15- 24th May, 2024 - Term 2, Week 6

Principal's News

Dear Families,

This week we got a big surprise when the upgrade on our basketball court began! Back in March, I informed the community through the newsletter that we planned to resurface the court this year with synthetic turf, and the process to get quotes began. We had originally thought that the work would take some time to start but were pleasantly surprised to receive a call from the contractors to say they would have the court finished by mid-next week! The flyer sent home on Wednesday showed a picture of how the finished, resurfaced court will look. The new backboards went up on Wednesday, with the preparation of the court following. We can’t wait to see the finished product next week! As the senior students will be on camp, it will be Grades Prep to Four who will get to try the court out first!

On Sunday, three of our students received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Confirmation takes place at the same time as Pentecost, the time when the Holy Spirit visited Jesus’ followers, filling them with God’s love and allowing them to spread the teachings of Jesus to people everywhere. Congratulations to Isaac Lohmeyer, Violet Dimasi and Morgan Dowling, who took this next step in their faith journeys. They look very happy!

On Wednesday, OLSH students took part in a Simultaneous Story Reading. Our Student Leaders led the session by reading the book to groups of students in three different classrooms and then explained the activity that followed the story. Congratulations to the student leaders who did a great job of leading the activity and thank you to Mrs. Lohmeyer, who assisted with the organisation. All students thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The Grade Five and Six students head off on Tuesday to Roses Gap for their camp. The itinerary and activities look great and offer plenty of opportunities for students to have fun! Please refer to the note that went home last term for the list of items that students will need to pack. Most importantly, a coat and beanie will be essential! Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Breewel, Mr. Bower and I will be accompanying the students on camp and are looking forward to the time away with the group! Mr. Lawrence will remain at school to take care of things here, so he will be the first point of contact for any issues while we are away (not that we anticipate any)!

Over the coming weeks I will be meeting with families who have applied for enrolment at OLSH for the first time and we are looking forward to showing them our beautiful school. Current OLSH families who have enrolled siblings will soon receive their offers of enrolment, provided that the required forms have been filled out and submitted to the school. These families will be contacted in Term Three to make arrangements for a time to meet. If you are yet to enroll your child, please do this as a matter of urgency.

Have a great weekend!

Narelle Gallagher

OLSH Bingo Night - 14th June 2024

TABLES ARE SELLING FAST!!

If you would like to attend this night we encourage families to book a table

Links:

Enrolments at OLSH:

OLSH Calendar:

Religious Education News

Sr. Marion McDonald Memorial Mass: will now be held on Sunday, June 2nd at the OLSH Church beginning at 10.30am. All families are welcome to attend and celebrate Sr. Marion’s life. 

Learning and Teaching

This week all grades took part in National Simultaneous Storytime. This is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association. Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. Its 24th successful year and it aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children's book that explores age-appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum for Foundation to Year 6. This year the book was 'Bowerbird Blues' by Aura Parker.

The student leaders of of the story lead all the activities on Wednesday including the reading of the book and followed by an activity.

Performing Arts

On Thursday 16th May we were lucky enough to have Indigenous Performer Dion Drummond perform for our school for an hour. He was extremely engaging and the students loved listening and watching him.  Dion shared tales, language and artefacts from both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and taught students and staff about the different traditions of these heritages. Students enjoyed the singing, dancing, instruments and listening to Dion's stories. 

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.

Sports News

Regional Cross Country Race: Next Tuesday (May 28th), Levi Davis will be travelling to St. Arnaud to compete against students from country Victoria in a 2km Cross Country race. We wish Levi all the best and know that he will represent our school with pride. 

Victorian Trials: Last weekend Hayden Gourlay and Isaac Longeri travelled to Melbourne to try out for the Victorian Team in Australian Rules football. Both boys did well and enjoyed their experience, even though they did not progress to the next stage. Well done to both Isaac and Hayden!

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:

• Harriet Parker- 27th May - 8 yrs

• Parker Moule - 28th May - 6 yrs

• Isla McClelland - 2nd June - 7 yrs
  

Prep News

Well done to all Prep students this week for adapting to change so well. 

Show and Tell - Week 7's Show and Tell topic is free choice! 

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

Grade 1 News

Well done to all the students for a great Week 6! Everyone did an amazing job with our assembly.  They should all be very proud of their efforts. It was a busy week with lots of learning and a bit of fun with the teddy bear picnic.

Maths- This week we have focused on subtraction. Students used play money to help them understand adding money together and subtracting money from their wallets when they pruchase an item. They all found this very enjoyable!

Literacy- We focused on making predictions in writing, looking at the front cover and cover art of a picture story book and predicting what is going to happen in the story.

Grade 2 News

It has been an exciting week this week, with the Book Fair and Teddy Bear's Picnic yesterday. The students loved having their cuddly toys with them and they are now very educated toys, having been taught all about verbs and compound sentences!

The students really enjoyed having the Student Leader's teach them instead of me for an hour on Wednesday. Cosi and Michele came in and read the National Simultaneous Storytime book called Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker. They then explained an activity for the students to complete, related to the book. The students were fascinated by the behaviour of Bower birds, who love to steal blue things from the environment to decorate their nests to attract a mate!

It is our Assembly next Friday at 9am. I have sent home a link to the song we are performing, so please encourage your child to practise this at home.

Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Grade 3 & 4 News

We have had a good week of learning in the Middle Unit this week!

Both Grades Three and Four have been focusing on fractions in Maths. For some students, it seems to be a real challenge to grasp the concept. Fractions can be tricky! Below are some things you could do to consolidate fractions at home in everyday life.

Recipes: Have your child measure ingredients. If a recipe calls for ½ cup of sugar, ask them to measure it using ¼ cup measure twice.

Doubling/Halving Recipes: If a recipe needs to be doubled or halved, involve your child in adjusting the measurements. For example, if the recipe requires 1/3 cup of milk and you need to double it, ask them to figure out how much milk to use.

Cutting: When serving pizza or pie, discuss how it is divided. Ask questions like, “If we cut the pizza into 8 equal pieces and you eat 2, what fraction of the pizza have you eaten?”

We hope these ideas will be useful. If you need more tips, please let us know and we are more than willing to assist.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Julie and Adam

Grade 5 & 6 Information - St Joseph's College

Grade Five News

Week 6 saw us finishing off our term's work on Space and exploring comets. When writing our paragraphs, we spent time thinking and drafting different topic sentences. I'm impressed with how creative the students have been. Here are some topic sentences.

Comets, made of ice and dust, are part of our Solar System. Jake

Did you know that some comets are so rare they are amost famous? Savannah

Comets are unexplainably cool! Max

Comets are sometimes seen in our night sky. Ekam

On Wednesday we enjoyed Simultaneous Storytime and on Thursday we brought our bears and soft toys to school and had a recess time picnic. This was definitely a highlight of the week!

In Art we are creating 3D animals. Students planned, then created the body of the animal with recyclable materials and lots of masking tape and paper mache. We can't wait to see them painted and ready to show off!

Over the weekend I hope students help out with the packing for camp and remember to pack warm clothes and bedding!

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Grade Six News

We have had a busy week, which also included the children getting used to a new teacher and me getting used to my new role. Well done to the students for taking this in their stride!

Next week we are off to our camp in Roses Gap. This is sure to be a great camp.

We have started a History unit of work on Migration and the children have been asked to find out about their family's history in regards to migration, more specifically if a parent or grandparent was born in another country. We will continue with this after camp, so if you can share what you know with your child that would be helpful.

We will be working on bringing our diaries to school every day and completing our expected daily reading and a maths homework sheet, starting the week after camp. If you could please check with your child that they have their diary that would make this a much easier task.

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.