Principal's Message

Dear OLA Families,

We know we are part of a wonderful Parish when we get such supportive feedback and gratitude. It has been so lovely to sit together, pray and sing together in our recent Masses. We are wishing all in our community a special Lenten Journey. Following our recent Opening Year Mass and Ash Wednesday Mass, Susan, one of our proud parishioners shared some beautiful words about OLA:

Our Lady of the Assumption Parish Primary School, Cheltenham, has a warm and welcoming feeling. One would be privileged to have children attend to receive a great education built on Christian values. As a parish member, I have had some interaction with the school over the years. What a valuable, caring leader the principal is, with wonderful teaching staff and administration who build great values, and care for all who attend the school.

Reconciliation Parent/Child Workshop

It was lovely to have our families come together last night to prepare for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation. Thank you to Fr Alan for sharing the history of Reconciliation with our parents and carers and thank you to the teachers for leading activities around the four stages of Reconciliation: Confession/Contrition/Absolution and Penance. The children together with their families talked about the stages of Reconciliation like Admitting, Saying Sorry, Being  Forgiven and Making Good. We hope the conversations continue at home and we look forward to the children making their First Reconciliation on Wednesday 20 March at 5pm and 7pm.

Review

We are currently experiencing our 4 year School Review and as part of this important process we are working with staff from the Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools and our Reviewer Jan Hayes. Jan joined us during our School Closure Day on 12 February - an invaluable opportunity for our staff to receive professional learning and work together to constantly review and improve our practice here at OLA. We have been meeting deadlines over the last couple of weeks to provide evidence of meeting all VRQA and Child Safe Standard requirements. Our Review includes:

Preliminary visit (Compliance) - Monday 4 March

Day 1 of Review - Tuesday 12 March

Day 2 of Review - Thursday 14 March 

Dialogue and Engagement - Tuesday 23 April 

Welcome Picnic

This time alst week we were able to enjoy an amazing Welcome Picnic on the grounds here at OLA. It was a perfect night with all of our new and current families connecting. The singing and music was sensational and Sean and Jake had all our kids up moving, dancing and singing. It was wonderful to see our staff staying back and mingling with our families. Thank you to our P&F for creating such a lovely atmosphere and thank you to all who came along. Thank you also to TheirCare for providing some outdoor activities for our families to enjoy.

Extreme Weather

Thank goodness for the weather alerts and the BOM! We have had moments where we have needed to stay inside for playtime due to humidity, temperature, rain or even hail like we can see in the middle photo below! Hail stones galore certainly hit sunny Cheltenham. We trialled on one occasion to open the classrooms from 3pm so families could get their children early and make a quick exit to avoid the downpour. It seemed to work well, opened up the car park and allowed for a safer departure. We will keep this up our sleeve for another day when the skies open up at pick up time!! Please also note that we have an Extreme Weather Policy and Procedure which states 36 degrees in the temperature that we operate from inside - we also use common sense on this one and take a guide the conditions, and from our staff and students

Working Bee

Like many schools, we hold termly Working Bees where we ask our families to commit to one rostered Working Bee a year completing basic gardening and maintenance tasks.

The Working Bees will take place on the following dates:

Term 1 - Saturday 2 March 10am-12pm (we understand that this is short notice)

Term 2 - Saturday 4 May 10am-12pm

Term 3 - Saturday 27 July 10am-12pm

Term 4 - Saturday 9 November 10am-12pm (In time for the Fete!)

Please find below the 2024 Working Bee Roster - we have families from each of the grades across each of the four Working Bees. You are welcome to bring your children to the Working Bees and they can help with tasks and/or play with other children who are also attending. The sense of pride in our school grounds and buildings is increased dramatically with engagement in activities such as this and it is a lovely informal way to get to know other families at OLA. We also ask families to bring tools along to Working Bees, (clearly named) that may be able to assist us in the tasks at hand, for example, wheelbarrows, rakes, shovels, Whipper Snippers, Hedgers, blowervacs etc.

If you have a particular skill that could help the school please also let us know and we can ensure that you are able to be assigned to an appropriate task. Please note you are welcome to swap/change your days with another family or you can make a donation if you are unable to attend. If you would like to request a different date to attend a Working Bee please email Sharan Talbot at the office (office@olacheltenham.catholic.edu.au) with your preference.  Thank you as always for your support of our great school.

2025 Prep Enrolments

We held our first School Tour on Monday 19 February and it was lovely to meet so many new families. Thanks to all the families who came along to tour and thank you to our School Captain and Leadership Team for leading the tours and presentation. We loved sharing our school with the visitors.

Our next school tour will be on Monday the 26th of February at 9:15am. If you have a child or you know someone wanting to tour schools for their child, please encourage them to book a school tour online on the school website or call Sharan or Gabrielle in our front office to book a school tour. We encourage our current families to have their Enrolment Applications (also now online) completed and submitted as soon as possible.  It is exciting to see so many little brothers and sisters bursting to start here at OLA next year.   If you are not able to make these tours, you are welcome to call to make a time that does work for you. 

Child Safe Practices - WWCC

OLA is committed to providing a child safe environment and take active steps to ensure any person authorised to conduct ‘child connected works’ does not pose a risk to their safety or welfare. To achieve this, the school implements screening processes, including Working With Children Checks (WWCC), to assess and verify their suitability. 

OLA ensures that non-teaching staff, contractors, volunteers and visitors are of suitable character and do not have a relevant criminal record that poses an unjustifiable risk to children. Teaching Staff & Casual Relief Teachers who are registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) undergo criminal record checks via their annual registration.

Volunteering to Assist with School Programs- WWCC

Parents would be aware that to assist with any of our school programs that all volunteers, parents/guardians/family members are required to have a current Working With Children Check on our school records. Please refer to the following site for details on accessing a WWCC. Family members are to provide a copy of the WWCC to the school office. 

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) begins on March 13. This annual assessment is for students in Grades 3, 5, 7 and 9. NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that allows parents to see how their child is progressing against national standards in literacy and numeracy. 

The tests provide schools, states and territories with information about how education approaches are working and the areas to be prioritised for improvement. The results can assist teachers by providing additional information to support their professional judgement about students’ levels of literacy and numeracy attainment and progress.

NAPLAN tests are one aspect of each school’s assessment and reporting process, they do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student’s performance. Your child’s teacher will have the best insight into your child’s educational progress.

The NAPLAN timetable at OLA is as follows:

• Wednesday, 13th March: Writing
• Thursday, 14th March: Reading
• Tuesday, 19th March: Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar & punctuation)
• Wednesday, 20th March: Mathematics

As a school, we then have until 25 March to catch up on any missed assessments. Given we have such a large period of time to catch up missed tests, please don't feel the need to send your child to school if they're not feeling well on the day of a test. We can administer any missed assessments at a later date.

It is important to note that NAPLAN results do not measure overall school quality. The assessments are undertaken annually nationwide. 

Over the next couple of weeks our students in Grade 3 & Grade 5 will spend time being exposed to the style of questions they're to receive in the assessments. This is done in order to reduce anxiety and worry in our students around the testing period, and to provide strategies they can employ during the assessments. 

If you have any further questions about NAPLAN, please contact Josy Reeder (Learning  and Teaching Leader). 

Fees

The school fees, levies and camps are billed for the whole year at the beginning of Term 1 and were sent out on Thursday 1 February by Gabrielle McGee. If you didn't receive your statement via email please contact Gabrielle McGee,  (accounts@olacheltenham.catholic.edu.au).  Families are welcome to pay their school fees off in a manner that best suits their needs i.e. in one annual payment, by the term, month or fortnight. BPAY is the preferred payment method, however payment can be made at the school office by EFTPOS or cash. Reminder: statements are sent out throughout the year. If you change your email address, residential address or any contact phone numbers, please let the office know.

Camps, Sports & Excursion Fund (CSEF)

If you have a Health Care Card that was current on 29/01/2024, please email Gabrielle for CSEF and Concessional Fee Rebate Application Forms. CSEF Applications close on 26th February. 

Catholic Secondary Education Guide 2024 Link

To assist your decision making in relation to your child's secondary education for 2025 and beyond, please find below a link to the March 2024edition of the Catholic Education Guide. 

CLICK HERE: https://victoriaschoolguides.starcommunity.com.au/catholic-education/

Calendar

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

Pupil Free Days for 2024

• Monday 29 January 2024 Planning and Preparation
• Monday 12 February School Review
• Monday 15 April  RE/Inquiry with Kate Korber
• Friday 7 June Positive Behaviour & Family Partnerships 
• Monday 15 July Spiritual Development/Faith Formation
• Monday 7 October Literacy
• 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 7 March and Thursday 27 June

OLA Fete on Friday 22 November

Last day of school Tuesday 17 December

Please note the following changes to the 2024 Calendar:

Noting that the Kings Birthday Long Weekend is Monday 10 June the School Closure Day will now take place on 7 June (not 11 June) 

End of Year Community Event now Thursday 5 December at 6.30pm (not 28 November)

Followed by School Closure Day Friday 6 December (not 29 November)

Key dates for the next 2 weeks...

Congratulations

Kilbreda College Dux for 2023

What an honour to be invited to Kilbreda College for their first 2024 College Assembly. It was a delight to see so many of our past students proudly present and involved in school life and so many of them achieving great success academically, in the Arts or Sport, as leaders or for being good humans. It is Kilbreda's tradition to recognise the achievements of their Scholars of Distinction from the preceding year. We are very proud of all past OLA students who were in the Class of 2023 who achieved excellent results. In particular we send our congratulations to Hayley Meure, a graduate of Our Lady of the Assumption School, for being awarded College Dux for 2023 achieving an outstanding ATAR of 99.45 in the Victorian Certificate of Education.

Moments of Joy

Swim Squad

Our enthusiastic swimmers were up bright and early, vying for a spot on the OLA District Swim Squad. What an incredible way to start to the day for our Grade 3-6 students who were up for the challenge! It was great to see the two mornings filled with personal bests and ribbon-worthy performances.  Well done to all the children for their dedication and effort! A special thank you goes to Mrs Arthur, Mrs Thompson and Mrs Taig for their coaching and encouragement of the children during these sessions, and to the parents for their support in making it all possible. 

Running Club

Gearing up for Cross Country, the Grade 3-6 students laced up their sneakers and ran at the launch of our Running Club this morning. With the amazing turn up we have decided to allocate levels to different days - Grade 3/4 students can join on Tuesday (8.15-8.30am) and Grade 5/6 children can join on Thursday (8.15-8.30am). A big thank you to Miss Riley and Mr O’Connor for creating this great opportunity and to Mrs Reeder, Miss Turner and Miss Siracusa for helping make it happen. It was an energetic start to the day. Congratulations to all children who turned up and gave their best.

Fun for Staff

It was lovely for the staff and their children to take a moment in these first few weeks to socialise and have some fun at the Mentone Bowling Club.  The weather was kind to us and the competitive spirit was alive and well!!

Celebrations

25+ Years of Service to OLA

With so much gratitude for our much loved Kirsten Milinski we appreciated Kirsten joining the staff to celebrate this great milestone. Kirsten has also taken this moment to announce her retirement and we wish her all the very best and may her health continue to improve. On behalf of the OLA community we say thank you to you Kirsten and we are so proud of the positive impact you have had on so many students and their families. We look forward to you continuing to pop in and visit us. Some memories from the children:

Charlotte 

There was one cold day Mrs Milinski let us have extra indoor playtime because it was raining and she felt bad we missed out on playing. It was so much fun playing lego instead of writing. Mrs Milinski never shouted at us, she was the best Prep teacher ever. 

Bernard 

I loved it when Mrs Milinski would put the unifix blocks outside the classroom during playtime for us to use. She always made sure I had something to play with and friends to play with when I was outside. A whole entire fifth of the class would play with the unifix blocks!!! She was the kindest and nicest teacher. 

Luci 

Mrs Milinski was a really nice teacher, she always gave us such fun activities to do. I loved when we would draw pictures in class and do lots of writing. She taught us so much spelling and I love spelling. 

Ellie 

Mrs Milinski taught me how to read and write. She would help me when I made mistakes and tell me it was okay that I made mistakes. She taught me so so much and now I am so much more confident. 

Maeve 

One time I hurt my knee really bad and Mrs Milinski was so kind to me and looked after me so well. She let me sit at my table and gave me things to do that wouldn’t hurt my leg. I was so lucky she was my teacher. She was so kind to me. 

Olympia 

When we learned the whole alphabet we got to throw a party and bring in lots of yummy snacks. Mrs Milinski made sure everyone got the same amount of food and it was fair for everyone. I brought Anzac Biscuits. They were yummy.

Happy 80th Birthday

We wish Fr Peter Matheson the happiest of birthdays for his special zero birthday on 12 February! We also congratulate Fr Peter on his amazing contribution of over 50 years as a priest - 13 of which were here at OLA. We were delighted to have Fr Peter join us for cake and stories and we love how his celebrations continue.

Thank you all for your support and energy as we gain flow and momentum into our school year.

Richard Jacques

Principal