Term 1 Week 3 2025 Newsletter

From the Principal

Welcome to a new school year – new and existing students, staff and families! Our school enrolments continue to grow and, consequently, so too have the number of classes and staff. This year we have transitioned to a 12 class school plus mid year enrolment class.

Always at the forefront of my mind are the students; we ensure that we are providing excellent education, in a caring, safe and loving environment. To achieve this, we have:

continued to employ excellent staff;
increased the leadership team;
a Wellbeing Leader on site 4 days a week;
built consistency throughout the school;

Support

We have many support structures to support student learning and development, however, we also need your support for the school to continue to be successful:

Ensure that your student is in the correct uniform and wears it well.
Support your child to ensure they arrive at school on time and regularly.
Ask questions if you are unsure about anything.
Celebrate your child’s learning and growth,
Let people know about the school and what you love about it (casual conversations, Facebook groups, etc).
Follow and use the structures, procedures, protocols, and routines that we have in place at the school, eg signing in, contacting the school if your child is absent.
Help out when and if you are able to.

Students experience the best success when school and family work in partnership. Thank you for trusting OLQP with the care of your child.

Building plans

To accommodate the increasing size of our school, we had to shuffle some of the rooms around. Looking forward, the school is likely to continue to grow. It is important that we are ready for this growth and that our school is designed for contemporary teaching and learning. There is a lot of research regarding how the learning environment impacts on learning. A simple example of this is how the reduction of overwhelming wall colourings can improve student concentration - we implemented the removal of coloured pinboards throughout the school and replaced them with a soft grey colour.

We have and continue to work closely with Catholic Education regarding the future plans of the school and its possible building needs. We are near completing our Master Plan. We have a strong focus on addressing the needs of students, maximising learning opportunities, minimising disruption, and not impacting on our outdoor and play spaces.

I look forward to sharing more information with you in the near future.

Year calendar

The year calendar is currently being finalised and will be distributed to families on Monday 17 Monday 2025.

Student free days

The 2025 student free days are confirmed and will also be included in the calender. With School Board approval, OSHC will be available on the student free days except for the Term 3 student free day. This is a day of staff formation and it is important that all staff are involved.

Please record these important student free day dates in your diary:

Term 1: Friday 7 March 2025
Term 2: Tuesday 10 June 2025
Term 3: Friday 29 August 2025 (Staff Retreat Day - No OSHC available)
Term 4: Friday 12 December 2025 (Last day of the school year)

I look forward to a great year ahead.

Lee Abela
Principal

From the Assistant Principal Religious Identity & Mission

Welcome back to 2025, I hope everyone had a wonderful break. We are looking forward to a wonderful year ahead.

Good Beginnings program

At the start of each year, all classes are involved in the Good Beginnings program. This is an important opportunity for students and teachers to develop supportive relationships and to create a culture for meaningful learning.

Classes use this time to establish clear expectations around learning, develop routines and procedures, and focus on social skills development. Educational research clearly indicates that student learning is enhanced when expectations are high and environments are safe, supportive, and engaging. This "Good Beginning" supports student success and a love of learning as they begin a new year.

As part of the Good Beginnings program, classes explored lessons on:

our Mercy values,
the Key Capabilities, and
our Positive Behaviour expectations.

PBIS at Our Lady Queen of Peace School

Our Lady Queen of Peace School is excited to participate in the Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports (PBIS) initiative, a system led program designed to enhance school culture and support student success.

As part of the Good Beginnings program, our classes have been exploring our school wide PBIS expectations:

Respectful,
Resilient, and
Responsible.

PBIS is a proactive process aimed at creating safer and more effective schools. It focuses on improving the school’s capacity to educate all students by implementing research based, school wide, and classroom behaviour support systems.

Rather than being a specific program, PBIS provides a framework that helps schools:

develop,
implement, and
evaluate effective strategies for supporting positive behavior.

The PBIS approach encourages schools to design systems tailored to their specific needs, creating consistency in behaviour expectations across all settings. This means all students, staff, and faculty work from a common vocabulary, common goals, and consistent strategies. It is not a curriculum, but a team based process that fosters collaboration and continuous evaluation. PBIS creates a safe and productive learning environment where teachers can teach and students can learn without distractions from negative behaviours.

Not only does PBIS support better behaviour, but it also helps build a stronger sense of community. Students and staff work together to create a positive school atmosphere where everyone feels supported.

As we continue this journey, we look forward to seeing our students embody the qualities of being Respectful, Resilient, and Responsible, living out our school motto to be “shining lamps, giving light to all around us” – Catherine McAuley.

Sacramental program

On Thursday evening, we held our Sacramental Program Information Night. If your child is in Year 3-6, has been baptised in a Catholic Church, and you are interested in hearing more about our 2025 program, please let me know.

Marissa Redden
Assistant Principal
Religious Identity & Mission

From the Assistant Principal Learning, Engagement & Teaching

Little Peacemakers transition program begins!

We are thrilled to officially welcome our newest group of Little Peacemakers as they embark on their journey at Our Lady Queen of Peace School.

This year, 20 children will take part in our carefully crafted transition program, designed to support them in feeling comfortable and confident as they prepare for school life.

Recognising the importance of a smooth transition, we have extended Little Peacemakers to run over two terms, allowing children even more time to build relationships, explore their new learning environment, and develop a sense of belonging within our school community. Through engaging activities, guided play, and structured learning experiences, children will gradually ease into the routines and expectations of school.

In preparation for their transition, I had the privilege of visiting these future Peacemakers at 14 different kindergartens and early learning centres across the western region. It was wonderful to meet each child in their familiar settings, fostering early connections and helping them feel at ease before they step into their new classrooms.

We look forward to seeing our Little Peacemakers grow in confidence over the coming weeks and cannot wait to officially welcome them as part of our school family!

Professional development: Playberry Laser

At Our Lady Queen of Peace School, we are committed to providing high quality literacy support for all students.

As part of this commitment, on Wednesday 22 January our staff participated in a professional development day with Christie-Lee Hansberry to learn about and implement the Playberry Laser program in our Years 3-6 classrooms.

The Playberry Laser program is a structured literacy program designed to support students in reading, spelling, and writing. Rooted in evidence based approaches, it incorporates multisensory techniques, explicit instruction, and targeted skill development to help students build confidence and fluency in literacy.

This professional development day allowed our educators to gain a deep understanding of the program. By integrating Playberry Laser into our classrooms, we aim to provide targeted, consistent, and effective literacy support, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to succeed.

We are excited to see the impact of this program on student learning and look forward to working together to create a strong foundation in literacy for all!

Adriana Pilla
Assistant Principal
Learning, Engagement and Teaching