15 - 1st December, 2023 - Term 4, Week 9

Principal's News

Dear Families,

It has been a busy week at OLSH, with most of our focus on the School Concert, which took place last night. It was fantastic to see lots of families on the oval enjoying the evening (we lucked out with the weather after a few dodgy days!) and the students rose to the occasion, putting on a great performance! A lot of work goes into preparing for the concert and Mrs. Meyer, along with our teachers, did an amazing job of creating the items you saw last night. Our Raffle winners would also be very pleased with their prizes, and once again we would like to thank our major sponsors – the Portaro and O’Shea families – for their generous contributions. We also thank all of our families who bought and sold tickets and donated goods for the hampers. We certainly hope you enjoyed the evening! Our Raffle winners are listed below:

Ist prize: Chris Keith $1000

2nd prize: Josh Tassone $600

3rd prize: $300 petrol vouvhers/$100 gift voucher

Hampers: Kale Leech, Oliver Clay, Lisa Ryan, Elijah Keith, Illario Mazza, Kathy Anderson, Clare Reid, Chris Milkeratis, Josh Sheard

Our 2024 School Leaders were also announced to the community last night. This year, we have had four great leaders in Pietro Dichiera, Eamon Breewel, Sebastian Longeri and Zac Dahlitz, who have led the students with pride. It’s good to know that the students will once again be led by four excellent young people in the coming year. The Grade Five students who put their hand up to be leaders next year did an amazing job of writing an application stating why they would be suited for the role, and we had quite a number of applicants, which is great! The Grade Three, Four and Five students, along with the staff, voted the following students as School Leaders for next year:

Faith Lawrence, Able Gregg, Dane Alderson and Lexie Paley. Our Gleeson Sports House Leader is Matilda Pritchard and our McAuley House Leader is Ryder Goldsmith. We congratulate all of these students and look forward to them leading us in 2024.

Next year, OLSH will continue on our Structured Literacy journey. We took on this approach to our Literacy at the beginning of this year and have been learning about it through Professional Development while implementing the program in our classrooms. In 2024, we are again required to have two Professional Development Days, which are set by the designers of the program. The dates for these school closure days will be:

Friday, February 9th and Friday, July 19th

These closure days are very close to holiday breaks, early in Term One and then Term Three. We understand that this is not ideal for parents, particularly when we will just be returning from holidays in both instances. As a school, we definitely would prefer if these days were less disruptive. Unfortunately, we cannot choose the dates and despite our efforts, are unable to change these. We hope that getting these dates to you early will help you to plan for the closures.

Next Tuesday, our whole school will take part in Transition Day, when they will move up to their classroom for next year. Students will spend time with their teachers, as well as have some time in both Auslan and PE for the day. Students are invited to wear a Christmas shirt on the day to add a bit of sparkle to their uniform! Sports shorts or normal school culottes/shorts can be worn with the shirts. 

Our Grade Six Graduation Mass is being held on Thursday, 7th December, at 9.30am. This is always a lovely occasion for our leaving students and their families, as they celebrate their seven years of learning at OLSH. There will be a morning tea for the families of Grade Six students following the mass. Please feel welcome to come along to mass to support and farewell our students.

Our Annual General Meeting will be held in the school library on Wednesday, 6th December at 5.45pm. Any parents who woud like to nominate for the School Advisory Council can do so on the slip that went home a few weeks ago. Nominations must be in by Tuesday and voting will take place at the AGM on Wednesday night. If you are interested in playing an advisory and role in the school, or if you have ideas or opinions to offer, please consider a place on the SAC.

Our school choir have been practising for their item at the Merbein Christmas Carols on Friday, 8th of December. We look forward to the nignt and hearing their beautiful voices! Below is a message from Mrs. Phelan and Ms Garreffa regarding the event.

This year the choir have been singing each Tuesday at lunchtime. We
have learnt many songs including ballads, contemporary and folk
songs, sea-faring songs and many others.
Next Friday, the choir will sing for you three songs at assembly. This
will give us a great opportunity to practice for our performance at the
Merbein carols which will take place on Friday 8 th December, 7:30pm
at Kenny Park.
Thanks to our choir members who have already brought in their
permission forms. If you haven’t, would you please do so ASAP. A
reminder that the choir must be in their summer school uniform. They
are permitted to wear a Santa hat, Christmas headband etc.
We would love to see some friendly OLSH students and families there
to support us!
Thank you
Julie Phelan and Rebecca Garreffa

As the silly season officially begins today, I hope you all enjoy a bit of rest before the craziness takes hold! Enjoy your weekend!

Narelle Gallagher

OLSH School Calendar

Staff Wellbeing Week (The Elf Game)

Each term we have a wellbeing week to promote staff to take care of themselves. This models to students the importance of looking after themselves and each other. The wellbeing week often involves a whole staff game, morning tea, decorated staffrooms and even special treats. This year the games have involved the students just before recess and lunch. During Term 2 we had a ‘Lucky Ducks’ and Term 3 “Popcorn’ games.

This week has been the Term 4 wellbeing week. Staff and students were involved in ‘The Elf Game’.

At recess and lunch different staff elves were hidden around the school. These elves were hidden on the playground and some in trees etc. Students were given a special treat from Mrs Elf (Gallagher) once they were able to find all the staff required.

Please see some photos below.

Religious Education News

This Thursday we will be celebrating the Grade 6 Graduation Mass on Thursday, 7th of December. All are welcome to attend.

2024 Prep Transition Program

Monday 4^th December                        9.00 – 3.25pm (Play lunch & lunch will be required)

Tuesday 5^th December                          9.00 – 3.25pm (Play lunch & lunch will be required)

Student of the Week

Prep News

Not long left of the year to go! Please make sure you read the following information to stay informed of everything happening in the last few days. I hope students have a great time with their teacher for 2024 on Tuesday for Transition Day. Students will be working with Miss Laity in the classroom near the yellow slide. Students are to wear Christmas shirts on this day. 

Concert- Well done to all students on their concert performance last night. It was so nice to see everyone who came along to watch. Thank you to all parents for organising the costumes for the concert.

Library- No more borrowing. Students need to make sure all books are returned to school by the end of the year.

Art folios- Please make sure all art folios are at school. These will be sent home again in the next few weeks.

Reading and Word books- We have finished reading and word books for the year. Well done to the students who have read regularly! Please make sure all readers are returned to school. Over the next couple of weeks and the holidays it is really important to make sure students are still reading.

On Monday the Preps will be working in the library as the 2024 Preps are at school. Please remind students to take their bags to the library and then go out and play. 

Grade 1 & 2 News

Congratulations to all of our students for their wonderful performance last night. They did such a great job and it was lovely to see how confident and happy they were performing for their friends and family.

1/2R Concert T-Shirts

These are yours to keep. Please handwash them separately in cold water. The paint should be colour fast but I cannot guarantee it won't 'bleed' a little, especially on the first wash.

Transition Day

On Tuesday, 5^th of December we will have our whole school orientation day. Students will work in their classes for 2024 for the whole day. On this day students are invited to wear Christmas t-shirts.  The students will also have a short PE lesson on the day, so runners would be best for footwear.

Readers

Today will be the last day for readers as we need to return all books to the library. We will continue doing reading practise using online books on EPIC and printed texts for partner reading. Thank you to parents for reading with your child each night this year. It really does make a difference to their reading progress!

Grade 3 & 4 News

Congratulations to both Grades 3/4 who did a wonderful job last night (as did all grades) at our Christmas concert. A BIG thank you also to Mrs Lawrence who put in a power of work in choreographing both dances behind the scenes. Your efforts are very much appreciated!

We only have two weeks left of this school year together! Where has this year gone? Over the next few days students will start to bring home books etc. It would be a great idea if students could bring in a shopping type bag to carry their belongings home. Thankyou.

Just a reminder that next Tuesday 5^th December at our Transition Day, students are invited to wear a Christmas shirt or t-shirt to get into the Christmas spirit.

Next week, both grades will be watching the movie in regards to the class novel that we have been reading together this term. Hopefully Mr Lawrence will be able to get his hands on The One and Only Ivan. If you can help out in finding this movie, Mr Lawrence would be most grateful! 

Julie and Adam 😊

Grade Five News

What a great night we had last night at our Christmas concert. I was so proud of all the Grade 5 students who had worked so hard to learn the dance routine and present it with such energy and enthusiasm. We are all very grateful to Mrs Lawrence for the choreography and working with us all term to learn the dance. It was a highlight of the term!

Last night the 2024 School Leaders were announced to our school community. We were notified on Wednesday so that everyone had some time to digest the news. I am so proud of all the Grade 5 students who wrote application letters and submitted them to Mrs Gallagher. All had skills, talents and passions they wanted to bring to the role and would have made fantastic leaders. There could only be six students chosen and we are all so excited for Faith, Able, Dane, Lexi, Matilda P and Ryder. Congratulations!

On Tuesday our class spent the day at St Joseph's College participating in the STEM fair. The Year 7 students made us feel very welcome and had prepared many different experiences for us to enjoy. Please see the gallery for photos. 

Reminder: Next Tuesday 5th December is our Transition day. Students are invited to wear a Christmas shirt on the day.

My New Gallery

Grade Six News

• Congratulations to the students for their wonderful dancing and singing at our Christmas Concert. It was a great night and always a good way to wrap up the year! Well done to those students who took on an extra role as a narrator or actor. 
• Don't forget that we have our Graduation coming up on Thursday. Mass starts at 9:15am, followed by a Graduation party (morning tea) in the MPR. Can all students please bring along a plate of food to share. On Friday the students will walk down to G&T Bistro for lunch. Please ensure you have given your child permission via the Simon Everywhere/PAM app. 
• Tuesday is our whole school Transition Day. Students going to St. Joseph's College will be there on the day. Students going to Coomealla and P-10 will be welcome at school on that day, however there will be no new learning happening. They will be split up and doing jobs/ helping out in other rooms. 

General News

School Advisory Council Members:

Thel O’Shea, Hannah Mills, Grant Finlayson, Amy Cupper, Sandra Hammet, Lana Borchard,           Adam Lawrence (Staff Rep) & Narelle Gallagher (Principal)

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.