Dear Parents & Parishioners,

When my son, Liam, was about eight years old he put to me the following question, “Dad, you’re the boss in our family, aren’t you?” Smiling and pleased I answered, “Of course”, only to be told, “That’s because mum put you in charge, right!” At the time this was a pretty good insight from an eight year old. The time of the uninvolved father has long gone; it takes a team effort for a couple to cope with the joys and challenges of parenthood.

Studies have shown that when fathers are affectionate and helpful, their children are more likely to get on well with each other. When children have fathers who are emotionally involved, so that they acknowledge their children’s emotions and help them deal with bad emotions, they tend to have better relationships with children outside of their family and behave less aggressively.

Gottman, Katz & Hooven. How Families Communicate Emotionally.

So this Sunday we pause to recognise all the fathers and father-figures in our lives and the lives of our children.

This morning, we will be holding our annual Fathers Day Stall in the Hall foyer. This is a day that all the children look forward to, regardless of age. Thank you to the Year 1/2HA parent reps, Natsha O'Hanlon and Siobhan Crawshay, for coordinating this event.

Last Friday, the school grounds played host to our Kids and Dads' Night, which was a special evening for the children and their dads. This year we invited back Kaboom! Kid Sports who, with the assistance of some senior students, facilitated the night. Many thanks to the Year 3/4 parent reps who organised the food and refreshments that were served following the event.

Sacrament of Confirmation

We pray for those Year 6 students who will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation this Friday evening. They have been prepared by the Parish, their class teachers and families, for this significant Sacrament of Initiation. We thank their peers who have supported them through this journey.

Please make sure you refer to the Education in Faith page for more information.

Book Week at OHR

Thank you to Mrs MacIsaac for planning a terrific schedule of activities in recognition of OHR Book Week. The students, and staff, have had a wonderful time. Many got into ‘Wear a Hat to School’ day on Tuesday, and the students loved the ‘Hunt for Frank’ around the school. Yesterday proved to be an amazing celebration of literature with our annual Book Week Parade, followed by the workshops with Adam Wallace.

The Year 6 students have revelled in the opportunity to share the picture books they have personally created with each of our classes. During the course of this week and next, they are also sharing their wonderful creations with the pre-schoolers in our local kindergartens.

Make sure you jump to the Library News page to catch up on all this week's events.

School Closures

While we have a busy and bustling community at OHR, our hearts go out to the four Catholic Primary Schools across Melbourne who were informed recently that their schools would be closing at the end of the current year - devastating news for their communities. It is however, a strong reminder that we should never take our communities for granted. Many work tirelessly to help maintain a united, caring and compassionate Christ-centered community here at OHR and we should always look for opportunities to support them. And in the next few months, there are many.

OHR Colour Run

OHR will be holding our second Colour Run for students next term. This will be a super-exciting day for our students! All money generated by the event will go directly to the PFA which, in turn, will come back to the school in various ways to benefit our students.

Further details of the event will be leaked out over the coming weeks. Many thanks to Ange Southwood and Linnea Reddie who will be assisting with our school's participation.

MACSSIS

On Monday, each family would have received an email from Mr Nick Byrne containing the following subject line: MACSSIS - Family School Improvement Survey (Our Holy Redeemer School). 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.

School Concert: Only 2 Weeks to Go!

Tickets went on sale just over two weeks ago. 287 seats have been sold since then. To secure tickets, simply go to:

https://www.trybooking.com/CKTPG

Ticket sales close at 9.00pm on Tuesday 12 September.

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. Your child's class teacher(s) will have provided further details this week.

Hugo at Snowsports

Two weeks ago Hugo H (5/6MB) represented OHR at the Inter-school Snowsports at Mt Buller. In this image Hugo is competing in the giant slalom snowboard event.

Hugo had a wonderful time competing and doing his best at the snow sports. It was a really fun week where the emphasis was around participation, meeting new people and having a good time.

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Frank

Learning Diversity