39- 22nd November, 2024 - Term 4, Week 7

Principal's News

Dear Families,

Our Prep families for 2025 came together on Wednesday evening to share a meal and listen to some information about our school and the ways we can make their child’s transition from kinder to school a smooth one. It was fantastic to see faces from our existing and new families, as well as many of our current Grade Five students who came along to support their new buddies for next year. The transition students also had a great day at school on Wednesday and we look forward to seeing them again on December 2^nd and 3^rd for their final transition days! I’m betting there were some tired children on Wednesday night!

Our End of Year Concert is coming up quickly, with only one week to go until our students showcase their talents! On the night of the concert families are welcome to enjoy a While we have our fingers crossed for fine weather, earlier in the week the long-range forecast was not looking promising! We won’t panic for a few more days, but just in case the rain does spoil our party, please keep Thursday 5^th of December free as a backup date. Hopefully we won’t need it!  

Classroom teachers have been sending home notes regarding the costumes for the concert over the last month or so, and we hope that everyone will be ready to go when we have a practise on Monday. We think our theme this year will get everyone singing along, so feel free to bring along a picnic to enjoy on the oval on concert night (from 5.30pm) and settle in to enjoy yourselves! The concert will begin at 6.15pm sharp, so please make sure your child/children are with their class by 6.00pm. Students will stay with their teacher for the duration of the evening and will not be able to go back and forth to parents, so please make sure they have eaten beforehand. The raffle and some formalities will be carried out first and then the concert will get underway, with a visit from a jolly fellow if we’re all good! We look forward to a great evening!

This week the Grade Five students submitted applications to become School Leaders and/or House Captains for 2025. For the first time that I can remember, every student in the class applied for a position, which is fantastic! Over the next few days, the staff will spend time reading over applications and on Monday, students from Grades Three to Five will vote for whom they feel would do a great job of representing the school next year. We wish all the Grade Five students well and congratulate them for wanting to take a step into leadership.

We have now finalised our classroom teachers and class configurations for next year. In 2025, we will return to straight classes, with no composite classrooms needed. Below are the teachers for each class, as well as for specialist subjects.

Prep – Miss Rebecca Appledore

Grade One – Miss Grace Laity

Grade Two – Mrs. Lisa Ryan

Grade Three – Mrs. Cheryl-Anne Courtney (with Mrs. Sophie Lohmeyer supporting on Wednesdays)

Grade Four – Mrs. Julie Phelan (with Ms. Emma Garraway supporting on Fridays)

Grade Five – Mr. Adam Lawrence

Grade Six – Mrs. Breanna Meyer

Religious Education Leader/PE and classroom support – Mr. Michael Breewel

Learning and Teaching Leader – Mrs. Cheryl-Anne Courtney

Learning Diversity Leader – Mrs. Jo Finlayson

Performing Arts – Miss Danielle Ford

Auslan – Ms. Emma Garraway

We look forward to a great year!

As the night of the concert and the drawing of the Major Raffle draws closer, we ask that all families please return their raffle books as soon as possible. We will accept tickets up to the day of the concert, but obviously it’s nice to get as many as we can back beforehand. We thank everyone who has bought and sold tickets to support the school.

I hope you all enjoy the weekend!

Narelle Gallagher

SAC NOMINATION FORM

Below is the nomination form for the upcoming SAC AGM.  Please contact me if you have any questions: principal@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au 

Links:

Enrolments at OLSH:

OLSH Calendar:

OLSH CHECKLIST

The end of the year is so busy, we have sent the list below home to families today.  We hope that this helps you all!!

Religious Education News

Sacrament of First Reconciliation (Grade 2 & above)

Sacrament Masses: Wednesday 27th November 2024 at 6 or 7pm at Sacred Heart Church. 

Please keep the following children making their first reconciliation in your thoughts and prayers: Anastasia Cory, Ivie Mazza, Layla Portaro, Charlotte Primarano

Grade Six Graduation Mass: will be held on Monday December 16th at 9:15am. Everyone is welcome to attend to farewell our current Grade 6 class. 

Learning and Teaching News

It has been a busy couple of weeks for staff and students with PAT and DIBELS testing taking place. Now that most of the testing is complete, we’re seeing the positive impact Structured Literacy is having. It’s wonderful to witness the continued and sustained improvement in the students at OLSH.

I’ve had the privilege of entering the PAT data and observing some fantastic improvements made by students as a direct result of targeted interventions and excellent teaching practices.

These results are not limited to Literacy. There has also been impressive growth and progress in Mathematics, an area where OLSH has consistently excelled. This progress highlights the value of a consistent program such as Stepping Stones, running across the entire school, along with the effective, explicit teaching skills of the OLSH teachers.

OLSH Major Raffle

DUE BACK TODAY! 

This will be drawn next Thursday at our End of Year Concert on the 28th November.  We have been able to once again provide fantastic prizes thanks to our wonderful sponsors.

The best way to show our appreciation to the sponsors is by selling the tickets. We expect that every family sells at least one whole book (20 tickets). More books are available from the office if you would like to sell more.

Christmas Hampers

ALL OUR DONATIONS ARE BEING PUT TOGETHER EARLY NEXT WEEK.  THANK YOU TO ALL OUR FAMILIES WHO HAVE BEEN VERY GENEROUS WITH THE DONATIONS.  THERE IS STILL TIME TO BRING IN YOUR ITEMS.

For our Christmas Raffle we are asking for donations of groceries to put together a number of Christmas Hampers.  Each grade has been allocated different items to bring to ensure we have a good variety. There will be a basket in each classroom to place the donated items in.  The following is a list of food suggestions to donate which will be put together to make up the hampers for each class (no home brand products, thank you):

Good News: New CDFpay mobile app coming soon!

OLSH Merbein will be using the new CDFpay mobile app for online canteen ordering at our school from the start of Term 1 2025. 

What do you need to do?

• Keep using your current CDFpay login to access CDFpay until the end of Term 4 2024.
• Use up as much of your CDFpay account balance as possible before the end of Term 4 2024. We will let you know the process for account balance transfers at the end of the year.   
• Keep an eye out for further communications advising you when the new CDFpay mobile app is available to download for our school, and how to set up your new account.

Can I continue using the current CDFpay platform in Term 1 2025?

No, the current CDFpay platform will no longer be available, and you will be directed to register for a new CDFpay account.

We look forward to providing you with a further update soon.

Confidence & Motivation

School Magazine

Magazine orders are included in your Family Fee payment so if this has been finalised then you will automatically receive one at the end of the school year. If you would like extra copies you will have to purchase them separately for $20.00 each. Please let the school office know by the 15^th November.

Please note that if your fees are not finalised you will not receive a magazine.

2025 Prep Transition

Monday 2^nd December                       9.00 – 3.25pm (Play lunch & lunch will be required)

Tuesday 3^rd December                          9.00 – 3.25pm (Play lunch & lunch will be required)

Happy Birthday

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

• Oliver Smith - 25th November - 11 yrs

• Violet Blore - 27th November - 6 yrs

• Darcy Canning - 27th November - 12 yrs

Student of the Week

Prep News

Concert- This is on next Thursday, 28th November. Students need to meet their classroom teacher at the oval and be dressed ready for the concert when they arrive back at school. Students must stay with their teacher until the end of the concert, they will not be able to go back and forth to their parents. It would be good if students could have a water bottle on this night with them and have had tea before the concert starts. At the start of the night Prep students will have a special presentation.

Library- Next week will be the last week for borrowing from the library. 

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

Show and Tell- Week 8's topic is 'Something that is orange'. This will be our last week of Show and Tell for the year!

Dash Robots

Grade 1 News

Literacy- We have focused on writing recounts this week, including diary entries. Everyone has really enjoyed completing these, it has been great to see.

Mathematics- In Mathematics, we have been telling the time to the half hour for both analogue and digital clocks.

Art- Students were very excited for Art this week, we incorporated Science with Art and discovered what happened to our drawings when they were put in a bag and put into water! Pictures below.

If there are any questions with costumes for concert, please let me know.

Grade 2 News

 Hi Everyone, 

We have had a 'normal' week this week and the students have been working very productively in class. 

In Mathematics, we have been learning about 3D shapes and the students made some shapes out of cardboard. We also looked at how many edges, faces and vertices each shape had.

In Writing, we have been doing Information Texts and the students have been learning lots of interesting facts about Komodo Dragons and Cheetahs. They have done a great job writing complex and compound sentences about these animals as well as writing supporting details for topic sentences. Hopefully they can share some facts with you at home!

Next week will be all about the end of year concert which will take place on Thursday night. On Monday, we will be having a whole school rehearsal and students are invited to bring in their costumes. It is a good time for the students to have a go at dancing in the costumes and making sure hats and glasses are secure and don't fall off half way through the performance!

If you have any questions about the costume please message me via SeeSaw or email. The costumes don't need to be too elaborate, even just a sequin tie or hat would be sufficient.  

Thank you to everyone who has brought in items for the Christmas Raffle Hampers. It's not too late to bring items in for this. 

Also a reminder to return raffle books to the office. 

Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Grade 3 & 4 News

Congratulations to Holly Cumming, from 3/4P, who won the lucky number prize of $50 at last week's mission activities. We hope that you spend your money wisely!

Class practices for our Christmas Concert item are really ramping up now. We hope that you have, or are in the process of getting, your child's costume sorted. Please see us if you hve any issues.

Next Friday, we are having a vist from Ambulance Australia who will be educating our students on the following:

• Paramedics are trusted people who help people who are sick or injured
• How to call 000 in an emergency
• Learning your address
• Checking for consciousness and breathing
• Learning the recovery position
• What you can do to help the paramedics find your house easily

We hope that all students will find this both informative and useful - though hoping these skills wont ever be put into play! Please take the opportunity on Friday afternoon after school to discuss this visit with your child.

Have a lovely weekend.

Julie and Adam

Grade 5 News

We have had another busy week and have much to be proud of.

Last Friday our class sold baked goods and held a sponge throw activity for Mission Week. We raised $268.95 which will be donated to Caritas to help them with their important Mission work. Thankyou to the parents and children who made the delicious slices, biscuits, cakes and honey joys. They were a real hit!

This week students finished their 2025 School Captain and House Captain letters. They worked very hard drafting, revising and editing a letter that shared their passion for our School and the qualities they would bring to the leadership role. Each student hand delivered their letter to Mrs Gallagher and they had a copy to take home and share with their parents. Next week the school will vote and the 2025 School Leaders will be announced at assembly. 

On Wednesday the Grade 5 students found out who their new Prep buddy was to be and then they spent some time getting to know each other. They shared stories, played games, and began building the foundations of a positive and supportive relationship. It’s clear that this partnership will help both the Grade 5 students and their Prep buddies grow in confidence and kindness throughout the year.

Have a lovely weekend!

Cheryl-Anne 

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Grade 6 News

We had a practice today with the costume items that the children brought in. If you have any questions about costumes, let me know or if you are having trouble finding something, we might be able to ask the class if they have something to loan. Remember there are 2 outfits (some people are able to wear the same one), the 70s dance one and the performance if your child plays a character, they all need their Grade 6 top too.

I will be sending out information next week about the Graduation Mass and morning tea, for families of Grade 6 (16th December) and the Graduation Lunch, which is for students only.

Have a great weekend!

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.