Dear OLA Families,

What a fantastic start to Term Two! It is wonderful to be back into the swing of things and straight into learning and life at OLA.

School Closure Day

On Tuesday 26 April we began the term with a school closure day for OLA staff. The focus of this day was assessment practice and using data to inform our teaching. We look forward to working with students to co-create learning goals and continue to prioritise growth for all students.

Our teachers already have great practices in place and it is so good to have time on task to learn from one another, and learn new strategies to make our teaching even better!

Learn to Swim Program

Our Prep-Grade Four students are to be congratulated on a successful first week of the Learn to Swim program. The students will certainly be glad for a rest and some down time over the weekend before we head into our second week of the program.

Inform and Empower

We are so grateful to work with amazing staff like Marty and Carley McGauren from Inform and Empower. This week and next week, all students Prep - Grade 6 will participate in online lessons with Marty to explore age-related content around being safe online. In addition, we appreciated the opportunity for teachers and parents/carers (and some grandparents!) to jump online with Marty and Carley on Thursday 5 May.

For more information, refer to the Learning & Teaching section of this newsletter.

OSH Club

We thank our OLA OSHClub for putting on a morning tea on Monday. It was lovely to see Maria and Michela’s smiling faces and they enjoyed meeting some new people.

Recently Maria (OSHClub Coordinator) has shared a success with her holiday program. In the July school holidays, all state-wide OSH services will implement some of Maria and the OLA OSH team’s activities. Maria is working alongside 2-3 other coordinators to plan the July prorgam for all OSH services. A huge congratulations - what a great compliment to our service!

OLA Classroom Helper Program

This week we had our first Classroom Helper Program information session. Thank you to Josy Reeder and Christine Thredgold who led this session, and also thank you to our wonderful parents who came along and are keen to help with our Literacy and Mathematics programs! Having an extra set of hands in the classroom is so valuable.

If there are any parents/carers/grandparents who are keen to be classroom helpers, another information session will be held on Thursday 12 May at 6pm.

Opening Term and Mini Vinnies Commissioning Mass

This Wednesday we celebrated the beginning of term with a Mass to commission our Grade 6 Social Justice/MJR Leaders as ‘Mini Vinnies’. These students will work alongside OLA staff and volunteers from our local Vinnies conference to reach out and promote care for those in our community who are less fortunate.

It was wonderful for Bert, Tony and Mary from our local St Vincent de Paul conference to join us for Mass. We look forward to working with you throughout the year.

OLA House Cross Country

At our whole school assembly last week, Liz Thompson announced Lourdes (red) as the winner of the OLA House Cross Country!

First - Lourdes (red)

Second/Third - DRAW - Brigid (blue) & Fatima (red)

Fourth - Mackillop (gold)

Liz also announced the top 10 students in each age group who will advance through to District Cross Country. We wish the following students all the best on Tuesday 24 May:

12 Girls	11 Girls	9-10 Girls
Olivia C	Maggie F	Bella K
Keira K	Sara T	Darcey H
Grace T	Ellie M	Isabelle M
Darcey F	Giselle W	Bella F
Mia K	Chloe M	Eliza O
Tabitha L	Lana Z	Dolores M
Mietta D	Amelia B	Abbey M
Kara G	Kiara M	Olivia B
Evelyn W	Nina V	Olivia W
Sienna R	Molly M	Olivia H
		Joselyn

12 Boys	11 Boys	9-10 Boys
Will C	Noah M	Jess G
Oliver F	Connor W	Oliver M
Ashton B	Tony M	Michael W
Tommy H	Mason G	Henry B
Xander M	Matthew R	Ollie W
Oscar L	Gabriel F	Peter K
Ryder M	Hudson S	Alfie W
Freddie	Lewis A	Cruz W
Benji C	Blake S	Christian M
Harper D	William K	Alastair D
Will B	Max L

State Championships

Recently we have had two students compete at State Championships in Swimming and Diving. A huge achievement to be competing at this level!

We congratulate Matthew R (5/6NC) who came 3rd in 50m backstroke and 4th in 50m freestyle, beating his personal best time by 4 seconds!

A huge well done also to Xander M (5/6MB) who competed at the State Diving competition this week. Xander came first in the Southern Metropolitan region for 9-12 boys previously, and then came second in the State for 9-12 boys this week.

Mother’s Day Breakfast and Stall

What a wonderful way to finish the week with our Mother’s Day Breakfast. It was great to see so many mums, carers, grandmothers and other special women join us for breakfast in Brigid Hall.

We thank Andy Wright, the other volunteer dads and the OLA P&F for all your hard work in planning and facilitating this event.

Wishing all our mums and special women in the community a wonderful day on Sunday.

NAPLAN

Next week our Grade 3 and 5 students will participate in the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). The students have been having some practices at school to get used to the format of the new online system. We encourage all students to do their best and to view NAPLAN as an opportunity to show off what they can do, rather than worry about what they can’t do!

If any families are wanting to have a practice from home, head to Operoo for more information.

Building update

The last few weeks have seen lots of demolition work take place. We had a noisy day on Wednesday as Jardon Group worked to saw and remove a large concrete slab in the old office/staffroom space. It will be so good to have more outdoor space and a new courtyard when the work is all completed!

Some students have noticed a good view into the building site from our Chill Out Room window. A great opportunity to get a sneaky peek into the construction zone!

We look forward to moving into the next phase of the project within the next week or so. Watch this space!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Caitlan Taig

Acting Principal

OLA FETE