From the Principal

Welcome back for our busy Term 2.  I hope that families enjoyed the holiday period and took the time to unwind and relax with friends and family.

Enrolments 2020

2020 Enrolments - Do you have a child starting Prep in 2020? Please come past the office and collect an enrolment form to secure your child’s enrolment at Oakleigh Primary School.  Also, if you or any of your friends or neighbours have a child who will be 5 years old before the end of April, 2020, that are intending to attend our school please encourage them to enrol as soon as possible. Our Prep classes fill fast, so please act now to enable us to forward plan.

MOTHERS’ DAY STALL

Parent has once again offered to coordinate the Mother’s Day Stall this year. This year the event will be held on two mornings, Thursday 9th and Friday 10th. Parent helpers are requested to support on these mornings and to help set up.  It is always a wonderful event and I never cease to be touched by the joy your children gain from choosing a ‘special’ gift for you. In today’s cashless society there are few opportunities for children to buy something with money for someone else. If you can assist on any of the listed times, please put your name down on the online volunteer form. Details and a link to the sign in form can be found on Flexibuzz.

HISTORY OF MOTHER’S DAY

Mothers’ Day, the time to pay a tribute to that one person who loves you unconditionally, believes in you and is there for you no matter what. In Australia Mother’s Day 2019 occurs on Sunday, May 12th. On this day Australians will spend the day celebrating their mothers and other special women in their lives.

Some mums may be given cards, flowers and gifts, while others may enjoy breakfast in bed or a lunch out. Mother's Day has long been a part of the Australian calendar, but where did the idea to dedicate the second Sunday in May to honouring motherhood come from?

The modern Australian celebration of Mother's Day actually grew out of calls for peace and anti-war campaigns following the American Civil War (1861-65). In 1870, American writer and women's rights activist Julia Ward Howe, best known as the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, appealed to women to unite and bring peace throughout the world (later known as the Mother's Day Proclamation).  She proposed that a mother's day for peace be commemorated every year in June. It became an official holiday in 1914.

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as Mothering Sunday. Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mothers’ Day in the 1930s and 1940s.

Michele Nolan

Principal