Dear Parents and Caregivers

Walk for Water

Congratulations to all the students who took part in the ‘Walk for Water’ event last week. It was a very successful event with $5133.50 raised for those less fortunate than us. Thank you to Mrs Barclay and Ms Knight for coordinating the event and to all the students who took part. An amazing effort.

The Fathering Project

Commencing next term, Mr De Pietro, Mr McIntyre and Mr Allsop will be coordinating The Fathering Project for our dads in the community. Information will be sent out to all fathers and father-figures, in our community, about the program and meetings to be scheduled. The Fathering Project, led by the staff members initially, will involve dads becoming more proactive in the lives of their children. More effective fathers, and father-figures, means a generation of children with happier and healthier futures. The Fathering Project aims to inspire and equip fathers and father-figures to positively engage with their children in their lives.

Did you know OLA has a registered Dads Group with The Fathering Project?  Sign up to https://thefatheringproject.org/in-schools/join-a-group/?keywords=6059&group_state=Western+Australia  and find lots of information on connecting with your children, using active listening, positive parenting and more. You’ll also receive weekly tips direct to your inbox and Fathering Channel invites for podcasts and expert webinars. Our Dads Group will also be hosting activities during the year for our Dads and father figures, with their children!

Assemblies

School assemblies will recommence in Week 2, Term 2 and weekly assemblies have been scheduled to catch up on the assemblies we have missed. The Premier has announced, recently, restrictions have been lifted and larger numbers can now gather. As soon as CEWA advise us this is the case, we will be operating, as normal, next term and parents will be permitted to attend assemblies. I will keep you posted.

July Vacation Care

Please refer to the attached for information regarding the July Vacation Care Program that is running at OLA OSHC this holiday break.

OLA OSHC July Vacation Care Program

Pupil Free Days

The first two days in Term 2 will be pupil free days. Originally, we had a pupil free day scheduled for Friday 29 May, however, I decided it was imperative to get back to normal school life, as quickly as possible, hence the pupil free day was postponed until Term 3, Tuesday 21 July. From the original OLA annual school calendar distributed to all families late 2019 and at the beginning of 2020, Monday 20 July was scheduled as a pupil free day. Students return to school on Wednesday 22 July.

Terms 3 & 4 OLA Calendar

We are currently in the process of updating the Terms 3 & 4 calendars and a copy will be distributed to all families in next week’s newsletter. The online interactive calendar will also be updated.

Resignation

Due to personal and family reasons, our Social Worker, Felicity Creagh, has resigned from her position at OLA. We have advertised the position and as soon as a new social worker has been appointed, the community will be advised. We thank Felicity for the semester of support she has offered our families, especially during this difficult time.

Semester One Reporting

As mentioned in our previous school newsletter, the following information gives a brief outline of our student reporting for Semester One, 2020.

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) have provided information to all schools which will guide our reporting process for Semester One at OLA. With the delivery of on-line learning as part of this semester’s teaching and learning program, changes have been made which reflect the impact that COVID-19 has had on assessing student progress.

SCSA have advised we must include a general learning progression to date against the Western Australian Year-Level achievement standards, however, we do not need to use our usual five-point scale (A-E Grade).  The advice, from SCSA and the Teaching and Learning Team at Catholic Education Western Australia, OLA will be providing student reports based on the following:

1. Use of a 3-point Scale to report on achievement in selected learning areas as:

• • Above Expected Level
  • At Expected Level
  • Below Expected Level

2. The scale replaces the ABCDE 5-point scale
3. Information on Student Attitude and Effort in each learning area
4. Information on Student Personal and Social Development
5. Learning area descriptors in the core learning areas;

• • These descriptors describe what has been taught and what students were expected to learn this semester. The descriptors include knowledge, understanding and skills.

6. A written General Comment only

As explained previously, these reports will look different from previous years. While you will continue to access these through SEQTA, please note the formatting has changed as this report has been modified due to COVID-19.

An SMS will be sent to parents when the reports go ‘live’ on SEQTA. At OLA, we will continue to strive to have consistency in reporting across our year levels and our teachers have worked hard to moderate and compare standards of work between classes, in order to be consistent in our reporting. It continues to be a focus for us every semester as we continue to develop this greater consistency in reporting.

Look for the celebrations and then talk about anything on the report where you think there can be an improvement. It is really important, from our point of view, that all reports should be seen as affirming, but also addressing the areas that need to be focused on in the future.

Keep Moving

At our Mozzarella Meeting with Mr Martin, the Year 6 students have requested parents keep moving when collecting their children on Chester Ave, especially if their children are not waiting near the gate. They mentioned there are some parents waiting in the queue for long periods of time when they could drive around to the end of the queue and allow other students to be collected. They want the queue to keep moving. I concur with the Year 6 students and also ask parents to keep moving and drive around to the end of the queue if your children are not ready and waiting.

2020 Sacraments

On Monday, families in Years 3, 4 and 6 should have received communication from their class teachers about the Sacramental programs. During these unprecedented times, it is difficult to plan for such events, however, we have scheduled the Eucharist events (communicated to parents) and are waiting for Archbishop Costelloe to lift restrictions and allow our Year 6 students to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in 2020 before they head off to their respective Secondary Colleges (I am anticipating this will occur very soon hence we have tentatively scheduled Confirmation celebrations in Term 3). Sacrament of Penance was originally planned for Term 4 and will remain in Term 4 as scheduled.

In reference to the Sacrament of Eucharist, a survey has been sent out to the Year 4 families. Can you please complete the survey, by Monday 29 June, so we can finalise our Term 3 scheduled events. As soon as the data is collated, a decision will be made, based on the feedback from families, and the decision will be disseminated to the Year 4 families.

Uniforms

As mentioned in my previous correspondence, students should not be wearing free dress items anymore. We realise the jumpers are not available at the moment, due to COVID-19, however, students are permitted to wear their new (or old) sports jacket in the interim. There are a number of students wearing items of clothing not permitted.

We have allowed, in the interim, a mixture of the old and new, however free dress is not permitted. I have also noticed students wearing sports shoes, when in full uniform when they should be wearing black school shoes. Thank you to those families who are supporting the school and wearing the correct school attire and I look forward to those students, wearing free dress, to commence wearing the correct OLA items of clothing and adhering to the OLA School Uniform Policy. Thank you.

Uniform Rescue

This week, Mr Peter Sigle, ex-parent and ex-Board member, donated the excess stock of the old OLA uniforms that were collected during 2019 to Uniform Rescue. This wonderful cause sees uniforms donated to students in Kenya. Attached is more information about this wonderful initiative. We sincerely thank Peter for coordinating our donation and storing all of the uniforms at his house until shipments were able to commence again.

Learn more about Uniform Rescue

As has been previously mentioned, we will organise a uniform drive at the end of 2020, or beginning of 2021, so that families can donate any unwanted old uniforms to the Uniform Rescue initiative.

We are extremely happy that our excess stock has been able to be put to good use. It is wonderful to see our RICE Values in action!

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD)

In August, we will be submitting our data for the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data. Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, schools have an obligation to ensure that students with disability are able to access and participate in school on the same basis as their peers.

To ensure this, students with disability may receive adjustments or support, depending on their functional needs, to access and participate in education.

Parents, guardians and carers have an important role in their child’s education. They work collaboratively with the school to ensure that the school understands their child’s needs and those appropriate adjustments are made to enable access to education.

The NCCD is an annual count of students who are being provided with adjustments to address disability. All Australian schools and approved authorities for schools participate in the NCCD each year. (NCCD 2020, As a parent, guardian or carer, what do I need to know?, https://www.nccd.edu.au/wider-support-materials/parent-guardian-or-carer-what-do-i-need-know)

Please refer to the attached fact sheet for more information.

As we enter the last weeks of Term 2, on behalf of all our staff, I wish to again thank you for your support and understanding during these times of change.

Thank you.

Greg Martin
Principal