OLOG eNewsletter Term 1 Week 10
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
I sincerely hope all our families had a happy, peaceful, safe and Holy Easter. As we continue to move forward in the season of Easter, we draw inspiration from the selfless love of Christ, allowing his abiding presence to fill our hearts with peace, joy, and everlasting hope.
As Easter people, we are all called to be ‘Resurrection People” which means to be people of hope and not despair. This is not to say that faith in Jesus means we try to pretend that bad things are really good. Rather, we know that God will take our difficulties and weave them into purposes that will be revealed. And when God is done, we become wiser, stronger and more compassionate for having faced these difficulties.
Yesterday we gathered as a whole school and celebrated Easter with the Easter Resurrection led by Year 5/6. The students led the whole school with reverence and finished with a great song of joy. There was also great excitement in our EY classes as Easter Bunny left eggs for the children. I am still being asked how the Easter Bunny entered the school and classrooms.
The end of Term 1 is quickly approaching. As usual it’s been a whirlwind first term, but we got there. We are to be proud of what students have achieved and this is to be celebrated. Throughout the term we have consistently developed procedures and learning dispositions to assist our children with learning.
The learning dispositions help students become more independent and engaged in the learning process. We believe that the more students understand how a ‘good learner’ behaves, the more they will be able to develop this behaviour for themselves. We foster respectful and collaborative learners, persistent, responsible, curious and resilient learning dispositions.
Learning Conversations
By now, many of you have secured and attended a session for our first Learning Conversations. These Learning Conversations are a pivotal platform for students, teachers, and parents to engage in meaningful dialogue about academic progress, achievements, and well-being. It is an invaluable opportunity to forge connections with your child's educators and gain insight into their learning approach.
We highly encourage the presence of both parents and students during these sessions. When students actively participate in conversations about their learning, they develop essential skills that will serve them well into the future. We understand that circumstances may arise preventing attendance; if this is the case, we urge families to prioritise these discussions and communicate with teachers to maximise student engagement.
Staff Information
Next week we say farewell to the following staff:
Leanne Klemm, WHS Coordinator- Leanne began her role last year from St Mark’s in Port Pirie. Whilst working her WHS role Leanne also assisted the Admin role working with all parents and students. Leanne is stepping away from working her WHS role and is returning to the farm with her family in Laura. Leanne was never one to just do the WHS role, she always went far and above what was expected to support everyone at OLOG.
We farewell Clinton Alleway, PE teacher who has recently moved to Pt Elliott with his family. Clinton is embarking on a sea change and will be working on his property and the land. Look out at the Willunga markets as Clinton will be present with his gifts of the land. The school has been very fortunate with his PE gifts and his work with the Green Team over the last three years.
Both Leanne and Clinton will be greatly missed by everyone at OLOG, and we wish them every blessing as they begin their pathways.
We welcome Theo Mylonas as our new PE Teacher, who commences in Term 2. Theo has successfully taught PE and coordinated co-curricular and outdoor learning both in Independent and Catholic Schools.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Alistair and Martina Fleming on the arrival of Rory Fleming born of 2nd April 2024. We wish them every blessing from everyone at OLOG.
As the term ends next week, I wish families and students a wonderful break.
Peace and Blessings
Josette Charles
During Holy Week (Week 9) each class prepared a liturgy to share the story of Palm Sunday, The washing of the Feet and The Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane and The Stations of the Cross, which were the days leading up to Christ’s passion and Easter.
This is very significant in the Church calendar because it allows us the opportunity to contemplate Jesus’ love for the Father and love for all humankind.
On Easter Sunday we celebrated the resurrection of the Lord, the triumph over death.
Yesterday upon our return to school the year 5/6’s prepared The Resurrection Liturgy.
They retold the Resurrection story with attentiveness and reverence, and finished with a joyous song titled “My Reedemer Lives”.
It was such a joy to see each part of the Easter story unfold.
The Easter Season is the great season of hope. We pray the OLOG is a place of hope.
I hope that you all had a lovely, safe and blessed Easter.
Simple Living Day
Last week the children participated in Simple Living Day.
The children were provided with a small serve of plain rice and a bread roll for lunch to empathise with those less fortunate than us, whilst also raising money for Project Compassion.
Each class also had 1 hour of ICT free time and some Buddy time.
Some of the children in Year 5/6 commented that it was the best day.
Another child said that she loved the plain rice and will eat rice from now on.
I think the simplicity of the day is what the children enjoyed the most.
Maybe we could all try and live more simply and appreciate more what we do have.
Visible Wellbeing
As mentioned in the last newsletter OLOG has embarked on the journey of Visible Wellbeing.
We would really love to collect some data around your understanding of wellbeing and are inviting parents and caregivers to complete a short survey using the link;
https://forms.office.com/r/TicUUNpnW8
It would be greatly appreciated if you could spare some time to complete the survey by Thursday 2nd May.
The children and staff will also complete a survey on wellbeing and we will collate the responses for a collective understanding.
The aim is to then complete another survey after a 12-18month journey in Visible Wellbeing to see how our understanding changes.
I wish you all a relaxing Term 1 holiday break.
Joy and Blessings
Debbie Scuteri
APRIM/Inclusive Education Coordinator
On Wednesday, March 28th, our Year 5/6 students had their first meeting with Fulton Hogan, to learn about a problem that they want our help with. It was fantastic meeting the Fulton Hogan team and hear about what each of their jobs involve.
The problem we are working on is: we need to replace the sewage pipe at Ayr Street in Bridgewater, that goes across the creek, from the pump station to the existing rising main, following the specific layout/information on their plans, with minimal impact to the environment and the nearby residents.
Stay tuned for more updates throughout our learning journey.
On Tuesday the 26th of March Our Lady of Grace competed in the SACSPASA swimming carnival held at the Burnside Swimming Pool. The students acquitted themselves well given we had been elevated a division from 2023. The swim team compromising of 20 students from Years 3 -6 managed wins through James Newbold in the 50 metre Butterfly and Flynn Black in the 50 metre Freestyle. The highlight was the final race of the day which saw the Open boys (2 x Year 5s and 2 x Year 6s) claim victory in the 4 x 50 metre freestyle relay.
Special thanks to all the parents in attendance who made for an amazing day and Jessica Floreani as our parent helper who marshalled the students with precision
Green Team has swung into action with representatives from each class selected. We have been busy preparing the beds for the autumn and winter planting, whilst harvesting the good work of last years cohort in the form of beetroots and carrots.
April is the month for spinach, snow peas, lettuce, coriander, bok choy, beetroots, carrots and of course garlic! We have also added some perennial herbs in the form of thyme and rosemary whilst adding a strawberry guava to the red playground garden.
It was exciting to be able to use our worm juice to kick start our plantings along and give them the best chance in life.
Happy gardening!
The 2023 OLOG yearbook has now been distributed to the eldest child (where applicable).
One copy of the yearbook is provided to each family free of charge.
We may have extra copies for purchase so please watch this space.
Our year 6 students from last year will be contacted and invited to OLOG to obtain their copy.
We hope you have as much fun reading the yearbook as these students did!
The "My School Dentist" program provides on-site mobile dental treatment for your child.
The Dentist will visit school from the 2nd - 6th May 2024.
Consent forms will come home with your child on Thursday 4th April and need to be retuned to the front office by no later than 29th April.
This year, Our Lady of Grace School is once again entering the Premiers Reading Challenge. The Premier’s Reading Challenge is a literacy engagement program that was introduced by the Premier in 2004 to encourage students to read more books and enjoy reading and improve children’s literacy levels.
The Challenge requires students to read 12 books between the beginning of the school year and the 6th of September (Term 3, Week 7) and fill out the Reading Record. All students from Our Lady of Grace School are strongly encouraged to participate. They can borrow books from both our school library and public libraries which strongly support the Challenge.
Students from Reception-Year 6 will be required to read 8 books from the Premier’s Reading Challenge booklist at an appropriate literacy level. All books that are a part of the Premiers Reading List have been marked with fluoro stickers signalling appropriate literacy levels, Red for Reception – Year 2, Green for Years 3 – 5 and Yellow for Year 6 - 9. They may read 4 books of their own choice at a similar standard to the books on the list.
More information for parents and families regarding the challenge can be found at; https://premiersreadingchallenge.sa.edu.au/parents-families/
Once the Challenge has been concluded, awards will be given to all the children who participated and completed the challenge. Awards are determined by how many years the child has completed the challenge, rather than the year level the child is in.
We hope that you support your children through this exciting challenge. Happy reading!
Informing the school of absences
If your child is not going to be at school due to illness, or will be late due to an appointment, it is imperative that you inform the school by:
- Phoning the 24 hour student absentee phone number: 8177 9191 before 8.55am; or
- Completing the absentee form in the Audiri app; or
- By emailing the class teacher or olog@olog.catholic.edu.au
Advance Notice of Absence / absence of more than five (5) days
For advance notice of your child’s absence, please complete the Application for Exemption from School Enrolment/Attendance Form, which is available from the Front Office.
Unexplained absence
If a child is not present and the school has not received an absentee call or email by 9:30am, the office will contact parents (generally via text) to ascertain the student’s whereabouts.
If your child is late
If your child arrives after 8:55am, they will need to enter through the Front Office and be signed in manually by a parents/caregiver via the IPAD (Passtab), then go to the classroom. If this process is not followed and the student has been marked as absent, an automated text message will be generated.
Early Departure
Should any child need to leave the school grounds during school hours e.g. dental/doctor appointment, parental permission must be given. All students must be signed out at the Front Office by their parent/caregiver before leaving the school.
Hi everyone,
It's almost school holiday time.
If you require vacation care please contact us and we will hapily discuss our school vacation care program with you.
Happy Holidays!
Are you interested in working with Camp Australia?
Important Dates
Year 4 Zoo Snooze
Pop-Up Playgroup
Whole School Prayer (Led by REMT) @ 8:55AM
Last Day Term 1
Icy Thursday's are back!
Orders must be placed through Qkr! prior to 8:50am on Thursdays, $1.00 per ice-block.
We invite donations of Berri Icy Tubes. These can be dropped into the front office. (Please refer to photo attached for Berri Icy Poles). Preferably no Zooper Doopers due to high sugar content.
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