Principal's Message

Dear OLA Families

Our 2024 school year is nearly over! What a wonderful year.

It really is starting to feel a lot like Christmas! The OLA Christmas Carols last Thursday evening in Brigid Hall was spectacular. Thank you to everyone for wearing a touch of Christmas and for being so ready to singalong together with our traditional carols and fun new ones too! What a great community event where all our students had their special moment to shine. Mrs O’Gorman - you had our voices in great form, and we loved yours and Mrs Harrison’s rendition of Silent Night. The positive feedback has been very much appreciated and it was wonderful to see the children loving every minute of it too:

Thankyou for a wonderful, fun evening last night.

The children were amazing, full of Christmas spirit and joy!

We thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas Carols event at OLA last night.  It was put together so well and went for the right amount of time! Very entertaining! There were plenty of smiles all round both on children and adults.  It was so good to see each and every year level participating with enthusiasm. Thanks for the efforts in coordinating all the kids on the floor Mr Jacques.  Your mic skills are next level!!!!

We thank our Performing Arts teacher, Trish O'Gorman, for sharing her lovely gift of singing and music with our students and the OLA community. We also share gratitude to Catherine Harrison and Di McDowall for leading our Choir, and to our wonderful teachers for supporting the extra rehearsals for tonight’s performance. As we gather together to celebrate this special time of year, we take this opportunity to extend our warmest wishes for a joyful and safe holiday season. We are incredibly grateful for the support, kindness and dedication of each member of our school community — students, staff, families and friends alike. Together, we create a warm, welcoming and safe environment where everyone can flourish. This time of year reminds us of the importance of community, connection and the spirit of giving. As we enjoy the festive season, let us also remember those who may be in need. We thank our community for all the generous donations  to the St Vincent de Paul Society Giving Tree. Thank you for helping to spread joy and kindness to those who could use extra love, care and support this Christmas. 

Nativity

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 today 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 Christmas Day.  Today we lit the third candle, the pink candle for Advent and we celebrated the theme of joy in our Advent Prayer Service .

We invite all our OLA community to enjoy the Advent and Christmas Masses at this special time:

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

Prep Orientation

Thank you to all our Preps for 2025 and their families for coming along to our four Orientation sessions in preparation for next year. We hope each and every child and family felt welcomed and excited in some way about the start of school next year. We had some of our Preps for next year trying their uniform on and they look so ready for school! It is such an exciting time. We are hoping these children will become the face of our school on billboards along Centre Dandenong Road in 2025.

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

Last week the chairs and treasurers of OSAC, the P&F and the Fete joined me to present to celebrate our 2024 school year, as we gathered for our OLA Annual General Meeting. We appreciate all the important work that goes on at our school and to the people who contribute so much to the overall success of our school. We are so grateful to everyone involved. Please refer to the OSAC, P&F and Fete tabs for the annual reports.

2025 Classes

Yesterday we announced our classroom teachers for 2025 and students from Prep - Grade 5 had their orientation session with their new classroom teacher. It was lovely to see the resilient faces of our students Prep - Grade 5 accept the joys and challenges presented to them by changes such as moving up to meet their new teacher, classmates and classroom for 2025. Thank you for supporting your child at home at this time of change. Especially over the last term, we have invested a significant amount of time and thought into the classes for next year, to ensure the best learning environment for all our students. This has always been an exciting time for our students and we sincerely thank our staff for the considerable investment in establishing these classes. 

Handover and Planning 2025

We have been delighted to welcome our new staff for 2025 to OLA on at least three occasions over the last couple of weeks of the term for handover and planning which is all helping to kick start 2025 in the best possible way. At our Professional Learning Meetings this week and on our School Closure Day staff have sat one on one to handover important learning and wellbeing information on each child so that the next year’s teacher is set up to give your child the best start possible.  In addition to a thorough handover and sharing of data, teachers also met on the School Closure Day and their planning day in teams to collaborate and plan for RE, Inquiry, Mathematics and Literacy.  The conversations were rich and productive and the teachers are well on the way to being set up for a successful 2025. Spelling is our focus for 2025 so we look forward to introducing Heggerty and DIBELS across the school as well as Spelling Mastery from Grade 3-6 with students being streamed at their own level of learning. Prep-Grade 2 will deepen their practice on Phonemic Awareness and use all research based assessments linked to Little Learners Love Literacy. All these areas are being enhanced by our work around MACS' Vision For Instruction and Explicit Teaching. We will be sharing more information about these evidence based programs early in the new year. We thank Shelby Turner for the lead she is taking in all of these areas.

Gratitude and Best Wishes... 

We wish Lou Watts, Mark Buccilli and Fintan O'Connor all the very best as they finish up at OLA in the coming days and we also wish Tess Riley all the best as she takes up a year's leave to live in Sydney. 

This week I would like to share news about staffing changes for 2025. Hayley Azar (Fridays in 1JM) and Anna Danson (STEM & 5/6 SP on Tuesdays) will also be finishing up at OLA at the end of this year.  We look forward to saying thank you and farewell to these staff members at the End of Year Prayer Service and Assembly at 9.00am on Tuesday 17 December. I know you will join me in celebrating these staff members and showing gratitude for their amazing contributions to our community.

Anna Danson

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to you Anna for your commitment to OLA over the past 27 years. Your dedication to teaching, passion for all things STEM, Digital Technologies and Religious Education have been very much appreciated.

In particular, we’ve loved how you’ve made learning engaging and enjoyable, often incorporating hands on learning to inspire our students. Thank you for everything you've done! We wish you all the very best in the future. 

A reflection from Anna…

After 27 unforgettable years of teaching at OLA, it’s time for me to say goodbye. Twenty-seven years… how did that happen? For most parts quite quickly working full time, having a family and doing various roles part time. OLA has been a very big part of my life and I have been so blessed to work and serve such a caring community. It is hard to express the depth of gratitude I feel for the incredible journey I’ve had here in just a few brief words. The thousands of footsteps I’ve walked, the countless children I’ve taught, and the many hours spent at meetings, masses, sacraments, graduations, and school events have forged treasured memories that will stay with me forever. I’ve been privileged to work with amazing, talented colleagues over the years, and my time here has been filled with both professional and personal milestones.

 

Being a technology enthusiast, I’ve been proud to lead the evolvement of technologies over the years. My accomplishments include introducing interactive whiteboards in every classroom, launching a school mascot technology program about a cyber puppy named Ola. Nearly every student proudly owned a blue plush puppy named Ola, and celebrated our school mascot’s birthday for 10 years with technology expos. I had the honour of introducing a Virtual Learning Classroom, 1:1 iPads, and laptops for students before we even knew what social media was or life before iPhones! 

 

Today, it’s incredible to see OLA students learning STEM and using devices as part of their learning—something I am immensely proud of. Over the past six years, OLA has consistently excelled in the STEM MAD Showcase competition, bringing home at least two awards each year. This year’s achievement, making it into the news, was certainly a stellar highlight! All of my special experiences were made possible by the inspiring and innovative leaders entrusting me with these programs and their unwavering support. I am forever grateful to them.

 

While I am sad to leave OLA, I am excited about the next chapter of my professional journey by joining the Stella Maris community teaching in the classroom and teaching STEM. OLA will always hold a special place in my heart. The experiences, memories, and relationships I’ve made here are beyond words, and I will forever be grateful for the years I’ve spent in this truly special place. 

With love and gratitude, Anna Danson.

 

Hayley Azar

Each Friday for these last three terms, Hayley has stepped into the classroom teacher role in 1JM at OLA. This is off the back of Hayley substituting as the STEM teacher in 2023 for one day per week so we have been so fortunate to have Hayley join our community especially when she lives so far away and makes the journey to and from Cheltenham each week. We love your professionalism, positivity and care that you have shown towards your role as classroom teacher. Thank you for being so collaborative and for differentiating instruction and learning activities so as to ensure growth for all students. We wish you all the very best in your new role closer to home in 2025.

A reflection from Hayley…

It has been an honor to work at OLA for the past year and a half in STEM and Grade 1, and I feel incredibly privileged to have been welcomed into such a warm and loving community. Although my time here has been relatively short, I have truly enjoyed every moment learning from the dedicated staff and growing as a professional. However, what I’ve enjoyed the most is seeing the children's smiling faces and getting to know them more each week. While I am saddened to be leaving, I will be moving to a school closer to home as my family embarks on a new chapter, with my son starting school. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the staff, parents, and students at OLA for the wonderful memories I will cherish.

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.

2025 OLA Language/Cultural Program 

Families were advised through the Newsletter, 15 November 2024 that Mrs Lou Watts will cease her employment at OLA at the end of the school year.  We advise OLA families that we will be further expanding our children’s immersion into Language/Cultural programs for the 2025 school year by introducing Spanish to the school curriculum. Spanish is spoken by over 500 million individuals around the globe and is the second most spoken language in the world. Spanish holds the title of official language in21 countries. We are delighted to have employed Ms Cecilia Moya as our new Language/Cultural program leader.  Cecilia will work at OLA each  Wednesday and Thursday.

The aim of our Language/Cultural program is to introduce rich learnings to our students by exposing them to Languages Other Than English (LOTE) and cultural experiences that broaden their understanding of our global community.  Through providing a diverse understanding of languages and cultures we aim to develop a student population who have an appreciation for the diversity of cultures, who value the gifts of all peoples around the world, and as is topical at present, to be open to the diversity, different religions and the gifts that different cultures bring. 

Ms Moya is an experienced educator who is excited to join the OLA.

As a staff we look forward to working with Cecilia and taking on our own learnings about the Spanish language and exposing ourselves to new cultural experiences. 

Introducing our... 

OLA 2025 Staff Team

We are delighted to share with parents the staffing list for the 2025 school year and we are excited that OLA can provide our students with a rich and diverse curriculum as presented by an outstanding staff team. In 2025 we welcome Clare Flood as our STEM teacher, Cecilia Moya as our LOTE teacher, Ellie Mackenzie as our 1 day classroom teacher in 3/4EJ and Emma Summers as our Grade 1 classroom teacher. We are proud of these appointments and once again we are delighted to be employing such quality teachers here at OLA.

As a staff, and as a community of welcome, we look forward to warmly welcoming our new colleagues and friends in January, 2025.

Clare Flood

Hello OLA! My name is Clare Flood and I can’t wait to join the OLA community next year as the new STEM teacher. I have been teaching for 12 years, 7 of those years in the area of Digital Technologies and STEM. I love to tinker with all things technology from robotics, to computers and 3D printing, to film and photography. I’m looking forward to making and creating with you all in 2025, and watching the magic happen. Outside the classroom, you’ll find me baking and creating, spending time with family and friends, and going for long walks. I also love to travel and explore the world, my favourite places so far being Mexico and New York. Looking forward to meeting and working with you all next year!"

Cecilia Moya

Hola or hi, my name is Cecilia Moya and I am looking forward to joining the Our Lady of the Assumption community in 2025 as the LOTE/Spanish teacher. I grew up in a Chilean family with lots of salsa and cumbia music, both very popular dance styles in South America. I hope to travel to Spain one day and see flamenco dancers and eat their paella.  Here I am with my dear family, Sara, Sofia and Steve! 

Nos vemos luego, see you soon! 

Ellie Mackenzie

Hello everyone! My name is Ellie Mackenzie, and I’m excited to be joining the OLA community in 2025. I am originally from Scotland but moved to Melbourne in 2023 and absolutely love it here! I’ve been teaching for four and a half years, and over the past year I have worked as a CRT, most recently at OLA. Outside of work, I enjoy travelling, hiking, running, and anything that lets me enjoy the outdoors. I’m really looking forward to the year ahead!

Emma Summers

Hello! My name is Emma Summers. I am so excited to be joining OLA in 2025 and I can't wait to meet you all! I have taught Grade 1 before and am looking forward to meeting my 2025 class. I have a beautiful labrador named Lewis and I enjoy dancing, pilates and running in my spare time. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends and I will see you early next year.

Please refer below to the OLA 2025 Staffing List:

Leadership & Management Team

• Principal – Mr Richard Jacques
• Deputy Principal & Religious Education Leader – Mrs Caitlan Taig

• Learning & Teaching Leader, 

  Learning Diversity and Wellbeing Leader – Mrs Josy Reeder

• Literacy & Intervention Leader – Miss Shelby Turner
• Mathematics Leader – Mrs Nicole Collins
• Junior School Level Leader – Mrs Michela Vella 
• Middle School Level Leader – Miss Eliza Jones
• Senior School Level Leader – Mr Steve Pertz

 School Improvement Team & Wellbeing Team

• Mr Richard Jacques
• Mrs Josy Reader
• Mrs Caitlan Taig
• Miss Shelby Turner

 Classes & Teachers

• Prep CH            Mrs Catherine Harrison (M-Th) & Mrs Lara Berley (F)
• Prep JM             Mrs Jamee Montebruno (T-F) & Mrs Lara Berley (M)
• Prep NL             Miss Natasha Lim (M-F)
• Grade 1ET        Ms Emma Tiberi (M-F)
• Grade 1ES        Miss Emma Summers (M-F)  **NEW**   
• Grade 2EB        Miss Emilie Brady (M-F)
• Grade 2MV       Mrs Michela Vella (M, W-F) & Mrs Lara Berley (T) 
• Grade 3/4EJ     Miss Eliza Jones (M, W-F) & Miss Ellie Mackenzie (T)
• Grade 3/4GO   Mrs Gen O’Meara (M-F)
• Grade 3/4NC   Mrs Nicole Collins (M-W) & Mrs Fiona Lee (Th,F)
• Grade 5/6SP    Mr Steve Pertz (M, W-F) & TBC (T)
• Grade 5/6MG  Mr Michael Glennon (M-F)

Specialists

• Mrs Clare Flood (STEM) **NEW**   
• Mrs Sam Hudson (Art)
• Mrs Liz Thompson (PE)
• Mrs Trish O’Gorman (Performing Arts)
• Ms Cecilia Moya (LOTE) **NEW**   

 Library Team

• Mrs Katherine Grima
• Mrs Diana Milburn

 Learning Support Officers

• Mrs Ann Arthur (M-Th)
• Mrs Di McDowall (M-W)
• Miss Rosie Siracusa (M-F)
• Miss Ruby Powell (M-W & F)

 Admin Team

• Mrs Maria Hogan (M,T, Th,F)
• Mrs Sharan Talbot (M-W)

Reports

Yesterday parents received their child’s Semester Two Report and child’s Self Reflection on the Parent Portal. We hope that the Semester Reports along with the two sets of Parent/Teacher Interviews this year have provided you with a solid understanding of your child’s academic progress throughout the year.

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. 

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.

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

SRC

We congratulate our SRC's for their outstanding leadership this year and we thank them for being wonderful role models. It was a delight to have lunch together and discuss what has worked well and what could be even better next year. It was lovely to hear the students speak about what they loved about OLA:

• Everyone includes everyone
• Doesn’t matter what you like or don’t like - everyone tries to include you
• Specialist opportunities 
• The teachers are very supportive and help you when you need it 
• I love my friends here at OLA and I like how they are kind and supportive 
• The buddies 
• Being given extra responsibilities 
• The variety of Friday sport in the mornings for Grade 3/4s 
• Earning points to be able so that we can play games and activities on Fridays 

Are you Smarter than a Grade 3/4? 

What a wonderful celebration of learning yet again from this amazing group of students and teachers. The teachers and parents found it nearly impossible to get on the leader board in an end of term Kahoot on biomes. We are super proud of you all and one parent wrote:

I just wanted to email you and let you know what a lovely arvo/experience, 'Are you smarter than a grade 3/4?' was! I had a really nice time and it was so great to see the children get all excited playing against the teachers and parents. When my child got home Monday night she asked me to find the Kahoot website you used for the game as she had decided she wanted to make a Kahoot and test our family. She made one about deserts all by herself with questions, lots of pictures and set us all up in the lounge room to play. It was beautiful to see my child so passionate about her learning and wanting to do what she’s learnt at school then at home! Thank you so much! Enjoy the last weeks of school and have a fabulous well deserved break!

State Judo Champion 

Congratulations to Alexander, our very own State Judo Champion for U13 boys, 55kg category who took out the title at the recent Judo Victoria State Championships. Alexander will be competing at the Canberra Open and Sydney Open in late February. Followed by the Melbourne Open in April. The National Championships will be held in Brisbane in June. What a big year ahead. We offer our very best wishes and congratulations.

End of Year Dancing Concerts

At this time of year we have many of our students involved in many and varied dance and stage performances. Last weekend Maisy, Isabella and Sadie were snapped at their end of year dancing concert. This is extra special with a strong connection being made from our Grade 6 and Prep Buddy system - Maisie and Isabella are buddies this year.

School Sports Australia Nationals 

Congratulations to Tyler in Grade 5 who represented OLA at the School Sport Australia Track & Field Championships at Homebush Stadium in Sydney last month. Tyler said, " the Nationals in Sydney was a really fun 5 day experience. I was happy with my performance and nearly achieved a new PB. The Victorian team was really close and I enjoyed making lots of new friends."

Taekwondo Black Belt

Congratulations to Beau on passing his Taekwondo Black Belt grading last weekend. We are really proud of you Beau.

Dance Nationals on the Gold Coast 

After competing in four state wide competitions since June 2024, Arleia’s dance team, the ‘Diamantes’ (ages 5-6) from Mathis Dance Studios made their debut at the 2024 AASCF Dance Nationals on the Gold Coast last weekend. It’s the pinnacle of dance awards in Australia. There was representation from all states and up to 180 clubs competed in this competition over five days. We are proud of Arleia and her dance team and we congratulate her and her team on winning gold for Jazz.

Netball Champions

Congratulations to all Netball teams competing in finals over the last few weeks.  The under 13 Assumption Spirit team that includes , Anabelle E, Emilie V, Isabelle M, Niamh C, Autumn W and Zara Z played a very close game in the grand final. They were 9 goals down at half time but didn't give up and fought back to get with in a goal but just missed out on winning. Losing only by 2 goals in the end. They were amazing and never gave up and were also amazing in their sportsmanship throughout the game and at the end! 

Congratulations to Kitty and her team on winning the Grand Final in Netball. The McKinnon Mavericks took to a rainy court and beat St Pats Rubies 29-13!

MACS Creative Arts Exhibition in 2025

Following artworks being submitted by OLA to MACS, two of our entries have been selected for the MACS Creative Arts Exhibition in 2025. We congratulate all our incredibly talented artists but in particular, Chiara A with her 'Collaged Picasso Face' and Isabelle M with her 'Indonesian Batik Fabric Design'. These pieces will be exhibited at the Catholic Leadership Centre, from Sunday 16 March to Saturday 22nd March, 2025.

Thank you

Past students returning to OLA 

We are so proud of our past students at OLA and we were honoured to have these great humans return to us after their first year of secondary school to pass on their tips and tricks to our Class of 2024. This is a great example of secondary school transition opportunities at OLA which was initiated by one of our very own parents. 

Thank you all for a wonderful year. Together we are creating one of the best schools in Cheltenham and the Bayside area. Thank you for your support, your feedback and your gratitude. Thank you all for helping make these last few weeks of our school year such happy and memorable ones. Wishing our wonderful students, families and staff a very Merry Christmas and may 2025 be a wonderful year for all. 

Richard Jacques

Principal