“There is nothing impossible to they who will try.” — Alexander the Great

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

First day of December, first day of summer! With an extremely busy two weeks ahead it seems impossible to fit everything in, but it’s amazing how everyone works together to get things done.

Thank you to the families who acted swiftly to isolate their children and get them tested after a positive COVID case in the school community. Thank you to the staff who managed our COVDI-19 response. I am pleased to report there have been no more positive cases reported at the time of this newsletter being sent.

The year 6’s had a wonderful time on camp last week, thank you to the teachers, education support staff, leadership staff and volunteer who attended. 

At present we are finalising our staffing structure for 2022. The children will meet their new teacher and classmates on Thursday 16th December. Please note the pick up time is 3.30pm on Thursday 16th December.

On Friday our new 2022 prep children will be meeting their teacher and classmates. For many of them, this is the first time they have been at our school, due to the lockdowns this year. I’m sure they will have lots of fun as they start their schooling at O.S.P.S.

Next Tuesday the 7th December, the whole school will be involved in a transition morning where they will spend time in next year’s grade area. The teachers they have on these days are not necessarily their teacher for next year, but the present teachers in that year level.

The year 6 children will be at their 2022 secondary college for the whole day on Tuesday 7th December.

After much research and consultation, we are excited to announce that we will be moving to Compass for all our communication and parent payment needs. Please see the article in this newsletter which provides a link for you to access the parent information. Operoo and QKR will no longer be used in 2022.

Enjoy the lovely warm weather this week.

Ron
Principal

TERM DATES / QR CODE

SCHOOL MATTERS

SUGAR FREE-ZIES DAY

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting a Sugar Free-zies Icy Stix Day on Friday 3rd December to raise money for our school!

We will be selling The No Nasties Project Sugar FREE-zies Icy Stix for a Gold Coin Donation.

This year the No Nasties Project is donating over 1 million Icy Stix to raise $1 million.

Please see the letter from The No Nasties Project for more information.

Classroom teachers will collect money and orders leading up to the event.

Students will then be given their Free-zies Icy Stix at Lunch eating time for them to enjoy!

To view more information please click here –  Sugar Free-zies Day

MATILDA JUNIOR COSTUME SET – DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING SUITABLE TO DONATE?

OSPS was unfortunately not able to put on the full production of Matilda Jr, however we have sourced, made and constructed a large portion of the costume set that will be available for hire to other schools and community theatre groups. We thank all our parent and staff volunteers for all their contributions for Matilda.

The one scene that has yet to be sourced is the opening scene at a birthday party where the actors are all dressed in different fancy dress costumes.

We are looking for donations in size 10, 12, 14 of any kind of party costume. Some ideas include: superhero (of any kind), ballerina, super girl, spiderman, cowboy, army, batman, king, queen, clown, Minnie mouse, fireman, police, bumble bee, prince/princess, witch/wizard, cheer leader, knight, harry potter characters, animal costume etc . Or do you have anything else that may be suitable?

Donations can be sent to the office by the end of this term or contact nikki.virtuoso@education.vic.gov.au for further inquiries. Thank you in anticipation.

The Production Team

SEND YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL and PROCEDURE WHEN SICK STUDENTS ARE SENT HOME

After the recent case on Monday 29th November, for the health and wellbeing of all our students, staff and community please do NOT send your child to school unwell.

Parents will be called for an immediate pick up for any child displaying symptoms and a recommendation will be for your child to have a COVID test before returning to school. Please e-mail your classroom teacher the negative test results before returning to school.

Runny nose, cough, sore throat, ear ache, temperature, headache, tummy ache, lethargic are all reasons to keep your child at home. Even the slightest of these symptoms.

If your child needs Nurofen or Panadol – they are too sick to come to school.

Those students with asthma, hayfever or allergies must have current plans in place from your doctor. OSPS will work together with families to manage symptoms of these conditions in line with current health advice.

COMPASS – 2022

We are excited to let our parent community know that in 2022 we will be moving to Compass for all our communication and parent payment needs. Over the coming weeks we ask that you all take the time to read through the Parent Information provided at the link below.

In early 2022 you will receive an email welcoming you to Compass, this letter will also outline instructions on how the access your Compass account.

In preparation for this transition we will be sending home via Operoo a request for parents to update their contact details.  Please if any of your details have changed we ask that you complete this request and return it to school office (please send it back to school with your child).  We will place a box outside the office that your child can place this paperwork in.

We are very much looking forward to this transition and using Compass as our primary communication platform in 2022.

https://www.compass.education/guide

PRESENTATION OF THE 2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Dear Parents & Carers,

Due to the COVID-19 case last Monday, the ‘Presentation of the 2020 Annual Report’ scheduled for Tuesday, 30th November at 5.30pm via zoom has been postponed until next Tuesday, 7th December at 5.30pm.

An Operoo will be sent with the zoom link later this week to the school community.

Link to the 2020 Annual Report – https://oakleighsouthps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Oakleigh-South-Primary-School-Annual-Report-2020.pdf

Thank you,

Ron Cantlon
Principal

Qkr! CLOSED

Dear Parents

Qkr! has been closed, and any outstanding payments must be made via BPay.

Your family specific BPay code can be found on the bottom left hand corner of your family statement. Please contact the Office if you need to make a payment, or do not have your BPay details.

Thank you

GATES and CARPARK

Gates 2, 3 and 4 are rostered to be staffed at 8.45am and closed at 9.00am. Gate 1 is open throughout the day to allow for late arrivals and early pickups.

All late arrivals must come through Gate 1 after 9.00am.

All 4 gates are rostered to be staffed 3.30pm – 3.45pm, then locked at 3.45pm.

Parents are not to use the staff car park. Please use in the oval car park or on Riley street if you are dropping off or collecting your child throughout the day.

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.

CHICKENS FOR SALE – YEAR 3 FAMILIES

Dear Grade 3 Parents,

We have this year’s Isa Brown hens, (that were hatched in our classrooms), available to adopt. There is an adoption fee of $15 each. They will need to be picked up in the second last week of school, (week beginning 6th December). The hens will be sold on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis to Year 3 parents initially.

To have your adoption approved you will need to meet the criteria below:

• You must complete the Google Form below.
• You must have a suitable cage or be prepared to provide receipt for the purchase of a cage if approved.
• You must not have any dogs in the household.

Our chickens have been free ranging and fed on a diet of mixed grains. They lay beautiful eggs daily and are very tame, making them very good pets.

Each family who adopts one of our hens will receive a care sheet to help you understand how to care for your new pet. We will also provide you with some grain to get you started.

Google Form Link:  https://forms.gle/S6WghzpHtjrFdKcu6

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Mr. Mason-Parker, the Grade 1 teacher took the title of best dressed teacher award for this year. It was his first time participating in the event. Congratulations!

This week, Japanese team has also organized a bento treat from ‘Jyu Jyu’ for OSPS Staff. It has been a challenging year and thank you all for the hard work! The appreciation towards the staff does not end here but the daughter of the bento shop’s owner goes to OSPS and they gave us a discount! Thank you to the owner of ‘Jyu Jyu’ for the generous support and kind gesture.

As for the students this week, every single year level had a chance to do a fun Japanese activity such as Mt. Fuji origami craft/drawing, Sakura painting and Japanese traditional game. We also had a chance to do a Zoom meeting with a Japanese school on the day of Japanese Dress-up Day! The Japanese students were extremely impressed with our students’ costumes!

Thank you to all the staff and Japanese captains, (Aditi, Philo, Isabella D, Elvis) for the contributions they made to make this event possible. The Japanese team could not have done it without them. Thank you all to the parents and students who were involved in the Dress-up Day as well.

YEAR 1 SHOWCASE

What a term we’ve had in Grade 1! We have been busy bees since the day we returned to the classroom and are squeezing in as much fun as we can before we become big Grade 2’s. Last week, we planned and wrote a BIG WRITE! Our elusive topic was ‘The Magical Chalk’ where anything you drew would come to life! We took our imaginative skills outside and covered the pavements with our chalk creations. We drew icecreams, dinosaurs, houses, evil pencils/monsters and MORE! It was lots of fun drawing our ideas so big.

When we returned to the classroom we began our plans. We focused and ensured we planned our story to have a sizzling start, lots of adjectives and we even practised incorporating talking marks and other punctuation into our pieces. We put our VCOP knowledge to the test and did a Big Edit too! Our teachers were blown away at how much detail we included and how much our writing skills have improved. We’re excited to transfer our draft, edits and teacher feedback into a good copy that we can proudly display in our portfolios for our families to see!

This term, we have also been developing our scientific knowledge and we’ve been learning about gravity, forces, balance and more. We’re about to begin an exciting project where we can apply our knowledge to make PINBALL MACHINES! We’re in the planning stage now and can’t wait to get to work. We’re going to be putting our teamwork skills to the test, to create the greatest game of all time and we’re beyond excited to get them ready to rock and roll. Keep an eye out for our brilliant games, coming soon!!

Preps have been learning new coding ideas, as well as their location and position skills, through Bee Bot. Bee Bot is a robot that follows directional instructions, using the buttons found on its back.

The year 5s have been exploring the concepts of coordinates and the Cartesian Plane through Scratch and Minecraft Education. To complement their Geocaching unit in class, students have been using the Order of Operations to create coordinates in a virtual world. They then have to decode their equations to find the end location.

Year 6s have also been learning about the Cartesian Plane through not only Minecraft Education, but also 3D printing. Students have created key rings with their own initials using a program called BlocksCAD.

Year 1, 2, 3 and 4s have engaged in fun, hands on lessons with a science and mathematical focus this term as well.

Our year 1s have done activities such as constructing 3D shapes, coding and directional instructions and exploring the concept of matter.

Year 2s have also practised constructing 3D shapes, as well as probability through investigation and Symmetry with Ozobot.

The year 3s have investigated the effects of a paper helicopter, Dice experiments and graphing through observing animal classifications.

Year 4 also explored the paper helicopter, but also investigated the number of petals on a Capeweed. Students discussed the mean, median and mode of a set of the flowers as well as the basic structure of a flower and its anatomy.

We look forward to an exciting 2022 with even more STEM filled activities!

Mr Eykman & Ms Sakellaris

LIBRARY NEWS

OVERDUE BOOKS

We are fast approaching the end of the year and there are still a large number of books which are overdue. Lists are being sent home with children who have outstanding books which need to be returned. It would be greatly appreciated if parents could help their children find the books and bring them back to the library.

Please check all those sneaky little nooks and crannies where books like to hide – book shelves, under beds, in sport bags, grandparent’s homes even under the seats in cars – Thank you for your cooperation.

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.