Address: Willett Avenue, Oak Park VIC 3046
T:(03) 9306 9182 E: [email protected] |
Issue 19
June 24th 2021 |
Oak Park Primary School will work collaboratively to provide a stimulating, safe and challenging learning environment that promotes resilient, innovative thinkers.
Calendar of Events
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Principal's Column
Dear OPPS families, Student Led Conferences Wednesday 14th of July. Please put Wednesday the 14th July into your calendars, children will only attend school with their parents on this day for the conference or attend the Webex meeting if we are unable to mee tin person. Reports will be opened to you on Monday 12th July in the Compass Parent Portal. Last day of school Term 2 Tomorrow, Friday the 25th June is the last day of this term, just a reminder that school finishes at 2pm on this day. Assemblies This week we will be running a virtual assembly for the classes as we are unable to meet as a whole school. Parents unfortunately will need to wait until next term to attend assemblies, we will notify you when this can occur. $20,000 Grant The Victorian School’s Building Authority has provided the school with a $20,000 grant towards ongoing maintenance of the school. This is a much needed boost to the maintenance budget. Staff changes Tomorrow is Lacey-Rae in Yr 5/6 last day before the birth of her first child. Jordan Jayasinghe will be the classes teacher for the rest of the year. We welcome Jordan to the school as a teacher, he is past student of the school, so life has come full circle for him. Welcome Jordan. Principal position Over the holidays you will receive notification via Compass on who has been appointed as Acting Principal for Term 3. The substantive Principal position will be readvertised in Term 3 for a Term 4 start. Tomorrow will be my last day at the school and I wish you all the best for the future. I have really enjoyed my time at Oak Park as it a truly beautiful school. Thank you to all of the children, staff and families who made me feel a part of this wonderful community. Farewell for now and all the bets for the future growth of the school, Loren Peavey Acting Principal Parent Drop-off & Pick-up
We remind Parents/Carers of our Late Arrival/Early Departure policy: LATE ARRIVAL: If you are dropping your child off late, you MUST bring them into the office area and complete a late arrival sign in, which your child will then give to their teacher. Please do NOT drop your children off by themselves, particularly at the back of the school or drive through, as this is a safety issue. There have been a large number of students arriving late recently, who have just been dropped off at school and not being bought in via the Office. EARLY DEPARTURES: Parents/carers MUST come in via the Office and sign their child out if leaving school early. We will then organise for your child to come to the Office area to be picked up. Please do not make your way into the school grounds or to your childs classroom except via the office where you will need to sign them out first. ALL PARENTS/CARERS COMING INTO THE ADMINISTRTAION AREA MUST CHECK IN VIA THE QR CODE Casual Clothes Day
A reminder that tomorrow is a casual clothes day to raise money for the endangered Orange Bellied Parrot. The sustainability Captains Tahlia and Lucia will be collecting a GOLD COIN DONATION to put towards Melbourne Zoos initiative for endangered species Don’t forget your casual clothes and gold coin donation! SPECIALIST
Sustainability GREAT JOB EVERYONE! Families may not be aware that almost all our classes are involved in jobs that aim to improve the environment at our school each and every week. For the 1/2's, it’s watering the gardens. For 3/4's it’s looking after the chickens, composting, looking after worm farms, collecting litter in the schoolgrounds and placing out the bins. For 5/6’s it’s collecting food scraps to feed chickens, collecting the recycling, contacting recycling companies for our “special” recycling, taking statistics on rubbish free lunches and monitoring energy used in our classrooms. By and large, the students do a great job, help the school and community, learn some responsibility and contribute to a more environmentally friendly school experience. Well done and thank you to all our students who have been doing such a good job! John Hughes Physical Education During last week’s Specialist Wednesday, we were unfortunately forced to remain inside due to a wet and dreary winter’s day. I was very pleased to see how the students willed themselves to get some exercise in! Some highlights I would love to mention- the children who ran a beep test in their lounge rooms, the students who got their sweat on with their HIIT training as well as the kids who focused on their mental health by doing some yoga and meditation. I am very proud of your resilience and dedication to keeping fit and healthy- Keep it up! CROSS COUNTRY I apologize for the run around with the next stage of cross country, it has been chaotic to say the least. I now have some more information:
Visual Arts
Remote Learning: Queen’s Birthday Activities During the last week of remote learning, students participated in some Queen’s Birthday art activities. There were some fantastic pieces of work submitted by students on the Google Classroom and Seesaw platforms. The photos below are just a small sample of the amazing creative talents our students at OPPS possess! Thanks to all those students that participated in remote learning during the two week lockdown period. Chess News
The Term Two Tournament from the Wednesday lunchtime chess class has been completed, and the surprise winner was Cagan, who won the event with 6 out of 7 (5 wins, 1 draw and 1 half point bye). Cagan is a thoroughly deserving winner and is a player who has been in the class since it first began a number of years ago. Through the last few years Cagan has gradually improved his play bit by bit and has finally reached the top. He should be incredibly proud of this achievement, and I'm incredibly proud of him! Sharing second place on 5 points each were the favourites Ryan and Santiago - both of whom have previously won this event. The medal for the best new player went to Evelyn, who scored a creditable 2.5/7 and the prize for the most improved player was shared this term between Leo, Eleni and Alessandro - all of whom receive a medal. Overall, the collective improvement of this entire class has been amazing this term with the vast majority of the players a lot stronger now than they were 10 weeks ago. Many are unlucky not to have won the most improved prize despite the fact that they themselves have improved a lot too. I'm thoroughly looking forward to Term 3 when a new tournament begins again and every player starts fresh on zero points! Dr Grant Szuveges, FIDE Master, director GS Chess Final standings: 6.0 Cagan 5.0 Ryan , Santiago 4.5 Adem, Aayna, Kiran 4.0 Jaskirat, Lachlan, Louis 3.5 Georgia, Leo, Alessandro 3.0 Kyle, Vuong 2.5 Roman, Shanaya, Evelyn, Eleni 2.0 Ethan 1.5 Joshua Luke Indigenous Education News
On Friday 18th June, the whole school participated in The Great Indigenous Book Swap. Students were able to make a gold coin donation to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and pick a book of their choosing. In line with COVID restrictions, students came up a grade level at a time. The drive was a huge success as there was a wide variety of books appropriate for all year levels making students ponder over books that were right for them. We were able to raise a whopping $272.40 for the ILF. We would like to thank all the families that donated to the cause, and you would be happy to know that left over books were donated to the school and Books n Boots. This charity delivers donated books to First Nation communities across Australia. Check out their website https://www.booksnboots.org.au/ Thanks to the Indigenous Education Team for helping run the event and thank you to everyone who made this event possible. We can’t wait to do it again next year! In other First Nation news, NAIDOC Week (4th – 11th July) is coming up these holidays with events all over Melbourne. Some must go events are ‘The Briars Aboriginal Walk’ and ‘The Cultural Celebration and Morning Tea’ in Preston. For details and more events these holidays check out this website and make sure you set the location to Victoria: https://www.naidoc.org.au/get-involved/naidoc-week-events Special Groups Photo Day
On Wednesday 25th August, 5/6 Sports teams and Grade 6’s will be getting their sport and Graduation photos done. We ask the sports teams to ensure they have their sports uniform this day. Also the Grade 6 graduation photos will be done, so please wear the correct uniform for these photos. Lifeskills Colouring in I just wanted to share with you a colouring in book that I received from Lifeskills- they have put it together. It includes the values from the Healthy Skills For Life and Tools For Transition program. You might like to print out some pages for a rainy day or for your children to colour in over the school holidays. You may find the link on Compass news feed. Maria Giordano Grade 5/6 News
In Term 3, the 5/6 Inquiry topic will be Australian History: Colony to Nation. We would like to read a historical fiction text as a class novel to immerse the students in the subject. We feel it is important that this text includes an Indigenous perspective alongside a European perspective. We have selected the novel, Nanberry: Black Brother White by Jackie French. Please follow this link to read the synopsis and find out more information about the text: https://www.jackiefrench.com/nanberry-black-brother-white This text is recommended for children aged 11 years and above. There are some mature themes within this text however the teacher will be reading the novel in a whole class setting. This will enable questions raised to be immediately and effectively discussed. Teachers can also use discretion to censor the text as they see necessary. Please contact your child's teacher if you have any questions or concerns. Many thanks, 5/6 Teaching Team |
Book Fair
Thank you to everyone who supported the Book Fair this term. The response from the community was overwhelming, despite the interruption due to the snap lockdown. Orders have been finalised and I am happy to report that the school now has… $1848.50… to purchase books and resources for all students to enjoy. I would like to extend a very big thank you to Chloe (Library Captain), Helen Brown, Christine Tripp and the parents who attended their child/s session. Your help during the fair was invaluable. Book Club will return in Term 3. Overdue Library Books There are a number of overdue books that need to be returned to the Library as soon as possible. Students with overdue books are unable to borrow until they have been returned. Maths Club This week in Maths Club, our captains Ruby and Kyle gave students different options for the session. Some students chose to explore Sudoku puzzles, and others chose to play the game ’21.’ A big thank you to all students who participated, and to our maths captains for their brilliant preparation and dedication to running the club for Grade 3-6’s this term. Next term, Maths Club will be for students in Foundation to Grade 2. Lacey-Rae Giumelli Mathematics Specialist |
School Contacts
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