Principal's News
Dear Parents & Parishioners,
2025 is regarded as The Year of Jubilee in the Catholic Church. A Jubilee or Holy Year is a special year of forgiveness and reconciliation, in which people are invited to come back into right relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation.
A Jubilee Year is celebrated by the Church every 25 years. A Pope can also proclaim an Extraordinary Jubilee, like the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy which Pope Francis inaugurated in 2015.
The theme in 2025 is 'Pilgrims of Hope'. Pope Francis has invited Catholics to renew our hope and discover a vision that can "restore access to the fruits of the earth to everyone". We are also invited to rediscover a spirituality of God's creation in which we understand ourselves as "pilgrims on the earth" rather than masters of the world.
The following YouTube clip, while released by a travel company, provides a quick insight to the history behind the Jubilee and why it is so important.
An Invitation to a Guided Learning Walk for Parents
On Wednesday 28 May, you are invited to come to the staff room for a decent coffee (we use Nespresso pods!) and then see firsthand how children learn at our school through joining us on a Learning Walk for Parents. Learning Walks are a great opportunity for parents to come to the school and, with other parents in a small group, be guided around classrooms by one of the school leaders. It is a great opportunity to observe what learning looks like in different levels of the school.
These guided walks will provide you with:
A first-hand look into selected classrooms to observe the learning
Special commentary and insights from school leaders
An opportunity to ask questions
A chance to meet, listen and learn with other parents
If you are interested in joining us on one of these walks please indicate your interest by emailing ohradmin@ohrsurreyhills.catholic.edu.au or alternatively completing the Google Form that was emailed yesterday afternoon.
Our Learning Walk for Parents will commence at 8.45am on Wednesday 28 May. Please allow 45mins.
Mothers' Day Breakfast and Stall
It was terrrific to see the hall filled with so many proud mums and excited children for last Friday's Mothers' Day Breakfast. The hall was beautifully set up and the food on offer was just superb. The children loved the opportunity to present mum with the special gift they had created in class. The hampers, created by Paula Durrant for the raffle, also made keenly sought prizes.
Kelly Xie did an amazing job in coordinating all aspects of the morning. Full credit to the mums and dads who prepared for the event. It was great that so many dads were on hand to help serve and clean up during the morning.
Thank you to Paula, for sourcing all the wonderful gifts that were on sale in this year's Mothers' Day Stall. There would have been many mums that were extremely pleased with their presents on Sunday morning!
Also a big 'shout out' to Nancy, Geri, Lauren, Siobhan, Erin and Laurenne for assisting the children with their purchases from the stall.
Anaphylaxis Training
This week, all staff have undertaken ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training. ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training for Children’s Education/Care (CEC) is a nationally approved qualification by the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) for anaphylaxis management training under the National Quality Framework (NQF).
Prep Enrolments for 2026
Enrolments for next year are soon closing. If you have a child who will be commencing school next year, please lodge an enrolment form to the office by tomorrow, Friday 16 May. We need this information in order to ascertain student numbers for 2026. Enrolment figures are used to determine class numbers and structures. Our enrolment figures impact directly on the funding OHR receives.
Family enrolment meetings will be held in the weeks following 16 May.
District Cross Country
Congratualtions to all our students who will represent OHR during tomorrow's District Cross Country to be held at Macleay Park.
Further details can be found on the PE News page.
Grandparents & Special Friends’ Day - 1 week to go
Only one more week to go until we celebrate Grandparents & Special Friends' Day. This important day on our calendar offers the opportunity to recognise those significant people in the lives of our children. Grandparents and Special Friends' Day will be held during the morning next Friday 23 May commencing at 9.00am.
On this day we would love for either the grandparents of the children or other special persons in their lives, to come to school for the morning. The day will commence with a very special whole school mass in the church, celebrating the place of these important people in the lives of the children. The visitors will then be invited to spend some time in the classrooms. Afterwards, our special guests will be warmly invited to stay on for a morning tea in the hall.
School Closure Day
Our next school closure day for staff professional learning will take place on Friday 6 June, which immediately preceeds the King's Birthday long weekend. The staffs from our three parish schools will gather together on this day where the focus will be on Staff Faith Formation.
Winter Uniform
Commencing this Monday, 19 May, all children are required to be dressed in full winter uniform. You may note that the option of wearing summer uniform has been extended by a further week due to the foecast unseasonably warm weather.
Frank Dame