Our Lady of Good Counsel School

Dear Families

Catholic Performing Arts Festival Success

We are incredibly proud of the wonderful achievements of our students who recently represented OLGC in the 2025 Catholic Performing Arts Festival. This event provided a platform for our talented performers and artists to showcase their gifts across music, dance, and the visual arts.

Our students participated in a variety of categories including solo instrumentalists, our Instrumental Ensemble, Liturgical (Christian) Dance, as well as both group and individual Visual Arts submissions. Each performance and submission reflected dedication, creativity, and a genuine joy in sharing their talents.

We are delighted to share the following outstanding results:

· Outstanding Award (highest accolade): OLGC Instrumental Ensemble, Isabella Hemelaar (Year 4) – Piano Solo, Saaya Nishimoto (Year 4) - Strings Solo.

· Excellence Awards: OLGC Liturgical (Christian) Dance, Toby Hughes (Year 6) – Piano Solo, Chloe Mulholland (Year 4) - Strings Solo, Bailey Jagger (Year 4) - Strings Solo, Isabella Hemelaar (Year 4) - Woodwind Solo, Kotaro Nishimoto (Year 6) - Woodwind Solo

· Angelico Art Exhibition: OLGC was awarded the Year 4–6 Group Submission Award for our beautiful piece “60 Flowers”, created in celebration of our school’s 60th Anniversary this year.

These achievements are a testament not only to the talents of our students but also to their commitment and teamwork. We extend our warmest congratulations to all performers and artists who represented OLGC with such pride and passion.

A huge thank you must also go to our dedicated staff—Mrs Kirsten Bennett, Miss Peyton Murphy, Mrs Stacey Niner, and Mrs Elisa Rigoli—for their tireless support and guidance, as well as to all our instrumental tutors who nurture and encourage our students throughout the year.

What a fantastic celebration of the arts within our community!

NAPLAN 2025

We are also delighted to share the wonderful news of our recent NAPLAN results, which highlight fantastic growth across all domains. The OLGC school mean is now above the State, National, CEWA, and like-school averages in nearly all learning domains. This success is a testament to our schools strategic focus on data-informed teaching practices and high-quality instructional models such as the Sounds-Write and Talk4Writing programs, guided by the direction of our school’s Vision for Learning. By fostering open and trusting conversations among staff about student needs and addressing student growth at a whole-school level, we have been able to achieve these outstanding results. The below graphs are an example of just a few of the learning domains:

Please use THIS LINK or the QR code to nominate a parent who demonstrates the school values of Love, Respect, Excellence or Justice across the life of our school community. An award will be presented to one parent at the end of each term, from the nominations received.

Thank you for the nominations that have been received. Please take the time to submit a nomination of you know someone worthy of this recognition.

You are invited to attend an ONLINE Language of Friendship parent-child workshop for URSTRONG Schools on Wednesday 3 September at 6:00pm. Dana Kerford, Founder of URSTRONG, will be live from Canada to teach you and your children skills and language to foster healthy, feel-good friendships.

This workshop will take place online via Zoom. If this is a first for you, you might want to try a test by clicking here.

When it’s time: CLICK HERE TO JOIN
Meeting ID: 854 0554 2299
Password: URSTRONG

You are also invited to keep the conversation going at home with a FREE membership for URSTRONG Families. Take advantage of activities, videos, & articles to continue empowering your child with friendship skills.

After the workshop, we encourage you to: · Activate your FREE Parent Membership and explore all the resources available to your family.

· Encourage Green-Zone Friendships with this activity: Must-Haves, Deal-Breakers, & Ice-Cream!

· Try out this interactive tool: Friendship Fire or Mean-on-Purpose?

· Pop over to URSTRONG’s BLOG with news & advice and be sure to check out their PRESS page for interviews & podcasts!

We believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a culture of kindness at our school and we hope you will be part of this whole-school initiative!

The Religious Education program in schools aims to help students learn the teachings of the Gospel as proclaimed by the Catholic Church. Students develop a sense of the nature of Christianity and how Christians live their lives as part of their learning.

The Religious Education Assessment (REA), previously known as the Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment (BRLA), is a system-wide, standardised assessment for students enrolled in Catholic schools across Western Australia. The assessment is developed by the Religious Education Directorate at CEWA. Congratulations to our students in Years 3 and 5 who participated in the online assessment during Week 3 of this term.

The purpose of the REA is to measure student learning of the content in the Religious Education curriculum. The faith of students is not assessed. The REA provides a ‘point in time’ snapshot of student achievement in Religious Education across different levels. Students’ knowledge and understanding of the content in the Religious Education curriculum is assessed using a combination of multiple-choice and short and extended test items.

The test items are developed specific to each year level and are categories according to four content areas Jesus, Bible, Sacraments and Prayer and Church. The intended use of the REA is to support and complement school-based assessment programs in Religious Education.

This year, our students were invited to take part in the Premier’s Reading Challenge 2025, an initiative designed to foster a love of reading and strengthen literacy skills across all year levels. The challenge encouraged students from Kindergarten to Year 10 to read a set number of books suited to their age group. From picture books to novels and graphic novels to non-fiction, students explored a wide range of texts and logged their reading along the way.

It was wonderful to see so many students embracing the challenge, sharing their favourite stories, and celebrating their reading milestones. Congratulations to the following students who took part in the event.

Kindy - Jack & Isla

Pre Primary - Tilli, Sofia & Nic

Year 1 - Alice, Calvin, Fletcher, Georgia, Isla E, Joshua, Lucy, Zara & Will

Year 2 - Aleia, Chelsea, George, Hayden, Lotti, Lucas, Marco, Mia, Micah, Oliver, Stella, Ella & Francesca

Year 3 - Grace K, Grace S, Ivy A, Kara, Nora, Penny, Sophia & Iris

Year 4 - Isabella, Saaya, Chloe & Lachlan

Year 6 - Kotaro

Capturing the supportive, collaborative, and contemporary teaching and learning experiences which inspire every learner at OLGC.

Each newsletter update I endeavour to highlight the rich and diverse teaching and learning happening across Our Lady of Good Counsel School. This week, I had the pleasure of being invited into the Year 6 classroom to see some of the exciting learning currently taking place—and it was nothing short of inspiring.

Religious Education

Students are exploring the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, thoughtfully examining how He is revealed in the consecrated bread, through the priest, in the Word, and within the gathered community. Their reflections showed a deepening understanding of the sacredness of the Mass.

English

Creativity was on full display as students shared their Spine Poems, each inspired by animal imagery and rich in descriptive language. They are also engaging in literary comparison, analysing The Key to Rondo alongside traditional tales to uncover shared themes and storytelling structures.

Mathematics

The classroom was buzzing with energy as students worked on Angle Art, using animal images to construct geometric shapes with precise angle measurements. Their 3D robot creations were equally impressive—each one built with a variety of prisms and geometric solids, showcasing both mathematical understanding and imaginative design.

HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences)

Students have been diving into comparative research, exploring lifestyle, vegetation, and population demographics across Australia and a range of Asian countries. Using graphs and data analysis, they’ve demonstrated impressive research skills and a growing sense of global awareness. Adding a creative twist, some students have taken their learning a step further by producing their own ‘David Attenborough-style’ documentaries—bringing their findings to life through narration, visuals, and storytelling that reflect a deep understanding of the cultures and environments they’ve studied.

It was a joy to see the students so engaged, confident, and proud of their work. These learning experiences reflect the thoughtful planning and creativity of Miss Murphy, and the enthusiasm of our students as they continue to grow as learners.

Uniform update:

Samples are available to try for size at the school office.

All uniforms are now available on line through the schools website. Click on 'Uniforms' and it will take you to the Perm -a -Pleat website where all details will be shown.

All uniform orders need to be collected from the School Office and will not be delivered to the classrooms. The orders are delivered to the school every Tuesday. (Cut-off is Thursdays for a Tuesday delivery.)

Kids just grow so fast! Do you have outgrown uniforms that could benefit another family? Maybe you're hunting for a spare polo shirt or some extra buttons?

Here at OLGC we have a second-hand uniform sale or swap page on Facebook. This is a closed group for the OLGC families who wish to sell, swap, or provide free uniforms to our school community.

To join simply click here or search on Facebook for "OLGC Uniforms – Sale or Swap".

It is important that all sales and swaps are done without consuming the precious resources of the school. Please contact each other directly and don't ask the office to hold items awaiting pick up.

Please contact the group administrator with any questions - Terri-Ann Shilcock - jtashilcock@gmail.com.

We have opened up the Pie Drive for this term.

Direct link to order pies is here https://our-lady-of-good-counsel-school-248332.square.site/

Orders will close on the 29/8 and pickup will be 5/9 @ 2:45pm in the school hall.

Thank you.

Kind Regards,

P&F Committee

Parish Priest: Rev Fr Philip Akansighe

Assistant Priest: Rev Fr Nicholas Kerebba

Parish Office 19 Phillips Grove, Innaloo

Parish Office phone: 9446 1666

innaloo.karrinyup@perthcatholic.org.au

www.innalookarrinyup.perthcatholic.org.au

Parish Bulletins