20 - 27th June, 2025 - Term 2, Week 10

Principal's News

Dear Families,

It was great to be back at school this week after being on Long Service Leave! Thank you to Adam Lawrence and the Leadership Team who made sure that everything kept ticking along while I was away. I have certainly come back to some cold weather, which I have not missed!

This week I have been busy proofreading the student reports which will be sent home next Friday (and today for Mrs. Courtney’s class). It is fantastic to read about the gains made in our students’ learning across the term and the ways they interact positively with their peers. I’m sure that all families will be proud of what has been achieved over the first semester of the year. Parent/Teacher interviews will take place in Week Two of next term, with bookings opening for these by the end of today.

With the winter weather comes the often unavoidable spread of germs! Below is a excerpt from the latest update to principals from Catholic Education Ballarat, regarding the current high rate of illness in schools.

There are an increased number of respiratory cases in the community at the moment, including influenza, COVID-19 and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). All these conditions have vaccination programs available which should be considered by those eligible within the school community, especially by staff and students with underlying susceptibilities. Key preventative health actions for school settings include advising that people with symptoms should stay home while unwell. This is a mandated requirement for COVID-19 and influenza cases in primary schools and children service centres under the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019.

OLSH is certainly experiencing our fair share of the above illnesses, so we stress that if you child is unwell, please do not send them to school. We appreciate your cooperation with this.

Congratulations to our choir, who performed some of their repertoire of songs for the residents of Chaffey Aged Care on Tuesday! By all accounts, the choir performed well and the crowd loved it! Thanks to Mrs. Phelan, Ms. Garreffa and Mrs. Finalyson for accompanying the students.

Next Friday, school will finish for the term at 2.30pm. All students who travel by bus will need to be collected by parents instead on this day, as buses will not run at the earlier time. This includes both the Victorian and NSW bus travelers.

With one week of the term to go, and the colder weather well and truly upon us, just keep in mind that the holidays are in sight! Let’s make the last week a good one!

Have a great weekend!

Narelle Gallagher

Links:

Enrolments at OLSH:

OLSH Calendar:

Religious Education News

Sacrament of Reconciliation (Year 2 & Above)

There will be an opportunity for children in Grade Two or above to make their Sacrament of Reconciliation. Below are the details of the parent information night and the celebration of the sacrament. Please contact the parish office for further details if you are interested in making the sacrament. 

• Parent Information Session - Wednesday October 15th
• Celebration of Sacrament - Wednesday November 26th

RE Professional Development Day

Staff will be involved in some Professional Development in Religious Education on Monday July 21st 2025. This will be a school closure day. 

NAIDOC Liturgy

To celebrate NAIDOC week, we will begin with a liturgy at OLSH on Tuesday July 29th, 2025. All families are welcome to attend. 

SSG & Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews are taking place on the 28th & 29th July.  These are now open on SIMON Everywhere.  Please note this does not include the Grade 3 class as these are taking place this coming Monday and Tuesday.

SSG Meetings are taking place on the 4th & 7th August. SSG Bookings times will open at the beginning of next term.

Book Week - Dress Up

We will be celebrating Book Week in Week 4 of Term Three (11–15 August), one week earlier than the official Book Week dates due to the Grades Prep to 2 Swimming Program taking place in Week 5.

Throughout the week, classes will take part in a variety of Book Week-themed activities, including a ‘Dress as Your Favourite Book Character’ Day on Tuesday, 12th August.

We will hold a costume parade at 9:00am where students can showcase their outfits. Friends and family are warmly invited to attend.

Choir Performance at Chaffey Aged Care

On Tuesday, our school choir made a special visit to Chaffey Aged Care. Students performed a selection of songs for the residents, filling the room with music and good cheer.

A big thank you to Chaffey Aged Care for having us and making us feel so welcome.

Student Leader News

Recycle Bottles & Cans

The Student Leaders have organized an account for donated bottles and cans. If you have refundable bottles and cans, you can recycle them at any CDS container refund depots in Mildura and scan the barcode below. This will donate the money directly to the Student Leaders to go towards new equipment for the students!

Thank you, OLSH Student Leaders

AFL School Holiday Program

Get ready for an action-packed AFL School Holiday Program at Mildura Sporting Precinct! Whether your child is just starting out or looking to refine their footy skills, this program is perfect for kids aged 4-12.

5-7 Year Olds – Enjoy a fun and safe introduction to AFL with experienced coaches, mini-games, and skill-building activities in a supportive environment.

Registration: https://www.playhq.com/afl/register/bcdb34

8-12 Year Olds – Experience NAB AFL Superkick, where skill development, modified gameplay, and teamwork come together for an exciting day of footy, friends, and fun!

Registration: https://www.playhq.com/afl/register/73abbd

• Date: Tuesday July 15
• Location: Mildura Sporting Precinct
• Time: 9 AM - 3 PM
• Cost: $55 (includes a football!)

Don’t miss out on this fantastic holiday experience—register now and get ready to play! 

Happy Birthday

We wish the following students a Happy Birthday:

Month of June:

• 2nd - Isla Mc - 8 yrs

• 3rd - Alexis F - 9 yrs

• 5th - Archie M - 8 yrs

• 7th - Shelby J - 10 yrs

• 7th - Esther S - 10 yrs

• 8th - Hemi L - 9 yrs

• 8th - Riley N-C - 7 yrs

• 9th - Aiden D - 9 yrs

• 9th - Savannah W - 10 yrs

• 13th - Zoe A - 11 yrs

• 13th - Toby W - 10 yrs

• 14th - Beau B - 11 yrs

• 15th - Fei L - 9 yrs

• 21st - Lachlan S - 9 yrs

• 23rd - Isaac L - 10 yrs

• 24th - Izobel M - 12 yrs

• 29th - Vincent M - 6 yrs

• 30th - Anastasia C - 9 yrs

OLSH Canteen

Orders need to be completed by 9.15am every Friday.

Prep News

Art Folios -These will be sent home with all students artwork in the last week of term. Please make sure these are returned to school once emptied. 

Show and Tell- Week 11's topic is 'Free Choice.' A list for Term Three will be sent home next week.

STEM- In Week 11 we will be having our STEM day. If you have any spare cardboard boxes, plastic tubs/containers laying around we would love to take them off your hands! Anytime is fine to drop these in. Thanks in advance! 

Holiday Homework- Next week students will bring home a pack of activities that can be completed over the holidays. 

This week in Prep...

Writing- We have learnt how to write a story. Our stories need to have 3 parts - a beginning, problem and ending.

Maths- We have been learning about money and have had a great time playing shops!

Art- On Monday we drew and painted our own snowmen.

Religion- We have been learning some different Aboriginal Creation stories.

Week Ten

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Grade 1 News

With just one week left of Term 2, we’ve had another fantastic week of learning!

In Maths, we’ve been practising counting by 2s, 5s and 10s, and the students have done an excellent job.

We also explored our “learning zones” — comfort, performance, and learning. The class worked well to recognise which zone they were in throughout different parts of the day. We discussed how it’s important to experience all three zones during our daily routines to support growth and confidence.

In English, we’ve been learning about adjectives, and the students have done a wonderful job identifying adjectives, verbs, and nouns in their writing.

As we near the end of term, please ensure all library books have been returned to school.

Have a lovely weekend!

Grade 2 News

 What a cold and wintry week it has been! 

As we are heading into the last week of school we have continued to make the most of our learning time!

RE: This week we have learnt about how we can use our gifts and talents to participate in our school and commmunity and make them better places for everyone.

Mathematics: We have been exploring the properties of 2D shapes by using geoboards and tessellating shapes. We have also been exploring flips, turns and slides with shapes.

Literacy: We have been combining simple sentences by adding a conjunction.

For example: Metal is strong. Metal is used to make cars. = Metal is strong so it is used to make cars. 

Science: We have been exploring how materials can change when they are combined or heated/cooled. To demonstrate this we made some playdough. The students enjoyed seeing the process of making playdough and got to have a play with some as well! 

Reminders:

• Friday July 4th is the last day of school. 
• Monday 21st July is a SCHOOL CLOSURE Day
• Book Week celebrations will be held in Week 4 of Term Three (August 15th)

Have a great weekend  and stay warm!

Lisa

Making Playdough

Grade 3 News

This week, we were fortunate to take part in the Victorian State Library’s Book Bash, where students had the opportunity to listen to three well known Australian authors—Anh Do, Sally Rippin, and Amelia Mellor. Each author shared small activities to inspire the students with their own writing and illustrating.

In Maths, we’ve been working on strategies for subtracting two and three-digit numbers. While this has been a little tricky for some students, it’s been lovely to see how encouraging and supportive they’ve been of one another. You can help at home by asking your child to count forwards and backwards by tens for example "Start at 145 and count forwards by tens". For more confident students ask questions like: “We had 235 apples. We sold 20. How many are left?”

School reports will be sent home with your child today. I’m looking forward to meeting with many of you on Monday and Tuesday next week to discuss your child’s progress during Semester One. Bookings can be made via the Simon app.

There will be no homework set for next week, but students are encouraged to continue reading each day.

Please send all library books back to school on Monday so that Mrs Lowry can organise the collection for Term Three. 

Enjoy your weekend!

Cheryl-Anne 

Grade 4 News

This week Grade 3-6 chose to be part of an online Book Bash. This is where authors share their ideas and give valuable tips for our future budding authors. Grade Fours watched and listened to Ahn Do who is renowned for his Weirdo series!

We made God's Eyes this week! Lots of trial and error and a bit of frustration, but we got there in the end!

Next Thursday we will be watching the movie Mr Popper's Penguins in the classroom. Students are invited to bring snacks and blankets to contribute to the movie atmosphere! No pressure at all.

There will be no homework given out next week however students are encouraged to continue to practice their times tables over the break.

Have a good weekend!

Julie

Grade 5 News

This week began with another visit from Police Officer Joe. The class learned how to take fingerprints correctly. We also took part in the Victorian State Library’s Book Bash, where students had the opportunity to listen to three authors—Anh Do, Sally Rippin, and Amelia Mellor—discuss how they come up with ideas for stories and characters. The students then completed activities to reinforce these concepts.

In Mathematics, we began learning how to add both proper and improper fractions. We finished the week by watching The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 

Grade 6 News

There has been a lot happening this week in Grade Six! 

On Monday we had our second Police in Schools session for the term. Joe came along to teach students about fingerprinting - he explained why police take fingerprints and how these are used. Students then got a chance to take their own fingerprints and have a look at their own unique patterns! 

On Tuesday and Thursday students participated in the annual Book Bash, where they were able to spend an hour watching authors on screen presenting and informing them about all things story writing! Students were able to listen to Anh Do and Amelia Mellor, which they loved as many had read their books! 

On Tuesday 1st July Grade Sixes will be going to visit St Joseph's College for the day. They will experience the life of a highschool student! They will be broken up into groups for the day. Students are to wear casual clothes, but must have appropriate footwear for Physical Education. There will be a sausage sizzle provided for lunch, however students are to bring their own snack and water bottle. We will make sure they have a hat packed and pen and paper. The St Josephs bus will be picking us up from OLSH and dropping us back to school before the NSW bus leaves. 

Next week students who are involved in the Writing Workshop with Phil Kettle will be sharing what they have been working on at assembly on Friday. This is set to be a great presentation so we hope you can come along if your child is involved in this group!

We will finish off the term watching the movie 'Wonder' which has been our novel study for this term. We have loved reading this book and can't wait to watch the movie! Like last term, students are welcome to bring in some blankets and snacks to have while watching. We will be watching it between recess and lunch on Friday 4th July (Last day of term). 

We've had so many students away unwell this week - I hope everyone is on the mend and starting to feel better! 

Have a nice weekend.

Breanna 

Police In Schools

Other News

Wentworth Annual Show Schedule

General News

School Advisory Council Members:

Thel O’Shea, Hannah Mills, Courtney Portaro, Sandra Hammet, Lana Borchard, Sara McClelland, Jennifer Wilson, Jordan Wade, Adam Lawrence (Staff Rep) & Narelle Gallagher (Principal). 

Change of details:

Please contact the office if you have had a change of details. Phone: 50252258 or Email: admin@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au

Bell Times

SIMON Everywhere App

This can be downloaded from either the Google Play Store or the Apple Store.  The app has been updated earlier this year and an email was sent out to parents.  If you are having issues with logging in, can you please contact Mia in the office. 

Student Medical Profile

Medical Profile: Please make sure that the school has been notified of any changes that have been made to your child’s Medical Profile on PAM and to also include this on the pink Parental Authority and Consent Form each year. 

IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PARENT TO MAKE OLSH AWARE OF ANY CHANGES.

Parent Notified Absence

If your child is unwell and will be absent from school, you are able to complete a Parent Notified Absence (PNA) on the SIMON Everywhere App or Parent Access Module (PAM) which will automatically notify the teacher and a text message will not be sent.

Newsletters

These are distributed every Friday on SIMON Everywhere and the OLSH Website. Please contact us if at any time you have any queries or require any further explanation about events, dates etc. Any items for the newsletter are asked to be handed in at the office by 9.00am on Friday.

Attendance & Sign in

A reminder to parents that the school needs to be notified of a student absence by 10 am on the day.  This can be done by calling the school office or by using SIMON Everywhere or sending an email to admin@olsmerbein.catholic.edu.au.

Second Hand Uniform

Please contact the school if you require any second hand uniform.