaroo Island Camp last week. This was a great adventure for all involved. We shared the experience with the Year 6 students from St Albert’s Loxton, and all of the students got along very well. Experiences included a visit to Clifford’s Honey Farm, going onto the beach at Seal Bay to get an up close look at the wildlife, as well as visits to Admiral’s Arch and Remarkable Rocks. The highlights for lots of students were the bird and reptile shows at Raptor Domain and the sandboarding at Little Sahara. It was a great experience for all of the students and I’d like to thank Miss Stewart and Kailey Waechter for their organisation and support on the camp.

Next Saturday night we look forward to our Movie Night. Students and their parents are invited to have a fun evening at school to celebrate our ‘Called to Community’ theme of 2023. Students will be able to have a sausage sizzle and drink before heading into the hall to watch a movie, while parents are invited to socialize outside with a drink and some nibbles. Parents wishing to bring some more substantial food for themselves are welcome, and we will have some drinks available to purchase from the hall canteen. It promises to be a great way to meet new families and have a bit of fun.

In Week 6 we are pleased to be able to offer swimming lessons to all of our students at the Berri pool. Learning to swim and survive is vital in our wonderful Riverland, where the dangers of water are ever present. We look forward to hopefully some nice warm weather to make the lessons even more inviting. On the Thursday we are planning to have a Splash Day at school between lessons, where all students will be able to have fun, while raising money for Catholic Missions.

A reminder that we have a Student Free Day on Friday 24th November for staff professional development. Keeping staff up to date with professional learning around curriculum, wellbeing and good teaching and learning practice, is something that we know will lead to better outcomes for all students.

I would like share some staffing news with our community. Recently, Miss Tori Martin and Miss Jade De-Gregorio were successful in winning permanent positions at OLOR. We congratulate them on their positions and look forward to them being part of the OLOR team for years to come. Recently, Mrs Lisa Rayner won a permanent position at St Joseph’s Barmera, starting in 2024. We thank Lisa for her time at OLOR and wish her well in her new role at St Joseph’s. Miss Amalie Fiebiger and Miss Emma Remkes have decided to move back to Adelaide to be closer to family. We thank them for their year at OLOR. Miss Gemma Stewart will be taking a year of leave, and we hope to welcome her back to OLOR in the future. Mr James Canavan is moving back to Mildura with his wife to be near family as well. I am pleased to announce that Miss Shyla Lange will be part of our Junior Primary team next year. Shyla, who hails from Loxton, is a recent graduate who is looking forward to working at OLOR and beginning her teaching career. Once class teaching positions for 2024 are finalised I will let families know of the outcomes.

We look forward to a great second half of Term 4 with lots of great experiences still to come.

Mr Michael Slagter
Principal

OLOR with support from funding from Sporting Schools, has been able to attend the Riverland Gymnastics Stadium to learn and experience different skills in Gymnastics. All students from Foundation to Year 6 have been able to use the balance beam, trampoline, launch board and work on their balance, landing and mobility. Our coaches Michael and Tammy have been invaluable in encouraging the students to give each station their best effort. Gymnastics is a fantastic way for the students to develop self-confidence, coordination, balance and focus whilst having fun. Check out our photos from our sessions so far. The foam pit has been a highlight across all grades.

James Canavan
PE Coordinator

For part of Science last term, we learnt about Food Chains.

Living things depend on food to survive. Food chains show how energy from one living thing passes to another living thing when it is eaten.

We learnt that all food chains start with the sun, then a producer which is always a plant. The sun helps the plant to grow. A first consumer is an animal that eats the producer plant. There can be more than one consumer in a food chain.

Students each researched and presented their own food chain.