Principal Report & School News

From the Principal...

What a busy few weeks we have had at OPS, it is so great to finally be able to hold all of the activities again after so many cancelations over the last two years.  

Year 5 students enjoyed a fabulous few days at Camp Kookaburra where a great time was had by all, and now I join our very excited Year 6 students on their camp this week. It will be a cold, yet fun packed week ahead. Lets hope the rain holds off as much as possible. 

Traffic & Bike Safety

We kindly parents please reiterate at home, the importance of traffic and road safety when crossing roads and riding bikes around the community at all times. School crossings must be used by all students and parents to cross the roads when the flags are up before/after school, however it is a good habit to use these at any time as it is a lot easier for cars to spot pedestrians. 

Helmets must be worn when on bikes or scooters and if riding at dusk and night times, it is strongly recommended that light coloured clothing be worn and reflector lights are added to your bikes/scooters for better vison. Please teach your child to come to a complete stop at intersections and look both directions for cars and other vehicles before continuing, as well as at driveways. The school receives multiple phone calls and emails from concerned community members every week to report near misses and/or dangerous riding from students very clearly in OPS uniform. Remember, you are always representing the school even outside school hours. 

SAVE THE DATE - Working Bee - Sunday 19th June 9:30am to 12noon

We know how busy OPS community members are, and very much value any time people are happy and able to contribute. We will be focussing efforts on a few key activities over this 2.5 hour window so that people can come along to assist over that period and then get on with their day.

Given restrictions with Covid over the past two years, it has been some time since we were able to host regular working bee activities at the school grounds. These events provide a great opportunity to come along and mix with other members of the OPS community as well as to pitch in to help beautify our lovely school grounds.

More details will follow closer to the date. For now - please save the date and plan to come along for some of the morning. It will be great to see people together on site. We also welcome new families joining us in 2023 to come along and get to know their new school community. If you know your neighbours or kinder friends are starting at OPS next year, please extend our invitation to them.

Building Fund Donations - Tax Deductible

Voluntary donations to the building fund are a vital contribution to our school’s future building plan. Contributions are also used for the replacement of inadequate air conditioners, heaters or fans and the replacement of carpet, window furnishings or renovations on a needs basis. School council has established tax-deductible gift recipient status with the Australian Taxation Office for the Building Fund. 

As we near the end of the financial year, families wishing to make a donation are reminded to do so as soon as possible. Donations can be processed via the Course Confirmation/School Payments section on Compass.

Curriculum Days

Please lock these dates in to your calendars as they are both pupil-free. 

• Monday 31st October – Assessment and Reporting
• Tuesday 20th December – 2023 Planning & School Review Preparation

Kerri McLeod

Principal

School Tours for 2023 Enrolments

Do you have a child at kinder due to start school in 2023? Its time to enrol for Foundation now!! Please spread the word at your kindergartens.

 We provide regular tours to showcase our wonderful school – 2022 school tour dates are:

• Tuesday 21st June – 930am
• Wednesday 13th July – 230pm
• Thursday 21st July – 1130am
• Friday 29th July – 930am
• Monday 8th August – 230pm
• Tuesday 16th August – 1130am
• Thursday 25th august – 930am
• Friday 2nd September – 230pm
• Tuesday 6th September – 1130am
• Wednesday 14th September – 930am

To book a school tour, please contact the office on 03 9578 1327. Please notify the school if you need to cancel or reschedule your tour booking. Tours are subject to change depending on Government Health Advice at any time. Enrolment packs available on tour days. Alternatively they can be collected at anytime from the front office. 

Out of School Hours Care

Winter School Holiday Program 2022

The June/July School Holiday Program schedule is available below and on compass. 

Please read the booking requirements on the program schedule. 

• Bookings must be received with payment by, Wednesday 22nd June 2022

Remember to cancel your After School Care bookings.

Families are reminded that you are required to cancel your booking if your child is absent from school. If you cancel before 9am on the day, you will not be charged.

If your child has been sent home sick & you cancel before 3pm on the day. You will not be charged.

Families who fail to cancel or contact the program late on the day, care is required. Will be charged at the full After School Care fee rate. 

You can cancel and book any time by texting the program on 0439 111 026.

During session hours please call the program directly on 03 9578 5826

Please Note: Child Care Subsidy Allowable Absence does apply to cancellations for eligible families.

An Appreciation Note 

I would like to thank these children & parents for their generous donations and help.

Ivana P and her parents for their donation, of play kitchen furniture for our dramatic play area.

Mena B and her parents for their donation of dolls house furniture.

Nathan & Liam S and their parents Esther & Alex  who visited discounts shops for second hand Nintendo Games and more  recently purchased Bey Blades, battle tops for the service.

Thank you for your time, effort and generosity.

April Kopitz

Out of School Hours Coordinator

Library News

The Book club orders will close on Sunday 5th June for school delivery. 

This Month (May) we saw some amazing donations to the library from our school community.

Some of the great titles that were donated are:

• A double shot of happiness
• Tim and Tigon
• 20 Rainbow Magic books
• The Beast of Buckingham Palace
• Garfield Classic Treasury
•  The Fatman
• Cadel Evans                                                                             
• The strange case of Origami Yoda
• Strangers in the Land – First Europeans                     
• Speed solving the Rubiks Cube
• 5 feet apart                                                                           
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid – The Getaway

I would also like to remind families to return any overdue books in the coming weeks as there is a high volume that are yet to be returned. If you are unable to find the book at home please contact myself or the school office.

Compass notifications will start on Monday to ensure the return of the books.

Again thank you for the kind donations and support for our school library.

National Simultaneous Storytime

On Wednesday the Foundation, Year 1 and 2 students took part in National Simultaneous Story Time.  National Simultaneous Storytime is an Australia-wide group reading and literacy event, where schools, libraries and other institutions gather school-age children together to read the same chosen picture book at the same time.  

This year’s chosen book was ‘Family Tree’ by Josh Pyke; a story about family, celebrations and seasons. 

The students thoroughly enjoyed listening to the book, had follow up discussions and completed activities in their classrooms. 

Year 3 News

This term Year 3 have been exploring Night and Day as part of their Science Inquiry unit. They are learning about how the Earth’s rotation on its axis causes regular changes, including night and day. Both classes took the opportunity of some lovely (but fresh!) morning sun to trace their shadows. Later students observed that their shadows had changed length and direction and we discussed how this was a result of the Earth's rotation and movement around the sun.

Year 4 News

This week the Year 4 students were busy learning their spelling words using the Auslan alphabet.

Students are given multiple ways each week to practice and learn new spelling patterns and apply these in their writing. 

Year 5/6 News

Last week, the Moorabbin Police Department came into Ormond to give students in Years 5 & 6 an information session on Cyber Safety and the red flags to look for while being safe online.

Today 2 members of the Moorabbin Police Force came to OPS to speak to the Yr 5 & 6’s about cyber safety, how to handle it, and what to do IF it happens. They’re names were Carol and Murray. They started it off by telling us the youngest person they had ever arrested. It turns out a 12 year-old, who had graffitied a wall, had to spend a night at the police station. Then Murray told us that if you do graffiti, you can get prosecuted (which they explained to us that it meant basically being punished for criminal offence) and even go to jail! Then we looked at a slide presentation about cyber safety, how to stop it, and how to deal with it. We learnt about a girl who had met someone online, who was ‘the same age’ and after a bit of talking, planned to meet up the next day after school to walk home. But when she told her dad, it turned out it was an adult man, not who she thought. We got taught about KidsHelpLine, and that they are open 24/7 to help us deal with stuff like pressure, abuse and anger. We finished with some questions, and thanked Carol and Murray for teaching us about the dangers of social media. - Natalie F

On Friday the 3rd of June, 2 Moorabbin police officers came to our school to talk to the year 5s and 6s about cyber safety. They explained the dangers of the internet and social media. We discussed risks and cautions when talking to people we don’t know online. We went through a slideshow showing us things we could do to protect ourselves; if we ever came into a cyber bullying situation. A highlight was the questioning time where we all shared situations that we had online. Along with some alarming questions we had some funny ones as well.- Ruby M

On Friday, we were lucky enough to have 2 of the Moorabbin police officers come to speak to our students about cybersafety. They taught us how to use the internet safely. It is extremely important not to share any personal data to put you or anyone else in danger. We are very grateful to have these officers be able to come to our school. - Oscar H

PE/Sports News

Division Cross Country Carnival

What a great effort by our cross country runners who represented Moorabbin District in the Division Cross Country Carnival! 

The following were our representatives for the day.

• Emma H and Jazmine K  -  10yo Girls
• Sophie A  -  11yo Girls 
• Alex Y   -  11yo Boys
• Ruby M   -  12yo Girls 
• Noam C  -  12yo Boys

Emma H had a spectacular run coming in 6th! She will now go on to run in the Regional Championships. Good luck Emma!