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The Oak Leaf |
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Address: Willett Avenue, Oak Park VIC 3046
T:(03) 9306 9182 E: [email protected] |
Issue 13
May 11th 2023 |
Oak Park Primary School will work collaboratively to provide a stimulating, safe and challenging learning environment that promotes resilient, innovative thinkers.
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Calendar of Events
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Principal's Column
Curriculum Day Reminder
We have an upcoming curriculum day tomorrow, Friday May 12th, where our teachers will learn and work together to further enhance their knowledge around Mathematics instruction with our ongoing consultant Pete Sanders from the Love Maths organisation. Students are not required to attend school on this day. We had hoped to offer support via our Outside Hours School Care for the curriculum day, but unfortunately staff shortages have made this impossible. Lunchtime Clubs The lunchtime clubs program will be continuing in 2023 as part our ongoing focus on student wellbeing. The lunchtime clubs program supports a range of student-led and teacher-developed clubs that provide students with a variety of opportunities to explore their interests and passions. The lunchtime clubs program is designed to be both passive and active, meaning that students can choose to participate in more active activities such as sports or dance clubs, or more passive activities such as guided drawing or board games. This variety of clubs allows students to engage further with their interests, develop friendships, and build rapport with their peers. The school currently offers a diverse range of lunchtime clubs including Minecraft, Just Dance, Gardening (pictured), Guided Drawing, Singing, Yearbook, Imagination, Bootcamp, Construction, Board Games, Wakakirri, Sport, Art, and Dance. In addition to these clubs, the school library is open three times per week, providing students with a quiet space to study and read. The school acknowledges the support of their School Representative Council (SRC) and teaching staff in offering such a wide range of opportunities for their students. We are committed to supporting student wellbeing and recognizes the importance of providing students with opportunities to explore their interests, build relationships, and engage with their school community. 
Kind regards,
Michael Gill Principal Interschool Sports
Assembly Schedule - Term 2
2024 Enrolments
If you are enrolling your child next year at Oak Park Primary School, or you know of someone wanting to enrol their child, please email Fran at [email protected] to request an enrolment form. SCHOOL TOURS 
School Photos
School photos will be taken on Monday 15th May. Photos may only be ordered via Compass. Online ordering has now been activated. Orders must be placed by 11:59pm the day before photo day. Orders cannot be placed at school or on the day. We remind students to please wear the correct uniform on the day. We would also ask families to not bring your child to school just for the school photos if they are unwell and absent on the day. 
Lunch Order
As tomorrow, Friday 12th is a Curriculum Day, there will be no lunch orders supplied. Those families who have ordered lunch orders for tomorrow, your lunch order will now be held over until Friday the 19th May. A reminder that even though you may make an online order any day of the week (up until 11am each Thursday), Friday is the only day where lunch orders are supplied by Sweet Nektar. There has also been some confusion regarding students not getting lunches due to errors in ordering. Please ensure you order for the correct date, and before the cut-off time of 11am. If the order is placed and paid for/confirmed after 11am, your lunch order will be held over for the following week Interschool Chess Tournament
The Chess Interschool Tournament will be held at Oak Park Primary School on Wednesday 21st June starting at 9am until 2.45pm. Entries close Wednesday 7th June. Please see attached brochure 
Term 2 Chess
An impressive amount of students attending Chess club with our Chess Master Grant! 
Wakakirri
Is your child in Grade 4-6 and interested in dancing at the Clocktower in an optional dance performance?
Please read on! What is Wakakirri? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sD8Ea0IcqM Melanie and Kate held an information meeting with students this week about this wonderful opportunity yet we still need more students for this experience to go forward. Melanie will be handing out EXPRESSION OF INTEREST forms to Grade 4-6 next week! It is an excellent opportunity for a stage performance for those students who are interested. Great stories can open hearts and minds and inspire change. Wakakirri is a national Story Dance festival where schools aim to do just that! Wakakirri is Australia’s Largest Performing Arts Event for Schools with separate events for Primary, Secondary, Dance schools and schools in remote areas. Each year hundreds of schools across Australia create Story-Dances for Wakakirri that reflect student’s thoughts, ideas and aspirations. These stories are performed in professional theatres in front of the official ‘Wakakirri Panel’ who are searching for ‘Story of the Year’. A Wakakirri Story-Dance is a 3-7 minute performance by a group of students that theatrically tells a story using a combination of dancing, creative movement and acting to pre-recorded music. Schools can tell any story and use any combination of dance, acting, music, sets, props and costumes. Performing in Wakakirri is an experience students never forget. Schools spend Show Day rehearsing and meeting other schools and that same night walk the Red Carpet with the Panel Reps and perform on the big stage. Every schools’ story is filmed for Wakakirri TV as part of the search for ‘Story of the Year’. Wakakirri is for every School in Australia and has categories for all levels of experience. Emphasis is on creativity not expensive and extravagant productions. An emphasis is also placed on creative movement and drama not on technical dance meaning every student can participate. Wakakirri encourages schools to minimise their footprint when creating props and costumes for their performance and offers special awards for schools that excel in this area. The Aboriginal word Wakakirri means ‘to dance a story’ according to the Wangaaypuwan people from Cobar NSW. It was chosen to give the event a distinctly Australian feel. You can find out more at www.wakakirri.com. Expression of Interest forms will be handed out next week to students in Grade 4-6. Can’t wait to begin rehearsals! Melanie and Kate Specialist
Japanese News This week in Japanese we have been learning how to pronounce colours. Students have been practicing how to say 10 different colours in Japanese as well as writing them in hiragana and katakana. We have also learnt how to say “My favourite colour is ….”, in Japanese. Students have done a fantastic job pronouncing and remembering the colours. We will be continuing to learn new words and phrases we can use to share information about ourselves and family as the term progresses. It would be great if you could ask your children what colours they remember and practice with them at home. Science For the last two weeks our junior scientists have been hard at work following the scientific method of discovery. They have worked on making observations, asking questions and making predictions. We have conducted some interesting experiments in the science room and students have worked confidently and carefully in small teams to follow the steps and instructions. Our investigations have been focused around the concepts of floating, sinking, density and buoyancy. Students have tested a range of small objects, made from different materials, to see if they would float or sink. They have also completed a ‘layering liquids’ experiment to test the various densities of familiar liquids. They have been using lab reports to record their findings and have been enthusiastic about their discoveries.
Performing Arts
This term senior school drama is all about presenting performances! Grade 3/4 students are working independently to present scripted Indigenous Dreamtime stories. During the planning phase of a play students need to work together to work out who will play each character, how they will present the play and what devices they will use. It is a lot of fun yet also challenging for young students! Hopefully your child will come home with news of the character they are playing and they are most welcome to create small props or character headpieces if they desire. Students will present their plays in Week 6, it will be a lot of fun! 
Visual Arts
If you have time to pass by the Art Room at OPPS this week, please take the time to take a look at the ‘Repeated Geometry’ artworks that the Grade 5/6 students created. Some of the artworks are not on display as they were created using small canvases which could not be displayed in the windows. Repeated geometry can create quite complicated designs and with the right use of colour can be quite eye catching. Mathematics involved in using repeated geometry can also be quite complicated. Feedback that I received from students during art lessons, and just observing the level of engagement during this activity, it was quite evident that the students thoroughly enjoyed it. 
Physical Education
Jump Rope for Heart is the Heart Foundation’s primary school skipping challenge that helps kids move more, have fun and raise funds for lifesaving research and programs. This year we’ve got an audacious goal to see our student Heart Heroes at Oak Park Primary to log 40 hours of skipping throughout the program! Register your child online, so they can receive the full benefits of the program and participate in online fundraising, simply follow the link below to get started. www.jumprope.org.au/parents Students will be skipping during lunch time and PE classes. During this time you can share their online fundraising page with family and friends to help raise money for this great cause. We will hold our school Jump Off Day on Friday June 23rd. This will mark the end of the program and is a chance for everyone to come together to skip and show off their newly learned skills. Thank you for supporting the Jump Rope for Heart program! basic jump rope skills intermediate jump rope skills advanced jump rope skills 
District Cross Country
District Cross Country will be held at Boeing reserve on Thursday 18th May. In the lead up to this, we will be holding tryouts next Monday 8th of May for students aged 9-12 years old (grade 3-4 students). Please remember this is not compulsory. I suggest your child only enter cross country if they are comfortable running long distances as this event can be very physically demanding. The tryouts will be held on the oval at lunchtime (if weather is bad, we may postpone). Students will need to complete the following distances: 9/10 year olds - 2000m 11-12 year olds - 3000m Students who place in the top 10 will qualify for the District event. If for any reason your child cannot attend the tryouts but wishes to give it a go, please get in contact with me. Friday Sport Parent Helpers
With the start of inter school sport this Friday, I am hoping to find a few parent helpers who can help out with our footy or soccer teams. For footy, I will most likely be umpiring most games. I would need someone to help walk the kids to and from the grounds and to assist with supervision on the bench. Same for soccer- Maree will be in charge of 19 students. This means there will be a large number of students on the bench. Thankfully we do not need to book any buses this term. Which means all of our matches are either home or a short walk away. If you are able to help out in anyway, please let me know :) Thanks Liam Walk Safely to School Day
Year 6-7 Transition
FRIDAY 12TH May: Parents/Carers to return forms to Oak Park Primary School WEDNESDAY 19th July: Oak Park Primary will notify parents/carers of placement outcomes Should you need any further information please email Fran at [email protected] you require any information once this is received, please don’t hesitate to contact Fran at [email protected] Local Secondary Colleges are now advertising their Open Days, Information Nights and School Tours. We suggest that families make the most of these availabilities. Please go to www.findmyschool.vic.gov.au to check if you are within their school zone. Many Secondary Colleges are strictly zoned. PENOLA CATHOLIC COLLEGE: Applications for Year 5 students starting Year 7 in 2025 are now open. Applications for Year 7 in 2025 will close on the 18th August. Offers will be posted to prospective Year 7 applicants on October 20th
Limited places are available for Year 7 in 2024. Visit penola.vic.edu.au to book a Principals tour or to complete an enrolment form. Community News
AIRPORT WEST SWIMMING ACADEMY…. Saving Lives, LEARN TO SWIN
OAK PARK SAINTS BASKETBALL
Keep active, have fun and learn about basketball. For enquiries or interest for the upcoming season, please contact Bron at [email protected] 
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Oak Park Football Club
PENOLA SAINTS NETBALL CLUB
ACE FUN TENNIS SCHOOL
School Contacts
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