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Dear Parents & Parishioners,

Fathers' Day is a time to give thanks to our fathers for helping to give us life, and if we are fortunate, for contributing to the creation of a safe and loving home that enables us to fulfil our potential. Good men enhance the quality of family life. On Father’s Day we give them our heartfelt thanks.

Below, are some first-hand reflections on what it means to be a father.

“Fatherhood is like being a circus performer – juggling responsibilities, walking a tightrope between discipline and laughter, and occasionally being shot out of a cannon by your kids’ wild antics. It’s a thrilling and hilarious adventure.”

J.S.

“Fatherhood should not be entered into lightly or self-indulgently. It’s a huge responsibility, an experience that changes your world in unfathomable ways as a child initially becomes the centre of your universe, and, for a short time, you are the centre of theirs. Your role is to love but not smother, to teach but not preach, to protect but not prevent them from facing and learning how to overcome adversity, to establish boundaries, model moral behaviour and encourage self-expression. Raising a child to young adulthood is the most challenging and ultimately the most rewarding life role.”

P.R.

“Being a father to me means being someone my children can trust, someone who is compassionate and supportive, not jealous or competitive.”

C.M.

Fathers' Day Breakfast

The Fathers' Day Breakfast will be held outside in the school grounds tomorrow Friday 5 September from 7.45 - 8.30am. From 8.20am onwards the classrooms will be open so that the children can show their dads around their classrooms.

School Concert: 4 Sleeps to Go!

Purchasing Tickets

372 seats have been sold since the ticket window opened just over two weeks ago. To secure tickets, simply go to:

https://www.trybooking.com/DEQPV

Ticket sales close this Monday, 8 September.

Arrival Time and Parking at Genazzano

Next week's school concert will commence at 7.00pm. However, we would like families to arrive and park at Genazzano by 6.20pm. The students will need to be assembled in The Madeleine Centre by 6.30pm.

Below, you will find a map of the car parks and the school grounds. The only entrance that will be open will be off Cotham Rd where you will need to enter via Gate 1. Gate 2 is the exit and Gate 3 will be closed. You can park in the main car park entering off Cotham Rd or any of the other smaller car parks spilling off the main car park. On the map you will also notice a car park parallel to Mont Victor Rd. This car park may also be used, however, it can only be accessed initially via Gate 1.

Once you have parked, please escort your children up the pathway leading towards Circular Drive. From there you will be able to enter The Madeleine Centre.

Costumes

Details of costume requirements can be found on the Performing Arts page further in this newsletter. All costume requirements should have arrived at school by yesterday.

National Child Protection Week

National Child Protection Week invites all Australians to play their part to promote the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.

This year, National Child Protection Week (NCPW) occurs across Australia from 7 - 13 September. This year, the theme is:

'Every conversation matters >>>'

It is important that we listen to, and value, what children have to say. Where possible, include their voices in decision making and be advocates for their best interest.

By speaking regularly to children about their personal safety and how they can protect themselves, as well as “tuning into” their worries, children are more likely to trust us and feel comfortable to talk to us when something big is going on.

Digital Safety & Wellbeing

Please head to the Student Wellbeing page for some important information and links to support digital safety for your child/ren.

MACSSIS

On Monday, some families would have received an email from Mr Nick Byrne containing the following subject line: OHR MACSSIS - Family School Improvement Survey 2025. The email contained login details and a unique family PIN. If you have misplaced this email, please contact Nick directly at:

nbyrne@ohrsurreyhills.catholic.edu.au

All participation is invited, welcomed and 100 per cent voluntary. The surveys are not a test; they are an inclusive way to support the work we are already doing to improve our school.

The average survey completion time is a little over 10 - 12 minutes.

2026 Student Numbers

As we approach the latter part of Term 3, the school is attempting to determine accurate numbers of students in each year level for the 2026 school year. Therefore, with the exception of exiting year 6 students, could you please notify me if your child will not be returning to OHR next year? I would appreciate notification by no later than Friday, 12 September. As you can appreciate, final numbers will ascertain whether we can satisfy any requests from families wishing to transfer their child/ren from another school.

Whole School Assembly

There will be no school assembly on Monday as the students will be travelling to Genazzano to partake in the dress rehearsal for Monday evening's concert.

The Right to Disconnect - repeated

From 26 August 2024, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) included 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. 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:

Wishing all our dads a great Fathers' Day on Sunday,

Frank Dame

School News

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