Orana Catholic Primary School
Term 2, Week 8, 2021.
TO GIVE IS TO RECEIVE
Generosity is an attitude of freely sharing our ideas and talents and giving our time generously. We show generosity by being welcoming, inclusive and promoting a sense of belonging.
Kids’ iPad Conference Prayer
Lord,
We ask for Your blessing upon all of us gathered here today and thank-you for the gifts and talents you have given to each one of us.
Open our minds to the many possibilities that today holds.
Help us to have a warm and friendly attitude and be enthusiastic with the learning experiences we encounter.
May we be attentive and make the most of the opportunities given.
Help us use our creativity, our ideas, our energy, fittingly.
Guide us to work well together, and to be patient with ourselves and with others.
Awaken us to the efforts made to make this a ‘day of highlights’.
Fill us with a sense of gratitude for those who keep our learning deep in their hearts and hands.
Above all, inspire us to do our very best.
Be with us Lord, we pray.
Amen
The prayer above was used to open the 2021 Kids’ iPad Conference on Wednesday. Whilst it is pitched at Year 6 students for the purpose of the conference, there are several petitions that can apply to our daily lives; our relationships with others, our school, our workplaces and homes can be enhanced by opening our minds, being warm and friendly, making the most of opportunities, being attentive to others and showing gratitude. I challenge everyone to choose one of the opportunities in the prayer above to focus on this week, to discuss with your children and share with each other.
The vibe in the air during the 2021 Kid’s iPad Conference was extraordinary. Students from Queen of Apostles School, Yidarra Catholic Primary School, Mary’s Mount Primary School and Orana experienced a conference style learning experience, with opportunities to be creative in solving a real-world problem; the decreasing number of bees in the world. The conference started with a fantastic rendition of Coldplay’s Viva Le Vida by our school band. Audience members were wowed by their talent. Thank-you to Ms Draper for her work with the band. The students were then witness to a moving Welcome to Country by a young and proud aboriginal man, Johnny Garlett. He played the didgeridoo and spoke to the students about his culture and family. Mr Dan Wood, Team Leader of School Improvement at Catholic Education WA, officially opened our conference with some anecdotes on his primary school life in regard to the then modern technology featuring green visual displays and floppy disks. Our keynote speaker, bee expert Craig Adair, took us all on a learning journey, sharing his knowledge and experience in saving the bees. The students then participated in five workshops to problem solve and create digital messages to influence others about ways to save the bees. The level of student engagement in the learning opportunities was superb.
We welcomed special guests from Catholic Education WA, the Apple Education team, representatives from Orana’s School Advisory Council and Parents and Friends Association, principals, colleagues to the Kids’ iPad Conference. The agenda was coordinated by Mrs Lyn Perrigo and Mrs Jodie Harold, digital technology leaders at Orana and Yidarra Catholic Primary Schools. I thank them for their passion and tireless efforts, along with the commitment of our additional workshop presenters Miss Amy Dreyer, Mrs Bek Hogan, Miss Bonnie Power and Miss Hallie Purio, supported by several other key Orana staff.
Yesterday the Year 4 students attended the First Holy Communion Retreat Day at the parish. The students had opportunities to reflect on their faith journey as they prepare to receive the Sacrament of Eucharist. Thank-you to Father Thai, Sister Catherine, Magdalene our parish Sacramental Coordinator, Mrs Alp, Mrs Tormay and Miss Power for their leadership of this important occasion. Congratulations to the Year 4 students on their high level of participation and good behaviour throughout the retreat. They represented Orana with pride.
Thank-you to everyone for your efforts in addressing the traffic flow at peak time around the school. We request that when parking on the oval that you reverse park in one row on the edge of the oval. Please continue this row around the fence line to the 2 large trees on the Chelmer Way fence line. Please do not make a second or third row as this will impact on the quality of the oval on the grass required for school use, such as during athletic carnivals, sport lessons and cross country events.
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.
God bless and take care,
Dee Johnston
Principal
Dates To Remember
TERM 2 - WEEK 9
Thursday 17th June - First Holy Communion Rehearsals, 5.30pm (Saturday Mass Communicants), 6.15pm (Sunday Mass Communicants)
Friday 18th June - Junior Assembly, 9am
Friday 18th June - Year 6 Class Mass
Saturday 19th June - Sacrament of First Holy Communion, 5.30pm
Sunday 20th June - Sacrament of First Holy Communion, 10.30am
Faith In Action
First Communion Rehearsal and Celebration
Our children in Year Four are entering their last week of preparation for their First Communion Day. Please keep them in your prayers. See above 'Dates Post' for times for Rehearsal and their Celebration.
The Power of Words
At Senior Assembly this morning, I spoke to the children about the strength of their words. Before we choose to say something, we should let our words pass through three gates (see infographic). By doing this, we are honouring the people we talk to. It also helps us to decide if what we say is really worth saying at all. Being generous with our words, emulates the type of person we are.
Kathryn Alp - Assistant Principal
From our Parish of Saints John & Paul
Please visit the Parish website for the latest information on weekend Masses.
Social Justice Group
Plant Sale
At the end of this term, the Social Justice team will be holding a plant sale to raise money to buy food that the teachers will then cook and serve to the homeless in our community. If you have any plastic plant pots or milk cartons that you can donate for us to put plants in, it would be greatly appreciated. We would also be grateful for any plant cuttings. If you are able to help us, pots and plants can be dropped off at the year 4W classroom. The Social Justice group will take care of the plants until the plant sale. We will inform you of the specific date in the near future.
Nights are getting Colder
As we are all aware, the nights are getting very cold. The Social Justice Group would like to help those who are in need by collecting warm blankets, beanies, gloves and socks. If you have any of the above items that are spare and you no longer need them, you can drop them off in the 4W classroom and we will give them to the Homelessness We Care organisers. We ask that they be in reasonable condition and clean. We thank everyone for your support with this project.
NEWS FROM THE P&F
Hello Orana!
The P&F had our meeting last week on Thursday 3rd June 2021. We have had an exciting and packed agenda where we discussed the upcoming programs for the school community to be involved with. We always welcome the community to attend and actively partake in our meeting.
We would like to inform you that we have been successful in our grant applications for Vegie Pods & Insect Packs, so expect to see these new additions to the Science Room upgrade work that the P&F have contributed to.
We have also been successful in our application for the St John Ambulance’s Defibrillator grant, which will have a Defibrillator available within our school grounds and accessible for public use should the need arise. This will provide a great support for the school and community around the school in case of an emergency.
One event that we are excited about is our Parent & Children Camping Activity. We are currently planning the details of the event which will take place in August 2021. The idea is to have parent(s) and child(ren) to partake in an overnight camping and activities. Please stay tuned for further details; the committee is working hard to put this event together.
Another event that we have scheduled to take place in early September 2021 is our school disco. Our school disco has always been a hit to the community, especially with the children. One thing though, is that we currently don’t have a committee to run this event. I would like to reach out to the school community asking people to step up to be on the committee to run this event. Without a committee we would not be able to run this event. So, if you are keen to get involved or wanting to know more, please reach out to myself, the P&F Execs, or e-mail at oranapandf@gmail.com
We have also discussed about projects that P&F can sponsor around the school; namely a security gate / fence facility and a shelter for the pick-up/drop off area at the back of the school. Scoping works are ongoing for these and will be discussed in the future meetings.
Regards,
Louie Sugiyanto.
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OSHC News
SOCIAL WORKER NEWS
Powerful Phrases to Help Children Calm
· I love you. It is incredibly important to remind your child feeling anger that you still love them. That no matter what they say to you, you will indeed love them. These three words should be repeated in a calm manner as often as your child will hear you.
Kath Warburton
Social Worker
Grounds / Maintenance News
School Banking
School Banking day is Wednesday. Please bring bank books to the office each Wednesday morning. We are not able to securely store personal bank books, so they must be brought in every Wednesday and will be returned on Wednesday afternoon.
2021 Professional Development Days Reminder
The following dates are pupil free days for 2021. For your future planning OSHC will offer a full day program on these dates.
Monday 19th July - Future Focussed Learning Professional Development
Friday 24th September – Catholic Day
Monday 11th October – Data Analysis Professional Development and Wellbeing Session