Dear Parents & Parishioners,

This weekend many students in our Parish will celebrate the Sacrament of First Eucharist. To conclude their preparation for the sacrament, the students and their peers will be participating in a Eucharist Retreat Day tomorrow.

May we envoke St Patrick's Blessing on our young candidates:

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

The following reflection on living the Eucharist has always profoundly influenced my understanding of what it means to be a person of Eucharist. It really is 'not rocket science'. You may like to take a few minutes to reflect on the key messaging.

The Right to Disconnect

From 26 August 2024, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) will include provisions to give employees a workplace right to disconnect from communication received outside of their designated working hours, where reasonable. Within the education sector, this includes communication from parents, students, colleagues or others within the school community, where reasonable.

What is the right to disconnect?

Under the new right to disconnect, an employee may refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from an employer outside of the employee’s working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable.

In addition, the right will also allow an employee to refuse to respond to communication from parents, students, colleagues or others within the school community if the contact relates to their work and is outside of the employee’s working hours, unless the refusal is unreasonable.

What is considered as unreasonable?

The FWC may consider the following factors, amongst others, when determining if an employee has unreasonably refused to connect:

The reason for the contact or attempted contact with the employee;
How the contact or attempted contact with the employee is made and the level of disruption the contact or attempted contact causes the employee;
The nature of the employee’s role and the employee’s level of responsibility;
The employee’s personal circumstances (including family or caring responsibilities).

At OHR we respect the importance of engaging in dialogue and the communication of valuable information but acknowledge that consideration be given to the timing and frequency of communications to staff from employers and members of the school community. Moving forward The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) requires us to manage expectations surrounding responses outside of an employee's working hours.

Thank you for supporting us in this endeavour.

Below is a copy of OHR's Protocols for Using Email:

OHR Olympic Fun Day

This Tuesday we have a special day that normally only appears on the calendar once every four years, the 'OHR Olympic Fun Day'. This is a great day of actvities through which the students rotate. It also serves as an opportunity to recognise the significant contirbution made by our Olympians, both paralympian and able-bodied.

The students can come to school dressed in anything Olympic-themed.

Parent Helpers Induction

Mrs Lisa Canty will be running two separate induction programs for any interested parent helpers. Please refer to the Learning & Teaching News for further details.

Michael Ymer, Mathematics Guru, is Returning to OHR

Michael Ymer is returning to OHR on the evening of Wednesday 14 August to deliver an engaging Maths Evening for our parents. For all details, please refer to Mrs Hansen's section in today's Learning & Teaching News, where you will be able to access a Google Form to indicate your attendance.

100 Days of Learning in Prep

Congratulations to all our Prep children who will be celebrating 100 days of learning next Friday 9 August. The Prep students have come such a long way this year. Mrs Hollow has planned an exciting range of activties to do with "all things 100".

Be careful of the small senior citizens in the Prep classroom on that day!

Parent Learning Walk

Our next Parent Learning Walk will be held on Wednesday 7 August commencing at 8.45am.

"What is a Parent Learning Walk?" I hear you ask. A Parent Learning Walk takes place throughout the school year during the school day. Parents are invited to walk the school with a member of the school leadership team and observe lessons taking place in three learning areas across the school. During this time you will have the opportunity to talk to the senior leaders and classroom teachers.

Each Learning Walk is designed to provide you with an insight to the learning that takes place at OHR, with the opportunity to ask questions and share any observations in an informal environment. All this plays an important role in the strategic development of our school.

Feel free to indicate your attendance on this Google Form.

Dads & Kids' Night with Kaboom Sports

Details can be found on how to book for the Fathers' Day Sports Night by visiting the PFA News page.

About Real Life: Years 3 - 6

Information regarding this year's About Real Life program for parents and students in Years 3 - 6, can be found on the Student Wellbeing page where Mrs Lisa Canty has included some helpful links and information .

Working Bee

Our third Working Bee for the year is fast approaching and will be held on the morning of Saturday 10 August between 8.30am and 10.30am. The Working Bee will be coordinated by both Luke Torpey and Justin Bolger to address the upkeep of the school grounds and minor maintenance matters. Working Bees are a cost-effective and essential means of maintaining aesthetic school grounds that afford a safe and welcoming environment for our children, parents and visitors.

Working Bees provide the opportunity to connect with other families, and the children always have a great time helping out and playing with one another.

For task planning and catering purposes, please indicate your attendance by emailing either:

Justin: justin.trees@hotmail.com or

Luke: luke.torpey@jrtpartnership.com.au

OHR Spring Carnival

The fete committee continue to meet on a very regular basis to plan for our first school fete since 2019. Timelines, schedules, bookings and logistics are all ramping up with only 12 weeks until the big day. Look out for comms from the Class Reps calling on everyone to be involved in some way to ensure that this day is a huge success.

Make sure that you go to the PFA News page for further information.

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Frank Dame

School Community