Principal's Message

Dear OLA Families

Who would have thought that the end of Term 1 is here already! A huge 10 weeks! Our new Preps have settled in beautifully and are looking like they have been at school for years. We love their smile, their kindness and the skip in their step. We hope Miss Rourke and Mrs Kelman (LSOs), Ms Jeffree (1/2MV on a Tuesday), Miss Nielsen (Grade 1/2RN), Miss Davidson (3/4CD), Mrs Bien (5/6SP on a Tuesday), Ms Caviano (Spanish), and our new families are feeling welcomed and part of our great community. Our Grade 6shave embraced the many leadership opportunities presented at this stage of the year and we look forward to seeing them flourish in Term 2. 

We thank our many parent helpers and the active P&F who continue to generously offer up their time for our community. We’ve simply had an amazing start to the school year and can look forward with much excitement and anticipation to the coming terms, including planning for the Parent Trivia Night and OLA Fete. We particularly acknowledge the Parent Reps in Prep, Grades 1 and 3 and the P&F Exec for their work on the Prep Welcome Morning Tea, Welcome Picnic, Pancake Day and the Easter Raffle this term.  

We thank our amazing staff, who have invested so much in their students' wellbeing and academic progress this term. Their care and inspiring work continues to drive the many successes in our community, and helps place us as the school of choice in Cheltenham and beyond. 

And let us not forget some of those very special memories that have been created this term... 

Thank you all for such a wonderful start to our school year. Thank you to all for turning up with such a positive attitude, being kind and giving your best.

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 $2806which will go towards items that will benefit our students from our 2026 OLA Wishlist. Thank you to all Prep and Grade 3 families for being involved donating Easter Eggs and activity prizes and thank you to all families for selling and purchasing raffle tickets. 

Congratulations to our prize winners:

1st Louris Family

2nd Moore Family

3rd Stewart Family

4th Demchyshyn Family

Thank you also for the $2 donations for our Casual Clothes Day today. The money raised will go towards activities for the children at our OLA Fete.

Holy Week Liturgies 2026

This afternoon, we gathered as a whole school community to celebrate Holy Week through our Easter Triduum liturgy, marking this most significant time in our Catholic faith. Across the week, classroom learning and prayer provided students with opportunities to reflect more deeply on key moments including Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Stations of the Cross. We also acknowledge the wonderful efforts of Mrs Taig, who has supported our teachers and students in leading our liturgical program. We welcome all our OLA families to join our Parish this Easter for Mass at one of these special times:

Caritas - Project Compassion

Today our Project Compassion boxes were collected from each classroom and this money is combined with our OLA Church and Christ Our Light Parish contribution to give to the great works of Caritas. We will share this figure with you next term, but please know we are grateful for all the contributions and we have loved the beautiful stories of children doing all they can to make their own contribution.

Wellbeing & Learning Diversity

Over the past few weeks, Mrs Reeder and Miss Turner facilitated the termly PSGs for our families and teachers. We are indebted to Josy and Shelby for the wonderful work they do in this important role - supporting families, students and staff. We also sincerely thank our dedicated classroom teachers, support staff and LSOs for the significant work they do in writing and actioning various learning plans and goals for their students. As identified by many families, our staff go above and beyond for the students. 

2027 Prep Enrolments

We have been simply overwhelmed by the number of applications for Prep 2027 and, with 24 siblings already on our list for next year our numbers are once again very strong. This demand reflects the strength of our community and the positive reputation of our school within a highly competitive educational landscape, which we are proud to see affirmed through a strong list for 2027. Should any families have any questions about our Prep 2027 or 2028 intake, please contact the school office on (03) 9584 9488. Enrolment applications were due in on Monday 30 March and while we continue to meet both new and current families keen to attend OLA our first round offers will go out by Friday 1 May.

Principal Conference

Last week, I was offsite in Lorne attending the Victorian Catholic Primary School Principals Association Conference alongside colleagues from across the sector. Opportunities such as this are invaluable, allowing us to engage with current thinking, strengthen connections across Catholic education in Victoria, and ensure OLA remains aligned with best practice. Some of the outstanding workshops included: Yemi Penn, Raymond Friel, Preeya Alexander, Marlee Silva, Justin Coulson and Peter Merrett. As always, the school was in very capable hands with Mrs Taig and Mrs Reeder, and I am grateful to our leadership team, office staff and teachers who continue to step up and ensure everything runs so smoothly in my absence.

2026 Working Bee #1 - 16/5/2026

Like many schools, we hold 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 2 - Saturday 16 May 10am-12pm 
• Term 3 - Saturday 25 July10am-12pm
• Term 4 - Friday 30 October 4-6pm

Please find below the 2026 Term 1 Working Bee Roster - we have families from each of the grades across each of the three 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 (on average families donate $50) if you are unable to attend. If you would like to request a different date to attend a Working Bee please email Sharan at the office (office@olacheltenham.catholic.edu.au) with your preference.  Thank you as always for your support of our great school.

2026 Working Bee #1 - 16/5/2026

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.

Term 2 Before School Opportunity

In addition to TheirCare, STEM Monsters, Assumption Netball, Music/Instrumental Lessons, and Art4Schools, All Stars Martial Arts are going to trial a Before School opportunity in Term 2 at OLA for children in Prep-Grade 4.

Calendar

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

School Term Dates - 2026

Term 1, 2026

Wednesday 28 January - Thursday 2 April (10 weeks)

Term 2, 2026

Monday 20 April - Friday 26 June (10 weeks)

Term 3, 2026

Tuesday 14 July - Friday 18 September (10 weeks)

Term 4, 2026

Tuesday 6 October - Tuesday 15 Dec (11 weeks)

Thank you 

Fete Information Evening

What an amazing turn out for our OLA Fete Info Evening. As we excitedly continue to plan for our OLA Fete on Saturday 7 November it is so important to have an awesome team in place to make it happen. Thank you to Rachel and Kim our Co-Chairs of the Fete Committee for hosting, welcoming and providing information. Everyone's involvement and support are crucial in making this event a resounding success, which will ultimately benefit our children and the Fete will be one of the best days of the year for many! 

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.

Grade 3-6 Cross Country

What a spectacular day for our OLA Cross Country. We were so proud to see such determined and proud students giving their best. It was extra lovely to see children encouraging each other, cheering each other on and even running alongside their house team members and class mates. Thank you to Mrs Thompson for her outstanding organisation, and to all of our wonderful parent helpers and teachers who made the day possible and enabled the day to run so smoothly. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Celebrating Harmony Day at OLA 

There was certainly LOTS of orange on display to celebrate Harmony Day! Thank you to everyone for getting involved and joining in the conversation about being welcoming, inclusive and respectful of all humans. A huge highlight for me was the openness of our parents in Prep to take up the invitation to come into their children's class to share the beautiful traditions and stories of their cultures. Thank you also to Senora Caivano and the Grade 6 Arts & Culture Leaders for coordinating whole school activities such as trivia and dancing for us to all enjoy. 

Principal Awards

We have been seeing some awesome work by our students across the school this term. Some recent visitors walked away taller and extra proud of their hard work. Their smiles tell it all. Congratulations on giving your absolute best and thank you for sharing your learning with us.

Novel Study

We are excited to continue our Novel Study program throughout the remainder of 2026 as part of the evidence based Ochre Literacy Resource in Grade 3 -6. This is the second year that we have implemented the Ochre resources in Grade 3/4 and we are excited about the outcomes already, so we have extended this approach in 2026 to Grade 5/6.

Within this program students engage with varied high quality texts to support their growth and development in reading, writing, grammar, punctuation, and comprehension. Together we explore different stories, characters and writing styles during each novel study, and support students to develop their comprehension, fluency, accuracy, discussion, and analytical skills, all while continuing to foster a love of reading.　

At OLA, we are committed to fostering a love of reading and an appreciation for quality literature. Our Novel Study program supports students in developing essential literacy skills while engaging with meaningful and memorable stories.

Prep Buddies and Easter Craft

We are certainly getting ready for Easter and the Easter Bunny in Prep! Our littlest ones spent time crafting and making stain glass Easter eggs with their Grade 5 buddies. Such precious and memorable moments.

Special Birthday

A huge congratulations to our wonderful LSO, Di McDowall who turns 70 in the holidays. We wish you every happiness Di and may you have many celebrations and much love coming your way to honour this special birthday and the special person you are.

Term 2 Starting Date

A reminder that the first day of next term for students and teachers will be Monday 20 April with Friday 24 April, being a Pupil Free Day for staff professional learning - the focus of this day will be Classroom Dynamics for Engagement in Learning with Glen Pearsall.  A reminder that Saturday 25 April is ANZAC Day and we will be commemorating this at OLA on Thursday 23 April at 10.45am.

Wishing all our OLA family and friends a joyful and peace-filled Easter.

We enjoyed a beautiful Holy Week Prayer Service today led by our SRC.

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

Richard Jacques

Principal