Orana Catholic Primary School

Respect is an attitude of caring about people and treating them with dignity. Respect is valuing ourselves and others. We show respect by speaking and acting with courtesy.

You embrace each of us with equal measure with your love.

Let us learn to love our neighbours more deeply,

so that we can create peaceful and just communities.

Inspire us to use our creative energies to build the structures we need

to overcome obstacles of intolerance and indifference.

May Jesus provide us the example needed

and send the Spirit to warm our hearts for the journey.

Amen

-from Being Neighbour: The Catechism and Social Justice

Dear Parents and Carers,

What is a community? A community is more than a location or a collection of individuals who happen to live or work in the same place. When I talk about a ‘sense of community’ I consider the quality of the relationships and connections that bind people, rather than just the fact that they see each other regularly. In a school’s daily life, the manner in which people interact with each other significantly affects each person’s sense of self-worth, belonging and well-being. I believe that fostering high-quality interpersonal relationships among teachers, students, parents and the wider community is a responsibility shared by everyone. This sense of community was evident at the P&F meeting on Wednesday evening.

The group that gathered had such enthusiasm and optimistic ideas of how to engage the Orana community. On my way home from the meeting I reflected on how vital it is for parents and staff to work in harmony for the development of the whole child. Having the opportunity to discuss ways to enhance the educational experiences for the children from Orana fills me with joy and I look forward to working with the parents to bring the ideas to life!

LANGUAGES WEEK

We celebrated Languages Week with a fabulous Italian Assembly item this morning with the Pre-primary, Year 1 and Year 2 classes performing for an entertained audience. We also had the opportunity to share in delicious pizza for lunch. The teachers loved the pizza too!

YEAR 6 KIDS CAN CREATE CONFERENCE

We are delighted to inform our community that Orana Catholic Primary School will once again be hosting a Kids iPad Conference on Thursday 10 September. It is called What’s The Buzz? and will encompass iPads, creativity and careers.

The Year 6 students of Orana, Queen of Apostles and Yidarra will come together in a conference-like setting with a Keynote speaker, followed by four workshops and a student showcase.

Last year, the school won a LEAD Award from Catholic Education, Western Australia for innovation in education for our conference. We already have interest from schools outside the region for next year’s conference. We take that as a sign that we are demonstrating the iPad as a masterful tool in learning.

SACRAMENTS

Sacramental dates have been finalised and are available on the Orana online calendar. Year 3, 4 and 6 families received a separate email with the full Sacrametal program attached outlining the Retreat Day, Commitment Mass, Sacramental date and Certificate celebration Mass times. Please be aware of the tight timeframe due the COVID-19 restrictions. your patience and understanding in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Sacrament of Reconciliation will be celebrated on Thursday 29 October

Sacrament of Holy Communion will be celebrated on 19/20 September

Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated on 21/22 November

CARPARK EDICATE

When driving through the Orana carpark, please be mindful of others. The speed limit is 8km and I have observed cars driving well in excess of this. Please slow down and consider the safety of the entire Orana community. We also need to adhere to the 'follow the red brick' rule and only cross the carpark at the marked crossing areas. I trust that everyone can observe the carpark guidelines.

EARLY YEARS PLAY AREA

Thank you to the families who are adhering to the no play before or after school in the Early Years area. The reason for this guideline is for the safety and wellbeing of all children and we appreciate your understanding in following our advice.

LATE ARRIVAL and EARLY LEAVE SCHOOL PROCESSES

Please note that if your child is late to school (after 9.15am) they will need to be signed in at the front office and they will take a late slip to their classroom teacher. If you are picking your child up early, please come to the front office and sign them out.

HIGHWAY HEROES - PARENT PORTAL - ORANA WEBSITE - COMING SOON

Lots of Tips and Tricks coming your way to support the Highway Heroes Program at home!

Kath Warburton held a Positive Parenting Workshop this morning and the members of the Orana community who attended found it worthwhile. Some of the topics covered were an overview of Social and Emotional Learning and an introduction to the Orana focus, Connecting 4 Friendships. A discussion area this morning was playground resilience and wisdom and how to make and keep friends along the Social Highway of life. We seek to provide students with tools to sort out the to-be-expected friendship bumps along the way. The staff of Orana are pleased to see the children using the Highway Heroes language to develop tool to become Heroes as they navigate the Social Highway of Life.

Every kind act is a prayer, Blessed Mother Teresa

God bless,

Emma Bell

Short-term Principal

RESPECT - GENEROSITY - EXCELLENCE

We are excited to finally have our Pod Play open again for students to enjoy creative play at lunchtime. The Pod is in need of more equipment. We would appreciate any donations that are suitable and safe such as old small tables, costumes, old technology pieces such as phones or keyboards. Donations can be given to Mrs Leech in the office.

Thanks for your assistance.

The Year 6 Pod Squad Team

Teaching children about their brains and emotional responses to situations can sometimes feel a bit complex. Where do we even begin? Read this article to find out more.

https://bit.ly/2XxMnN6

The P&F are off to a flying start this term! We had our first P&F meeting on Wednesday, 5th August 2020 and we had very productive discussions on how we can contribute to our beloved school.

So far, we have supported the purchase of a lawnmower, organised Mother’s day gifts (which is an uplifting highlight in a very confusing time), Kaboom Percussion incursion and replacement of the four basketball backboards (yes! it’s getting replaced very soon!)

I love how enthusiastic we get on sounding ideas and supporting it – the community spirit. There are many things to get involved in this time around, but volunteers are still needed! Have a look at the below activities/events that we are currently organising, and contact us if any of these interests you.

- Father’s Day Breakfast

- Camping Night

- Mother’s / Father’s Night Out

- Junior Playground Busy Bee (Adding more play features : mud kitchen, water feature, cubby house, etc)

- End of Year Event

- School Disco

Would love to see more of you getting involved! Mark your calendars, the next meeting is 23 September 2020, 6pm, with venue TBA (staff room/library/school hall)

Kind regards, on behalf of the P&F Executives,

Louie Sugiyanto – P&F President

If you have a business that you would like for us to feature in the P&F section of the newsletter and Facebook page, please send us your submission via Oranapnf@gmail.com, please include some description of your business, contact details, and some photos if you wish.

This week’s P&F Exec feature is on Paul Hadley - Treasurer

G’day Orana,

I’m Paul Hadley, This is my first year on the P&F I am the treasurer. You may have seen me around the school as I am the Groundsman there two days a Week (Thursday & Friday), the other days I run my own Lawn Mowing & Gardening business.

I am a mechanic by trade and have spent many years working on cars before moving into the mining industry of which I spent 16 years moving from the workshop floor into a Foreman's role and then Maintenance Planning role.

My wife Jennifer and I have two daughters, Kendra in year 5 and Willow in Pre-Primary, both girls are mad about swimming Kendra also is into Karate.

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