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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 2
February 6th 2020 |
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
These days things are a bit different to when we went to school, right? When I was in Grade 6, students had a range of monitor roles – largely dependent on their gender. Small groups of girls had turns at putting the kettle on and making the tea for the teachers in the staffroom. They also got to make the announcements over the PA to let teachers know to send their lunch baskets to the office. The boys got different jobs to do. We put out the bins. These horrible, smelly, galvanised tin bins. At the end of the week, we collected them and took them to the incinerator. We emptied the contents of each bin into the incinerator and the cleaner would light it and burn the rubbish. Horrible job. But there were good jobs too. One of the best was to be a milk monitor. Free milk to schools was an initiative in place for years in primary schools. Some politician somewhere, once said something like ‘putting milk into the mouths of babes is the most important thing we can do’. And so it was done. As a milk monitor, you got to deliver crates of milk to each classroom every day. And a perk of the job was that we got to drink lots of milk. I loved it, but I’ve heard stories of adults who learned to hate milk because of the experience of drinking milk at school. Sometimes, the crates of milk would be left out in the sun and would go off and curdle and you’d drink it and ……. yuck. There was another job that we got to do which, looking back, absolutely amazes me. In front of the school was a busy road which had a median strip down the middle. Three boys would be on rotation to do the traffic controlling of the cars along this road. About 15 minutes before school finished for the day, two boys would each carry these huge booms that would fit on posts placed on both sides of the road. A ‘Children Crossing’ flag would be attached to the end of each boom gate. One kid operated a boom gate on one side of the road, and another kid operated the other one, on the other side of the road. The third boy stood on the median strip in the centre – he held the whistle and had the best job. Children coming out of school would line up at the boom gate waiting to cross. The boy with the whistle would check the traffic and if all clear would blow the whistle and the other two kids would swing the boom gates open to allow the children to cross. Can you believe it? These three 11 year old boys were in charge of directing the traffic along a busy road outside a school! Have you seen what the traffic is like at that time? It all seemed to work ok but obviously, at some point someone decided that this was not an appropriate thing to do. Maybe someone got hurt and the practice was abandoned. I certainly don’t advocate that we go back to some of these old practices, and I would never allow my own children to do some of the things I did as a kid, but I occasionally wonder if we are sometimes too risk averse. Of course, as parents we want things to go well for our kids and for them to be safe. But it is also important that they experience challenges, learn how to deal with them and navigate their own way sometimes. School Fees, Extras and Contributions 2020
Thanks to all our parents who’ve paid their fees for 2020. Please click here for information and for payment prior to the 11th February, 2020. These fees support the school in providing resources for the students. The Oak Park Primary School Parent Payment Policy is located on our website if you wish to review. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or wish to setup a payment plan. Annette D'Elia Business Manager School Banking
Our students are able to start banking with the Bendigo Bank Strathmore. It’s a great opportunity for the students to start learning about saving money. Banking is collected on a Tuesday . Please pop into the Strathmore branch of the Bendigo Bank to collect a form. Chess Club
Please click here for a printable copy of the Chess Club form. 
Dance Club
Dance Club will run on Fridays in the Gym. A boys dance club will also be offered, further information to come Foundation News
Congratulations to all the Foundation students on a wonderful start to school (despite the heat) last Friday! Students participated in a range of engaging fine motor activities throughout the day, they had the opportunity to play and begin to develop new friendships and had lunch with their Grade 6 buddies. It was wonderful to see how excited our students in Foundation and Grade 6 were about spending time with their buddies respectively.
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Sustainability News
Welcome Aboard Many of you will already know Tet Corso, who will be working on Monday and Tuesday in Sustainability (all 1/2's, 3W, 4P). Please make sure you make Tet welcome. Over the year we will be planning together to make the Sustainability class a great experience for students. Change of focus This year we have formalised the Sustainability curriculum into a two year plan, which will mean that each year students will be involved in one term of the following: Sustainability, Science, Technology and Indigenous Culture. As you can imagine there is significant overlap in those areas and it should provide a wide-ranging experience for students. If you have any questions please contact Tet or I. Thank you A massive thank you to the families that took care of our pets for the holidays. A great job was done all round. Hooray to Sharky and Shardy, Curtis, Ola and Maya, and another Maya (and their families, of course!) for making the effort to give our pets good homes over the holidays. This is very much appreciated! Australia Day/Invasion Day The 5/6 classes have been investigating Australia Day and whether we should change the date. The conversations and the reasons students have put forward for their opinions have been many and varied, but always thoughtful and respectfully expressed. I have been particularly impressed by the empathy students have shown for the events of the past and how this might impact people today. Some have said the date should remain, others that the date should change but there has been a consensus that there must be respect and peace between Aboriginal and other Australians and that the events of the past should be recognised and acknowledged. It has been a fantastic opportunity for students to explore seeing things from a range of points of view and the students have pleasantly surprised with me their well-expressed views. What do you think about this? There are plenty of videos available on YouTube both supporting a change or the status quo. You may wish to watch some of these with your child and have the discussion at home. Taking it to the streets I was very pleased to find out recently that one of our students had taken the sustainability message to heart and wanted to involve her neighbourhood. Tanya from 5B was snapped putting these signs up around her neighbourhood (see pictures below). It looks like we have an eco-warrior on our hands! Good on you Tanya!
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Lunchtime Activities
The following activities are available for students each lunchtime. 
Book Club is Back
Lunch Orders
School Lunch Orders have started this week. Thursday is lunch order day, but please ensure your child brings the actual lunch order to school on Wednesdays. They are to place their order into their classroom tub Wednesday mornings. No late orders can be accepted and orders are not to be given directly to the café. Please click here for a printable copy of the lunch order menu. Thank you |
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Community News
School Contacts
PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL FOR OUR O.S.H.C. PROGRAM
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