Dear Parents, Grandparents and Caregivers in the OLC Community,

Well done to all the parents that were able to attend the parent information sessions on Monday evening. It is extremely important to maintain open communication between parents and teachers. Parents are always urged to contact your child's teacher of any concerns that you may have and make an appointment at a mutually convenient time.

Our Year 6 “Eco Warriors” will have a table set up every Monday morning for those of us that have excess veggies to swap, purchase and leave a donation to “Wheelchairs for kids”. Worm Wizz will also be available for purchase by donation. Any leftover vegetables will be brought down to St Georges for the community meal on Tuesday evenings. The idea is that the veggies are picked fresh that morning. It is an easy way to raise funds for “Wheelchairs for Kids” and also help others in our society and prevent waste. The first stall will be next Monday 20 February before school. Our Year 6 Eco Warrior Leaders await your donations.

A big shout out to Mr Sean McSevich and Mrs Anne Coltrinari on introducing the specialist science learning area to OLC for this year.

To a large group of our senior students who participated in recent basketball tournaments in Perth. Charlie Lammana, Lakey Thompson, Lily Eve Blechynden, Scarlett Bickett, Xavier Ricciardone, Darcy Archer, Oscar Todd, Xavier Hayhow, James Hutton and Peri Hall.

We will be welcoming our Seedlings and their parents back to Kindy in Week 5 on Wednesday 1st March. For those of you who have just commenced Kindy this year, I hope that your children had a wonderful start in a familiar environment with the lovely Miss Horrocks!

Our playgroup continues to run from 9-9:45am with the option to have an extended play in the Kindy playground afterwards.

For those who are interested in attending Seedlings this year, please enter your details in the link below which takes you to the form for our 2023 group. The form is simply an expression of interest to attend and families are welcome to join us on a casual basis. All pre-existing families (from 2022), who are still attending in 2023 are also asked to re-enter their details at: https://forms.office.com/r/PRvgTxkXhP

Click here for further information Little Seedlings Flyer

I look forward to meeting our Seedlings, old and new for our first session of the year!

Mrs Amy Sherborne

Little Seedlings Teacher

Please DO NOT PARK on Sloan Drive during our peak 10 minutes after school. Come through the ‘Drive Through’ queue a few minutes late if you do not want to queue. The reasons for this are that:

• Students have to cross the internal road plus Sloan Drive to get to their car. The chance of an accident escalates considerably.
• It is difficult enough for others outside our school community to commute through our school traffic without cars being parked along the side of the road. The council and local residents have contacted us.
• We are all expected to enter the Sloan Drive, “Drive Through” from Endicott Loop. This assists greatly with traffic flow.
• If you wish to park and pick your child up, please park in the top Cape Naturaliste Road Car Park.
  

Please be mindful when taking your children out of school for an extended holiday. They will lose 'chunks' of valuable learning. Students that are receiving individual learning support and are removed from school usually find it very hard to retain their prior learning on return.

The 2023 NAPLAN testing will take place in Term One in 2023 and run from 15 March through to 24 March. All students in Years 3 and 5 are required to undertake NAPLAN unless parents choose to withdraw their child. Parents wishing to withdraw their child must contact Penny King to obtain a Withdrawal Form. The form must be submitted by Wednesday 1 March.

• Brysen Gee thinks Kyra Lee is Mr Lee’s daughter. Although Kyra is the most beautiful, well mannered, kind and caring little girl in Year 2, on this occasion Brysen is not 100% correct.
• Willow, Will, and Willow all sit at the same desk in year 2M.
• There were 50 highly active participants at the running club last Wednesday morning.
• There is a welcome afternoon, at Meelup Beach on Friday 24 February commencing at 3.30pm. Bring a picnic and come along and meet someone new.
• In England, the speaker of the house is not allowed to speak.
• Connor Greay (1K) found a pair of swimming goggles in the sandpit last Monday.
• Olivia Johnson (2N) has a broken elbow. One rung on the monkey bars was just a tiny bit too far away, drat.
• Oaklee Gillespe (3Del) is a Richmond supporter.
• It is physically impossible for a pig to raise his head and look at the sky.
• Mr Jones wasn’t feeling very well this morning, so he took off his gloves.
• There was 'true love' in the canteen on Valentine's Day with a husband and wife team ensuring lunches were out on time!

Principal

Father Ian is looking for someone familiar with Microsoft Word to assist with typing up the weekly Parish Bulletin. If you can spare an hour a week to volunteer, he would be very grateful. Please see me or email me at amie.meyer@cewa.edu.au if you are able to help. With thanks.

Last year we hosted a number of initiatives at the school to raise money for the poor and needy of our world. Thanks to your generosity, we collected $3365 for Caritas Australia and Catholic Mission Australia in 2022. What an amazing effort! We look forward to your continued support this year. Thank you!

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of the Catholic season of Lent leading up to Easter. Lent calls us to respond to God and to others right now – in the present moment. During Lent, Project Compassion will present us with inspiring stories from Caritas Australia about real people entering into partnership with us in real ways. The theme for Project Compassion this year is “For All Future Generations.” It is a theme of hope for all of creation and for the future generations. The ashes we wear on Ash Wednesday are an invitation to rebuild from wherever we happen to be on life’s journey. The Year 3-6 students will head to the church to participate in the parish Ash Wednesday Liturgy at 9.30am. Junior school students will receive the ashes in a special prayer service lead by their teacher in class. The students have begun talking about the sacrifices they will make during Lent, either by giving something up or taking something on. Our Year 6 “Spirit Spies” will be coordinating some fundraising to help raise money for Project Compassion. We pray that Lent will be a time of prayer, reflection, and renewal.

We pray for all who know what it is to live in the ashes: the poor, the marginalised, the outcast, the lonely, the sick. May the ashes we wear in humility be for us all a sign of our hope in the rising of the Lord of all life.

Amen.

Amie Meyer

Assistant Principal

The P&F Committee warmly welcome families, both old and new to the 2023 school year. We hope you enjoyed a happy summer holidays and the children are settling in well to their school year.

We invite you to join us for a casual welcome event at Meelup Beach, on Friday 24 February from 3.30pm. It's a great way to let the children play and catch up with friends and meet new families.

We are excited to share the huge impact your contributions to P&F fundraisers had in 2022. Please see the poster below showing the incredible support we were able to extend to the school thanks to your support.

The P&F are excited for a productive year of fundraising and bringing the school community together through events. After a very busy couple of years focusing on fundraising the P&F Committee have decided to reduce the number of fundraising initiatives this year. We will focus on the most successful initiatives with an aim to balance value, effort and impact. At the start of each term we will communicate what fundraisers you can expect, with the possibility of an extra sprinkle here and there.

Term 1 Fundraisers

• Sunbum Sunscreen Fundraiser - order forms due Fri 24 Feb
• Footy Tipping
• Year 6 Car Wash - Sunday March 12th
• Easter Raffle - new format

We are still on the hunt for class representatives. In this role you form a crucial link between classroom teachers, the P&F Committee and families. It involves one meeting per term, assisting with a fundraiser and keeping families up to date with information where necessary. We promise you, it's a great way to get involved and meet new people. If you are interested please let you classroom teacher or Leah Pearson know.

Wishing you all the best for school year ahead.