16 - 30th May, 2025 - Term 2, Week 6

Principal's News

Dear Families,

I cannot believe that we are almost in the month of June! The semester has flown and has been full of activities! Teachers have been especially busy with the usual classroom business this week, as well as beginning to write student reports. There are five more weeks of learning this term, and I’m sure these will fly by! Please stay up to date on what’s going on around the school by checking the dates on the calendar and reading messages on Seesaw.

This morning our students gathered to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart with a short liturgy. Our school is of course named for Our Lady, Mary, mother of Jesus. Mary was chosen by God to be mother of Jesus, making her very special, and along with the usual challenges of being a mother, she was mum to someone who was pivotal in the establishment of the Catholic church! The whole month of May is dedicated to Mary and the students have been talking about her role in Jesus’ life with Mr. Breewel during RE lessons. Developing an understanding of who Mary was for our students is as important as learning about Jesus, as she was a very special woman.

This week all families will receive an order form for a Pie Fundraiser. Cowards Cakes will once again be supplying the pies, and having some in the freezer at this time of year helps for a quick and easy tea on these chilly winter nights! Purchasing some goodies will give the school a percentage of the profits, which can be used to buy extra resources for the students. Please help us out by buying and selling the pies/pasties/sausage rolls to family and friends. Orders and money are due back by June 19^th for a June 26^th delivery.

In the next few weeks, fee statements will be sent out. Thank you to all families who have been attending to school fee payment with the method chosen at the beginning of the year. Please look carefully at your statement and endeavor to make payment if necessary. This is much appreciated.

We wish Jacinta Wagner, Anastasia Cory, Layla Portaro, Sophie Barnes and Ivie Mazza as they receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. We wish them well and keep them in our prayers as they take this next step in their faith journey.

I will be on leave from today for the next three weeks, returning to school on June 24^th. While I am away, the school will continue to run smoothly under the guidance of Adam Lawrence and the Leadership Team, and all staff are available as always if you have any concerns. I look forward to seeing the students when I return!

Have a great weekend!

Narelle Gallagher

Links:

Enrolments at OLSH:

OLSH Calendar:

Religious Education News

Confirmation: The sacrament will be celebrated this weekend - May 30th - June 1st. The following children will be making their sacrament - Jacinta Wagner, Sophie Barnes, Anatasia Cory, Layla Portaro, Ivie Mazza. Please keep them in your prayers. All OLSH families are welcome to attend to support these students.

Holy Communion: This will be celebrated on the weekend of June 20th - 22nd and we keep the follwoing children in our prayers as they prepare - Isaac Lohmeyer and Morgan Dowling. 

* Children making their first commuion need to ensure they have the passport and attend 3 Masses before making the Sacrament of Holy Communion. These need to be handed into the parish office the week before the sacrament. 

* There will be practice sessions for both sacraments the week before the sacrament. Please contact the parish office for further details.

* Lessons are online and need to be completed before making the sacraments. It's encouraged that students complete one lesson a week with their parents. 

Sacrament of Reconciliation (Year 2 & Above)

There will be an opportunity for children in Grade Two or above to make their Sacrament of Reconciliation. Below are the details of the parent information night and the celebration of the sacrament. Please contact the parish office for further details if you are interested in making the sacrament. 

• Parent Information Session - Wednesday October 15th
• Celebration of Sacrament - Wednesday November 26th

OLSH Pie Drive Fundraiser

Orders are to be returned by: Thursday, 19th June, 2025

Forms for our Pie Drive are going home this afternoon. These pies/pasties from Coward's Cakes are yummy and a great idea for the freezer when you need a quick dinner as we are heading into the colder months! There are quite a few varieties to choose from. Please note the return dates for the order forms. Let’s all support this fundraiser as it will benefit our students through the purchase of much needed equipment.

Regional Cross Country - St Arnaud

On Tuesday, two children - Isaac Longeri and Summer Alderson represented OLSH at the Regional Cross Country Race in St. Arnaud. Isaac raced in the 3km event and Summer competed in the 2km event. Both students did really well and represented our school with pride. Isaac finished 42nd with a time of 14 mins and 05 seconds and Summer finished 34th with a time of 8 minutes 50 seconds. Well done Isaac and Summer. 

Happy Birthday

We wish the following students a Happy Birthday:

Month of May:

• 26th - Halle P-Z - 7 yrs

• 27th - Jessica M - 11 yrs

• 27th - Harriet P - 9 yrs

• 28th - Parker M - 7 yrs

Month of June:

• 2nd - Isla Mc - 8 yrs

• 3rd - Alexis F - 9 yrs

• 5th - Archie M - 8 yrs

• 7th - Shelby J - 10 yrs

• 7th - Esther S - 10 yrs

• 8th - Hemi L - 9 yrs

• 8th - Riley N-C - 7 yrs

• 9th - Aiden D - 9 yrs

• 9th - Savannah W - 10 yrs

• 13th - Zoe A - 11 yrs

• 13th - Toby W - 10 yrs

• 14th - Beau B - 11 yrs

• 15th - Fei L - 9 yrs

• 21st - Lachlan S - 9 yrs

• 23rd - Isaac L - 10 yrs

• 24th - Izobel M - 12 yrs

• 29th - Vincent M - 6 yrs

• 30th - Anastasia C - 9 yrs

Tuning in to Kids

OLSH Canteen

Orders need to be completed by 9.15am every Friday.

Prep News

Show and Tell- Week 7's Show and Tell is 'Share something that moves by rolling, bouncing, sliding or spinning.'

Assembly- On Friday the 6th of June, the Preps will be presenting at assembly. Everyone is welcome to come along!

Today we completed our next Inform and Empower session. This session focused on active vs passive screen time. We explored the difference between creating and consuming whilst considering how this can help us make clever screen time choices. See the parent handout below for more information.

Grade 1 News

It’s been a busy and exciting week in Grade 1!
With the chilly weather setting in, there have been quite a few coughs and sniffles going around. Hopefully, everyone can get some rest over the weekend and come back refreshed and ready for another great week!

In Writing, we’ve been learning about conjunctions, with students practicing how to complete sentences starting with “after” and “before.”

In Maths, we’ve been exploring 2D shapes—identifying their sides and corners and learning to describe their features.

In Science, we turned our eyes to the stars as we learned about constellations, even creating our own imaginative star patterns!

A quick reminder about our upcoming Wentworth excursion: please make sure payment is brought to the office and that online permission forms are completed.

Grade 2 News

 Another short week this week but we managed to pack a lot in!

In Literacy, we have been learning about subordinating conjunctions and using them to write complex sentences. The students have done a great job identifying dependent and independent clauses.

In Maths, we are learning about doubles and near doubles facts. The students have enjoyed using this strategy to solve one and two-digit addition problems.

In Science, we made ice-cream by combining cream, sugar and cocoa and then putting this mixture in a bag and shaking vigorously. Surprisingly, the end result was delicious but I also had some store bought ice-cream as a back-up!

In History yesterday, we learnt about the paddle steamers on the Murray and how vital they were to move goods between towns and ports. The students were interested to see how a steam engine works to move the paddle wheels. 

This morning, we had a Liturgy in the MPR to celebrate Catholic Education Week and our school's feast day. The students also completed some learning about the Ballarat Diocese this week so they can see where our school fits within the broader diocese. 

Reminder: Please give permission for our excursion to Wentworth and pay $12 to the office before the 9th of June. 

Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Making ice-cream in Science!

Grade 3 News

It was another short week, but we made the most of our time and stayed focused on our learning.

In Literacy and History, we’ve continued exploring how life in Australia changed with the arrival of the British. We’re thinking about how some aspects of a community stay the same over time, while others change. We have used this knowledge to help write expanded sentences that include when, where, who and why. I'm very happy with each child's efforts in this area.

In Maths, we’ve been revising and practising different strategies for adding two and three-digit numbers. Students are also working on their recall of doubles and doubles plus one to support their mental maths. Please practice these with your child at home if you can. 

On Thursday, Miss Garreffa worked with small groups to make pumpkin scones using more of the pumpkins we grew and harvested a few weeks ago. There’s still some pumpkin left, so we’re looking forward to more cooking soon!

Today we celebrated Our Lady’s Feast Day with a special Liturgy. Students have been learning about Mary and were proud to be part of the celebration. I was especially impressed by their beautiful singing.

On Sunday, Sophie, Anna, Layla and Ivie will complete the Sacrament of Confirmation. We keep them in our prayers and wish them every blessing as they take this important step in their faith journey.

Enjoy your weekend!

Cheryl-Anne

Grade 4 News

It’s been another busy week at OLSH with many teachers writing reports on their allocated Report Writing Day, a school closure for staff professional development in Euston on Tuesday and our liturgy to celebrate the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart on Friday! Phew!

In the meantime there has been some wonderful learning being completed in Grade Four with students learning about Captain James Cook and why he was sent to Tahiti in 1768, adding appositives into our sentences to add more detail and to make them sound more interesting, and completing an interesting art self-portrait art piece.

This week we also spent time discussing one of our school values - RESILIENCE. We defined resilience as being able to bounce back when something is hard or goes wrong - like having inner strength that helps you keep trying, even when things get tough. We then gave lots of examples of RESILIENCE . We also discussed that RESILIENCE doesn’t mean you never feel sad or frustrated. It just means you don’t give up. You try again, learn, and grow stronger!

I hope everyone managed to show RESILIENCE during Monday's dust storm!

Have a great weekend!

Julie

Grade 5 News

Thanks to Mrs. Lawrence for looking after the class over the past week, especially for the work on long division!
The class has been learning to use the formal algorithm to solve division questions in Mathematics. They have also been learning about the next stage of European settlement in Australia that followed the arrival of the First Fleet, as well as some of the challenges settlers faced.

On a positive note, I’ve been given the all clear, so there should be no more extended absences from me!

Grade 6 News

We have had a good week of learning this week! 

Well done to Isaac who represented OLSH in Cross Country at St Arnaud on Tuesday. It sounds like he had a great run! Awesome effort at that level! 

Learning long division has challenged a lot of students this week, but with perserverance (and by the 3rd lesson) students were able to all be sucessful at understanding and completing their work independently! In Literacy students have enjoyed completing research into their chosen natural disaster and next week we will begin drafting the paragraphs for our information report. Everyone is loving reading the text 'Wonder' by RJ Palacio as our class novel this term. The book explores some heavy but important themes which is sparking thoughtful and meaningful discussion in the classroom.

Next week is fairly normal with the only change being Winter Sports on Friday. Students are welcome to bring any equipment they usually use for their chosen sport (e.g. mouthguards, shin pads, etc.). Please send this gear in a separate bag, as students will change over at Kenny Park once we arrive.

Grade Six students will be performing at assembly in Week 9 - Friday 20th June at 9am. We hope you can make it! 

Good luck to those students performing in the Mildura Eisteddfod over the weekend! 

Have a nice weekend! 

Breanna 

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

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.