To view our important dates, please click the button below.

WELCOME TO OLSOTS! 

We welcome Claire (Pre-Kindy), Kaylee (Pre-Kindy) Cooper (Year One) and Jaxon (Year Three) and their families to our school community! 

NATIONAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM – LITERACY AND NUMERACY (NAPLAN)

Our Year Three and Year Five students have been sitting NAPLAN assessments this week, and will continue to do so next week. This national assessment program provides important data which, alongside our school-based data, informs teaching and learning programs. I thank Mrs Lorna Russell for coordinating the NAPLAN assessments, as well as our NAPLAN administrators, Miss Ella Fish and Mrs Erin Tyrrell.

CONGRATULATIONS, FR GEORGE!

You may have heard over the holiday break that Pope Francis appointed Fr George Kolodziej SDS as the new Bishop of Bunbury. Fr George is well known within Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) and to our school. He is currently the superior of the Salvatorian Fathers in Australia and has been the Chaplain to CEWA for the last six years. Fr George has a strong connection with our school and parish, having attended our 30th anniversary celebrations in 2022 and, more recently, leading our staff Faith Formation Retreat. I have congratulated Fr George on behalf of our school community. Mrs Lorna Russell and I will be attending the Ordination of Bishop Elect George in Bunbury on Wednesday 19 March, along with Pippa Bennie (School Captain). 

FACTION ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 

We look forward to our Faction Athletics Carnival, taking place next Friday 21 March. Our Pre-Primary to Year Six students have been working on their athletics skills during Physical Education lessons and look forward to the big day! For further information about this event, please refer to the information from Miss Anna Swan, sent via Seesaw. 

INTERSCHOOL ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 

We finish the term hosting the Esperance Interschool Athletics Carnival, for students in Years 3 – 6. This year, there will be a couple of changes to the carnival, following a meeting of Esperance Physical Education teachers and principals. A summary of changes is noted below: 

• We welcome a representative group from the Mallee schools to our carnival this year. 

• The Meritorious award will be rested this year, with the introduction of the Mallee schools. 

• Points will be awarded to students finishing in positions 1-9, rather than just the top four finishers. This ensures more students have the opportunity to contribute to the overall score of their school. 

PERFORMANCE ASSEMBLY  

We look forward to our first assembly for 2025, taking place on Monday 17 March at 2:15pm. Our Year One class will be leading this assembly. As advised last year via the school newsletter, we have decided to change our assembly time to maximise prime learning time in the morning. This change ensures Friday morning literacy blocks are not interrupted and maximises the opportunities for our Education Assistants, some of which work in the mornings only, to better assist with student learning. 

SENIOR CAMP  

Our Year 5/6 students are excited to attend camp in Week Nine (31 March – 4 April). Our students will enjoy a range of activities in Albany. I look forward to joining our campers, Mrs Erin Tyrrell, Miss Bec Devitt and Mr Pat McCarthy for the week! Please keep an eye out on our Facebook and Instagram pages for daily updates. Parents are reminded of the meeting for parents on Monday 17 March at 3:15pm. 

ASH WEDNESDAY MASS

We celebrated Ash Wednesday to mark the commencement of Lent. This is a very special time when we reflect on ways we can become closer to Jesus. Thank you to the Year Five/Six students for leading this Mass.  

FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CHRIST DURING LENT 

Jesus teaches us about the importance of prayer. Jesus prays many times in the Gospels; he models prayer for us today. In the gospels, Jesus prays frequently, in the morning and at night. He prays during critical events in his life, and he prays before ministering to people in need. Lent calls us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. 

During Lent we are also encouraged to fast or give up something during this time. By fasting we make a sacrifice: the thing we choose to give up might be something we really like.  This can also remind us of Jesus’ sacrifice when he died on the cross for us. 

Pope Francis on Lent 2017 

1. Fast from Hurting Words and say Kind words. 
2. Fast from Sadness and be filled with Gratitude. 
3. Fast from Anger and be filled with Patience. 
4. Fast from Pessimism and be filled with Hope. 
5. Fast from Worries and Trust in God. 
6. Fast from Complaints and contemplate Simplicity. 
7. Fast from Pressures and be Prayerful. 
8. Fast from Bitterness and fill your heart with Joy. 
9. Fast from Selfishness and be Compassionate to others. 
10. Fast from Grudges and be Reconciled. 
11. Fast from Words and be Silent so you can listen. 

https://www.catholicgallery.org/article/pope-francis-lent-2017/ 

PROJECT COMPASSION BOX: SUPPORTING CARITAS

Our MJR Ministry handed out project compassion boxes to each class on Ash Wednesday. They have displayed posters around the school highlighting this important fundraising initiative during Lent.   

Project Compassion will be launched online on Tuesday, 4 March in schools and communities. Project Compassion is Caritas Australia’s annual Lenten Appeal which funds the continuing work of Caritas Australia in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and Australian Indigenous communities. This year, Project Compassion focuses on ‘Unite Against Poverty’. It throws a spotlight on global food issues and how Caritas Australia is empowering the world’s poorest people to establish sustainable food sources. Project Compassion is an opportunity to share what we have with those who have less. Please return the Project Compassion boxes at the end of term. Any donations go a long way to help the fight against poverty.    

More information: https://fundraise.projectcompassion.org.au/ 

NAPLAN TESTING: YEAR THREE & FIVE 

Students in Years 3 and 5 will be sitting the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy tests (NAPLAN). NAPLAN will be conducted from Wednesday 12 March to Monday 24 March 2025. Please put these dates in your calendar.  A flyer explaining NAPLAN testing has already been sent to relevant families. Please be sure to have a look at the information contained there. Further information about NAPLAN in WA can be accessed on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority website at https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/assessment/testing/naplan/parents 

CEWA EASTER COLOURING COMPETITION

We are delighted to announce the return of our Easter Colouring Competition! This is a fantastic opportunity for students to showcase their artistic talent and celebrate the joy of Easter.

How to Participate:

• Templates: Students can participate by colouring in one of the Easter templates on the competition website.
• Submission: Please submit entries to projects@cewa.edu.au
• Competition closes Wednesday 2 April

Prizes: The most creative entries will have the chance to win fabulous prizes. A winner and a runner-up will be selected from all primary levels.

For more details, please visit the competition website at www.cewa.edu.au/easter/

We look forward to seeing the wonderful creations of our talented students. Happy colouring and good luck to all participants!

CEWA Project Team

Please ensure all Book Club orders have been submitted before the 24th of March. Book Club Issue 2 

How Parents can order from Book Club online: 

1. Log in, or create a new account at LOOP
2. New parents can follow the Wizard to set up a child’s profile  
3. Click the Order tab, and select the child’s school and Issue of Book Club  
4. Select your child’s name  
5. Enter the product item number from the Book Club catalogue  
6. Apply promotional codes that children may have earned from previous issues  
7. Make a payment via credit card  
8. Feel great about the Scholastic Rewards that have been earned for the school 

We have had a fantastic start to the term in Year 4! Students have embraced our Classroom Economy, applying for jobs, managing earnings, budgeting for desk and chair rent, and making thoughtful decisions about saving or spending at the class shop. They’ve developed essential life skills, including time management, job sharing, and financial literacy, while reinforcing math concepts. Students also earn bonuses for demonstrating our school values of Courage, Optimism, Respect and Excellence. Fostering a class community links closely to our Religious Education unit on the Church community and our Health unit through feeling a sense of belonging.

In Year 2/3, we have been busy learning and exploring new concepts this term! In Technologies, we have been developing our computational thinking skills by creating and testing algorithms. After designing a set of instructions to make a Vegemite roll with Miss Fish, we applied our learning by writing our own algorithms. The students had a fantastic time problem-solving and refining their steps to ensure their instructions were clear and effective!

Hands up who loves chocolate? Luckily for all you fellow sweet-tooths, the Easter Raffle is back! The P & F are requesting Easter eggs, whether large, small, character eggs, allergen friendly or alternative Easter items to contribute to the prize pool. Please send your donations along to school with your children as soon as possible. Your family’s allocation of tickets will be sent home next week, with all tickets and funds to be returned by Monday 7 April.

Thank you for your support!

Tash McCarthy

P & F Chair

Dear Parents,

URSTRONG’s whole-school friendship strategy has improved the social climate in schools around the world, connecting over a million kids, parents, and teachers with a common language of friendship. We are proud to be a URSTRONG School and are committed to continuing to empower your children with friendship skills.

As with last year, you are invited to take advantage of a FREE Parent Membership to access hundreds of resources – including an 8 session video series. This will allow you to learn the same language & strategies being taught in the classroom through the Friendology 101 curriculum. We hope that, as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion, & kindness at home.

As a next step, I would recommend:

• Click here to view an overview of URSTRONG.
• Activate your FREE Parent Membership and explore all the resources available to your family (if you haven’t already).
• Explore the hundreds of resources available to you!

As a school and in collaboration with CEWA, we believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a culture of kindness at our school and we hope that, together with URSTRONG, we can support your children to have healthy, feel-good friendships.

SAVE THE DATE – Parent-Student online workshop with URSTRONG

Date: Thursday 22 May 2025

Time: 6:00-7:15pm (over Zoom)

We encourage all parents and carers to take advantage of this FREE workshop, facilitated by URSTRONG over Zoom. This workshop helps parents/carers to speak a common ‘language of friendship’ as their children, and reviews the core concepts taught in our Friendology curriculum with students.

This months URSTRONG theme is Courage. Whether kids are introducing themselves to someone new, letting a friend know they’re not ready for a sleepover yet or standing up for a friend, one things is for sure….Friendship is COURAGE! This month students will learn about the skill of courage, exploring how courage helps us to create healthy friendships.  This theme will also be introduced at our first assembly for the year, next Monday, by the Wellbeing Ministry. 

JUNIOR REGISTRATIONS NOW OPEN 

Sign up now for the 2025 hockey season! Follow the link below to our registration page, and follow the simple steps listed. We accept KidSport vouchers for eligible children 

https://www.revolutionise.com.au/esperancehockey/registration

“FREE Health Coaching for your family!