OLR News Week 8 2023
Assistant Principal's Update
Dear Parents and Carers,
There has been lots of wonderful things happening at OLR over the past couple of weeks and leading up to the end of the term, there will be even more!
Open Day
Last week we welcomed prospective Kinder 2024 students and parents into our school. Our Year 6 students did a fantastic job of showcasing all the wonderful things about our school community and our Year 4 students were brilliant at guiding them on tours around the school.
Wellbeing Week
We also celebrated our diverse community throughout Wellbeing Week. It was so special to hear students and teachers proudly share their heritage and culture throughout the week and then have parents join us for a special picnic to celebrate Harmony Day.
Broken Bay Swimming Carnival
Congratulations to all students who represented us at the Broken Bay Swimming Carnival on Tuesday night. Our Junior and Senior Boys relay teams have progressed through to the Polding Swimming Carnival. Ashton Bone and Jack Allen have also progressed – Well done!!
Road Safety Message
The roads around our school in the afternoon are extremely busy and can be quite dangerous. A reminder to all parents and grandparents to model road safety to our children by using the crossing in the afternoon. We have had reports of some near misses that could easily have ended in tragedy.
Have a wonderful week!
Maree Sawyer
Harmony Day Family Picnic
Dance Troupe Harmony Dance
OLR Open Day
Religious Education Update
This week, we have celebrated the Feasts of St Joseph and St Patrick. The students participated in an in-class liturgy to celebrate the Feast of St Patrick and our Year 6 students led us in a whole school liturgy to celebrate St Joseph.
OLR has a strong connection to St Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, through our history as a school started by the Sisters of St Joseph. Our school had very humble beginnings as a convent school run by the Sisters of St Joseph in the OLR Church. So humble in fact, that students sat on the kneelers and used the seats as desks. The Sisters of Saint Joseph, founded by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, were committed to helping those in need and providing education to all children. Like St Joseph, they accepted God’s call and willingly spent their lives in the service of others. We pray that we too, may take up God’s call for us with the same humbleness and willingness shown by St Joseph.
As part of Harmony Week, Mrs Blemith led us in praying our School Prayer in Italian. It was a beautiful way to experience how the power of prayer is universal and transcends all languages and cultures. If you or child would like to pray our school prayer in a different language, please don’t hesitate to contact me and we can organise a morning assembly to do it.
Upcoming Liturgical Celebrations
Tuesday March 21st – Years 3 & 4 Grade Mass 10am at school
Tuesday March 28th – Year 2 Grade Mass 10am at school
Tuesday April 4th – Year 1 Grade Mass 10am at school
Thursday April 6th – Palm Sunday Whole School Liturgy 9am in Courtyard
Families are most welcome to join us for these celebrations.
Easter Events
EASTER HAT PARADE (Grades K-6)
On Tuesday 4th April, students will be having an Easter Hat Parade at our morning assembly (on the oval). This year Grades Kinder through to year 6 will all be participating in the Hat Parade.
Parents are welcome to join us here from 8:50am.
The children will be making the hats at school the week prior, in week 9. Could you please ensure that your child brings a hat and the items necessary to decorate it by Tuesday 28th March.
A few suggestions are:
coloured paper
ribbons
small plastic Easter eggs
stickers
small toy chickens
bunny ears
cellophane
crepe paper
feathers
Please don’t send any chocolate decorations as they tend to melt all over the hat.
OLR ANNUAL MINI VINNIES EASTER RAFFLE - Tickets $1 each!
On Wednesday April 5th we will be holding our annual Easter Raffle at 9am.
Families are invited to donate an Easter Egg or Rabbit (any size, any amount!)
Tickets will be sold by Mini Vinnies Members at school and children may purchase tickets before school and at lunchtime (From Monday 27th March).
Parents wishing to purchase additional tickets may send the money to school in an envelope. Please write name, number of tickets and phone number on the envelope. Children can place these orders in the classroom office bag.
We thank you for your support with this event and all monies raised will go to Catholic Mission.
Parent Engagement Coordinator (PEC) Update
Dear Parents and Carers,
Being a parent comes with many responsibilities when it comes to raising a child. We have many hopes and dreams for our children and want to give them the best start in life. Sometimes our busy lives prevent us from attending events face-to-face that offer good information about raising children and dealing with things such as anxiety or bedtime routines. In the last edition of SchoolZine, I mentioned the Council of Catholic School Parent’s (CCSP) Newsletter, which is full of great information for parents, but have you considered doing courses online? The Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) website is packed with online courses and information to support parents in raising their children from babies to 12 years old. You can support your child’s development, grow closer and solve problems – positively. There are many simple strategies you can start using right now, to make every moment count!
With Easter fast approaching, you might like to take time as a family to read and discuss the Stations of the Cross (The Way of the Cross for families reflection sheet. Many families are unable to attend Church for scheduled times for The Stations on Good Friday, they can however take time for a private family reflection of The Stations. The Stations of the Cross (The Way of the Cross) provides an opportunity for families to reflect on how each station can be applied to our daily lives. They can be coupled with night-time prayers or family mealtimes and reflected on over several nights progressively. They present an opportunity for family conversation around important life and relationship issues. Feel free to adapt the reflections, discussions, and prayers to suit your family. I hope that this journey of faith through The Stations brings you an experience of courage, compassion, and hope.
In term 2, I would like to invite parents and carers to drop in for a cuppa and a casual chat with me in ‘The Hub’ between 9am-10am on Thursday mornings. I would like to make this a regular event for the rest of the year, but I will need to change the location once the building work starts. These mornings will provide parents and carers the opportunity of getting to know me, and meet other parents, discuss ideas, and ask questions. I look forward to our first meeting on Thursday 27 April.
PBL - Positive Behaviours For Learning
Students have been learning this week about caring for their belongings. Our wonderful PBL girls went down to kindergarten, year 1 and year 2 to teach their PBL lesson. Students learnt about their belongings that stay at school and what belongings go home. They role played ways to ask to borrow other people's belongings and to understand that it is ok to not always share your things. All students thoroughly enjoyed this time together and learnt a lot from our Year 6 leaders.
In other PBL news Petey Bobby Lewis was awarded to 1 Red by our PBL spotter Mr Brown. He has been spending the last week and a half in 1 Red who have enjoyed his company and sharing their learning with him. Our new PBL spotter is currently on the hunt looking for a class who is taking care of their belongings and following our PBL rules.
Canteen News
A reminder that the Canteen will be closed on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th March. There will be no orders available for recess or lunch on these days.
To finish off Term 1 we will be having a Pizza Day on the last day of school, Thursday 6th April.
Please place orders using Qkr! by Monday 27th March 3pm
Options: Cheese, Ham & Cheese, Pepperoni & Ham or Gluten Free Cheese
All pizzas $5.00
Unfortunately, no late orders can be accepted and there will be no other lunch orders on the day.
We will also have Sour Snapper ice blocks available for sale in the canteen during playtime for $2.00
OLR Cross Country
The School Cross Country Carnival will be held at Long Jetty Foreshore on Monday the 3rd of April. The students will be walking to the park from school. All students will need to wear their sports uniform on this day and suitable running shoes. Students will need to carry their Recess and drink bottles to the park, so we suggest a small backpack or bag that they can easily carry.
Kindergarten and Year 1 will be having a Fun Run around Saltwater Creek Park near the playground area. Years 2-6 age groups will be competing for the school Cross Country Team. The 11 and 12 year old age groups will be running along the bike track for 3km starting and finishing from the Long Jetty side of the boat ramp. The 8, 9 and 10 year old age groups will be running 2km starting and finishing from the boat ramp as well.
The top six runners from each age will be selected to represent the school at the Central Coast Catholic Primary Schools Cross Country Carnival to be held on Friday, the 5th of May at The Central Coast Regional Sports Centre Tuggerah.
To help with the safety of the children at the event, we will need 16 parent helpers. If you are able to help out, please email Mr Trent at olrte@dbb.catholic.edu.au
The estimated start times for each group is as follows: 9.45am: 12 year old Girls
9.50am: 12 year old Boys
10.05am: 11 year old Girls
10.10am: 11 year old Boys
10.25am: 10 year old Girls
10.30am: 10 year old Boys
10.45am: 9 year old Girls
10.50am: 9 year old Boys
11:05am: 8 year old Girls
11:10am: 8 year old Boys
11:25: Kindergarten Girls Fun Run
11:35: Kindergarten Boys Fun Run
11:45: Year 1 Girls Fun Run
11:55: Year 1 Boys Fun Run
Parents are welcome to join us for the Cross Country Carnival. If you wish to take your child home after their race, please make sure you see their class teacher to have their name marked off before you go.
A Compass Event Permission has been sent for the Cross Country, please ensure you give permission for your child to participate.
PCN News
SAVE THE DATE:
The PCN is off to a flying start for 2023 after our Reset, Refocus and Reconnect meeting on Monday 6 March.
The meeting kicked off with;
Reset - Recalibrating our existing structure and approach; and
Refocus - Developing a refreshed parent and community network.
It was important for us to streamline the meeting structure so we focused on the schedule. Along with our main PCN meeting each term, we have implemented a quick zoom catch up at the end of each term so that an outcome is reached for every item raised for discussion.
Parent/carer life is busy right! So, we will align ourselves with the Catholic Schools of Broken Bay Parent Network (CSBBPN) so we aren’t reinventing the wheel. We can roll out great initiatives from a Diocese level. We also distributed duties across roles and created a new role.
Yvette hosted elections of the new positions and we are thrilled to announce the 2023 Executive Committee members:
Chair & CSBBPN Representative – Amy Rumpler
Secretary – Jenny Grindall-Kruf
Events and Communications Coordinator – Kate Coates and Stefanie Wilson.
2023 PCN meeting schedule - be sure to pop the PCN meeting dates in your diary!
Date | Time | Location |
Term 1: Monday 6 March 2023 (Meeting) | 7:00pm - 8:00pm | School & Zoom |
Term 1: Wednesday 29 March 2023 (Actions) | 7:00pm - 7:30pm | Zoom |
Term 2: Monday 22 May (Meeting) | 7:00pm - 8:00pm | School & Zoom |
Term 2: Wednesday 21 June 2023 (Actions) | 7:00pm - 7:30pm | Zoom |
Term 3: Monday 14 August 2023 (Meeting) | 7:00pm - 8:00pm | School & Zoom |
Term 3: Wednesday 13 September 2023 (Actions) | 7:00pm - 7:30pm | Zoom |
Term 4: Monday 6 November 2023 (Meeting) | 7:00pm - 8:00pm | School & Zoom |
Term 4: Wednesday 6 December 2023 (Actions) | 7:30pm - 7:30pm | Zoom |
Reconnect - Enhancing opportunities for ongoing interactions
Over a glass of wine we talked about all things family events and enhancing our community. To do this, we want to welcome parents back at school to have fun with our children!
We are thrilled to announce our 2023 PCN hosted events. Be sure to put these in your diary and book time off work:
Term 1; Week 10 - Wednesday 5 April – afternoon | Water Fun Day |
Term 2; Week 6 - Friday 2 June | Walkathon |
Term 3; Week 7 - Friday 1 September | Disco |
Term 4; Week 3 - Friday 27 October | Spring Picnic ‘Night on the green’ |
What we talked about at the meeting
There was some great discussion around all things school, kids and education.
We would love for you to come to the next meeting to raise some great ideas for discussion!
Here are the hot topics we talked about and the actions for each.
Topic | Action |
PCN to assist the school write our school’s Mission and Vision Statement | Yvette to coordinate a workshop |
New building update | Yvette to send around latest plans and photographs |
School uniforms | Hat shortages: Yvette to talk to Cowan & Lewis about hat shortages and all uniform shortage issues Lost property: Plan for lost property items at school to be returned to students or if unclaimed available for other children to use Second hand items Facebook group: link to be shared for families to use. https://www.facebook.com/groups/230432690623153/ |
Grade Facebook pages | To be used to schedule events. |
We would love to hear from you!
If you have any questions about the PCN or you would like to provide any feedback, we would love to hear from you. Drop us a line at olrpcn@gmail.com
You can also join our PCN chat where you can raise ideas to talk about or get involved in our events. Join here.
Around the Grounds
2023 Open Day! Tuesday 14th March.
This week we held out Open Day for prospective families looking to join the OLR community in 2024. Our students led the day with guided tours and a tradeshow showcasing all OLR has to offer.
Our Dance Troupe performed, and we also welcomed back two ex OLR students who now attend St Peters Catholic College at Tuggerah. Ruby Elward and Lauren Hills returned for the evening to share their primary school experiences and memories at OLR.
It's always a pleasure to watch our students shine on Open Day. They take such pride in their school and are wonderful ambassadors.
A very big thank you to the students, teachers, staff and parents who helped make this day amazing. Your hard work, preparation and pride in our school is truly appreciated.
In The Loop
Kinder 2024 Sibling Enrolments
We have handed our several packs for sibling enrolments for Kindergarten next year. We encourage families to get these back to the office as quickly as possible. If you are yet to let us know you have a younger child that is due to start school next year, can you please click on the link below and complete the Expression of Interest Form.
https://forms.office.com/r/qm5RzkQc9z
SWAP IT EVERYDAY IN THE LUNCHBOX!
This week's Tip is on Cool Lunchboxes and how to keep your child's lunch fresh and safe.
Key Dates
Week 8 (20th-24th March)
Monday 20th March - Afternoon Awards Assembly K-2
Tuesday 21st March - Yr 3 & 4 Grade Mass
Wednesday 22nd March - IT Enrichment Day
Thursday 23rd March - Sacrament of Reconciliation Preparation Session 4 at the Parish
- Canteen Closed
Friday 24th March - Canteen Closed
Week 9 (27th-31st March)
Monday 27th March - Afternoon awards assembly Grade 3-6
Tuesday 28th March - Yr 2 Grade Mass
Sacrament of Reconcilation 4.30pm and 6pm
Thursday 30th March - Sacrament of Reconciliation 6pm