11 April 2018

Newsletter Articles

School Calendar

PRAYER

Principals Report

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students,

Since our last newsletter, I hope that you and your family had a great Easter break. Like many long weekend breaks throughout the year, they involve lots of eating and enjoying a break from work. For many of us too, it’s also easy to miss ‘the reason for the season or the meaning of the holiday break’.

Easter is so important because it honours the life and teachings of Christ, his death as a man, and most importantly his resurrection as the Son of God. That probably means something different to each of us but it’s still worth considering. Within a family, school or community context the purpose of this is so that we really live each day in kindness and that we really contribute to the happiness and wellbeing of others. Then each celebration is even happier!

On Holy Thursday morning, before we all enjoyed our Easter break, the students from each class lead a play focusing on one aspect of Holy Week. Each play was different, really enjoyable and gave us all a good understanding of what Easter is all about.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our Holy Week plays. Thank you to Mrs. Stacey Hunter for taking wonderful photos you see above and Mr. Cotter for his snapshot YouTube video.

It’s incredible to write that this is the last newsletter of Term One, 2018. What an amazing amount has been achieved in just over 11 weeks of schooling. The teachers have really focused on keeping the term as simple as possible so that we could focus on our new literacy Cracking the ABC Code program, student wellbeing and having some fun with our students. The Foundation students have really settled into school along with our new students in other grades, which is pleasing.

Thank you to you for the support you have given your children and teachers over the past term. If you have not managed to see informally or through a parent teacher interview your child/ren’s classroom teacher, then please do so as soon as possible. It’s an essential and important part of your child/ren’s ongoing education and partnership with us.

ANZAC Day will fall in the second week of the holidays. Our school has a proud tradition of involvement in attending the Berri RSL special Anzac Day School Commemoration service which is held each year on the last Wednesday prior to the commencement of the school holidays, this year it is on April 11th. This event enables local schools and their students to participate in an Anzac commemoration service. Our school captains are involved in the presentation of the service at Wade St Memorial (Berri oval gates) at 11am.

Also, last week Miss Jones worked with a number of classes making and preparing ‘Care Packages’ to send to our deployed troops overseas so they arrive in time for ANZAC Day. The students have made thank you cards, ANZAC biscuits, hand-made playing cards and packed non-perishable items in their packages to send. It’s a wonderful initiative to be involved with and our involvement in both activities is about showing our respect for these people as well as our commitment to keeping Australia a free and peaceful country.

Cracking the ABC Code for Parents

The following is an extract from the SPELD SA magazine, author Jacqui Edwards.

“Learning to spell and read words is not a rote process of memorising letter strings of increasing length.”

Any spelling activity that purely relies on visual memory (Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check LSCWC, word shapes, rainbow letters, curly letter words), or using only the names of alphabet letters is asking students to visually remember the shape of the word or the order of the letters and not analyse the sounds. This puts unnecessary load on the visual memory of students, when a more effective strategy is to spell words by sound, understanding the spelling patterns and generalisations that we have in English…….

See the PDF attachment for the entire article, below. Our Lady of the River School uses the Cracking the ABC Code Spelling and Reading program, which is a structured multisensory phonetics approach. This is a large part of our whole Literacy program but not the only strategy we use to teach students to read, write and spell effectively.

Celebrating the Commonwealth Games

For all our sports enthusiasts, this time of year with the Commonwealth Games being on and held in Australia, is an exciting time. The Aussies are certainly doing well! On the last day of school, this Friday April 13 the staff and students will be participating in our own Mini Commonwealth Games afternoon. School sports captains will be assisting in designing the activities and leading in sharing their knowledge, skills and leadership. Parents are welcome to pop along if they wish, we intend on starting at 1pm in school yard. The focus of our afternoon is to share our Team Spirit through Respect, Engagement and being Inclusive. A note will come home in student diaries today, outlining the times and events.

End of Term 1 - Hot-dog Day

A reminder that this Friday school canteen is a Hot Dog Day only. Order forms were sent out earlier in the week for a special order of a hotdog, ice-cream and fruit box for $5.00.

While we have only a few days of fun and learning to go I wish you a safe and relaxing holiday. I hope it involves lots of love and laughter and opportunities to just have fun with your children. If you know someone who is struggling perhaps you might have more time to give them a call, invite them over or take them out for a meal.

Please take care, especially if travelling over the school holiday period and return refreshed for Term 2 on Monday 30th April, 2018.

Ros Oates
Principal

Religious Education News

Happy Easter to you all. We’ve made it through Holy Week and the Triduum (three days – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday) and are now in the Easter season. For the next 50 days until Pentecost Sunday we’ll celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.

Easter message of Pope Francis

Speaking off the cuff the Pope said that he was moved to say three things inspired by the Gospel proclamation. In his homily during the Easter Sunday liturgy in St Peter's Square, Pope Francis says that God surprises the women with a proclamation which became a greeting in the early Church: "The Lord is risen!"

St Vincent DePaul

St Vincent DePaul in Berri are in need of Blankets, Doonas and Pillows, please ring John on 8582 1882 or place in box in back of the church. Thank you

Project Compassion

Could you please return any donations for Project Compassion by this Friday, 13th April.

Mary MacKillop Precinct Events April and May

The latest edition of the Southern Cross features all the latest news and information on our Catholic community. Click on the following link below.

Year 4 & 5 Mass

Mr Luke Cotter and Year 4 and 5 students will host our whole school Mass on Thursday 12th April. All families are welcome to attend and join us for morning tea afterwards in the parish centre.

SCHOOL NEWS & EVENTS

OLOR Sports News

Wow! What a term of SAPSASA sport we have had! Some excellent achievements across a wide variety of sports and including many students from Year 4-7. Congratulations to all students who have participated in a SAPSASA event this term; it is brilliant to see so many of you achieving, having fun and getting out of your comfort zone. By participating and competing, our students are able to develop many lifelong skills particularly values. SAPSASA events, school PE lessons, and fitness games in class allow students to develop values of equality, inclusion, respect, and fairness. Most importantly, I believe, sport and team-based physical activity engage students to develop collaboration and teamwork skills that are very important for all facets of life. Click here to view a short visual clip which expands and explains this further – a really good watch!

We finished this term with the Riverland SAPSASA Football and Netball Carnivals held at Berri Oval and Berri Netball Club on Thursday April 5th. I coached the Berri District Football team comprised of students from Monash PS, Berri PS, Glossop PS and our very own Macey E, Tyler D and Matt S. Unfortunately the boys had a tough day at the office, unable to manage a win against the four other towns. The team overall was very competitive, especially in our games against Renmark and Barmera. Our boys played very well – Tyler D played a variety of roles as a tall athletic player, almost managing his first goal in footy! Matt S played an excellent small player role well through the midfield and Macey E was very creative using his speed and agility to drive the team forward. Congratulations to Macey E who finished equal second in the overall MVP votes for the day and, along with Matt S, for being selected in the Riverland Football Squad that will be cut down to travel to Adelaide in Week 5 next term. We wish the two boys all the best in the upcoming trials.

Pictured: Macey E, Tyler D and Matt S at Berri Ovals

Our netball girls, ably coached by Rachel Gates and Ashlee Reichelt, had a much more successful day down the road at the netball courts. The team, comprising of Charlie G, Marley M, Ella K, Abby F, Amelia M, Molly W, Charlotte W, Zoe S, Caicee L and Meg O, finished the day undefeated and as champions of the Medium School division. Well done to the girls on achieving this for (at least) the third year in a row! Congratulations to Charlie G, Marley M, Ella K, Abby F, Amelia M on being selected in the initial Riverland Netball Squad to trial for final positions in two teams that will travel to Adelaide for the State Champs in Week 5 next term. We wish you all the best.

Match Results:

Local Sports News

In local sport news, congratulations to the following OLOR past and present students on their achievements for Berri Cricket Club this season. The club had their presentation night at the Berri Hotel on Sunday night.

Under 13’s

Current Year 6 student, Peter E came second in the bowling award, taking 6 wickets for the season. He also took home the Best Team Man award. Well done Peter.

His classmate, Matt S, came third overall in the batting award and also was judged as the best fielder in the team for the season.

Old Scholar Josh S (2017) just topped his brother in the batting award finishing second overall.

Under 16’s

Old Scholars Riley H, Harmon S and Mitchell F (2017) all featured in the awards for the Under 16 side. Riley piled on 166 runs for the season to take home the batting award and also was named the Cricketer of the Year. Harmon took 8 wickets to top the bowling list for the season and was awarded the inaugural Spirit of Cricket Award.

The following boys were named in the RTCA Team of the Year: Reece L, Evan G (2016), Riley H and Mitchell F (2017).

Yours in Sport,
Mr. Cotter

‘Chocolate Boxes’

A reminder to all families that your fundraising envelopes need to be handed into the main office by the end of Term 1.

Prices to collect per carry box.

Year 2 Class Room Activities

Students in the Year 2 class showed off their artistic skills creating these funky eggs for Easter. Daily fitness for Foundation to Year 2 has had a cricket theme this term with students participating in the Australian Cricket’s The Mascot Challenge. This had students developing fundamental movement skills and physical literacy. Students participated in activities designed to challenge them achieving targets and tracking their progress across the term. We were very fortunate to be provided with Adelaide Strikers balls to practise with. The Year 2 class have had a ball.

Festival Choir

A photo of Our Lady of the River Choir performing later in the year.

NAPLAN

Students in year 3, 5 and 7 will participate in the National Literacy & Numeracy Testing from May 15-18. NAPLAN testing provides a one off snap shot of how your child is progressing in their education. If any parents wish to withdraw their child from one or all of the tests, please advise the principal in writing before March 16th 2018.

SCHOOL FEES

Thank you to all families who have paid their Fees this Term or are paying in instalments. A reminder that Term One fees are now due for payment. If you are experiencing any difficulties with payment of fees, please contact Principal, Ros Oates on 0417787843. Thank you.

Schoolzine Newsletter and Calendar

A reminder that the calendar is only available online through the School App ‘SZapp’. Having it online will ensure that it is current and always up to date. The Newsletter will continue to highlight upcoming events to ensure that parents and families are fully aware of what is on. The newsletter is every fortnight on the odd weeks, e.g. 1, 3, 5 etc. and will come to your email inbox or ‘SZapp’ on the Wednesday of those weeks. I encourage all families to install the ‘SZapp’ on your smart phone or Tablet. To ensure you receive the newsletter in your inbox each week, please ensure the front office has your correct email addresses. If you do not have an email address, please let the front office know (this week) so that we can send paper copies home with your eldest child.

Fortnight Reminders

Happy Birthday!