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- From Francine ...
- Parents and Friends (P&F) Roles and Responsibilities
- 5 Secrets Seminar RSVP
- Open Days and Prep Enrolments for 2022
- Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) Survey 2021
- Uniform Clarification
- Easter Dress Up and Raffle
- Sacramental Update - Years 2, 3 and 4
- LEGO Club
- Photo Permission Form
- HOLT Swimming Carnival
- Welcome Baby Girls!
- sZapp Notification Issues
- OLOL Athletics Day
- Camps Sports and Excursion Fund (CSEF) 2021
- Parents and Friends Roles and Responsibilities Presentation
The big thing I inherited when I took on the role of principal at OLOL was a super-strong parent body. OLOL has always been known in the community for its fun, happy parent functions. Parents, both mums, and dads who continue to meet socially years and years after their children have graduated from the school. There have been a couple of things recently that indicate that this precious parent culture is becoming fractured. I blame COVID. I'm not sure how it has managed to dislocate us, but it seems it has.
We had a P and F meeting this week and the idea was to enlist a whole new executive team as our current team had held the positions for the past several years. Generally, at the initial P&F meeting, we have up to 25 parents attend with a good pool of supportive people willing to take on roles (with support).
The willingness to take on roles I think comes from the fact that they can see right before them that they are not alone in the role and there is support everywhere.
On Tuesday apart from the outgoing team, we had three parents there. This rattled me.
The other signal that we might be disengaging as a community comes from the RSVP list to Georgina Manning’s parent Session on Child Wellbeing. Georgina, who is the founder of the Peaceful Kids program ( a program that our school is very much engaged with) is to give a session on 5 Steps to raise Resilient and Confident Children. The school is paying for this session to help support parents navigate the challenges of rearing children in uncertain times. We have 112 families (over 200 parents) in the school and at the moment we have received 16 parents RSVPs!
You're not called a parent body by coincidence. If our children are the heart of the school then we are its body. Please stand up and bring back that which has been so strong, so welcoming, so valued, so binding for so many years.
The first opportunity to show this COVID thing that it's not the boss of us is …
FRIDAY MARCH 19TH. There will be a parent function at a local bar (with more details to follow)
If you could put it in your diary’s book a babysitter and an uber and engage with or re-engage with this body of people who will be your friends for the rest of your lives.
I have also included a link to a document that outlines all the roles available on the P&F for your perusal.
Let us come back stronger as a community than before this virus hit and restore the very thing that makes OLOL so special.
Thank you
Francine
Parents and Friends (P&F) Roles and Responsibilities
We have all positions to fill (excluding Treasurer). Please read the presentation (see below, at the end of this newsletter) which explains some of the roles that are available on the P&F Committee. Have a little think and then feel free to volunteer yourself (or perhaps a friend who you think would be ideal in a role).
We are very much looking forward to the "5 Secrets to Develop Confidence and Resilience" parent seminar on Tuesday 23rd March. This is an important and valuable session, especially after some of the experiences of 2020, and we therefore encourage you all to attend.
Thank you to all who have RSVP'd. Due to social distancing requirements, we have now reached capacity. If you missed out on booking a spot for this event, we are also pleased to be able to offer the Resilience Project seminar in May, so please stay posted for those details next term.
We look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday 23rd March for Georgina's very important and valuable session.
Open Days and Prep Enrolments for 2022
A big thank you to all of the parents who have returned enrolment forms for their children starting Prep in 2022. If you did not received an enrolment form and your child turns five by April 2022 (and you are intending for them to commence school next year), please either download an enrolment form from the website or come to office for one.
Below are the dates of our Open Days for this year. As I have mentioned in previous newsletters we are very strategic with our marketing approach. However the best possible marketing strategy is happy OLOL parents telling people about our marvellous school. Please keep getting the word out there.
Open Day cards are available at the office for anyone who wants to pass on information. 2022 is already shaping up to be a great year for enrolments.
Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) Survey 2021
Enhancing Catholic School Identity Survey
I write to invite you to participate in the Enhancing Catholic School Identity survey which will assist us in better understanding how our Catholic Identity is expressed in work and practice here at OLOL.
The Catholic University in Leuven, was commissioned by the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd (CECV) to design a process and tools, based on sound research, to accomplish the goal of understanding our current Catholic identity and where the school community might like to see itself in the future.
The ECSI survey is a key element in this process and I write to request your participation. The online survey gathers responses from students in Years 5 and 6, all staff and parents.
We kindly ask your partitipation in completing the survey online; it may take you up to an hour to do so. Try not to get caught up in the questions, simply respond intuitively. The survey is only available through the project website. Your responses to this survey are guaranteed to be kept anonymous.
- Access the surveys at www.ecsi.site/au/user/
- Enter the case-sensitive password Ghj654 and click login
- If you’re a new user: Click the New user button. If you wish to continue a previous session: Enter your User-ID and Password
- Enter Survey Access Code - pzY1y7 - so that your input will be linked to our school
- You are now logged in. Displayed on the screen is your unique User-ID and Password (case-ensitive). Save this information (write, print, or email it) should you need to access the website at a later time
- From this point forward, please follow the on-screen instructions to complete the surveys.
If you have any questions, please contact Irene Archer who will be able to support you (irene.archer@olprahraneast.catholic.edu.au).
Thank you for your consideration of this request and for your anticipated participation.
Irene Archer
There appears to be some confusion around what days are 'Sports Uniform' days.
The entire school wears Sports Uniform on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Year 2 and 3 participate in Running Club on Thursdays and this year Grade Prep and Year 1 are also doing Running Club on Thursday. While Years 4, 5, and 6 continue their extra sports sessions on Friday afternoon.
Therefore:
Grade Prep, One, Two and Three are to wear Sports Uniform on
TUESDAY, THURSDAY, and FRIDAY
Grade Four, Five, and Six are to wear Sports Uniform on
TUESDAY and FRIDAY
Easter Dress Up and Raffle
Thursday 1st April
Now that the beginning of the school year is well underway – we can start getting ready for Easter!
For those of you new to the school,
we have the greatest fundraiser EVER.
We ask each family to donate Easter Eggs, or Easter gifts of any description (Easter baskets and ribbons etc). The P&F combine all the donations into fancy Easter hampers and then …. you buy raffle tickets so that your children get the opportunity to win one of heaps of gorgeous, exciting, colourful, seasonal, fabulous Easter Prizes.
Now before you say ‘Hang on a minute I know what’s going on here’, just remember that all of your generosity goes towards a really, really good cause, including a NEW … wait for it … solar panels on the main school building!
There will be tubs in each classroom in which to place your donations, or they can be dropped off in the foyer receptacles. Please remember all donations must be nut free.
Raffle tickets will be sent home in the coming weeks. All proceeds benefit the children of OLOL Primary School. Thank you for your generosity.
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On Thursday 1st April we will celebrate the end of Term One with an Easter Dress Up and the drawing of the Easter Egg Raffle.
Students may dress up as anything Easter related (a chick, bunny, Easter egg) or may decorate their own Easter bonnet. There will be an Easter Parade at 9:15am, the link to this will be sent out on the morning.
- Parents and Friends Committee
Sacramental Update - Years 2, 3 and 4
Sacrament of Reconciliation
This year students in Year 2, 3 and 4 will be celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. All preparation classes will take place during school time. The Sacrament will be celebrated on one of two dates:
Wednesday 28th April at 10:15am
Thursday 29th April at 7:00pm
Due to restrictions in the numbers allowed at Our Lady of Lourdes Church we ask that you choose one of the dates and complete the form indicating your preferred date. Dates will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. Please complete one of the two forms below as soon as possible or before Monday 1st March.
Sacrament of First Eucharist
Students in Year 3 and 4 will also be celebrating the Sacrament of First Eucharist. There will be a Sacramental Information Evening held at St Peters Church on Wednesday 14th July at 6:30pm and we ask that both students and parents attend.
The Sacrament of First Eucharist will be celebrated on one of two dates:
Saturday 31st July at 6pm at St Peters Church.
Sunday 1st August at 11am at Our Lady of Lourdes Church.
Again, due to restrictions, we ask that you choose one of the dates when completing the form. Dates will be assigned on a first come, first served basis.
Sacrament Form - Year 2 only
Sacrament Form - Year 3 and 4 only
The great thing about our leadership program is that once the leaders have chosen the area they would like to lead and then are voted into that position they wield great influence within that sphere of the school. Depending on the 'go-gettedness*' of the child/team you see real agency come from the developing portfolio.
No sooner had this year's STEM's captain and leader been elected than they made an appointment to see me. Their well-articulated appeal was that they see a great need (almost urgency) for 'LEGO Club' to be reinstated at the school. They feel that lego builds skills of engineering and technology and therefore it would almost be remiss of me not to at least investigate its return.
As a direct result of their thinking, I am happy to announce that if there are enough takers for a lunchtime program, 'Bricks4kidz' will run a LEGO program during Wednesday lunchtimes beginning in term two. Please read the flyer in this newsletter for costs and details on how to put your child/ren name down.
Well done STEMS Captain Isaac and his leadership team Finbar and Rupert for their initiative in this area.
*Grammarly is trying to tell me that go-gettedness is not a word. Well, grammarly I don't think grammarly is a word - so we're even!
On Friday the 19th of February, 19 students from OLOL competed in the HOLT Swimming Carnival at Oakleigh Recreation Centre. All students performed remarkably with a few missing out on a ribbon by the narrowest of margins. Congratulations to Olivia Adam who came second in the U12/13 girls backstroke and Sarah Kennedy who came third in the U12/13 girls breaststroke. We wish Olivia Adam all the best in her backstroke event next week.
We have had a few parents inform us of some issues with not receiving notifications on the sZapp. We have been in contact with Schoolzine and they recommend that you try the following to fix any issues you may be experiencing.
- Confirm the SZapp is up to date
- Confirm your phones software is the latest version
- Confirm the parent is registered and logged in to SZapp (this is the most important one)
- Notifications turned on for SZapp and in the phone's settings
- If you are sending any notifications to a group, ensure the parent is subscribed and in the group
https://www.schoolzine.com/
Camps Sports and Excursion Fund (CSEF) 2021
The Victorian Government are continuing the Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund (CSEF) initiative to ensure all Victorian students can take part in school trips and sporting activities. The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) will run over four years and provide payments for eligible students to attend camps, sports and excursions. Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or temporary foster parents are eligible to apply. $125 per year will be paid for eligible primary school students, with $225 per year paid for eligible secondary school students. Payments will go directly to the school and be tied to the student.
If you hold a valid means-tested concession card (CRN) or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for CSEF. The allowance will be paid to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions, or sporting activities for the benefit of your child/children.
Please see below a copy of the application form for your convenience. You can also visit the website www.education.vic.gov.au/csef for more information. You should lodge a CSEF application form at the school as soon as possible to be eligible for the payment in March 2021.