Dear Parents & Parishioners,

Walk for Tiwi

Following on from my recent conference in Darwin, where the highlight was our visit to the Tiwi Islands, the School Captains and I have been in discussions about the important place of St Therese's Catholic Church in the lives of the Tiwi aboriginals. Of concern is the poor state of the church and the fact that a lack of finance has prevented the maintenance and restoration of the church.

During Monday's whole school assembly, our Captains and Vice Captains spoke about the matter. The following is a transript of their address:

You might remember that two weeks ago Mr Dame told us about his trip to Darwin, where he visited the Tiwi Islands. The Tiwi Islands are two large islands, made up of Bathurst and Melville Islands.

While on Bathurst Island, the Principals met with Sister Anne Gardiner who has taught in the Tiwi Islands for a good part of 60 years (she is currently 92 years of age). Sister Anne works in the Bathurst Island Mission. While visiting Bathurst Island, Sister Anne took the Principals to St Therese’s Catholic Church which was built many decades ago by the Tiwi islanders, and is decorated with images from Tiwi mythology and the Bible.

The church is a very special place to the Tiwi people, but is in desperate need of restoration. When you restore a building, you repair and rebuild it to what it originally looked like. Mr Dame and the other Principals who visited the Tiwi Islands, thought it would be a lovely gesture to both Sister Anne and the Aboriginal people on Bathurst Island, if all our schools donated some money towards the restoration of the church.

Our wish is to hold a gold coin donation fundraiser where everyone in our school, including staff and students, completes a walk mapped out around our school and surrounding streets. We could follow the same course as last year’s Colour Run. We would need lesss than one hour to do the walk and could invite parent helpers to be positioned around the track. We are suggesting that the walk be completed during Footy Colours Day, which is the last day of this term.

We will provide more details closer to the time.

Thank you.

Science Week

Mrs Axon certainly knows how to celebrate Science Week, and last night's Science & STEM night was no exception. Over 200 parents and students attended this celebration in the hall, where families partook in a range of challenges. Lots of scientific discussions could be overhead during the night. It was wonderful to witness the high level of engagement amongst family members.

Thank you to Mrs Axon for stimulating a love of Science & STEM learning among our students. So much planning went into last night's event to ensure that everyone had an opportunity to appreciate the learning undertaken by our students.

Images of the evening will appear in next week's newsletter.

NDA

Tomorrow is the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. The theme for this year is 'Growing Connections'. Please refer to Mrs Canty's article in the Learning & Teaching News.

Dads & Kids Night

There is only one week to go until the PFA Dads & Kids Night with Kaboom Sports. This is always a popular and well-attended evening in the lead-up to Fathers' Day. Booking details are on the PFA page in today's newsletter.

School Concert

Tickets went on sale at 9.00am yesterday. To secure tickets, simply go to:

https://www.trybooking.com/CKTPG

To ensure no families miss out, we are requesting that each family secure a maximum of no more than four seats. When selecting seats, please be sure that you don't leave a single seat space between your seats and that of another family. Thank you.

Details of costume requirements can be found on the Performing Arts page further in this newsletter.

Book Week at OHR

Children's Book Council of Australia's (CBCA) key highlight national event of the year is Children's Book Week. This year the official week is from Saturday, 19 August – Friday, 25 August. At OHR, however, we are celebrating the week from Saturday, 26 August - Friday, 1 September. In anticipation of OHR Book Week, our Year 6's will lauch their picture book creations at a very special breakfast this Wednesday. During OHR Book Week they will share their picture books with classes throughout our school; the students will also visit local kindergartens for public readings of their books.

Make sure that you head to the Library News page to find out what Mrs MacIsaac has in store for Book Week this year. Note: The Book Week Assembly, in which all students are invited to dress up, will take place on Wednesday, 30 August.

Working Bee

We were greeted with fine conditions and a good number of parent (and student) volunteers at last Saturday's working bee. The morning began promptly at 8.30am and concluded just after 10.15 am, when the smells of the sausage sizzle lured all helpers towards the barbeque.

Thanks to everyone who helped during the morning as this ensures we have well maintained outdoor spaces for our children.

Key enrolment dates for Year 5 students in 2024 starting Year 7 in 2026

The key enrolment dates for students in Year 5 in 2024 who will be starting Year 7 in 2026 have been agreed after consultation with the Executive of the Principals Association of Victorian Catholic Secondary Schools (PAVCSS).

The timeline of events and dates is as follows:

applications for students starting Year 7 in 2026 will open on Monday 29 January 2024
applications will close on Friday 16 August 2024
offers will be posted to prospective Year 7 applicants on Friday 18 October 2024
parents/carers will be required to accept an offer from a school by Friday 8 November 2024.

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Frank

School Uniform