Principal's Piece 

Term 1, Week 4

Dear Parents and Carers,

Research indicates that parent engagement in schools is closely linked to better student behaviour, higher academic achievement, and enhanced social skills. At Our Lady's we offer parents a variety of opportunities to connect with our school such as attending our Parent/Teacher Conversations, assisting in the canteen, attending excursions and if you wish to be involved with the operational aspects of the school we have a School Advisory Council. 

Attending our parent Teacher Conversations next week is one small way of connecting with our school.  Thank you to all parents who have already booked in a time to meet with their child's teacher. This is a great opportunity to meet your child's classroom teacher and discuss your child's start to the school year. Our specialist teachers will also have their classrooms open for you to visit, so we encourage families to take the time to visit these classrooms too. 

 Parents who wish to participate in a forum where parents are consulted and participate in the decision making process at Our Lady's may wish to consider being a member of our  School Advisory Council.   No particular expertise is required except a desire to represent and give voice to the parent body and discuss important matters that relate to the school's commitment to providing the best possible education for our students. Our first meeting for the year will be on Tuesday 5th March at 7 pm. If you are interested in being part of the School Advisory Council and in attending the meeting, please complete the link below.

Thank you to all the parents who attended our parent workshop with Brad Williams on Monday evening. We received lots of positive feedback from our parents on Brad's presentation, especially around the emotion coaching. 

I was excited to attend the Graduates Commissioning Mass on Tuesday morning with our graduates Nicholas Petruolo, Chanel Romeo, Mariam Mansour, and Julia Pungitore. The mass was at St Patrick's Cathedral with Archbishop Peter Comensoli as the primary celebrant. Our graduate teachers have already proven to be a great asset to Our Lady's.  

I can't believe we are already thinking about Prep 2025. Our school tours commence next week. We will be having school tours each Thursday at 10 am and an information session on Tuesday 23rd April at 7 pm.  Please scan the QR code if you would like to attend. 

IMPORTANT Canteen Update: Due to the high volume of students accessing the canteen during break time, we have decided to only sell icy poles/icecreams during breaks. All other treats such as honey joys, chips, cupcakes, etc will need to be ordered via COMPASS and will be sent to classrooms with lunch orders. This change will start from Monday 26th February. We are also in urgent need of parent helpers in our canteen, if you could spare a couple of hours please contact Mr. Pietryk via email: mpietryk@olps.vic.edu.au 

It's that time again - please follow the link to join our competition, open to all families and friends of Our Lady's. Great prizes for the winners!

School Calendar:  Please check the School Community Calendar Page for important upcoming events, term dates & school closure days. 

Take care and have a lovely weekend, 

Cinzia Mancuso

Acting  Principal