27 February 2019

Newsletter Articles

School Calendar

PRAYER

PRAYER FOR LENT

Lord, please show me what I should give up for Lent
And when I've given it up
Remind me to pray to You instead
To thank You
To love You
To hear from You
Each and every day in Lent
Amen

Principals Report

On Wednesday 6th March next week, we celebrate Ash Wednesday, which in the Catholic Church marks the beginning of the season of Lent.

It is our tradition to host the OLOR parish community early morning Mass. We ask all students to attend our Ash Wednesday Mass at 7am to celebrate the beginning of the season of Lent. The school Sports Captains will be presented to the Parish community during the Mass and both School and Sports Captains for 2019 will be presented with their school badges. Afterwards there is an invitation for everyone to join us in the school junior primary court yard for a free breakfast, including toast and eggs, tea and coffee.

Lent is a season of reconciliation, reflection and prayer, which prepares us for Easter Sunday. This period we call LENT means ‘spring’, and we celebrate it in memory of the forty days Jesus spent alone praying in the desert. Lent is a time for strengthening our faith, a time to reflect on who we are and where we are going. It is a time for quietness and prayer, a time of penance and meditation, a time to become aware of our strengths and weaknesses.

The season of Lent is one of those times when the Church gives us the opportunity to address the important elements of our life in a practical way. For example, there would be little point “giving up” sugar in our coffee if we continue to speak unkindly about people. Nor is there much value in giving up lollies and sweets if we are going to be ‘unkind’ to the rest of our friends and family. Lent provides many opportunities for people to choose to do renewing activities, such as visiting someone who is lonely, giving up something on television, remembering to say prayers and/or as a family, attending Mass as a family regularly or perhaps even giving funds to Project Compassion throughout the period of Lent. We need to remember that if we are choosing to do something this Lent it needs to lead us to a positive change, which in turn has a positive effect on the people who are in our lives.

‘CHOCOLATE CARNIVALE’

Proposed date for this is Saturday 6th April – 4pm till late.

Last year’s event was a great success and I need to know from the community if this proposed date, clashes with other community events. Could you please let me know via text to my mobile 0417787843, if you know of any other community event that will clash with our date and therefore dampen our fundraising efforts.

This event, like last year, has a ‘Chocolate’ theme and there will be carnivale food, events, stalls, games and entertainment to be held on the OLOR site. Organisation needs to start immediately and we are in need of all families to support and help with this event. If you would like to be a team leader of a class or willing to contact people from our community to assist with stalls etc. please let the administration office know as soon as possible. Future meetings to organise this event will be text to families once we secure the date.

Mrs. Ros Oates
Principal

School News

Literacy Co-ordinator – Special Education

Spelling rules - why are they so important?

When students learn and understand spelling rules they will be able to make an informed choice about how to spell an unknown word. Understanding and being able to apply spelling rules are an essential part to becoming a confident and risk taking speller. Its also a great way to correct a child’s spelling when editing, instead of just telling a child how to spell a word you can remind them of a rule 'don't forget what we know about when to use ‘ck' and they can edit more independently.

I had a great time working with classes this week learning Rule 9 - when do I use 'c', 'k' and 'ck' when spelling a word? We had our School Start buddies out and we explored letter patterns and manipulated words.

The Senior Primary class were challenged with nonsense word activities - we use nonsense words so students need to rely on their knowledge of rules not just their visual memory of a word. We have been learning Rule 20 and 21 - when to use the 't' before 'ch' and when to use 'd' before 'ge'.

If you know a student in the Senior Primary - ask them if they can explain it to you!

If you would like any more information about the spelling rules that are being taught in classrooms please let me know - I am more than happy to provide you with a copy.

Melanie Steele

Library News

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Students have until 6 September 2019 to complete their reading for the Premier’s Reading Challenge and to hand in their student reading records to Sandy Sando.

If your son/daughter has completed the Challenge for seven years, a hall of fame medal will be awarded in November. In recognition of this outstanding achievement your child’s name can be included in the Premier’s Reading Challenge hall of fame honour roll on the website. For your child’s name to be included please sign the consent section on the Student Reading Record form.

BOOK CLUB

This week your child/ren received Issue 1 of Scholastic Book Club. Orders are due in by Wednesday, 13th March. OLOR receives a small percentage from the orders, which allows us to buy books for our Library. If you would like to place an order, please send correct payment by cash or cheque (made to OLOR). Please remember to clearly write your child’s name and class on the order form and send to school in an envelope marked “Book Club”. You can also place your own order by logging on to Scholastic Book Club and clicking on LOOP Orders and follow the prompts. At this stage only your child's class Teacher's name is listed but you can still place an order. Please see Sandy if you have any questions regarding LOOP orders.

PLEASE CHECK YOUR HOMES for Our Lady of the River School books and novels. We are missing quite a few from our library, especially popular paperback novels.

Sandy Sando

Religious Education News

The Port Pirie Diocesan theme this year is Peace. We are encouraged to explore our understanding of Peace in three key areas. Peace with in ourselves, peace with our neighbours and peace with our environment. The Growing with Gratitude Program is a wonderful way to create a culture of Peace and it explores ideas that we can promote Peace in all three of the key areas mentioned above.

‘Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.’ Dalai Lama

This wonderful quote from the very spiritual and peaceful Dalai Lama is the foundation of the Growing with Gratitude Program.

Last Tuesday 12th March, we were very fortunate to have Ash Manuel, Founder of the Growing with Gratitude Program work with our year 4-7 students as leaders of our school on the skills of empathy, gratitude and team building skills. It was a wonderful afternoon filled with insightful ways to upskill our older students to work with the younger students in the school to develop culture of gratitude and resilience.

Ash also presented an informative parent session on Tuesday night. Thank you to all parents who attended to support our goal in ensuring that all students at our Lady of the River School feel they belong, are happy and resilient students.

If you would like a reminder of the Actionable Ideas on how to Value People, please click on the following link.

This easy to read book and other excellent resources can be found on the Home Grown Gratitude site, which all parents in the OLOR community can access. Home Grown Gratitude is a great resource to help you develop the 5 Habits of Happiness in your own homes.

If you would like to access this resource click on the link below and enter the following login details.

I look forward to our school community ‘Growing in Gratitude’ together.

Rosemary Perre

Pictured is Ash Manuel, the founder of Growing with Gratitude with our School Captains Abby, Zoe, Tyler, Peter, Amelia, Charlotte, and Matthew.

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

Witness - Latest Addition

The Witness is a bi-monthly publication of the Catholic Diocese of Port Pirie. Issued every February, April, June, August, October and December.

Project Compassion is our annual Caritas fundraising and awareness-raising appeal, which runs in Catholic Schools and Parishes throughout Australia. Project Compassion brings thousands of Australians together in solidarity with the world's poor to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

Running through the six weeks of Lent each year, Project Compassion is an extraordinary, ongoing demonstration of the faith, love and generosity of caring supporters, all in the name of justice and peace. It is the lifeblood of Caritas Australia; without it, they could not do the vital work they do.

The Project Compassion theme for 2019 is: HOPE.

A message from our Bishop of the Port Pirie Diocese, Bishop Greg O’Kelly, SJ AM Former Chairman of Caritas Australia

Our local parish priest, Fr. Paul Bourke is the Port Pirie Diocesan Director of Caritas and has been a volunteer for Caritas Australia for over 40 years. Like many others he is a hard working volunteer assisting people in need and working towards combatting social injustice across Australia. During this Lent you will be invited to contribute towards a number of fundraising activities to support Project Compassion, organised by our School Captains and senior students.

Sports News

Sport Report

Welcome back to another year of sport at OLOR! I look forward to all students having a red hot go in Physical Education (PE) and for our older students to participate and enjoy the opportunity that SAPSASA Sport Carnivals provide them with.

This Term in PE our senior classes are learning about Volleyball and Golf – once again the school was successful in acquiring a large grant from Sporting Schools to facilitate these sessions and to get new equipment. Our junior classes will be developing their Fundamental Movement Skills of throwing, catching, balancing, striking and fielding which are very important to their overall development to participate successfully and enjoyably in a range of sports and activities when they are older.

SAPSASA News

On Monday 18th February, seven Year 5-7 students competed at the Riverland District Primary School Swimming Carnival held at Renmark Pool. All students experienced success and really enjoyed the day! As you may have already seen or very shortly will see our girls made it into the Murray Pioneer after winning both the newly minted Uzzell Shield (4x50m Mixed Medley Relay) and the long-standing Appleton Shield (4x50m Mixed Freestyle Relay). As the carnival no longer records points for individual events, these are the only shields up for grabs for schools competing. A very special mention to Bella Gates and Maddison Wurth – although not being members of the relay teams, they were definitely our loudest supporters out of the pool when they weren’t swimming in their individual events.

Pictured: The OLOR Swimming Team - Amity, Molly, Kaylee, Lily, Charlotte, Bella, Maddison

As the reigning champs and record holder of the 4x50m Mixed Medley Relay, the girls pictured below had a lot to swim for and did excellently - finishing first by just under a second at a time of 3:12.84! Following this effort up later in the day, the girls also pictured, won the 4x50m Mixed Freestyle Relay at a time of 2:41.55! Well done to the five girls who participated in these two events!

Pictured: The OLOR 4x50m Mixed Medley Team - Kaylee, Molly, Charlotte and Lily

Pictured: The OLOR 4x50m Mixed Freestyle Team - Kaylee, Molly, Charlotte and Amity

A huge congratulations to Charlotte W for breaking a 7-year record in the 13yo Girls 50m Breaststroke. Charlotte broke the old time of 47.77 secs with a new time of 45.20 secs! Well done! Special mention to her twin Molly W for coming oh so close to OLOR Old Scholar Ella K’s 13yo Girls 50m Freestyle record of 32.02 secs with her own time of 32.58 secs.

Pictured: Charlotte - 13yo Girls 50m Breaststroke record-holder

A huge thank you to the following parents and siblings:

Cindy – for timing our events and double checking everyone was where they needed to be
Sarah K – for lane timing
Jayne – for lane timing and support
Tammy, Rachel and Sarah R – for support and transport

Please see the links below to view all event times and results.

Please see the calendar below for all Carnivals and Events for the year. More information will be out very soon in relation to the SACPSSA Swimming Carnival in Adelaide.

***IMPORTANT ATHLETICS NEWS***

Please keep a very close eye in your child’s diaries and bags for information regarding the Riverland District Athletics Carnival (Yr. 4-7). The Carnival is now in TERM 1 rather than Term 3 and as such I will need to hold some trials and practises in the coming weeks.

Riddle of the Week

I make two people out of one. What am I?

Quote of the Week

Sports build good habits, confidence, and discipline. They make players into community leaders and teach them how to strive for a goal, handle mistakes, and cherish growth opportunities. - Julie Foudy

Yours in Sport,
Mr Luke Cotter

School Magazine

The cost of the 2018 School Magazine is $20 per copy. If you would like a pictorial magazine capturing the memories of OLOR’s 2018 year, please see Bernie in the front office.

Special Events

PLEASE REFER TO the school website or SZApp for all school year calendar dates.

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

REMINDERS

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.

TERM 1 Reminders

Community News

Berri Netball Club

Berri Netball Club trials 2019. All interested players are invited to attend trials. You must register to Trial –

Registration and 1st Training Saturday 4th May 2019 U13 Competition
Registration and 1st Training Wednesday 1st May 2019. U13 Development Squad trials

Enquiries: berrinetballclub@gmail.com or join our Facebook page

Barmera Netball Club

Trails will take place 20th February, 27th February and 6th March. All intended players must register to trial. Please visit our Facebook page Barmera Netball Club for the link to register. Queries or apologies to barmeranetballclub@gmail.com

SA Country Basketball – Riverland Basketball Association

Emerging Group Mondays 5:45-7:00pm @ Berri
Elite Group Mondays 7:00-8:30pm @ Berri

Program to commence 29th April through school terms 2, 3

For more info please contact: Danny Millard 0421476073
Email: riverlanddnsp@outlook.com

April 2019 Next Step Program

April 2019 Next Step Program. 5-8 years old $90

Monday 15th April, Adelaide Oval 9.am – 12pm OR 1pm – 4pm. Restricted to 120 registrations per session. 9-14 years olds $110
Tuesday 16th April, Adelaide Oval 9.am – 2pm Maximum 125 registrations.

Each participant will receive: Personalised Guernsey, football, drink bottle, SANFL Statewide Super League Grand Final Family Pass & other awesome goodies.

Register before 25 February, for your chance to be one of the 2019 SANFLW Grand Final Medal Presenters

Greek Language Lessons

Berri Greek Community School Greek Language Lessons

When: Thursday at 5:30 – 8 pm
Where: Glossop Primary School

Accepting enrolments for 2019 For enquiries contact
Athina: 0417821310 and Sofy: 0431357624

Happy Birthday!