17 October 2018

Newsletter Articles

School Calendar

PRAYER

Voice of Pope Francis:

“The Church’s mission of evangelization has always been accompanied by teaching and the founding of schools, since education promotes the dignity of the person and provides for the full development of his or her God-given gifts. Illiteracy and lack of access to education are in fact a form of poverty and injustice.”

Principals Report

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students,

Welcome back to our final school Term for this year. I trust that everyone had a very relaxing break and is ready for the rigours of a very busy Term ahead.

We ended Term 3 with a very successful Sports Day and I hope all children had a wonderful day, enjoying giving their best efforts to support their team. Each year I receive excellent feedback regarding the various sporting events throughout the year and the operation of these is due to the great skill and attention to detail that Mr Luke Cotter affords each event. Luke is meticulous in his planning and the smooth operation of the events is testament to this and the support provided to Luke by the whole staff. On behalf of all members of our community I thank Luke for all of the great work that he does to ensure excellent opportunities for the students and for us all to experience. I hope you enjoy our gallery photos from our twilight Sports Day included later in this newsletter.

We start this Term in our Religious Education classes talking about World Mission Day (part of World Mission Month here in Australia), which is celebrated every year in every country wherever there are Christians committed to building a better world for all of God's people, a world where everyone has all they need to live a dignified and fulfilling life. It is the day on which we reflect on the urgency to proclaim the Gospel in our times.

This year, World Mission Sunday is 21st October 2018.

Therefore, the whole month of October has been dedicated to reflecting on the central mission of the Church to help all Christians in their commitment to Christ’s mission of love, mercy, forgiveness, peace and justice for the world.

Next Thursday 25th October the Year 4/5 class will lead us in a whole school Mass at 9am in St Mary’s Church. Children are invited to wear ‘crazy socks’ on that day for a gold coin donation to go towards Catholic Missions. Our diocese receives annual support from Catholic Missions for the Coober Pedy Inland Mission Parish.

Books, books, books.

Could families please check at home for school novels and books that may have accidently been put in book shelves or been kept for long periods of time. We have recently purchased a number of new books for the school and there are many missing. All OLOR books are covered and barcoded.

Also, if you have books at home (in very good condition) that you no longer need and would like to donate or sell to the school for a low price, please see Mrs. Oates. This term we are in the process of planning and recreating a library space for the whole school to begin the 2019 year. More information about this will be in future newsletters. There are going to be some exciting changes into the New Year.

Volunteers Needed

We are looking for volunteers to help us cater for breakfast and lunch on Saturday 20th October (this Saturday) in the school gym canteen. 1 to 2 hours of your time to run a basic canteen will be most appreciated.

OLOR is hosting the National Karate Academies grading day and this is a great fundraising activity for our school. Please let the administration staff know of your availability.

Our next School Working Bee is on Sunday 28th October. Please see the list below of families who are asked to attend. Any apologies/queries please pass onto group leader, Phil Cresp. Volunteers are asked to bring along appropriate protective gloves etc. and shovels for spreading bark chip.

Ros Oates
Principal

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.

Religious Education News

Please click on the link below for more information.

All Saints’ Day is a Holy day of obligation in the Catholic Christian calendar, set aside to honour all the saints, especially those without their own special feast days. It is celebrated annually on November 1st. This will fall on Thursday of Week 3. To celebrate All Saints Day, this year, Our Lady of the River Students are invited to attend school dressed as their favourite Saint. All Saints Day costumes don’t have to be complicated, and after your child decides what saint they would like to dress up as, research the saint together and look up pictures online to get a feel for the costume you need. Costumes need only be simple and can hopefully be put together using simple items you already have at home.

For some inspiration and ideas on costumes for Saints please visit the following links.

We are looking forward to a Sensational Saintly celebration.

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

CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES 2018

Christmas Eve:

6pm - Morgan, Loxton
6.30pm – (Family Mass) Renmark
8pm – Waikerie, Barmera

Christmas Day:

9am – Berri
10am - Renmark

The OLOR ladies Christmas lunch will be held on Friday November 30th at Bella Lavendar: 12pm for 12.30pm. RSVP to Betty Beech on 85882561 or Gloria Burns on 0419855950 by the 15th November. ALL Welcome.

SCHOOL NEWS & EVENTS

CLASS NEWS

Arts News 6/7 Class

Tyler Wurth has demonstrated his Art style pictured below. Year 6 & 7 students at OLOR are asked by the Berri Lions Club if interest to produce a work of Art. This year’s theme “Peace Matters”. The Art work is displayed for judging by Lions Representatives. If successful work will be displayed in Adelaide at the Lions Convention.

Water Watch Excursion Year 6/7 Class

Water Watch Summary – By Molly Wishart

Today the 6/7 class went on an exciting excursion to the river front in Berri to the River Murray. We tested levels of nitrate and phosphate and the levels were a little bit higher than we would have liked them to be. There was some road works occurring, so we thought that might be affecting the water levels. Everyone thought today was really fun! Once we got back to school we prepared the water for testing and we had to use testing strips and heaps of other cool stuff with complicated names. After this we had to fill out the attached sheet, well we only had to fill out half because the other half was about the results of the testing. On the way to the river front we walked past a couple of metal sculptures which were very interesting and when we were close to getting the water we went past some signs which had information on it, but I didn’t get to finish reading one of them. I thought this excursion was very fun and interesting, I hope we can go there sometime soon and I also learnt heaps of new facts about the River Murray which is pretty cool.

Water Watch Summary – By Josh Clark

Today my class mates and I went down to the pumping station for one of our lessons. We had to see if our river was healthy like the PH level was not too low or too high because if it is the fish and plants could die. To get to the pumping station we walked, it was fun I walked with Tyler W and Matt. We also stopped at the bridge and had a talk about the painting of the cat fishes in the river. When we got back to our class room we did lots of tests to see the PH level, it was 7.0 which is great for the water. The river temperature was 16 degrees, and the nitrate levels was 0.1 which is great because it’s naturally occurring levels in our waterways. The phosphate levels were 0.4 which is also great, because it is a naturally occurring levels in our waterways. The salinity level was 15,000 which is very high which means some animals and plant species may die. Our turbidity level was 60 which Is a medium level so we may have some possible pollution problems. So today we found out that our river is a little bit polluted, but is still healthy and safe to swim in.

Missionary Sisters Visit

These young adults were simply inspiring young people. It was very enjoyable to hear all about their travels in the Port Pirie Diocese. We look forward to the group returning in October for our All Saints Day celebration.

ICAS Certificates

Certificates presented to students who participated in ICAS Assessments 2018. Congratulations to all the students.

Year 3 Mass

St Catherine’s visit

At the end of Term 3 the Year 1 class visited St Catherine’s. We loved making flowers to give to the people we visited. They were very excited! We were lucky enough to sing a song and play some games.

SPORTS DAY NEWS

It was great to see the amount of parent support for the children this year. It was an enjoyable twilight sports event with some fantastic individual and team performances. Well done all involved. OLOR staff.

Sports Day message from Mr. Cotter

Thank you to all the people who assisted in the running of Sports Day to make it such a success! Special mentions to Deni Eleftheriadis for her assistance on the morning helping set up the oval; to Jaden, Molly, and Zoe for helping line the oval the week prior; thanks to Berri River Rangers Soccer Club and Tony Vallelonga for lending us the line marker; to the staff for all their hard work preparing the students; to Bernie and Pat for being excellent scorers; and to the House Captains for leading the House Meetings so very well and organizing their teams brilliantly! Thank you to any parents who assisted on the day in any capacity, the staff and I really appreciated it!

SAPSASA News

We currently have some senior students trialling for SAPSASA Cricket and Tennis Teams. I remind those who are to check when your next trial or training night is to ensure you give yourself the best chance of making the squads. Good luck!

Riddle of the Week

What demands an answer, but asks no question?

Last newsletter: Darkness.

Quote of the Week

“To me, it doesn't matter how good you are. Sport is all about playing and competing. Whatever you do in cricket and in sport, enjoy it, be positive and try to win.”
- Ian Botham

Yours in Sport,
Mr Cotter

The South Australian Cricket Association is currently promoting junior cricket programs in our local community.

The Cricket Blast program teaches boys and girls of all abilities how to bat, bowl, field and catch in a fun and social environment at local clubs. Please see below for ways students can get involved in cricket.

WOOLWORTHS CRICKET BLAST

Junior Blasters – Ages 5-7

Junior Blasters teaches boys and girls of all abilities how to bat, bowl field and catch through exciting game-based activities with friends.

Join the fun at your local centres:

Berri CC, Trenaman Cres, Berri
Tuesday 23 October, 4:00pm – 5:00pm

For more information and to register, visit the link below.

Master Blasters – Ages 7-10

Master Blasters is an action-packed program for kids with basic skills, who are ready to play short games of cricket in a fun and social setting.

Join the fun at your local centres:

Berri CC, Trenaman Cres, Berri
Tuesday 23 October, 4:00pm – 5:30pm

For more information and to register, visit the link below.

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.

Term 4 School Canteen

This term the children will have the opportunity to order a zooper dooper (iceblock) for 50c to be distributed at afternoon recess. There will be no orders of lasagne and spaghetti this term however, there are a number of new items to be included on the list for our ‘spring/summer’ menu. A new price list will be sent out this week.

Vietnamese Chicken Rolls

(grated cheese, mayonnaise, ribbon cucumber, shredded lettuce, chicken, coriander, spring onions, grated carrot, dressing and soy sauce (drizzle) optional.)

Chicken Salad Pack

(chicken, spring salad vegetables, dressing (drizzle) optional.)

Feta and Chickpea Salad Pack

(fetta, pitted olives, chickpeas, cucumber slices, green capsicum, cherry tomatoes, shredded lettuce, dressing (drizzle) optional.)

Vegetarian Hotdogs
Chocolate Custard

A big thank you to Annette Bilson (parent volunteer and co-ordinator), Sandy Sando and Erica Kalman for all their efforts in running the school canteen. Without Annette we would need to go back to volunteer rosters, something I’m sure all families appreciate not having to commit to. The school canteen raises vital funds that help support the purchasing of materials and equipment for our canteen as well as other fundraising events.

TERM 4 Reminders

Community News

Berri Swimming Club

New season and Registration Monday 29th October 5pm – 7pm

For enquiries email Sonia Dominelli, President, berriswimmingclub@yahoo.com.au

Or Cindy Kassebaum 0428 851 107

Riverland Brass Community Concert Band

The Riverland Brass Band are inviting woodwind and brass players to join upcoming Christmas Carol Season

Happy Birthday!