17 - 7th June, 2024 - Term 2, Week 8

Principal's News

Dear Families,

This week has seen a lot of illness across the school, with large numbers of students and staff absent throughout the week. Unfortunately, the cold weather and the number of germs floating around can have a big impact on our classrooms. We understand that it is difficult at times to manage sick children while also juggling work, but we ask that if your child is unwell that you keep them at home until they are symptom free, or at least well on the way to recovery. This helps us to keep teachers in front of classes as well, which is most important! Hopefully the long weekend will provide an opportunity for everyone to rest up and recover from any bugs that are going around!

Last week our Grade Five and Six students attended camp in Roses Gap, which was a beautiful (but cold!) setting for a week of adventure ativities! The students had a great time, and they definitely pushed themselves to take part in some of the more challenging activities as the week progressed. It was great to see a lot of teamwork happening from the students throughout the week, with lots of encouragement towards each other while activities were taking place. Camp is a great opportunity for the students to be responsible for getting themselves organised each day and for the teachers to interact with their students in a less formal setting. Well done to all of the Grade Fives and Sixes on a great week.

This week I have been interviewing new families who have applied for enrolment at OLSH in 2025. It can sometimes be quite daunting for first-time school parents to contemplate their child beginning to school, but all of the families I have met this week have been positive and excited for their child's next step into education! We hope to send out placement offers next week and will soon be able to firm up our numbers for the coming year. If you know of any family who are planning on enrolling for 2025, please encourage them to do this sooner rather than later. Our existing families will also receive letters of offer next week, with interviews for their children taking place next term.

We are in the midst of student report writing at the moment and all reports (apart from Grade Prep) will be sent home in the last week of term. Grade Prep families will receive their reports early in Term Two, as communicated previously. Parent/Teacher interviews will take place in Week Two of the new term and interview times will be opened up next week on PAM. 

A reminder that the first Friday of Term Three will be a school closure for our Structured Literacy professional development. The timing of this closure is not ideal so soon after the school holidays, but was beyond our control, unfortunately. Please make sure you have this in your calendar.

The SAC is holding their Bingo Night next Friday, June 14th in the Multipurpose Room. This is a great chance for parents to catch up socially and to enjoy a night away from the kids! There are some great little prizes to be won, as well as the chance to win a trailer load of firewood and a firebucket - perfect for this wintery weather! Information about the evening has been sent home on flyers and in the newsletter and anyone who wants more information about booking a table can call the office anytime. We hope to see a good crowd there!

I hope you all enjoy the long weekend and that we all return refreshed after the break!

Narelle Gallagher

OLSH Bingo Night - 14th June 2024

1 WEEK TO GO

There are not many tables left...

Links:

Enrolments at OLSH:

OLSH Calendar:

Religious Education News

Sr. Marion McDonald Memorial Mass: Last Sunday the Merbein parish gathered to remember and celebrate the life of Sr. Marion McDonald. Sr. Marion had a massive influence on our school and it was fantastic to gather together to remember her. Thank you to the staff and families who attended.

Fr. Tom Brophy Memorial Mass: Tonight (June 7th) at the Sacred Heart Church parishioners will be gathering to remember Fr. Tom Brophy. Fr. Tom was the parish priest here in Mildura for many years and had a positive impact on the community. The Mass will begin at 6pm and everyone is welcome to attend. There will be a light refreshment afterwards, so please contact the parish office if you intend to go for catering purposes. 

Sacrament Program: Those families wishing to make their first communion later this year, please contact the parish office to collect information and worksheets. The sacrament will be celebrated later in the year. 

SSG & Parent Teacher Interviews

Bookings will open on SIMON  Everywhere next week. 

• Parent Teacher Meetings are taking place on the 22nd & 23rd July. 
• SSG Meetings are taking place on the 29th July & 1st August.

SchoolTV

A SPECIAL REPORT: Dealing with Disappointment

As young people learn to navigate through various aspects of their life, they may face disappointment due to unfulfilled expectations, shattered dreams, or unexpected setbacks. Yet, with the appropriate tools, strategies, and a positive mindset, young people can learn to cope with disappointment and use it as an opportunity for personal growth and success.

Disappointment can be a tricky emotion to deal with at any age. It is a normal part of growing up. However, children sometimes need reminding that they have a choice in how they respond to disappointment and their response will determine the impact it has on their future happiness. Overall, disappointment is a healthy and positive emotion and plays an integral part in a child’s emotional, intellectual and social development.

Helping young people manage their disappointment is important in order to avoid stronger emotions such as anxiety and depression. Although a parent’s first reaction may be to fix the problem, it is better to encourage your child to find the words to express how they feel.

In this Special Report, parents and caregivers are provided with strategies on how to help their child process disappointment and look at the problem objectively.

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/special-report-dealing-disappointment

School Student Broadband Initiative

 the Australian Governments School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) which is available to families through to December 2025. This means for eligible families who sign up now, there is still over 18 months of free internet.

The Australian Government initiative was designed to boost education opportunities and narrow the digital divide, with the Australian Government providing up to 30,000 eligible families with school age children with no internet at home free access to NBN under the SSBI.

Access to the SSBI has become easier, with applications made through the National Referral Centre that parents/carers with school students can contact directly to check their eligibility.

Victorian families with students enrolled in Prep to Year 12, who do not have an active NBN connection (or had one in the previous 14 days) but can access a standard NBN service at their premises can become eligible with an application to the National Referral Centre.

Student of the Week

Happy Birthday

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

• 13th June - Zoe Arnold- 10 yrs
  

• 13th June - Toby Walsh - 9 years
• 14th June - Beau Blore - 10 years
• 15th June - Fei Lin - 8 years

Prep News

Another great week in Prep! This week has been filled with lots of learning and the long weekend has arrived at the right time for a nice little break. Have a read below to see what we have been covering in some of our lessons! 

• Maths - We've looked at ordinal numbers and names. Students have loved learning about 1st/first, 2nd/second and 3rd/third right up to tenth. 
• Religion - We have been learning about God's creations and how to care for these.  Students have done lots of brainstorming, coming up with excellent ideas like watering the plants, picking up rubbish and feeding their animals. 
• Literacy - Sentences and Fragments. Preps have looked at what makes a sentence and what makes a fragment. They have practised turning fragments into correct sentences. 
• Science - Features of plants! 

Show and Tell - Show and Tell topic for Week 9 is something that moves by rolling, bouncing, sliding or spinning. 

Week 9 will see Breanna in Prep Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. A casual relief teacher will be in on Wednesday. 

Have a great long weekend! See you Tuesday! 

Grade 1 News

Science-This week we learnt about hibernation in Science. We focused on bears, bats and turtles and how they hibernate in the winter.

Literacy- We have learnt what makes a complete sentence (a subject and a predicate) and how to identify these in a sentence.

Maths- Telling the time to the hour has been the focus this week.

I hope you all enjoy the long weekend!

Grade 2 News

It was great to have nearly a full class of students each day this week after having so many students away last week. Hopefully everyone can stay well!

In this cold weather, students are taking jumpers on and off all day. Please ensure that your child's jumper is named so I can easily find the correct owner when they are left lying around. 

A note went home today for our excursion to the Merbein Historical Society on Wednesday, the 19th of June. Please ensure you give permission on SIMON so your child to attend. Yesterday we completed a lesson looking at the historical buildings in Merbein and the students were all excited to see buildings they recognised. 

This week in Maths we have been learning about mass and using balancing scales to measure the weight of objects using non-standard units.

Enjoy the long weekend!

 Lisa

Grade 3 & 4 News

This week has been another great week of learning in the middle unit, despite the number of students who have been away for various reasons, with sickness being the dominant factor! We appreciate you keeping your children home when they are sick as it impacts the whole school -including staff- when students are coughing over each other!

Today Grade 3/4L did a great job with their assembly item. It's always lovely to see parents at these small events at school. Your children really love it when you are able to turn up! Next week is Grade 3/4P's turn and we hope to see just as many parents here again.

As part of our Structured Literacy program, students learn a new IDIOM each week. Idioms are important to teach as they make up a big part of our English voabulary. Students learn new vocabulary and improve their communication skills.  Some of the IDIOMS we have learnt this term include Break the Ice, Bull in a China Shop and Don't Count Your Chickens Before they Hatch. Perhaps you could have a conversation with your child to discuss what these mean.

Enjoy an extra long weekend everyone,

Julie and Adam

This week we congratulate Frankie who travelled to Bendigo for a calesthenics competition. Frankie came third out of twelve other competitors. Well done, Frankie! 

Julie and Adam

In Science, 3/4L has been designing toys that use elastic materials.

Grade Five News

It was lovely to have most of the class back together after the camp, although our numbers have been low this week with many students still recovering from a nasty cough and cold.

Chloe, our budding actress, had a fantastic experience at the Eisteddfod last Friday and scored 95 for her performance. Congratulations Chloe! We are all very proud of you!

This week we started a couple of new topics. In Maths we are learning how to find the highest common factor of numbers and in History we are learning about life in the 1800s and the early colonies of Australia. 

Students are continuing to work hard on their cursive handwriting. In the gallery you will see some great examples of touch joins. And, finally, our paper mache animals are almost finished. In the gallery you will see Oliver's pink pig and Max's yellow cockatoo. They are coming together so well that we are considering entering them into an upcoming Show. 

Enjoy your long weekend!

Cheryl-Anne 

Grade 6 News

There have been a lot of children away this week due to illness. For the majority of the week, the class has been broken up into smaller groups who have worked in other classrooms across the school. The students have worked both independently and responsibly, so well done to all! Thank you for keeping your children home to recover and not spread it any further. Hopefully everyone is on the mend and the long weekend will be just what we need to give everyone time to recover.

Unfortunately the Winter Sports for this week were cancelled due to lack of numbers (kids and staff!) but we hope to have the opportunity to play some games against the other schools in the bear future. 

Homework sheets were given out on Tuesday. Homework will be a weekly expectation and will need to be returned on Tuesday next week (Mondays after that). If your child did not receive a homework sheet this week, please don't be concerned.

Reading needs to be happening through the week and once on the weekend with diaries brought to school showing this.

I asked in a previous newsletter if you could have a conversation about the birth origins of yourself as parents and your child's grandparents for our History unit. We will finally get to this next week, so if you haven't yet shared this information could you please do so.

Next week the Grade 5/6's who went on camp will report back to everyone at the assembly.

I'm hoping for a more normal week, next week, where everyone is well and together again. Have a great long weekend!

Merbein Golf Club - Clubhouse Grand Opening Monday June 10

We are pleased to announce our Club house Grand Opening is on Monday June 10. Commencing at 11am we have a Free Community BBQ sponsored by Cabarita Inc. and at 11.45am will be our official opening.
There will be golf activities for the kids, giveaways and Clubhouse tours including the Cabarita Post Office. Following the official proceedings, you can relax under the veranda with the action on display with an Ambrose in 4’s competition or enter a team. The shotgun tee off will be after 12.30pm and entry is $25 per person. Non Handicap players are welcome to play and to register you can go to the events page on our website. https://merbeingolfclub.com.au/events/

General News

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). 

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.