Principal's Message

Dear OLA Families,

We wish all our families a wonderful long weekend. 

Today we came together as a staff and reflected on the MACS 2030 Vision with a particular focus on Vision for Instruction and we reflected on Explicit Instruction. We celebrated what we have in place already and where we are wanting to go next. We are familiarising ourselves further with Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction. We are proud of where we are at as a school and are enjoying learning about what other schools are doing in this space.

We also reflected on our school priority Family Partnerships from our 4 year School Improvement Plan. We worked with Family Partnership consultant Tony Dalton and we evaluated and celebrated our MACSSIS data as well as worked on ways we can include student and parent voice in our up and coming Parent/Teacher Interviews.

Learning Conversations

On 26 and 27 June we are holding our regular Parent/Teacher Interviews with a twist!

The twist is that we are renaming them 'Learning Conversations' which include your child, yourselves and your child's teacher/s. Why? Because we are building your child's sense of voice and responsibility for their learning and we want to recognise the important role families play in that. We want the meetings to be conversational rather just one way. Please look out for the invitation to book appointment times, and further information will be shared then too. 

Camp

Camp Weekaway has been voted one of their best highlights out of all the opportunities that our Grade 5/6s have enjoyed during their time at OLA. The adventure, challenge, resilience, persistence and trying new things attitude have all helped to make this camp a wonderful and memorable experience. Parents please know that we have received wonderful feedback from camp management and our OLA staff said the children were magnificent!

A big thank you to our staff who went on camp and who stayed back at school and kept the home fires burning. Thank you to the staff who went away for being lots of fun, thank you for challenging yourselves in the activities and thank you for being there for the kids over three days. You have helped create some very special memories.

We appreciate the gratitude from our families and share one of our emails here:

Thanks for the absolutely wonderful camp experience you made happen for the kids this week. I have no doubt it’s an epic bundle of days for the teachers/organisers, but you have cemented an absolute highlight of school life so far for our child. Thanks for your time, positivity and energy to make it all happen and be such a fun experience. We have had a minute by minute summary of every activity, meal, group and snack. He is exhausted but has a very full cup. Enjoy an extra well deserved weekend off. Thanks again.

National Reconciliation Week

Our FIRE Carriers have organised daily meditation, year level quiz competitions, a colouring competition and a NRW assembly that our parishioners came along to.

They also organised a day to wear colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags or to bring in an artefact with gold coin donations going to the Open Door Foundation.

Thank you to the FIRE Carriers and all who supported this week’s special activities.

Congratulations to these children who submitted the winning entries for our National Reconciliation Week Colouring Competition. They look AMAZING! Congratulations to Lola from Prep, Maddie 1/2, Sophia 3/4 and Mia 5/6 for being selected as the winners of their year levels. We loved your choice of colours, detail and symbols used. Thank you to the many children who entered. 

Community Pantry - a call for donations 

“Take what you need. Give what you can.”

From an idea to reality! Created & designed by the grade 3/4 students at OLA, our community food pantry is officially open to serve local residents. You'll find it on the Wilson Street walking path. Please place your food donations inside or bring into the office and our Grade 3/4s will love managing this.

Illness

We have had a lot of illness circulating this week, and our thoughts are with our families who are really feeling it. If your child is unwell, please keep them at home to stop the spread of sickness. If a child presents to sickbay with sickness during the day, families will be notified and asked to come and collect them.

2025 & 2026 Enrolments Welcome

Please note our new School Tour Dates from now until the end of the year. If these dates do not work for you please call the office to arrange a time that suits you and your family.

Calendar

Please open the ‘Key Dates and Events’ tab in this newsletter for important dates or access the OLA Calendar here. Key dates for the coming weeks...

Pupil Free Days for 2024

• Monday 15 July Spiritual Development/Faith Formation
• Monday 7 October Respectful Relationships 
• Monday 4 November Assessment & Reporting
• Friday 6 December 2025 Planning and Preparation 

Please note on the following dates school finish early at 1pm:

Parent/Teacher Interviews on Thursday 27 June

OLA Fete on Friday 22 November

Last day of school Tuesday 17 December

Congratulations

Grade 5/6 Soccer Team

Congratulations to our Grade 5/6 Girls District Soccer Team. The feedback has been so positive about them being good sports and we thank them for representing OLA with great pride.  We loved how their skills improved in every game they played and they worked well as a team. The school received an email saying the team "were polite, kind to each other and their opponents and they displayed amazing sportsmanship.

The entire squad was a smashing reflection of the values of OLA and the school should be VERY proud of them."

Junior Mayor

Look at what was published this week by the City of Kingston! Still so very exciting and we are so proud of you Bella, Olivia, Peter and Alessio!

Junior Mayor program fostering a love of democracy

Published on 05 June 2024

Kingston continues to foster a love of democracy in local youngsters thanks to our long-running Junior Mayor program. Grade six student Isabella Koukoumanos, from Our Lady of the Assumption, has been elected as Kingston’s Junior Mayor for 2024/25. Isabella will now work alongside Kingston Mayor Jenna Davey-Burns to represent the community at key events and functions including citizenship ceremonies, official openings and much more. Mayor Davey-Burns said the Junior Mayor program was a fantastic way to get young people excited about democracy and their local community. “It’s amazing to see our local students so engaged and excited to learn more about how government works, how their voice and vote matters, and how they can make a positive contribution to their local area,” Cr Davey-Burns said. The Junior Mayor program has run for over 60 years in a successful partnership with Chelsea Rotary. “We’re proud to give our local young people an opportunity to grow and develop their leadership skills to help create the leaders of tomorrow,” Cr Davey-Burns said. Kingston’s Junior Mayor is elected at an annual event where grade six representatives from primary schools across Kingston present speeches on a key theme. This year 23 local schools were represented.

Isabella was elected by her peers to serve as Junior Mayor for the next 12 months, alongside 12 other students who were elected to Kingston Junior Council. 

Karkarook Ward Councillor Hadi Saab said having visited many schools I know lots of our young students look forward to this event each year. “Inspiring the next generation of leaders starts with giving them a voice today. Our Junior Council election is about empowering our youth to shape the future of our city,” Cr Saab said. This year students were asked to present on the topic: If you could add to the vision of a child-friendly creative Kingston, what would your ideas be? 

Isabella alongside her team members Peter, Olivia and Alessio presented a creative and well thought out speech about the Kingston Pen Pals Program. The Kingston Pen Pals Program focuses on helping kids build friendships and connections. Isabella and her peers aimed to create a program to “help children who have a difficult time making friends and support and assist them to improve their socialising skills with others.” Lucian Hendricks from St John Vianney’s Primary School was elected Deputy Junior Mayor.

3x3 Basketball Cup

Look at this wonderful post and celebration of our OLA champions! Grade 5/6 Girls State Champs, Runners Up! Congrats again to these four champions of the court! 

The 3xCup Primary Championships have concluded, showcasing the best young talent in Victorian Schools! Basketball Victoria states, "Basketball Victoria's 3x3 pathway for schools continues to pave the way for future stars!"

Invitation

Have you purchased your tickets to OLA’s Winter Mixer?

Get your tickets before the 14th June to go in the draw to win a bottle of wine on the night to kick start your celebrations.

Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1201930

 Featuring Mack Moses

 Drinks at Stacey’s Bar

 Catering by The Tradesman Cafe

 All funds raised will go towards achieving our goals on the P&F Wishlist for 2024

Thank you

Victorian Government Shade Sails Grant

This week our brand new bright blue shade sails have been installed! We are so grateful for the extra shade to help us when we are learning, eating and playing. Thank you to the Victorian Government for making this possible through the Shade Sail Grant Program.

Have a wonderful extra long weekend.

Richard Jacques

Principal