Principal's Message

Dear OLA Families

Wishing our wonderful students, families and staff a very Merry Christmas. 

Advent is such a joyous time as we await in hope for Christmas and the birth of Jesus. This beautiful story was brought to life by our amazing Prep children last Monday in front of their proud families, caring Grade 6 Buddies and the whole school. We have very much enjoyed conversations in classes about how different families prepare for Christmas and what plans are in place for this Christmas Day. 

We invite all our OLA community to enjoy the Advent and Christmas Masses at this special time as well as throughout the year.

Christ Our Light Parish Christmas Mass Times 

Tuesday 24th December (Christmas Eve) 

6pm Mass St Agnes’ Church, Highett

8pm Mass  OLA Church Cheltenham (Carols from 7.30pm)

Wednesday 25th December (Christmas Day) 

9am Mass     OLA Church Cheltenham

11am Mass   OLA Church Cheltenham

End of Year Thank You

At our Grade 6 Graduation Assembly on Monday we had past student Peter Gourlay return to school to present one of our special awards. Peter was in Grade 6 exactly 60 years ago and has loved his reconnecting with us at OLA over the last few years. He emailed us sharing his observations and gratitude:

Thank you for the opportunity to be involved today. 

The final assembly - and all that preceded and followed it - was outstanding.

Sister Margaret and I walked away totally in awe!

I am so impressed with the school culture and ethos. 

That assembly brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye.

Congratulations to you and all your team at OLA. 

You have much to be proud of – but I also understand that this school ethos is the product of much hard work and commitment.

Well done. 

Staff

My sincere thanks to our staff for their calmness, positivity and passion for learning and teaching. 2024 has been a great year for OLA and I thank the staff for going the extra mile everyday. Thank you for your work in planning and organising engaging learning opportunities and more recently for your report writing and for being so professional in your handover to the 2025 classroom teachers.  Thank you also for helping create special and memorable events, such as Christmas Carols, Expos and learning celebrations, the OLA Fete, Sacraments, Incursions and Excursions, Prep 2024 Orientation Program, Grade 4 Camp Experience, 2025 School Leaders Program, Big Day Out, Graduation, Advent liturgies...

Amongst it all I thank the staff for supporting each other and for their ongoing care for our beautiful children. This level of care can be witnessed by the manner in which staff cater for the wellbeing of our children and importantly for their academic growth. We have been most delighted to see that the collective efforts in the targeted delivery of curriculum positively impact our children.

We thank Anna Danson, Mark Buccilli, Bu Watts, Hayley Azar and Fintan O'Connor for their contribution to the OLA community.  We wish each of them all the best as they explore new opportunities for personal and professional growth in new locations and/or new educational settings. On behalf of the staff and past and present children and families we thank you all for your individual roles in developing the children that you have taught and cared for. We also wish Tess Riley all the best as she takes 12 months leave from her teaching and leadership duties at OLA while she moves to Sydney to support her partner who has been drafted to Sydney Swans.

Thank you to each and every staff member, may your Christmas holidays be full of peace, joy and restful days. 

School Families

On behalf of the staff team I thank each and every family for your support of the staff and your children throughout the year. We thank you for working with us and for being beside your children in their learning journey.  A sincere thanks to our parent community who have supported our school in so many ways this year; listening to children reading, assisting with PMP, supporting staff on excursions, working bee attendees, second hand uniform volunteers, library helpers, helping on the Parents & Friends Association and School Advisory Council and helping support our OLA Fete. I thank you all for giving of your time and talent to make a difference to our community.

Enjoy a wonderful Christmas with your families and we look forward to you joining us again for the commencement of the 2025 school year. 

Children

As we conclude the school year we reflect on all that has been achieved. I continue to be amazed at how much we can fit into the school calendar. There have been many wonderful opportunities for the children to engage in purposeful learning and the experiences have been rich and varied. We thank our children for bringing joy to our daily work, for being kind and always giving their best. We congratulate our children on the level of engagement that they have demonstrated throughout the year as well as the sense of pride they take in themselves, their work, their belongings, the school buildings and grounds.  We also thank you for the respect that you show each other and all the adults in our community.

Congratulations to the graduating Grade 6 class of 2024! 

We thank them for being great role models and leaders. We wish them all the very best as they journey into the next stage of their education and their life. We hope that their secondary school years are full of reward, great friendships and learnings that set them up for positive futures. 

Bless our Grade 6 children and touch them with your love.

Help them to know themselves and enjoy the person you created them to be.

Help them to use their gifts to serve you.

Help them to love you above all things.

Help us to guard them without our possessiveness.

To be firm and to protect them when we must.

Help us to be patient while they strive to find themselves.

To respect them for what you made them to be.

Help us to guide them with your wisdom and love.

A big thank you to Steve Pertz and the senior team for their organisation of such memorable graduation events. The children, parents and staff enjoyed it all. Thank you also to Elizabeth and Clive and the Grade 5 parents for hosting such a wonderful graduation celebration. The food, drinks, music, cupcakes and decorations all added to help create a special atmosphere and a great night.

We look forward to our Grade 4 and Grade 5 children stepping up to be our new leaders in 2025 and our 2025 Preps bringing their own sense of joy to our community.   

I congratulate all the children on their efforts this year and hope that the Christmas break will offer them rest and refresh them for another productive year in 2025. 

Parish Team

I thank Fr Alan for his ongoing support for our parish and in particular our school. We thank him for welcoming our classes to Mass and for celebrating the Sacraments. I thank Vino who works in the Parish Office for her gentleness and kindness and the Parish Team for partnering with the school.  

A Personal Note of Thanks

My thanks to Sharan and Maria for their daily support for myself, Josy, Caitlan, the staff and school community.   We thank Sharan and Maria for their many hours of work.

I also acknowledge the work of Lee Vaessen, who continues to maintain our school grounds and buildings in an outstanding manner. 

Thank you to our Level Leaders, Michela, Tess and Steve who continue to model being good human beings, positivity and professionalism. We thank Tess in particular for her commitment to the Leadership Team as she takes a year of leave as Middle Level Leader and we welcome Eliza Jones to the team in 2024. Thank you to Shelby for leading Literacy and a love of reading and writing, especially through intervention and extension. Thank you to Michela for your lead and support in Learning and Teaching and Religious Education - we loved having you on our School Improvement Team. We also thank Nicole Collins for leading Mathematics at OLA and for sharing her passion and knowledge in this area with us as a staff and in turn the children. Thank you Caitlan for book ending our year with your support to the leadership team and all at OLA.

I thank Josy Reeder for her significant role of making OLA a better place to be for our children. Thank you Josy for sharing your passion of meeting children’s individual needs in learning and wellbeing.  I thank Josy for her ongoing leadership, for the many unseen weekend and evening hours dedicated to the school and children, for our regular conversations centred on school improvement and of course for the good humour and the daily banter. Thank you for ably taking on the Acting Deputy Principal role this year as well as Learning Diversity - you have been a superstar!  

At our Graduation on Monday night we said thank you to our Grade 6 Class of 2024 and we also honoured the many families who completed their time as a parent with a child in the primary school years.  Please know that you always hold a special place in our OLA community. We have 22 families leaving whose time at OLA total an amazing 174 years.  Thank you to all of our exiting families for being part of our OLA family and thank you for all you have given to our community.

We also acknowledge the following departing families for their commitment over many years: Shannon and Loughnan. We have loved being a part of your journey and thank you for your contributions to OLA. 

Grade 6 Awards

At the Graduation Assembly on Monday we were delighted to recognise some remarkable Grade 6 graduate achievements. Congratulations to these students on receiving the following awards:

Community Spirit & Kindness Award (presented by past student Peter Gourlay): 

Alastair 

Young Achievers Award (presented by Josy Reeder): 

Tynan 

Lorraine Francis Award (presented by Nick Staikos MP): 

Alice 

School Sports Victoria Sporting & Academic Award (presented by Caitlan Taig):

Isabella K

House Shield

Students from all 4 teams have worked hard to help their team accumulate points over the year. No matter the placing in any event, students earn points for participating along with the points collected for earning Gotchas on the playground and in the class when caught doing great things. 

OLA Cross Country Carnival Trophy - Brigid 

OLA House Athletics Carnival Trophy - Lourdes 

The overall winners of the 2025 OLA House Shield:

4th place - Mackillop House 

3rd place - Brigid House 

2nd place - Lourdes House 

1st place - Fatima House

2025 School Leaders

Congratulations to our Grade 6 student leaders for 2025. We were proud to announce the leaders at the final assembly on Tuesday and to present them with their Class of 2025 jumpers. Congratulations to our new school captains for 2025 - Dolores, Chloe, Jack & Tyler! We are absolutely delighted for you and know that you will serve our community well next year. All Year 6 students will work in various leadership groups across the year, supporting important school events and initiatives and we congratulate each and every one of you as you become role models and leaders of our school in 2025. These roles include:

Community Leaders (Social Justice & FIRE Carriers)

Technology Leaders

Sustainability Leaders

Arts & Culture Leaders

Sport Leaders

Congratulations

School Captains: Dolores, Chloe, Jack, Tyler

Community Leaders: Xavier, Alex, Oscar, Ollie

Technology Leaders: Alexander, Robert, Ivan, Matthew

Sustainability Leaders: Emma, Joselyn, Lachlan, Christian 

Arts & Culture Leaders: Willow, Aaliyah, Louisa 

Sport Leaders: Kitty (Gold), Harper (Gold), Ollie (Blue), Alfie (Blue), Jess (Red), Zarah (Red), Cruz (Green), Christian (Green)

2024 School Fees

A reminder to those who still have outstanding fees. Payment of these by Friday 20 December would be appreciated.

2025 School Fees and Levies

Please find attached the 2025 School Fees and Levies charges.  These fees and levies are discussed and agreed in consultation with the School Advisory Council and MACS Finance Business Partner. The top priorities when reviewing our funding model each year are:

• To ensure our school remains financially viable 
• To continue to be accessible to families who value a Catholic education
• To continue to offer a high quality education with exceptional education experiences.

Please refer to the link for the 2025 Fees and Levies Schedule.

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.

School Term Dates - 2025

Term 1, 2025

Friday 31 January (Grade 1-6) - Friday April 4th (10 weeks)

Prep start school on Monday 3 February

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)

Thank you

OLA Crossing Guards

As the school year concludes, we wish to say thank you to our incredible crossing guards, Joffa, Mohammad, and Alba. Thank you for your friendly smiles, warm hellos, and dedication to keeping us safe each and every day! Alba wished not to be photographed but was very emotional & grateful for the gift.

OLA Giving Tree

This week we received a lovely letter from our OLA St Vincent de Paul Conference thanking our school families and staff for responding so generously to their appeal for Christmas. Thank you for all the Christmas gift cards and festive foods. Last weekend SVDP packed and delivered Christmas Food Hampers to 83 needy and disadvantaged families (with about 117 adults and 74 children). With the support of the school and the church SVDP were able to give gift cards to each of these children so they could choose their own Christmas gift.

OLA Community Pantry

As we celebrate this festive season, let us spread joy, kindness, and share a thought for all in our community. Our OLA Community Pantry is open to all. We graciously thank you for your generosity in donating non perishable items throughout this year. Please, take what you need and give what you can this Christmas. 

Poppy Appeal Gratitude

The President and Committee of the Bentleigh / Cheltenham RSL appreciate the support our school community gave to the Poppy Appeal by selling badges on behalf of the RSL. 

Our Lady Of Assumption raised a total of $185.00. The money raised provides welfare support to ex-servicemen and women and their dependants in necessitous circumstances, to assist in providing for: War veterans & dependants, Care of the aged, Family Welfare and Community/Aged Care Visiting. Thank you OLA for your support.

OLA Grade 2/3 End of Year Picnic

What a wonderful way to finish the school year with our P&F Class Reps Marie, Eli, Ben and Jacinta hosting and organising the Grade 2/3 Christmas/End of year picnic. Looks like it was lots of fun.

OLA Prep 2024 End of Year Celebration

Grade Prep 2024 enjoyed their end of year celebration in Mordialloc on Sunday, being entertained by Charlie Silly Pants. Thank you to the Grade Prep P&F Social Reps for organising such a wonderful event. 

We are all looking forward to Prep 2025!

This is one of the gorgeous advertisements being prepared for early 2025 when we begin school tours again for 2026 and beyond.

We look forward to building upon the successes of 2024 and creating even more memorable moments together, as we continue to strive for excellence in education and community engagement. Thank you for lovely cards, treats and gifts presented to us as a staff and for sharing your gratitude on a great year. We also wish each of you a joyful, safe, and very Merry Christmas. May your holiday season be filled with love, laughter, and cherished memories.

Richard Jacques

Principal