Psalm 34:8

Taste and see that the LORD is good

It was an absolute delight to invite and welcome our parents and families, not to taste and see, but to come and see and share with everyone the beautiful buildings that God has blessed us with. The students thoroughly enjoyed touring their family members around and showing them the wonderful facilities in Junior School. Thank you to all the families who took the time to come and visit.

On Monday 28 February, Mrs Heckathorn and I had the privilege of taking our 12 Year 6 captains to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre for the State Youth Dream and Lead Conference. This was a wonderful opportunity for the students to be inspired by a range of young leaders from around Australia. They were reminded that age does not determine the ability to achieve extraordinary things, while also pondering the questions, ‘If not me…who? If not now…when?’ The standout presenter, to me, was a young man named Nasir Sobhani, who encouraged the students to see leadership from a service perspective. He shared his story about how he uses hairdressing to bless others, including homeless people. Nasir told the students that everyone is given a gift, and we should use these gifts to bless and benefit others. The abilities and talents God has given us may seem insignificant, but if we use them for His glory, He can use us to impact others’ lives in a big way.

Over the past two weeks, our Junior School lunchtimes have been a hive of activity with the introduction of our lunchtime clubs. Students have been given the opportunity to fill their time with a range of fantastic activities, including construction, Lego, drawing, Chinese calligraphy, jewellery making, critiquing movies, finger knitting, macramé, coding, robotics, vocal and instrumental music, plus outdoor clubs with running, games and activities on the oval and at the Enviro Barn. Another lunchtime hit has been our Junior School Icy Pole Train. It has been lovely to see the smiles on the faces and the excitement as students trek up to the Canteen to collect their frozen treats. I would like to thank our dedicated staff for giving their lunchtimes to provide such enriching and engaging activities for our students.

Junior School Volunteer Briefing Sessions

If you would like to volunteer in your child’s class this year, you must attend a Volunteer Briefing Session. The next sessions will be held on Wednesday 16 March at 9.00am and Thursday 17 March at 3.00pm in the BPAC. The sessions will focus on the responsibilities of volunteers and provide some helpful tips to assist students and their learning. All volunteers at Oxley must have a current Working with Children Check and fulfill the triple vaccination mandate. It is important to note a Working with Children Check expires every five years and must be renewed. Any parent who has renewed their card must provide a copy of their new card to the College, so we can update the records. If you would like to attend a briefing session, please fill in and return the form that was emailed out to families on Wednesday 2 March. We look forward to seeing you there and continuing the important partnership between school and home.

James 1:17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Amy Liddle

Head of Junior School

What Did You Do at School Today?

Prep

We are having so much fun learning how to write independently. Last week, we made popcorn. It was very exciting to see the corn kernels pop! We extended our vocabulary with words like explode, burst, crackle and pop. We can't wait to see what our next language experience will be!! This week, we went to Chapel for the very first time at LMC. We loved praising and worshiping God through song.

Year 1

We were SO excited to finally show our families our wonderful new school buildings during our Come and See afternoon. We were proud to share our learning space and show off all we have achieved so far this year. Our parents loved seeing where we sit and put our bag each day we come to school. We were delighted to give them a tour of the Art room and the Upper Primary building as well. Our new school building is bright, colourful and AMAZING!

Year 2

Hopefully most parents took the opportunity to Come and See our new learning spaces. We were so excited to show off our classrooms, and proudly led parents around the school. This week, we finally met our Buddies – some with Year 6 and some with Year 5. It was a delight to witness the joyful faces as we spent quality time building new friendships. Lastly, lunchtime clubs have been an absolute hit and the wide range of options caters to all student interests – Yay!

Year 3

We had a great time revising, editing and publishing our Narratives on the Surface Go devices. We cannot wait to share our stories with our peers. We are excited to start persuasive writing. What is your favourite pet? Can you convince us as to why? What are your reasons? We would love to hear them! Persuasive writing is so much fun. We all have an opinion on just about everything.

Watch out parents as we may try out our persuasive techniques at home on topics like bedtime and chores!

Year 4

Well the craziest thing happened in Year 4 this week! We came in from lunch to discover that our chairs had gone on strike! They held signs that read ‘I have 4 legs, not 2!’ and ‘Never gonna let you sit!’ all around! Our mission was to write a letter to passionately persuade our beloved chairs to return to our classrooms. Thankfully, the chairs responded well to our letters and returned the next day. We are looking forward to learning all about more creative ways to persuade, just in case our pencils go next!

Year 5

What a fantastic time we are having in Year 5! We got to meet all our Buddies this week and had a great time learning more about them. We also continued writing our narratives and we are about to embark on publishing our first piece of the year. Many of us participated in our first ever Interschool Sport competition and showed tremendous sportsmanship in all our sports. We have learnt about filling our happy tank, so when tough times come, we have thought of strategies and activities that can help refill us. It was so wonderful showing off our classrooms during Come and See afternoon and we can’t wait to have everyone back on the grounds more frequently!

Year 6

Last Friday, Year 5 and 6 had their first Interschool Sport competition. We put up a good fight against Billanook and we are pleased to announce that most Oxley teams won. We are looking forward to versing Manchester this week, which has many undefeated teams.

In writing, we have become more confident using show don’t tell, complex sentences and dialogue to make our narratives engaging. It has been wonderful to publish our first text for the year and to celebrate how much we have learnt over the last six weeks. Ask us about what inspired our idea for our narratives and what our goals have been!

Written by 6G students Ryder Holland and Steffan Sween

Term	First Day	Last Day
1	Monday 31 January	Friday 8 April
2	Tuesday 26 April	Friday 24 June
3	Monday 18 July	Friday 16 September
4	Monday 3 October	Wednesday 7 December

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