Principal's Piece 

Term 3, Week 9

Today we celebrated Our Lady’s Feast Day, a very special day in our school calendar where we come together to honour and celebrate Mary, our school’s patron. Our students and teachers had a fun day of  activities, including a puppet show, disco, outdoor inflatable games and a creative art activity. There was plenty of excitement and energy around the school. 

Of course, no celebration is complete without food, and our students enjoyed a delicious sausage sizzle lunch! Thank you to Mr Cliff, Mr Danny and Ale for cooking over 1400 sausages. 

We ended the day by coming together as a whole school community to celebrate Mass, giving us the opportunity to pause, reflect and give thanks for the many blessings within our school community. It was a beautiful way to end the day and to celebrate our faith and our connection to Mary.

Congratulations to our students who received our Feast Day Awards. These awards were presented to one student in each year level who demonstrated the values and qualities of Mary. 

• Prep – Love - Kai Indovino
• Year 1 – Honesty - Stella Bugeja
• Year 2 – Thankfulness- Henry Grospe 
• Year 3 – Responsibility - Alyssa Novak
• Year 4 – Compassion - Raafat Faskhaltom
• Year 5 – Integrity - Ben Morrison
• Year 6 – Leadership - Noah Varrasso

A big thank you to all our Dads and special father figures who joined us for our Father’s Day morning activity! Our classrooms were bursting with excitement, smiles and plenty of creativity and it was fantastic to see such a great turnout. It’s not often that dads get the chance to come into the classroom and spend some special time doing an activity with their children, so it was wonderful to see so many of you getting involved. The classrooms were full of very creative work! Thank you to everyone who took the time to join us and make the morning such a special one for our students.

For the month of September we will be raising money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.  

Thank you for your kind donations towards Prostate Cancer. We have already raised: $680.00

If you would like to donate please click on the link: https://fundraise.pcfa.org.au/fundraisers/olps

A big thank you to our amazing parent helpers who volunteered their time to help run our Father’s Day Stall. A special thank you to Krisztina Fazzari for helping set up the stall and to Thom Fox, Tania Di Clemente and Sue Christodoulou for giving up their time and helping make the stall such a success. Your support and willingness to get involved in our school community is greatly appreciated. It was wonderful to see the excitement on the students’ faces as they carefully chose a special gift for their Dads and special father figures. We are very grateful for the continued support of our families and the important role you play in making these special school events possible.

Our Year 2 Community Maths Engagement Night was a fantastic opportunity for our families to come together and experience maths in a fun and hands-on way. Families enjoyed a range of practical maths games and activities designed to encourage problem-solving, mathematical thinking and lots of conversation. It was wonderful to see parents and students working together, having fun and discovering that maths can be both engaging and enjoyable. Thank you to all the families who joined us.

We are very fortunate to offer our students a range of lunchtime activities, made possible by our dedicated teachers who generously give up their lunch breaks to provide these opportunities. This term our lunchtime clubs have included: Library Games, Yo-Yo Club, Origami Club, Instrument Club, Art Club, Maths Board Games and Crafty Engineers. These activities provide opportunities for our students to explore their interests, develop new skills, be creative, challenge themselves and, most importantly, have fun with their friends. 

 Instrument Lunchtime Club 

Each week, students are invited to spend part of their break time making music together as part of our Instrument Lunchtime Club. It’s a wonderful opportunity for students to rehearse, experiment, collaborate and simply enjoy making music with others.

This week, our students took on an extra creative challenge and composed their very own piece of music, titled “Welcome to the Jungle!”  Each student was responsible for creating their own musical part before working together to combine their ideas into one ensemble performance. They had to listen carefully to one another, keep their part going and work as a team to bring their composition to life.

We are so proud of their creativity, teamwork and enthusiasm for making music together.

 Please enjoy their performance of “Welcome to the Jungle!”

Welcome to the Jungle

Each year, our school takes part in the MACSSIS (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys). These surveys provide an important opportunity for us to hear the voices of our students, staff and families. The feedback we receive helps us to celebrate what we are doing well and identify areas where we can continue to grow and improve together as a school community. We warmly encourage all families to take part in this year’s survey. As the MACSSIS survey is conducted annually, we ask that your responses reflect your experiences of our school during the current school year, rather than experiences from previous years. This will ensure that the data we receive is as accurate and meaningful as possible and provides us with a clear picture of our school community’s current experiences. Your feedback is highly valued and makes a genuine difference in helping us shape the learning environment and experiences we provide for our students. Further details on how to access and complete the survey will be shared soon via COMPASS. Thank you in advance for your time, support and valuable feedback as we continue to work together to provide the best possible learning community for our children.

Over the Term 3 school holidays and into Term 4, I will be joining other principals from the Northern Region on a pilgrimage to Greece and Turkey, following the "Footsteps of St. Paul." This pilgrimage retraces the Apostle Paul's 10,000 mile journey spreading Christianity across the Mediterranean, focusing on key sites in Greece and Turkey. Major stops include Philippi (first European church), Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth and Ephesus. During my absence, Mrs Linda Glouftsis will be stepping into the role of Acting Principal. I know I will be leaving the school in very capable hands.

 It is that time of year again when we are beginning to plan for 2027. If you are not intending to return in 2027, could you please let me know by email:  principal@olps.vic.edu.au. 

I wish you all a peaceful and relaxing break with your families. Thank you for your ongoing support, and see you in Term 4! School commences on Monday, 5th October.

School closure days this semester:  Monday, 2nd November; Friday, 27th November. 

School Calendar: Please check the School Community Calendar Page for important upcoming events. 

God Bless and enjoy the sunshine this weekend

Cinzia Mancuso

Principal