Dear Parents & Parishioners,

Advent is an important season in the Christian calendar. It means 'coming' and it's the period before Christmas which celebrates the birth of Jesus. It is all about anticipating and preparing for Christmas Day.

The Advent season begins on the Sunday nearest to 30 November, resulting in four weekend's before Christmas. So in 2024, it actually starts this Sunday 1 December and will be observed until Christmas Eve.

In Christian communities around the world, Advent refers to a four-week season of remembering and celebrating the arrival of Jesus on Earth. It’s a time to reflect on the unexpected nature of Jesus’ humble birth and join in the anticipation of when he will come again.

People in the Catholic Church typically reflect on the concepts of hope, peace, love and joy - one for each week leading up to Christmas. People may light Advent candles, prepare unique wreaths, hold special church services, or read specific Scriptures each day to reflect on the arrival of Jesus on Earth.

Advent Calendars are a means of counting down the days to Christmas. Like many others aspects of modern Christmas practices, the Advent calendar is of German origin. From the early nineteenth century, at the latest, German Protestants began to mark the days of Advent either by burning a candle for the day or, more simply, marking walls or doors with a line of chalk each day.

Prep Dinner for 2025 Families

Thank you to Frankie Van Hoorn, who coordinated all facets of last week's Prep Dinner & Information Evening. Frankie was supported by an enthusiastic band of volunteers from this year's Prep class in the preparation, set up, service and clean up. Our current Prep parents prepared an array of sumptuous salads and desserts. The bar was raised incredibly high!

This proved to be a night that will be long remembered by our 2025 Prep parents.

Twilight Working Bee

On Wednesday 11 December there will be a special Twilight Working Bee between 5.00 and 6.00pm. The purpose of this event is to relocate classroom tables, chairs and storage units. For OH&S reasons I do not want students, nor teachers, moving the items of furniture up and down stairs. It would be great to have as many hands on deck for the one hour period to enable the furniture from four classrooms to be efficiently relocated.

We undertook a similar project last year and, as a result of so many parent helpers, managed to complete all tasks within 45 minutes.

If you are able to help out for the full hour or part thereof, please indicate your attendance by emailing either of our two Working Bee Coordinators:

Luke Torpey:

Luke.Torpey@jrtpartnership.com.au

Justin Bolger:

Justin.trees@hotmail.com

Assessment

At OHR, regular formative and summative assessment occurs on a consistent basis. All students are involved in formal assessments in order for us to track achievement and growth as well as determining future directions of their learning. We also track trend data, to ensure we sustain our high results in Literacy and Numeracy . We have access to an array of normed assessment tools which are used to assess students at a deeper level when required. If you have any queries regarding assessments, please reach out to any Leadership Team member.

The Last Hurrah at OHR

The evening of Thursday 5 December offers the opportunity for parents to come together to farewell the parents of those children who will be leaving the school community at the end of this year. This is a special night on the school calendar. The evening will be held in the hall foyer and commence at 7.00pm.

On behalf of Fr Sang, the staff and parents at OHR, I would like to thank all the families who will be leaving and have contributed to the life of our school. A number of our families, following a long association with OHR, have their last child in Year 6, while others have their last child in other year levels We will miss all our beautiful families and wish them nothing but the very best for the future.

Thank you to Damian and Fiona Love who are coordinating this event.

Guitar Anyone?

We are in the process of sorting out some of the cupbaords at the back of the OHR Hall. There are a number of guitars that have not been used in over 10 years. They are in average condition but may prove to be a good instument for a student who is just starting out. If interested, pop into the school and see either Heather or myself. They are for free, or you can leave a donation beneath our St Vincent de Paul Christmas tree. Limit of one guitar per family. As you can appreciate, these may only be colleccted by an adult.

OHR Twilight Christmas Celebration

Please remember that the OHR Twilight Christmas Celebration will be held tomorrow, 29 November, commencing at 5.00pm with our students singing Christmas Carols. Food and refreshments will be available. There will also be balloon creations, face painting, temporary tatoos and a visit by Santa. The PFA encourages pre-purchase of tickets for food and activities to help minimise lengthy queues. Details on the pre-purchase of all-inclusive tickets can be found on the PFA News page.

We encourage the children to dress up in something Christmassy!

We also ask that children arrive by 4.45pm in order that the carols can commence at 5.00pm sharp. Please allow ample time for car parking as the roads around the school will be busy.

2025 Parent Gatherings

Recently we invited families to open up their homes to host one of next year's Parent Gatherings, which are traditionally held during Term One. Thank you to the following familes for responding to the invitation to host one of the evenings.

Prep - Yr 2 Parent Evening: 21 February 2025 @ the Sutherland's home
Yrs 3 & 5 Parent Evening: @ the Korda's home
Yrs 5 & 6 Parent Evening: 28 March 2025 @ the Jackson's home

Skipping Club Demonstrations

Our students have been fortunate to have the opportunity to learn skipping skills and routines during their lunchtimes, with thanks to Mrs Nicki Durrant.

Mrs Durrant would like to take the opportunity to showcase what the students have learned.

Skipping Club demonstrations will be held at the following Whole School Assemblies:

Year 3/4 - Monday, 9th December

Students are encouraged to wear their sports uniform on the day they are involved in their skipping demonstration.

Next School Closure Day

2025 Planning Day - This Monday 2 December

Commencement of the 2025 School Year

The following dates will assist families in planning for the commencement of the new school year:

School Staff Resume – Tuesday 28 January 2025
Students in Years 1 to 6 resume – 8.40am on Wednesday 29 January 2025
Students in Foundation (Prep) attend Individual Testing Interviews – Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 January 2025
All Foundation students commence school – 8.40am on Friday 31 January 2025

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Frank

School Community