Orana Catholic Primary School

Generosity is giving and sharing. It is giving freely.

It is seeing a chance to give what you have and then giving just for the joy of giving.

We thank you Lord, for this term.

For the challenges, the successes,

And the mistakes from which we have learnt.

Be with us as we spend our time with family and friends.

Give us strength and courage to do what is right:

To be witnesses of our faith.

Help us to be a practical Christian these holidays,

To appreciate what others, do for us,

To give time and effort to help others.

To be peacemakers in our family.

Keep us safe in our activities; give us good rest and good fun.

Bring us back refreshed and ready for a new term.

We thank you for our classmates, teachers, parents

And a community that cares for us.

May we always be conscious of you in our lives.

Amen

Dear Parents and Carers,

As I reflect on a semester like no other I have experienced in 30 plus years in education, I would like to share with you some lessons I learned along the way:

1. Honesty is essential - we need the truth so we can understand and support those who are charged with our safety and wellbeing
2. Be humble - no one had (or has) all the answers in a pandemic situation, a good leader needs to listen to those who they are in service to
3. Communication is key - our school community, indeed, the entire country wanted to know the truth. At the school level, your feedback was overwhelmingly supportive of all we were doing and sharing with you
4. Hand-washing saves lives - I think we all knew this but 2020 has given us an indelible reminder of the importance of this simple task
5. Flexibility is key - staying liquid and fill the spaces became the mantra I lived by knowing that information and requirements changed daily, implementing changes became a daily and necessary occurrence
6. All students are capable - this was demonstrated time and time again when parents/carers were not permitted onto the school grounds. All students (even our smallest) modelled just how capable and independent they can be
7. It's the simple things - we have all been challenged in 2020 but the things we have missed the most are the simple things we can often take for granted - family, open spaces and that feeling of being safe is essential for good mental health and wellbeing
8. We are all in this together - our personal actions impact the safety and well being of all we come in to contact with - occasionally we need to make difficult choices for the greater good

Our school has become stronger through this pandemic as we worked together to ensure the safety and well being of the Orana (and wider) community. Our efforts are being rewarded with the gradual return to a more normal way of living. The escalation rate of COVID-19 in Melbourne recently has demonstrated the importance of remaining vigilant. We have the skills and knowledge to ensure the ongoing safety of the Western Australian community and it is my most sincere hope that we all continue to do the right thing for the safety and well being of everyone.

It was so lovely to have the opportunity to come together for the first school mass in quite some time! Fr Anthony helped us to celebrate our school feast day with Mass in the hall. The students participated so reverently and the choir excelled!

IMPORTANT HOLIDAY INFORMATION FOR FAMILIES

The mid-year break for students commences on Saturday 4 July, students return to school on Tuesday 21 July. As per the recent easing of government restrictions, families are able to travel within WA without any restrictions or self-isolation requirements. However, Western Australia’s ‘hard border’ is still in effect, so any member of the community who travels interstate or overseas is still required to self-isolate upon their return for 14 days.

With these restrictions in place, any student who leaves Western Australia during this school holiday period, or is in close contact with someone who leaves Western Australia, may not be in a position to return to school on Tuesday 21 July. If you have any queries about this, please contact Mrs Bell or myself.

UNIFORMS

Our uniform supplier has advised that they expect most of the back ordered uniform items (except jumpers) to be available during the school holidays if not earlier. If you have anything on order, please look out for their text advising you that your item is available for collection. Your patience has been appreciated.

With the holidays approaching I would ask all families to ensure that correct uniforms items are worn from the commencement of term 3 (if available) as at present, students are wearing an assortment of different clothing styles and colours. With the start of the holidays I would also like to remind parents/carers that extreme haircuts and styles are not consistent with our school uniform policy - please bear this in mind when making decisions about what is appropriate. Information regarding acceptable cuts can be found in the parent handbook. Your cooperation is appreciated.

SAUSAGE SIZZLE

Today's sausage sizzle was a huge success and something the children greatly enjoyed. Many thanks to the staff who assisted and to Fr Thai, Fr Anthony and Mr Hadley for their wonderful expertise with the BBQ!

I wish all our Orana community an enjoyable and restful break. Stay safe!

Kind regards

Christine Walsh

Please visit the Parish website for the latest information on weekend Masses.

Hello all.

What a first half of the year hey? I do hope that we all can find our silver linings in this interesting times. I believe that this is the time to support each other and strengthen our bonds in the community.

Orana P&F are incredibly blessed with many people stepping up to support our community in these challenging times, starting with the volunteers who made Mother’s day a happy occasion despite the logistical challenge. I would like to thank Louise Palumbo, Lisa Parkinson, Mimma De Santis, Sarah Elizabeth, Bronwyn Mattock, Paul Hadley, & Shellie Reid for their time and effort to bring smile to Orana mother’s face.

Bringing Mother’s Day Smiles

We have launched our first fundraising for the year, the Billy G Cookie Dough fundraising which will run during the school holiday and ends on the first week of Term 3 – please support if you can. In addition, we are reaching out to support local businesses to be featured in our Community Business Shout Out. We look to do this on an ongoing basis – please send through your submission to Oranapnf@gmail.com. Also to support local business, please check out what benefits the entertainment book can offer – use the Orana link to support our school. https://www.entertainment.com.au/orderbooks/8312v3

This year, we have committed to support the school for the flexible classroom rollout, Kaboom Percussion incursion and purchasing of new lawnmover. In addition there are other requests that are to be further discussed, but P&F are keen to help assist. We have planned events and fundraising activities for this community and to successfully do this, we need your participation. Please reach out to us and attend our P&F meetings – which is typically held on the 3rd and 7th week of the term.

I look forward to the new term and make this community a warm and positive community!

Enjoy your holidays.

Louie Sugiyanto, P&F President, on behalf of the P&F Execs.