8 August 2018

Newsletter Articles

School Calendar

PRAYER

Feast Day ~ St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

Let us pray ...
Holy God, source of all goodness,
you show us in Mary MacKillop
a woman of faith who lived by the power of the cross.
Teach us to embrace what she pioneered:
new ways of living the gospel
that respect and defend the human dignity of all in our land.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Principals Report

Today we celebrate the special feast day of our patron Saint, Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

The school attended a special liturgy in St Mary’s church this morning and enjoyed a jam and scones morning tea together, just like the old days. I had some fun giving out traditional lollies, just like Mary did when she was spending time with the children.

When I think of the remarkable works of Saint Mary MacKillop, it is easy to forget how young she was. Born in 1842 she began teaching in 1863, by the time she travelled to Rome she was only 31 years old! Given the challenges of communication and travel in the 1800’s it was amazing what this young woman achieved.

Her works speak of the love, faith and courage that has sustained the Sisters of St Joseph until this present day and invites the listener to join with them in Jesus’ mission today.

Saint Mary MacKillop gives us the example of how we can be present to one another and show compassion and love.

Her motto of “Never see a need without doing something about it” is my most favourite quote and something I encourage everyone to try and live by in your daily actions.

The Foundation students last term prepared for us this beautiful video reflection about Saint Mary MacKillop. I’m sure you will enjoy. Thank you Mrs. Perre.

PLEASE READ THE NEWSLETTERS CAREFULLY. Everything you need to know about the school week and dates is on the school app. (SZapp) You can download on all smartphones and tablets for free. We get a lot of phone calls & text about events and programs that have been advertised widely.

Sport Days – Mondays (Mr. Cotter: Whole school).
Thursdays (Class teachers: Foundation, Year 1, 2 and Years 4/5)
Friday (Class teachers: Year 3 and Years 6/7)
A reminder that full day uniform is to be worn on other days. Sandshoes only on sport days.

Scholastic BOOK FAIR – Monday 31st July until Wednesday morning 8th August.
We are in need of helpers. We can open if we have volunteers to collate books sold and take money in the parish centre. Please see administration staff if you can assist.
Opening times: 8.30am – 8.50am & 3.15pm – 3.30pm

Fundraising

'OLOR Helping Hands' is starting to gather numbers, however we are still looking for a few more volunteers. This group will co-ordinate school fundraising events including our catering, cabarets, movie nights, raffles and future chocolate carnivals etc.

The aim of the 'OLOR Helping Hands' group is for parents and friends of our community to join together and have fun being involved in;

* Assisting in the planning and organizing of functions associated with the social, sporting, cultural and educational life of the school community.

* Fundraising for particular projects which assist or enhance teaching aids and equipment, or improvements to facilities within the school grounds, buildings etc.

We would aim to have a parent representative from the group provide a report to the School Board when needed and for the group to have a small executive that would communicate regularly with the Principal.

Please, if you are interested in taking part in this group, please call the administration staff.

Ros Oates
Principal

Religious Education News

RECONCILIATION

Congratulations to Will Cresp, Eli Cresp, Layla Vallelong, Mackenzie Pitt and Kenzie Sweet who all received the Sacrament of First Reconciliation on Tuesday 7th August in St Mary’s Church.

First Holy Communion – Sunday 19th August 9am St Mary’s Church.

Please include in your prayers, Jack Hunter, Nate Vallelonga, and Madison Pitt who are preparing for First Holy Communion in the coming weeks. All are welcome to come along to our special celebration next Sunday.

Catholic Women’s League

Please come along and join us in any activities as we start our new program. Our meetings are going to be from next month, SEPTEMBER, on the first Monday of the month at 2pm in the parish centre. We are hoping some mums or grandmothers picking up children from school might like to join us.

Next meeting – Monday September 3rd at 2pm in the parish centre.

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

Latest Addition

SCHOOL NEWS & EVENTS

TURBAN & TRUST DAY

Thank you to Baljit Singh and their relatives for organising and providing a Turban and Trust experience for us on Monday. This is an annual event at OLOR and the students learned many valuable facts about the Sikh Religion, their customs and what it is like wearing a turban. This enabled our students to better appreciate cultural diversity and acceptance in our local and wider communities.

CLASS NEWS

Choir

The concert is on Thursday, 9th of August, 7.30pm, at the Chaffey Theatre, Renmark. Tickets are still available below if you would like to support our wonderful singers.”

Year 1

The Year 1 class have allocated Chicken Scrap Monitors who make sure the fruit scraps are put in the container which goes home to Mrs Hunter’s chickens. The children are developing their understanding of sustainable and ecological awareness.

SPORT NEWS

Welcome back to another huge term of PE and Sport. I’ll start off with wishing all students good luck in the coming weeks as their teams push for and begin to play in finals across football, netball, and soccer. Finals are a very unique time when players and parents can get caught up in the hype of winning being the only option for success.

Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat; use finals as a time to look at how far you have come as a player individually and as a team. Junior sport should always put enjoyment and development ahead of individual success and winning in order for all players to have the opportunity and desire to continue playing in the future. Too many times I have seen mates, students and players drop out of a sport due to the team and game losing the FUN factor. That all being said, GOOD LUCK!

The OLOR Sports Day is all booked in for Tuesday 25th September (Week 10) in the same format as last year. The day will begin at school with the long jump (F-7) and high jump (4-7) events taking place on the oval in the morning. Students will then transfer to Berri Oval for the Team Games, Track and Field events from 11.30 onwards. In the next newsletter there will be more information regarding the timetable of events and also asking for parent assistance for timing and scoring of some key track events.

Hockey Visitors

On Monday 6th August, the Year 6/7’s had the fantastic opportunity of having some professional hockey coaching by a number of Australian Country Championship players from the men’s and women’s Australian Defence Force Team. We wish to thank the organisers of our visit but also the Berri Hockey Club for their part in the organisation of this fantastic event held in the Riverland. A snippet of the program below if you have time to go out and watch the action this week. Games are being played at Alan Park Berri.

Games are being played this week and finals will be played on Friday and Saturday.

SAPSASA News!

This Friday, a selection of students from year 4 to 7 will be competing at the SAPSASA Athletics Carnival at Loxton High School. This has, over the past few years, been a successful Carnival for many of our students and as a school. Many students have been asked to join the Riverland squad and the school has been the winner in the small schools division based on the individual success of our students. We wish all students good luck for the day, especially those competing for the first time!

On the Friday of Week 5, we will be participating at the SAPSASA Tag Rugby Carnival held at Berri Oval. Parents of Year 5-7 students: Please look out for information coming home with your child in the coming weeks.

Riddle of the Week

Last newsletter: A clock

What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

Kind Regards,
Luke Cotter

BOOK WEEK 2018

This year Book Week 2018 will be celebrated in Week 5 of this Term, from 18-24 August.

The theme this year is ‘Find your Treasure’. Book Week dress up parade day is on Tuesday, 21st August at Our Lady of the River School. Children are encouraged to dress up in the theme of adventure and finding treasure. Dressing up as a pirate is just one example of a costume your child might like to wear. All the classes are currently planning book related events throughout that week. Class teachers will keep you informed of what is happening.

Playgroup

Come along to B.O.P.P.E.R.S. (Berri OLOR Planned Playgroup Early Readiness for School) on Tuesdays 9am till 11am. There are a lovely group of young children and their carers enjoying our opportunity for free play, structured games and craft activities. Please let friends and family know in the community.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

A reminder that the Premier’s Reading Challenge is well under way for 2018. I would appreciate if parents could encourage their child/ren to participate in the Challenge. Children only need to read 12 books, 8 of them being from the Challenge.

The books cover 3 reading year levels: R-2, 3-5 & 6-9. Children may read above but, not below their level.

Please visit the website if children would like to rate a book or check the top 10 books in each level.

The Challenge closes on 7th September.

Sandy Sando

Fortnight Reminders

Community News

Riverland Youth Theatre News

Riverland Youth Theatre

In Term 3 Riverland Youth Theatre has four workshops which young people can take part in!

• Riverland Youth Theatre Acting Ensemble – Junior (5 -11) (Thursday 4pm - 5pm)
• Riverland Youth Theatre Acting Ensemble – Senior (12 - 18) (Thursday 5:30pm - 6:30pm)
• Glee Club - Ages 8 - 14 (Saturday 6pm - 7pm)
• Acting Master Class - Ages 15 - 26 (Saturday 7:30 – 9:00pm)

Junior and Senior Ensemble begin Week 2 of School Term 3
Glee Club and Acting Master Class begin Week 3 of School Term 3
Each Workshop is $150 for a School Term. Discounts are available

Chris Bond Artistic Director Riverland Youth Theatre chris@ryt.org.au
08 8586 3437 | 0401 865 661 PO Box 100 | 54 Ral Ave RENMARK 5341

School Dental Service Clinics

Advising parents and carers that dental care is free for all babies, preschool and most children under 18 years at School Dental Service clinics.

Loxton Chamber of Commerce

Loxton Chamber of Commerce have a creative workshop day on Sunday 12th August. Any questions please feel free to contact Ms. Sonya Altschwager Business & Events Manager Loxton Chamber of Commerce Inc

t: 0427 064 825 e: admin@loxtonchamber.com.au

Happy Birthday!