5 - 28th February, 2025 - Term 1, Week 5
Principal's News
Dear Families,
Swimming Week always creates a different level of excitement, and this week was no different as the Grades Three to Six classes headed over to the pool for their swimming program. Thankfully the weather has been reasonably kind to them, and the pool water hasn’t been too cold! Well done to all classes, particularly today as they practised their survival skills exercise. Thank you must go to Mrs. Watson, who has stepped in to teach the students in the absence of some of the instructors on two of the days.
Our School Advisory Council met on Tuesday evening for the first meeting of the year, welcoming three new members – Jordan Wade, Jennifer Tassone and Sara McClelland. They join current members Thel O’Shea, Sandra Hammet, Hannah Williams, Courtney Portaro and Lana Borchard, who have all generously given their time to the SAC for several years. Grant Finlayson and Amy Cupper have both stepped down from their roles after a great contribution over the past few years. The SAC advises and supports the Principal in decisions made for the benefit of the school and represents the views of the parent body on various issues. They are the people to ask if you have any questions about different initiatives that are going on in our school and we hope that the year ahead will be a good one as we work together to make OLSH a great place for all.
Next week we will be celebrating Shrove Tuesday with pancakes for morning snack (see the flyer that has gone home) followed the next day by the beginning of Lent, a very special time in our Catholic faith. The forty days of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and leads us towards Easter and the time when Jesus died on the cross for mankind. During Lent, we try to go without some of the things that are considered treats or luxuries in our lives, and the Ashes signify a new beginning as we turn away from sin. While most of us think only of the chocolate treats we are going to eat during Easter, at OLSH the focus is also on why we really celebrate. We will be holding an Ash Wednesday Liturgy next week in the church at 12.30pm and all families and parishioners are welcome to join us.
Raffle Books for our Easter Raffle have gone home today and we ask that everyone do their best to sell at least one book (there are plenty more available from the office). We also ask that each family donate something for the raffle and a flyer outlining the kinds of goods that can be brought in was sent home today. The money we raise from our raffle will go to Project Compassion, a Catholic charity, to support others who are in need in both Australia and around the world. The students will also bring home a money box next week that they can collect any spare coins in, which will also contribute to this cause. Our OLSH students are a very generous lot, and I’m in awe every year of the way they contribute during this time. I’m sure this year will be no different.
Our Prep students have now finished their Wednesday breaks and will attend school full time from next week. With March upon us tomorrow, the term is flying past!
I hope you all have a great weekend!
Narelle Gallagher
Links:
Enrolments at OLSH:
OLSH Calendar:
Religious Education News
Shrove Tuesday: will be held on Tuesday March 4th. The word Shrove comes from the Roman Catholic practice of being 'shriven' - meaning to confess ones sins. The shriving bell would be rung on Shrove Tuesday to call people to church to confess.
Before Lent began in earnest all edible temptations needed to be removed so people made pancakes. This Tuesday all children will hae pancakes to remember Shrove Tuesday and prepare for Lent.
Ash Wednesday: will be held on Wednesday March 5th. An Ash Wednesday Liturgy will be held on the day. This will take place in the Church at 12:30pm. All families and parishioners are welcome to attend.
This special day is marks the beginning of Lent which runs for 40 days leading up to Easter. During this time we focus on prayer, almsgiving and fasting. It is a time christians become closer to God and focus on becoming better people through our actions and words.
Sacramental Program: Those families wishing to participate in the Sacrament Program need to contact the Parish Office for more details.
Sacrament of Confirmation (Year 3 & Above)
- Parent Information Session - Wednesday April 2nd.
- Celebration of the Sacrament - Friday 30th & Saturday 31st May & Sunday June 1st.
Sacrament of Holy Communion (Year 4 & Above)
- Parent Information Session - Wednesday April 2nd.
- Celebration of the Sacrament - Friday 20th & Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd June.
Sacrament of Reconciliation (Year 2 & Above)
- Parent Information Session - Wednesday October 15th
- Celebration of Sacrament - Wednesday November 26th
Teaching & Learning
NAPLAN
Preparations are underway for NAPLAN, which will take place from 12–26 March. Grade 3 and 5 students will participate, and class teachers are actively preparing them for the assessments. Parent information is available on the VCAA website, or you can contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions about the process.
Flare Primary Literacy Strategy
In 2025, our school will continue implementing the Flare Primary Literacy Strategy. As part of this, La Trobe University will conduct research to evaluate improvements in students’ reading, writing, and spelling skills, as well as teacher confidence in literacy instruction.
De-identified student data, including Year 3 and Year 5 NAPLAN Literacy results, will be collected and analyzed as part of the study. All data will be securely stored and handled according to privacy regulations, and no individual students, teachers, or schools will be identified in published reports.
A letter has been sent home to the families of our new students today. If you have any questions about the inclusion of your child’s de-identified data, please contact your child’s teacher or Cheryl-Anne Courtney, Teaching and Learning Leader.
School Photos - Tuesday, 18th March
Parents are now able to order photos using the MSPOnline system. Please refer to the flyer below to register and order your child/rens photos or go to the following website: https://olotshsmerbein-vic.msp.photos
Buddy envelopes and Student Leader envelopes have been sent home to families.
OLSH Canteen
Orders need to be completed by 9.15am every Friday.
Dealing with Disappointment
Student of the Week
| Class: | Awarded to: | For: |
| Grade Prep : | Indi Meyer | Her amazing attempts at sounding out words and great sentence writing. |
| Grade Prep : | Colton O'Shea | His great effort when learning how to form his numbers correctly. |
| Grade 1 : | Violet Blore | For producing beautiful work and always trying her best with handwriting & drawing |
| Grade 1 : | Kai Libchard | For being mature and responsible in class |
| Grade 2 : | Isabel Mathews | For completing all task to a high standard and for being very helpful in class. |
| Grade 2 : | Ledger Bell | For his excellent focus and effort during Literacy lessons and always trying his best. |
| Grade 3 : | Evie Chirgwin | For writing a creative narrative with a clever twist. |
| Grade 3 : | Connor Gregg | a fantastic effort with his writing, especially planning his story. |
| Grade 4 : | Ivy Sheard | for expressing her ideas and opinions clearly in her persuasive text titles "All schools should have a well being dog" |
| Grade 4 : | Morgan Dowling | for his ability to complete 'maths mentals' accurately and quickly. |
| Grade 5 : | Jasper O'Shea | for his excellent efforts in practicing for the assembly and his enthusiasm for all activities in class. |
| Grade 5 : | Emmett Barnden | for his excellent effort in improving his writing and always trying his best in all subjects. |
| Grade 6 : | Isaac Longeri | for consistently volunteering to help out with any task around the school. Your willingness to lend a hand is truly appreciated! |
| Grade 6 : | Izobel Matulic | for her bubbly positivity and the kindness she shows to all in the room. |
Happy Birthday
We wish the following students a Happy Birthday in the coming week:
Harry P - 5th March - 11 yrs
Allesio P - 6th March - 7 yrs
Ava B - 7th March - 11 yrs
Ryan H - 9th March - 10 yrs
Shanae S - 9th March - 12 yrs
Prep News
Preps will now be expected at school full time.
Word Books
These will come home next week. In these books are lists of words for your child to practise at home. When your child feels confident with these words, please let me know and I can assess and then glue some more in if they are ready for them. In the book are also lists of ways that you can practise the words at home.
After School Restraint Collapse
Now that the Preps will be completing full weeks they may come home seeming very emotional. Tonight students will be bringing home a handout with some information about After-School Restraint Collapse which was recommended by Jo Finlayson (Learning Diversity Leader and Wellbeing Officer). Please take the time to read this as it may be prove very helpful.
Photo in the Paper
Sunraysia Daily will be once again producing the feature “Welcome to Preps 2025” which will be published on Saturday, March 1, 2025. Look out for a photo of our students in the paper!
School Nurse
A flyer went home yesterday in your child’s reader folder. We ask that forms are completed by 11th March 2025.
https://students.educationapps.vic.gov.au/sehq/s/
Week 5 Photos
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me during office hours, either the SeeSaw app or email:
Rebecca Appledore- rappledore@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade 1 News
Another busy week has passed in Grade 1! The class enjoyed creating sock puppets in Art on Wednesday. Everyone got so creative and followed instructions really well!
In Writing, we have been focusing on adding detail to our sentences, adding "where" and "when" to make our writing more descriptive.
There has been a big focus on the calendar and months of the year, both in Maths and History! Students have done well to remember their birthday month, and to understand what season their birthday month is in.
Well done to those who are getting their spelling words and nightly reading completed.
Check out our amazing sock puppets below!
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me during office hours, either the SeeSaw app or email:
Grace Laity- glaity@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade 2 News
Hi Everyone,
We have had a lovely, settled week this week with lots of learning being achieved!
Literacy
This week in Literacy, we have been learning about the prefix 'un' and when to use 'k' or 'ck' on the ends of words. For our writing topic we have been learning about Lake Mungo and the discovery of Mungo Man. The students were fascinated by this topic and it has now led to an interest in fossils and megafauna which we will explore next week.
Spelling
Spelling was challenging again this week but I can see that many of the students have been practising at home, which is great to see. We talked about 'Resilience' today and continuing to try, even when tasks are tricky!
Mathematics
This week we were adding and subtracting multiples of ten from given two-digit numbers, for example: 64-20.
The students did a great job counting forwards and backwards off the decade to work out the answers.
Reminders:
- Shrove Tuesday - 4th of March
- Ash Wednesday - 5th March
- Photo Day -18th March
Week 6 Class News: Laney, Reuben, Klara
Have a great weekend!
Lisa
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me during office hours, either the SeeSaw app or email:
Lisa Ryan - lryan@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade 3 News
We've had a wonderful week enjoying swimming lessons and learning new skills. Even though the pool water was a bit cool, every child gave their best effort in each lesson. I was really impressed with their persistence and how much their skills and confidence have grown this week.
In Literacy, we've started learning cursive writing. The students have been practicing diagonal joins and have been really enjoying seeing how their writing looks when the letters are joined together.
In Numeracy, we're focusing on how to compare and order four and five-digit numbers by looking at their place value and relative position (how they compare to other numbers). We're also revisiting and practicing problems involving time and money.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend!
Cheryl-Anne
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me during office hours, either the SeeSaw app or email:
Cheryl-Anne Courtney – ccourtney@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade 4 News
We have been blessed with great swimming weather this week, which was great for our swimming program. Well done to all students for their positive participation!
This week with our writing we have been focusing on the following persuasive text title -'All Schools should have a Wellbeing Dog'. I think our Indi is a testiment to this statement, as everyone agreed that having a wellbeing dog at all schools should be a must!
Next week we kick off the Lenten season with Shrove Tuesday (pancake day) on Tuesday followed by our Ash Wednesday liturgy in the church at 12:30pm. Parents and friends are most welcome.
Have a great weekend,
Julie
SWIMMING WEEK FOR GRADE FOUR
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me during office hours, either the SeeSaw app or email:
Julie Phelan – jphelan@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
(Friday's): Emma Garraway - ewood@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade 5 News
Well done to the students on their assembly today! I am sure they did a fantastic job, just as they did in practice.
This week, we took part in our first Inform and Empower online session of the year. Inform and Empower focuses on digital wellbeing and safety. This term’s session focused on online rights and responsibilities and how the law can help keep us safe. We will also explore how positive online experiences can support our digital wellbeing. Below is the parent information to accompany this session.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me during office hours, either the SeeSaw app or email:
Adam Lawrence - alawrence@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
Grade 6 News
Students have loved having the opportunity to swim each day this week. They have been practising their strokes, water safety and some diving! We were lucky to have perfect swimming weather each day!
On Wednesday Grade 5 and 6 participated in their first Inform and Empower session, which is all about being safe online. They were very engaged in this and took away some valuable information about the right things to do when using the internet.
There are lots of exciting events coming up in the last few weeks of term, and you will find all dates in the newsletter! Next week we will have Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me during office hours, either the SeeSaw app or email:
Breanna Meyer - bmeyer@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au
- Sophie Lohmeyer - slohmeyer@olshmerbein.catholic.edu
Other News
General News
School Advisory Council Members:
Thel O’Shea, Hannah Mills, Courtney Portaro, Sandra Hammet, Lana Borchard, Sara McClelland, Jennifer Wilson, Jordan Wade, 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
8.30am | Supervision of students begin. Classrooms are remained closed. |
8.45am | Classrooms are opened for reading time. |
8.55am | Organisational bell (students go to the toilet, get a drink, be in line before music ends). |
9.00am | Teachers collect students from their line and proceed into class. |
11.00am | Recess bell. |
11.25am | Organisational bell (students go to the toilet, get a drink, be in line before music ends). |
11.30am | Teachers collect students from their line and proceed into class. |
1.30pm | Lunch bell. |
1.40pm | Students are to finish eating and go and play. |
2.20pm | Organisational bell rings (students go to the toilet, get a drink, be in line before music ends). |
2.25pm | Teachers collect students from their line and proceed into class. |
3.10pm | NSW bus bell. |
3.25pm | End of day bell rings. |
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.
