28 November 2018

Newsletter Articles

School Calendar

PRAYER

Principals Report

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students,

The Season of Advent: This Sunday, 2nd November, marks the beginning of the Season of Advent – a time of preparing for Christmas. Already the stores are full with Christmas goodies and sales, urging us to stock up and spend up. As your family considers preparing your space for Christmas, have you considered including some elements to remind us of the real ‘reason for the season’?

Advent is the four weeks that lead up to Christmas and is an important liturgical season. It begins on Dec 2nd through to Dec 24th and always contains four Sundays. For Catholic school teachers, Advent is tricky as most of the season falls on the school holidays and term four in schools is traditionally very busy, filled with graduations, end of year reports and Christmas parties.

At Our Lady of the River School, the teachers will begin to teach about Advent this week and will start teaching about the nativity and the season of Christmas in all classes.

Advent is a season of preparation, for us to get our hearts ready for the coming of Jesus Christ. The word Advent derives from the Latin word meaning ‘coming’. The Lord is coming. It is a time that we ‘Wait’, ‘Prepare’ and ‘Be Ready’ for Christmas. Advent is the official beginning of the church year and it is represented by the liturgical colour purple.

It’s important that as the busyness to Christmas builds, we make time to remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

Thank you to everyone for attending our Christmas family night. It was wonderful to see all the students and their families come together to share a meal and enjoy the evening with family and friends. The children all performed beautifully and it was a credit to the staff for the hard work and efforts put into our small concert. Thank you to Miss Jones for all her organisation and the amazing work she has done this year with our music and choir program. In our last newsletter for this year, Wednesday 12th December we will publish all the photos from this event. Thank you also to those parents who assisted with the packing up at the end of the night.

Berri Merri Christmas

On Friday 7th December the community is invited to join us in the St Mary’s church car park at 4.45pm to then proceed behind our Advent trailer, walking past the council office to the Berri Merri Christmas stage at the river-front outside the Berri Hotel. We will be opening the community event at 5.30pm, with the students who attend singing 3 carols prepared by Miss Jones. The students are encouraged to wear liturgical costumes used for our Christmas family night. Family and friends not walking with us are encouraged to park near the Vaughan Terrace shops. Please fill in and return the reply slip sent home today in student diaries, indicating if your child is willing to participate.

Graduation – End of Year Mass

Thursday 6th December will be our Graduation (End of Year) Mass and Awards Night beginning at 6.30pm. The evening will begin in St Mary’s Church and afterwards all presentations will be in the school gym/hall.

The whole community is invited and it would be wonderful to see as many students as possible come along to farewell our Year 7 students. All students are asked to wear their school (day) uniform. Families who attend the awards presentations afterwards are asked to bring their own supper and drinks.

Semester 2 Reports

Semester reports will be handed to parents on Friday 7th December. The teachers have worked extremely hard in putting these documents together for each student and they have reflected positively on their achievements this Semester. A reminder many parents are likely to see more “C” grades on their child’s reports. An “A” for Effort and a “C” for Achievement indicates that your child is “On Target” for their age. (This grade should be celebrated with students because it means they have worked hard to be where they need to be.)

The “Effort” grades are also really important because they are a reflection of how, in the teacher’s opinion, the student is working consistently in class in that learning area (English, Maths, Science etc).

Teachers will also often include their observations of a child’s overall achievement at school as well as their behaviours, work habits and relationships with their peers and staff to give parents a more holistic view of their child’s progress at school. You will find this information at General Comment. Should you have anything you wish to discuss further regarding your child’s report please contact their classroom teacher.

School Fees

I’m pleased to inform the school community that the school board has approved school fees for 2019 and there is no change to the amount most families have been charged in 2018. The exception to this is families on ‘school card’, the discount on tuition is now 50% off the tuition fee. We are pleased to announce that due to the hard work and efforts of our community in supporting the school in many and varied ways that our fees have remained affordable and stable for families.

A gentle reminder that 2018 fees need to be finalised by Monday 10th December. If you are experiencing any difficulties with your fees, please do not hesitate to contact the Principal.

Ros Oates
Principal

Special Events

Last Day of Term 4, 2018

School will conclude at 2.20 pm. Final short assembly in the school gym/hall at 2.00 pm.

Professional Development Dates for 2019

To give families plenty of warning and preparation for child care, could you please make note of the following dates that will be student free days in 2019.

Term 1: Thursday 11th April and Friday 12th April

All Staff: Australian Childhood Foundation ‘Making SPACE for learning’ (Trauma training)

Term 3: Monday 22nd July - Friday 26th July (all Week 1 of Term 3)

All Staff: 7 Steps to Writing, Making SPACE for learning and Religious Staff Retreat

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

St Vinnies Christmas Appeal

Our collection box for Our St Vinnies appeal for Christmas toys has been set up in Admin area. We ask that you label your toy as boy or girl and the expected age you intend the gift to go towards. Thank you for the donations we have received.

CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES 2018

Christmas Eve:

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

Christmas Day:

9am – Berri
10am - Renmark

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

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

Year 3

Excursion to Berri Police Station

The Year 3 class learnt about rules, laws and consequences when visiting the Berri Police Station and Berri Courthouse on Tuesday.

The students were guided around the police station by Segeant Nicole O’Toole and were very lucky to watch a mock hearing lead by Dimitria Dale and a police prosecutor.

A big thank you to everyone who organised this learning experience for the students.

Year 1

The year 1 class have been learning about Australian animals. We have loved learning some fun facts about our native animals

Year 4 & 5 visit to St. Catherine’s

Year 4 & 5 engaged in activities with the residents. Activities were based around making “Chatterboxes”. The residents enjoyed this experience and great for the students to interact with the elderly.

Foundation Class

Wednesday Transition Group enjoying their visit to school.

Lilly’s Walk

Friday November 16th OLOR held a casual day For JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). Sugar free ice blocks were enjoyed and a lap around oval with whole school participating.

SPORTS NEWS

Well done to Matthew Sargent and Peter Efthimiou, who represented the Riverland in SAPSASA cricket in Adelaide last week. Unfortunately, the weather wreaked havoc on all but the first day, the team ending up with one win and one loss.

Matt's bowling was very economical, as he only conceded 17 runs off the 7 overs he bowled, while Peter picked up a wicket on Monday, and another on Thursday. Both boys were only dismissed once in their two bats.

Meanwhile, Stefan Vallelonga represented the Riverland in SAPSASA Tennis last week. He had a great week and managed to win all his matches.

Yours in Sport,
Mr. Cotter

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.

OLOR Boppers having a wonderful time with activities organised on Tuesday morning. Christmas was the Theme decorating Christmas Balls and painting Pine Cone Christmas Trees.

TERM 4 Reminders

Community News

AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE CADET (AAFC) RECRUITING

The AAFC is a youth organisation, predominantly by volunteer efforts, dedicated to training young Australians aged between 13 and 18 years. The AAFC develops qualities of leadership, self-reliance, confidence, communication and teamwork.

Our recruit intake commences in February 2019. 603 Squadron is holding an Information night on the 30th of November 2018 at 7pm

VACSWIM SA

The Vacswim season for 2018/2019 is fast approaching and we’re excited to once again be teaching young South Australians water skills, awareness, confidence and safety. Over the past year, South Australia has had zero drownings in Vacswim’s age group of 5-12 years old. This is a phenomenal result and something we all want to keep up!

CAROLS BY THE RIVER

Carols by the River are being held Sunday 9th December at 6pm on the Berri Riverfront. Coffee, Drinks, Sausage Sizzle available. 7pm Carols and Guest Artists. A donation to cover costs and for Riverland Christmas Appeal will be welcome.

Happy Birthday!