Newsletter

Strategic Intent:

At Our Lady’s School, we aim to strengthen our Catholic community through: fostering respectful relationships; clear, strategic faith-filled leadership; and our commitment to professional pedagogical excellence that is founded upon our deep knowledge, collegiality, effective teamwork and our Gospel inspired dedication to the learning and wellbeing of each child.

Education in Faith

That students understand and make more meaningful, relevant connections between the Catholic story and their own lives.

That staff develop their capacity to design and implement a contemporary RE curriculum.

Leadership and Management

That staff teamwork and ownership of the Vision and educational priorities of the school will improve

Learning and Teaching

That student learning outcomes will improve.

Student Wellbeing

That the wellbeing of all students will improve.

School Community

That the home/ school partnership is strengthened to the benefit of student learning outcomes. 

Dear Families and Friends of Our Lady's School Community,

Happy Easter and welcome to Term 2! I hope you all had a rejuvenating break from the routine of school uniforms and lunches.

Easter is not just a weekend, it’s a whole season!

The Easter season begins on Easter Sunday and runs through to Pentecost, seven weeks in duration. The colour gold or white is used during this time to signify the glory of the Lord and our joy in the resurrection. It is a time when we, as a Church, focus on the promises of Jesus to be with us in our lives.

This Sunday we also commemorate ANZAC Day. Our Year 1/2 C students will be leading a prayer service at our Assembly on Monday afternoon. Please join us in the Multi Purpose Centre @ 2.45pm if you are available.

I would like to thank our whole school community for their amazing efforts over this past week and look forward to sharing many rich and positive experiences this term. This week we have launched into our Science Unit, " Why Is It So?". You can read more about the learning outcomes further on in this newsletter.

If you work in the field of science we welcome you to come and share your experiences with the children throughout the term. Please contact your child teacher if you think this may be of interest to you.

Staffing 

We farewell Mrs Deb Rowling's next Friday, May 6th. Deb, Jay and Boston will soon welcome a new baby into their family. On behalf of the school community we thank Deb for her many years of service to OLPS and wish the Rowlings Family well for the coming weeks and months. Deb will rejoin the team at OLPS following her maternity leave. We welcome Mrs Connie Antenucci to Year 5/6.

 New School Website

We are very excited to launch our new school school website. Please take a moment to view it on the following link. 

http://www.olsurreyhills.catholic.edu.au/

Fr Mark Reynolds

We are pleased to invite families to come together to farewell Fr Mark Reynolds, Parish Priest at Surrey Hills Wattle Park from January 2017 to June 2020.  Due to Covid restrictions last year, this event was postponed until an opportunity where the community could gather in greater numbers.

 Please join us at 7.00 pm on Friday 30 April for Mass at Our Holy Redeemer Church, to be followed by a shared supper and an opportunity to thank Fr Mark personally for his ministry here in our parish and school.

 To assist with catering and venue planning, please RSVP to the Parish Office (shwp@cam.org.au) or call 9890 2510 by Tuesday 27th April.

Level Crossing Removal Project

Recently the School Advisory Council ( previously referred to as the PEB), received a response to the Level Crossing Removal Project at Union Road and Mont Albert Roads. The response was provided by The Level Crossing Removal Team.

I have provided a summary for your information.

Ongoing project planning has determined the two main ovals at Surrey Park will not be required for any temporary use associated with the works. Both the south-west and south-east ovals will be removed from the  project boundary. The project will require the temporary use of the smaller north-west oval from late 2021 for up to two years. They will also require temporary use of the baseball diamond from early 2023. Both playing surfaces will be returned in brand-new condition and  support will be provided to the baseball club in temporarily relocating to an alternative venue during the short-term use of the diamond.

 Surrey Park is an important community resource and we appreciate that consideration has been given to feedback provided to the project team and that ongoing project planning has resulted in an amendment to the use of the ovals.

 Quote of the fortnight:

Have a big enough heart to love unconditionally, and a broad enough mind to embrace the differences that make each of us unique.

D.B. Harrop

 Keep safe and well,

Annie Engellenner

Principal

Inquiry learning Term 2

“Why is it so?” What a wonderful question for our students to explore. With the focus on science this term, the whole school will be discovering science in their everyday lives, with a particular focus on physical and chemical sciences.  The teachers spend a great deal of time, planning and ensuring that the inquiry has a distinct purpose. We look forward to a wonderful term of scientific investigation.

Purpose- Foundation-Year 2

Develop student’s knowledge and understanding of the impact science has on their life.  

They will use science skills to explore with hands-on science how materials and substances can change and how and why things move.

 Students will investigate that everyday materials can be physically changed or combined with other materials in a variety of ways for particular purposes .

• What makes things move?

• How do materials change?

• Which materials are manmade and natural?

• How are materials different?

Purpose - Year 3/4

Further develop student’s knowledge and understanding of the impact science has on their life. 

They will use science skills to explore the purpose of materials and investigate how and why motion and force are related. 

Students will investigate the characteristics of materials and where they come from and why some materials are chosen for a particular purpose. 

What are science skills and how do these skills help us to investigate and where is science in our everyday life?

How do discoveries in science improve our human life?

How are materials used?

Which everyday materials are natural and processed?

How are forces created and exerted?

Purpose-Year 5/6

For students to learn about the building blocks of the universe. 

Students will be able to identify and distinguish between different types of energy and matter - from gases, liquids, plasma and solids to light, radiation and heat. 

Students will be able to explain how changes can be temporary - physical or permanent and irreversible - chemical. 

Students will also learn that these two interact, that changes in matter are caused by an increase or decrease in energy. 

At the end of the term, students will have the skills they need to investigate their own scientific questions about why the world is the way it is.

• Why might we ask the question: Why is it so?

• How can we find the answers to our questions?

• What makes up the world around us?

• If it’s all the same stuff? Why does it all look different?

• How are energy and matter connecte

Learning Diversity

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). We have included the below information which describes the NCCD framework.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

·       year of schooling

·       category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional

·       level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

·       formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools

·       consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools

·       develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on the students and they will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge 2021

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and Our Lady’s is excited to be participating. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:

• access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)

• a modern user-friendly interface

• rewarding  students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved

• the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review

The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 17 September 2021.

Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.

All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: www.education.vic.gov.au/prc 

We will be opening the school library on Wednesday mornings and at playtime so that students can come in to read and enter their challenge books.

Classroom Helpers

Please remember to fill in the google form if you would like to be a parent helper in our junior classrooms. Your classroom teacher will be in contact shortly.

parent helper days and times

Please remember to watch the presentation, present your Working With Children’s Check and also sign the confidentiality form from the office.

Presentation

Kimberly Chin

Literacy Leader

On Tuesday 4th May (Week 3), the Year 5/6 teachers will be hosting a camp information evening on zoom. Participation is encouraged for all parents of children in years 5 and 6 as we will cover a wide range of important topics including: what to bring, what not to bring, departure and pick up logistics, camp activities and more. More information about this night will be communicated next week including a place to submit questions that require time to follow up." 

Camp will take place from Wednesday June 23rd to Friday June 25th.

Dear Families of Year 4 and 5 students, 

This letter is to inform you of the timeline of events leading up to the Sacrament of First Eucharist. As communicated in school newsletters, there have been 2 dates allocated for First Eucharist and and two dates allocated for the Reflection Day.  This will allow for those who missed receiving the sacrament last year. Please note the masses will be held at 3pm. 

Students who are not receiving the Sacrament of First Eucharist are still expected to attend the Reflection Day in support of their peers and to partake in opportunities for team building. 

Below are important dates to note for the upcoming Sacrament: 

Students will be preparing to make this Sacrament through learning in the classroom, visiting the church, and attending a Reflection day at Lysterfield (permission form to follow). 

Due to COVID-19 regulations a maximum of 4 guests per candidate is allowed. If this changes I will let you know. 

Any questions please email esnicholson@olsurreyhills.catholic.edu.au

Kind regards,

Emily Nicholson

Religious Education Leader

We have had a wonderful start to Term 2. The students have come back to school happy and ready and eager to learn.

In weeks one and two, we have a focus  across the school on the Learning Space expectations. Each classroom teacher will explicitly be teaching the expectations in all learning spaces, with a particular focus on what it looks like. The expectations are taken from the Our Lady’s Positive Behaviour Matrix.

To support this, teachers will be handing out tokens in the form of a leaf to students when they are caught following our expectations. These tokens will then be collected by the SRCs and hung on the tree in the MPC. When the tree is full, we will have a school celebration as a sign that;

We are Growing to Be…….

Respectful of Self

Respectful of Others

Respectful of the Environment

Be a Learner

School fee statements will be sent out in the coming weeks. School fees can be paid by direct credit or  B-Pay. If you pay your school fees by credit card, when you fill in your credit card details please include the CVC number on the back of the card.

CSCF ( Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund)

If you, as a parent,have a Health Care Card, you can receive a reduction in your school fees to the amount of $125.00 per child per year.

To be able to claim this reduction, we require the CSCF form to be submitted to the school office by the end of May.

Further information and an application form can be accessed on the following link.

:https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/csef.aspx

Student Absences

If you child is going to be absent from school, it is your responsibility to inform the school via telephone call, skoolbag app notification or email.

Teachers do not check their emails after 8.45am as they are invloved in the act of teaching or student supervision.

If you are notifying the school after 8.45am, could you please contact the office not individual class teachers. This will avoid the school needing to contact families.

Transition From Year 6 to Year 7 in 2022 - Victorian Government Schools Only. Applications have been sent home today to all Year 6 students. These need to be returned to OLPS to check for accuracy and submission  before Friday 14th May.

Applications will then be forwarded onto the relevant Goevernment Secondary School.

 We remind all families of the importance of these longstanding expectations at OLPS and ask that you please reinforce a consistent approach from Prep - Year 6. I bring to your attention variations, such as branded socks and runners that are worn not on designated sports days do not meet our expectations. If unsure of these requirements please contact the office or refer to the school website. Please also check to ensure your child’s hat is in one piece.

In line with our Sun Smart Policy the students are not required to wear hats when playing outside during term 2 and 3.  Students will be expected to be wearing thier winter uniform by Monday 3rd May.

Please contact the school office if there are any medical issues that we should be aware of. It is most important that all medical forms, asthma and anaphylaxis plans, are updated for the 2021 school year and returned promptly. We are advised that children may need to be excluded from school if they do not have the required medical information or medication available at the school eg. Epipens, with the correct ‘use by dates’. 

Do I have to complete an Action Plan, if the child only has seasonal asthma, or asthma symptoms when they have a cold? 

Yes, any time asthma medication is prescribed and expected to be taken at school or the children's service, it must by law be accompanied by a medical management plan. If the health professional is concerned about diagnosing the child with asthma, it is recommended that they put a shorter review date on the action plan, and write a covering letter to the school or children's service explaining the expected time frame the child will need reliever medication.

Thank you to our parents that have voluntered to be class reps this year. 

Prep: Lisa Grant, Kat Brosolo, Joanna Kelly

Year 1 /2 C: Kasia De Costa, Emma Ryan

Year 1 /2 L: Jess Campbell, Laura Edgcumbe

Year 3 /4 L: Rach Voshege, Melissa Pellegrini

Year 3 /4 N: Marjie Langford, Rach Glass

Year 3 /4 L: Emma Lynch, Elaine Hanlon

Year 5 /6 H&L : Daniela Greening, Cath Bergin, Steph Johnson

Please see attached below information regarding Our Lady's School Uniform, including how to order online and the uniform price list.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Uniform Orders are filled on Mondays.
• Please order Uniform Orders thru CDF.
• To keep costs low we are only stocking limited quantities across the Range. If items are not available please allow a 2 week turn around to allow time for items to be ordered and delivered from our Supplier.
• If you need to try on Uniforms for size this can also be done on Mondays unless other arrangements have been made with Krista.
• If you have any queries, please email Krista on uniformshop@olsurreyhills.catholic.edu.au

All students attending Our Lady’s Primary School have the right to feel safe and be safe. The highest possible standard of care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people is a fundamental responsibility of all within our school community.