Dear Parents & Parishioners,

The following is an extract from an article by Debbie Pushor, entitled ‘Looking Out, Looking In’, in which the author proposes a partnership approach where the school respects the strengths and knowledge of students’ families.

“Looking inward takes time. It requires a safe space in which individuals can risk telling their stories and being vulnerable as learners. It requires opportunities for honest, open conversation in which thoughts and ideas are treated with respect and dignity as educators explore new ways of making sense of their relationships with families and communities. When we move on too quickly to developing new plans to reach out to families and communities, without this deeper exploration of who we are in relation to families and how and why we want to reach out to them, we end up doing the same old things we have always done; we just dress them up in new ways. The new ways may appear more appealing than the old, but they are likely to be no more effective … We (educators) begin to make real change only when we challenge myths and deficit thinking about parents and families. As we move from old ways of family involvement to new ways of family engagement, we enable parents to take their place alongside educators in the schooling of their children, combining their knowledge of children and of teaching and learning with teachers’ knowledge. As the structure of schooling is flattened, educators and parents can develop a new agenda – one that is mutually determined and mutually beneficial” (Pushor & Ruitenberg, 2005).

The staff at OHR genuinely value the insights that only parents can share about their children. For this very reason, we deliberately scheduled the Parent-Teacher Conversations one week into the school year as a means of cultivating our collective knowledge of your child. Having a complete picture of your child enables us to best plan for their needs as we move forward.

Mass for the Opening of the School Year

The Mass scheduled for the Opening of the School Year will be held tomorrow Friday, 7 February, at 10.30am. The mass will be attended by the entire school and parents are warmly invited to attend. Please note that this is a combined schools mass also involving the communities of Our Lady's and OLGC, and will be held at Our Lady of Victories Basilica in Camberwell.

During the mass, all the staff, students and community will receive a special blessing. As part of this significant celebration, our Year 6 school leaders will also be presented before the community.

Note: The Year 6 School Leaders will be presented with their badges during this Monday's assembly.

Presentation of our Prep Students

During this Monday's school assembly the Prep students will be individually presented to the community by their Senior buddies. This is a special occcasion and we hope that many parents can attend.

Child Safety: Cybersafety

In 2025, your child will take part in Inform & Empower’s Cyber Safety & Digital Wellbeing program. This means they will participate in engaging and interactive live-streamed incursions each term. Developed by qualified teachers, these incursions are designed to help create safer and more positive online experiences for your children. Inform & Empower is endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner as a Trusted eSafety Provider. You, the parents and carers, will be given resources to support conversations with your children at home. You will receive a concise “tip sheet” each term that outlines what your child learned about in class and how you might open up these important conversations at home.

Student Surveys

In Years 3-6, Inform & Empower will invite students to complete anonymous surveys asking them about their digital habits. No identifying information, such as name or school, is collected. This survey is optional. You or your child may choose to opt out at any stage, please inform the school if you do not wish your child to complete these surveys. Questions examples include: What online games do you like to play? How many hours do you spend online each day/week? What are the best/worst things about the internet? The survey data will be used by Inform & Empower to help improve their programs and aggregated results may be published online.

During 2025, we are also supporting parents and carers in this space through a “parents only” webinar/presentation which will be held in the not too distant future (more details to follow).

Sacrament Celebrations 2025

Make sure you visit the Education in Faith page for details of this year's sacramental celebrations involving students at OHR.

Child Absences

In order that the safety of all children at OHR is met is met during school hours, it is important that student absences are reported to the school by phone or email prior to 8.45am on the day of absence. All registered schools must record student attendance twice per day and note the reason for each absence. This is necessary to: (a) meet legislative requirements; and (b) discharge the school’s duty of care to all students. To this end, and for your child’s safety, we ask for your assistance with this important matter.
The staff at the school must be able to account for the absence of a child, so please ensure that any emails providing the reason for the absence are sent to both Heather (ohradmin@ohrsurreyhills.catholic.edu.au) and the classroom teacher.

Parents will always be notified when there is an unexplained absence.

Current Student Medical Details

Please make sure that your child's medical information is always kept up to date.

Moving forward, you will receive an email recording the details of any attendance by your child to the Sick Bay during the day.

Parent Information Evening

A final reminder that this evening the class teachers will be conducting Parent Information Sessions in which they will outline the procedures relating specifically to their classroom and, therefore, the approach to your child’s learning during 2025.

Sessions will run for 25 minutes. As parents and teachers share joint responsibility for the education of our children, we would expect that at least one parent attend your child’s information session. The sessions will be conducted in your child's classroom/learning area. At 7.00pm all parents are warmly invited to attend a special presentation in the Hall on Literacy: Ways to Support at Home by Marian Nicolazzo who is a highly regarded Literacy Consultant. As some families have a number of children spread across various levels, the information session times will be staggered throughout the evening:

6.30pm: 1/2 level
7.00pm: Literacy - Marian Nicolazzo. To be held in the hall
7.30pm: 3/4 level
8.00pm: 5/6 level

Note: Parents are strongly encouraged to attend the session with Marian Nicolazzo, as this is an invaluable opportunity to learn how to support your child with Literacy in the home environment. Please refer to the 'Learning & Teaching' page in this Newsletter for more information.

Year 5&6 Camp

There are only five more sleeps until the students in Years 5 & 6 commence their four-day camp to Coonawarra Farm Resort. The Camp is not to be confused with the Coonawarra wine-growing district! In fact, we will be travelling in exactly the opposite direction. The outdoor activity-based camp is a just over a three hour drive from Melbourne in East Gippsland. The program offers a range of exciting experiences and challenges for the students. The school staff attending the camp include: Mrs Cara Mitchell, Mrs Margie Maher, Ms Katie Mackay, Mr Declan Gulavin, Mr Nick Byrne and myself. The campers depart on Tuesday morning and will return to school on Friday afternoon.

Mathematics at OHR

I would like to draw your attention to the article 'Mathematics at OHR: A Time of Growth', written by our Mathematics Leader, Mrs Penny Hansen. The article examines our approach to Mathematics which is based on expert research. Refer to the Learning & Teaching News page in this Newsletter.

School Photos

School Photo Day will be Monday 17th February 2025. Students are required to wear their full summer uniform including black leather shoes.

Camps, Sports & Excursions Fund (CSEF)

If any families hold a current Health Care Card and are eligible for CSEF, please see Heather in the school office to obtain the necessary paperwork for completion.

Supervision Before and After School

The children are supervised before school by teaching staff from 8.25 – 8.40am. Commencing at 8.30am, the children may enter their classroom and begin setting up for the day as long as their teacher is in attendance. In the interest of child safety, we request that children are not dropped off at school any earlier. Teaching staff are not scheduled for playground supervision until 8.25am as prior to this time they are regularly involved in meetings, preparation and administration.

The children are dismissed at 3.15pm, with staff supervision in the school grounds extending from 3.15pm – 3.30pm. We kindly request that all children be collected by no later than 3.30pm as staff are often involved in a variety of meetings commencing at this time.

We appreciate the fact that so many parents and/or guardians have been prompt in picking up their children at the end of the school day.

Please note the following:

Children are allowed to play on the Junior Playground equipment between the times of 8.25 – 8.40am and 3.15 – 3.30pm, but not in the sandpit nor on the Middle/Senior Playground Equipment at the Northern end of the grounds.
In the interest of everyone’s safety, ball games are not to be played before or after school between the times of 8.25 – 8.40am and 3.15 – 3.30pm.
Children should never wait to be picked up in York Street. They should always be collected by an adult from within the school grounds, if they are not exiting through the Barton Street kiss and drop-off.

Job Vacancy

There is a job vacancy for a part-time position at Our Lady of Pentecost Parish. If interested, head to the School Community page for more details.

2025 Parent Gatherings

Three of our families have generously offered to open up their homes to host one of this term's Parent Gatherings. These evening's are a great way of making new friendships and rekindling current friendships within the context of the host family's backyard.

Please make a note of the date(s) applicable to you.

Prep - Yr 2 Parent Evening: 21 February 2025 @ the Sutherland's home
Yrs 3 & 4 Parent Evening: 21 March 2025 @ the Korda's home
Yrs 5 & 6 Parent Evening: 28 March 2025 @ the Jackson's home

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Frank

Library News

Reading is Magic

Chess club began yesterday at Lunchtime. The students were off to a great start!