OLOL SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

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1 OLOL SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Oakland Avenue, Baulkham Hills South Telephone: Facsimile Term 1 Week 9 27th March, 2015 This Sunday is Palm Sunday the Commemoration of the Lord s Entrance into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday is the commencement of Holy Week. This week embraces the last days of Lent (until Thursday) and the Easter Triduum. The Sacrament of Penance is an excellent way to conclude the penitential season of Lent. It is best celebrated before Holy Thursday evening so that, with heart and mind renewed, all may focus on the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory! Christ became obedient for us even to death dying on the cross. Therefore God raised him on high and gave him a name above all other names. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory! Harmony Day Last Monday, at our morning assembly, we celebrated Harmony Day. We listened to readings, joined in prayer and sang a hymn. Several students from Year 6 spoke about the meaning of Harmony Day and the importance of all Australians respecting one another regardless of cultural, racial or religious differences. Classes then joined the peace chains they had made in class into one long chain representing peace and acceptance in our school community. The Events of Holy Week In Week 10, the students from year 6 will visit each classroom to present the events of Holy Week to the children. Year 6 has been placed into groups and each group assigned to a class. The students will present the following events to their assigned class over four days with the Resurrection presented next term. Jesus Institutes the Eucharist Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus is condemned to death Jesus is crucified and dies Jesus is risen Each presentation will include an image, a bible reading, a display of significant words, a prayer, symbols and a re-enactment or mime. The students are working extremely well on their presentations and are excited to be visiting the classes next Week.

2 The Annunciation of the Lord Last Wednesday was the feast of the Annunciation. This feast originated in the East during the sixth century and gained universal observance in the West during the eighth century. It is a feast of the Lord, commemorating the announcement to the Virgin Mary of the Word made flesh, Mary s acceptance of God s will, and the conception of Christ nine months before Christmas. Its occurrence close to Easter links the incarnation with the whole mystery of human redemption in Christ. (adapted from the Daily Mass Book) School Visit Mr Greg Whitby, Executive Director of Schools, Catholic Education Office Parramatta, visited Our Lady of Lourdes last Tuesday morning. He spent time visiting Kindergarten and talking to the students about their learning in Literacy Groups. Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen. QCS Survey Thank you to all the parents who received a Parent Survey and were able to complete it by the due date. The results of this survey will be shared with the school community after they have been collated. Understanding Faith Resource The Catholic Education Office has purchased a new resource for our students to access both at home and at school. This fabulous resource contains Scripture, interactive clips, printable activities and worksheets. This resource provides excellent information that will support the students in Religious Education. At present, the resource has only been activated for students in Stage 2 and Stage 3. However, the activities can be adapted to suit younger students. Please be aware that this resource has been purchased for 2015 and a review will be conducted in Term 4. To access the site, go to click on Primary on the top right hand side of the page and enter the login details. Username: ceo.parra.1486 Password: ceo.parra.2015 Staff Development Day Monday, 18th May is a professional learning day for the staff. The teachers will spend the day learning how we can improve student s written literacy. Please make alternative arrangements for your children on this day. Fish and Chips Day Thank you to all the parents who organised and helped out with the Fish and Chips lunch. The children really enjoyed and appreciated your efforts. Winter Uniforms All students will change over to winter uniform on the Monday, 11th May (after Mother s Day). Uniform Shop The uniform shop will be open on Monday, 30th March from 8.45am till 9.15am, Friday, 24th April from 8.45am till 9.15am and Monday, 27th April from 8.45am till 9.15am.

3 National Young Leaders Day On Monday, 23rd March members of our SRC attended the Halogen National Young Leaders Day at the Qantas Credit Union Arena in Sydney to listen to guest speakers talk about leadership. The guest speakers this year were as follows: Mike Baird - Premier of N.S.W Bindi Irwin - Wildlife and Conservation Advocate Rachael Leachar - Musical Artist Dylan Parker and James Norton - Paper Plane Pilots Mike Martin - Executive Director of Halogen Foundation Our SRC are to be commended for their wonderful behaviour and the enthusiastic manner in which they engaged with each other as well as other school leaders. Below are some of their reflections from the day. My favourite speaker from young leaders day was Bindi Irwin. She talked to us about trying to follow in her father's footsteps and the hard work she has done to preserve and protect the environment. She told us to follow our dreams and we can be what ever we want to be in our lives. Bindi was an inspiration and I looked up to her for her perseverance and wise words for a 16 year old. She also spoke about her and her dad's journey to save Australia's wildlife and showed us some videos of her dad and her family. We asked her some questions and she answered difficult questions about her dad with strength. She shared a quote from Theodore Roosevelt with us "Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right." By Amy My favourite speaker for the National Young Leaders day was Bindi Irwin. I liked her because she told us how she was following in her dad's footsteps at Australia Zoo. It was amazing! She told us how she was continuing her dad's work in catching and tagging wild salt water crocodiles. She was awesome. I loved how she was setting a wonderful example for her younger brother, Robert, who is 11 years old. I also liked how Bindi showed us a clip on how she is still figuring out more about crocodiles. She told us interesting facts like how a crocodile can hold its breath for more than 7 hours. By Joshua The speaker that I'm writing about is Bindi Irwin. Bindi's life and what she does now is very interesting. Her enthusiasm and passion for changing the planet tells us that we can also change the world, starting now. It's not too late to make a change and Bindi also told us that it's never too late to do something for the wildlife. By Leo The speaker I chose to write about is Rachael Leachar. Rachael was born without 90% of her vision. She had a passion for singing. Rachael tried out for Australia's Got Talent at the age of 16. She unfortunately didn't make it past the audition. A little while later she tried out for the X-Factor but didn't make it on the show. Later, in 2012 Rachael tried out for The Voice. Finally Rachael was successful. She went through weeks of The Voice and ended up coming 3rd. After that, Rachael realised she wanted to do singing for as long as she could. Rachael inspired me to write about her because of her strong will. She never saw being blind as a weakness. Some people thought that she couldn't do things because she was blind, but that just made Rachael want to prove them wrong. She said lots of important things about leadership. I think the most important thing she said about was "to be a good leader you need to be patient and hardworking, but most of all, leaders don't just say things but they get out and do it". I found this really inspiring and it made me want to try harder everyday. By Sarah Assembly Parents are invited to the next Principal and Citizenship Award Assembly which will be held on Tuesday, 31 st March at 2.30pm in the church. Swimming and Cross Country medals for age champions and runners up will be presented. Fun Run awards and Certificates of Participation for those students who took part in the Director of Education s Reading Challenge during the summer holidays will also be presented.

4 Principal/Citizenship Awards At the end of each term we hold an assembly to present the Principal and Citizenship Awards. Each class teacher selects one student from their class to receive a Principal s Certificate and one student to receive a Citizenship Certificate. The criteria for selection is listed below: Criteria for Principal s Award Students may have shown one or more of the following: Achieved high standard results this term Continually produced work of a high standard Put a tremendous effort into their school work Participated most enthusiastically in all class activities Made great improvement/progress in their school work Criteria for Citizenship Award Students may have shown one or more of the following: Treated others with care and respect Helped other students Considered the feelings of others Demonstrated the values taught in RE lessons Cared for the environment Displayed skills taught in our Social Skills Program Paper Plane Competition There was a great buzz around the school yesterday in anticipation of our paper plane competition. Thank you and congratulations to everyone who entered. We raised $ for Project Compassion. Thank you to the Social Justice Team who helped organise the event. The class winners are as follows; Kinder Jasmine Fernandez William Cetinic Yr. 1 Jack McMillan Isla Attard Yr. 2 Ben Gontarczyk Alexa Antivilo Yr. 3 Tommy Murphy Elias Tannous Yr. 4 Nicholas Hyde Ainslie McNally Yr. 5 Leah Murphy Yr. 6 Kyan Smith Leo Hwang Charlotte Van Eyk The overall winner of the competition was Charlotte Van Eyk. Thank you to everyone for taking part in the event. Student Teachers At present, we have a number of student teachers from the Australian Catholic University visiting our school. They will attend one day a week for the remainder of this term and again next term before completing a 3 week teaching block. Sympathy Our thoughts and prayers are with the Antivilo family on the death of Mr Antivilo s father (Mr Daniel Antivilo), and grandfather to Alexa (2W), Stephen (4D) and Daniel (6P). School Fees As mentioned in previous newsletters, some families have not yet finalized their Term 1 school fees. Our school secretaries will be contacting these families shortly. This is a very time consuming and lengthy process. Please assist the office staff in this matter by finalizing your outstanding fees immediately. No cash or cheque payments can be accepted at the school office after 3.30pm on Wednesday, 1st April. Only Eftpos transactions will be accepted on Thursday, 2nd April. Kindergarten 2016 Enrolments Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School is now taking Kindergarten enrolments for Please download the enrolment form from the school website complete the form and return it to the school office with all the required documentation. Families will be interviewed on Saturday, May 2 by a member of the Leadership Team. If your child has any special physical or learning needs please make an appointment to see Mr Haskins for a more extensive interview. New families may have a tour of our school on: Wednesday, April 1st, 2015 at 7.00pm Thursday, April 30th, 2015 at 10.00am Please the school ololbhills@parra.catholic.edu.au to inform us if you wish to attend any one of these sessions.

5 PE Mrs Barber has extended her leave till the end of Term 2. Miss Boulos will continue in the role of PE teacher throughout the next term. Head Lice There has been a report of head lice at the school. Please check your child for signs of lice or nits (small white eggs on the hair shaft). If necessary, consult the pharmacist about a suitable product. Fish and Chip Wrap Up Thank you for the great response to our Fish & Chip Day!!! From what we saw, the children seemed to enjoy their fish meal boxes for lunch. We had over 300 orders and it was a great success. A special thank you to Christine Coorey and Peter Budwee and all parent helpers who cooked, served and cleaned up. An extra special thanks goes to Leila and Louie Youssef of Hillz Grill who donated the fish we served the children on the day! Hillz Grill is located at 28 Baker Crescent, Baulkham Hills. Please be sure to visit them and show your support as they have shown theirs for our school. Mother's Day Raffle and Stall We are looking for prize donations for this year's annual Mother s Day fundraising raffle. All donations gratefully accepted! The Mother's Day Stall will be held on Thursday, 7th May, more information will follow. Call Alison Urquhart on if you have any queries. Fete 2015 Thank you to all parents who have already volunteered their time, equipment and donations for our fete. We will contact you shortly to confirm information. More volunteers are still needed. Everyone can contribute in some way - from co-ordinating a stall, donating items or sparing an hour or two on the day. The form is attached to the end of the newsletter. All ideas, help and hands are welcome. Post Separation Recovery Program - Springwood CCSS Solo Parent Services is offering its seven week Post Separation Recovery Program for the first time at Springwood, commencing on Wednesday, 6 th May. Time: 7.30pm 9.45pm Venue: Presbyterian Church Hall 150 Macquarie Road, Springwood Registration essential. For further details contact Eileen or Rita on or soloparentservices@ccss.org.au Marriage Annulment Information Night Each year CCSS Solo Parent Services present an Information Session to help people understand the process of Marriage Annulments in the Catholic Church. The evening is open to anyone who is interested. Venue: Mamre House 181 Mamre Road, Orchard Hills Date: Tuesday, 5 th May Time: 7.30pm 9.30pm Cost: $5.00 Registration: Rita or Eileen. Phone or soloparentservices@ccss.org.au Respect feeling good about yourself and others March Sun 29th Strengths Limitations SCHOOL EVENTS Palm Sunday Tues 31st 2.30pm Principal & Citizenship Awards April Thurs 2nd Holy Thursday Last day Term 1 Fri 3rd Sun 5th Good Friday Easter Sunday Mon 20th Term 2 begins

6 Message to School Communities Dear Parents We provide a copy of an opinion piece which appeared in The Australian newspaper on 26 March, from Tony Farley of the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations. The piece is in response to the ongoing campaign from the Independent Education Union and the Greens party to abolish the freedom that faith-based schools have to employ people who will act in accordance with the beliefs and teachings of their religion. You may have heard about the inclusion of a Catholic ethos clause as a key issue within the current Enterprise Agreement for teachers. Current legislation allows Catholic and other faith-based schools to require that staff support the mission, teaching and values of our faith in schools. To remove this ability seeks to remove the religious nature our Catholic schools - the very reason why our schools exist. These arrangements allow us the freedom to run our schools in a way that expresses our faith and provides parents with the ability to have their children educated in an environment that is consistent with their family s beliefs and values. The ongoing negotiations for an Enterprise Agreement for teachers have canvassed a range of issues, which employers will shortly be seeking to settle with the IEU. The issue of Catholic ethos is one that is fundamental to the future of our schools.

7 Religious Education in Year 2 This term in Year 2 we have been learning about the season of Lent. We have learnt that whilst Lent is a time of preparing our hearts for Jesus it s also a time of prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Year 2 enjoyed writing their own Lenten promises to God, outlining something they could sacrifice for God during these 40 days. The importance of Lent draws the children to understand their own personal relationship with God through prayer and being alone with God. Year 2 have also enjoyed constructing word walls linked to this special season and enjoyed Fr Giovanni s visit to their classrooms to discuss the importance of Lent in our parish and school community.

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