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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 20
July 17th 2026 |
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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
Term 3 July 2026
August 2026
Principal's Column
Upcoming Student-Free Curriculum Day Please take note of our upcoming student-free Curriculum Day. These days are vital for our staff to engage in professional development, assessment reporting, and strategic curriculum planning. Monday, 20th July - Curriculum Day (Term 3, Week 2): There will be no school for students on this day as our teaching teams collaborate on curriculum development. To support our working families, Team Kids will be operating a full-day care program on-site for this date. If you require care for your children, we highly recommend booking your spots early through the Team Kids portal to assist them with their staffing arrangements. Thank you for your ongoing support as we allocate this important time to further developing our teaching and learning practices. Potential Stop-Work Next Thursday 23rd July The Australian Education Union has called on its members to take strike action next Thursday 23rd July. This is a protected industrial action for union members and no staff member should be judged for their participation in a strike. There have been 11 months of negotiation and no industrial agreement has been formed. Whilst there are many elements in this negotiation, the key factors are workload and pay, with Victoria’s teachers being the lowest paid in any state. Our staff understand the impact that industrial action and strikes cause the community and we'll confirm which classes are affected as soon as possible. There was a new agreement sent to unions yesterday and a meeting between unions and the government is scheduled for 4:30PM today. I’ll keep the community notified of any outcome from that meeting and confirmation of the strike as soon as details are available. Due to the planned industrial action next Thursday, the Parents and Friends Association have postponed the upcoming Movie Night until August 6th. We appreciate their understanding and flexibility in support of strong attendance for the event. Further details are below: OPPS Annual Movie Night featuring Shrek – Now Thursday 6th August at 5:30pm 
Thursday 6th August at 5:30pm
Location: OPPS Gym Tickets are $10 per school-aged child (payable at the door by cash or card) and include popcorn and a drink. Children under the age of 5 and parents/guardian adult attends free. Bring along your blankets, cushions and favourite movie snacks, then settle in for a fun-filled night with friends and family. Please note: This is not a drop-off event. All children must be supervised by a parent or guardian 18+ We look forward to seeing you there for a swamp-load of laughs! Kind regards, Michael Gill Principal WHAT'S HAPPENING @ OAK PARK
WHOLE SCHOOL
Assembly Timetable
Crossing Rivalry Heats Up Ahead of the Big Game!
There’s a little extra excitement at the school crossing this week, and it’s not just because everyone is safely making their way to school! Our fantastic crossing attendants, Wayne and Nabil, have found themselves on opposite sides of one of the biggest AFL rivalries - Collingwood versus Carlton! With the Magpies and Blues set to clash this Saturday night, Wayne is proudly flying the black and white flag, while Nabil is standing strong in his navy blue. Both are confident their team will be celebrating when the final siren sounds! Wayne is backing the Pies, with young gun Charlie West ready to make his mark. He’s hoping Charlie has a big impact, De Goey kicks a bag of goals (five would be ideal!), and Daicos racks up plenty of possessions - 40+ wouldn’t hurt! With Quaynor returning to add some speed, Wayne believes the Magpies are ready to soar. Nabil is equally confident in the Blues. With captain Patrick Cripps leading from the front and Josh Fraser at the helm as interim coach, Carlton heads into the clash with plenty of belief. The Blues have enjoyed a strong run of form under Fraser and will be looking to bring that confidence into one of footy’s biggest rivalries. With some important changes to the side and players returning to strengthen the team, Nabil believes Carlton has the toughness and midfield power to take it right up to the Magpies on Saturday night. While Wayne and Nabil may disagree about football, they both agree on one thing - their commitment to keeping our students safe each morning and afternoon. We thank them for their dedication, their smiles, and for bringing plenty of footy spirit to our school community. Good luck to both teams this weekend… although we’re sure Wayne and Nabil will each be hoping the other one arrives at the crossing on Monday morning wearing a very disappointed scarf! Go Pies! Go Blues! 
Student Mobile Phones
A reminder that students MUST hand in their mobile phones to the school office on arrival to school. Students are not to be accessing their phones or smart watches during school times. We have had many instances lately where students are contacting parents, as well as parents contacting their child during school times. We ask families to please not contact their child via their smart devices. Unexplained Absences
We have an extraordinary number of unexplained absences in Compass. If your child has an unexplained absence, as a matter of urgency, we ask that you login to Compass and update these with a reason for the absence. When your child is absent, please advise the absence via Compass on the day of absence. Lost Property We are concerned with the number of clothing currently in the lost property cupboard. Surely the students are getting cold!! If your child has misplaced it, please be sure to visit the cupboard before the end of term. Anything not labelled or claimed by the end of term will be given to the PFA for the second hand uniform stall. Chess Club Chess Club for Term 3 is now open. Students who have been attending Chess Club will have been added to the Compass event. If you would like your child to attend Chess Club but you have not been notified via Compass please email [email protected] for further information. Chess Club requires consent and payment of $79 for the Term. Book Club
Welcome back to Term 3. Issue 5 of Book Club has landed on the library desk and catalogues have been delivered to classrooms. There are 163 titles priced at $10 or under, including 91 books discounted by 50% or more, making it even easier to discover great books and grow your child's home library. Be sure to check it out! In Book Club: Discover Something New!
Orders need to be placed by Thursday 23rd July, no late orders can be accepted. As always, thank you for your continued support of Book Club. Free Container Deposit Scheme
Recycling Bags Available To help support participation in the Container Deposit Scheme, we have a supply of free Visy Exchange recycling bags available for our families, picture attached. For those who are already using these bags to collect eligible bottles and cans for donations back to the school, thank you very much for your ongoing support. If you are simply wanting to use a bag to collect and sort your recycling at home, you are more than welcome to come and collect one for free from the office foyer. Thank you for helping us support this positive sustainability initiative. 
PFA News
OPPS PFA Movie Night - New Date
The OPPS Parents and Friends Association is excited to present: OPPS Annual Movie Night featuring Shrek Thursday 6th August at 5:30pm Location: OPPS Gym Tickets are $10 per school-aged child (payable at the door by cash or card) and include popcorn and a drink. Children under the age of 5 and parents/guardian adult attends free. Bring along your blankets, cushions and favourite movie snacks, then settle in for a fun-filled night with friends and family. Please note: This is not a drop-off event. All children must be supervised by a parent or guardian 18+ We look forward to seeing you there for a swamp-load of laughs! Australian Mathematics Competition 2026
Oak Park Primary School is excited to provide students with the opportunity to challenge themselves mathematically and be recognised for their achievement through participation in the Australian Mathematics Competition. The competition is open to interested students in Grades 3-6 and will be held on Tuesday 4th August 2026. If your child would like to participate, please complete the Google Form by Monday 22nd June 2026 to register your expression of interest: https://forms.gle/LRhuHPz27baD4pFJ6 Please note that the cost of participation is $9.30 per student. Payment instructions will follow in the coming weeks. If you have any questions, please contact Amy Devlin (Leading Teacher) at [email protected] or visit Australian Mathematics Trust website https://amt.edu.au/amc 
EARLY YEARS NEWS
100 Days of School
My knees are aching, my memory is fading, and don’t talk to me about the wrinkles… But what do you expect when you’ve been at school for 100 days! We are nearly 100 days of school old and to celebrate this wonderful milestone, we’ll be having a 100 days of school party on Wednesday 5th August. We love a dress up so we expect to see a sea of grey hair, bow ties and braces, pearls and rollers and perhaps even some knee high stockings. We’d love the Foundation kids to dress up too! The day will be filled with fun activities (but nothing too strenuous to throw out a hip…) including an afternoon snack of hot chips. We require a payment of $2 per student to cover the cost of the chips. Your child will have bought home a permission form requesting consent and payment. Please return the form to your classroom teacher as soon as possible. Save the date, put it in your calendar (I know the memory can start to fade at 100) and start working out your costume now. Please see your classroom teacher if you have any questions. Kate, Jasmyn and Sarah 
School Nursing Program Reminder
The Visiting Nurse Program is an important service that provides health assessments to Foundation students. This can include vision, hearing, oral, speech and fine/gross motor skill screens. We do not have very many online appointments made, so would remind families what a great service this is. We have hardcopy forms in the office for parents who are unable to complete the online one. If you have any questions, see your classroom teacher. Jasmyn, Kate and Sarah. 
Grade 1/2 Local Walk Excursion:
This Wednesday, our Grade 1 and 2 students enjoyed a local walking excursion around Oak Park to launch our Term 3 Inquiry topic, Mapping Our Place. As we explored the local neighbourhood, students visited Stevenson's Reserve, the Oak Park Sports and Aquatic Centre, the Moonee Ponds Creek and the Oak Park Footy Club before making our way back to school past local favourite Francis Winifred, where local barista Louie gave us a friendly greeting. Along the way, many students excitedly spotted their own homes or recognised the houses of relatives and friends. It was wonderful to hear students making connections and enthusiastically sharing stories about the local places they have visited with their families. By the time we returned to school, our students were certainly feeling tired after a big walk, but they had gained a deeper understanding of the important places that make up our local community and were eager to begin exploring how these places connect on a map. We are all excited to continue learning about the places that are important to us throughout this term.
SPECIALIST
Visual Arts
Shrek Jr The Musical F - 2 Colouring Competition Students in Foundation, Grade 1 and Grade 2 are invited to participate in a colouring competition based on the upcoming Shrek Junior school concert. This is not a compulsory activity. Students that wish to enter the competition are going to be bringing home an A3 sized colouring page (pictured above), to complete over the coming weeks. Students can collect a colouring sheet when attending their art classes, or they can pop by the art room at lunchtime, recess, before or after school to collect one if they were absent for their weekly art lesson. Artwork entries for the competition are due back to David (OPPS Art teacher) or the Art Room no later than Thursday the 23rd of July. Guidelines for students to keep in mind when colouring You may add colour using:
Competition PRIZE The 3 winners will receive a pencil case containing art supplies. Please forward any questions to David Flint (OPPS Art Teacher) via email. Good luck to all students that enter the competition! 
Shrek Jr. The Musical: School Concert Poster Competition (Grades 3-6)
Our school concert spectacular Shrek Jr The Musical is fast approaching. It’s time for students from Grades 3-6 to get their creative wizardry fired up, to create a poster that represents all things Shrek Jr. to be used to advertise the concert on the Clocktower Centre website and for posters. Students will be given the opportunity to begin their designs during an art lesson in Week 4 of Term 2. After this, students will take home what they started to continue finishing it off. Artwork entries for the competition are due back to David Flint (OPPS Art teacher) no later than Thursday the 23rd of July. Guidelines for students to keep in mind when creating their posters
Competition PRIZE The winner receives 2 free concert tickets, a poster sized copy of their artwork (laminated) and a pencil case of art supplies. Please forward any questions to David Flint (OPPS Art Teacher) via email. Good luck to all students that enter the competition. Secondary College Tours
Year 6-7 Secondary College Transition
Should you require further information regarding the Application process, please see Fran in the office (Monday – Wednesday) or email Fran on [email protected] Should your child be attending a Private, Catholic or Independent College in Year 7, this is to be noted on the Application and form to be retuned to Oak Park Primary. All forms are to be retuned Year 6-7 TIMELINE: 17th July: Appeals to Secondary Colleges to be submitted by this date 4th August: Secondary School notify parents/carers of Appeals outcome. A REMINDER: By 11th August: Families must have returned their Year 7 Placement Acceptance Slip to Oak Park Primary School Buckley Park STEAM Program
Buckley Park Secondary College 2027 STEAM Academy Expression of Interest process is open. If any students will be transitioning to Buckley Park College in 2027, once they have been enrolled for 2027, they will be eligible to apply for our STEAM Academy. For more information about the STEAM Academy and for the EOI Form, please head to: https://www.buckleyparkco.vic.edu.au/steam-academy/entry-requirements 
COMMUNITY NEWS
Vic Soccer
A reminder that Vic Soccer Saturday morning clinics begin this Saturday and involve 55 minutes or personalized tuition. 
YMCA Holiday Program
Link to book via: https://mooneevalleygymnastics.perfectgym.com.au/ClientPortal2/#/Classes/1/List?date=2026-06-29 Link for Information page : https://mooneevalley.ymca.org.au/gymnastics/holiday-program July School Holiday Program June 29, 30, July 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10 Ages: 5–15 years 👜 What to Bring: 🍱 Lunch 🥤 Drink bottle 🍎 Plenty of snacks 👕 Spare clothes Drop-Off: Doors open at 9:45 am. Pick-Up: Doors open at 2:45 pm Gymnastics Holiday Program
Victoria Police Community Survey
Participation in this survey provides our community an opportunity to have their say on their key safety concerns , how they would like to interact with police and where we can focus our efforts to prevent and deter crime. 
School Contacts
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