“It is a smile of a baby that makes life worth living.” Debasish Mridha

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

As you already know, our school is currently closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak last week.

Thank you to everyone who has responded and had their child/children tested. Please make sure the screenshot of your child’s result is uploaded to the Google form that was sent to you by Operoo. When school re-opens, students will not be allowed back to school unless a negative test is received.

We will continue to be advised by the Department of Education and Department of Health and update you when we have further information.

All children can access remote learning with their classroom teacher until we can get back onsite.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during another challenging time.

Have a good week.

Ron Cantlon
Principal

TERM DATES / QR CODE

SCHOOL COUNCIL

SCHOOL COUNCIL NEWS

Dear Parents /Caregivers,

I know that everyone has been feeling a range of emotions over the past few days as we have anxiously awaited test results and rearranged our plans for the week. Everyone has done a fantastic job at taking action and supporting each other through this uncertain time. 

So I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents, caregivers and staff who have taken their children and/or themselves to be tested. I know it was especially difficult for some people who on Sunday afternoon dropped everything (including trick or treating) to head to a testing station. Testing is critical to keeping everyone safe and we are grateful for the incredible effort that everyone made to get it done quickly.

If you have not already done so please upload your negative results to

Negative COVID-19 Test Student Form – https://forms.gle/4ZGAvAXhoQrXCDhRA

Secondly, a big thank you to Ron Cantlon, Nikki Virtuoso and the team of school staff for all their hard work over the last week, in particularly over the weekend and Melbourne Cup Public Holiday. It has been an enormous amount of work undertaken. You may not be aware but it is the school’s responsibility to undertake the identification of possible Primary Close Contacts (PCCs) in the event of a positive case in the school and then contact every family and keep trying until they speak to them in person to advise their child needs to go into quarantine for 14 days (or 7 if double vaccinated). This is in addition to their regular duties. I have no doubt that the school is doing its best to protect the safety and wellbeing of our community and to continue providing an education to our children.

I also appreciate that, for some parents and caregivers, it has been difficult waiting for information. So I would like to note that the school cannot provide any information or update unless it has been approved by Department of Education or Department of Health. These processes are beyond the school’s control and as you can appreciate, information needs to be accurate and clear and sometimes this takes time to gather and be approved. Accordingly, I kindly ask parents to be patient, follow the protocols as set out in the Operoo notices and to trust in the system (as hard as this can be!).

However, if you have any urgent questions please call Nikki Virtuoso on 0424 132 715 or send your non-urgent queries to nikki.virtuoso@education.vic.gov.au . Nikki has been fantastic in answering questions in a timely manner, so please do not hesitate to contact her.  

Finally, I know this is not the exit from lockdown we were all hoping for and that this is a challenging time for many of us. However, when the exhaustion and frustration begin to creep in I try to look on the bright side – I have access to everything I need to best protect my family (free vaccines, testing and healthcare), the warm weather this week has been wonderful and state borders are opening, so hopefully I’ll see my brother soon. I am also fortunate to being going through this with a supportive school community – who I know, like myself, are all doing the best that they can in their circumstances.  So I encourage everyone try to find the bright side as we move through this together.

Take care everyone, and for those of you whose children and families have tested positive, we wish you a full and speedy recovery. And if you have a child who is a primary close contact, we wish you speedy negative results and well wishes for the isolation period. 

Kind regards,

Maria Gaitan
School Council President

SCHOOL MATTERS

WELLBEING and COVID SAFE

We know that these have been unsettling times for families, and hope these resources from Headspace and Emerging Minds may be useful as we navigate our way through this community challenge.

These links are for great videos, that are easy to watch and understand.

https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/supporting-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

https://raisingchildren.net.au/guides/coronavirus-covid-19-guide-

COVIDSAFE PRACTICES

In conjunction with the department’s School Operations Guide and Safety Management Plan it’s important that any member of the school’s community must not come on onsite if they’re displaying cold and flu symptoms.

Please ensure you are not sending your child to school if they are exhibiting the following symptoms: coughing, sneezing, sore throat, temperature, fever, headache, aches and pains or tiredness.

We appreciate your understanding.

NOT RETURNING TO OSPS IN 2022

We understand that family situations change, and families move from our area.

We will soon be planning for our 2022 classes, so if your child will not be returning to Oakleigh South Primary School in 2022 please email enrolments@oakleighsouthps.vic.edu.au and their classroom teacher ASAP.

PRIMARY SCHOOL WEAR – OSPS CATALOGUE

It is going to be a very hectic time of year at PSW coming out of lockdown and servicing the whole community needs for school uniform.

PSW are encouraging families to book fitting times in January to avoid up to 3 hour wait times. Or order online if you know your sizing.

Please see link below to the OSPS catalogue.

Oakleigh South Primary School PSW Flyer

STUDENT SHOWCASE

PREP NEWS – 100 DAYS OF SCHOOL and
THE TEDDY BEAR SLEEPOVER

After working extremely well during remote learning, our Prep students were so excited to return to school this term after the extensive lockdown of Term 3. Students were thrilled to catch up with their friends and teachers, but the highlights have been our celebration days!

During Week 3 of Term 4, we celebrated 100 Days of School with each class having their own party atmosphere. Students made crowns and necklaces, danced to music, played games and received a special certificate.

During Week 4, the students were busy preparing for our Teddy Bear Sleep Over, by decorating a cardboard box to make beautiful beds for their bears to sleep in. On the Tuesday afternoon the Preps read stories to their teddies, danced with them and rocked them to sleep before saying goodnight.

The next day, we all wore our pyjamas to school and quietly crept into our classroom to see what our teddy bears had been up to… and oh, my goodness!
There was mess everywhere! The children squealed with delight upon seeing what mischief the bears had been up to! The bears had taken over the Prep classrooms with streamers, party food, games and movies. Some bears were building castles, others were eating pizza, and a few were even flying from the fans! Afterwards, the children helped to tidy the classrooms and we all enjoyed our class teddy bear picnic outside.

Have a look at some of the photos from our Prep celebration days. We’ve had so much fun!

YEAR 2 SHOWCASE 

The Year 2 students and teachers have been delighted to be reunited in the classroom! The return to on-site learning has seen students reconnect with their friends, as well as continue their learning through hands-on activities.

This term the Year 2s have been learning about simple machines and forces in our integrated studies topic, ‘Make It, Move It’. Recently we all particularly loved learning about and experimenting with the force of magnetism. Students worked individually or in pairs to discover items around the classroom that were magnetic or non-magnetic. They also used bar magnets to explore the concepts of ‘attract’ and ‘repel’ with the north and south poles. The excitement in classrooms was magnetic!

Please take a look at some of our enthusiastic scientists exploring the use of magnets.

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.