38 Armstrong Street Petrie Q 4502 Phone 07 3285 2977 Fax 07 3285 5333

Email ppetrie@bne.catholic.edu.au Web www.ourladyoftheway.qld.edu.au

Newsletter Issue 8 13th March, 2012

Dear Parents, Welcome to Week 8, the term is quickly passing. There is a lot of fabulous learning happening across the school and I continue to enjoy the opportunity to meet with students and hear their ‘aha’ moments in the classroom. I do hope you get to regularly hear from your children about their learning, and despite the reply of ‘nothing’ to the question ‘What did you do today?’ please be assured they did plenty. I am sure most of you have learned some strategic questioning skills to get a more detailed reply about your child’s day, ‘What were you learning in Maths / English / Science etc. today?’, ‘What opportunities did you have to work in pairs or groups today?’, ‘What was something new that you learned today?’ are all ways of opening up a dialogue about your child’s day. As a parent, I too am continually honing my skills to find out more about the richness of my child’s day, and no question works equally well from one day to the next! In the coming days and weeks you will be coming for a meeting with your child’s teacher, to hear more about your child’s learning in term 1 and to consider some goals for them for the year. This is a rich opportunity for a short dialogue; I hope all interviews go very well. We are now half way through the Lenten season. We need to keep ourselves focussed on our journey with Jesus, and to our own personal conversion. Take some time to talk each day with your children about the journey to Easter, and the way in which we make decisions each day to come closer to God through our interactions with others and the world. With our children we can talk about how to be our ‘best selves’ and how in each moment we choose the direction of our lives. Have you considered participation for your children (and yourself) in the ride safely to school day next Friday, 23rd March? www.ride2school.com.au there may be many reasons this is difficult for you and your family, but I would like to ask you to consider participation! Recently the school leadership team took time away together to look at our school strategic implementation plan for 2012, and to start the visioning for the next 5 years. Our 4 strategic goals against our system priorities are:

• Mission and Religious Education - At Our Lady of the Way School we aim to give life to our faith.

• Learning and Teaching - At Our Lady of the Way School we aim to implement quality school curriculum

programs that support and encourage lifelong learning and global citizenship. • Professional Practice and Collaborative Relationships - At Our Lady of the Way School we aim to

recognize and value all members of the school community. • Strategic Resourcing - At Our Lady of the Way School we aim to create a welcoming and vibrant

educational community.

I would like to share with you some detail of our priorities in the newsletter over coming weeks. Finally, I would like to congratulate Margaret & Douglas Boyce for their placing as Finalists in the Foster and Kinship Carer Week Excellence Awards 2012. Kind Regards,

Jo Scott-Pegum Principal.

““““Life is the sum of all of your

choices” Albert Camus

Dear Parents and Carers, Gospel Reflection The gospel reading comes to us from St John’s gospel, where we read about Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple. It is important to note that this account shows Jesus as being angry and indignant. People would come to the temple to offer a sacrifice and they would need to buy an animal to give to one of the temple priests to sacrifice. However the temple would not take money that had the Roman emperors head on it so they needed to change their money into “Temple Currency”. It was in this process that people were being treated unfairly and not given a fair rate of exchange. It was to this injustice that Jesus reacted to. We can take from this reading that it is OK at times to be angry and indeed at times we need to get angry especially when this concerns issues of fairness and justice. Our challenge is to channel our anger into positive action that will make a difference. Just as Jesus was moved to anger over injustice in his community, we too need to allow ourselves to be moved to anger and indignation over the many injustices in our community. Our anger expresses our solidarity with those who are not receiving a fair go. Our challenge then is to work to make a difference in whatever we are able. It is by taking action on behalf of those that are treated unfairly in our community that we authentically articulate our discipleship of Jesus and all that this calls us to be.

Last Friday the early childhood classes celebrated a wonderful and prayerful Mass that was hosted by Year Two. Below are some photos from the Mass.

Family Scripture Activity

First Reconciliation Next week on Thursday 22nd March, a number of students from the parish and our school will celebrate for the first time the Sacrament of Penance Rite of Reconciliation. Please keep them in your prayers. Friday Mass

This week, on Friday, Year 4 will host our Year 4 – 7 Mass which will be in the Church at 9am. All are welcome to attend. Happy St Patrick’s Day. Bill Bemelmans (APRE)

OLW SCHOOL PRAYER

Our Lady of the Way,

Lead us in our Christian mission.

Guide us through prayer to faith.

Teach us to honour the diversity in our community.

Inspire us as we learn each day.

Be with us as we walk together, united in faith.

Holy Spirit sisters, pray for us.

Our Lady of the Way, pray for us.

Saint Mary of the Cross, Pray for us. Amen

Scripture Passage

“While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.” (Jn. 2:23)

Green Free Dress (Casual Clothes) Day – Friday 16th March In celebration of St Patrick’s Day which occurs this Saturday, students are

asked to bring in a gold coin donation in order for them to be able to wear green casual clothes this Friday. This money will go to Project Compassion.

Please ensure that what your child wears to school is sun smart. ie. no singlet tops etc. Please make sure students wear closed in shoes, no sandals or

thongs.

In order to appreciate a Scripture Passage better, it is sometimes helpful to tell the event from another point of view. Try retelling this story from the point of view of the money changer, temple priest or worshipper in the temple. How did you feel? What did you think? How might you have been changed?

CELEBRATE LEARNING

3F are in the spot light this week to share what they have been learning about.

Celebration of Learning in Year 3F A couple of weeks ago, Uncle Joe Kirk, an Elder from the Turrbal People, visited the students in Year 3. Uncle Joe shared with the students, his stories, some of his life experiences and traditions of his Aboriginal culture. Uncle Joe's Totem is the emu and during his visit, he taught the children how to do the emu dance. As young children, we all know how to make the wrong choices. Uncle Joe pointed out that this is why parents are so important for us as children; to guide us, to advise us and to teach us to make good choices. Here are some of the reflections from the Year 3 students about Uncle Joe’s visit: James: The emu dance was awesome! Joe told us how he trained his dingo to hunt for echidna which was his favourite food. Katalyna: Uncle Joe taught us lots about the Aboriginal culture. It was fun. Charlie: Uncle Joe showed us the emu feather bracelets that he had made for his grandchildren and he also showed us some of his paintings. Leilane: Uncle Joe told us lots of Aboriginal stories. He told us that his totem is the emu. Sam: Uncle Joe showed us an emu egg that he had carved a fish on. Hannah: Uncle Joe told us that there are more boys than girls in the world. McKella: Uncle Joe trained his dingo to hunt for echidnas by rubbing something from its kidney every week so the dingo could remember the smell. Jakob: Uncle Joe showed us a fifty cent coin and told us that the emu and the red kangaroo are on the coin, just like on the Queensland Government building. Stuart: He even played the didgeridoo for us. Tyler: The didgeridoo sounded like an emu call. Blair: Uncle Joe’s T-shirt has some pictures of dingoes on it. The tip of Uncle Joe’s little finger was chopped off to show that he is married. Catherine: Uncle Joe told us that he has travelled all over Australia, except for Darwin and Kakadu.

DATES TO REMEMBER

16th March - This Friday - Wear GREEN Day and a Gold coin donation. 20th March - P&F Meeting 22nd March - First Reconciliation 23rd March - Ride Safely to school Day 27th March - Canberra meeting 7pm 28th March - Years Prep - 4 dance presentation 2pm in Dalaipi Centre 30th March - Last Day Term 1 Finish at 2.50pm 16th April - First Day Term 2

CANBERRA NEWS

MARK YOUR DIARIES TUESDAY 27TH MARCH 7PM All parents of children going on the Canberra trip this year are required to attend the meeting on Tuesday the 27th March at 7pm in the Multi Media Room (near Library). More information to come closer to date.

DID YOU KNOW???

FEES: Term 1 school fees have been sent home via your eldest child’s school bag and are now well over due. Please contact me if you did not receive your account. Please note there is a minimum payment of $50 required when paying through BPay. If you have any questions in regards to school fees please contact Helen Low (Finance Secretary) 3285 2977 Option: 3 2012 School Fee information can now be accessed from the school's website. Click on this link www.ourladyoftheway.qld.edu.au click on Parent info and then School fees.

AWARDS PF PL PC 1F 1L Holly Oates Hayley Vine Liliana Kerle Mia Hinson Brodie Andrews 2F 2L 3F 3L 4F Aliesha Freebairn Aiden Comrie Grace Dunbar Nick Bolton Sam Boulton Belinda Barrera Maddie Seaton 4L 5F 5L 6F 6L Lily Robb Joseph Salter Jack Hyde Isabella Martins Shaylee Farmer 7F 7L Katie O’Neil Jane Cashman KOALA AWARD: Tyler Fractus OWL AWARD: Emily Boyce

Lachlan Kemp ITALIAN AWARD: Harrison Arendt CONGRATULATIONS

NEWS FROM THE OFFICE

There is a lot of sickness at the moment. If your child is unwell please make alternative arrangements as we do not have the staff or facilities to look after them. We have had a number of incidences regarding not being able to contact parents when children have been hurt or unwell. Can you contact the office if you have changed any of your details: mobile and home phone numbers, work numbers, home address, emergency contacts (if not you) please let the office know ASAP.

LATE SLIP - It is a legal requirement for parents/carers to complete a late slip for your child/ren if they arrive late at school.

NUT PRODUCTS: A reminder that Our Lady of the Way has a number of students enrolled with severe

life threatening allergic reactions to nut products. Please ensure that such products are not sent to school. These include - peanut paste, nut bars and Nutella. Cakes and biscuits are fine as long as they

do not contain nuts or nut products.

ENROLMENTS FOR 2013 NOW OPEN

Down load the application form from the school website www.ourladyoftheway.qld.edu.au Parent Information,

Enrolment. A copy of child’s birth certificate and baptism certificate needs to be attached to the application form.

SCHOOL CONCERT DVD ORDER FOR 2011

If you would like a DVD of last years school concert please put an order into the office by this Friday 16th March. The DVD cost is $6.00. Payment needs to accompany the order form in an envelope clearly marked with your child’s name and class and “CONCERT DVD” on the envelope.

The Tuckshop operates with the support of volunteer parents, We welcome new volunteers at any time.

Thanking you, Cath Tonks & Jacqui Cooper – Conveners

DATE HELPERS

Wed 14th Mar HELPER NEEDED

Fri 16th Mar HELPER NEEDED

Mon 19th Mar HELPER NEEDED

Wed 21st Mar Mark Freeman

Fri 23rd Mar Victoria Sutton

Mon 26th Mar HELPER NEEDED

Monday & Wednesday

Convener - Jacqui Cooper

Wednesday & Friday

Convener - Cath Tonks

TUCKSHOP HELPER ROSTER NAME: _____________________________________ PHONE NO: _____________________

EMAIL: ______________________________________ MOBILE NO: ____________________

CHILD’S NAME (eldest): __________________________________ CLASS: ____________

DAY PREFERRED:

0 Monday 0 Wednesday 0 Friday 0 I am able to assist on any day

TIME PREFERRED:

0 8:30 – 9:30am 0 Other ___________________

Half Day 0 8:30am – 11:30am 0 11:30am – 2:30pm

GLUTEN FREE OPTIONS

Sausage Roll - $3.00

Pie - $3.50

Nacho’s - $3.00

Chocolate Slice - $0.60

Vege Chips - $1.20

Bulla Frozen Yoghurt - $1.60

Please ensure that you state (GF) when ordering gluten free options

LIBRARY NEWS WK8 I asked some year 7 children about how they felt about books. Matt McDonald : “I like sports books because I find them interesting and fascinating to read. I also think sports books are interesting because you can learn tricks and skills that help you on the field. Laura Major : “ I love reading books, they take me to new places! I like reading fiction books but all books are fun

to read. They also build your knowledge. Some books are educational and some are fun. I LOVE READING

BOOKS.”

Happy Reading Sandra C Driver

CRAFT CLUB

Many thanks to those who have donated shirts for craft club it is very much appreciated. Please save all your plastic bread ties and ring pulls off the soft drink cans. Craft club is offered to yr 3– 7 on Thursday at first break.

BOOK CLUB Issue 2 has gone out. It is due back this Thursday 15th March.

ENRICHMENT CENTRE NEWS FOCUS ON LEARNING ENRICHMENT - YEAR 6 Year 6 students are extending their learning by engaging in different THINKING SKILLS each week. Thinking skills

teach students to think creatively and critically. Students are then encouraged to use these skills in other areas of

the curriculum, deepening and enriching their learning experiences. Teachers challenge students with higher level

thinking skills from Bloom’s Taxonomy and provide choices of learning mode from Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence

model so that students are demonstrating their learning in rich and diverse ways. Smart thinking, year 6!

GARDNER’S MODEL OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES BLOOM’S TAXONOMY (Revised)

UNIFORM SHOP Thank-you to all who put in a order for the winter Track Suit. All orders have been processed and we can expect delivery after the Easter holidays. NEW We now have in stock, bottle green stockings. These can be worn under the school uniform to keep legs warm in the cooler months. They are $12.00 each with sizes 3-5 yrs, 6-9yrs, 10-12yrs, ladies small. Please note : The stockings are not a compulsory item, but an option you may wish to purchase. We no longer take cash at the uniform shop. We offer eftpos and credit card as method of payment. Thank-you Kim

Hours of Trade Wednesday 2-30pm to 4pm Friday 8-00 to 9-30am

Other times by appointment Email: olwuniformshop@gmail.com Phone 3285 2977 ext 7

After hours 0409 493 826 (Kim)

P & F NEWS

A big thank you for everyone who supported the cookie dough drive. It has been very successful! How much we raised etc will be announced as soon as it is finalized. We have ordered some extra tubs, so if you forgot to order or would like extra, let me know we have

a limited amount available. They are 3 Anzac, 8 choc chunk, 2 mint triple choc and 3 raspberry white choc

spare if any one wishes to order them.

A big thank you to Shannyn Hinson and Kate Mather for their help with the cookie dough drive last week. Next Tuesday the 20th is the P & F meeting for March, everyone is welcome. It is held at 7pm in the staff room for an hour. We will be announcing where the funds the P & F handed to the school last year were spent. Any items that you would like brought up at the P & F please email me or leave a note in the office (addressed to P & F). We must have these items for discussion by Friday 16th March. Have a great week. Kind Regards Carolyn Dow P & F President Ph 0418870080 pcjdow@bigpond.com.au

DANCE NEWS During dance class this term students in years Prep – 4 have been working on a dance to present to an audience. We have had a lot of fun and would like to invite you to come and be our very special audience. The display will take place in the Dalaipi Centre on Wednesday 28 March at 2pm sharp. All students from prep – year 4 will be involved. We hope to see you there.

READING AT HOME

“Comprehension is thinking: making meaning from text in an active search for answers” (NRP,2000)

Successful Readers are readers who:

• Make connections with things they already know • Ask and answer questions to make sure they understand • Identify the main idea and get the essential idea • Visualise what they have read • Use clues from the text to draw inferences • Create new meaning by combining new information with prior knowledge • Think about how they think and fix shoddy thinking

(Dr Kath Glasswell ,2011) So how does all this relate to reading at home? Texts (mostly readers) read at home need to be easily read so they can become part of the conversation. Students at all levels need to be confident with decoding words to do the real business of reading which is to understand the text. Talking about what the text means and allowing students the time to make connections with their lives and understandings they already have is invaluable. One of the best ways to check this is happening is to read 100words of text (depending on student age) and ask the student to retell in as much detail as possible, while you look at the text. Successful readers with practise will be able to use their strategies of picturing the words, identifying the main idea, making connections and building on them as well as using questioning and clues to fill gaps in their understanding in order to retell all the text entirely. Less is more with reading: Read less words and understand them more! Ms Lee Misra Literacy and Numeracy Improvement Teacher

Every Friday morning in the after school care building, for children younger than school age.

Fun activities Play dough Story time

Sing-a-long Make and do Craft Painting

Join us for a fun morning together from 8.30 - 10.30am. BYO morning tea and please sign in

at the school office. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Please call Sinead Neville on 38860942 or 0411988742 for any queries

PLAYGROUP FUN

CAROL’S CHILDREN’S CANCER BIKE RIDE

During the Easter holiday from Saturday 31st March – Wednesday 4TH April, Carol will be taking part in a 5 day bike ride through the Darling

Downs. The ride commences in Dalveen at 1pm on Saturday 31st March, riding on to Stanthorpe, Texas, Millmerran and Pittsworth. The finish is in Warwick on Wednesday 4th April. On the full days the ride averages 110km. This challenging 500kms ride is solely to raise money for the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia. To help raise money for

this charity, Carol is holding a raffle with 1st prize being a $100 dinner voucher to Pine Rivers Memorial Bowls Club, 2nd prize is a $50 voucher from All Occasion Balloons and Party Supplies Burpengary and 3rd prize

a $20 voucher from Woolworths. Tickets are $1 each and can be bought from the After School Centre. Raffle will be drawn on Friday

30th March. Alternatively if you would like to personally sponsor Carol for this ride,

you can make a donation in person at the After School Centre. A receipt will be issued for all cash donations over $2 which tax deductable.

Join Carol with her challenge in DOING IT FOR THE KIDS

• Every year in Australia more than 600 children are diagnosed with cancer.

• On average, three Australian children die from cancer every week.

• Cancer is the largest killer of children from disease in Australia

• Childhood cancer represents a significant number of life years lost, second only to breast cancer