Term 2 Week 6 Newsletter 03.06.22
Principal News
The Ascension occurred in the life of Jesus when he left his followers, 40 days after the Resurrection and returned to His Father in heaven. ‘Why now?’ the disciples could be thinking as He disappeared from their sight and left them with his command to go out to all the world and be like him and spread the gospel. How could they do it without Him? His ascending is a loss for them. He is absent, or so it seems.
The disciples were never going to find this absence easy, as two struggled to recognise Jesus after the Resurrection on the road to Emmaus. Mary Magdalen thought he was the gardener at the empty tomb. Thomas needed proof that Jesus was the Christ and Peter’s old and trusted successes at fishing no longer satisfied. Jesus offered them peace, but they huddled together in the upper room, frightened and confused.
Like the disciples after the Ascension, we have also known moments of wondering why God seems to have disappeared. We can struggle finding God in today’s church and world, where violence, war, pandemics and natural disasters keeps us isolated.
How then, can we be open to the emerging ‘new’ that Jesus promised when he said: “It is better for you that I go away! You will be sad now, but your sadness will turn to joy. If I don’t go away, you will be unable to receive my spirit. Don’t cling to me, I must ascend.” (Jn 16:7,8) and ‘lifting up his hands, he blessed them’. (Lk 24:50)
The ascension of Jesus into heaven is not only about absence. Pope Francis would say “it tells us that He is living among us in a new way”. After all, Jesus did promise to be with us always and that ‘the Spirit of truth…You know him, because he abides with you and will be in you’. (Jn 15:17)
What is this new way? How is Jesus blessing us now? What gifts of the Holy Spirit are you noticing?
All of us need Pentecost to gift us with a new spirit and blessings to live the life we are living now, different from the one we have already lived. What do we need to let go of? Where are the signs of new life emerging for us?
Spirit, come transform us!
Sr Kerrie Cusack-Sisters of St Joseph
Our Lady Help of Christians Feast day
Last week we celebrated the feast of Mary, Our Lady Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia. Even though Mary is the help of all Christians, she is the one whom we turn to for help and protection for our parish school and our nation, Australia. It was beautiful to see our parish school community come together to celebrate this special feast day. A special thanks to Mrs Hague, staff and our Year 6 Leaders for preparing and leading a prayerful liturgy in each class. Our students enjoyed perfectly cooked sausage sandwiches (thank you Aaron Hall) and a beautiful school cake for afternoon tea.
Our school is truly blessed to have such a dedicated staff, wonderful students and such a supportive parent and parish community.
Hug in a Rug
During the week we were contacted from a Lions Club in Cohuna (Victoria) who sponsor a Leos Club at their local High School. The students were really moved by the devastation of the floods and wanted to do something special for the children in Kindergarten and Year 1 at OLHC.
They decided to make a "Hug in a Rug" to send to our children. They have been sewing a sleeping bag for Teddies and after a bit of advertising, They received teddies suitable for our children. With the help and support of the Lismore Lions Club, they were able to travel to Lismore and deliver the donations to our children on Monday afternoon.
I would like to give a special thank you to Mrs Margaret Condon for putting us in contact with the Victorian Lions Club. Marg is a former teacher and student at OLHC and will always hold a special spot in her heart for our parish school community.
There were plenty of smiles and hugs from the children but not many dry eyes from the adults in the room.
Traffic Safety
Over the past weeks our school has been notified by Council Traffic Authorities that some of our parents are stopping in No Parking Zones infront of the pedestrian crossing on both sides of the road, parking in house driveways and blocking access, pulling up in the bus zone for pick up and drop off and this is causing safety issues for our children.
I am currently working with with Lismore Council and the RMS to install flashing lights and employ a Crossing Supervisor. In the meantime, it is important that all families follow the road rules to assist with keeping our children safe.
Lismore Council parking inspectors will continue to monitor Dibbs Street during the coming weeks. Please follow the road rules to avoid any potential accidents and also avoid receiving a fine.
Classroom Painting
A big shout out and thank you to our parents who were able to spend some time helping paint the inside of our new demountable classrooms today. They look fanstastic and our children are extremely excited to be able to move into their new rooms very soon.
FRIDAY 10TH JUNE-PUPIL FREE DAY
A reminder that Friday 10th June is a pupil free day. This is a staff professional learning day and will see the staff continue to engage in our Learning Collaborative journey and Staff Spirituality.
Mission News
This weekend, the Church celebrates Pentecost, one of the most important feast days of the year that concludes the Easter season and celebrates the beginning of the Church.
Here's what you need to know about the feast day:
The timing and origins of Pentecost
Pentecost always occurs 50 days after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and ten days after his ascension into heaven. Because Easter is a moveable feast without a fixed date, and Pentecost depends on the timing of Easter, Pentecost can fall anywhere between May 10 and June 13.
What happens at Pentecost?
In the Christian tradition, Pentecost is the celebration of the person of the Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles, Mary, and the first followers of Jesus, who were gathered together in the Upper Room.
The Holy Spirit also gave the apostles the other gifts and fruits necessary to fulfill the great commission - to go out and preach the Gospel to all nations. It fulfills the New Testament promise from Christ (Luke 24:46-49) that the Apostles would be "clothed with power" before they would be sent out to spread the Gospel.
Happy Birthday, Church
It was right after Pentecost that Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, preached his first homily to Jews and other non-believers, in which he opened the scriptures of the Old Testament, showing how the prophet Joel prophesied events and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
He also told the people that the Jesus they crucified is the Lord and was raised from the dead, which "cut them to the heart." When they asked what they should do, Peter exhorted them to repent of their sins and to be baptised. According to the account in Acts, about 3,000 people were baptised following Peter's sermon.
Taken from the Catholic News Agency
Our Lady Help of Christians Feast Day
As shared by Mr Piccoli in his Principal's News, last week we celebrated our schools Feast Day - Our Lady, Help of Christians, with a sausage sizzle, liturgy and cake.
I am so proud of our wonderful Year 6 leaders, who ran 6 simultaneous liturgies in 6 different classrooms! It may have looked different to our normal celebrations but our students and staff made our day so very special.
Last Thursday, we remembered and acknowledged the Stolen Generation with Sorry Day 2022. We were privileged to hear the story of Mrs Papworth’s mum who is a Stolen Generation survivor. Mrs Papworth so generously shares her family’s history/story because without sharing she believes we can’t fully move forward as a nation. We can’t change what happened, but we can be sorry that it did and make sure it never happens again!
Mrs Papworth’s mum was forcibly removed from her family when she was just two years old. Her 3 sisters were too. Her mum’s 2 brothers were hidden and so were able to stay with their family after secretly being moved through Aboriginal missions throughout the coast of NSW to their home on Bundjalung country. Mrs Papworth’s mum was placed with foster families in Sydney and grew up with the second family she was placed with. At 16 she was reconnected with her mother and other siblings in Sydney and moved home to Lismore, Bundjalung Country to be with her family.
Mrs Papworth emotionally reflected on her Pop’s heartache at not being there to fight for his daughters as he was working on the docks, and we reflected on how our families would have felt - we really couldn’t understand. Another moment Mrs Papworth proudly shared was watching Kevin Rudd’s apology in 2008 to the Stolen Generation with her mum. We can never fully understand the trauma there was, and still is for Stolen Generation survivors and their families and that is why our acknowledgement and remembrance of the Stolen Generation is so important.
We are so thankful to Mrs Papworth and her beautiful mum for sharing their story!
Year 3 National Sorry Day Prayer
Sacraments 2022
I am very pleased to confirm our dates for Confirmation and First Holy Communion this year. Further details will be provided closer to the dates and Sacrament specific information will be sent directly to families of children who have previously nominated to receive these Sacraments.
Sacrament of Confirmation - Sunday, 7th August 2022 at 11am
First Holy Communion - Sunday, 11th September 2022 at 11am
Please contact Mrs Hague with any questions regarding the Sacraments.
We are very grateful to be able to celebrate mass with Father Peter as a Parish Community at Parkview Chapel - Holland Street Goonellabah at 10am. All are welcome!
Making Jesus Real Awards
KP
Sylvia S - For making Jesus Real through her gentle concern and willingness to help others. Thankyou Sylvia, you bring sunshine to Kinder.
1L
Frankie D - For being a suppoprtive freind and lending a helping hand to others.
1P
Nikki Q - For always being so thoughtful and considerate towards others. you're a star!
2L
Lachlan S - For always looking out for others and offering help without being asked. You are the face of Jesus Lachie!
2P
Evie F - For brightening someone's day by including them in classroom activities. Keep it up, Evie!
3L
Brody C - For being kind and caring friend when others are hurt or sad.
3P
Henry L - For showing the face of Jesusin our classroom by lighting the room with your smile and always using your manners.
4L
Marlee S - For always being a kind and caring friend who always shows the face of Jesus by helping those in need. Awesome work Marlee.
5P
Tyson C - Always friendly and on hand to help in any situation. Thank you Tyson. Keep being you!
6L
Georgie W - For being an exceptional Year 6 leader and a gentle, caring and thoughtful friend to those around her.
Kalan A - For always being a friendly peer to his classmates, who is kind and caring with his words and actions.
Learning & Teaching
Kindergarten students have been practising reading and ordering numbers
Year 1 students have been developing their skills and knowledge of addition and subtraction strategies
Year 2 students are always working hard to develop their spelling skills and strategies
Year 3 Writing Using the BIU wall and giving feedback
Year 4 are learning about Mass and to measure items equally.
Year 5 Art
Year 6 have been doing the beep test and improving their kicking skills.
OLHC Achievement Awards
KP
Vera H - For her mature and responsible attitude towards learning. Vera your love of learning and focus sets a great example in our classroom, thank you.
Elle W - For her commitment to always do her best and become such a confident learner, ready to tackle all tasks independently. Great work Elle.
Darcy C - For his focussed and on task learning behaviour. Keep up the great work Darcy.
Felix K - For his focussed commitment to learn his sounds, resulting in outstanding growth. Great work Felix.
1L
Darcy S - For your great work in writing. You have collected some fantastic facts about Australian animals. Well done!
Charles D - For your consistent effort towards improving your handwriting and sentence structure. Well Done!
1P
Jack G - For displaying a dedicated attitude towards his reading. Keep up the great work, Jack!
Ariana P-B - For being a reflective learner who continually takes on feedback to improve her writing. Keep up the great work, Ariana!
2L
Mason M - For a fantastic attitude towards learning. You've been really focused Mason! Amazing!
Mia B - For your focus and determination to record key facts when planning an information report. Keep up the fantastic effort Mia!
Poppy W - For fantastic note taking using key words during a presentation. You asked some amazing questions Poppy!
2P
Hudson H - For being creative with his sentence starters in his information report about honey bees. Keep working hard, Huddy!
Paige W - For challenging yourself when writing number patterns in Mathematics. Keep working hard, Paige!
3L
Tilly P - For always approaching your learning with a positive attitude and trying your best in everything.
Archie S - For writing a very persuasive paragraph using the TEE structure and high modality language.
3P
Myla H - For your consitnet positive attitude towards all of your learning and excellent application of high modality words to your persuasive text.
4L
Emily P - For providing excellent persuasive text which engage the reader by using persuauive devices. Great work Emi.
Holly C - For a top effort in using expanded notation to break apart numbers and working hard to maintain neat book work.
Tyler E - For making a huge improvement to his learning behaviours and making quality contributions to class discussions. Well done Tyler.
5P
Ryan F - Thank you Ryan for unfailing efforts towards your school work. Your persistence in Maths tasks is admirable. Well done!
Layla W - For a consistent effort towards all your school work. For always having a high standard in your work presentation!
6L
Thomas S - For his increasing confidence and enthusiastic approach to all learning tasks. You are working well, Tommy!
Jemima W - For her positive attitude towards all tasks and the pride she takes in the presentation of her work.
Sports News
DIO Cross Country
Under blue skies, and at times black clouds and showers the Primary Diocesan Cross Country was held on Tuesday 24th May, at Grafton Race Course. This facility provided excellent grandstand coverage, canteen and amenity block. It was a really good day. Congratulations to the 7 students that represented our school on the day.
Harvey Power - 1st - 12/13 Years Boys
Amarli Goulding - 19th - 12/13 Years Gils
Hugh Bashforth - 22nd - 11 Years Boys
Maggie Aylward - 31st - 11 Years Girls
Laini Lynch - 17th - 10 Years Girls
Harper Jasmin - 9th - 8/9 Years Girls
Bailey Newton - 21st - 8/9 Years Girls
The first 8 runners home in each age division now have the opportunity to represent Lismore Diocese at Eastern Creek in Sydney on Tuesday 7th June at Polding trials. Congratulations to Harvey Power who came 1st in the 12/13 Years Boys 3km race. He will now proceed to the next level.
My New Gallery
POLDING AFL
Congratulations to Harvey Power who was successful in being selected for the AFL NSW PSSA team. He will now progress to the NSW PSSA Trials. Well done, Harvey!
My New Gallery
Athletics Carnival
OLHC Athletics Carnival will be held on Monday the 20th of June at Hepburn Park. The carnival will look different from how it has in previous years. Unfortunately, Riverview Park is unavailable and the only suitable ground for us to use is Hepburn Park.
The students in Years 2-6 will commence competitive shot put during sports time in the coming weeks.
As a school, we will put out an expression of interest for the 1500m race and long jump event. The 1500m race will take place on Tuesday the 21st of June and we are yet to lock in a day for long jump. Further information will be passed on to the students that are interested in competing in the competitive events in the coming weeks.
School News
Book Club Issue 4 2022
Issue 4 of Bookclub was given out on Monday 30/05/22. The cut off will be on Thursday 16th June 2022. Please use the online Loop App to place your child's order. We do not accept cash.
If you have any issues follow the instructions below or contact Kim in the school's office.
Up coming Canteen Dates
Friday 10th of June - Pupil Free Day
Friday 17th June - Sushi from Sushi Pro
Please order online using the Flexischools app. Instructions are below. Please phone Kim in the office should you have any questions.
Community News
