Principal's Message

Dear OLA Families,

Who would have thought that the end of Term 1 is here already! A huge 10 weeks! The new Preps have settled in beautifully and are looking like they have been at school for years. We hope Miss Powell (LSO), Miss Lim (Prep NL), Miss Summers (Grade 1ES), Ms Flood (STEM), Ms Moya (Spanish), Miss MacKenzie (3/4EJ on a Tuesday) , Miss O'Halloran (5/6SP on a Tuesday) and our new families are feeling welcomed and part of our great community.

OLA Easter Raffle

Thank you to our wonderful OLA P&F Team for organising this exciting and much loved moment in the school calendar. The raffle raised $2594 which will go towards items that will benefit our students from our 2025 OLA Wishlist. Thank you to all families for being involved donating Easter Eggs and prizes and thank you to all families for selling and purchasing raffle tickets. 

Congratulations to our prize winners:

1st Koukoumanos Family

2nd  De Marco Family

3rd Drever Family

Thank you also for the gold coin donations for our Casual Clothes Day today. We raised $231.10 which will also go towards OLA P&F fundraising initiatives.

Holy Week Liturgies 2025

Working Bee

Thank you to all our students, staff and families for helping our classrooms, buildings and grounds look so good. A special thank you to the families who came to school to help out at the Working Bee on Saturday 22 March! Our school looked so lovely and we are so thankful for another successful event to beautify our school. The atmosphere was inclusive and warm and the jobs completed were many! The school buildings and grounds looked and continue to look amazing with so much pride taken in maintaining them and making them safe and tidy.

Trivia Night

What a fun and relaxed night we had at our OLA Party Mix Trivia Night! Thank you to all our parents and friends for taking the time to come and enjoy some great conversations and company. An impressive turn out for which we are most grateful. Thank you to Del, Lauren K, Taryn and Linda for taking the lead with organising this great event. 

School Tours and 2026 Enrolments 

Enrolments for Prep 2026 are still open and we encourage all current families who have a Prep child beginning next year to submit their applications by Friday. All other enrolment applications are due by Friday 9 May. We then look forward to making a time to meet with each of the Prep students and their families before the end of May and making our first round offers at that time. 

Our school tours have been buzzing and so well attended with many families coming to see for themselves what makes OLA a very special place to be. Thank you to all for sharing such great stories about the learning and wellbeing and what it’s like being part of our great community. We have two more School Tours to come early next term so please book your school tour online on the school website.  If you are not able to make these tours please know that you are welcome to call Sharan/Maria to make a time that does work for you.

Sickness

A reminder to all in our community that when a child has experienced gastro (vomiting and/or diarrhoea) or had a 24 hour bug they must remain at home for at least another 24 hours after their last episode. Please note these bugs are especially contagious at the moment. It is helpful and important that when your child is sick that they do stay home to rest and recover. If you do choose to send your child to school because you think they are well enough please do not give them the words, "please get the school to ring me if you are unwell". You can imagine that this is naturally their go to state of mind.

Mobile Phone and Smart Watches

A reminder to all families that mobile phones are to be placed at the office as the children arrive at school and collected from the office at 3.15pm. If your child wears a smart watch then it needs to be disabled during the school day/in class mode or left at the front office. We ask that messages to parents/carers on phones are to be sent inside the office area only rather than on the yard or on the walk home - for their own safety and the safety of others phones must remain in your child's school bag until they are inside the office area. What is transpiring is that children have been seen on the yard huddled around a phone and even taking photos, so we thank you in advance for your support with this.

Uniform

A timely reminder of our high expectations in regards to School Uniform here at OLA. We appreciate that we all have many balls in the air so let's be mindful not to drop this one. Please ensure your child only wears blue or black hair ties and ribbons. A simple chain necklace is welcome to be worn under the children's uniform and studs or sleeper earrings only. No bracelets/anklets/nail polish please - they are a treat for the weekend/holidays. Please also ensure white socks with sports uniform only and no logos and navy blue socks with our regular school uniform. Please support us as we place a press on this important aspect of school life. Taking pride in our uniform/dress is a lesson and learning for life. Winter Uniforms are to be worn in Term 2 and Term 3. We always give two weeks grace at the start of a uniform changeover to enable families time to get organised and in the swing of things.

School Drop Off

Today we take the opportunity to clarify drop off times at OLA. We ask for your understanding and support with drop off time being 8.30am.  For the safety of all students and all in our community it is important to know that supervision of students begins at 8.30am, with classrooms opening at 8.35am.  The morning time is an important time for staff and leaders to be meeting and preparing for the day ahead. TheirCare before school services are available for families who do need the earlier start. Thanks again for your understanding and please partner with us to keep all in our community safe.

Calendar

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

SAVE THE DATE

Monday 28 July - Grandparent's and Special Friend's Day - 'G' DAY

School Term Dates - 2025

Term 2, 2025

Tuesday 22nd April - Friday 4th July (11 weeks)

Term 3, 2025

Tuesday 22 July - Friday 19th September (9 weeks) 

Term 4, 2025

Tuesday 7 October - Tuesday 16th December (11 weeks)

Congratulations

Reconciliation

Congratulations to our Grade 3 students who made the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Forgiveness is a beautiful thing and these students left their conversation with Fr Alan with a skip in their step and a lightness and smile that we could all see and feel. Thank you to Caitlan, Colleen, Fr Alan and the beautiful Grade 3/4 Team for leading our students on this next step in their faith journey.

Full Participation Strategies

Our classes have been buzzing with great conversations around learning especially in our uninterrupted two hours of literacy and one hour of Mathematics each day. Congratulations and thank you to our staff who have continued exploring full participation strategies and are becoming more and more familiar with the principles underpinning full participation in our classrooms. Thank you especially to Ms Collins for recently leading this Professional Learning in Mathematics. In this photo it highlights the Think Pair Share tactic that involves:

• establishing talk partners for every student
• setting a question for all students to discuss in their pairs
• giving students time to think individually before they turn to share their ideas
• staff circulating around the class as the students share their ideas
• staff sampling the discussions and choosing who to respond.

G.A.T.E.WAYS

Congratulations to the students who were selected to represent OLA at the recent G.A.T.E.WAYS ‘Eureka’ program, Breaking New Ground. Christian and Oden pictured here are a great representation of the strong team that attended this extension program and opened their minds to a whole range of new possibilities in Science and Investigations.

MACS Art Exhibition

Congratulations to Chiara whose artwork was selected to be exhibited in the MACS Catholic Education Week Creative Arts Exhibition.  Chiara's collaged Picasso Face that is usually hung in the front office at OLA and Isabelle M's (Grade 6 2024) Indonesian Batik Fabric Design in the Brigid Hall Foyer have been on display in the city during Catholic Education Week. Congratulations - we are so proud of you both! 

School Photo Day

School Photo Day is always a special one. The confidence, pride and smiles were beautiful. Whether it be the individual, sibling or class photo our students knew these photos were keepers and were going to be shared with many of their family and friends. Thank you and congratulations to all in our community who helped our students be super ready for this moment. The pride in student uniforms has been excellent this term.

Gratitude

Thank you to all in our community who support and partner with us to give the best possible primary education and opportunities to the children in our care.  The recent Google Reviews are very much appreciated and prospective families do read these and comment to us how they are so warm and leaves them wanting to visit our great school.

A recent Google Review:

My daughter absolutely loves attending OLA! The teachers are caring, supportive, and truly dedicated. The school fosters a wonderful sense of community, with a strong focus on both academics and values. The facilities are great, and there are plenty of extracurricular activities to keep the children engaged. We’ve seen our daughter grow in confidence and thrive in such a nurturing environment. Highly recommend OLA to any parent looking for a school that prioritises both education and personal development!

Term 2 Starting Date

A reminder that the first day of next term, Tuesday 22 April, will be a Pupil Free Day for staff professional learning - the focus of this day will be First Aid. The children begin on the following day, Wednesday 23 April. A reminder that Friday 25 April is a public holiday commemorating ANZAC Day.

Wishing all our OLA family and friends a very happy Easter.

May the hope and joy of this season fill your hearts and minds.

Have a wonderful holiday and thank you for such a great start to the school year!

Richard Jacques

Principal