Orana Catholic Primary School

Lord Jesus,

I ask for Your help as I begin this new school year.

Allow me to experience Your presence in the many blessings You put before me.

Open my eyes to the new challenges and exciting opportunities that this new school year brings. Open my heart and mind to new friends and new teachers.

Give me a generous spirit to be enthusiastic with my studies and courage to accept new opportunities.

Help me to be attentive to my teachers and let me experience Your presence in my friends.

Jesus, inspire me this year to be the best version of myself!

Amen

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome

It was fabulous to welcome back our families on Wednesday morning; there were many smiles and happy holiday recollections to share. I trust that you all had a lovely Christmas period and opportunities to relax as a family.

Orana is an aboriginal word meaning ‘Welcome’. Welcome to all existing and new members of the community; I wish you all the best for the year ahead. We welcome back all existing families and especially welcome our new Pre-Kindy, Kindy families, and all of the new families joining the Orana community this year. I know that at Orana Catholic Primary School, everyone will make the transition for our new members positive.

What’s New at Orana

During the holiday break, thanks to the hard work of our Advisory Council and staff, various capital projects took place including the construction of our new basketball courts. The students were very excited to play on the new courts. This project has been in the resourcing and planning process for five years and it is wonderful to see it completed.

Our library space continues to be transformed and freshened into a child-focused space to inspire the love of reading. Drop in to change books during the family session times advertised below.

The kindy rooms have new flexible furniture and other maintenance projects, including painting and holiday cleaning. Thank-you to Tuan, our groundsperson, for all his work to present the grounds to such a high standard to start the school year.

Catholic Identity Pillar

Staff Induction

Our new staff attended Mass at our parish last Friday. Father John shared his story and the history of the church. The new staff then returned to school to learn about the faith, story and history of the school.

Leadership Assembly

Congratulations to our new Year 6 leaders; today, they formally began their leadership roles. Thank-you to Father John for attending the special assembly and blessing the leadership badges.

Education Pillar

As we begin the year, there are two ways to ensure that our children have the greatest opportunity of experiencing success. One of these is a strong partnership between home and school. If each child understands and witnesses that the home and school are on the same team and are committed to their growth and development, they will be more positive about their learning and more likely to succeed. Secondly, if we each have high expectations of our children, they are more accountable to their families and school and they raise their standards to meet what is being asked of them. This applies to attention to learning tasks, homework, uniform and presentation, respect towards others and the way they represent themselves, their families and their school.

Specialist Subjects

This year, there has been a change to the specialist subjects at Orana. Health will return to be taught by classroom teachers. There will be an additional class sport session; last year, we trialled a senior class session, and this initiative will be extended to include Year 1-4 students.

Parent Information Evening

Next Tuesday evening, we invite you to attend the Year 1 - 6 Information Evening. There will be two classroom sessions and a whole school session. The focus for the sessions is as an interactive, educational parent session. We aim to enhance understanding and engage you in what learning will look like in that year level. The slideshow presentation of year-level information will be sent after the sessions. Please contact the class teacher if you have any queries after reading the slideshow. Thank-you for attending and demonstrating to your children that you value the importance of education.

Community Pillar

P and F Busy Bee

I extend our thanks to the P and F for completing the hopscotch busy bee project during January. Despite the hot weather Janet Kearney and her team of willing volunteers worked to plan, mark out and paint the hopscotch designs. There is a junior, middle and senior hopscotch with character strengths that students can use when facing challenges. Thank-you so much to all involved.

Communication for CEWA’s Executive Director

Please refer to the welcome communication from CEWA’s Executive Director, Mr Wayne Bull.

https://shorturl.at/hgpJJ

Stewardship

Staffing News

I wish to extend a warm welcome to our new staff members; Dayana Lombardo (Kindy Blue), Sienna Zugaro (Pre-primary White), Brooke Waghorn (4 White), Simon Martin (5 Blue), Adam Palmer (6 Blue), Nicole Chamberlain (Junior Physical Education) and Ninik Ariani (Education Assistant). We also welcome back Shelley Hardingham (PPB) from parental leave. I would also like to thank the Orana staff for their time during the holidays that was spent planning and setting up for the school year so students have the best possible experiences to start their academic journey for 2025.

Supervision

For Pre-primary to Year 6, supervision begins at 8.35am, and classrooms open at this time. There is no supervision before this time and students should not be left without parental supervision outside of this timeframe. The school day commences at 8.50am and instruction begins.

For Pre-primary to Year 6, the school day finishes at 3.10pm. Supervision concludes at 3.25pm. Students are to be collected from the Orana shed, back gate or the quad.

Kindy classrooms open at 9am and kindy children are to be collected at the classroom door at 2.45pm.

For care outside of the supervision times above, our OSHC service is available for the care of students before and after school with enrolment information available via this link. https://www.orana.wa.edu.au/out-of-school-hours-care/

Staff Professional Development

The staff spent Monday and Tuesday this week involved in professional development. On Monday, staff attended Day 3 of the Berry Street Education Model, which focused on curriculum and classroom strategies for enhancing well-being and learning opportunities. Learnings included high expectations, increasing academic stamina and goal setting, amongst other high-impact strategies. On Tuesday, we worked collaboratively on our Catholic School Improvement Goals and logistics for the start of the year. Our 2025 staff focus is Clarity, Alignment and Collective Success.

Code of Conduct

We also take this opportunity to direct community members to review our Code of Conduct. These statements are aimed at ensuring the protection and well-being of students, staff and family members. The Code of Conduct focuses on respect for each other and all members of our community. In addition, awareness of the Code of Conduct ensures that adults do not put themselves in potentially vulnerable positions; for example, adults use the visitor toilet in the office and do not use student toilets. Please take a few moments to review our Code of Conduct https://www.orana.wa.edu.au/school-based-guidelines/

God bless you and your family.

Dee Johnston

Principal

Congratulations to Caresse and Liam on their beautiful wedding. We wish them a lifetime of love, health and happiness.

Congratulations to Shania and Joseph on the arrival of gorgeous Luca, born on the 23rd of December. We wish them all the very best during this exciting chapter of their lives.

Masses this Term

We welcome all our parents and carers to celebrate the following Eucharistic celebrations in our school hall.

• Ward House and Beginning of School Year Mass, 14th February - 9am (school hall) Ward students wear their green house shirts on Ward Day and the rest of the students wear their Orana polo as normal. Students will explore more about Ward; enjoy an icy-pole and get some extra play!
• Commissioning and Senior Community Mass, 22nd February - 5.30pm (Parish of Saints John and Paul) This is also enrolment mass for the sacraments
• Ash Wednesday Mass, 5th March to begin the season of Lent - 9am (school hall)

2025 - Sacramental Dates (Year 3, 4, 6)

Please record dates below in your 2025 calendar if your child is baptised Catholic and will be in Year 3, 4 or 6 in 2025. If you are new to Orana, and require further information, please contact Kathryn Alp - kathryn.alp@cewa.edu.au.

Uniform shop Opening Times:

Thursdays in school term - 8.15-10.30am (location - hall)

The navy socks are worn with the formal uniform for both girls and boys.

The white Orana socks are only worn with sports uniform.

More information is out this coming week!

P and F Busy Bee - Character Strengths Hopscotch Project

Thank-you to our amazing P and F!

Enrolment Masses for the Three Sacraments - Year 3 Reconciliation | Year 4 Eucharist | Year 6 Confirmation

• Saturday, 22nd February 5.30pm OR
• Sunday, 23rd February 10.30am

Term 1

Wednesday 5th February - Friday 11th April

Term 2

Monday 28th April - Friday 4th July

Term 3

Monday 21st July - Friday 26th September

Term 4

Monday 13th October - Thursday 12th December

Public Holidays

27th Jan - Australia Day

3rd March - Labour Day

18th April Good Friday (School Holidays)

2nd June - Western Australia Day

29th September - Kings Holiday (School Holidays)

Pupil Free Days

7th April

28th April

3rd June

21st July

1st September - Catholic Day

13th October

2025 - Term 1 | Week 2/3

Tuesday 11th February - Parent Information Evening

Friday 14th February - Year 3 Liturgy - 9.30am

Friday 14th February - Junior Assembly

Thursday 20th February - Year 4 - 6 Swimming Trials 10.45am - 3.00pm

Friday 21st February - Year 3 Liturgy - 9.30am

Friday 21st February - Senior Assembly

Friday 21st February - P & F Sundowner - 4pm -6.30pm