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Celebrating our Saints
The saints are women and men who dedicated their lives to living the truth of the Gospel in their own time by meeting the needs of their day. They exemplify what it means to be a disciple of God and serve as an inspiration to us all. This week, we honour two exceptional men who were extraordinary examples of discipleship in their time.
St. Patrick’s Day – Tuesday 17th March
St. Patrick was an influential figure who introduced the message of God's love to the people of Ireland. Through his teachings, he explained the concept of the Holy Trinity, which is the relationship between God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, using the shamrock. His teachings inspire us to share the message of God with others and spread the Good News.
St. Joseph’s Day – Thursday 19th March
St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, was a compassionate and caring husband and father. He always tried to protect Mary and Jesus from harm and took great care of them. St. Joseph's admirable qualities teach us to listen to God and to be kind and understanding towards others.
Harmony Week
Next week is Harmony Week, with Harmony Day celebrated each year on the 21st of March. Harmony Week promotes inclusion, respect, and a sense of belonging for everyone living in Australia. It's important to have events that highlight such important issues, and our senior students have taken the opportunity to raise awareness in our school and celebrate cultural diversity by hosting a Mass themed on Harmony on Thursday, March 21st, at 9:00 am in the church. We warmly invite all parents to join us in the celebration.
With our diverse backgrounds and cultures, we all have something positive to contribute to society and our community, from our music to food and the variety of festivals and celebrations we enjoy. Students are encouraged to wear clothing that represents their cultural heritage or the colour orange. Since its beginning in 1999, Harmony Day has encouraged people to wear orange during Harmony Week. Orange is a bright and cheerful colour that signifies communication and relates to freedom of ideas. It promotes self-respect and respect for others.
School/ Parish Weekend Masses
Our first School/Parish Weekend Mass will be hosted by the Year 5/6 and Year 1/2 classes. We invite all students to attend this Mass. If your child is in one of these classes, please add the date to your calendar and look out for further communications requesting student participation for specific roles.
A friendly reminder of the dates for our School/Parish weekend Masses for the year.
Term1 – Sunday 7th April 9:00am Yr 5/6 and Yr 1/2
Term 2 – Sunday 19th May 9:00 am Yr 4/5, Yr 2/3 and F/1
Term 3 – Sunday 15th September Yr 4/5 and Yr 5/6
Term 4 - Sunday 8th December F/1, Year 1/2
Sacramental Program
Our First Reconciliation will be held in the church on Monday, March 25th, at 5:00 pm. We warmly invite the entire OLOR community to attend.
Sacrament Celebration dates
First Reconciliation – 25th March 2024 5:00 pm
First Holy Communion – 2nd June 2024, 9:00 am
Confirmation – 1st September 2024, 9:00 am
Easter Plays
We are excited to invite the OLOR community to our annual Easter play. The play will reenact the events that led to Jesus' crucifixion. The first part will take place on Thursday, March 28th, at 12:00 PM in the Gymnasium. The second part will resume on Tuesday, April 2nd, at 9:00 AM and will tell the story of Jesus' resurrection. We would be honoured if you could join us as our audience.
Mrs Rosemary Perre
APRIM
Being a Catholic School, Religious Education is one of our key subjects, and a foundation of Faith is one of the things that makes us different to other schools in Berri. We know that although only about 20% of our students are Catholic, our values are what many families like about OLOR. The story of Jesus inspires us to become better people, always looking for how we can make a difference to those in our world who need our help. Throughout Lent we share this with students through Project Compassion. We learn about those people around the world who aren’t as lucky as us, and we learn to give thanks for the gifts that we are blessed with. It is such a wonderful time of the year.
In recent years the Crossways Religious Education Curriculum has been redesigned to meet the needs of our changing communities. Last week we welcomed the Catholic Identity and Mission team from the Catholic Education Office in Adelaide, who joined us for staff PD with most of the other Riverland Catholic schools. This was followed up by PD for our teachers the following day, working on RE units that they are planning to teach later this term or early next term. This support helps our teachers make the curriculum come alive for our students.
This week our Year 3 and Year 5 students began their NAPLAN testing for 2024. This is a series of four tests designed to assess them in the areas of writing, reading, spelling and grammar, and numeracy. We commend the students on the effort that they have put in and look forward to receiving the results later in the year. NAPLAN tests are just one part of the assessment schedule we have at OLOR, where we use data to inform our planning and decision making.
This week we had our School Board AGM and first meeting of our new Board. I would like to welcome new members Kanwaldeep Kaur, Keisha Barber and Priscilla Renfrey, who join Mark Howie, Emma Vallelonga and George Dalamagas, as the parent representatives on the School Board. They will support myself and Fr Hau to make decisions and guide the school over the next year. I value the input of all parents and look forward to many new ideas coming in the future.
Next week I will be attending the Diocesan Assembly in Port Pirie. This is a large gathering of representatives across the state from schools, parishes and other parts of the community, who gather to review what is happening as well as map out the future of our schools and churches with the Bishop and priests of the Port Pirie Diocese. It concludes on Wednesday with the Chrism Mass, in which the oils that are used in Baptism, Confirmation and for anointing of the sick, are blessed and given to each parish. We will be taking our Confirmation candidates to St Mark’s Cathedral for this special Mass as they prepare to embark upon their adult journey in the church at Confirmation.
With Easter only a couple of weeks away, I wish all families a wonderful end to the Lenten season in the next fortnight. The gradual changing of the seasons is a reminder that time continues to move on, and we look to new experiences and growth as this happens.
Mr Michael Slagter
Principal
In writing this term, the year 4/5 has been learning about narrative. Characters are an important part of narratives, and we can describe them using writing tools like noun groups, verb groups and speech. We created some of our own characters using these text features We started by writing down some noun groups that describe our character, some verb groups to describe what our character does, and some things that our character might say. Then we drew a picture of our character before creating a 3D model using Makers Empire.
Anna
Ashton
Grace
Gurmehar
Kahra
Mia
We also learned about International Women’s Day. This is a day where we recognise the achievements of women around the world and explore the concept of gender equality in our society. We made a short video about women that we appreciate and look up to.
Mr Luke Dunn
Year 4/5
The following students from OLOR represented Berri on Tuesday 5th of March at SAPSASA Football in Berri. Bode Gates, Charlie Kregar, Adrian Akawee, Emmanuel Exharheas, Ashton Wilson, Jaxon Curyer, Jack Burnett, Troy Howie and Van Koch. The boys competed well throughout the day and managed to win three games from the four they played. Some of our students' efforts have given them the opportunity to try out for the Riverland team. Bode, Charlie and Adrian were successful, and we wish them all the best.
Mr Thomas Smart
Sports Coordinator
On Wednesday the F/1, 1/2 and 2/3 classes traveled to the Chaffey Theatre in Renmark to see a performance called Seven Little Wonders, by the Paperboats Theatre Company. It was a journey of light, sound and colour as we followed the story of Imogen, who was trying to help the character ‘Starman’ make it back home to his family. The students all had a great time! Thanks to Miss D for organising it for us!
March
Foundation - Ellie
Year 1 - Gurbaz
Year 2 - Serah, Harper
Year 3 - Lucas, Stellar, Hope, Sriyan
Year 5 - Mitchell, Skyla, Harleen, Armaan
Year 6 - Thomas
