School Voices

Here we are coming to the end of August already and school holidays not more than a few weeks away!  It has been a busy few weeks at OHR School with recent activities including Book Week and Maths Night with so much to come including the Dads and Kids’ Night with Kaboom Sport, District Athletics, Confirmation celebrations and the OHR Art Show which opens on 12 September.

Book Week at Our Holy Redeemer

The theme for Book Week in 2024 was ‘Reading is Magic’ and there were a number of exciting events throughout the week.

The grounds were filled with colourful costumes as the students entered the school on Monday morning dressed as their favourite book characters.  Many parents and relatives attended the special Book Week Assembly which began the week.  The senior students in the Arts/Library team ran the assembly in which they invited classes, one at a time, to come onto the stage area.  Each student was asked questions about their character and the book from which their character came.  Thank you to Mrs Deidre Campbell for her work in preparing the students in the Arts/Library team to run this annual event.

On Wednesday morning there was a special breakfast as part of the Book Launch for our Year 6 students.  Commencing earlier this year, all Year 6 students at OHR have been working through the process of creating their own picture story book.  This involves writing, illustrating as well as physically making these hard cover books.  In the last two weeks these students have been visiting local kinders as well as the other classes in the school to read their amazing stories to a live audience.  This is a long held tradition at OHR and we hear many stories of students well into adulthood still cherishing the book they created in Year 6.

Also on Wednesday, all students gathered in the Hall for a special Book Week themed performance from Perform Education.  This was a huge hit among the students and throughout the performance you could see transfixed faces on every student in the audience.  Finally, the Arts/Library Student Leaders also organised different Book Week themed activities for students to engage with at lunchtime in the Library.

Overall it was a hugely successful Book Week for 2024 and special credit needs to go to our Library Technician, Mrs Deidre Campbell for all she does in the library each week but especially during Book Week. We can’t wait for 2025.

Maths Night with Michael Ymer

Last Wednesday evening, Michael Ymer ran our Maths Parent Workshop, which was hands on and interactive.  We are grateful for the large turnout of families who were available to attend the session.  With a focus on family engagement here at OHR it is important that the parents of our wonderful students, are equipped with the knowledge and tools to support learning at home and have an understanding of how engaging and powerful learning happens at school.

He shared with everyone some games and how these activities help the students learn mathematics that is targeted to their point of need.  It was illustrated through playing the game how we at OHR extend or support our students depending on the level of understanding of each individual. 

Some take away points for everyone present included:

• The wrong impression is often held about being fast at mathematics=good at maths however, a focus on strategies is more effective.  An article is linked here that shares the knowledge behind this if you have time for some reading and examples.
• Don’t expect children to have the clarity of life/maths that we have now as an adult.  Maths knowledge is built across life experience and we as parents and educators support this journey to explicit teaching, building context into our lessons, and building a growth mindset when things are challenging.
• His final message to families was that errors made are not mistakes – it is important to look at what a child can do and celebrate that rather than what they do not/cannot do.  A video that shares some insights into this is linked here.

By Nick Byrne, Deputy Principal

Published: 30 August 2024