Address: Willett Avenue, Oak Park VIC 3046
T:(03) 9306 9182 E: oak.park.ps@education.vic.gov.au |
Issue 06
March 8th 2024 |
Oak Park Primary School will work collaboratively to provide a stimulating, safe and challenging learning environment that promotes resilient, innovative thinkers.
Calendar of Events
Principal's Column
Ramadan Mubarak! Wishing all of our Muslim families a blessed and peaceful Ramadan as you embark on this sacred journey of reflection, prayer, and fasting. May this month bring you closer to your faith, renewed spiritual strength, and abundant blessings. Ramadan Mubarak! NAPLAN commences next week from, March 13th. The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students are held in March each year. In 2023, the NAPLAN test window is between Wednesday 20th March and Monday 25th March. NAPLAN tests assess student knowledge and skills in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The results of the tests provide information for students, parents, teachers and principals and can be used to improve student achievement. NAPLAN tests are delivered in an online format. This delivers many benefits including: • a ‘tailored test’ design that adapts to correct and incorrect student responses providing a more precise understanding of student achievement; • innovative use of technology, including a more engaging test design and a wider range of item types; • an extended and more flexible test window, allowing schools greater opportunity to schedule the tests at times that suit them best and increasing student participation. A public demonstration site is available for schools, teachers, parents, carers and students to familiarise themselves with the online tests. Our Year 3 and Year 5 students have completed their practice online NAPLAN tests. Thanks to David Lu, Sally and teachers for their support and coordination. Year 5 students will be completing their writing component online. To assist with the use of iPads the school has purchased keyboards to support students with typing their responses on a physical keyboard. Year 3 students continue to complete their Writing assessment with physical pencil and paper. Our Year 5/6 camp begins next Tuesday, so our Year 5 students will have their first assessment on Monday March 18th. Further parent information here: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/f-10assessment/naplan/Pages/parents/index.aspx Parent Information (Turkish) https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/naplan/parentpamphlet/2023/NAPLANOnlineInformationForParentsAndCarersTurkish.pdf Confirmed Curriculum Days and Professional Practice Day – Add to the calendar! After consultation and approval via school council our remaining Curriculum Days have been approved and scheduled. Staff also have one common professional practice day in 2024, as part the current industrial agreement. This day supports assessments, planning or professional development for teachers. This year, our staff wish to use their day to assist with the workload of reading assessment, scheduled on May 15th. Students are not required at school for the whole day, but we hope families can book in a timeslot for reading assessment to assist teachers with report writing. Bookings will be available via Compass closer to event. This year, our before and aftercare provider Team Kids, will offer supervision on these days including before and after school care arrangements. Bookings will be available online closer to these days. Curriculum Days – Student Free Friday May 31st – Mathematics focus Friday August 2nd – Writing focus Monday 4th November – Assessment and Reporting Professional Practice Day – Student free with Reading Assessment Timeslots Wednesday - May 15th Communication Survey – Please provide your thoughts and feedback Thanks to those that have already completed our communication survey. We’re interested in improving and enhancing the school’s communication to families and the current use of Compass, Term Newsletters and our weekly Newsletter. We would appreciate you completing this short survey to let us know how we can improve. A thank you to Lola Grech and Kate Lamont of their support in developing the survey questions and content. We value your feedback to help make our great school even better! Communication Survey Link Ride and Stride Parent Volunteers – Open Streets Building on the successes of last year, we are pleased to announce that we have secured training and garnered sufficient volunteer support to proceed with organizing our own Open Street events. In addition to recruiting three parent volunteers, we are grateful to have Thomas from Team Kids lending his support to our efforts. An upcoming training session scheduled for the 20th of March will provide necessary guidance and instruction for our volunteers, with opportunities still available for others to join and contribute to our initiatives. Please email Michael if you’re interested in supporting. At present the council has promoted the following dates as Open Street opportunities for the school:
Kind regards, Michael Gill Principal |
School Assembly
Summer Sport Fixture
Permission Forms
A reminder for families to return signed Local Excursion, Media and Technology permission forms that were sent home last week. Your prompt attention to this would be greatly appreciated. 2025 Enrolments
2025 Enrolments are now open. Those families who will have a sibling attend next year, please email Fran at frances.macdonough@education.vic.gov.au for a full enrolment form. For new families to the school, please check your designated neighbourhood school at www.findmyschool.vic.gov.au You may email Fran with your residential address and an appropriate enrolment form will be forwarded to you. School tours will start in the 2nd term and families who have given an enrolment form will be contacted via email once dates are confirmed. Information will also be in our weekly newsletter as well on our website. All enrolments must be submitted by Friday 26th July. Important: Safety around the School
A reminder that there is no bike riding on the school grounds. Last week we had a near miss by a parent riding their bike past an open classroom door at top speed. Please hop off your bikes before entering the school grounds Foundation News
Wow!! The Foundation students had such an amazing day yesterday for our Teddy Bear Picnic. We started the day by making a teddy bear birth certificate with our Year 6 Buddies, decorating teddy bear biscuits and getting our faces painted. Then after picnicking together and eating up our biscuits, we headed outside for a bear hunt obstacle course! The Foundation kids had just enough energy left to write some amazing sentences about the experience. Check out our day: It was a big one:
Grade 2M News
Over the last two weeks, students in 2M have been picking up rubbish in the yard. Last Tuesday, students collected enough rubbish in the yard so that the classroom bin overflowed. This was collected in one lunch time. Vyanna and Nimrat spoke about this at Junior Assembly last week. Please put your rubbish in a bin! Calling All Rock Stars
We’re looking for members to join the Rock Band Program! If you sing, play guitar, bass, piano, keyboard or drums we want to invite you to audition. Prospective students are to prepare a 1 minute performance of a song of their choice to demonstrate their talents. (We recommend that students have 1 year of experience on their instrument and are currently taking lessons). Students who are accepted will be notified on the 28th of March and invited to join the program for Term 2 Who: Students in Grade 3-6 who can sing or play an instrument* When: Thursday March 21st 11am (Lunch Break) Where: The Multimedia Room What: perform a 1 minute rendition of a song to show off your talents *Students don’t need to be learning in the school music program but we strongly recommend they are actively getting lessons Specialist
Science News In science classes this week our junior scientists have become experts on ‘how rain happens’. Students were keen to learn about and explore the water cycle and how water moves around the earth and in the atmosphere. We learnt three new scientific words to help us to understand and explain the water cycle; Evaporation – when the sun heats up water and it turns to water vapor and rises as gas. Condensation – when the water vapor cools down and changes back to water droplets and creates clouds. Precipitation – when so much water gathers and the cloud is heavy, it falls back down to Earth. We call this rain! We then made our own water cycle science projects – A Water Cycle in a Bag. Students have taken these back to their classrooms to watch over the next week to see if we can create a water cycle inside a plastic bag. I can’t wait to see what they observe over the next few days. Great work junior science stars! Japanese News
In Japanese this week the 3/4’s have been practicing how to read, write and say kanji numbers 1-50. Students have participated in different activities to give them opportunities to say the numbers aloud as well as reading and writing the kanji characters. Students are working towards counting to 100 as well as using this knowledge of number to tell the time in Japanese. We have also been fortunate to have Zoe join our Thursday sessions and as you can see from the photos Zoe has enjoyed relaxing while listening to the students counting. Visual Arts News
Grade 1 and 2 students recently practised the art of ruling straight lines to create a mesmerising radial design using complementary colours. Armed with grey lead pencils, Sharpies, and coloured pencils, our young artists set out to craft a kaleidoscope of colour. The project began with the humble grey lead pencil, as the students meticulously ruled straight lines from the centre of their paper, creating a radial type of pattern. This process not only honed their fine motor skills but also introduced them to the concept of symmetry and intersection points. Sure, there were some challenges along the way, but students persisted to do only what we can ask for, the best that they can do. Once satisfied with their intricate pencil designs, the students then traced over their lines with bold Sharpie markers, elevating their creations to a new level of visual impact. The transition from delicate pencil strokes to bold and defined lines added a dynamic element to the artwork. Next, armed with a kaleidoscope of coloured pencils, they carefully selected complementary hues to bring life to their radial designs. Below are some examples of what was produced by the students. Physical Education
This week in PE we enjoyed playing tee-ball and kickball across all classes from grade 1 up to grade 6. Students were tasked with identifying gaps in the fielder’s defence and hitting or throw the ball as hard and far as they could. On the flip side of this, they also practised stopping batting team shots as fielders. The overall idea is to maximize time to run as a batting team to score points, while the fielding team must minimize the time batters can run by retrieving the ball as quickly as possible. Below we have Matteo and Advik demonstrating the skill of the two-hand strike. P.F.A
Dear Families, The OPPS Parents and Friends Association (PFA) is a group of parents (extended family members are also welcome!) who work together to fundraise for the school while planning fun activities for students and families, such as the Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls. As a valued part of the school community, the PFA needs volunteers to help organise our events – and we need your assistance to keep the group running. The PFA’s AGM will be held on Tuesday 19 March at 7 pm in the staffroom at the school. The meeting will include election of the committee and details of activities planned for the year ahead. All are welcome to attend. If you have any questions about the PFA, please feel free to email them to 4721-PFAOPPS@schools.vic.edu.au. Look forward to seeing you there! Thanks from the PFA Year 6-7 Transition
The Year 6-7 Transition process will start in Week 1 Term 2. Oak Park Primary School will distribute the Year 6-7 Placement Information Packs to all families of Grade 6 students after this time. Enclosed will be an Application form for completion by the families, FAQ and a timeline of the process. Parents/Guardians:
Information from Secondary Colleges regarding school tours and information days/nights will be placed in our newsletter as they becomes available. We would advise families to make the most of these opportunities so you may make an informed decision regarding your preferred school. After forms are distributed, should you require any further information please contact Fran at frances.macdonough@education.vic.gov.au Harmony Day
|
Community News
Kelly Sports School Contacts
|