14 - 17th May, 2024 - Term 2, Week 5

Principal's News

Dear Families,

Today, the Grade Three, Four, Five and Six classes spent much of the day at the Mildura Field Days. After breaking up into groups, the students wandered around the exhibits and stalls, enjoying the interesting stands on display and the freebies! A great day was had by all! Thank you to the parents and helpers who came along to assist by taking a group – your help was much appreciated. Thank you also to the staff who organised the day. If you have some spare time on Saturday, we recommend that you head out to the racecourse and check out the Field Days yourself! There is plenty to see!

The Book Fair will take place next week, with lots of beautiful books and novelty items available for students to buy. All classrooms will have the opportunity to visit the school library to make a wish list, before purchasing books later in the week. Please be aware that students do not have to purchase books if you don't want them to. More information about the Book Fair can be found later on in th newsletter.

The Grade Five and Six classes are excited to head off to Roses Gap in Week Seven for their camp. Thank you to those families who have made camp payments in the last few days – this is much appreciated. Camp money is now overdue. Please attend to this as soon as possible, or make contact with me if there are any concerns.

Today is the last day of teaching for Miss Ford, who is now heading off on maternity leave. We wish Danielle all the best for the coming weeks as she and her partner wait for their little one to arrive! We will miss her around OLSH and I’m sure that the Grade Six students will miss her, too! We welcome Mrs. Tana Lawrence to OLSH to take over the class. Mrs. Lawrence often works at OLSH and knows all the students well, so we expect a smooth transition.

Miss Rebecca Appledore is also taking some leave in the coming weeks and will be replaced in Prep by Mrs. Breanna Meyer. Mrs. Meyer’s Performing Arts on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be covered by Mrs. Garraway and Mrs. Lohmeyer! We appreciate that these teachers have all pitched in to assist while Miss Appledore is away. We wish her the very best and hope to see her back soon!

It has been a busy few weeks at OLSH, with lots of celebrations and activities taking place. While these  are all lots of fun for the students, it is nice to sometimes have a slower week! Teachers will be writing reports over the coming weeks and these will go home with students at the end of term. With the middle of the term already here, we look forward to some steady learning in the classrooms next week.

Enjoy the weekend!

Yours sincerely,

Narelle Gallagher

OLSH Bingo Night - 14th June 2024

We already have 6 tables booked for the evening! They are filling up very fast so we encourage families to book a table.

Links:

Enrolments at OLSH:

OLSH Calendar:

Religious Education News

Sacrament of Confirmation (Grade 3 and above): We have some children in the process of making their sacrament of Confirmation this Sunday. Please keep Violet Dimasi, Morgan Dowling, Isaac Lohmeyer and Jacinta Wagner in your prayers as they make their sacrament this weekend. 

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

Sr. Marion McDonald Memorial Mass: will be held on Friday May 31st at the OLSH Church beginning at 6pm. All families are welcome to attend and celebrate Sr. Marion’s life. 

Learning and Teaching

Teachers and students have been busy completing the PAT testing. Teachers are now starting to analyse the data to find student's strengths and areas for improvement. Other assessments are also used, so that  teachers are able to triangulate the data to get the best available information on every student. This includes Writing Moderation, which will take place on Monday. This is where all teachers bring in samples of student's work to review and assess the correct level at which the writing should be placed. This is a very helpful process that allows for multiple samples of work to be used for consistency of marking across the whole school.

Choir News

On Tuesday, our school choir of 25 excited, and a tad nervous students, walked to Chaffey Aged Care to sing our four favourite songs to the residents. Our songs were received with many smiles and applause, so it would be safe to say that we were well received. We are hoping that we can make another visit in term three.

Sustainability News

Do you have a spare couple of hours during the school day, love chickens and have a passion for sustainability?

The OLSH Sustainability Team needs you!

Our chicken pen is in need of a tidy up and we have a group of students ready and willing. However, we need an adult to supervise and guide the job at hand. We would love this task to be completed before the end of the term if possible. If you can help, please email Ms Courtney (ccourtney@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au)

Our vege patch is filled with flower and vegetable seedlings but our students are excited to grow even more. The next project is to use containers or pots as planters on the fence and fill them with herbs and strawberry plants. If you have any containers or pots you no longer need and think might be suitable, please let us know. Anything you have would be gratefully appreciated.

Student Leaders

Sports News

Victorian Trials: This weekend Hayden Gourlay and Isaac Longeri will be travelling to Melbourne to try out for the Victorian Team in Australian Rules football. We wish both boys all the best. 

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.

SchoolTV

In this edition of SchoolTV - FRIENDSHIP & BELONGING

Learning how to make new friends and keep them involves a number of skills every young person needs to understand and develop. For some these skills will come very naturally, allowing them to easily move between different friendship groups, sharing their experiences and opening up to new people. For others, this can be much harder to navigate. Belonging to a group that is like-minded with similar interests is highly beneficial to a young person’s wellbeing. It gives them a sense of security helping them feel valued which in turn builds their confidence.

Positive friendships are an important part of the journey to adulthood. Adult carers can support their child or teenager by providing guidance in the many social and emotional skills required for a healthy relationship. This will help them to obtain, retain and maintain friendships. However, not all friendship are regarded as positive. Sometimes young people develop negative or toxic friendships. Therefore it is also important for them to learn how to identify, avoid or deal with such a friendship.

In this edition of SchoolTV, adult carers can learn how to support their young person’s friendship so that they experience a sense of belonging.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Friendship & Belonging edition of SchoolTV
https://olshmerbein.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/friendship-belonging

Student of the Week

Happy Birthday

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

• Aysha Ellis-Stein - 20th May - 10 yrs

• Isla Chirgwin - 23rd May - 9 yrs

• Harrison Gadzinski - 25th May - 7 yrs

• Paley Hammet - 25th May - 7 yrs

Prep News

Well done to students on their first assembly item. They did a great job, especially when it can be very daunting being in front of so many people. Thanks to everyone who came along to support.

Science- Next week, 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 6's Show and Tell is 'Something that is yellow.'

Library- No library next week due to the Book Fair. 

Today was my last day before I go on leave. I'm sure students will continue to make great progress until I return. 

Mrs Breanna Meyer has been added to Seesaw and you can contact her on there or via email bmeyer@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au

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Grade 1 News

Literacy- This week students completed some narrative writing. They were given a picture prompt of an astronaut and had time to plan and write their stories.

Mathematics- We have focused on both addition and subtraction this week.

Our assembly is next week, Week 6 ( Friday the 24th of May).

Grade 2 News

The Grade Twos really enjoyed the presentation from our guest performer today, Dion Drummond. He shared language, songs and dances from both the Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal cultures. Pippa and Hemi were lucky enough to be chosen to demonstrate some of the dances and did a wonderful job!

Assembly: Grade Two will present Assembly on Friday of Week 7 (31st May).

Literacy: This week in Literacy, we have been learning about independent and dependent clauses (subordinate clauses) in complex sentences.  We also completed a writing moderation task where students planned and wrote a narrative text in 50 minutes. I was really pleased with the effort and confidence they showed in this task.

Mathematics: We have been completing some assessment tasks this week as well as looking at measuring using metres. 

Reminders:

• Book Fair: A reminder that the Book Fair is next week. Our class will be viewing and writing our wishlists on Wednesday, and our buying day is on Friday. Please note that there is no obligation to buy the books on your child's wishlist. Students can bring in cash on Friday if they wish to purchase something and there is also an online ordering and payment option on the back of the wishlists. 
• Next week I will be out of the classroom on Tuesday and Miss Ellen Bock will be teaching my class.
• On Thursday, students can bring a teddy bear or soft toy to school for our Teddy Bear's Picnic at recess.
• On Wednesday, students will be participating in the National Simultaneous Story Reading. They will read the book Bowerbird Blues and complete an activity under the guidance of the Student Leaders (and myself!).

Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Grade 3 & 4 News

It’s been another busy week with PAT testing taking place. Well done to everyone who has given it their best efforts. For those students who have been away at this time, they will be given the opportunity to make up these tests next week.

Today our students will head off to the Mildura Field Days. As I write this, it has not happened as yet, however, it will be safe to say that there will be many fun learning opportunities to be had. Thanks to those parents who volunteered their time to help. It is very much appreciated.

On Thursday, we had Dion Drummond (Indigenous performer) come to our school. Dion comes from Far North Queensland and we were lucky enough to hear of the Torres Strait Islanders traditions, customs and dance.  Dion was very entertaining and his performance was enjoyed by all. Thanks to Mrs Myer for organizing.

Next week (at this stage!) appears to be free of any disruptions!

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Julie and Adam

Grade 5 & 6 Information - St Joseph's College

Grade Five News

Grade 5 have been working hard on our writing and focusing on using a range of sentence types in our paragraphs. This week we have looked closely at complex sentences. We have also looked at using sensory language to show rather than tell in our stories. In Maths we continue to work on multiplication. Knowing our times tables has been very helpful with this and all students are reminded to spend a few minutes each day practicing their times tables. 

Grade Six News

• Students had a fun day at the Mildura Field Days today. Thank you to Tana and Amanda for volunteering and helping out. 
• A reminder note for camp went out this week. If you need any more information, feel free to contact Narelle, Cheryl-Anne or Tana. 
• Yesterday students were lucky enough to have a visit from Dion Drummond. Dion is one of Australia’s most experienced Indigenous performers, covering both Mainland and Islander culture as a dancer, singer and storyteller. He was so engaging and the kids enjoyed learning about indigenous culture and joining in on the different dances. 
• Today was my last day at OLSH for a little while. If you need anything feel free to contact Tana who will be taking over on Monday. The students are lucky to have Tana and I’m sure they will continue to blossom under her care and guidance.
  

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.