OLOF TIMES
21st September 2020
Our Vision
Our Lady of Fatima Palmyra is a Catholic School that aspires to
provide a respectful, secure and caring learning environment
where our community is committed to following
the teachings of Jesus.
From the Principal
Dear Parents,
It has been a very busy fortnight here at Our Lady of Fatima with our Father’s Day breakfast, Latino Dancing, First Communion weekend, and finishing with a School Athletics carnival.
Well-Being in the OLOF Community
This has been a strong focus in our community this year coinciding with the COVID climate we are all immersed in. The Father’s Day breakfast was a wonderful opportunity to invite the large number of fathers and grandfathers into our community. Enormous thanks to all the members of our P&F who assisted with the catering, many arrived at 7am to ensure that we were ready to serve our first bacon rolls and milos (for the children) from 7:45am. I would also like to thank Ryan Barrett (Harper’s Dad from our Kindy class) who donated 22 kg of bacon from D’Orsogna. It is always a great community builder, thank you to all who contributed and those who came along to participate in the event. Many of the special guests joined us for the Father’s Day liturgy shortly after the breakfast finished, led by our PP children with the help of their Year 4 buddies.
Speaking of well-being, what a great afternoon we had after school last Friday week with our Latino dancing session, led by Diana Rios Carrero (Sebastian’s mum). There were approximately 50 people in attendance, a combination of parents, children and staff, our Year 2’s seemed to be heavily represented which was great! It was a lot of fun learning a different style of dancing and comforting to know that we were all working from the same starting point, comforting for someone who lacks rhythm! The children seemed to really enjoy themselves and the role modelling provided from parents for all of us to just “have a go” and try something new was fantastic. Special thanks to our Well-being sub-committee who provided the inspiration to try something a little different and particularly Diana who willingly shared her passion and expertise for the benefit of so many in our community. It was a great opportunity for people to demonstrate a level of COURAGE, the virtue we have focussed on in our community over the previous fortnight.
For the last fortnight of the term, our virtue is PARTICIPATION, reflecting on the value of actively engaging in learning opportunities with the view of getting the most out of the activity. Our School Athletics carnival is perfectly timed to focus on PARTICIPATION.
Leadership Day
Katrina Abreu and I spent the whole day last Friday week ago at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Hilton at the Year 6 Leadership Day with the Year 6 class from that school and also St Patrick’s. It was a really interactive and engaging day for the children where they were given an insight into a range of different views on “Servant Leadership” from a number of guest speakers including: Archbishop Archbishop Timothy Costello, Lieutenant Commander Amanda Folkes from the Royal Australian Navy and Yasmin George, a law graduate and current graduate teacher. The children also participated in a range of activities based on team-work, communication and values.
Not only did the Year 6’s gain knowledge and skills from the guest speakers and the activities but they also had the opportunity to develop social connections with children from the other 2 schools who may be attending the same secondary school as them. The day was a great introduction to all 3 Year 6 cohorts spending time together with each other on camp in the middle of Term 4.
First Holy Communion weekend
Last weekend was a wonderful highlight in our community, with 31 children at our school and parish receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion for the first time. The children had been prepared superbly by our year 4 class teachers and Mary Conway (catechist teacher) and the whole celebration was coordinated by Lorraine Szefczyk. Enormous thanks to these ladies and the parents of the children for their support throughout the programme culminating in the final celebration on the weekend of 12th and 13th September.
Science Show
Last week was a week we have set aside as our Science Show where our Year 6’s have demonstrated a number of experiments for the younger children and developed their breadth of understanding of a range of different Science concepts. As I have walked through the Science room the children have all looked very engaged and it has been great to see so many of the Year 6’s passing on their knowledge and facilitating a range of experiments and explaining the “science” behind the experiments. Special thanks to Lara Gleeson for coordinating the special week in Science, the children have learnt some really interesting things throughout the week.
Opti-Minds
Our Opti-Minds programme came to a climax last week with the 2 groups of children in Years 5 and 6 presenting their “creative thinking” performance to 3 in-house judges – Rob La Roche, Di Law and Jane Ahern. It is an in-depth process for them to come up with their final performance demanding strong collaboration skills as well as the creative thinking dimension. Each of the two groups have also completed the “spontaneous challenge” last week meaning that the children have now completed the entire Opti-Minds programme at our local school level. This is a good result given that the programme was cancelled state-wide due to the COVID-19 situation. Enormous thanks to Rob La Roche and Di Law for facilitating the programme for the children, albeit a school-based programme this year.
School Athletics Carnival
What a great day we had at Aquinas College last Friday. The sun was shining and the participation level and sportsmanship from the children was fantastic. It really is a wonderful day for our community and we really appreciate the assistance and support provided by so many people in the community to contribute towards the day being such a success.
I would like to pass on special thanks to a number of fathers who assisted in the morning before the carnival started, meeting Oz Celenza and I at 7:30am at Aquinas to set up tents, bunting, sound system etc. Special thanks also to the parents in our community for their baking and for selling the refreshments to parents throughout the day, under the coordination of Alena Gault, it is an important part of the community building part of the day.
Congratulations to those who performed to the best of their ability and if that resulted in significant success then an extra special congratulations! Well done to La Salle on winning the overall shield, Genevieve for winning the spirit shield and all the children who were awarded either Runner Up Champion or Champion in their age group. The final results have been included in this edition of the newsletter.
Pre-Primary Mural
Many people may have noticed that we organised for a number of Santa Maria students to whitewash the wall containing the mural outside our Pre-Primary classroom a few weeks ago. We have been in the process of collaborating with an indigenous artist to create a design for us on the wall, incorporating some contributions from children at our school. I am pleased to say that a significant amount of this work will be completed over the upcoming school holiday break, which will be a great surprise for the children when they return from their school holiday break. Our hope is to connect the story of the mural with a focus on NAIDOC week, again including the indigenous artist.
Transition to Summer Uniform
As we prepare to conclude Term 3 and look ahead to Term 4, a reminder that we transition to the summer uniform from the start of the term. We usually allow a fortnight transition period and remind parents that our uniform shop is open on Thursday mornings.
A couple of reminders for the last week of term
A reminder to all parents that we have a whole school lunch on Wednesday 23rd September. We will also be celebrating an End of Term Liturgy in the hall on the final day. The liturgy will be led by the Year 1 and 5 children and they will be joined by the Pre-Primary and Year 2 classes at 9am on Thursday 24th September. Parents are welcome to join us if they are able to.
Best wishes for the coming fortnight.
Paul Hansen
Principal
Dates to Remember
Wednesday 23rd September
Year 5 Excursion to Fremantle
Wednesday 23rd September
Whole School lunch available
Wednesday 23rd September
School Board Meeting at 7:30pm
Thursday 24th September
End of Term Liturgy, led by Years 1 and 5 at 9am
Thursday 24th September
Last day of term 3 for students
Friday 25th September
Pupil-Free/Staff Development day
Monday 12th October
First day of Term 4 for students and staff
Wednesday 14th October
P&F Meeting at 7:30pm
Thursday 15th October
Year 5 camp meeting for parents at 6:30pm
Tuesday 20th October
Year 6 camp meeting for parents at 6:30pm
Kindergarten 2021 Enrolment Applications
If you have a child born between 1st July 2016 – 30th June 2017, they are due to attend Kindergarten in 2021. Application forms are available on our website or at the school office. Please return application forms to the school office ASAP. We don’t want you to miss out!
‘Online & Technology Safety’ with Mr La Roche
Social Media and networks are a part of modern life and can be great tools for staying connected with friends and family. It is important that we understand who we are connecting with though. Whilst we teach our children how to communicate appropriately with familiar and unfamiliar people, for example ‘stranger danger’, it is important they have a similar skillset when forming connections online. This week’s guide gives parents some background and helpful tips on social media connections, I hope you find it useful.
Sports carnival - Results
Yr3 Champion Boy - Jetagon M (Kolbe)
Yr3 Runner up Boy - Liam G (La Salle)
Yr3 Champion Girl - London P (La Salle)
Yr3 Runner up Girl - Ella R (La Salle)
Yr4 Champion Boy - Samuel P (Kolbe)
Yr4 Runner up Boy - James B (Kolbe)
Yr4 Champion Girl - Milly C (Francisco)
Yr4 Runner up Girl - Alby J (Genevieve)
Yr5 Champion Boy - Will D (Genevieve)
Yr5 Runner up Boy - Riley R (Kolbe)
Yr5 Champion Girl - Matilda C (La Salle)
Yr5 Runner up Girl - Olive O'D (Francisco)
Yr6 Champion Boy - Suni T(Francisco)
Yr6 Runner up Boy - Xavier Z (La Salle)
Yr6 Champion Girl - Ayla R (Kolbe)
Yr6 Runner up Girl - Eliza R (Genevieve)
support our school at Gilbert's fresh market and The Foodies Basket
Gilbert's Support Our School Program donates 1% of the money spent by you to your nominated school every time you shop with us! Sign up for free at the checkout and scan each time you shop.
As at 16/06/2020 the Gilbert’s Fresh, Hilton SOS Program has 31 schools, and 2,236 customers signed up, plus, Gilbert’s has donated $40,945.00 to local schools since the program commenced in October 2017.
The Foodies Basket, Attadale donates a $1 for every 100 points accumulated. Just give our School name or show your card each time you purchase.
School Lunch orders every Monday and Thursday.
P & F FUNDRAISER PASTA NAPOLETANA LUNCH IN CONJUNCTION WITH LOCAL IL SORISSO CAFÉ
To order please go via school lunch online.
Uniform Shop
Contact Us
Email: admin@olof.wa.edu.au
Website: www.olof.wa.edu.au
Location: 3 Harris St, Palmyra WA, Australia
Phone: 08 9333 7900