Dear Parents and Caregivers

The Feast of the Assumption

The OLA Feast Day will be celebrated next Wednesday 12 August (included on the Parents’ Semester 2 Planner). Due to the COVID-19 situation, we have decided to keep it low key this year and have planned activities with buddy classes.  

To celebrate our feast day, all students are encouraged to wear blue items of clothing (free dress and Mother Mary’s colour). We will also be providing lunch for all students (sausage in a bun). If your child has any dietary requirements (i.e. gluten free), please advise your classroom teacher before Friday 7 August, at the latest. There will be no charges for the above and attached is the order form. 

Feast Day Parent Letter

OLA Cross Country

Congratulations to all the students, who took part in the OLA Cross Country last week, and to those who won individual medals for their age group. As I mentioned to all the students who took part, it’s not about who comes 1st or 25th, it was about all students completing the course. Thank you to Mr Allsop for coordinating his first very successful OLA Cross Country. 

School Disco

The new date for the school disco is Friday 4 September. This has been updated in the parent calendar. More information will be disseminated to all families in the future. The Year 5 parents are currently coordinating the event.

The Fathering Project

A page dedicated to the Fathering Project at OLA has been set up by Mr McIntyre, Mr De Pietro and Mr Morris. Please refer to that section of the newsletter for more information about the Launch Night at OLA and a Special Event with Karl O’Callaghan to be held in Mount Hawthorn on Friday 14 August.

OLA Educational Vision – Curriculum Development at OLA

In 2018, the OLA Leadership Team formulated a vision that consisted of providing an education that was consistent and empowering for all staff and students. This vision identified teaching and learning pedagogy to be implemented over a seven-year period, however, this has been fast-tracked with teaching and learning being a priority at OLA. The School’s Educational Vision is linked to the CEWA Ltd ‘Vision for Learning’, and the key points identified in the document, such as:

• develop and share a vision centred on the learning of all students;
• create and support continuous learning opportunities for all staff;
• promote team learning and collaboration among all staff;
• establish a culture of inquiry, innovation and exploration;
• embed systems for collecting and exchanging knowledge and learning;
• learn with and from the external environment and larger learning systems;
• model and grow learning leadership.

The following have been implemented at OLA since 2018:

Promoting Literacy Development (PLD)

The aim of the PLD program (previously only implemented in the early years) is to provide the students with multiple strategies, that complement the Spelling Mastery Program, to improve the speed and accuracy with which they spell. For some students, their word lists may seem easy, however, the purpose of the program is repetition and practise to improve automaticity and accuracy. Through this repetition and fast-paced approach of the spelling concepts, gaps that came up in the students’ testing should be closed, allowing them to progress through the stages within the program and improve their overall spelling.

Brightpath

Brightpath is a writing assessment program that provides teachers with the tools and teaching points to carry the students to the next level in their writing. Students are assessed according to the use of authorial choices and conventions applied to their piece of writing. The teaching of the conventions and authorial choices are mapped across the whole school in the English Curriculum Maps, taught in the PLD word study lessons and also covered in Spelling Mastery. With the results from Brightpath, the teachers will be able to provide each student with targeted writing goals that are specific to their individual needs.

Spelling Mastery

Spelling Mastery is a direct instruction spelling program that teaches spelling rules and sounds in a sequential manner, mapped across the whole school. Students from Years 1 to 6 participate in a 20-minute spelling lesson based on their spelling ability. OLA is in the second year of implementation and pleasing results have been achieved across the school.

Curriculum Maps

The Curriculum and Staff Pedagogy Team are assisting the staff of OLA to develop a consistent approach to teaching and learning. Planning documents have been developed and refined with feedback from the staff. English and Maths learning areas have also been mapped across the whole school for the whole teaching year. During Professional Development Days, the staff have devised the timeline of teaching for each of the learning areas. This ensures the students receive a full year of curriculum and concepts are not omitted. Curriculum Maps for other learning areas have also been devised. These act as a tracking tool for the outcomes within the learning areas.

Intensive Intervention

The Intensive Intervention program at OLA is designed to target specific students on a particular concept over a short period of time. The program is modelled on the Simon Breakspear ‘Teaching Sprints’ model where students receive ‘hits’ on a regular basis. Teaching Sprints are designed to operate for a short period of time (2-5 weeks). Class Teachers and Intensive Intervention Teachers work closely together to assist the targeted students to refine their understanding of concepts already covered, or currently being covered within the classroom. The groupings of students can change for each concept hence, a wide variety of students can benefit from the program. Intensive Intervention can target either English or Mathematics.

Outside School Hours Care Nominated Supervisor

We warmly welcome Kristen Ruffo to OLA as our new OSHC Nominated Supervisor. Kristen is an experienced supervisor currently working at Holy Name Learning Centre OSHC as a nominated supervisor. We look forward to having Kristen on board at our OLA OSHC.

Sad News

We pray for the repose soul of Fr Anton Hesse who was the parish priest at OLA in the early 2000’s. Fr Anton celebrated his 90th birthday last week and passed away suddenly the next day. May he rest in peace.

Thank you.

Greg Martin
Principal