Orana Catholic Primary School
Term 2 Week 6
TO GIVE IS TO RECEIVE
Our community values an attitude of enthusiastically applying energy and effort to become better learners. Excellence is evident when:
• we do our best to develop our talents and share them with others
• we have high expectations of what we can achieve
• we take risks and experiment with the way we learn
• we work hard to do our best work
• we celebrate our achievements
Prayer Reflection
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
— St. Teresa of Ávila (attributed)
Dear Parents and Carers,
Kathryn and I, as a new leadership team, attended the Evangelisation Planning Workshop, led by Bishop Holohan. Bishop Holohan spoke on the personal experiences of Christ’s love, in life’s journey. We are called as Baptised Catholics to be the body of Christ, to share his Divine Love. Catholic schools develop the whole child from within; a point of difference to other schools. Children are growing as new creations as they develop their personality. Staff collaborate together with parents and our parish priests, to help each student to develop the divine and the human, in a Christ-centered community of hope. Over the three days, we created our Evangelisation Plan with goals for formation of staff, students and our community.
At the end of this term, we farewell Bonnie Lynch, Marie McCourt and Shuri Sokokawa, who will all welcome babies into their families. Congratulations to Allison Crugnale and Temeka Curley who will join the Orana Staff. Allison and Shelley Hardingham will share the 4 Blue classroom. Temeka will be in 3 White. Thank-you for welcoming both of these teachers to our community.
This week is Reconciliation Week. The National Reconciliation Week theme for 2022 is ‘Be Brave. Make Change.” The message is a challenge to all Australians, individuals, families, and communities to ‘Be Brave and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation, so we can ‘Make Change’ for the benefit of all Australians. This year’s focus is to begin brave actions in their daily lives; at home, at work, when playing and socialising. At assembly, the leaders showed this short video and the students shared ideas of how we can make a difference.
Today the students completed the block of swimming lessons for this year. Swimming skills, as will other skill development need repetitive practice. The focus is on participation, increasing confidence and water safety awareness, not just passing the level. Congratulations to students for their enthusiasm and thank-you to the parents for keeping up with the preparation of the swimming gear.
Kindy interviews for 2023 commenced last term. Please contact Deb Goodwin, our Enrolment Officer, if you have a child that will be of Kindergarten age next year.
The latest Term 2 calendar can be found on our website. https://www.orana.wa.edu.au/calendar/
Any changes or updates will be added to the Events Calendar also on our website.
Next Tuesday is a pupil free day. Staff will be working with Dr Paul Swan on best practice in Mathematics. Have a restful long weekend.
Take care and God bless,
Dee Johnston
Principal
Interactive Map and Virtual Tour
COVID-19 Update
The distribution of the RATs from WA Health is well underway. If you have not yet collected your allocation of RATs, please go to the office or arrange with OSHC for the RATs to be available for you to collect from there. CEWA advises that while RATs can be a convenient and efficient method of testing, a PCR test continues to be the preferred method of COVID-19 detection, due to its clinical accuracy. Where a person is symptomatic of COVID-19, they should be encouraged to undertake a PCR test and isolate, even if a preliminary RAT has returned a negative result.
As a school we are continuing to navigate the ever changing COVID-19 protocols. WA Health has announced new baseline health measures. WA Health announced that schools are no longer required to issue correspondence to parents and carers; however, while case numbers remain high, we will provide responses to the self-reporting portal entries and a case summary in the newsletter. Health and hygiene promotion and enhanced cleaning regimes remain in place. For now, some risk minimisation strategies remain in place which are over and above the government measures for the safety of our community.
WA Health will provides information directly to the Covid-19 positive person / caregiver following their registration of a Covid-19 positive test result with WA Health via this Link.
Parents and carers are encouraged to continue their reporting of close contact or Covid-19 positive status to schools through the Covid-19 self-reporting portal via this link. The CEWA COVID-19 Self-Reporting Portal has been updated to align with the current WA Health’s Health Test, Trace, Isolate, Quarantine (TTIQ) Directions. Please do not underestimate the importance of informing the school of a positive Covid-19 case / Close Contact status. Your actions will ensure the risk to others is minimised and that we do our very best to limit the spread of the virus across our community.
Further information on school operating guidelines for the new baseline settings is available on the school website.
Week 6 (28th May to 3rd June)
There were 15 cases reported to the school this week.
The positive cases are in isolation, as per WA Health requirements. Please carefully monitor for symptoms and get tested if symptoms develop. Please keep your children at home if they are unwell.
Faith in Action
Homelessness - Arielle Aquino
Today, I will be talking about how we can change our ways toward the homeless. About 1.1% of people live in Australia with no home, food or education and it is down to us to help in any way we can.
These families are living a difficult life here in Australia. Compared to us, they struggle to provide for each other while we get toys, games and anything we want. Children around my age, struggle to have a childhood full of happiness and laughter, but their expectations may not reach reality. Adults also have a hard time trying to provide for the young while trying to provide for themselves. Their unfortunate situation may have been a result of disability or illness, financial problems, drugs and alcohol and unemployment related.
Men and women in this situation struggle with their basic essentials to live a safe life. The Homeless have to face challenges such as maintaining proper hygiene, access to food and water and shelter for warmth and comfort. They have to survive without any of these things which can make a big impact on their well being. Homelessness can also lead to the shame of one's appearance, and the lack of confidence to live a dignified life. Sustaining relationships is also very difficult for them as they may come from dysfunctional families and have been disadvantaged due to their upbringing.
Now we can help by taking part and assisting these people by working together as a community. Some suggestions that we can do to support and provide for them are donating money to charity programs such as the Salvation Army, Caritas Australia and Project Zero. We can also donate other essentials such as food, clothing, toiletries and even sleeping bags. Communities can volunteer to help cook meals to serve to the homeless centres where they can also sleep.
The homeless have been in unfortunate situations where they have made decisions they can’t control. Even with a small amount of money, we can change hundreds of lives around our community. Supporting their well-being is the least we can do to help one another, here in our beloved country.
Fr Thai will be sleeping out this month to raise awareness and money for homelessness. Please read below in the Parish of Saints John and Paul section as to how you can donate.
Social Justice Team News
Many people in the Ukraine have been affected by war. The Orana Social Justice Team would like to assist Caritas Australia who are collecting and sending blankets to the Ukraine. If you have any spare blankets at home that are clean and in good condition, we would like you to drop them off at the Year 4W class. We will then pass them onto Caritas Australia. This is putting our school value of Generosity and our school motto of To Give is to Receive into practice. We can work together to help others in need. Please put a special effort into doing this. Thank you.
From our Parish of Saints John & Paul
St Vinnies Sleep Out
One night isn't a lot, but it can make a whole lot of difference.
Every night, thousands of Australians experience homelessness. But it doesn't have to be that way. This year Fr Thai, Father CJ and other parishioners are taking part in the Vinnies CEO Sleepout to raise money for the St Vincent de Paul Society to support Australians in need.
Please support Fr CJ & Fr Thai who have decided to sleep under a cardboard box. As a team representing St John and Paul Church Willetton we will spend one of the longest and coldest winter nights on the streets to help raise money for people experiencing homelessness. Homelessness can affect anyone - women, men, and children. It has devastating consequences for individuals and families. But you can help!
Please support us during the Vinnies CEO Sleepout and your donation will help the St Vincent de Paul Society empower more people to get off the streets and into stable accommodation. Vinnies provides counselling, education, health and employment services to help people to lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty.
Every donation is meaningful to us. Just fifty dollars can provide a whole family with a warm, nutritious meal this winter. Together we can combat homelessness in our community. Please help us raise funds today! The impact of your generosity will be felt well beyond the 23rd of June.
Fr CJ Millen
https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/cjmillen/perth
Fr Thai Vu
https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/thaivu/perth
Thank you for your support - it is truly appreciated.
Positive Behaviours and Student Support Guidelines - Part 3
Behaviour education in a primary school setting is about:
- Assisting and educating a child to learn how their behaviours affect themselves and others around them.
- During this important time of formation for a child, it is vital that as educators and parents, we explore what lagging skills a child exhibits and how we can assist each child in solving problems together. It is very easy to purely focus on the behaviours that present as a result of unsolved problems, rather than spending time exploring why together with a child.
- Schools work very hard to develop positive relationships within a classroom and this is not often observable, but occurs on a daily basis through programs and open dialogue.
Dates to Remember
- Monday, 6th June - Public Holiday: Western Australia Day
- Tuesday 7th June - Pupil Free Day
- Wednesday, 8th June - LifeLink Day and School Cross Country
- Thursday, 9th June - First Communion Retreat Day and Year 2 Excursion to Kins Park
- Friday, 10th June - Year 5 Class Mass and Senior Assembly
2022 Professional Development Days Reminder
The following dates are pupil free days for 2022. For your future planning OSHC will offer a full day program on these dates.
7th June - Paul Swan - Mathematical Understanding
18th July - All Staff Whole School Planning Professional Development
29th August - Pupil Free Day | Catholic Day
10th October - Staff Professional Development
P&F News
This week, we want to confirm the next P and F meeting will be in Week 8 - 14 June 2022 at 6.00pm. We would love to see more parents there, so please note this in your calendars.
The P and F are assisting the school to coordinate the School Annual Family Camp Out. At this stage the dates we have secured as a tentative booking with CAHOOTS Camp Kerem is Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 August. To assist with the coordination of the event, if you would like to attend, please email the P and F on oranapandf@gmail.com
Our next Homeless Food Drive. This will be held on 2 August 2022. As it is Winter we are serving hot meals. If you are able to assist in providing 150 serves, please email the P and F or get in touch with Clarissa. More details will be provided close to date.
Last but not least.... the Canteen Day is back for Term 2!. Parents please lock in Thursday 30 June 2022 as your day off from lunch making. More details to come.
Have a lovely weekend.
Orana P & F
SOCIAL WORKER NEWS
This week, May 27 – June 3 has been
National Reconciliation Week
The National Reconciliation Week 2022 theme, “Be Brave. Make Change.” is a challenge to all Australians— individuals, families, communities, organisations and government—to Be Brave and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation so we can Make Change for the benefit of all Australians.
Regards,
Kathryn Warburton
Social Worker