Our Lady's Catholic Primary School Longreach eNewsletter

A Message from the Principal

Dear parents and friends,

What’s special about the number 100?

"C" is the Roman numeral for 100. "C" comes from the Latin word centrum.
A person who lives to be 100 is called a centenarian.
The sum of the first nine (9) prime numbers is 100.
The sum of the first 10 odd numbers equals 100.
There are 100 letter tiles in a Scrabble game.

My favourite odd fact about 100 and one I probably will never have to worry about is:

If you had $100 billion dollars, you could spend $3 million dollars a day, every day, for the next 100 years.

But what’s special about the number 100 this week at Our Lady’s? We have reached 100 enrolments within our school. At the beginning of 2023 we had 88 enrolments, so with our focus on Mathematics, that’s an increase of 14%. A remarkable achievement for our school community. Unfortunately, we do not have a special prize for becoming the 100^th enrolment this year but we do give a special welcome to the Widderick family. Kayleigh (Year 1) and Brackston (Year 4) have settled well into their classrooms this week.

Father’s Day is an important event in our school calendar. It gives our school community a chance to celebrate the amazing role Dads or other significant adults play in our lives. This year our P&F will be catering a Father’s Day breakfast in the MPC at 7.30am and we would love to see as many families as possible joining us. Following the breakfast, Year 2 will be leading us in a liturgy to acknowledge our special father figures. Later that day, we will be conducting our Father’s Day Stall in the MPC at 11.30am. It is a great chance for students to come through and purchase a gift for Dad or another significant figure in a child’s life. I would like to wish all our special father figures a Happy Father’s Day this Sunday and I hope you get a nice sleep in.

Next week is National Child Protection Week. For National Child Protection Week 2023, the overarching message that 'Every child in every community needs a fair go' will be complemented with the theme 'Where we start matters’. Where we start our lives in terms of where we live, the resources available to us, and the opportunities presented to us make a significant difference to our life outcomes. Where we start as a service sector in offering children and their families support and assistance, makes a significant difference to life outcomes. Where we start as decision makers in addressing large complex policy problems such as child abuse and neglect, also has significant personal, social and economic outcomes. Our Diocese routinely provides mandatory student protection training for staff and resources for staff, students, and families. Student Protection policy and procedures are critical elements to ensure our students are protected and supported to develop strategies to help keep them safe. All classes will be participating in “Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson” next week.

The news is in!! Our two house mascots have been finalised. At the swimming carnival in Term 4, we will be cheering for the Kennedy Kangaroos or the Thomson Pelicans. Both house names were well supported in the voting and finalised at our Board meeting on Wednesday afternoon. I am sure our Year 6's will be able to come up with one or two war cries before the next carnival!

Finally, this Friday (1^st September) is a Pupil Free Day for all students. Our staff will be engaged in religious professional development with Sam Clear at St Joseph’s Blackall. Sam presented to us at the beginning of the year on Faith and Prayer.

God Bless

Mr Peter Thurecht

Reflection – Sr Kym Harris OSB

Who do you say I am?

Our self-identity changes throughout our lives. No matter firm an identity a person may have had as a young adult, holding their child at birth, looking into those new eyes changes them profoundly. ‘I am now a father’, ‘I am now a mother’. And it doesn’t stop there – ask most grandparents what this new young life means to them and you will see faces light up with all sorts of emotion – delight if things in the family are going well, real distress if the family situation is challenging for the child. We are made for relationship and it is in relationship that we most often discover our identity.

In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus asked his disciples two questions, “Who do others say I am?’ and ‘Who do you say I am?’ It was to Peter that God gave the insight into who Jesus was – the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus, in turn, told Peter who he was to be: ‘the Rock’. Well, all the other disciples would have been tempted to laugh at that for, while Peter had many good qualities, a stable firm character he was not. Yet he became that, even though he struggled with his rockiness all his life. It was only in his relationship with Jesus that he became firm enough to lead the early Church. The relationship with Jesus made him into the man no-one would ever have thought he could be.

The same goes for us. If we approach Jesus and let him ask us, ‘Who do you think I am?’ an answer will rise up in our hearts. We may think it doesn’t amount much but Jesus will take it seriously. If we sit with it, we will start to discover who we are in his sight. And we might find we could become the person we never thought we could be.

Loving God, you have made us to so much more than we could imagine. As I recognise the person Jesus is to me, may I come to embrace the person he wants me to be. I ask this in his name, confident that you will hear me.

APRE News

This Sunday we celebrate Father’s Day! A day dedicated to the honouring our dads, and those who fill the role of a dad in our lives.

This morning we shared an amazing breakfast lovingly prepared by volunteers in our P&F committee. This was followed by a liturgy in our Bush Chapel lead by Miss Braden and our Year 2 Class. As part of the liturgy, Year 2 shared a beautiful story, My Dad by Anthony Browne, with us. I’ve included a link below if you would like to share this book together as a family.

Click here to read My Dad

For Christians, Jesus is the ultimate role model on who we should model our lives. We often forget that Jesus had some pretty good role models himself! I came across the reflection below in planning for our Father’s Day Liturgy. I hope you find it enjoyable.

On Father’s Day, we honour and thank all the fathers/father figures in our lives. Each of us will have different stories to tell about what our fathers have meant to us. Sometimes it’s only when we look back that we see just how much they have done, how much they have given, and how much we can learn from their lives.

Jesus had both a heavenly Father and an earthly father, Joseph. Jesus called God ‘Father’ because Joseph was such a good example. Through the love and care of Joseph, he got to know about the love and care of God.

But maybe Jesus also had to look back to remember what Joseph had meant to him. He could say, ‘Because of my father, I was loved from the start; because of my father, my mother Mary was not shamed; because of my father, I learned a trade’ and many other things.

So today let’s look back, remember and thank our earthly and heavenly fathers and our father figures for all that they have been and done.

Liturgy Ritual Prayer - https://liturgyritualprayer.com/fathers-day-secondary-2023/

Student Protection

Student Protection is taken very seriously within our school and Diocese. Each year all staff undertake mandatory student protection training at the beginning of the year. This year our School Student Protection Officers are Mr Peter Thurecht and Mrs Angela Arthur. If you have concerns, please do not hesitate to contact one of our officers.

Catholic School Parents Queensland – P&F

Happy Father's Day!!!! Thank you to all our families and in particular the amazing Dad's, Grandad's and significant men in our lives who came and enjoyed our shared breakfast. We hope you have a wonderful, relaxing day on Sunday!

As always a big thank you to Mrs Lisa Neuendorf for her event planning and preparation and to all our parents and staff who volunteered their time to make this morning a special memory.

On Friday 6th October we are holding our school fete, to help make this a successful night we need your help!

Please click on the sign-up zone link below if you are able to assist in any way. We are asking for 1 hour of your time to assist with running of side show games or a stall, helping in the canteen or behind the bar. This is a great opportunity for some of our older students to also jump in and lend a helping hand.

We are also asking for volunteers to bake for our baked goods stall, help with canteen prep and assist with setting up on Friday 5th October.

https://signup.zone/PtTfuvgB6T8rxH5qS

Winton Poetry Festival

Our Lady's are once again participating in the Winton Poetry Competition on Wednesday 13th September. This is a great opportunity for our students to appreciate poetry, develop their literacy skills and challenge themselves to speak publicly.

ALL classes are participating in their relevant group performance categories.
Some students have taken the opportunity to enter as individuals - please check with your child's classroom teacher if you would like more information.

We need your help to transport students to and from this event. Please complete the following Google Form for your child/ren as it will allow us to plan travel for the day.

https://forms.gle/My48SdwTFcTMEVJX9

Private Transport is required for participation in this event to go ahead.

We are extremely appreciative of your support.
For more information please contact Angela Arthur angela_arthur@rok.catholic.edu.au

To assist with catering please pre-order from the menu below and return order form by Monday, 4^thSEPTEMBER. Orders can be paid via cash or EFTPOS through the school office. All proceeds support Isolated Childrens’ Parent Association – Winton Branch.

Click here to downlad Winton Poetry lunch order form

Uniform Orders

To assist with stock control, uniforms will be pre-ordered using the form below. There will be limited stock available through the year. Orders will be ready for collection before the End of Term 4. Our next order period will be Late Term 1 2024, to prepare for winter.

Money must be sent with orders. Orders cannot be filled until payment is received.
Payment can be made at the office by cash or eftpos. Please contact the office for direct debit details.
Please indicate the number of items required in each size.
Uniforms are located at the school office and are available to try on for sizing Monday - Friday.

If you would like more information please phone 07 4994 8375 or email: oll@rok.catholic.edu.au

PLEASE RETURN THE COMPLETED FORM TO THE SCHOOL OFFICE – ORDERS CLOSE FRIDAY 15^TH SEPTEMBER

Click here to download the Uniform Order Form

Prep - Miss Bongioletti

Last week we had so much fun celebrating book week. There were Lots of amazing dress ups!

Writing: We have had a big focus on writing these last few weeks in Prep. The students have been doing an amazing job!

Science: In Science we have been exploring how things move. To test our ideas we made our very own ramps and tested how far things will roll down.

Reminders

Tuesday: Library and Homework

Have a great fortnight,

Miss Eliza Bongioletti

Please enjoy our gallery of Prep's fun and learning

Year 1 - Miss Walker

Another Crazy yet fun fortnight in Year 1!

This fortnight in English we practiced rewriting ridiculous sentences. We made sure that our bossy e’s were used correctly and that the sentences made sense.

This fortnight we visited the Pioneers Home again and had lots of fun. We loved sharing our shortlisted book week book “Bev and Kev” and created with our partners giraffe headbands.

Book week was full of lots of fun and amazing dress ups! Thank you to Mrs Carter for inspiring us to read more and more to grow our tree in the library.

Till Next week –

Miss Walker

Year 2 - Miss Braden

Welcome to week 8!

Pioneer’s: Last Friday, Year 2 visited the Pioneer’s Aged Care residents. We played snakes and ladders, shared writing samples, completed Mary craft and presented our Winton poem.

Book Week: Wow – there were some fantastic Book Week dress ups! Students had a lot of fun admiring each other’s costume. Thank you for all your effort!!

Have a great fortnight!

Miss Libby Braden

Year 3 - Mr Komndi-Diggins

It has been a busy and exciting fortnight in Year 3 as the students have been learning the last few things from all their subjects. Here is what has been happening in the Year 3 classroom:

English: Poetry has been the focus of Year 3 writing for most of the term and the students have been practicing their individual and group poems. To give the students some more space, the students have been practicing their poems outside the classroom. Along with this, in the classroom we have been learning about different presentation strategies to improve the delivery of our poems. These include emphasis, pacing, facial expressions and volume and the students have started integrating these into their poems.

Science: The class have been learning about the classification of different animals. Using a handy branching key, the class worked in groups to decipher what classification different animals were.

Assumption of Mary Mindful Colouring: As a part of celebrating the Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary, the students took part in mindful colouring that centred on why Mary is important and why she is celebrated. These mindful colourings were laminated to preserve the and are now hung in front of our classroom.

Book Week: The school also celebrated book week this fortnight and the class focussed on the book Jigsaw: A puzzle in the post. The students explored this book as a class and then had to complete a book review on the book and an art piece. Also, to celebrate book week, the whole school dressed up as a book character. It was amazing to see every student in Year 3 dress up as a character!

God Bless,

Mr KD

Please enjoy our gallery of pictures

Welcome back to another fortnight in Year 4. Over the space of the term, our class has grown by five! We love having new friends and this week we welcome Brackston and his family to Our Lady’s. We are very excited to have him here and hope that he enjoys his time.

A major event that occurred last week was Book Week. To celebrate this, Year 4 read ‘Dirt by Sea’ which was one of the shortlisted books. The students then wrote a book review and made a postcard for their favourite place in the book. Overall this was a popular book amongst the class and they would recommend it to a friend.

The Book Week dress up parade was a highlight of the celebrations. There were some very creative costumes!

From Year 4 and Miss Godfrey

Please enjoy our gallery of all things Book Week

Book week was this week, and it was so much fun!

To start of our week, we read the shortlisted book called “Frank’s red hat!”. This story is mainly about a penguin who is different from every other penguin. The other penguins don’t understand Frank’s obsession with wearing colour and hats! This doesn’t stop Frank from being himself though. As part of book week, we made our own hats. The hats represented how we are all unique and we have different taste, styles, likes and dislikes.

**We also got to dress up in our favourite book characters! We looked smashing!**

**Can you spot a student in this picture?**

Thank is all from Year 5 this week!

God Bless,

Miss Canning

Year 6 - Mr Kopacz

Welcome to an insight into Year 6:

We continued our Science Week activities investigation into how some paper planes were successful, and how some paper planes might have flown less than others. Students were successful in identifying strong features in successful planes. The longest throw was approx. 17.9m from Xander.

Students took part in the Vietnam Veteran’s Day event, students explored the history and context of this war and Australia’s participation in this, as well as the views expressed by Australian’s during this period of our nation’s history.

Students have been working thoroughly in Mathematics this past fortnight, with students making strong efforts to solidify their multiplication facts and applying these skills to other areas of mathematics. I am very proud of the student’s efforts this past fortnight in mathematics, and they have all progressed in their knowledge and understanding.

For last week’s Book Week Dress-Up Day, our Year 6’s were so excited to share their favourite books, and dress up as their favourite characters. We also visited our prep buddies and helped them colour in some bookmarks, and reading some of our own favourite books from when we were their ages. It was such a beautiful display of colour and excitement over books and sharing stories of when parents and grandparents would read to them.

Please enjoy our gallery of photos

During term 3 on Wednesday of weeks 5, 7 and 9 and again in term 4 on Wednesday of weeks 2 and 6 Mr. Kopacz along with all year 6 students will attend transition afternoons to be held from 1:30pm to 3:00pm at the High School.

The full transition day to be held on Monday 20^th November parents/caregivers will be required to drop their child off at the High School and collect them. Mr. Kopacz will meet students at the High School on this day.

NOTES:

Students will not be attending week 4 of term 4 as this is when Year 6 are on school camp.
Full formal school uniform including hat are required to be worn.
Students will take their school bags.

Mobile Phone & Wearable Technology Policy

Click here to download our Mobile Phone & Wearable Technology Policy

Uniform Policy

Click here to download our Uniform Policy

Tuckshop

Click here to download our Tuckshop Menu

Key Dates

Term 1	Monday 23^rd January	Thursday 30^th March
	Thursday 26^th January – Australia Day (Public Holiday) Friday 3^rd February – Prep Vision Screening Thursday 9^th February – Parent Information Evening & School Disco Monday 13^th February – Year 6 Leadership Speeches Thursday 16^th February – Foundation Day and Opening School Mass Friday 17^thFebruary – Bishops Inservice Day (Pupil Free Day) Tuesday 21^st February – Pancake Flip-off 10:30am MPC Wednesday February 22^nd – Director of Catholic Education Ms Leesa Jeffcoat visiting Wednesday February 22^nd – Ash Wednesday Liturgy (Year 4) Wednesday 8^th March – International Women’s Day Friday 17^th to Sunday 19^th March – Griffith University SHEP Program in Longreach Tuesday 21^st March – Down Syndrome Awareness Day Friday 24^th March – Cross Country Carnival Friday 24^th March – National Ride2School Day Monday 27^th to Wednesday 29^th March – Parent Teacher Interviews Wednesday 29^th March – School Bush Dance Thursday 30^th March – Macca’s Mini Meet Year 3 to 6 Thursday 6^th April – Holy Thursday Friday 7^th April – Good Friday Sunday 9^th April – Easter Sunday Monday 10^th April – Easter Monday
Term 2	Monday 17^th April	Friday 23^rd June
	Tuesday 25^th April – ANZAC Day Monday 1^st May – Labour Day Monday 8^th May – CW Cross Country Trials Winton Thursday 11^th May – Mother’s Day breakfast hosted by P&F 7:30 to 8:30am Thursday 11^th May – Mother’s Day Liturgy in Bush Chapel Thursday 11^th May – Mother’s Day Stall MPC 11:30am to 1:30pm Thursday 11^th May – Opera Qld workshop Years 3-6 Friday 12^th May – Longreach Show Holiday Sunday 14^th May – Mother’s Day Monday 15^th May to Thursday 18^th May – Year 5 Camp Tuesday 16^th May – 2023 Central West Careers Expo Year 6 Thursday 18^th May – Walk to School Day Friday 19^th May – Under 8’s Day hosted by Our Lady’s Friday 26^th May – Dress Like A Pirate Day (gold coin donation) Friday 26^th May – National Sorry Day Saturday 27^th May to Saturday 3^rd June – National Reconciliation Week Monday 29^th May – The Wind in The Willows Performance all year levels Friday 2^nd June – Parish Mass whole school attending Thursday 8^th June – Athletics Carnival Friday 9^th June – Parish Mass whole school attending Friday 9^th June NW Cross Country Trials Winton Wednesday 14^th June – World Officer’s Day Sunday 2^nd to Saturday 8^th July – NAIDOC Week
Term 3	Monday 10^th July	Friday 15^th September
	Wednesday 12th to Friday 14th July – Challenge Cup Yeppoon Friday 14th July - Whole school attending Mass 9am at St Brigid's Thursday 20th July - Longreach NAIDOC March - years 3 to 6 Friday 21st July – CW Athletics Trials Barcaldine Friday 21st July - Pyjama Day (come dressed in your PJ's gold coin donation) Sunday 23rd July - Our Lady's Open Day 10am Sunday 23rd to Saturday 29th July – Catholic Education Week Thursday 27th July - Storyfest Out West workshops (all grades) Friday 28th July - Storyfest Out West workshops (all grades) Wednesday 26th July - 1st Kindy Open Day Thursday 10th August – School Photo Day Tuesday 15th August – Feast of the Assumption Monday 7th to Thursday 17th August – Book Fair Tuesday 15th August - Twinkle and the Moon Performance P to 2 Thursday 17th August – The Great Escape OZ Car Rally visit Friday 18th August - Line Dancing Workshop (all grades) Saturday 19th to Sunday 20th August – NW Athletics Sunset carnival Monday 21st to Friday 25th August – Book Week “Read, Grow, Inspire” Wednesday 23rd August - Book Week Dress Up Parade Wednesday 23rd August - 2nd Kindy Open Day Thursday 31st August - Father's Day Breakfast in MPC hosted by P&F Thursday 31st August - Father's Day Liturgy Bush Chapel Year 2 Friday 1st September – Pupil Free Day Sunday 3rd September – Father’s Day Sunday 3rd to Saturday 9th September – Child Protection Week Thursday 7th September – Indigenous Literacy Day Wednesday 6th September – Queensland Ballet Workshop (all grades) Wednesday 6th to Friday 8th September – Deadly Arthur Workshops Friday 8th September – Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Wednesday 13th September – Winton Bush Poetry Festival Thursday 14th September – R U OK Day Monday 2nd October – King’s Birthday
Term 4	Tuesday 3^rd October	Wednesday 29^th November
	Friday 6^th October – P&F School Fete Friday 27^th October – World Teacher’s Day Friday 27^th October – Day for Daniel Wednesday 1^st October – All Saints Day Thursday 2^nd October – All Souls Day Thursday 19th October - First Annual Spelling Bee 9am in the MPC Thursday 19th October - Luke Kennedy Motivational Speaker 3 to 6 Monday 23^rd October to Friday 27^th October – Year 6 Camp Friday 27^th October – World Teacher’s Day Friday 27^th October – Day for Daniel Friday 27^th October – Grandparent’s Day Celebrations Wednesday 1^st November – All Saint’s Day Thursday 2^nd November – All Soul’s Day Saturday 11^th November – Remembrance Day Tuesday 21^st November – Presentation Day Wednesday 22^nd November – Awards Evening Friday 24^th November – Swimming Carnival Monday 27^th November – Year 6 Graduation Presentation & Dinner

St Brigid’s Parish News

Please follow us on Facebook for up to date information on what’s happening in the St Brigid’s Parish.

Sunday 3rd September - 9:00am	Mass
Sunday 10th September - 9:00am	Mass led by Our Lady's Staff & Students
Saturday 16th September - 6:00pm	Mass
Saturday 23rd September - 6:00pm	Mass
Sunday 1st October - 9:00am	Mass

Click here to download the Parish News

Click here to download Take 2 With Jesus

Community Notices

Westech Field Days Barcaldine 5-6 September

Fun and free activities for the kids at Westech this year!

Our big event will be the Westech Sticker Hunt. The event is aimed at primary school students and will have a daily prize of a Radius Bike up to 24" or a Crisp Surge Scooter. A copy of the sticker hunt flyer to be completed will be available at the entry gates to Westech each day.

For the little brothers and sisters, we have the "Weaner Paddock" run by Uniting Care which is a playgroup space including bouncy rodeo and face painting. It will also include "Kids Shearing and Shoeing" by Annalise and Sophie including enchanted hair braids, mad mohawks, nail art and temporary tattoos.

RFDS are also bringing their Flight Aeromedical simulator which will be great for big and little kids.

Entry to Westech is free for all children under 18 years old.

Longreach Regional Council

Longreach School Of Dance

Department of Transport and Main Roads

Would you like to earn money AND help your local community as a school crossing supervisor? 🙋

We’re looking for school crossing supervisors in your area to help get our kids safely to and from school!
✅ Generous casual pay-rate starting at $33.27 per hour

✅ Morning and afternoon shifts
✅ Long-service leave entitlements
✅ The Queensland Government superannuation scheme.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, call 0438838740 to speak with your local Road Safety Officer.

To be deemed suitable for the role, some criteria does apply, which include requirements to:
👉 pass a health assessment

👉 hold a current blue card
👉 disclose any serious disciplinary action taken against you in public sector employment.

For more information or to apply, visit tmr.qld.gov.au/SafeSchoolTravel.