Dear Parents & Parishioners,

Catholic Education Week 2025: 16-23 March

This year, Catholic Education Week will be celebrated across the Archdiocese of Melbourne from Sunday 16 March to Sunday 23 March.

Catholic Education Week is an opportunnity for all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne to celebrate their Catholic identity, the pivotal role they play within their local community, and the strength of the sector.

This year’s theme draws from the motto of the Holy Year, the Year of Jubilee, and the Australian Catholic Youth Festival’s theme – ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you (Is 60: 1).

Catholic education is committed to delivering enriching and high-quality learning experiences , guided by the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Some of our students will attend the Mass of St Patrick for Schools held next Friday 21 March, followed by the Concert in the Park for primary school students.

Yesterday's Open Morning was one of the ways in which we celebrated much of what Our Holy Redeemer has to offer as a faith-centred, rich learning environment.

Congratulations

We warmly congratulate Keira and Tully F, and Annabelle and Harrison K, who were collectively baptised last weekend.

"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were Baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Galatians 3: 26-27

Raising Kids in a Digital World

Join us on Thursday 20 March for an engaging, insightful and practical webinar where you will hear from both the expertise of an experienced primary school teacher and cyber safety educator - Marty - combined with the insights of a psychologist and mum - Carley.

Inform & Empower is endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner as a Trusted eSafety Provider.

The Digital World is a rapidly evolving landscape for parents and their children. This very practical webinar will provide parents with the tools to support their children in navigating this landscape in their homes.

Here is the link so that parents can register for the webinar :

bit.ly/parents20march

Once parents register (with an email address and name), you will be emailed a link to the webinar. You will also receive reminder emails. The day following the webinar, you will receive a link to access the replay. Therefore, we recommend that even if you are unable to attend the live webinar, that you register to ensure access to the replay which will be available for 30 days.

Years 3 & 4 Parent Gathering

The next Parent Gathering will be held at the home of Tiffiny and Michael Korda. This function is for parents who have children in Years 3 or 4, and will be held next Friday 21 March. An invitation was emailed to all Year 3/4 parents last week.

Easter Colouring Competition

During the week, the office of Jess Wilson MP extended the following invitation for our

students to participate in the annual Easter Colouring Competition:

Dear Frank

I am once again excited to invite Our Holy Redeemer Primary School to participate in the 2025 Easter Colouring Competition for primary school students in the Kew Electorate.

Easter is an important date in the Christian calendar, but it is also celebrated widely by children who enjoy a chocolate feast on Easter Sunday!

Just a quick note on the fine print. Please find enclosed copies of the colouring competition for you to distribute to students. Students who would like to be involved are asked to colour in the Easter picture for their chance to win an Easter prize. The competition is open to primary school students living in or attending primary school in the Kew electorate (students need not reside in the electorate). One winner and one runner up will be awarded per school, with winning entries to be judged by me prior to Easter.

Please ask students to submit entries to your school office by Monday 24 March 2025. My office will organise for them to be collected from Tuesday 25 March 2025.

An afternoon tea for the winning students will be held in my office for the presentation of certificates and prizes. Further details will be confirmed shortly.

I hope Our Holy Redeemer Primary School will participate in the 2025 Easter Colouring Competition!

I would be grateful if you could confirm your involvement at your earliest convenience by emailing me at jess.wilson.mp@parliament.vic.gov.au

Yours sincerely

Jess Wilson MP

Member for Kew

Working Bees

There are four Working Bees scheduled throughout this year and it is hoped that each family would be able to attend at least one of these events. The Working Bees 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 to 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 in the school grounds. A range of days and times are available to enable each family the opportunity to select the most suitable Working Bee.

The dates for this year’s Working Bees are: Sunday 23 March, Sunday 4 May, Saturday 9 August and Sunday 19 October. A complete list of dates can be found on the school calendar.

You can email your preferred day to

Justin: justin.trees@hotmail.com or Luke: luke.torpey@jrtpartnership.com.au

We request that you look ahead at your commitments for 2025, and nominate for at least one Working Bee now. It’s a great way to show your children that you value their school through committing to a few hours per year. Certain families have been extremely generous with their time over recent years in turning up to multiple Working Bees within the one year.

The first Working Bee is a morning session (8.30am – 10.30am) scheduled for Sunday 23 March. A barbeque and refreshments will be provided during this time.

Math You Can Touch Creative Challenge

For details of the Math You Can Touch 2025 Creative Challenge, please head to the Learning & Teaching News page.

School Closure Day

Our first school closure day for Staff Professional Learning will take place on Monday 24 March.

The focus of the day will be 'Strengthening Evidence-based Pedagogies' in which the staff will delve deeper into the work begun last year under MACS' Vision for Instruction, a system-wide approach to achieving teaching and learning excellence.

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Frank

School Community