Dear Parents & Carers

Welcome to our first full week of the term! Thank you also for your cooperation in organising your children to get to school on time, with the correct winter uniform. I have noticed some smart-looking kids walking around our school, looking their best.

I have also observed some impressive behaviour from students across all year levels, including looking teachers in the eye and saying good morning. It is a simple gesture but demonstrates tremendous respect and confidence. I even mentioned this to my own 15 year old boys suggesting they need to come and witness Lourdes’ primary kids and learn a lesson or two!

One important aspect of our Lourdes community is how involved our parents are in supporting our school and P&F initiated events. Our P&F certainly go above and beyond to volunteer hours of time organising and running events that bring everyone together. Some important events coming up include our Mothers’ Day Mass this Friday 12 May and our Games Night next Friday night 19 May (more info below). School events such as these are important opportunities to build community and your child loves your involvement at school. We hope you can join us.

Don’t forget, the teaching and support staff here at OLOL will do everything possible to help your child to do their best. Let us know if we can support you in any way. Remember, communication between home and school is vital for a happy and productive school year. Myself, Mrs. Janice Moore (Assist. Principal Religious Education) and Mr. Tim Franzmann (Acting Assist. Principal Admin) are also more than happy to meet and discuss matters at any stage.

Mothers’ Day

Our traditional Mother’s Day Mass will be held this Friday 12 May at 10:00am in the hall. A warm and cordial invitation is extended to all our Mums, Grandmums and all who are like mothers to us. Please join us for Morning Tea following the Mass. This is always a very special gathering at OLOL.

Games Night

Fun for the whole family, one of our upcoming school social events is our Games Night next Friday 19 May, 6:00pm- 8:30pm (doors open at 5:30pm). Last year we had very positive feedback about our first Games Night and there were some fabulous themed tables with superb costumes to match! This year again we have prizes for best dressed themed table. This is a free entry event but you still need to book tickets so we know how many tables are needed. There are six seats per table but tables can be joined together. Take part in animal bingo, music bingo, family trivia, Pictionary and a round of minute to win it. Not to be missed, we end the night with some bush dancing led by Mrs Fisher!  Book here.

Athletics Carnivals

Our annual Track & Fields carnivals are quickly approaching. Day 1 (Grades 3 -6) is on Tuesday 30^th May and Day 2 (10 yrs. – 12 yrs. students born 2011-2013; 800m, Shot Put, and Discus events) will be held Thursday 1^st June. Both these days will be held at O’Quinn St. Oval. The Prep to Year 2 students will run their races and relays here at school on Day 3, Friday 2^nd June commencing at 9:00 a.m. Remember our house colour sports shirts are available for sale via Flexischools and look very impressive on our carnival days. More details to come.

Uniforms

At last week's assembly, students were briefed on our school's expectations around uniform moving into Winter. Please label all items of uniform clothing. A reminder that the options for the girls when wearing the formal winter uniform – navy blue tights, long navy blue socks, or long navy blue slacks (not tracksuit pants). Boys also have two options – long navy blue slacks (not tracksuit pants) or their usual navy blue dress shorts with long navy blue socks. Black shoes are required to be worn with the formal uniform, not sports shoes or black and white shoes – all black shoes.

Students must wear official school logo jumpers only. Parents have a choice of purchasing a fleecy or woolen pullover and the spray jacket. For colder days they can choose to wear both for extra warmth. If you are having trouble in purchasing school jumpers or other items, please let us know and we will do our best to locate some for you. No seen jewellery is permitted other than sleepers or studs in the ears and hair ties should be school uniform colours. We have a very impressive winter uniform and students always look smart when wearing the correct attire. If all families follow the correct uniform code, the high standard is easily maintained.

 Upcoming events

Thanks for reading

Miranda
Ms Miranda Murray
Acting Principal

We will celebrate our annual OLOL Mother’s Day Mass this Friday at 10 am in the OLOL School Hall. We have organised a morning tea after Mass. We would love to see as many Mums, Grandmas and special people who are like Mothers to us come and pray with us. We hope all these special ladies have lovely day this Sunday.

The Year 1’s experienced a meditation prayer retreat on Monday at Newtown Park. The sun shone brightly, and we did experience some brisk Autumn weather, but all had a lovely time playing amongst the Autumn leaves and making some Autumn Leaf pictures for other park goers to see! 

Our Confirmation and First Eucharist candidates are soon to receive their sacraments. Confirmation is on Tuesday 16^th May at 7 pm. There will be a short practice for Confirmation on Monday 15^th May at 3:30 pm in the church.

First Eucharist is at 11 am on Sunday 21st May (short practise on Thursday 18^th 3:30 pm in the church). If you have any questions or concerns please contact the OLOL parish office on 46 341453 or email olol.parish@bigpond.com

Piety Stall - Confirmation/First Communion

Looking for a gift for children making their sacraments?  The piety stall at the OLOL Church has various items.  Open before and after Sunday Masses or contact the office weekdays 9am-1pm.  * Cards * Frames * Rosary Beads * Chains/Bracelets *other

In Term 3 Week 3 we will be celebrating Catholic Education Week. On Wednesday 26^th July we will be having a special Grandparents Day Assembly led by Year 2 at 9 am, followed by activity time in the classrooms, then morning tea at 10:30am. Could families please ask their grandparents to mark this date in their diaries. If families could organise one photo of their grandparents for a photostory powerpoint and email it to Mrs Moore - Janice.Moore@twb.catholic.edu.au  by Wednesday 19^th July. If anyone is available to help organise this shared morning tea – please contact Mrs Moore.

Have a great week.

Janice

Janice Moore
Assistant Principal Religious Education (APRE)

Prep

All is progressing and moving ahead in Prep. Children have settled well into Term 2, remembering their classroom and playground behaviours. Thank you for your support at home.

Our word families are proving to be very helpful when we are decoding words in our reading and having a go at our writing. Sight words can be tricky but we need to revise, revise, revise! The more we practise the more we learn.

In Science we are investigating what things are made of and now know what transparent means. ANZAC Day was a great opportunity to teach the children the difference between celebration and commemoration which is part of our History and Geography unit.

We are looking forward to celebrating with our Mothers at Mass on Friday in the hall.

Gentle reminder – we commence school at 8.20am. Please try to be at school by 8.10am so your child is ready to start activities.

Cheers,

Melita, Liz and Loretta

Year 1

Welcome to Week 4! The weather has certainly turned wintery, so please make sure your child has their jumper with them every day. Our demountable classrooms are particularly cold, and we all know the wind at Lourdes is very sneaky.

On Monday we participated in a special Year 1 Retreat with Mrs Moore, at Newtown Park. Mrs Moore led us through a guided meditation, with us imagining that we were autumn leaves blowing in the wind. It was very gusty at Newtown Park, so it was very easy to imagine ourselves as little leaves being blown around! After our prayer experience, we spent time creating an artwork using only items collected from nature - leaves, flower petals, seed pods and more. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and a play on the playground before returning to school.

This week we give thanks for our mothers and celebrate Mother’s Day with our annual Mother’s Day Mass and Morning Tea, starting in the Hall at 10:00am on Friday 12^th May. We would love to have you join us!

In English this week, we have been introduced to our next Dreamtime story, ‘The Echidna and the Shade Tree’. Last week, the children did amazing work writing a retell of "How the Birds got their Colours". They were able to tell the story in their own words, describing the character, the setting and the main events from the beginning, middle and end.

As part of our Science unit, we are noticing the changes that take place in the world around us. We have been observing and discussing changes in the sky, noting how the sun appears to move across the sky. Next, we will investigate the changes in weather.

In Maths, we have been exploring patterns. We have practised identifying the repeating element in simple patterns and using objects to make our own repeating patterns. Students will now take what they know about patterns with shapes and objects to help them understand patterns with numbers. 

Keep up the great effort at home with reading and homework. We can see great progress taking place!

Have a great week!

Dennielle, Laura and Jenny

Year 2

Welcome to Week 4! What a fun week we are having in Year 2! As part of our Science unit - learning about patterns in our sky, including the sun, moon and stars, planets in the solar system and where the Earth is in relation to the sun, moon, and stars.  We were extremely lucky to visit the Brisbane Planetarium yesterday. According to our Year 2 cohort, it was the BEST DAY EVER! Thank you to the wonderful parent helpers, who were just as excited as the children, to drive down and meet us there and be part of our ‘Big Day Out’!

In English, we are at the busy end of our first unit of work. For the next fortnight, students will work through the writing process, to produce an information report on their chosen animal. They will be expected to include descriptive and comparative language about their animal’s classification, habitat, appearance, diet, and an interesting fact.

Maths has been fun, with students learning to recognise fractions: halves, quarters and eighths. Students have enjoyed the hands-on experiences.

We are super excited for the commencement of Book Fair, tomorrow (Thursday 11^th May). Students will get to do their wish list later this the week.

Happy Mother’s Day to all our wonderful Mums, for this Sunday (14^th May). We hope you can come to our school Mother’s Day Mass and Morning Tea this Friday (12^th May) commencing at 10.00am.

This term, 2G will be presenting the assembly prayer in Week 6 (Thursday 25^th May) and 2B will present in Week 8 (Thursday 8^th June).

Thanks for reading!

Sarah, Ange B and Ange G

Year 3

Hi, Year 3 families! We have had a busy few weeks in Year 3!

Mr Stink: Last week we went to the Empire Theatre to see the stage production of Mr Stink. It was a thoroughly enjoyable show and we had lots of laughs. Check out some of the photos from the Empire Theatre.

Book Fair: This Thursday Book Fair begins. Mrs Leathart has sent out times for before school and after school for students to take a look at the Book Fair to make any purchases.

Mother’s Day: The classes have been busy preparing some beautiful, thoughtful gifts for Mother’s Day. Remember the Mother’s Day Mass is this Friday at 10am in the Hall. We hope to see you there.

3GB Prayer Assembly: Mrs Goldthorpe was so proud of how 3GB conducted themselves at the assembly. There were a lot of nerves about performing in front of such a large audience, but all of the children took it in their stride and did an amazing job.      

3GL Prayer Assembly: Week 5, Thursday at 2pm in the Hall.

Maths: This week we are starting a 3 week unit of work involving 2D shapes, 3D objects, Grid mapping and angles. We are going to be creating, making, and having a lot of hands-on fun!

English: We are continuing with our Procedural Text Genre. Last week the students had to follow instructions to make a paper dart. This week we are making pirate hats. The skills of following procedures and instructions can be transferred at home with following recipes in cooking.

HASS: We are continuing to learn about Australia’s neighbouring countries – New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Students are doing well conducting research in pairs to learn more about our neighbours.

Have a great week everyone.

Demi, Toni, Sarah and Garry

Year 4

What a wonderful couple of weeks the Year 4s have had. We were very lucky to visit the Empire Theatre and see the play “Mr. Stink”. It was a hilarious play based on the book by David Walliams. We thoroughly enjoyed the morning of entertainment.

We have started athletics training on Friday mornings. These rotations not only warm us up and are a great way to start our Friday, but they also build upon our athletic skills in preparation for the athletics carnival. We have also resumed our cohort rotations on Fridays. This term Mrs Verdon will take students for Art lessons, Mrs Leathart will be conducting library lessons and Miss Tully will be teaching technology.

It is lovely to see all students looking so smart in their winter unform, please make sure all students belongings are named as to ensure students don’t lose their uniform items.

On Friday we will celebrate Mother’s Day with a special liturgy in the Hall. Everyone is welcome to join us for this special occasion.

Have a wonderful week.

Suzanne, Aleisha, Jessica and Danielle

Year 5

Key Dates

• Friday 12^th May – Mothers' Day Mass & morning tea@ 10:00am
• 11^th – 16^th May – Book Fair
• Friday 19^th May – Games Night 5:30pm – 8:30pm
• Tuesday 30^th May – Athletics Carnival Day 1
• Thursday 1^st June – Athletics Carnival Day 2
• Thursday 15^th June – Sports Team Dress Up Day – Catholic Mission Gold Coin donation St Vincent de Paul
• Thursday 22^nd June – Ball Games carnival
• Friday 23^rd June – NAIDOC Assembly @ 12pm – Final Day of term

English: Currently in English we have been focusing on persuasive texts. Students are utilising the lawyer paragraph to structure the body of a persuasive text. Students can access resources to revise (or practice) through their Write that Essay login, or the range of resources on Canvas. We have also been examining how persuasive devices enhance our writing, so we have even created actions to help us remember them. I wonder how many they can recall and show you at home? Another focus area has been on different types of sentences. Stories that start with the or a noun every sentence become quite boring for an audience, so students are working towards using adverbs, prepositions and w starts consistently in their writing.

Maths : In Maths, we have just completed a post test for decimals, and we have been very pleased with the students’ growth over the past 3 weeks. We are now moving into comparing and ordering fractions, which will be followed by the concept of percentages.

Last week, Nate Sullivan had the opportunity to participate in the Darling Downs Maths Challenge with Year 6 students.  From all accounts it was a wonderful day, and we are very proud of his team's achievements.

Buddies: The Year 5s continue to meet up with their Prep buddies each Friday before morning tea. It’s a highlight of the week for the students. The Year 5s love helping their Prep buddies to read books, write letters and numbers, draw, and practise their sight words.  

Congratulations: We would like to congratulate our Cross Country runners who participated in the West Zone carnival the other week (please see photo). Special congratulations to Delilah, Nate, Abbey and Lily who will be heading off to DD Cross Country on the 16^th May. We wish them the best of luck. Keep training hard.

A special shout out to Odin, who competed in his first multi-class cross country last Friday and came in first for his age group. He is off Kearney Springs in coming weeks to trial for DD. Good luck, Odin!

Jess, Emily and Amy

Year 6

Maths: Congratulations to Our Lady of Lourdes representatives who competed this week in the Darling Downs Maths Challenge. We competed with 22 teams and our teams placed 4^th and 8^th. Thanks, Mrs McKenzie, for preparing these students to use persistence, resilience and their problem-solving skills. The next challenge will be QAMT (Queensland Association of Mathematics Teachers) in August.

Riley Walker: The overall feeling was nerves but excitement. Our confidence increased as we worked as a team.

Peer tutoring (student partnerships to provide each other with explicit teaching support) research indicates that it can contribute to over a year’s growth. Each week, our students work with each other to extend knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages – the mathematical thread for Year Six. These activities are mixed ability and hands-on tasks.

AFL: Up There Cazaly! Last Thursday, the AFL team competed in the AFL QLD Cup at Highfields Sports Park. A combination of Year Five and Six students played six pool games and one semi-final. The team had two wins from their six pool games, defeating Glenvale and Wilsonton. All players enjoyed the day, and it was wonderful to see the development of their AFL skills growing from the start of the year. Thank you to all parents and grandparents who helped with carpooling and support. It was a great example of our wonderful Lourdes community spirit.  

‘Alani Seiler: It was great fun; good fitness and we improved throughout the day as we learnt new skills.

Upcoming assessment includes:

Our writing tasks have focussed on the idea of expansion to give our writing clarity. Check out these great examples:-

Harrison- The carriages swung in the glacial wind. Latches clicked. It was almost like I could smell the rust trying to hide itself.

Charlie - My taste buds are overwhelmed. Approaching the Magical Treats store, I lick my lips ready to get my sugary, red toffee apple. Slowly breathing, I smell the boiling, sugary goodness. 

Kylie, Shauna, Garry and Helen

Visual Arts

Prep

Last week the Preps used oil pastel to create a picture of "Splat the cat". This week they will use a combination of collage and painting to create a kite picture.

Year 1

The Year 1’s have completed a special little picture for their Mums. This week we will commence work on a Mexican sun and moon picture, again focussing on warm and cool colours as well as using lines to create patterns.

Year 2

In Year 2 the fun has continued with mixing colours. Last week we began our new ice cream picture by learning how to create light and dark colours with black and white paint. We will assemble our ice cream picture this week.

Year 5

The Year 5’s successfully printed their foam stamp last week. This week they will get to experience printing using a gelli plate. We do require magazines for this project, so if you have any glossy fashion, car or homeware magazines lying around, please send them to school. With the gelli print we can capture and print images from these magazines to make an effective piece of artwork. Students will also start making a collagraph stamp, this is a stamp created with cardboard and other collage materials.

Year 6

Year 6 have begun work on a piece of art called a “Notan”. Nōtan is a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark elements as they are placed next to the other in the composition of art and imagery. They will create their Notan with black and white paper to create an image using positive and negative spaces.

Mrs Simmons

Choir

Our Lady of Lourdes Choir will be participating in the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Arts Fest 2023 - a new initiative that will provide opportunities for students to take part in workshops, to perform in front of audiences, to collaborate with students from other schools and to be inspired by each other. The festival includes opportunities for student groups from TCS Primary and Secondary Diocesan schools to share their skills in music, drama, dance, visual arts and media arts. This event will be held from 19-22 June 2023 in Toowoomba - so please mark that date in your calendars. More information will be given as we make preparations to participate in this new opportunity for the Arts. 

If you have any questions please contact our Performing Arts teachers, Ebony.Rosier@twb.catholic.edu.au or Amanda.Holzheimer@twb.catholic.edu.au

Drama

This term in drama, the students in Years 1-4 will be learning poetry and in particular, how to become a character with this poem.  Please keep an eye out for a hard copy that students will bring home this week.  Be sure to keep this in a safe place, so that they can practice at home.   

Year 1 and 2 students will be given a selection of poems to choose from, to perform individually in class.  As the Year 1 and 2 students continue with Drama all through the year, we most likely won’t be performing these until Term 3.  We are also working on some fabulous, dramatic performances attached to our learning on Dreamtime stories. 

Year 3 students will actually all be working on the same poem along with their characterization skills.  They will learn a verse speaking poem.  All students will learn this, and later this term, some students will be selected to represent OLOL at the inaugural Toowoomba Catholic Education Arts Fest.  There is some information about the Arts Fest in the newsletter. More details on this to come. 

Year 4 students will be given a selection of poems that can be performed individually or with a partner.  They have shown great enthusiasm so far and we are looking forward to seeing each other transform into their character and tell their story. 

Year 5 and 6 students will have drama in Semester 2. 

Later this year, we will be showcasing and celebrating The Arts at OLOL, and students across the year levels will be chosen to perform in many areas of The Arts.  Again, more details on this, later in the year. 

It is great to see such enthusiasm in our drama lessons each week! 

Please get in touch if you have any questions. 

Amanda

Amanda.Holzheimer@twb.catholic.edu.au 

Upcoming Dates

West Zone Cross Country Results

Congratulations to all the students who participated in last week’s West Zone Cross Country Carnival.

We had a very successful day. See below for the results. The students underlined have been selected in the West Zone Team:

10 Years Boys: Nate 2^nd, Slater 15^th, Ned 16^th, Oliver 20^th, Zuma 23^rd & Odin 26^th.

10 Years Girls: Millicent 2^nd, Delilah 4^th, Abbey 6^th, Liliana 8^th, Amelia 9^th & Amarni 21^st.

11 Years Boys: Nate 6^th, Henry 7^th, Clancy 16^th, ‘Alani 24^th & Angus 24^th.

11 Years Girls: Charlotte 1^st, Heidi 8^th & Abbey 9^th.

12 Years Boys: Blake 3rd, Thomas 8th, Harry 13^th.

12 Years Girls: Isabel 6^th, Olivia 10^th & Layla 12^th.

Congratulations to Odin, Grade 5, on his result at the Multi-Class Cross Country last week. Odin finished first in his division, with a massive 2-minute PB. Odin will go on to the Darling Downs Cross Country Championships. Good luck Odin!

Calendar Update

Please make note of the following changes to this year’s sporting calendar:

• Darling Downs 10-12 years Regional Track & Field Trials:

Monday 14^th August (1500m after school at Glennie) and Tuesday 15^th August (Full day at Harristown SHS).

Representative Sport—Toowoomba & Darling Downs Teams

Throughout the course of the year Toowoomba Primary School Sport and Darling Downs School Sport offer trials to eligible students for a variety of team and individual sports.  To be eligible for selection, students need to be born in 2013, 2012 or 2011. Strict nomination requirements apply, and it is at the sole discretion of the school to decide whether to nominate individual students. 

In order to gain interest levels and an idea of previous experience, an electronic representative Sport Nomination Form has been sent out.  This form outlines all relevant information regarding the trials for the whole of 2023.  Please thoroughly read all information. If your child is of a high standard in their chosen sport/s and would like to be considered for nomination, please complete the nomination form.  No student will be nominated for a trial without a completed form.

Here is the LINK to nominate a student. Please submit a new response for each individual child.

Please see below for upcoming trial dates. Please ensure that you confirm these details when the trial notice is released.

Congratulations to the following students on their selection in representative teams:

Rachel.Wigan@twb.catholic.edu.au

Book Fair  

Book Fair will OPEN at 8am this Thursday morning and will be OPEN until 3:30pm on Tuesday 16th May 2023 (please see poster below for detailed open and closed times). Please come along and support Book Fair. All purchases earn points and those points are used to purchase more resources for our Library.  We will have EFTPOS available and all books purchased are YOURS to KEEP. If you have any Book Fair questions please email: Danielle.Leathart@twb.catholic.edu.au  

Author Visit 

Sami Bayly visited with our Year 5 and 6 classes on Tuesday 9th May. She shared stories about her life and how she came to be a published author and illustrator. Sami reminded our Lourdes Learners that if we are passionate about something, that ANYTHING is possible. She also conducted a guided drawing session, and the students drew some AMAZING prickly football fish. A huge thanks to Sami Bayly for coming to Lourdes and providing students with a real-life, author-illustrator experience.   

Chess 

Chess Lessons for Term 2 are now FULL. We will run lessons again in Term 3. We do not offer Chess in Term 4 so be sure to sign up early if you missed out this term. If you have questions or issues with Chess please contact: Danielle.Leathart@twb.catholic.edu.au  

AccessIt 

Don’t forget about our school Library Catalogue. Students can search for books, read Britannica, try Huey the Bookbot to select a new book to read, watch a clip on Click View and lots more! Students (or parents) can even check their current loans! Sign in to ensure FULL access (Click View, Britannica). 

Enjoy your books.

Mrs Leathart & Mrs Monte

This Friday during the Mother's Day Morning Tea, Garden Club will have plants available for purchase from $2 - $5. If you are interested, we will be found at our Propagation Station behind the church.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Jo