23 - 29th July, 2025 - Term 3, Week 2

Principal's News

Dear Families,

On Sunday one of our Grade Two students, Rylee Wilson, was baptised in the Merbein church. It was lovely to see Rylee looking so happy as she took part in her initiation into the Catholic faith, and even nicer that Rylee made this choice herself. Rylee was joined by family and friends and had a great celebration afterwards (see the pictures below). Congratulations, Rylee!

On Monday and Tuesday we held our Parent/Teacher interviews and it was great to see so many families making the most of the opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher. It has been interesting to note that many families have not yet accessed their child’s report on PAM (we can see who has opened the report from our end). The purpose of the reports are to inform you of how your child is progressing, not just academically, but also socially, and teachers also put a lot of time and effort into writing reports and communicating what they observe about their students. If you haven’t read your child’s report, do yourself a favour, and celebrate their achievements with them!

This week a note went home to Grade Five and Six students regarding their October school camp to Adelaide. Thank you to those families who have already returned their slip indicating attendance. Adelaide has lots to see and do, and the camp will be a fun and educational time for all the students! 

A big congratulations goes to our Prep students, who completed 100 days of school this week! There was a lot of excitement in the classroom as the students counted, coloured and created based on the number 100! I think it's fair to say that everyone had a great day and it's amazing to reflect on how far they have come since the start of the year, both academically and socially. Well done!

The School Advisory Council will be getting together on Tuesday for our termly meeting. We hope to discuss, among other things, the possibility of a school community social event for this term. If you have any other issues you would like raised at our meeting, please contact the school or one of the SAC members.

We have had some cases of head lice over the week, and would like to remind everyone to ensure that all students with hair longer than their shoulders is tied up. This includes boys! If a student has had head lice, they will be excluded from school until their hair is treated and has been rechecked by staff at school. We appreciaate your cooperation with this.

Have a great weekend!

Narelle Gallagher

Links:

Enrolments at OLSH:

OLSH Calendar:

Religious Education News

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

SSG Meetings - NEXT WEEK

SSG Meetings are taking place on the 4th & 7th August. Bookings are now closed. If you wish to arrange a meeting, please contact the office.

Athletics Day

Our annual Athletics Day will be held on Tuesday, August 26th at the Mildura Little Athletics Track. Children will need to be dropped off at the track by 8:45am and collected from the track by 3:25pm. 
If any families are available to assist on the day with roles such as running events, cooking and serving the BBQ, etc. please contact the school or Michael Breewel at mbreewel@olshmerbein.catholic.edu.au to complete the necessary paperwork. 
We look forward to another successful Athletics day!

Mini Olympics

Children will be selected to represent OLSH at the Mini Olympics on Tuesday September 2nd. Those selected will be based on results from our Athletics Day and meet the standards set out by Athletics Victoria. More information will follow after our Athletics Day.

Book club

Book club has been sent home today. Books should be ordered through the Scholastic online Loop service. Orders will be closed at 9:00am the following Friday, 8th of August. Thank you.

Book Week - Dress Up

We will be celebrating Book Week in Week 4 of Term Three (11–15 August), one week earlier than the official Book Week dates due to the Grades Prep to 2 Swimming Program taking place in Week 5.

Throughout the week, classes will take part in a variety of Book Week-themed activities, including a ‘Dress as Your Favourite Book Character’ Day on Tuesday, 12th August.

We will hold a costume parade at 9:00 am where students can showcase their outfits. Friends and family are warmly invited to attend.

Student Leader News

Recycle Bottles & Cans

The Student Leaders have organized an account for donated bottles and cans. If you have refundable bottles and cans, you can recycle them at any CDS container refund depots in Mildura and scan the barcode below. This will donate the money directly to the Student Leaders to go towards new equipment for the students!

Thank you, OLSH Student Leaders

Happy Birthday

We wish the following students a Happy Birthday:

Month of August:

• 1st - Patrick C - 6 yrs
• 1st - Wynter D - 6 yrs
• 4th - Knox A - 7 yrs
• 5th - River H- 9 yrs
• 8th - Ilario M - 8 yrs
• 9th - Isabelle H - 8 yrs
• 14th - Michele D - 12 yrs
• 16th - Sonny P - 11 yrs
• 22nd - Romeo D - 8 yrs
• 23rd - Pandora H - 7 yrs
• 24th - Julius M - 8 yrs
• 25th - Libby Giddings - 12 yrs
• 26th - Adriano C - 7 yrs
• 26th - Isabel M - 8 yrs
• 27th - Aston M - 11 yrs

OLSH Canteen

Orders need to be completed by 9.15am every Friday.

Prep News

On Tuesday students spent the day learning about NAIDOC. Students learnt about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags and different symbols that are used in artworks. Please see some photos from the day below.

On Thursday we celebrated our 100th day of school. We completed lots of activities about the number 100, played games and made crowns and some very cool glasses. We finished the day off with party bags and some special treats from Mrs Gallagher. Please see some photos below from our day.

Show and Tell- Week 3’s topic is ‘Something that starts with c’.

Swimming- Junior swimming is coming up from the 18th-22nd of August. We will be traveling via bus to the Wave Pool to complete these lessons. Please make sure students have permission on SIMON.

NAIDOC

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100th Day of School

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Grade 1 News

Another wonderful week has flown by in Grade 1!

In Mathematics, we have been exploring the concept of equal sharing. Students used hands-on materials such as blocks and counters to help them divide amounts fairly. We also introduced the idea of remainders—what happens when there are items left over after sharing equally. This can be a challenging concept, but the students approached it with persistence and a positive attitude. It has been great to see their confidence growing with each activity.

In Writing, our young authors had the exciting task of imagining themselves stuck in a zoo overnight! Their narratives were filled with creativity, humour, and wonderful imagination—from escaping cheeky monkeys to hiding from sleepy lions. It was fantastic to see students applying their knowledge of story structure and using descriptive language to bring their adventures to life.

Just a few reminders:

•  Book Fair is coming up in Week 4—a great opportunity to foster a love of reading and explore some new titles.
•  Swimming Week begins in Week 5. Please ensure all permission are complete arnd that swimming gear is clearly labelled.
•  The Show and Tell roster for Term 3 has been sent home. You might notice it says "Term 2" at the top—oops! Please disregard that little typo, as the dates listed are all correct.

Thank you for your continued support. We’re looking forward to another great week ahead!

Grade 2 News

Despite the cold and wintry weather, the Grade Twos have had a productive and fun week of learning this week.

One highlight was the NAIDOC Liturgy on Tuesday where the students sat on the oval around a fire and had time to reflect on the history, culture and contributions of First Nations People. The students wrote about what they would like future generations to know about them on gum leaves and then presented these for a display during the Liturgy. 

In Science yesterday we had a very exciting lesson making balloon rockets. The students learnt about forces such as thrust and gravity as they experimented with their rockets. 

Elective lessons have also been something that all students look forward to each week. In my Building Challenges group today, we made marble mazes using recycled materials. This task took a lot of creative thinking and problem solving!

We have many events coming up this term. Please read the reminders below and add these dates to your calendars. More details will follow as each event gets closer.

Have a great weekend! 

Lisa

Reminders/Important Dates:

• SSG Meetings - 4th and 7th of August (book on SIMON)
• Book Week dress-up day and parade - Tuesday 12th of August (parade at 9am)
• JU Swimming - Week 5 (18th-22nd August)
• Athletics Day - Tuesday 26th August
• Grade 1/2 Sleepover- Friday September 12th
• Grade Two Assembly - Friday September 19th (last day of Term Three)

NAIDOC Week

Balloon Rockets

Grade 3 News

This week in Grade 3, we’ve been busy with lots of hands-on learning!

In Science with Mrs Lohmeyer, we explored solids and liquids by mixing custard powder with water to create a fascinating suspension that behaved like both a solid and a liquid.

As part of our NAIDOC Week activities, students used sand and natural materials to build miniature environments. We then observed what happened when water was sprinkled gently (like rain) and poured quickly (like a flood), helping us understand the impact of weather events on the land. 

In Literacy, we’re learning about what makes Australia special through map work. We've read about cartographers and discovered our nearest neighbours across the seas. Students have written some fantastic extended sentences to show what they’ve learned.

In Maths, we’re wrapping up our subtraction unit. I’m so proud of everyone’s resilience—this has been a challenging topic, and the effort has been outstanding!

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Grade 4 News

Thanks to all parents who were able to make it to our Parent/Teacher meetings on Monday and Tuesday. Parent/Teacher meetings provide a valuable opportunity to allow us to share insights about your child’s progress, to celebrate their achievements and work together to support areas for their growth. 

Next week we have SSG meetings. For those parents involved, would you please book a time online.

On Monday I was given the opportunity to have some valuable one-on-one testing time with students. These tests were primarily focused on the student's oral reading fluency and reading comprehension skills. In this test, students read a passage where every seventh word (approximately) is replaced with a blank and given three word options to choose from. The task measures how well students understand the text as a whole, rather than just decoding individual words, by evaluating their ability to select the correct word to maintain meaning in the passage. Generally, most students improved their score compared to the beginning of the year. This test will again be administered towards the end of the year.

On Tuesday morning we celebrated NAIDOC as a whole school. We started off with an outdoor liturgy and finished off with various mixed age group activities in our classrooms.

On Wednesday, both Grades Three and Four were part of an online program with Zoo Australia. Thanks to Mrs Lohmeyer for organising! This has tied in nicely with the topics both grades have been learning in Term 2. For example: 

• Life cycles and grouping of Australian animals 

• Animals depend on each other, and their habitat, to survive 

• How to use observation during scientific investigation 

• How to take action for sustainability and wildlife conservation 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Julie

Grade 5 News

Thank you to everyone who attended the Parent/Teacher Interviews. If you haven’t yet read your child’s report, please log onto SIMON and do so as soon as possible.

Notes about the Grade Five and Six Camp to Adelaide were sent home this week. Please check your child’s bag if you haven’t seen them yet.

We had a visit from Police Officer Joe, who spoke to the students about road safety. Students also completed their second round of DIBELS testing and it was great to see overall improvement across the board.

Grade 6 News

Thank you to everyone who attended Parent-Teacher Interviews this week. It was great to catch up and discuss all the positive things your child has achieved so far this year! 

NAIDOC - On Tuesday, OLSH celebrated NAIDOC Day. Students participated in a whole school liturgy, with Grade Six students taking on all the readings. They read beautifully, and it was a lovely opportunity to reflect on the meaning and importance of NAIDOC Day. After the liturgy, Grade 5 and 6 students were mixed into groups to take part in two engaging NAIDOC activities: an art project and a research task.

Camp - A note about camp was sent home this week. Hopefully most slips have been returned. If you haven’t yet returned yours, please do so as soon as possible so we can finalise numbers. We’re looking forward to a fantastic camp and hope every student will be able to join us for the exciting experiences we have planned.

Book Week - A reminder that Book Week is coming up in Week Four.
Our Book Week Parade will be held on Tuesday, 12th August at 9:00 AM on the basketball court. We look forward to seeing everyone’s costumes!

Have a nice weekend! 

Other News

Wentworth Annual Show Schedule

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.