Principal's Message

Dear OLA Families,

Mother's Day is such a special day on so many levels, and today at school and this Sunday at home we will all take a moment to celebrate and honor all the mothers and special people in our lives both past and present. Whether it's through breakfast in bed, a hug, a meal together, a heartfelt message, a thoughtful gift, or spending quality time together, it is a time where we get to show our appreciation. It has been a privilege for us on staff to hear the children speak of their gratitude and appreciation for the mothers and special people in their lives.  It's so important we recognise the care and love aswell as the amazing contributions these great people make in our families and in our community. 

It was so lovely to see so many of our beautiful Mums and special friends at school this morning. We loved being able to celebrate each one of you and all that you do. Thank you to our OLA Parents and Friends for organising the Mother's Day Breakfast and Mother's Day Stall. It was such a great morning, where children were able to bring their mothers and special friends together for breaky, and a great opportunity to spend time in the classrooms looking and talking about the work they are most proud of and for the children to read to their special visitor and just be together.

Working Bee

One of our favourite days at OLA has to be the Working Bee. We are so grateful to the many families who attended our second Working Bee last Saturday. The weather was amazing and the jobs completed are many.  The seats near the oval have been oiled, our Indigenous Garden has been edged and raked, Bracken Hall's outside play area is neat as a pin, the pathways have been cleared, the front garden on Centre Dandenong Road looks amazing and over 10 cubic metres of soft fall was topped up on the Adventure Playground! And this is not everything!! Thank you so much. OLA's grounds and buildings are looking at their best and very much well loved.

House Team Athletics Day

What a great day! Thank you to Mrs Thompson for planning and organising a great OLA House Athletics Day. The day ran smoothly and with great success! Each year it keeps getting better. Thank you to all staff and parents involved in the day - it takes positive energy and effort from each and everyone of you to make a day like this successful. We are so proud of the house team spirit from all children and we thank our House Team Leaders for their extra involvement and energy. One of the highlights from the day was the P-6 relay for each house team. Every child engaged in the same activity at the same time and the finish was so tightly contested.

Exciting Google Visit

Last Friday I was lucky enough to join a group of Victorian teachers on an incredible journey to Google HQ in Sydney,  the birthplace of Google Maps! A hub of creativity, the Google Office left me brimming with many ideas that could be used to enhance our learning and learning spaces at OLA. It was a wonderful opportunity to join experts Tserlin Heatherton and Kate Korber who we consult with at OLA. I left Google with new insights into 'Google for Education'; a site that offers a suite of free tools designed to empower students and educators. From collaborative documents to engaging classroom presentations, these tools can assist with many stages of the planning, teaching and learning journey! I am very excited to share my learnings with the OLA community and look towards integrating Google's innovative approach to ignite students' curiosity and foster a deeper love of learning! 

Tess Riley, Grade 3/4 Classroom Teacher and Level Leader

Katalyst Foundation - Donations from OLA

Last week we donated several readers and stationery items to the Katalyst Foundation - Katalyst supports many disadvantaged schools located in the Western region of Vanua Levu, Fiji. The Katalyst Student Essentials Program provides educational supplies to these schools, and OLA is proud to be an active supporter of this program. We recieved the below email from Liz, the General Manager of Katalyst: 

Thank-you! Our deepest appreciation to you and your team for your recent donation of much needed books and stationery for our people in Fiji.

We really can’t thank you enough for your ongoing personal support of our work, we very much appreciate you and the school community at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish Primary School.

Introducing our ACU Student Teacher

Hello Families!

I am Johanna McDermott and I am a fourth year student from ACU (finishing in June!) and completing my Bachelor in Early Childhood and Primary Education. I am currently undertaking my final placement at OLA in PrepCH with Mrs.Harrison. I will be here until the end of May. I look forward to meeting all the children at the school and becoming more confident as a future graduate teacher! 

Miss McDermott

2025 Prep Enrolments

We completed our official School Tours last week and enrolments were due last Friday 3 May. While we are very excited about our 27 siblings already enrolled for 2025, we have also sent out our first round offers.  We have also been delighted with the highly encouraging response to the 2025 enrolment application process. Since the closing date we have continued to run tours and accept applications. Enrolment applications will always remain open and families are welcome to apply. Once all first round applications are processed, if there are any further places available we will then make our second round offers and so forth. 

If 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. 

Parish Amalgamation

We are currently working on an amalgamation of Highett & Cheltenham parishes. 

Phase 2 of the ‘Amalgamation and renewal process’ has taken place and reflections and ideas from those gathered are linked below. These sessions took place on Thursday 18 April and Thursday 2 May, respectively. The documents and slide shows referred to in these sessions have been progressively added to the OLA Parish Website News Page:  https://olacheltenham.org.au/2024/04/19/discernmentsessions-phase-2-documents/

OLA FETE - 23 November 2024 

Donations and Sponsorship 

The OLA fete is on Saturday 23 November, and the fete committee are busy preparing for what we hope will be an amazing event. We are currently seeking donations and sponsorship to make our fete a huge success. We ask you or anyone you know who runs a business and would like to donate, or sponsor, the OLA Fete to please contact either Antonella or Liz via email: biv_is@hotmail.com liz.grace.dawson@gmail.com 

In exchange for donations, we will provide your business with exposure via social media accounts and in the school newsletter. Let’s all work together for our beautiful parish school to make this year’s fete at OLA another successful one.

Shade Sail

Back in 2021 we were successful in receiving a $25,000 grant for new shade sails over outdoor learning spaces. We have hit a few hurdles with a rising water table and we have not been able to go ahead with large shade sail over the entire area, but we have managed to set up for shade across the new table and surrounding grass area. The sails have been measured up and should be with us within the month.

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.

Calendar

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

Pupil Free Days for 2024

• Monday 15 April  RE/Inquiry with Kate Korber
• Friday 7 June Family Partnerships 
• Monday 15 July Spiritual Development/Faith Formation
• Monday 7 October Respectful Relationships 
• 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 27 June

OLA Fete on Friday 22 November

Last day of school Tuesday 17 December

Congratulations

Around the grounds

What a delight it was to walk the playground over the last couple of weeks and to check in with the children and join in some of the games and activities. It is so lovely to see the relationships happening within the class groups as well as across classes and year levels. We thank our students for being kind in the things they say and do.

Invitations

It is always wonderful to have students visit the principal and leadership team to celebrate their learning and for special moments like giving us an invitation to join them in their classroom. We recently have had the Grade 1/2s come to invite us to join their Class Prayer Services. We love these visits from our extra proud children. 

Grade 2MV Class Prayer Service

This week we began our Junior Class Prayer Services with 2MV hosting the first prayer service on Wednesday.  These prayer services are such a wonderful celebration of our Catholic faith and it is extra beautiful that they are so inclusive of all faiths in our community. A huge congrats to all involved and thank you to our families for your support and presence.

District Cross Country

Congratulations to the 52 students who represented OLA at District Cross Country on Tuesday. The children have done a wonderful job attending before school training sessions with Mr O’Connor and Miss Riley, as well as lunchtime sessions with Mrs Thompson in preparation for this. Everyone gave their best and we achieved great results with 8 children progressing through to Kingston Division on Thursday 23 May. 

Congratulations to Cleo K, Brigitte M, Dolores M, Olivia H, Jess G, Michael W, Christian M

& Peter K. We wish these children all the very best for Division. Training sessions will continue thanks to the generosity of Mr O’Connor, Miss Riley and Mrs Thompson.

ANZAC Day Appeal

The President and Committee of the Bentleigh / Cheltenham RSL appreciate the support of our school community who donated to the ANZAC Day Appeal by selling on behalf of the RSL. Our Lady Of Assumption Parish Primary School raised a total of $240.00.

The money raised provides welfare support to ex-servicemen and women and their dependants in necessitous circumstances, to assist in providing for:  

·                     War veterans and dependants  

·                     Care of the aged  

·                     Family Welfare 

·                     Community/Aged Care Visiting                      

SSV Southern Conference 12 Years & Under Girls Basketball Team VIC trials

Congratulations to Bella K for progressing from the Kingston trial through to the Southern Conference for 12 Years and Under girls Basketball TEAM VIC. What an experience for you Bella - a wonderful opportuity to be put through your paces. I understand the training and trialling sessions have been intensive. We are excited to announce that Bella has been nominated to participate in the Future Development Program (FDP) 2024/2025. 

Sending Best Wishes from OS

Just letting you know Jules and I are having a pretty amazing time. We’ve been to London, Edinburgh, Bologna, Rome (as you can see) and tomorrow leaving Split for Dubrovnik, then Greece. Feeling very lucky to be able to do this… mind you, it’s good to have a break after 38 years of teaching!! I hope everyone at OLA is going well. Please pass on my best to everyone (if they still recall who I am!). Trish O'Gorman

Thank you

Parent Volunteers

Today is a great example of many hands make light work. Thank you to all who volunteered their time to be present and involved in the Mother's and Special Friends Day Breakfast and Stall. We hope all the great people in our lives felt the love. It was beautiful to see the delight in the children's faces being here at school early and celebrating their Mums and special people. I dont think I have ever seen in my many years in education so many Dads (20+!) rocking up to help out and make sure it was a special morning. What a great community we have!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mums and special women in our OLA community and thank you for all you do to care for your own families and for all in our community.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Richard Jacques

Principal