Dear Families,

On Tuesday I had the absolute pleasure of accompanying the Year 3-4 children, their teachers and parent helpers to the Diamond Creek as they continue their learning around environment and sustainability. After walking down together and then breaking into smaller groups, we each had a focus on a different area. My group was tasked with looking for any signs of human impact we could see around us. We found many! We then wandered over to the Eltham library to have a close look at the artwork in the gallery. We spoke about the different mediums, colours, interpretations and our favourite artwork. What a wonderful space to explore and so close to school. I have included some photos of our walk. Congratulations to the children for being such wonderful role models for our school and thank you to our helpers who came with us!

On Saturday the 17th July the PFOL have organised a fabulous community event with a Trivia Night. Please mark the date in your diaries. By all that I have heard, the last Trivia Night was a great success. It will be lovely to gather together again as a community (observing Co-vid guidelines) and catch up with old friends and to welcome those new to our school . Please see the flyer for more details.

(Tickets available via CDF Pay)

This week has seen the children in Year 3 and Year 5 commence the NAPLAN assessments. The children have completed Reading, Writing and Language Conventions (spelling) to date and will finish with Numeracy next Tuesday. It has been a very calm week with no stress placed on the children, just the encouragement to do their best and read the questions carefully. For us, as teachers NAPLAN is another form of data that we use to further inform our teaching. It is informative and useful but is only one form of assessment used at Our Lady's. This year the children completed the tests using a digital platform, except for the Year 3 writing assessment. We were very pleased that our network managed this time without a glitch and proud of the children for their efforts! Thank you to Barb Cumming and Jennie O'Dell who have been responsible for the coordination of the tests this year. They have been extremely well organised and spent a great deal of time ensuring that everything went off without a glitch.

Our SWELL Art sessions on a Wednesday are continuing with the children's work being displayed in the senior building corridor, you are very welcome to come in and have a look. Last week the children made origami of endangered animals and this week the children took a trip to Africa and talked about the great wildlife migration, conservation and sustainability issues there. The children then worked with armature and clay creating migratory Masai Mara animals.

On Monday 24th May we are celebrating Our Lady Help of Christians feast day with a special Mass, play at the park , lunch and an activities afternoon. Coming home this week will be an invitation from your children inviting you to come and join us for the afternoon's activities. We will ask you to sign in and will have a QR Code in each classroom but sadly due to covid restrictions and numbers in the church we are unable to have families join us for Mass .

Don't forget a touch of orange for our Prader Willi Syndrome Association fundraising on Monday. There is more information later in the newsletter.

There is so much information in our newsletter each week that allows you to continue to be informed and up to date with all that the children do each week, as well as with important information, dates and with community events. Please keep reading!

Until next week

Therese

Our thoughts and prayers are with Grace Mechkaroff, our Learning Support Officer and her family after her grandmother passed away last week.

Please refer to our School google calendar for events throughout the year.

Links

RSPCA BLANKET APPEAL

Please donate over winter, some second hand or new towels, blankets or pet beds for the RSPCA. here will be a bucket for them at the office with Liz Thank you Eloise B