Dear Parents & Parishioners,

Preps 100 Days Celebration

Last Friday, our Prep students celebrated 100 Days of Learning. Thank you to Mrs Hollow for ensuring the day was one that the children will always remember.

Our 100 days of school celebrations began with a photo shoot to capture the precious memories of our first year at O.H.R.

We then spent some quiet time in prayer to thank God for our many blessings - remembering how fortunate we are to have such great education here in Australia.

We made 100 day crowns- showing off the great fine motor skills strengthened over 100 days of learning.

Next came the “Buddy Catch Up” session. We practiced precise counting to check our 100 item collections. We had conversations about “Things I would like to do before I am 100”

We enjoyed an episode of Bluey, “The Grannies” . The laughter was infectious and we all had a go at flossing.

After lunch we had a dance party and we concluded the day with a special presentation from Mr Dame and a beautiful afternoon tea. Many thanks to Frankie and Ryan VanHoorn for the beautiful 100 day cake and coordinating the team of bakers. We appreciate you.

Many thanks for sharing this special day with us all.

Mrs Michelle Hollow

Prep (Foundation) Teacher

Working Bee

Saturday's weather conditions were perfect for the Working Bee. Once again, we ended up with a great number of families who turned out to 'pitch in'. Many children were also prepared to roll up their sleeves! A great variety of tasks were undertaken during the morning, including: mulching of the Sensory Garden and various other garden beds, topping up the sandpit with further sand, plenty of weeding, pruning of bushes, and clearing of the gutters around the sport shed.

The morning concluded in true OHR fashion with a sausage sizzle.

Thanks to our working bee coordinators, Justin Bolger and Luke Torpey, for coordinating and overseeing Saturday's community event.

The Olympics - It's a Wrap!

The world is still basking in the warm afterglow of a successful 2024 Paris Olympics. In addition to extraordinary feats on the track and in the pool, or beautiful photos of the Eiffel Tower adorned with the Olympic rings, this Olympiad should be remembered for the diversity of those who medaled. Five teams won gold, silver or bronze for the first time, extending a longer-term trend toward, hopefully, a more competitively balanced Olympics. None of these milestones was, arguably, more inspiring than sprinter Julien Alfred’s gold medal — the first of any kind for St. Lucia — in the women’s 100 metre final. Her country (with a population of 180,000) plans to honor the win with a national holiday.

Not every athlete can go home with a medal, and some lost out by mere milliseconds. A host of photo finishes this year is a reminder of the tiny gap that determines which athletes receive the lion’s share of attention. But even those who didn’t make the podium took advantage of their moment. Kimia Yousofi, an Afghan sprinter, finished last but held up a sign to highlight the plight of women in her country under Taliban rule.

To be sure, Paris, like previous Games, was not without controversy. Taiwanese athletes had to compete under the banner of “Chinese Taipei,” and spectators who held up signs with the name “Taiwan” had them taken away and torn up. Women’s boxing ignited a fierce debate about gender in sports. And there were many debates about the quality of food as well as the health of athletes whose events took place in the Seine.

Despite its problems, the Paris Games showed that more young people are getting a chance to thrive. Here’s hoping Los Angeles 2028 is even more diverse — and exciting.

In the meantime, we look forward to the Paris Paralympics that will hold global centre stage in just under two weeks.

MACSAnnual Report 2023

The MACS Annual Report 2023 can be accessed by selecting the button below.

Michael Ymer Parent Maths Night

We had a great number of parents turn up for a fun, hands-on evening of learning with Michael last night. The evening session followed an afternoon workshop that Michael ran with the staff.

In next week's Newsletter, Mrs Hansen will report on the Maths Parent Evening and include some photos capturing the learning that was experienced.

Important: Supervision Before & After School

The children are supervised before school by teaching staff from 8.25 – 8.40am. Commencing at 8.30am, the children may enter their classroom and begin setting up for the day as long as their teacher is in attendance. In the interest of child safety, we request that children are not dropped off at school any earlier. Teaching staff are not scheduled for playground supervision until 8.25am as they are regularly involved in meetings, preparation and administration.

The children are dismissed at 3.15pm, with staff supervision in the school grounds extending from 3.15pm – 3.30pm. We kindly request that all children be collected by 3.30pm as staff are often involved in a variety of meetings commencing at this time. At 3.30pm, the staff on Yard Duty will call for any students who have not been collected by their parents or guardians to gather in the school entrance foyer.

We appreciate the fact that so many parents and/or guardians have been prompt in picking up their children at the end of the school day.

Please note the following:

Children are allowed to play on the Junior Playground equipment between the times of 8.25 – 8.40am and 3.15 – 3.30pm, but not in the sandpit nor on the Middle/Senior Playground Equipment at the Northern end of the grounds.
In the interest of everyone’s safety, ball games are not to be played before or after school between the times of 8.25 – 8.40am and 3.15 – 3.30pm.
Children should never wait to be picked up in York Street. They should always be collected by an adult from within the school grounds.

Fathers' Day Stall

Please refer to the PFA News page for details of this year's Fathers' Day Stall which will be held on Friday 30 August.

Book Week

This year, OHR will recognise the Children's Book Council of Australia annual celebration of Book Week between 26 - 30 August.

We will commence the week with a very special Book Week Assembly, where the students are invited to attend school on Monday 26 August dressed as their favourite book character.

Family Technology Agreements

Jump to the Student Wellbeing page where Mrs Lisa Canty has included some helpful information and links relating to Family Technology Agreements.

Cyber Safety

Make sure that you visit the Cyber Safety Tips page for access to some helpful parent resources. Note, this page is constantly being updated by Mrs Hansen.

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 10 weeks until the big day.

A link to the fete website can be found on the homepage of our school website.

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

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Frank Dame

School News

Assembly Award Winners