13 - 10th May, 2024 - Term 2, Week 4

Principal's News

URGENT - 2025 Prep Enrolments

If you are a current OLSH family who has a child eligible for school in 2025, you must fill in an enrolment form which is located on our school website as soon as possible. Places are filling fast and we need to be sure of our sibling numbers before we can accept enrolments from new families. These enrolments are now also open.

Dear Families,

This morning the church was full, and the classrooms were buzzing with excitement when our mums and special ladies joined us for Mother’s Day celebrations! After a lovely liturgy organized by Mr. Breewel (his reflections about his mum had the kids in stitches!) our mums spent some time with the students in the classrooms and then finished their visit with a beautiful morning tea in the Multipurpose Room. Thank you for coming along and we hope that all our mums and any other significant women in our lives have a wonderful day on Sunday. For those who no longer have their mums with them, we hope your memories of these special ladies will still bring a smile to your face.

Over the coming weeks, we will be contacting and meeting with those new families who have enrolled their children at OLSH in 2025. We thank everyone who has now filled out an enrolment form, including those current families with siblings joining us. If you are yet to do this, we ask that it is done as a matter of urgency, as this helps us to know how many places we have to offer to new families. It is hard to believe that we are talking about 2025, but the years tick over very quickly!

You may have seen on this week's news that the State Government has decided to give $400 to families whose children attend a state school, regardless of whether they hold a Health Care Card or not. For families of Catholic schools, only those families who hold Health Care Cards will receive the bonus. As members of a Catholic school, we feel that this is extremely unfair, especially when many state schools are in quite a healthy position finacially with families who can afford to pay fees. The Director of Catholic Education, Tom Sexton, is rightly upset and is going into bat for our schools to demand that all amilies receive this $400 bonus. Attached to the newsletter today is an information sheet outlining the main points. Our school will be making our opinions known to our local member and we hope that our families feel free to do the same.

On Tuesday evening we are hosting an information session about Restorative Practice. This program, which is to become part of the way we deal with behaviour management at OLSH, will be explained by Kristy Elliot, who has been working with our staff on implementation of the program. It would be great to see parents come along (thanks to those who have indicated that they will join us) so that you are aware of why we are implementing Restorative Practice and how it will look in our school. The session will run from 7pm to 8pm in the school library. Coffee and nibbles will be supplied!

On Wednesday I travelled to Horsham for the Diocesan Leadership Meeting of all of the principals in our Ballarat Diocese. We were once again led through the agenda by Dave Runge, who with Pasi Sahlberg is working with the diocese on building a high performing system of schools. The development of a new Diocesan Strategic Plan will include work on how we can move our schools into a phase of growth which will include more student engagement, equity and quality education for all students. Dave and Pasi were quick to point out that the schools in our diocese are doing some amazing things already! This Strategic Plan will take quite a lot of time to develop, and I will keep you updated as more information emerges about how it will look.

Next week our choir are walking to Chaffey Aged Care to sing for the residents there. The students in the choir are very excited about this little excursion and I’m sure they will bring some joy into the day for the Chaffey residents! If any parents are yet to fill in the permission forms on PAM, we ask that you do so as soon as possible. I’m sure our students will represent our school beautifully!

In today’s newsletter you will see a flyer for our Bingo Night, which will take place in June (I mentioned this in last week’s newsletter). This will be a fun night for parents and there will be lots of prizes to be won. Please consider getting a table together and joining us for a social night and a few laughs!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and that our Mums are spoiled rotten on Sunday!

Narelle Gallagher

Registration: Parent Information Session with Kristy Elliott:

OLSH Bingo Night - 14th June 2024

Mother's Day Liturgy & Morning Tea

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OLSH School Calendar

Religious Education News

Sacrament of Confirmation (Grade 3 and above): We have some children in the process of making their sacrament of First Confirmation next term. Please keep Violet Dimasi, Morgan Dowling, Isaac Lohmeyer and Jacinta Wagner in your prayers as they prepare for this special occasion on their faith journey. 

The  celebration dates are as follows: Friday 17th May, Saturday 18th May and Sunday 19th May.

Mothers Day Liturgy: Thanks to all the Mums, Grandmothers and special ladies who attended our Mother’s Day Liturgy and activities. It was a great morning to celebrate the special women in our lives. 

Happy Mother’s Day to all our Mums this Sunday.

Learning and Teaching

This week, students across all grades started to take part in Inform and Empower Digital Safety and Wellbeing lessons. These lessons promote healthy digital habits in an engaging way. This term, the focus is on 'Screen Time & Green Time, Comfortable & Uncomfortable Feelings, Putting down the Tech'. Attached are some parent information sheets on this term's topic.

Student Leaders - GRIP Leadership Day

On Wednesday, the captains took part in the Grip Leadership Day. It was a great day where students learned how to become better leaders. The day focused on the steps students need to take to improve their skills, recognise the skills they already have, and how to put the needs of others before their own. As always, the leaders represented OLSH fantastically. Well done!

Book Fair

Dear Parents/Carers,

Our annual Book Fair will be held on Friday the 24th of May. All students will have the opportunity to view the books and fill in their wish lists prior to the fair at a time and day selected by their teachers. Their teachers will notify you of these times. An invitation has been sent home with your children today with a small selection of books that will be available on the day along with other smaller items such as pens, erasers, highlighters etc. We hope there will be something for everyone to purchase! PLEASE NOTE: This year's Book Fair is not a dress up year - this happens every two years.

Choir News

Our choir this year consists of students from Grades Two to Five. Over the past few weeks we have been practicing some songs that we will be singing at Chaffey Aged Care. This will take place on Tuesday 14^th May during lunch time. Students will walk to Chaffey Aged Care accompanied by Mrs. Phelan, Mrs. Gallagher and Miss Garreffa. Please ensure that you have given permission for your child to attend through PAM.

Thank you.

District Cross Country

District Cross Country: Congratulations to the children who represented OLSH at the district cross country race. We had 17 children who competed and their results are below:

9/10 Year Olds

Jake Borchard - 36th                                                                             Summer Alderson - 26th

Rory Cowling - 45th                                                                              Violet Dimasi - 16th

Levi Davis - 12th                                                                                      Ariana Mazza - 47th

Isaac Lohmeyer - 37th                                                                          Frankie Roberts - 50th

Aston McGowan 34th

11 Year Olds

Isaac Longeri - 24th                                                                               Paley Hammet - 25th

Dane Alderson - 39th                                                                             Zali Breewel - 26th

12 Year Olds

Hayden Gourlay - 14th                                                                           Matilda Pritchard - 18th

Cody Pollard - DNF (Injured)                                                              Olivia Doughty - 23rd

* Congratulations to Levi Davis who has qualified for the Regional Cross Country race in St. Arnaud on Tuesday May 28th. We wish him all the best for the next stage. 

Enrolment at OLSH

ENROLMENTS CLOSED ON THE 26TH APRIL

If you have any questions please call the school or email admin@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au

SchoolTV

A SPECIAL REPORT: Celebrating Mother's Day

Mother's Day originated from humble beginnings in 1908 as a simple tradition to honour all mothers, living and deceased. However, it did not take long for florists, confectioners and card companies to jump onboard and commercialise the day, much to the disappointment of its founder, Ann Jarvis.

Today, Mother's Day is an annual reminder to say thanks to our mum, or other motherly figure, who plays an important role in our lives. It is a day to express our gratitude and love towards the women who have dedicated their time, energy, and love to raise and support us. Whether it's a simple gesture like a card, a bunch of flowers, or a heartfelt message, Mother's Day is an opportunity to show our mothers how much we cherish and admire them. It's a time to reflect on the love, sacrifices, and unwavering support that our mothers provide unconditionally. 

Mothers will often put the needs of others above their own, so it is paramount to remind them to take care of themselves, especially when it comes to their mental health. Research has shown that women experience some mental health conditions more so than men and at much higher rates. There are many factors that can impact a woman's wellbeing physically and emotionally. Seeking effective treatment can enable her to engage more readily in everyday activities and fulfil the needs of her children and family.

This Special Report highlights that Mother's Day is not only a celebration, but also a reminder of the vital role mothers play in the developmental growth of her children and the impact this has on shaping our society.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report:
https://olshmerbein.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/celebrating-mothers-day

Happy Birthday

We wish the following students a Happy Birthday in the coming week:

• Meila Goodger - 14th May - 8 yrs

• Oliver Lohmeyer - 18th May - 7 yrs

Prep News

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing Prep School Mums! We hope you enjoy your gifts and have a wonderful day on the weekend. Thank you to those who came along today.

Science- In Week 6, students will be taking part in a hands on activity. For this activity we will need small household boxes (cereal, chips, biscuit etc). These can be brought to school anytime. Thanks in advance.

Show and Tell- Week 5's Show and Tell is 'Something that sharts with P.'

Assembly- The Prep students will be doing a class performance on Friday the 17th of May.

Grade 1 News

Grade 2 News

I wish all of the lovely mums and step-mums a very happy Mother's Day on Sunday. The students have been working very hard to make your gifts, so we hope you enjoy receiving them on your special day. Thank you to everyone who was able to come to our Liturgy and morning tea. It is always a special occasion for students and mothers/special friends. We hope you enjoyed it as well. 

Please note: The Grade Two's will present assembly on Friday of Week 7. 

Literacy

This week we have focused on verbs in sentences and wrote our own sentences using verbs. We have learnt about the prefix dis- and discussed how adding this to base words changes the meaning of the word. We have also continued to learn about compound, simple and run-on sentences. 

Mathematics

This week we learnt about number patterns and identified the missing numbers in different patterns. This was quite challenging! We are now learning about units of measurement. 

Science

We have continued to learn about Earth's natural resources. Our lesson this week focused on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have always cared for and valued the natural world. We learnt about some of the different plants that were traditionally used for things like medicine, tools and food. 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Lisa

Grade 3 & 4 News

On Tuesday, we were part of the online Empower and Inform cyber lessons for Term Two. The focus was Green Time and Screen Time and ensuring that there is an even balance between the two.

It was lovely to see many mum’s at school today at the liturgy, spending time in the classrooms with their children and enjoying the scrumptious morning tea. We hope that you all enjoyed yourselves.

We have started our History focus on life in Britain in the 1800s, the conditions people lived in at the time, the overcrowded jails and the consequences of these conditions which led to the transportation of many convicts.

During Science we are looking at chemical science and the materials we use in the world to make things and in Religion we have begun our focus on Pentecost.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be completing PAT tests which help us guide our teaching and inform us to assist in writing student reports.

A reminder that our excursion to the Field Days will be next Friday 17th May. A note about this was sent home earlier this week with details. This excursion costs $5 per student. If you have not already done so, would you please give permission via PAM.

Thank you and enjoy your weekend.

Julie and Adam

Both 3/4P and 3/4L taking part in the online safety lesson.

Grade Five News

• This week we participated in the Term 2 Thrive Online session and learnt about balancing screen time and green time. If we don't get the balance right our physical and emotional wellbeing can be negatively impacted. Students listed their favourite screen and green time activities and discussed the importance of logging off screens at least an hour before going to bed.
  
• In literacy we wrote informative paragraphs about the planet Venus. See the photo gallery for some photos of our paragraphs. 
• Thankyou to the families who have given permission for their child to attend the Field Days and paid $5 towards the cost of the bus. We're looking forward to a fun day learning about making choices and decisions as a consumer. Students are to wear the school sports uniform including a hat. They are to bring a packed lunch, snacks and water. Students will not be permitted to buy any items at the Field Days. The details of the excursion are as follows.
• Students were so excited to spend the morning with the Mums and show them how much they are appreciated. I hope all Mums have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the special presents your child has made for you. 
  

Grade Six News

• The school captains went into Mildura, along with Mr. Lawrence, to take part in the GRIP leadership conference. Students worked with other leaders across sunraysia to build their leadership skills and had a great time from what I’ve heard. 
• Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums and special women in our lives. We hope you enjoy the gifts and have a wonderful day on Sunday. Thank you to those who came along for our Mother’s Day celebrations today. 
• Don’t forget Field Days permission note and money needs to be finalised asap.
• Camp is also fast approaching. Stay tuned for some reminders which will be sent out shortly. Camp payment needs to be finalised now. Please call the office if you have any questions. 
• Next week will be my last week in Grade Six before I finish up and take some much needed rest in preparation for the arrival of my little baby! Thank you for all your kind words and support over the past term and a half!
  

General News

                                               MILDURA BALLOON BASH

Event Dates: Saturday 29th June – Sunday 7th July, 2024

Meeting Times: Sunrise flights - approx. 5.45 – 6.15am; Afternoon flights - approx. 2.30pm – 3.00pm

Meeting place: Powerhouse Precinct – 122 Hugh King Dr, Mildura

Duration: Approx. 45-60min flight; total experience 3-3.5hrs

Click here to find out more!

 Global Ballooning will have limited spaces available, accommodating up to 32 passengers per day across sunrise and afternoon flights, ensuring attendees of the Big Balloon Bash will have ample opportunity to partake in the magic of hot air ballooning against the stunning backdrop of Mildura's landscape throughout the 9-day event. Additionally, there will be a Night Glow event featuring an array of balloons illuminating to music.

 Children from 6 years old can join our balloon flights.

School Advisory Council Members:

Thel O’Shea, Hannah Mills, Grant Finlayson, Courtney Portaro, Amy Cupper, Sandra Hammet, Lana Borchard, Adam Lawrence (Staff Rep) & Narelle Gallagher (Principal). Our first meeting for the year is on March 5th.

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.