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Dear Parents & Parishioners,

Last Friday, the staff from our three parish primary schools - Our Holy Redeemer, Our Lady's Surrey Hills and Our Lady of Good Counsel - gathered together for a day of professional learning and staff faith formation.

We commenced the day with a mass celebrated by Fr Sang. At the conclusion of mass, the staffs gathered together for the first session which was lead by Fr Frank O'Loughlin, author and theologian. In Fr Frank's presentation, entitled 'Building Blocks of the Eucharist', he explored the place of food and, specifically, bread as an important staple that has fed humanity for eons. Bread nourishes us and gives us life. It is the mainstay of many meals. Similarly, Christ is the bread of life. Throughout the Scriptures, food and bread in particular, is seen as a gift of God. In fact, more than that, it is seen as a means through which God works. It is God giving life in his gift of food. Food is seen as sacred precisely because it is the way in which the life-giving God gives life. It does God's job for him! Notice the blessing that the priest says over the bread; "Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life."

The second session of the day was lead by Loredana Guinane and Amerall Blom from the MACS Eastern Office. They addressed the topic, 'Exploring Sacramentality'. The session aimed to provide an opportunity for participants to gain new insights into the ordinary and everyday human experience of the Sacred and the Sacraments of the Catholic Tradition and explore classroom implications. During the session, we:

were guided to unpack our understanding of Sacramentality from the perspective of the Catholic Tradition
participated in a modeled experience of prayer using scripture which encouraged participants to share their faith perspectives
explored classroom activities which allow students to meaningfully engage and connect faith, life and culture.

The rich work commenced on this day will be built on during a staff Professional Learning Team meeting next week.

PFA Social Event - Winter Solstice BBQ this Saturday

The location of Saturday's Winter Solstice BBQ has been changed. It wil now be held at the home of the Jacksons. So, bring along your steaks, a salad to share, refreshments and a warm coat. Pull up a camp chair and be ready for a fabulous evening!

Details were sent out yesterday in an email.

2025 OHR Public Speaking Competition & Years 3-6 Australian Maths Competition

Please refer to the Learning & Teaching page for details of this year's OHR Public Speaking competition and the Years 3-6 Australian Maths Competition.

Mathematics Version 2.0 - Repeated

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) recently published its revised Mathematics curriculum (Mathematics Version 2.0).

All Victorian schools will start using Mathematics Version 2.0 in 2025. At Our Holy Redeemer, we are using the revised Mathematics curriculum for student reporting from Semester 1, 2025.

On your child’s previous report, the teacher reported against the three strands of the achievement standard for Mathematics (Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability). Under the Mathematics Version 2.0 curriculum, your child’s teacher will report against the achievement standard as a whole, providing a single, aggregated score.

As the achievement standards reported on have changed, the first time you receive a report under the Mathematics Version 2.0 curriculum, it will only show achievement and not progress. For all reports after this, progress will be shown against the single achievement standard.

Pet Pooches

It is apparent that a number of dogs are being brought onto the school grounds, particularly during afternoon pick up.

At OHR, we certainly welcome the presence of friendly K-9’s. However, as some children are quite anxious of our furry friends, we do request that pet dogs always remain on a leash. We also ask that the leash is held at short length by an adult.

As you can appreciate, students running around with their per dogs can frighten and startle some children.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Semester One Reports & Parent Teacher Conferences

Semester One Reports will go live on Monday 30 June. Instructions for accessing the reports will be communicated closer to the time.

Due to the fact that a number of classroom teachers will be away on Long Service Leave during the last week of Term 2, the Parent Teacher Conferences will be held early next term on Thursday 31 July.

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Frank Dame

Learning Diversity