Principal's Message

Dear OLA Families,

We are sad to share the news that Bianca Jones who passed away last week in Thailand was a past student of OLA from 2011-2015 (Prep-Grade 4). This is such a heartbreaking situation for the families affected and the whole community. 

May Bianca and her friend Holly rest in peace. Our prayers and thoughts are for Bianca, her parents Michelle and Mark, her brother Lachlan, as well as Holly and her family. We send our love, prayers, strength and support to the Jones and Bowles families and we ask that as a faith community we pray for Bianca and Holly and their loved ones.

I’m sure our beautiful community is connected to these local families in many different ways. This tragedy has resonated with so many and many have reached out or talked about how they can help. Beaumaris Sharks Football Club has a memorial set up at the grounds where you can leave flowers if you wish to do so or similarly you can do so at our OLA Memorial Garden beside the Church. The club is inviting families to place a gold and blue ribbon around the neighbourhood streets to honour Bianca and Holly’s memory. There is also a go fund me page online set up to support the Jones and Bowles families. All these gestures are a sign of how precious life is and a reminder to embrace our loved ones. 

Please reach out if we can support you or Bianca’s family in any way. 

Kind regards. 

Richard Jacques

Principal

OLA Fete

Thank you Thank you Thank you!

FOR A WONDERFUL 2024 OLA FETE 

WOW! What a sensational Fete! This year’s Fete was a wonderful example of our strong community working together. It was a very hot day, but I think we lucked in with having it on Saturday with it being hot rather than on Sunday when it would have been wet. The weather certainly helped to bring the crowds out to enjoy the fun, atmosphere and rides here at OLA. It was amazing to see such a large crowd and that there was such a ‘buzz’ around the place. We realise it is a major fundraiser for our school and church but this activity also works in building strong relationships within the community and it has been wonderful to see so many of our parents/parishioners/local businesses working together in the lead up to this year’s Fete. Congratulations to all involved in helping raise more than $30,000 for our school and church. A special mention must go to our Fete Coordinators, Claire Melican and Mel Power and all who yet again assisted in making this year’s event such a huge success. You have committed many hours to our school and again, we are truly thankful to you and all your amazing team. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.  

Please refer to the Fete Tab in this Newsletter for more gratitude from Claire and Mel.

Gratitude to our Fete Sponsors

We are grateful to all our sponsors and to our local businesses and families for the many generous donations. Thank you for providing us with donations of goods, services, vouchers or money. This generosity has enabled us not only to to pay for the rides and activities but it also enabled us to make an amazing $30,000 for our school and church - this is just brilliant!

Raffle Prize Winners

1st Prize - $500 voucher Pt Leo Estate and a $500 voucher at Alba Thermal Hot Springs  generously donated by APT Advanced Manufacturing - won by Janmay

2nd Prize - Weber Family Q 

generously donated by Lewin Real Estate - won by Rachel Davidson 

3rd Prize - Apple iPad Air and gaming headphones 

generously donated by Park Lane Advice Group - won by Joe Bellizia

Donations

We are proud to have donated many of the remaining toys and books from the Fete to great charities such as St Vincent de Paul Mentone, the Salvos and local kindergartens and some of the remaining food we were able to donate to Safe Steps. 

Calling for new 2026 Fete Chair/s and Committee

I take this opportunity to thank Claire Melican and Mel Power for their work, time and energy in leading the last two OLA Fetes. The experience and expertise that you both have provided OLA is very much appreciated. We know you will have amazing handover notes and be open to us asking you questions from time to time. 

As the Chair vacancies have become available on the OLA Fete Committee, we are calling for nominations to fill these positions. Please email me your expression of interest or chat with me about your interest by Friday 13 December. We look forward to securing a new chair or co chair combination. Once we have opened these positions up to everyone and secured our chair/co chairs then we will be able to get together a core committee and decide what our 2026 Fete might look like. We thank the 2024 Fete Committee for getting together before the end of the year to determine what worked well and what could be even better if.

OLA School Advisory Council                                               and Parents and Friends/OLA Fete AGM

We invite our parents to attend our AGM on Monday 2 December at 7.00pm. This will be a relaxed event, where we will share our school, School Advisory Council and P&F/Fete achievements for 2024. Light refreshments will be provided on the night. 

Staff Departures and Leave for 2024 

Back in the previous newsletters I was able to confirm that Lou Watts, Mark Buccilli and Fintan O'Connor will be finishing up at OLA at the end of this year.  I know these staff members have very much appreciated the support of the OLA community in wishing them well and for the gratitude that they have received. Please look back on Newsletter 17 to read about the exciting next steps for these great people.

Throughout Term 4, in preparation for the coming school year, we are able to confirm changes to our team in 2025. Although it is sad to see members of our amazing staff 'leave the nest,' they always go with our heartfelt blessing, knowing their dedication to the OLA community has contributed greatly to our success.

While we are not saying farewell, we also wish Tess Riley all the best as she takes one year leave from OLA. We would like to extend our heartfelt thank you to Miss Riley as she puts her time at OLA on hold. We want to thank Miss Riley for her incredible dedication, creativity and kindness over the past three years. Her leadership in the Middle Level and Wakakirri has been truly inspiring and unforgettable. Her warm smile, approachable nature, and genuine care for students and staff have made her such a cherished part of our community. She has made a lasting impression on so many lives, and we will miss her greatly. May next year in Sydney be an exciting year for you Miss Riley.

A reflection from Tess Riley

I'm writing to share some exciting news with you all. My partner Ben, who has played AFL at St Kilda for the past seven years, has recently been drafted to the Sydney Swans and as a result, we’ll be relocating to Sydney for the next year. Whilst we are both so excited for our new chapter, it is certainly bittersweet. The beautiful community that is OLA makes it very hard to go. I am incredibly grateful to have started my teaching career at OLA and learn alongside such dedicated and passionate educators. I thank the families and parents who have been so welcoming & supportive. I know I will miss our beautiful students, their creativity, enthusiasm and infectious laughter which has filled my three years here with SO much joy.  I look forward to returning in the near future and continuing all of the fun. It's definitely not goodbye, only see you soon! 

2025 OLA Class Structures 

Parents were recently made aware of the 2025 class structures, and forward planning, as published in our OLA newsletter on 15 November.  We sincerely thank those families who have made contact with us providing both positive and constructive feedback. Your feedback is warmly welcomed and please know that my door is always open for conversations with each family about their child and their child's learning and wellbeing. 

From this feedback as a leadership team we have further reflected on our 2025 planning, revisited all options for our school structure, had further dialogue with our MACS School Business Partner and again looked at all options for level class structures.  We have been grateful for the extensive collaboration we have had with our staff through 2024 OLA Consultative Committee meetings and at OSAC meetings, together with external consultants and support from MACS. It has been a collaborative and thorough process. We can advise families that after this further consideration we confirm that we will be remaining with our class structures and student numbers across the levels as previously published. 

Our class structures take into consideration the following key elements:

• Priority for the development of learning outcomes for all students
• Priority for the wellbeing needs of all students
• Recognition of the formation of each of the characteristics, strengths and needs of each class and level grouping, for example, Prep, level 1&2, level 3&4 and level 5&6 across the school
• Allocation of staff to all classes and levels across the school, matching staff expertise to specific level placement along with staff team skills and dynamics, which will be shared 12 December 2024, following the 2025 orientation morning  
• Recognising the Catholic Education Multi-Enterprise Agreement and the industrial requirements in regards to staff allocation of hours and work loads and agreements in regards to class numbers from Prep-2 and 3-6
• Consideration of the funding as allocated to OLA School from Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) for our 2025 staffing budget.  Each Melbourne MACS school has an allocated staffing budget that cannot be exceeded. The school principal and MACS Business Partner use a MACS designed ‘staffing calculator’ to ensure that the school takes into consideration the allocation of all employees, their years of service, ‘oncosts’, level loading etc to ensure that the budget is allocated to best meet the needs of a school.   

As highlighted above, there are numerous elements that we take into consideration when negotiating school structures.  We have noted feedback from parents that the 2025 Grade 3 and 4 cohort has higher class numbers than previous years. As a matter of transparency, we have had community members inquire as to whether the school would have the capacity to add an additional class to this level so as to reduce the class sizes.  We certainly have the feedback we have received in mind as we plan and think about 2026 and beyond which we will be able to share in due course.  The 2025 school structures have been designed to best meet the needs of the entire school taking into consideration the financial allocations to our school along with the 6 elements as listed above.  As a leadership team we have great confidence that the allocation of teaching staff, along with support of staff, will provide a highly productive year of learning and growth for our student cohort.  

Our teachers and children are most excited to meet their new class members at the 2025 orientation session, held on Thursday 12 December. School leadership is currently negotiating the final allocation of teachers, and support staff to levels.  We will continue to advise community members of staffing appointments and classroom allocations for the 2025 school year in the coming weeks. 

Christmas Carols

We look forward to hosting our OLA Christmas Carols on Thursday 5 December 6.30pm in Brigid Hall. Please come wearing a touch of Christmas and be ready to singalong with some traditional carols as well as some fun new ones too!

Books & Stationery for 2025

Following feedback from teachers, parents and students, we reviewed our processes around acquiring stationery. It was felt that we could assist families and the classroom teachers by placing one bulk order that provided a consistency across the school. It also enables children not to compare and feel left out about who has and hasn’t purchased the ‘best’ or ‘coolest’ stationery items. From a learning point of view this will also help to maximise desk space around the classroom and it also minimises the distractions that some items can create.

We will ensure book list items including exercise books and stationery will be purchased by the school and all costs are included in your school fees and levies. The school will supply new pencil cases complete with all stationery at the beginning of the 2025 for Grades 3 to 6. The pencil cases will have the OLA school crest printed on them and your child will keep that pencil case from Grade 3 through to Grade 6. We ask that children use the pens and pencils provided at school and keep their special stationery for home. We will be emphasising that these pencil cases are cared for and graffiti will not be accepted. At the end of each year pencil cases will remain at school and the student’s leftover stationery will be sent home in a bag. Stationery for Prep to Grade 2 will be provided, ensuring shared access for all.

We will also purchase band aids, tissues and wet wipes in bulk. These costs are also now included in your school fees and levies.

School Shoes 

Correct school shoes and socks must be worn and we remind students and families, when purchasing new school shoes for next year, black sneaker Asics or Nike runners are not part of the regular school uniform. If the sport shoes are black leather and black soled then they are welcome to be worn as school uniform.We thank you in advance for your understanding. 

OLA Parents & Friends 

The OLA Parents & Friends Association (P&F) aims to encourage social interaction between families (by organising events for parents, students and staff) and assist in building a sense of community and wellbeing within the school. It also exists to raise funds for projects and resources that would not otherwise be financed and that will benefit the students. In past years, events have included Welcome picnics, trivia nights, breakfasts, cocktail nights, fetes, along with raising money with raffles and other fundraising activities.

The P&F welcomes all parents and encourages you to become involved. Being a member of the P&F is a rewarding and enjoyable way of being involved in our school community. It offers the opportunity to meet school families, make new friends (across various year levels) and contribute to the vibrant OLA community. Most importantly, involvement in the P&F benefits your child/children.

P&F Executive Team for 2025

Lauren Koukoumanos & Claudelle Salter (Co-Chair) 

Eli Dunlevie (Secretary)

Ben Gray (Treasurer) 

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Grade Representatives play an important role in the P&F. The primary role of a Grade Representative is to develop a friendly, supportive, inclusive community within each year level and to facilitate open and effective communication across the school in relation to P&F social and fundraising events. As a Class Rep, parents attend P&F meetings to communicate meeting outcomes back to the year level parents, welcome new families to the school, and help organise and promote social and fundraising events for the wider school, year level or class group. 

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P&F Contact Details: pandf@olacheltenham.catholic.edu.au

OSAC

We thank all parents who nominated for OSAC in 2025.  We held the final OSAC meeting in our new Community Hub last week and after three years on OSAC we farewelled Shashi Wijesinghe (father of Flynn 3/4FO & Charlie 1ET) and Susan Wangondu (mother of Michael 5/6MG, Isabelle 3/4FO & Malkia 2MV). We thank them both for their unwavering support of OLA and look forward to them continuing to support our great school.  We welcome Ros Sayers (mother of Hana Prep) and Ella Meagher (mother of Grace R 3/4TR) to the OSAC team in 2025.  Thank you for your commitment to OLA and we look forward to working with you over the next three years.

School Advisory Councils are an essential component of governing and operating Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. The School Advisory Council provides a forum for discussion and discernment, where parent  voice and community perspective are available to inform and support the decisions made by the school, where students’ wellbeing and outcomes are paramount. 

The following are some examples of the many ways the School Advisory Council may support the school and the principal:

• articulating and enacting the school’s vision and mission
• promoting the school’s Catholic ethos and culture
• promoting faith formation and development
• supporting school policies as required
• giving advice to the principal on issues such as school improvement plans and enrolment trends
• engaging in discussion with the principal about the annual school budget and other financial matters
• giving advice to the principal about the school master plan
• providing capital resource planning and maintenance support to the principal.

OLA School Advisory Council members for 2025:

Richard Jacques

Caitlan Taig

Sally Wright (Co-Chair)

Lucas Ryle (Co-Chair)

Pat Moran (Secretary)

Lauren Hel

Ros Sayers

Ella Meagher

Fr Alan Fox

2024 School Fees

Thank you to everyone who has paid their 2024 school fees and levies or who have set up a payment plan. We are so grateful for your support.  With the school year finishing fast approaching we ask that those who have final payments outstanding are paid by 15 December. As always if you require some support please reach out. Thank you.

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.

Pupil Free Days for 2024

• Friday 6 December 2025 Planning and Preparation 

Please note on the following dates school finish early at 1pm:

Last day of school Tuesday 17 December

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)

Congratulations

Grade 6 Big Day Out

Today our Grade 6s had a blast at Gumbuya World, giving everything a go and they enjoyed spending precious time together. Thank you to each and every child and teacher for making this such a fun and memorable day.

Grade 5 School Captain Speeches

We congratulate all Grade 5 children for writing their Leadership Letters identifying their strengths and areas of the school they would like to lead in 2025. We also congratulate all the children who were courageous in writing a School Captain speech and speaking in front of their Grade 4 and Grade 5 peers (next year's Grade 5/6 class!) and teachers. At OLA 50% of the vote comes from the Grade 5 class group and 50% comes from the staff. We wish all involved the very best and we hope whatever role you receive that you lead with confidence and pride.

Welcome Back

Last Monday was an exciting day as we welcomed back Mrs Taig after she has been away on Maternity Leave. It was lovely to see the families and children welcome Mrs Taig back on yard duty and when she visited each classroom.

Prep Orientation #2

“There are so many things to do at school!” Last Tuesday, 2025 Preps came in with a skip in their step and some amazing confidence for their second orientation day. We love these weekly visits during these four weeks. Thank you to all our parents who were able to take up the opportunity to complete their Classroom Helpers training. Thank you to our amazing staff for being so welcoming and organised.

Condolences

Prayers and Thoughts

On behalf of all in the OLA community we send our love, prayers and support to the Andronico family (Poppy 3/4FO). Vince's mother Lena passed away last week and the family held Lena's funeral today. May you speak of your mother, mother in-law and Grandmother often and may you all keep her spirit alive in all you say and do.

We are heading into Week 9 next week - can you believe it!?

Enjoy the weekend.

Richard Jacques

Principal