Dear Parents & Parishioners,

For Catholic Christians as well as many Protestant denominations, the Easter Triduum (sometimes also referred to as the Paschal Triduum or simply, the Triduum) is the proper name for the three-day season that concludes the season of Lent and introduces Easter. Technically speaking, a triduum refers simply to any three-day period of prayer. Triduum comes from Latin meaning "three days."

The three 24-hour periods of the Easter Triduum include the major feasts for all four days at the heart of the Easter celebration: the evening feast of Holy Thursday , Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. The Easter Triduum memorializes the suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When reading 1 Corinthians 15:17-19, Paul reminds us that if Jesus did not rise from the grave, then Christianity is of no value. To this, 1 Peter 1:3 adds:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

So why do we eat eggs at Easter? Eggs (along with milk and meat) were traditionally forbidden during Lent. Any remaining eggs would be used up on the day before Lent, Shrove Tuesday, which is also known as Pancake Tuesday. The eggs accumulated during Lent would then be eaten at Easter. Eggs are also associated with Easter since they are a symbol of fertility and rebirth, linking them with springtime (in the Northern hemisphere) and with the celebration of the resurrection. The word ‘Easter’ comes from Ēosturmōnaþ (meaning Easter month), an Old English name for the month of April, which was named after Ēostre, the Pagan goddess of spring and fertility.

May your Easter basket be filled with joy, happiness, and peace this season.

Senior School Passion Play

Thank you to our Year 5 & 6 students who presented yesterday's Passion Plays which commemorated the events of Holy Week. Every class, along with the assembled parents (and grandparents), followed the journey of Christ's betrayal and suffering by witnessing the scenes enacted by our senior students. A great deal of learning went into the preparation of this year's Passion Plays, and we are grateful to the senior students who worked so hard to prepare every scene.

Please refer to the Education in Faith page to find out more.

Working Bee

Thank you to the parents and children who turned out to support last Saturday's Working Bee. The weather appeared to present itself in true four season fashion - from drizzle, to rain, through to warm sunshine. Nonetheless, everyone persisted with the tasks at hand including: pruning, mulching, blowing, sweeping, raking and weeding. I was impressed by the number of students who rolled up their sleeves and helped out.

The morning concluded in true OHR fashion with a sausage sizzle.

Many thanks to Justin and Luke for coordinating the morning, and to Kelie for cooking the snags!

Easter Colouring Competition

Congratulations to Otis H (3/4JW) and Zara A (3/4PK) who were the two winners from OHR in the Easter Colouring Competition organised by the office of Jess Wilson MP. Both winners were invited to attend an Award Presentation and afternoon tea yesterday.

Zara was able to make it along to the afternoon tea and receive her prize from Jess Wilson.

Primary Open Zonal Chess Tournament

Yesterday, OHR hosted the Northern Star Primary Open Zonal Chess Tournament in the OHR hall. Of the 16 schools that competed, OHR placed an overall 5th. We are very proud of all the students in our team who represented our school so proudly.

Congratulations to Jaden Q (1/2GC) who was our highest scoring student on the day.

OHR Public Speaking Competition

Refer to the Learning & Teaching News page for details of next term's whole school Public Speaking Competition.

OHR House Sports Carnival

The OHR House Sports Carnival is being held today at the Box Hill Athletics Track, Hagenauer's Reserve. A full wrap up of the day will appear in the first newsletter of Term 2.

Winter Uniform

The first few weeks of Term 2 can offer temperamental weather with a mixture of warmer and cooler days. Therefore, the children are allowed to wear either summer or winter uniform for the first fortnight. Commencing Monday 6 May, however, all children are required to be dressed in full winter uniform.

Note: the students are required to wear their hats until the end of April.

ANZAC Day Dawn Service

The Mont Albert and Surrey Hills Rotary Club & Surrey Hills Neighbourhood Centre are pleased to announce that the 2024 ANZAC Day Dawn Service will take place in Surrey Gardens at 5.45am arrival for a 6am start on 25 April.

Our Holy Redeemer is one of three school invited to send students to participate in the service. Our School Captains will read during the service, while our three Vice Captains will lay a wreath on behalf of the school.

All families are invited to attend the service.

Address: Surrey Gardens, 88 – 90 Union Rd Surrey Hills

OHR ANZAC Day Memorial Service

On the day prior to ANZAC Day the school will hold the annual OHR ANZAC Day Memorial Service. Mrs Lisa Canty has written about our plans for this event in the Learning & Taching News page further in today's newsletter.

Open Mornings

Our next Open Morning will be held at 9:00am on Wednesday 24 April, which happens to occur in the second week of Term 2.

If you know of anyone considering a school for their child, please encourage them to come along to our next Open Morning or, alternatively, arrange a personal school tour. Our parents are our greatest advocates. Research clearly shows that word of mouth is the strongest form of marketing.

It would be gratefully appreciated that all existing school families who have a child commencing school in 2025 complete an enrolment form and submit it to Heather.

If you are available to assist by meeting and greeting prospective new families at the end of the school tours, your help would be greatly appreciated. You would be required to be avaialble in the hall foyer between 10.00 and 10.30am. Please notify be by email if you can help out.

End of Term Sausage Sizzle

Following today's OHR Sports Day, the PFA will be running the end of term Sausage Sizzle for the students on the school grounds commencing at 12.30pm.

Q: The price for a sausage in bread? A: A gold coin donation.

OHR Spring Carnival

Exciting News ... OHR has scheduled a date for our school first school fete since 2019. Save the date: Saturday 26 October 2024. We are branding this year's fete as the 'OHR Spring Carnival'. Lock it in!

On a Final Note ...

Term One has certainly raced by. It's hard to comprehend that today the students will break up for the school holidays. That said, an incredible amount of learning has taken place in a relatively short space of time. You only have to walk into our Prep classroom to witness how much our confident young group of learners have grown in the space of nine weeks.

As a school community we have celebrated many events during this term, including but not limited to: Three Friday evening Parent Social Gatherings; Parent-Teacher Conversations; Parent Information Evening with Michael Ymer; Commissioning of Student Leaders & Staff; Year 5/6 Camp to Canberra; Friday Inter-school Sport Competition; OHR Sports Day; the GRIP Leadership Day; our first Open Morning for the year; weekly Tuckshop; our first Working Bee for the year; regular PFA and SAC meetings; Cybersafety webinar for parents; lunchtime chess; hosting an Inter-school Chess Tournament; AFL visit by the Richmond Football Club; Hot Shots Tennis; the Senior School Passion Play; and the list goes on. If this list is anything to go by, imagine what lies ahead in Term Two.

On behalf of the staff, I wish every member of our community a Happy Easter filled with hope and optimism. After all, Easter is a time for new beginnings.

Best wishes,

Frank Dame

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