Term 2, Week 5

23 may 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 29 May
All School Prayer
(Primary - 4M Leading)
9:00am in the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

​Parents and carers are welcome!

upComing Events

Term 2​​​​​​
  • Assembly (1M) - Friday 26th May (2:00pm - 2:45pm)
  • Cross Country (Grade 3-6) - Tuesday 30th May
  • Grade 4 Excursion (Hagley) - Thursday 1st June
  • Assembly (Prep M) - Friday 9th June (2:00pm - 2:45pm)
  • NW Primary Cross Country (Grade 3-6) - Friday 9th June

MR Farr's  Reflection

Deputy Principal

"He who does not have the courage to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."
Muhammad Ali
Welcome everyone to Week 5.

Over the last few weeks in Whole School Prayer we have explored Gospel readings regarding Jesus' message to His disciples after His death.

Yesterday we heard our Prep students share the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus explained to His disciples that they must go out to all people of the world and share His message, baptise them and teach what Jesus had taught. In Week 3 our Grade 2 students lead us in exploring John's Gospel where Jesus told His disciples "I am the way, the truth and the life." These Gospel readings are in a way, a build up to this Sunday when we celebrate Pentecost. On Pentecost we celebrate when the Holy Spirit descended onto Jesus' apostles, bestowing upon them the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom, Reverence, Right Judgement, Courage, Wonder & Awe. With the strength of the Holy Spirit, the apostles went out to share the Good News with the world.

For me, courage is the most ‘relatable’ in this story. The apostles were filled with courage to do what Jesus had asked them to do, even if that meant be looked upon unfavourably by others or, in many cases, persecuted because of the message they were sharing. I also find courage to be the most relatable for our students.

One of the most challenging things for any person to do, particularly a young person, is to stand up for what is right. This is challenging enough to do at the best of times, but it is particularly difficult and confronting to stand up to our mates and call them on poor behaviour. We endeavour to support our students to achieve this, however we often see students struggle with it as they don’t want to go against their peers or stand out as ‘uncool’ etc. This is where courage is required. Courage is what ‘makes it happen’ in my eyes. Students might know and understand our school’s values and expectations, they may be able to make the right judgement in situations, however without courage to actually stand up and do ‘the right thing’ it often doesn’t happen.

The following is a song that our choir will be learning this week for Monday’s Whole School Prayer. The film clip is not the greatest, however the lyrics and the melody are wonderful!
Enjoy your week,

Stu
Our Lady of Lourdes Masterplan
Our Lady of Lourdes under the guidance of Catholic Education Tasmania has begun the process of a Masterplan for our school. Please see the documents attached which reflect the wishes of 16 students, staff and parents who worked with an independent team to share their wishes for OLOL into the future. The Facilities Team from Catholic Education Tasmania have been working with a Project Team (Leadership, Admin Staff, Groundsman, Student Support) to draw up some possible plans for this Master Plan. These will be shared with the community, for your input, as soon as they are available.

On the 4th of April, an informal Sense-Making Workshop was held online with the leadership team from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School. In the workshop, participants were presented with systemised feedback and a summary of the visions and challenges, of each group, as well as all the workshop outputs. They were asked to identify top challenges, reverse engineer those challenges to themes, and to start developing their school vision. The conversation was followed by the participants creating actionable ‘quick wins’ for what they can do now that will cost no money to improve their schools. 

The results of this workshop helped inform the Place Vision and Principles report that will be provided to Catholic Education Tasmania with this report.

​*See attached reports.
Our Lady of Lourdes Place Vision
Our Lady of Lourdes Workshop Summaries 

Social & emotional learning 2023

School news

Emergency Practice
In the coming weeks there will be a fire drill practice for staff and students. This is an unannounced drill to test our response to a potential emergency situation. The school will be locked for the duration of the fire drill. The practice will be as least disruptive to student learning as possible.
​
School Gates
The school Steele Street gates will now be 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.

Student Free Days 2023
Student Free Days for 2023 are:
Term 3: Monday 24 July
Term 4: Monday 16 October
​
Uniform Shop
Uniform Shop Hours
Monday - Thursday:   8:00am - 10:00am
Wednesday Afternoon:   2:30pm - 3:30pm
New stock available: Polar tops, ties & track pants.

Outdoor Play and Learning
Dear OLOL community,
We are seeking resources for our lunchtime Loose Parts Play. If you have access to resources such as pipes, plumbing connections, flexi pipe, milk crates, tarps etc. we would very much appreciate your donations. 
Please contact the school admin team via: [email protected]

​Compass - Entering an Attendance Note

Student of the week

Sports News & Rosters

Click here to access 'Sports News, Registrations and Rosters​​
  • Devon Netball 
  • Soccer - Season Commences 1st April 2023 
  • NW Football League Primary School Roster 
  • Devonport Primary Basketball Roster​

Mersey Leven Catholic parish

Weekend Masses
Saturday Vigil
  • 6:00pm St Mary's, Penguin
  • 6:00pm 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

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

eSafety
The eSafety Commissioner website is a Government website that provides up to date, effective advice and support for parents, educators and children to safely and effectively navigate and manage the challenges that often come with being 'online'.

We encourage you, as parents, to access the eSafety Commissioner website to further develop your understanding of the Apps your children may be using, how to have difficult conversations with children regarding a range of online behaviours and how to recognise that your child may be experiencing harmful online behaviours such as cyberbullying, looking at inappropriate content for their age or perhaps overuse of technology.

You can visit the eSafety Commissioner website here: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

Additionally, you may like to view the attached resources which can be downloaded directly from the eSafety Commissioner website: 'Online Safety: A guide for parents and carers' and 'eSafety: Early Years - Online safety for under 5s'
School Technologies Focus

Community News

Click here access 'Community news'​​​
  • Devonport Surf Life Saving Club - Aquathlon - 17th March
  • City of Devonport Brass Band
  • Net Set Go Come and Play - Netball  5-10 years
  • Devon Dragonflies North West Netball Clinic
  • Tasmanian Tennis Academy
  • Tennis
  • Hockey
  • Studio 81 Dance Company
  • Mersey Leven Catholic Church - High Tea
  • School Holidays @ Hive
  • NAB - AFL Auskick - skills development program

Policy in Focus

This week in our 'Policy in Focus' section of the Newsletter we have attached Catholic Education Tasmania's Outdoor Play and Learning policy.  As we reinstate loose parts play at lunchtimes it is timely to view and read this policy.

Tasmania Catholic Education Commission Outdoor Play and Learning Policy

OLOL School Calendar

2023 Term Dates

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2023 TERM DATES
TERM 1
Friday 3 February - Thursday 6 April
TERM 2
Wednesday 26 April - Friday 7 July
TERM 3
Tuesday 25 July - Friday 29 September
TERM 4
Tuesday 17 October - Thursday 14 December