25 September 2019

Newsletter Articles

School Calendar

PRAYER

Prayer – Thank you

We thank you Lord, for this Term.
For the challenges, the successes, and the mistakes from which we have learnt.
Be with us as we spend our time with family and friends.

Give us strength and courage to do what is right: to be witnesses of our faith.
Help us to appreciate what others do for us, to give time and effort to help others. To be peacemakers in our family. Keep us safe in our activities; give us good rest and good fun. Bring us back refreshed and ready for a new term.
We thank you for our classmates, teachers, parents
And a community that cares for us.
May we always be conscious of you in our lives.

Amen

Principals Report

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students,

We have arrived at the end of Term 3. Where have the weeks gone? This has certainly been a busy time and with the change of weather upon us, the students are certainly ready for a rest. Hopefully, as the holidays arrive, everyone can leave the ills of winter behind and enjoy the two weeks break. If you intend on having an extended holiday could families please let me know in writing before this Friday.

On behalf of the children and their families, I also thank each staff member for their efforts during the term. I continue to be impressed with and grateful for the dedication and care shown by all the staff at Our Lady of the River School. They too are looking forward to a rest and time to re-energise for a busy Term 4 and end of the year.

A big thank you to Michelle Kennedy, the coordinator of the working bee last weekend and the large number of parents and children from her group who contributed to making the school grounds look incredible. Our next group, coordinated by Rowan Cresp, will be on Sunday 17th November. A reminder to parents in this group will be sent out closer to the date.

Today, with this newsletter the teachers will be sending home the ‘Student Learning Portfolios’ and NAPLAN results (in an envelope) for students in Years 3, 5 and 7. From the feedback received from our school survey about the ‘Student Learning Portfolios’, the teachers have acted upon the positive feedback and suggestions to make this form of communication to parents even better. Please do not hesitate to contact your child/ren’s classroom teacher regarding the ‘Student Learning Portfolios’ or the NAPLAN results.

We ask that all ‘Student Learning Portfolios’ be returned by this Friday, 27th September.

Tomorrow it will be with sadness that we say goodbye to the Sargent Family. All four boys, Joshua in Year 8 (past student now at Glossop High School) Matthew in Year 7, Nathan in Year 4 and Hamish in Year 1 will be dearly missed by their peers and the staff at OLOR. We wish Annette, Brad and the four boys all the best in their new adventures and new schools.

Footy (Sports) Colours day is this Friday – last day of Term 3. Students are asked to donate a gold coin to wear their favourite sports colours from their favourite sporting team. A reminder to parents that the school concludes at 2.20pm. We will have a short assembly in the school gym at 2.10pm. There will be no after school care this Friday.

Mrs. Ros Oates
Principal

Religious Education News

A Prayer for Stronger Communities and Safer Children

Gracious God,

You said "Let the children come to me".

The hurt felt by those wounded by abuse weighs heavily upon us.

Lord, we as Your Church stand in need of your healing and help.

We ask You, God, to strengthen and guide all in our Catholic communities. Grant us wisdom in our time to make decisions that protect children and the vulnerable. May our families and communities, through love, generosity, commitment and patience, build stronger communities safe for children. Let Your grace and love fall gently upon our children giving them the inner strength, peace and resilience they will need for their life’s journey.

We ask You, God, to help our Catholic communities to be resolute in building a community where our children flourish and are safe.

Amen

Catholic Professional Standards Limited has released the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards in response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Catholic leaders have committed to establishing nationally consistent standards and to the audit and reporting of the compliance of Church Authorities within those standards.

The Catholic Professional Standards outline to the community the important role all adults play in improving child wellbeing and keeping children safe in Australia. These Standards provide a framework for each entity, ministry and organisation across the Catholic Church in Australia to place child safety at the core of how it plans, thinks and acts.

Further information on the Catholic Safeguarding Standards can be found on the Catholic Professional Standards Limited website

PLENARY COUNCIL 2020

In October 2020, the Catholic Church in Australia will gather for the first Plenary Council to be held since the second Vatican Council. A Plenary Council is a meeting of all of the Bishops within Australia to consider matters that in their view need to be attended to.

There are six National Themes for Discernment which invite people to reflect, to pray and to consider how God is calling the People of God to be a Christ-centred Church in Australia. 

The six national themes are:

Missionary and evangelising
Inclusive, Participatory and Synodal
Prayerful and Eucharistic
Humble, Healing and Merciful
A joyful, hope-filled and servant community
Open to Conversation, renewal and reform.

Theme 1: How God is calling us to be a Christ-centred Church that is Missionary and Evangelising?

As we move into this second stage of the Plenary Council journey, we continue to seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. We are called to reflect on Scripture, Church teaching and our contemporary situation in order to discern the answer to this question. The fruits of what is discerned during this time will help shape the agenda of the first session of the Plenary Council in October 2020.

This National Theme for Discernment is inspired by the voices of the People of God who shared a passion for participating in the missionary nature of the Church and desire stronger support, involvement and formation among all the baptised who make up the Church. The data also identified the need to reach out and communicate more effectively and to find new ways of living and proclaiming the Gospel in Australia today. There was a call for the strengthening of leadership and ministries in parishes and schools, training to equip leaders for ministry, pastoral support for various groups within parish and faith communities and a desire for a unified voice in engaging social issues such as life and religious freedom.

The document below is a snapshot report to see a sample of the voices and answers that inspired this theme.

On a final note, I would like to wish you all a very happy holiday. May you enjoy the chance to slow down and enjoy the company of your precious children. I look forward to seeing you all in Term 4. Safe travels to anyone going away for the Term break.

Wishing you God’s gentle Peace

Rosemary Perre
Religious Education Coordinator.

Growing with Gratitude

You may remember Ashley Manuel, Founder of Growing with Gratitude, who worked with our Seniour Students and also gave a parent presentation about the value in expressing gratitude and treating others with empathy, back in February of this year. I absolutely enjoyed the night and I continue to be inspired by the work Ashley and the Growing with Gratitude team do across South Australia to educate and empower our youth to be healthy and happy individuals.

Ashley has been recognised for his outstanding work and his dedication to improve student wellbeing and mental health, by receiving a nomination for the Community Choice Award at the 2019 South Australian Community Achievement Awards. If you love the Growing with Gratitude Program as much as I do, please help celebrate its amazing achievements by following the link below and supporting Ashley Manuel and the Growing with Gratitude Team.

Rosemary Perre

Wheel to Walk

The entire OLOR community would like to wish Mrs. Oates all the best as she rides over 300km in Week One of Term 4, from Paruna to Adelaide. Mrs Oates has raised funds for and awareness of spinal injuries in support of a good friend, Charles Brice whom we were blessed to meet earlier this Term. Charles and his good friend, Sarah Arnold, are the founders of the ‘Wheel to Walk’ foundation. Charles shared his inspiring story of how his life changed in an instant, and with determination and courage, he braved rehabilitation and will join Mrs. Oates and Sarah as they ride to Adelaide. Mrs. Oates and Charles and Sarah are truly inspirational in their commitment, training and dedication. We will miss you Mrs. Oates, however we have every faith that you will succeed in your plight, as you do with each challenge you set your mind to. You are nothing short of a Hero in the community and especially at Our Lady of the River School. May God bless you and keep you safe on your journey. We are all looking forward to hearing your stories when you return.

Mrs Oates has raised three quarters of her goal amount.

If you would like to support Mrs Oates – please follow the link and donate.

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.

Class News

Year 4/5

On Thursday 12th September the Year 4/5 class enjoyed attending the Barmera Primary Environmental Expo. Students engaged with workshops and activities from various Riverland YEL groups and Barmera Primary students. These included sessions by Berri Barmera Landcare and NRM Education. Workshop topics include: Birds on the River Murray, Endangered animals, Koalas, Oceans and waste, drought, feral animals, recycling, Kangaroo Island and bees, Tantanoola Tiger. The students have shared their thoughts about the day below.

Connor – One of my favourite things was making the homes for bees because I enjoyed being with my friends. One of my favourite things I learnt was abut the drought because I didn’t know about the biggest drought in 2009.

Raahil – My favourite activity was building paper boats and colouring and drawing on them because the paper boats looked awesome. My other favourite was learning about feral animals and I learnt that feral meant something transported from overseas.

School News

Literacy

Have you ever wondered about how to explain homophones to your child when helping them read or write. Lillian has provided some excellent little tips on her Facebook page this week and I thought I would share them with you.

5 tip for Teaching kids about Homophones

(from the 'Cracking The ABC Code' Facebook Page.)

The word homophone comes from the Greek words 'homo' meaning same and 'phone' meaning sound. Thus homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Homophones have arisen because of changes to pronunciations over time - for example 'meat' was originally pronounced as /met/ and 'meet' was pronounced as /meet/ and because English has arisen from the intermingling of several language.

There are over 7700 homophones in the English language and many puns, jokes, and cartoons are based on homophones.

It’s important that children learn to distinguish between homophones when writing and reading.

Tip 1: Picture the Difference

Link the homophones to a key picture using the same graphemes.

Some examples, picture:

• A bear eating a pear and a pair of chairs
• A lettuce leaf with your meat and meeting under a tree.

Tip 2: Use Substitute Words

Use a substitute word to help with determining the correct homophone.

Example:

• There=here
• Their=my
• They’re=they are.

___ is a dog. Here is a dog makes sense – so use ‘there’.

___ dog is here. My dog is here makes sense – so use ‘their’.

___ getting a dog. They are getting a dog makes sense – so use ‘they’re‘.

Tip 3: Teach the Morphology & Etymology

If you teach children the morphology and etymology associated with words, it will help them remember the correct spelling and to choose the correct homophone.

Example:

Two is associated with twin, twelve, twenty. You should be able to substitute another number for two in your sentence and it will still make sense. I had two pens. I had three pens.

Too is used to indicate an excess (too much) or in addition (like also). The ‘oo’ is a much longer sound than in ‘to’.

To is used in front of verbs (to swim) or as a preposition (I went to school).

Tip 4: ‘Over’ pronounce

The ‘k’ in words such as knit, knot and knight used to be pronounced. Saying these words with the ‘k’ pronounced will help children remember to add in the ‘k’ when spelling the word as well as help distinguish it from its homophone.

Example:

The k-night went out at night.

I will not undo this k-not.

Tip 5: Learn Homophones Simultaneously

Consider the words your children are learning to spell or read. If the words have a homophone, introduce these words at the same time, comparing and contrasting the meaning and helping the children devise strategies for remembering the words.

Wishing you all a restful break with a few good books.

Melanie Steele

OLOR teachers and many of our support staff where inspired by an incredible teacher and speaker ‘Eddie Woo’ at Chaffey Theatre, Renmark.

Eddie is an inspirational mathematics teacher and an overall amazing educator who enlightened us with many different ways to engage with Mathematics. He also explained how his love of reading had a major impact on his learning as a child. Very grateful for having such dedicated staff at OLOR. It was an enjoyable evening together, learning something new and being affirmed about our current teaching goals and strategies to support all our students. Please look at his now famous YouTube ‘Wootubes’.

Sports News

Well done to our 6/7 girls who competed at the SAPSASA Basketball finals in Adelaide today. We played against some very tough competition from schools all around the state. Although we weren’t hugely successful the girls played extremely well and demonstrated great team work!

Sapsasa News

Golf Carnival

Pictured are our Riverland Sapsasa golfers, Riley and Slater (Yr. 5) and Peter (Yr. 7), who enjoyed themselves and learned plenty testing themselves against the best in Week 7 at the State Golf Championship event held at West Beach!

I enjoyed interacting and getting to know my competitors while playing. I improved my shots off the tee and the most amazing part was when my shot ended up bouncing off a rock and landing on the fairway! - Peter

I enjoyed getting to know my peers in my group and my most memorable moment was shanking my shot on the last hole but it ended up landing on the green! - Slater

I really enjoyed competing in my first competition and I hit better than dad! - Riley

Soccer Carnival

In Week 8, Amelia and Kaylee (Yr. 7) competed in the School Sport SA Sapsasa Soccer State Championships as part of the Riverland Girls Soccer Team. The team was coached by St Albert’s teacher, Mel Leach, and Amelia was named co-captain. Overall, the team finished second, only 1 measly point behind first place. Great work girls!

It was a great experience to be selected again in my final year of primary school and to enjoy it with friends. I learnt many new skills and loved the chance to be co-captain with Millie. – Amelia

I enjoyed hanging out with some new people in my team and I loved going to the team dinner! – Kaylee

Sapsasa Calendar

Yours in Sport,

Mr Cotter
Physical Education Coordinator

Car Park Safety

Can I remind everyone once again to be absolutely diligent at the 3.10pm pick-up time, especially on Verran Terrace. NO Parents should be parked across the road on the housing side of Verran Terrace. Please hold children’s hands when walking to cars and keep everyone safe. If there is not sufficient parking the church car park is often free.

Lost Property

You are invited to inspect lost property located in the front office, please see Pat or Sandy to inspect items that you think may be yours, you can also look through the photos below.

It is important that all student’s belongings are clearly named, and we recommend checking that the name is still clearly visible throughout the year. After inspection, any unclaimed lost property will be donated to charity, please note all named items are returned to students.

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.

Policy Documents

School Uniforms

School Uniform Information

Canteen Price List

School Uniforms

We would like to make aware to OLOR families we have a large collection of second hand uniforms in good condition. If any families are interested please see Pat or Sandy in the front office.

Community News

Happy Birthday!