Principal’s Message

Advent – What and why is it important to us as Catholics?

In wanting to share the hope of the coming season of Advent, I came across an article penned by Father Michael Van Sloun, I have borrowed from his article and added my own thoughts to perhaps help remind us of what the Advent season is.

Fr Van Sloun writes that the Church year is distinctive. It always begins on the first Sunday of Advent (which is November 28 this year). Advent is the four-week liturgical season that precedes Christmas. The term “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus which means “coming,” and it focuses not only on the past coming of Jesus on the first Christmas, but also on the present coming of Jesus in the gospels, the sacraments, other people, prayer, love, truth, and personal experience.

Advent is not Lent or a miniature version of Lent, the Advent season is about hope and joy, remembering the first coming of Jesus. The following video answers many questions about Advent such as

• What is Advent?
• Why purple?
• Why do we have an Advent wreath?

All About…Advent!

I hope that as the season of Advent begins, we can all take the time to escape the materialism of what Christmas has become and centre ourselves in what Christmas really means.

Michael Morris
Principal

Leadership Team Message

Wellness Week

You may have noticed the coffee van, hearts all over the school, had your children tell you they did yoga, discussed mindfulness or growth mindsets or perhaps even dropped some food in for a teachers’ morning tea. These were all part of our school Wellness Week where we were all encouraged to take some time to focus on our wellness. The timing was perfect for teachers during this busy time as they prepare student reports and end of the year activities. A huge thank you must go out to the staff who coordinated the week for the staff and students, as well as those who contributed to the morning tea (it was amazing). The week was definitely a hit, and we are already looking forward to our next one.

Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Orientation Days

If you have not yet enrolled your child in Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten for 2023, please contact the School Office ASAP to collect an enrolment package. Places are filling up very quickly, and we don’t want current families to miss out on enrolling their children.

Pre Kindy and Kindergarten Orientation Days

It was so awesome to see the majority of our 2022 Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten families at the orientation days the other week. The rooms were packed and it was a great opportunity for parents to come and meet new families. We hope you all left very excited for the year ahead in 2022.

Uniforms

Parents, please note that even though we are heading towards the holidays, we need to maintain our uniform standards. A few habits that our students have been slipping into include

• Wearing the sports jacket with the academic uniform instead of the jumper
• Wearing sneakers with the academic uniform
• Incorrect socks (with both academic and sports uniform)

Further clarification of the correct uniform may be found at: https://www.ola.wa.edu.au/uniform/

Family, Grandparents’ and Volunteers’ Morning – Wednesday 24 November

What a celebration we had! It was such a great turn out and was so heartening to see our church absolutely packed, we celebrated Mass and after a special grandparents’ blessing, led by Father Ken, the students moved back to class where classes eagerly awaited visits from their grandparents, parents, aunties and uncles. An awesome morning tea was put on for our grandparents after they looked at the classrooms. Once there, they were also entertained by several songs and recorder performances. There are too many people to thank for putting today’s Mass and morning tea together, but please know that we are thankful to each and every one of them.

Upcoming Events!

We have a very busy couple of weeks ahead of us, here are the important dates to make sure that you have on your calendar.

Thank you.

Michael Morris and Rebecca Smith

The OLA Leadership Team