Term 4, Week 3

31 October 2023

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School

​We are Respectful
We are Responsible
We are Safe
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School is located on the traditional lands of the Punnilerpanner people of the North Nation. We acknowledge and deeply respect the Palawa people, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community, and all Elders past and present. We are committed to learning alongside our students and community in this place, and support the continued sharing of knowledge and culture.

What's On?

Whole School
​Prayer

Monday 13 November
Primary (5M)
Parents and carers are welcome!

upComing Events

Term 4​​​
  • OLOL Athletics Carnival - Thursday 2nd November
  • Public Holiday - Monday 6th November
  • Grade 3 Hagley Excursion - Tuesday 7th November

MRs seagar's Reflection

principal


You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: you must love your neighbour as yourself. 
Matthew 22: 37-39
Welcome everyone to Week 3.

Just recently I made the spontaneous comment to my line managers and directors that “A leader has to love their staff". I had just articulated my deepest feeling towards the staff at Our Lady of Lourdes; that after working with them all very closely for 6 years I deeply respect them and have always held them in the  highest regard. This profoundly held belief and feeling is a grace-given love for my fellow human being as well as the deepening of the professional relationship.

In reading the commentaries on this gospel reading, this week, these words gave me more of an understanding of this feeling: 

It is very interesting that Jesus’ commandment does not command us to love our neighbour!  Rather, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ But who is ‘yourself’?  In the wonderful story-telling of Genesis, we are told that Adam, an earthen statue, had Divine Breath breathed into the nostrils, creating him as a human being. We earthlings are conceived with the Divine Breath at the core of our being. The challenge for us is to see ‘yourself’ in that way, and thereafter every human being whose lives we can affect: the neighbour. And in today’s global world, the neighbour can be a person in a society geographically or culturally distant or the person we walk past or work with each day.
Source: Fr Michael Tate; [email protected]

To love God and each other, Jesus makes it clear, are interconnected. Our existence and purpose both flow from the fact that God didn’t just create me – He created us. We are social beings, connected creatures. And our great calling is to respond to God’s love and to share it. We are meant to be signs of God’s love for the world. Sadly, many people today, want the good life for themselves, while doing very little to help other countries or other people to have liveable lives.  It is a huge challenge for us in today’s world to know where to begin.  Perhaps Jesus’ words call us to love our neighbour as ourselves is the point to start at.  We are called to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. To be able to do this, we need to picture ourselves in their place – experiencing all that they are experiencing; not imposing our own values and circumstances. To see ourselves in the place of another is the key to responding with compassion. The origin of the word ‘compassion’ means ‘experiencing with’. If we are able to truly ‘experience with’ another person perhaps then we can genuinely recognise and respond to their needs.
Sourced https://www.liturgyhelp.com/calendar/date/2023Oct29/0

As I work with all the staff at Our Lady of Lourdes  I see, witness, experience with, hear their teaching journey and life stories. Knowing each teacher as a ‘gift from God’ deepens my ongoing love for them.

God Bless

Carol
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
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OLOL 2023 Tea Towel Fundraiser
The Junior Joeys are excited to sell our OLOL 2023 Tea Towel as a fundraiser for the Archbishop's Samaritan Fund! Money raised will go towards supporting Tasmanian families in need.
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The tea towel designs feature self-portraits drawn by all school students and staff, screen printed on to 100% colour tea towels with colour print. 

Please visit the link below to place your online-order for your tea towel today! 

Cost: $20 each
Orders Due: Friday 3rd November 2023
Prayer
With prayer the world begins to look differently. We begin to see the beauty of the world around us. And we begin to see other people from God's point of view, and when that happens, they begin to look better. 

When praying it is not so much that we persist in prayer in order to change God’s mind as it is that we persist in order to discover what God’s mind might be. The salutariness of prayer is often found in the change that it effects in us, not in God. By persevering in genuine prayer we may come to acknowledge that all things are in God’s hands, and that we can rest content to leave them there, trusting that the situation will be cared for as God sees fit. It seems trite to say that God hears all prayer and sometimes the answer is ‘No!’ It is better to say that God respects the freedom of people and will seldom intervene to change the way events unfold. Still, prayer can change the one who prays and also the one for whom the prayer is offered if only human need is recognised and divine solicitude is acknowledged.
© Dianne Bergant CSS

​​Prayer plays an important part at OLOL for staff and we have weekly prayer together, prepared by class teaching teams.  At the beginning of this term our prayer centred on preparing ourselves for the term as well as being the best possible teachers we can for our students.
​
 Lord God,
At the beginning of this new term
Help us embrace our teaching vocation with renewed energy
At the beginning of this new term
teach us to be your hands and feet where we are,
 At the beginning of this new term
Help us to be your eyes and see each child as they are
At the beginning of this new term
Teach us to be your ears and listen to each students’ needs
At the beginning of this new term
Renew us with optimism and hope for our students
At the beginning of this new term
Help us to support and care for each other
At the beginning of this new term
teach us to love as you love us
At the beginning of this new term
teach us to pray for those in need
So that You are honoured and glorified
Amen
​
Through daily prayer, we come to a deeper understanding of both ourselves and God. We do not pray for God's sake, but for our own sake, so that our relationship with our Lord may be more complete and our lives may be filled with God's goodness.
CURRICULUM & PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
INSIGHT Pedagogies based on the Science of Learning
Engagement Norms ensure children are doing something every minute, whether it be discussion with a partner, reading text aloud, showing responses on a whiteboard or gesturing. These norms are designed to keep students actively engaged in their learning.

School news

OLOL Athletics Carnival - Thursday 2nd November
BBQ available
Sausages, water & juice   $2.00
Fish Free School Zone & Nut Awareness
Can all parents be vigilant about enforcing our fish free school zone and nut awareness.
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These foods can contain fish:​
  • Fried rice, spring rolls and paella with fish specifically.
  • ​Dishes that are often prepared with fish-based sauces, like oyster sauce.
  • Sushi.
  • Salad dressings.
  • Sauces, like steak and Worcestershire.
  • Seafood soups and broths.
  • Spreads like taramasalata.
​
Uniform Expectations
​Can all parents and carers  please ensure that:
  • Students' socks are white or navy blue with the Sports Uniform (the school is moving to navy blue).
  • No logos on socks.
  • Black (polishable) shoes with the formal uniform.
  • Shirts can be worn out with the boys Summer Uniform.
  • No necklaces or fancy earrings - just plain gold or silver studs.

Picking up Children Early
Our Lady of Lourdes reminds parents to provide advance notice if you are picking up your child early.   An email to [email protected] is the best communication method. Phone call is also an option. It allows for advance preparation if the office staff are given significant advance notice as organising students to leave class or specialist lessons can take some time.
​Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Playing in the Playground After School
It is our school expectation that if parents choose to allow their children to play in our playground after school then it is their responsibility to supervise and support them to be Respectful, Responsible and Safe through direct behaviour support of their own child and modelling of appropriate adult behaviour.  Effectively, you are responsible for your child after you have collected them at the end of the day.  Although the weather is beginning to change (slowly!) and it is lovely in the after school sun, our gates will continue to be locked at 3:30pm each day.  We do ask that you please ensure you have left our school grounds by then.
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Head Knocks at School
If your child presents to First Aid with a head knock, we will assess and treat with ice. If they appear fine your child will go back to class where they will be monitored by Staff. The office will send you an SMS so you are aware and able to check in with your child when they get home. If we are at all worried about your child we will phone you so they can be collected.

School Gates
​The school Steele Street gates are now locked from 3:30 pm each day.
If requiring any assistance after this time, please come to the Stewart Street school entrance and knock for assistance.

Uniform Shop Hours
Monday - Thursday   8:00am - 10:00am
Wednesday   2:30pm - 3:30pm
Friday - Closed
eSafety guidance for dealing with distressing online content 
We are aware of disturbing content that may be circulating on social media in connection with the situation in Israel and Gaza. A number of schools and education sectors have contacted eSafety seeking guidance for managing this evolving situation.
 
Please refer to the advice below:
  • eSafety has contacted social media companies about this content and will continue working with them to identify and remove illegal and restricted material wherever possible.
  • To support this work, we encourage you to make yourselves aware of eSafety’s guidance  www.esafety.gov.au/report/illegal-harmful-content and report content where appropriate.
  • Please follow your school or sector policies and procedures when communicating with students, staff and families about disturbing online content. We recommend avoiding raising the issue with students explicitly unless it is apparent that they are already aware of it or have been exposed to it. Drawing students’ attention to the content may cause unnecessary worry or distress and increase exposure.
  • eSafety has prepared the attached document and  this webpage to assist.
  • We encourage staff, parents and carers supporting young people who may be more vulnerable to check in with them. If a child or young person is presenting with signs of distress, follow your procedures for managing and supporting students at risk. 
Support services:
If a life is in danger call Triple Zero (000) right now. 
Please encourage anyone who may be at risk or experiencing emotional distress, including worried family and friends, to contact one of the following services: More support services, including state-based services aimed at parents and carers, are listed on esafety.gov.au/counselling-support-services.

Sports News & Rosters

Click here to access 'Sports News, Registrations and Rosters​​
  • Devon Netball Spring Roster
  • Devonport Primary Spring Basketball Registration
  • Triathlon
  • OLOL Sports Policy

Mersey Leven Catholic parish

Weekend Masses
Saturday Vigil
  • 5:00pm St Mary's, Penguin
  • 5:00pm Our Lady of Lourdes Devonport
Sunday
  • 8:00am St Joseph, Port Sorell
  • 9:00am Sacred Heart, Ulverstone
  • 9:30am Our Lady of Lourdes, Devonport
  • 11:30am Holy Cross, Sheffield
  • 5:00pm St Patrick, Latrobe

Community News

Click here access 'Community news'​​​​​
  • City of Devonport Brass Band
  • Cricket
  • Mersey Rowing Club - Learn to Row Program
  • Come & Try Scouting
  • Niche Movement

  • Hockey
  • Studio 81 Dance Company
  • Slip Stream Circus
  • Nipper "Come & Try" Day

Policy in Focus

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School
Class Formation Policy


Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, Devonport is committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment for its students, staff and volunteers. This commitment includes the social, emotional, spiritual and academic growth of each child.
A clearly defined, collaborative and transparent process for the creation of classes at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, Devonport will assist in maintaining a positive environment for all stakeholders, particularly students, and create a school community that is effective in its core purpose of providing education for its students.
The purpose of this policy is to provide a clear framework for the process of placing children into classes and ensure Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School:

  • Provides each child with the opportunity to be part of a class of children where they will have the best opportunity to learn.
  • Provides evenly balanced classes in which the social, emotional, academic, spiritual and physical needs of each child are taken into account.
  • Ensures that optimum use is made of prior knowledge that teachers, parents and other key stakeholders have of each child before class placement. 

OLOL School Calendar

2023 Term Dates

​
2023 TERM DATES
TERM 3
Tuesday 25 July - Friday 29 September
TERM 4
Tuesday 17 October - Thursday 14 December

2024 TERM DATES
TERM 1
Wednesday 7 February - Thursday 11 April
Easter Break
Friday 29 March - Wednesday 3 April
TERM 2
Monday 29 April - Friday 5 July 
TERM 3
Tuesday 23 July - Friday 27 September
TERM 4
Tuesday 15 October - Wednesday 18 December