OUR LADY OF HOPE NEWSLETTER - Term 2 Week 5 2024

A Word from the Principal

Dear Families

Today was a wonderful celebration of all that is great about Our Lady of Hope School. I extend my thanks to Sarah Alford (Leader of Wellbeing) for working with our PBIS Team and colleagues to define the OLOH Way in partnership with our students and families. The 4 values clearly define what we expect at our school and how we consistently and explicitly teach and reinforce these through our words and actions. Already, we have witnessed the positive and profound impact that a whole school approach can deliver when staff, learners and families are united in our endeavours. Well done children for applying The OLOH Way in your learning areas and recreational spaces - it certainly makes for a safe, happy and successful school.

In our ceremony this morning we also acknowledged our hard working and generous volunteers who give of their time to assist in a myriad of ways at OLOH. Our school is enriched because of your willingness to serve our community and I publicly thank you for undertaking these tasks. 

Last week we celebrated the life of St Eugene De Mazenod. Eugene is a French man from the late 1700's who experienced a deep calling and started a priestly ministry of men to devote their lives to helping the disadvantaged. They were inspired by Mary, the mother of Jesus, and are known as the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Our school was founded in 1994 on the charism of the Oblates from the Tea Tree Gully Catholic Parish, St David's. We thank God for Fr James who continues to minister with care and kindness to Our Lady of Hope School. May we know God more intimately because of the example set by St Eugene and our Oblate priests.

May God continue to be within us and amongst us.

Kind regards

Paul 

 Mrs Anne-Marie Platten

Dear Families and Community Members,

After having time to convalesce, I look forward to returning to Our Lady of Hope community next Monday. Whilst the surgeon is happy with how my ankle is repairing, I still need to build my confidence in accessing our school site. I  express my gratitude to Mrs Kerry Neville for quickly assuming the Deputy role again! I have valued her regular contact with me so that I have been able to maintain my connection with our school and hear about the many wonderful activities that have been occurring. It is pleasing to hear that our children have been reflecting The OLOH Way so brilliantly and celebrating this in their classrooms and across our school.

As I return to OLOH next week, I draw upon my resilience and seek your patience as I meander slowly around the school. Please feel welcome to stop and have a chat, you'll be able to chase me down!

God bless, 

Anne-Marie Platten 

Religious Dimension

Sacramental Journey

Congratulations to our children who celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation and First Holy Communion on Saturday 18th  May at St David's Catholic Church, Tea Tree Gully. Bishop Greg O'Kelly was very engaging with our candidates and made the celebration a wonderful reminder of the deep love that our God has for our children. Participating in the Sacrament of Confirmation is a significant statement by our children that they are committing themselves to a life long relationship with Jesus. Likewise, Fr James invited our families to support our children in their faith journey by receiving the body of Christ at our weekly parish celebrations. A massive thank you to our sacramental coordinators and our families for nurturing the faith of our children. May they continue to encounter the unconditional love of our God. 

Learning Dimension

SpellEx

Our Year 3/4 classes have commenced utilising a new spelling program - 'SpellEx'. This program originates from MultiLit who have provided us with our early years literacy program 'InitiaLit and the associated support programs 'MiniLit' and 'MacqLit'. I applaud our teachers for engaging in the professional development for this program. I have been impressed with the enthusiastic manner in which our learners have engaged with the program and admired their capacity to articulate and apply the numerous spelling rules which exist in our English language. 

Times Table Rockstars & Numbots

Families have been provided with the links to support their children's access to Times Table Rockstars and Numbots. This new resource aims to build the confidence of our learners with their number skills and knowledge and extending their automaticity of manipulating times tables. Initial feedback from staff and learners has been positive and we look forward to these skills being transferred into real life situations and numeracy activities across the curriculum. 

Maths Extension Program

Our Year 5/6 children have the opportunity to participate in a weekly Maths Extension program to broaden the application of numerical skills and problem solving capabilities across a range of challenging activities. This component of our co-currciular program is led by Mrs Michelle Graham and Mr Carlo Onorato. Carlo is an old scholar of Our Lady of Hope School and we are grateful that he has undertaken this role for the benefit of our learners with a strong interest in mathematics. It is critical that children understand how these concepts can be applied in a myriad of situations that stretch their intellect and that they realise how they can collaborate with their peers in seeking solutions.  

Children's University 

Our  Yr 3 - Yr 6 learners have the opportunity to be involved in an exciting program: ‘Children’s University’.  Children’s University (CU) aims to encourage high quality out of school activities for children aged between 7 and 14 years, engaging the wider community as learning partners in this process.  The most important principles of CU are that participation is voluntary and activities must take place outside the normal school day during lunch, after school, weekends and holidays.  All CU learning is designed to inspire children to think about their futures with a greater knowledge of the careers and professions that they could aspire to. This can include sport, music, dance, visits to Zoos/Galleries etc.

Led by the University of Adelaide, CU aims to nurture aspirations and develop a love of learning.  Children enrolled in CU are issued with a Passport to Learning which records their individual learning journey.  After a required number of hours of learning has been accrued, children then celebrate their learning at a formal graduation ceremony at Bonython Hall, North Terrace. Children are eligible to graduate each year they participate if they accrue the required hours.  We look forward to many of our children accessing this resource to extend their thinking and learning. 

Administrative Dimension

Open Board Meeting

It was awesome to have almost 20 families access our recent Open Board Meeting onsite or online. Our intention is always to keep our community informed of the what, how and why we undertake the range of faith, learning, administrative and community activities at our school. I am appreciative that Suzie, Brooke, Sarah, Lauren and Charmaine were able to share with our school families the direction that we are undertaking with some of their key responsibilities at OLOH. In Summary:

Suzie - Religious Dimension: 

• Undertaking the Enhancing Catholic School Identity project
• Connecting our children with their spiritual life
• Focus on the life of St Eugene De Mazenod
• Hope Grows Garden reinforcing the integration of the concepts linking social justice and caring for our environment though Laudate Si
• Reinforcing the value and purpose of prayer and liturgical celebrations 

Brooke - Learning Dimension: 

• Our commitment to catering for a range of learners
• The focus on building student agency through our partnership with Futures Focused Learning Network
• The five agreements that support our professional culture 
• Inquiry into how we maxmimise learning time 
• The value of working in partnership with our families to achieve learner growth

Sarah - Wellbeing: 

• Our partnership with Life Buoyancy Institute and  RYPPLE (Positive Behaviour Interventions & Support) to establish consistent expectations for Tier 1, 2 & 3 behaviours
• The OLOH Way and associated protocols to explicitly teach these values
• Social and emotional programs offered at OLOH to build the capacity of our learners to be resilient 
• Partnership with families in establishing Growth Action Plans to assist with modifying learner behaviour 

Lauren - Uniform:

• School Board surveyed our families and received a clear mandate to investigate alternative uniform options
• 4 companies have presented suggested items and styles
• A second survey is being created to seek further consultation with our community
• Timeline for any potential adjustment: confirm changes by the end of 2024, T 3 2025 Receptions wear upgraded uniform, T 1 2026 R - Yr 6  students access upgraded uniform (12 month transition phase) 

Charmaine - Master Plan:

• We have prepared an Educational Brief and appointed an architect, Swanbury Penglase, to represent OLOH in establishing our Master Plan
• Consultation with architect was undertaken with staff, families and students to identify learning spaces required and learning spaces not meeting current needs
• Architect assessed our site and consideration given to staging of capital works  and costings
• Further consultation will be undertaken when we focus on the features of specific learning areas

• Once we are able to gain approval from Infrastructure Planning & Development (IPAD) and then finance approval through CESA, we need to obtain approval through SA Commission for Catholic Schools
  

New Board Members:

We congratulate and welcome Stacey Collins, Ben Marsh and Lauren Parker to our OLOH School Board. We are grateful that they nominated and look forward to them serving our community and generously sharing their talents for the benefit of our school community.  

The jigsaw below provides us with a visual image of the destination that we are seeking at Our Lady of Hope School with four key strategic directions. It is clear from the information above that the core commitment from our School Board is to maintain a collaborative and consultative relationship with our OLOH school family. The proverb about a village raising a child is deeply embedded at our school. 

Finance News

School Fees Term 2

Dear families, please note that fee statement will be mailed at the end of Week 1.  Term 2 fees are due on Friday, 7^th June 2024. 

Please check your statements and ensure that your fees payments are on track.  By now families should have paid 25% of their fees.  Also please remember to update your periodic payments if you have had children commence or leave school in 2024.

Some statements may have notes attached if fees are not tracking well, please take note of these and update payments to ensure that your fees are paid in full by the Term 4 due date.

If you are experiencing difficulties please come in and see me for a confidential conversation about your circumstances, with a view to negotiating a mutually acceptable agreement.

School Card 2024

Please remember that school card must be applied for each year.  I notice that many families who were approved for school card in 2023 have not applied.  Applications should be made online:  https://online.forms.sa.edu.au/content/forms/af/public/application-for-school-card.html

If you need to contact me please feel free to ring or email me on Businessmgr@oloh.catholic.edu.au

Kind regards

Charmaine Gillard (Business Manager)

New Volunteer Induction Session

If you have any queries about your current volunteer status or would like to start the process of becoming a volunteer at OLOH please contact the Front Office staff on 8289 8344 or email mmcgrath@oloh.catholic.edu.au

Marion McGrath, Principal’s Assistant & Events Coordinator

Enrolments at OLOH

To all current families; if you have a young child due to start school in Term 3 2024 or 2025, please ensure that you have lodged an Enrolment Application (you would have received correspondence from the school if you have lodged paperwork).  Places are filling fast!  Enrolment applications can be obtained from the front office or via our school website:- OLOH Enrolments.  If you are not sure please email us at deeles@oloh.catholic.edu.au  and we will check our enrolment records.

School Absentee Notification

If your child or children are going to be away for any reason (i.e. illness, family/social, medical/dental appointment, car trouble, running late etc.) we ask that parents please contact the Front Office via the SZapp absences form or if this is not possible by phone on 8289 8344.  If your child arrives at school after 8.50 am, please sign them in at the Front Office.

Uniform Shop News

The Uniform Shop is open on Tuesday morning between 8:30-9:30 am and Thursday afternoon between 2:30-3:30 pm.  Any further changes to opening times will be notified via the newsletter and SZapp in due course. 

The Uniform Shop order form can be found on the OLOH website:  https://www.oloh.catholic.edu.au/uniform-price-list or alternatively hard copies of the form are available in the Uniform Shop as well as the Front Office. 

Admin Staff

Community Dimension

Social Justice Fundraiser

Our recent fundraiser, centred around the humble pumpkin, turned into a great success. Social Justice made and sold cups of pumpkin soup to the students to raise funds for a worthy cause. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the families who overwhelmingly donated the ingredients for this cause.

It has warmed our hearts and fueled our passion to continue making a positive impact.

OLOH Principal's Tour - Wednesday 5th June 2024 at 9.30 am

Maggie Moo Music

School Calendar

Families are able to access a ‘live’ calendar at the following locations:

• Szapp tiles
• OLOH Website ‘News & Events’ tab – School Calendar
• OLOH online newsletter

A paper copy is static and doesn’t allow us to make alterations should circumstances change. Whilst it is our intention to eliminate date changes, should they be necessary, we will communicate these to families via Szapp/Seesaw.

OLOH Playgroup

It was lovely to be back for our first session at Playgroup for the term.

The Home Corner was very popular. The children enjoyed playing with the doll's house, the dollies & strollers, 'doing the ironing' and cooking up a storm in the kitchen & on the barbecue.  They used their fine motor skills to peg the clothes on the line as well as whilst creating a masterpiece on the strip of contact.  They also enjoyed exploring their creative skills with the felt boards as well as building towers with the big blocks.

We celebrated Mother's Day at Playgroup in Week 2 and it was lovely to see some Grandmother's attend too!  The children enjoyed the many activities set up inside and as the sun was shining, they also enjoyed time outdoors.

Some indoor activities included enjoying a 'tea party' and pouring many cups of tea, reading,  cuddling all the soft toys, exploring the items displayed with the books, borrowing from the book swap box and just spending quality time together!  The craft areas were popular and many beautiful cards and bookmarks were made for Mother's Day. The children enjoyed time outside on the playground but they especially LOVED the pink Play-Doh and thoroughly enjoyed making 'cupcakes' with it under the trees outside in the sunshine.  

Music was the theme for Playgroup on Thursday. The children were excited to choose musical instruments to play and had so much fun dancing, singing and laughing together as Mr Bennett played his guitar.  The children also had fun making and decorating their very own musical instruments with a variety of items available.

They also enjoyed being outside in the sunshine creating amazing things with playdough, blowing bubbles and playing on the playground. 

It was a great day!

Next week we launch our WORDS GROW MINDS campaign with a focus on the importance of playing, reading, talking and singing with our children.

Bern and Grace,

Playgroup Facilitators

Noticeboard

The services and events contained in this bulletin are in no way connected or endorsed by the school and are included in this newsletter for your information only.  Parents and caregivers need to make their own enquiries and assessments about the suitability of these events and services for the needs and those of their children.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College

Blackfriars Priory School Enrolment Pathway

World Taekwondo