Almighty and Everlasting God, You have given the human race Jesus Christ our Savior as a model of humility. He fulfilled Your Will by becoming Man And giving His life on the Cross. Help us to bear witness to You By following His example of suffering And make us worthy to share in His Resurrection. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son.

Amen.

Dear Parents and Students,

It is hard to believe that we've successfully made it through the first half of Term 1. Last week was our Preps first full week of school and they have seamlessly transition into school life under the wonderful guidance of Miss Jackson. Miss Jackson has immersed the Preps in the learning of the 'Structured Literacy' program; beginning literacy sessions with the Heggerty Phonemic awareness program. Parent Helpers will see this program taking place across the junior levels from Term 2.

Celebrating 100 year of Education

Student celebrations will be held on Wednesday 24th April - more details coming your way soon.

PA WELCOME EVENT

A huge thankyou to Nikki, Lauren, Lisa and all the other PA members for hosting the Parent Welcome Event on Saturday 24th Feb. The weather was divine and there was a wonderful turnout of new and current families. Thank you to the generosity of George & Ryan McMahon, Lisa and Pat Toscano, and Niki & Andy McMahon for their donations to the raffle. It was a terrific start to the PA social calendar.

TERM 1 EVENTS	DATE
Staff Conference - School Closure - PUPIL FREE DAYS	Thursday 7th & Friday 8th March
Labour Day Holiday	Monday 11th March
Yr 3/4 Bike Ed Program	Tues 12th - Fri 15th March
Yr 5/6 Camp	Tues 12th - Fri 15th March
YR 3 & 5 NAPLAN Testing	13th - 21st March
1/2D Assembly & SRC Badge presentation	Fri 15th March 9am
Junior School Family Mass	Sunday 17 March at 5pm
2024 Prep Dinner	Friday 22 March
Yr 3/4 Gala Day	Tuesday 26 March
End of Term 1	Thursday 28th March at 1pm
Term 2 Commences	Monday 15th April

CAMPS 2024

CAMP	DATE
Yr.5/6 Camp Alexandra	Tues 12th - Fri 15th March
Yr.3/4 Camp Mill Valley Ranch	30th Oct - 1st Nov
Prep Story Time Yr.1&2 Sleepover	TBC
Prep Story Time Yr.1&2 Sleepover	TBC

2024 SCHOOL CLOSURE DAYS
TERM 1	7th & 8th March - Staff Conference 11th March - Labour Day
TERM 2	25th April - ANZAC DAY 26th April - PD Day 10th June - King's Birthday 11th June - Combined Parish School PD Day
TERM 3	15th July - Parent/Teacher Interviews
TERM 4	4th Nov - Report Writing Day 5th Nov - Melbourne Cup 29th Nov - 2025 Planning Day

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS

Thank you to all the parents that attended our Information night. I hope you found it useful

OLGC PLAYGROUP

We are seeking expressions of interest from Family and friends who might be interested in starting/joining our OLGC Playgroup in Term 2. At this stage we envisage the Playgroup will run 3 times a term. Please note, there is no age limit on toddlers or pre-schoolers. If you think this is a good idea and would like to be a part of the OLGC Playgroup please email office@olgcdeepdene.catholic.edu.au

PARENT HELPER'S COURSE

Thanks to all the parents who attended the parent helpers course last Thursday morning. It was wonderful to see so many new faces from new families in our community. We encourage you to come along and be part of your child's primary school years, you don't get these years back! Whether it’s helping out with the PA or on a school excursion, we really appreciate the support you offer our school. Parent helpers will start in the classroom next term when all students are settled into their routines. Please see your classroom teacher if you are available to help. If you were unable to attend the parent helpers course and you'd still like to help, please see the attached slideshow. Many thanks to Mrs Cecily Kerr and Mrs Julie McIntyre for running the morning.

SCIENCE OF READING

GRATTAN INSTITUTE- EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Many of our families would have seen or heard the recent media reports on the latest Grattan Institute report on reading instruction, and the discussion around phonics vs balanced literacy. The message from this report is loud and clear - establishing a “structured literacy” approach that includes a systematic focus on phonics for decoding, is essential in early primary school.

We are thrilled to acknowledge that OLGC staff and students are already on their learning journey in our approach to Structured Literacy - with the explicit, systematic, and sequential teaching of literacy. I have linked some recent articles and media releases below, specifically highlighting the recommendations and practices we proudly are putting in place at OLGC. We are thrilled to have the expertise of Miss Joyce Dunne (Yr 1/2D) who has a Masters in the Science of Reading and who has begun to deliver professional development to our staff.

The-Reading-Guarantee-Grattan-Institute-Report.pdf

Catholic schools Melbourne_ Explicit instruction teaching method to be introduced to schools in the Melbourne Archdiocese.pdf

ABC News - "One-third of Australian children can't read properly as teaching methods cause 'preventable tragedy', Grattan Institute says"

Our daily, two-hour literacy block addresses the curriculum content areas of Reading, Writing, and Speaking and Listening. Throughout the program, students are exposed to explicit teaching and a wide variety of quality literature from diverse voices. In Prep, Year 1 and Year 2, the literacy block starts with explicit teaching of phonemic awareness and phonics, using the Multisensory Structured Language (MSL) approach and Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum. MSL incorporates five essential steps for effective reading instruction - identifying letter sounds, sounding out words, fluency, accuracy and comprehension. The Heggerty Curriculum includes explicit instruction in the following phonological and phonemic awareness skills:

Rhyming.
Initial Phoneme Isolation.
Blending.
Isolating final and medial phonemes (sounds)
Segmenting.
Adding Phonemes.
Deleting Phonemes.
Substituting Phonemes.

SCHOOL CLOSURE DAYS

tomorrow, Thursday 7th March and Friday 8th March, the school will be closed so all our staff can participate in a two day professional learning conference. We are being led by a phycologist and an expert in the field of ADHD.

These two days will reinforce our priority on student wellbeing and child safety. We thank you for your understanding as we undertake this valuable professional learning. Please contact TheirCare directly if you require out of hours care for your children during these days.

NAPLAN

Next week our Year 3 and 5 students will commence their NAPLAN tests Online. All tests are completed using the school’s Chromebooks, with the exception of Year 3 Writing, which is handwritten. The Year 3 and 5 students will complete the following tests:

Writing - Wednesday 13th March – Yr 5’s will complete their test at camp
Reading – Monday 18th March
Conventions of Language - Tuesday 19th March
Numeracy - Wednesday 20th March

Results will be received mid-year and an individual report will be provided to families displaying your child’s achievement. Please click on the attachment below for parent information regarding NAPLAN in 2024.

NAPLAN2024.pdf

Yr 5/6 ALEXANDRA RESORT CAMP

Our Yr 5/6 students and 6 staff will be embarking on a 4 day camp at Alexandra Resort Camp next Tuesday 12th - Friday 15th. All students are asked to be in the atrium at 8:30am on Tuesday. The bus will be leaving school at 9am. A huge thank you to the staff attending the camp. This is a big ask of them and I fully appreciate their commitment to the students in attending a four day camp.

DIVISION SWIMMING

Today we had 13 students - Victoria, Scarlett, Issy, Camilla, Elliot, Hamish, Daniel, Lincoln, Sebastian, Sam, Caleb, Angus and Liam participate in the Whitehorse Division Swimming Carnival today.

2 of our relay teams and 3 individual swimmers have qualified for the Eastern Metropolitan Primary Region Swimming Championships which will be held on 22nd March.

Many thanks to Sally Stone and Jo-Ann Kemp for driving the students to and from the pool.

YR 3/4 BIKE EDUCATION

Yr 3/4 Students with be participation in a Bike Ed Program from next Tuesday 12 - 15 March at school. If you child doesn't have a bike/helmet, Cycling Unlimited will supply them with one. A letter with additional information pertaining to the program was sent home, and an Operoo for the Friday out of school ride, needs to be approved please.

We require parent helpers on the Friday, so please let us know if you can help out via the Operoo.

This is a part of the student's Phys. Ed. program and all children are expected to participate.

2024 OPEN DAYS for 2025/2026

We warmly invite families to come and see what OLGC has on offer for potential new students/families. Open our front doors and enter the world of Science of Reading, STEM, Mandarin, Art, Physical Education, Leadership programs, Public Speaking and much, much more.

We strongly encourage our families to spread the positive news and share the wonderful experiences within our beautiful school community with their networks as we aim for two Prep classes in 2025.

SEEKING SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS

We are seeking nominations from parent representatives to join the School Advisory Council (SAC) in 2024/2025. Please consider nominating yourself if you feel you would like to fulfil this role.

We encourage all parents to consider nominating for one of these important positions. Please note SAC Membership is purely voluntary and is for a two year term.

If you are interested in applying for a SAC position, please click on these links. Letter/nomination form and Terms of Reference Guide.

CANTEEN

Canteen is open on Mondays and Fridays commencing this week. Lunch orders must be submitted online by 8am through the My School Connect app. Reminders will be sent out and all order must be in by 8am Monday & Friday

OUTSTANDING 2023 SCHOOL FEES

Unfortunately, there are still a number of outstanding 2023 School Fees that have not been paid. It is with regret that I inform families that we are now required to seek assistance to collect these fees.

2024 TERM DATES

Term 1 - 30 January – 28 March

(Easter 29 March - 1 April)

Term 2 - 15 April – 28 June

Term 3 - 16 July – 20 September

Term 4 - 7 October – 17 December

Kind regards,

Erin Macdonald

Principal

Birthdays and Awards