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God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.
Genesis 21:6
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students,
I love coming to school and seeing the smiling faces of children that are not only excited about learning but also excited about seeing the teachers that help them learn and excited about the environments they do their learning in.
The staff at Our Lady of the River School is committed to helping your child grow in all aspects of their learning. In order to do so the staff continue to be learners themselves. It is important that staff are provided with opportunities for professional learning that will positively affect your children’s learning and development. Thursday 24th September and Friday 25th September (last two days of term 3) will be student free days to allow staff to engage in professional learning.
Over the holiday break staff have made improvements to the environments students learn in. Classroom environments are extremely important for both students and for teachers. Everything from the colour of the walls to the arrangement of the furniture sends impressions to students and can affect the way a student learns. Structuring the physical environment of a classroom means strategically placing furniture, strategically decorating walls and strategically placing learning materials to help improve attention, reduce anxiety, support emotional and behavioural regulation of students and enhance student learning outcomes. Creating a positive learning environment, where students feel welcomed, safe and willing to share is also essential for success in the classroom. Feel very welcome to visit your child’s classroom.
This week Mr Preece, Ms Roberts and Brad have presented the final showcase of an 18 month whole school inquiry for the Making Space for Learning project. Through the Making Space for Learning inquiry the four Catholic Schools in the Riverland have worked closely with The Australian Childhood Foundation, aiming to enhance responsive practices and increase learning outcomes for all children through providing students with teaching and learning about the brain.
At Our Lady of the River we belief that all our students are capable and competent people, learners and leaders. All students have capabilities that they can use to help them live, learn and lead. Through the Living Learning Leading Key Capabilities, A CESA resource, students learn to recognise develop, reflect, plan for and show evidence of these capabilities. The Living Learning Leading Key Capabilities resource enables students to become comfortable and confident in who they are as people and will get them ready to make a difference in our world.
We like to celebrate and share student learning with families as much and as often as we can. As a first step of students learning the practice of reflection and gathering evidence of the growth in their own capabilities teachers will send home one piece of evidence of your child, every fortnight via text. This is a great opportunity for you to enter into dialogue with your child about their learning. The hard copies will be added to individual student portfolios later in the term.
Another way to share and celebrate your child’s achievements is through Parent-Teacher interviews. These are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
On the 8th of August we celebrate Mary MacKillop’s Feast Day. I often reflect on how Mary MacKillop would think of our school today. I think, like myself, she would have been delighted to see the smiles on the faces of our students and I actually think, like myself, she would also actively take part in firmly planting smiles there. It is often believed that the saints and those who immerse themselves deeply in their faith can’t have a sense of humour. In reality these beliefs can’t be more wrong. St Mary MacKillop had a wonderful sense of humour. The book “Memories of Mary- By Those Who Knew Her” holds the recollections of Sisters Patricia Campbell and Collette Lysacht. Their stories show Mary most certainly had a wonderful sense of humour.
Sr Collette Lysacht writes, “On one occasion after having a sleep, Mother wished to be helped out of bed. There being only two Sisters present we thought we could manage without a third. However, instead of sitting her in the chair, we sat her on the floor. We were greatly distressed at what we had done, but when we looked at Mother she was shaking with laughter - she only treated it as a joke.”
Mary had the ability to see the big things in the little things and the little things in the big things. Isn’t that the secret of humour?
Have a great weekend.
Nanda de Winter
Pope Francis’s intention prayer for August
St. Mary of the Cross Mackillop – Gifted by Spirit
On the 8th August we honour Australia’s first saint, Mary of the Cross Mackillop. Throughout her life, Mary Mackillop accomplished many extraordinary things. She showed courage, determination and overall, a tremendous amount of faith. These virtues in particular are what led her to being the first Australian saint, and a great religious role model. Her legacy of compassion has inspired hundreds of Australians to be better people, and to help those less fortunate. She gave her life to those who needed it, and her quote, “Never see a need without doing something about it,” has motivated generations of Australian Catholics to better themselves by giving generously, and to live humble lives, regardless of the situations they find themselves in.
This year, on the 17th October, will mark the 10th anniversary since Mary Mackillop was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.
As we celebrate the remarkable woman that encapsulates our great Australian Spirit, I encourage you to reflect on the ways you too can be gifted by the spirit – what simple acts can you take to make a difference to the lives of those in need?
Compassionate and Loving God,
We praise you for all that you do in the lives of the Saints.
You inspired Saint Mary Mackillop
To listen to your whisperings within her heart
To trust in your Providence
To reach out to the most needy
To forgive even when it was difficult.
As we journey through life
We trust that your Spirit will
Guide our hearts making us more like
Saint Mary Mackillop in thought, word and action.
We make our prayer through Jesus who
showed compassion to all in need.
Amen
This Sunday’s Gospel Message for Families
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 5 July 2020
(Brisbane Liturgy website)
“They all ate and were satisfied.”
Something to Think About
This gospel passage reminds us that Jesus feeds us in many ways.
The people in the story are hungry in many ways - hungry to hear Jesus' message, hungry to feel his healing touch, hungry just to be near him. The disciples, as usual, look to Jesus to do everything and to have all the answers.
Jesus says to the disciples, 'Feed them yourselves'. Miracles do happen and will happen more readily if people work together to bring about the kingdom.
The Story
In this week’s story, Jesus is looking for some peace and quiet, a place to be alone and take a break. But the crowds follow him everywhere. They will not leave him alone. His reaction to the crowds is not annoyance or anger, but compassion. Instead of sending the people away, Jesus tells the disciples to give them something to eat.
The Scriptures
A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew 14:15-21
That evening the disciples came to Jesus and said,
"Let the crowds leave, so they can go to the villages and buy some food."
Jesus replied,
"They don't have to leave. Why don't you give them something to eat?"
But they said, "We have only five small loaves of bread and two fish."
Jesus asked his disciples to bring the food to him, and he told the crowd to sit down on the grass.
Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish.
He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food.
Then he broke the bread and handed it to his disciples, and they gave it to the people.
After everyone had eaten all they wanted, Jesus' disciples picked up twelve large baskets of leftovers.
There were about five thousand men who ate, not counting the women and children.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Children respond to hunger
A key message in today’s gospel concerns the great generosity of God.
In the end, there was not only enough food for all, but twelve baskets left over.
God's love and care for us is indeed abundant. We are called to love in the same generous and abundant way. When the priest blesses the bread and wine at Mass, they become the body and blood of Christ for us to share in the Eucharistic meal. Jesus feeds us so that we may feed one another.
Think about the ways in which different people 'feed' you and help you to grow physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.
Term 3 Masses
This term we resume hosting our Class Masses in the Church. We look forward to celebrating with the wider Our Lady of the River Parish community.
Aug. 6th Year 4 Class Mass 9:00am St Mary’s Church
Aug. 20th Year 1 and 2 Class Mass 9:00am St Mary’s Church
Sept. 3rd Year 6 and 7 Class Mass 9:00am St Mary’s Church
Sept. 17th Foundation and Year 1 Class Mass 9:00am St Mary’s Church
Special Days
August 8th Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop
August 15th Feast of the Assumption of Mary – Holy day of obligation
September 6th Father’s Day
May God’s peaceful Spirit be with you always,
Rosemary Perre
Religious Education Coordinator.
Witness
The Witness is a bi-monthly publication released every February, April, June, August, October and December, please click the following link to view.
Co-editors; Jennifer Wainwright and Michael Preece.
The Southern Cross
Please click on the following link for the latest issue of The Southern Cross.
Year 3
Who knew that maths could be so much fun? Here are the Year 3’s cooking pizza’s and creating Minecraft pillows.
Environmental News
As the Young Environmental Leaders of our school this term we are aiming to Wipe Out Waste, the Year 5 class are working towards improving the school’s recycling, and reducing waste going to landfill. It is amazing to learn that 51% of the rubbish in our bins comes from home. We can reduce this simply by reducing our food packaging which makes up 26% of our rubbish bins
The main reasons for this focus are that:
- Recycling and waste reduction conserves natural resources and energy, and ensures the sustainability of our planet
- Developing recycling and waste reduction skills in students is important learning
- Waste going to landfill is far more costly to the school than recycling, so minimising waste means there will be more money for learning resources and teaching support
Less to Landfill Challenge! We are going around to every class teaching people about which waste can go where. We are going to be getting bins for 10cent recyclables and compost. This emphasises that every piece of packaging that we can save from landfill makes a difference. As part of the Challenge, all classes are holding a ‘Nude Food’ day to focus on minimizing food and packaging waste, which is the main component of school waste that has to go to landfill. This is where you can help!
Try to pack: A Waste-Less Lunchbox · Snacks & drinks in reusable containers. This includes zip lock bags which can be washed and reused many times · Reusable utensils when needed · A reusable lunchbox or backpack |
Avoid: A Disposable Lunchbox
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OUR NUDE FOOD DAY – Wednesday
We appreciate your support!
Thank you,
Madison, Anastasia, Ruby and Emma
Soccer Carnival
Hot Food Price List
Chicken and corn Pie - $4.50
School Pie (Large) - $3.50
School Pie (Small) - $2.50
School Pasty (Large) - $3.50
School Pasty (Small) - $2.50
Sausage Roll - $3.00
Mini Sausage Roll - $1.50
Hot Dog - $3.00
Hot Dog with Cheese - $3.50
Tomato / BBQ Sauce - Free
Ham & Pineapple or Pepperoni or Vegetarian Pizza - $4.50
Half Ham & Pineapple / Pepperoni Pizza - $2.50
New to the menu
Spaghetti bolognese - $4.50