“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows” – Sydney J. Harris

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Yesterday we had an amazing junior assembly where some of our younger students performed on stage. Congratulations to three children from the OSPS band, Serena on Cello, Elly on Flute and Emma on Violin who performed an instrumental piece called ‘Gavotte’. Their performance was excellent.

This was followed up late in the assembly with Marsha and Leia from 1 CG who sang the song ‘Roar.’ Both girls were exceptional and showed wonderful courage to go on stage and perform in front of a hall full of children, staff, and parents. Congratulations Marsha and Leia.

Tomorrow the years 4 – 6 students will take part in the House Athletics. This event will be held at school on the front oval and the basketball courts. Students have been selected to compete in track and field events, representing their house groups. Those students who are successful will go on to the next stage which is competing against other schools in the district. Good luck to all competing students for your events tomorrow and don’t forget to wear your house colours!!

Over the past week, our students have been very lucky to have a free incursion where they have learnt about resilience, actions and consequences whilst participating in a very active karate session. This has been facilitated by Challenge Martial Arts & Fitness, free of charge. Thank you to the presenters who have shown our students what karate is all about.

Have a great week.

Ron

SCHOOL MATTERS

PUPIL FREE DAY

We will be having a pupil free day on Monday 14th August.

The day will be centred around Health and Wellbeing with all staff being involved in updating their skills in CPR and training in Anaphylaxis procedures.

e will also be having professional learning in the curriculum area of Resilience, Right and Respectful Relationships (RRRR’s) which is a core component of the Victorian Curriculum and a session on The Resilience Project.

More details will follow regarding the out of school hours care program for that day.

BOOK WEEK AT OSPS

This term OSPS will be celebrating Book Week on the 25th of August. On Friday the 25th, we ask that students come dressed as their favourite character from a book. Students will be asked to bring a gold coin donation which will go towards purchasing new books for the school library.

Junior school students will have their parade at 9am in the hall and Senior school students will partake in their parade at 9:50. Parents are welcome to attend these parades.

Similar to last year, Book Week Dress Up day will be filled with fun-filled book related activities for the students to participate in throughout the day.

FLU SEASON

With the cooler weather upon us, we are starting to see an increase in numbers of children becoming unwell with sniffles, cough, and sore throat.

Influenza vaccination is an effective measure which can be taken to help prevent or reduce the severity of serious illness.

If your child is displaying symptoms of being unwell (fever – above 37.9, sore throat, cough,

Runny or stuffy nose, stomach-ache, nausea) please consider if they are well enough to come to school.

Please consider the health and wellbeing of other students and staff.

If your child develops any sign of illness whilst at school, we will request that you or an

adult nominated by you, collect your child from school as soon as possible.

It is also timely to remind your child about hygiene.  Cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing with a tissue.  Cough into your elbow, dispose of tissues into a bin, and wash hands regularly with soap and water, or use sanitizer.

Thank you for your continued support and co-operation.

Let’s work together to stay safe and healthy.

ENROLMENTS REMINDER

If you have a child starting in 2024, please complete and return Prep Enrolment forms with the supporting documents by Friday, 28th July, 2023.

This is in line with the new statewide Prep enrolment timeline, introduced this year by the Department of Education.

If you know of other new families thinking of applying, please encourage them to submit their forms as well.

For more information about enrolments, please visit our school website http://oakleighsouthps.vic.edu.au/enrolments/

CHANGES TO NAPLAN RESULTS

Ahead of NAPLAN results for students being released from Monday 17 July 2023, I’m writing to inform you of some changes to this year’s reporting. These are changes being introduced nationally by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

These are:

· exceeding
· strong
· developing
· needs additional support.

This change will give schools, parents and carers clearer information that details student achievement against new proficiency levels.

Students’ NAPLAN reports will continue to show how they are tracking against their peers and provide an indication of their skill levels against national averages and where we would expect them to be in order to get the most out of schooling. This provides valuable information to teachers about how we can continue to support your child.

Each set of NAPLAN results is an important milestone but it’s also important that students know that one result does not define them – these results are about making sure every student gets the support they need so they can continue to get the best from their learning.

When we provide you with your results, you will also receive information about what the new proficiency levels mean.

As ever, you’re welcome to speak to your child’s teacher with any questions about these changes.

VICTORIAN STATE SCHOOLS SPECTACULAR

OSPS Year 5 students for Mass Dance and Mass Choir have been rehearsing very hard over several months! We can’t wait for them to perform!

The 2023 Victorian State Schools Spectacular will be held on Saturday 9 September. The performance times are 1:00pm and 6:30pm at John Cain Arena, Melbourne Park (show time 2 hours 45 mins)

Tickets are on sale from 11am on Wednesday 7 June. Adult: $40, Concession: $30, Child (U15): $20 (a $6.30 service fee per transaction applies on all purchases)

Tickets are available through Ticketek: www.ticketek.com.au/spectacular or 132 849.

OSPS Mass Dance Seating Recommendations:
Quadrant Four (North East) Sections 7, 8, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 52, 53

OSPS Mass Choir Seating Recommendations:
Section 17, 18, 44, 45, 46, 66, 67, 68

• Firstly, go to Parent Portal here: (https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps)
• enter our school’s access code – SZN913
• enter your child’s details making sure you check spelling carefully as this will appear on your childs certificates.
• Select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment.

Stage 2:

• Open compass in browser.
• After payment, please go to your Compass Event notifications and accept the assessments you have paid for and decline all others.
• If your child is not participating in assessments this year please decline all options.

Please note if you do not complete stage 1 your child will not receive an entry into the ICAS assessments as this stage of the process is external to Oakleigh South Primary School

STUDENT SHOWCASE

YEAR 1 SHOWCASE

Monday 14th of July was a very exciting day for the year 1s.  We were off to Scienceworks! The sun was shining, students arrived early and the buses left on time. First up was Think Ahead.

Here the students learnt about how people lived a long time ago and how they might live in the future.  One of the favourite rooms was the Emotions Room.  The students loved being able to control how the room felt.  Some liked it happy and cheerful while others wanted to hear spooky, haunted sounds.

Sportworks was next! From wheel-chair races, stopping soccer goals, shooting basketball hoops and even scoring professional gymnasts competing on the beam, the year 1s fully emersed themselves in everything and anything available to try out.  The best part of Sportworks was racing against Cathy Freeman on her running track.  It was off to the Toys and Forces show next.  Students learnt all about push and pull forces while playing with giant beach balls, bouncing on space hoppers and stretching stretchy ropes.  Then they asked to fly into space….but why couldn’t they? Gravity was the answer.

Back on the bus to school, some year 1s were so exhausted they had to have a little nap.  A huge thank you goes out to Scienceworks for having us, and to the students for an exceptional day!

RESILIENCE PROJECT

YEAR 1 RESILIENCE PROJECT

Do you ever feel worried? So worried that you feel sick? Well, did you know that you can control your worries.

The year 1s have been learning how to find solutions to their worries or problems to make them seen less scary.  We found out that if someone is a bit worried about an upcoming spelling test, they can make sure they studied hard and do the best they can.

If someone is worried about making a mistake, know that we love mistakes as it helps us to learn, and you can always cross it out or use an eraser.  We have also been learning how to have an attitude of gratitude.

If we don’t get the colour of paper we want, or the flavour of ice cream we like, we can reset our attitude and be grateful for being able to have coloured paper or be thankful that we are getting a treat and can eat ice-cream.

YEAR 1 LITERACY CORNER

We have been busy writers down here in year 1.  Transactional texts (letter writing) was first up with the students meeting a very cute dog by the name of Arfy.

Arfy lives under a bridge and doesn’t have any friends or a family to live with.  Arfy decided to write a letter to help find a friend.

The year 1s took action and responded to him.  Some students were more than happy to have Arfy live them and their families, while other students unfortunately couldn’t.

However, they were more than willing to offer suggestions about where Arfy could go, such as the school or even the police station.

In Term 3, it was back to recount writing and the year 1s did an amazing job recounting their time at Scienceworks. Phoebe’s (1KS) favourite thing was the wheelchair racing, the toys and forces show and the hanging skeleton riding a bike. Haasvi (1KS) thought Scienceworks was AMAZING! She was so excited, she saw lots of different apples and different types of playing balls.

VALUED STUDENT AWARDS

YEAR 2 VALUED STUDENT AWARDS

PARENT GROUP

BOGAN BINGO

Parent Group is pleased to announced their parent event for 2023 is BOGAN BINGO! The event is on Saturday, 9 September with doors opening at 7pm for an 8pm start.

At the conclusion of bingo there will be a disco so wear some comfy shoes, moccos accepted!

Attendees are encouraged to dress in their best bogan outfits however this is not mandatory.

There will be fun, games and prizes on the night.

BYO food and drinks on the night.

Early bird tickets are available until 25 August for $25, after this date they will be $30. Ticket sales close at 4pm on Friday, 8 September. There will be no tickets purchases available on the night.

Tickets can be purchased through the following link: https://www.trybooking.com/CJYXN

OSPS BEANIES AND SCARVES

We would like to advise that the OSPS branded scarves and beanies can now be purchased online as well as in the 2nd hand uniform shop.

Please click on the link below if you’d like to order. Once ordered, your items will be delivered to your child’s classroom. The scarves are $20, and beanies are $18. Please contact Parent Group on osparentgroup67@gmail.com if you have any questions.

https://www.trybooking.com/CJHHG

SHARE THE DIGNITY

For the month of August, Parent Group will be accepting donations as part of the Dignity Drive run twice yearly by Share the Dignity.

Share the Dignity is a women’s charity in Australia, that works to make a real difference in the lives of those experiencing homelessness, fleeing domestic violence, or doing it tough. They distribute period products to women, girls, and anyone who menstruates who needs support. When someone is doing it tough, the last thing on their mind should be dealing with their period.

If you would like to donate to those in need, all products in original packaging, including pads, tampons, reusable pads, period undies, menstrual cups and incontinence products will be accepted and appreciated. All donations can be placed at the office in the donation bin.

Thank you for your support and for supporting those in need.

COMMUNITY NEWS

Disclaimer – The organisations advertised in this newsletter are not affiliated with and have no relationship to Oakleigh South Primary School. The publishing of these advertisements does not imply endorsement or recommendation of these products or services by the school. They are provided as a community service.