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- Grandparents Day
- Parent and Friends - Soiree
- OLOL Communication and New App Download
- We Need Your Help - Late Arrivals
- Year 1 Students at Marvel Stadium
- SRC and Earn and Learn
- Welcome
- Year 5 and 6 Leadership Day
- Snow Camp
- Beauty and the Beast
- Dad's Event - Save the Date
- Wonder of Living
- CEMSIS School Improvement Surveys
- Peaceful Kids Program
- Sacramental Update
- Final Open Day of 2019
Dear Parents,
Well we are very excited about our Grandparents Day tomorrow. The plan for the day is as follows:
9.15 Grandparents Liturgy OLOL Church High St
9.45 Grandparents Assembly OLOL School Hall
10.15 Classroom Activities
10.45 Cuppa in the School Hall
A couple of answers to a couple of questions. Parents are also welcome to join us. The day begins at 9.15am at the Church but grandparents are welcome to come into school at the normal time of 8.30am and join us in going over to the Church. We also understand that many grandparents live far away, some are not well and some have even passed away - there is no jugement or pressure on people making it tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a fluid, natural morning and we are looking forward to a loving, welcoming day with those grandparents that are able to join us on the feast of the holiest grandparents ever, St Joachim and St Anne.
OLOL Communication and New App Download
One of the subcommittees of our School Education Board has been working on OLOL communication in all its forms. They found that we needed to:
- Refine communication at OLOL
- Use a central source to avoid "Where do I go to find …?"
- Find one platform of communication for newsletters/app/instant contact etc that talked to each other
- Use a comprehensive and linked calendar for OLOL events
As a result of this we have bought into an entire platform which we hope will address the needs identified by the Board.
This has taken an enormous amount of time but we are slowly releasing elements as we complete them. As you know we have started to use the Newsletter format and the calendar. We have now completed the design of our new Schoolzine app. At this point, we need your involvement. The app is now available to be downloaded in the App Store and Google Play.
The app will be a central place for parents to:
- Report absences and appointments
- View past and present newsletters
- Access the school calendar
- Notifications
- Quick access to our school website
We will begin phasing out the app we are currently using, FlexiBuzz, over the next two weeks and from Friday 9th August we will no longer use FlexiBuzz so please download the app before then. If you need any support with the download of the app and how to use it, please see Miss Irene Archer or email her iarcher@olprahraneast.catholic.edu.au
We Need Your Help - Late Arrivals
Year 1 Students at Marvel Stadium
A number of lucky Year 1 OLOL students from Old Xavierian Auskick, Prahran registered and were selected to play at half time in the Essendon vs GWS game on Thursday 27th June 2019 at Marvel Stadium. It was a very cold night but that didn’t affect the excitement levels of these 6 year old boys and girls who ran out onto Marvel Stadium at 8:30pm and had a blast!
Letter to Mrs Walsh from the SRC group
Dear Mrs Walsh,
We are writing to you to inform you about the Earn and Learn stickers and what we as the kids of OLOL would like to purchase with the points we have.
As an SRC group we went back to our classrooms and asked our peers what equipment they would like to have more of on the playground. We wrote their suggestions down.
We then brought them back to an SRC meeting and saw what the top 3 suggestions were for the earn and learn stickers playground equipment.
They are
- Soft blocks for the passive play
- Plastic lego blocks under Noah’s ark
- Sandpit toys
Thank you Mrs Walsh for reading this.
From the SRC
Mrs Walsh’ reply to the SRC members
Dear Members of the SRC,
I wish to thank you sincerely for helping our school choose what it would like to spend its Earn and Learn points on.
Now we know, we will see if we have enough points. I have also decided that even if we don’t have quite enough points for all the things the students would like, I will find some school money to help out.
Everybody, and especially the SRC have been so helpful I think we should get all the equipment that the students have requested.
So, thank you all again for your work with deciding what we do with the OLOL Earn and Learn Points.
With Gratitude,
Francine Walsh
A very warm welcome to Mrs Rachel McLeary our new sports teacher. We hope she will be very happy here at Our Lady of Lourdes.
On Monday 29th July the Year 5 and 6 students will be participating in a Leadership Day. This day has been organised to support students in enhancing their Leadership and team-building skills. It is being held now, halfway through the year so that our leaders can reflect on their journey so far and recommit to the rest of the year. The day will be held at the Church Hall and will run from 9:00am until 3:15pm. Students are invited to wear their own clothes for the day, however we would suggest that these clothes are appropriate for various team building activities. Should your child wish to have a pizza lunch, please pay $5 at the Office before Monday 29th July.
Our Guest speakers for the day are Stonnington Mayor - Steve Stefanopoulos and current Xavier School Captain and past OLOL student - Ned Kelliher.
It is almost time for our Year 5 and 6 students to go on camp to Feathertop Chalet at Harrietville. Students will be leaving on Wednesday 31st July at 7:45am sharp and returning on Friday 2nd August at approximately 6pm.
Students will participate in a range of activities over the three days including snow activities at Dinner Plain.
A reminder, please do not pack the following:
- Best clothes
- Valuable items
- Jewellery
- Mobile phones and iPads
- Lollies
Have a wonderful time Year 5 and 6, we can't wait to hear all about your adventures!
Matinee performance: Friday 13th September at 11.30am.
Evening performance: Friday 13th September at 7.00pm
Tickets will be on sale shortly, keep an eye on future newsletters for more details.
It would be super if we could have as many Dads as possible attend.
The Wonder of Living supports parents with discussing issues around growing up, puberty and sexuality education generally. We are happy to announce that in term three we have booked two sessions with the Wonder of Living program presenters which offer a holistic sexuality education program for Year 3 – 6.
These evenings are a combination of parent/child presentation and discussion and are matched to the needs of children. Wonder of Living is a value-based, family-orientated program which supports a parent’s role as primary educator by modelling the delivery of age appropriate information. These two evening will bring concepts to life and provide accurate, sensitive explanations to the questions every child needs to ask.
The facilitator led evenings give support to the rights and responsibilities of parents around these issues while respecting the privacy of children and young adolescents.
Years 3-6 Session – Wednesday 21st August (60 mins) 7pm
This first evening is for families with children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 and is called “A New Baby”.
Years 5-6 Session – Wednesday 28th August (75mins) 7pm
The second evening is for families with children in Years 5 and 6 only it is called “Stepping Out” and deals with the topic of puberty.
We are encouraging every family with a child in year 5 and 6 to attend both evenings as they deal with very separate but equally important information.
An information letter and return slip will be sent out next week.
CEMSIS School Improvement Surveys
September 2 - September 20 2019
Throughout each year, we pause to listen to our students, families and staff to gauge how our learning community is travelling. This feedback is invaluable to our progress as effective school communities and is backed by evidence-based research and best practices.
One of the more important formal ways we engage and gather data is through CEMSIS, the Catholic Education Melbourne School Improvement Surveys.
CEMSIS is a set of surveys that have been built specifically for Catholic Schools in Melbourne by Learning Services teams at Catholic Education Melbourne in partnership with researchers at Learning First and in wide consultation with Principals in our schools.
In 2019, students, families and staff are invited to participate in CEMSIS using our brand new, secure and purpose-built online platform. The online platform is where our school leaders will access the summary reports that visualise the results of the student, family and staff surveys.
The CEMSIS survey platform is operated by an independent supplier, ORIMA Research Pty Ltd. The platform meets with the very high security and privacy standards for handling student and school data. Participating schools are in the process of updating their privacy policy to ensure school communities are fully informed and protected.
Students at our school will be provided with supervised sessions where teachers are on hand to help and answer any questions. Families and staff can complete the survey anytime over the three-week window via an emailed link and password. Feedback from last year’s pilot trials indicate many surveys were done across a range of mobile devices and different web browsers. We will be providing more information about CEMSIS throughout next Term via the newsletters.
Our community’s opinions are critical to understanding how our school is performing – CEMSIS is a key data source for guiding the ongoing work to improve our school.
All participation is invited, welcomed and 100% voluntary. The surveys are not a test; they are an inclusive way to feed the work we are already doing to improve our school. Everyone has the right to refuse to participate, or withdraw from the survey at any point before, during, or after completion of the survey. Please notify the school if your child does not wish to participate. If you would like more information, please contact the school.
What the kids are saying about PKP…
- Peaceful Kids really helped me because it made me calm down every day and forget every distraction. Sometimes angriness takes over my body and meditations help that not to happen.
- Peaceful Kids helps me sleep in my own bed. I feel peaceful after the meditations.
- I really like Peaceful Kids because it’s really fun. At the end of the term we got a Peaceful Kids box. I like using the feather before bed because I have trouble going to bed.
- I like Peaceful Kids because it’s really nice and relaxing. I can let out all my emotions when I do it. I liked all the activities and meditations. They make me feel like a different person and make me calm and relaxed and ready for bed. I can express my feelings even more.
- I think Peaceful Kids was fun. It helps me sleep in the middle of the night by doing a JAM. I think I will keep writing in a journal.
Please register your interest for your child to participate in the
‘Peaceful Kids’ program for Term 4, 2019.
This program will continue to be facilitated by Angie Sloan from Masterminds Counselling. Email: angie@mastermindscounselling.com.au
Thursday 8th August 7pm - Parent and Child Information Evening
Sunday 25th August 11am - First Eucharist Mass
On Thursday 8th August we will have our final Open Day for 2019. This Open Day is for parents who are considering OLOL for their child starting in 2021 or after. Please come along and bring any of your parent friends who are thinking about what primary school they will send their child to. If you are unable to make this date please contact the Office to arrange a tour and meeting with Francine.