From the Principal 

Dear Families,

Emotions: To say that I have so many mixed emotions with the snap lockdown announcement last week then a return this week is an understatement. I am sure many of you have been through a range of emotions too and may still be working through them. I am! And I am very happy to be back and seeing the kids in class.

Thank you: Can I thank the entire community for keeping track and up to date with mine and Kristy’s communications via email. I hope by now you have trust and faith in Kristy and myself about how we communicate and at times have to be very decisive about actions.

Last week I sought significant levels of input into my decisions as the Premier made the announcements late in the afternoon. As I have stated before, I receive the same information as the general public via media. I too hear the rumblings from various media sources which makes things heightened until the announcement and confirmation. 

Irony: Since returning from leave and in anticipation of another lock down, I met with our Consultation Committee last Wednesday at recess and then with all Team leaders at 8am on Thursday morning to enhance our reaction time to future lockdown announcements. We all agreed to work within our team and be ready for the next lockdown – but no one saw this coming! My prediction was before the end of the term, not the end of that day!

The leaders went to class Thursday after this meeting with Kristy and I, ready to brief their teams and lead them through preparation and then at 4:30pm that day we were in Lockdown, again. Am I frustrated? Yes! Disappointed? Yes… We had a plan and the staff were on board.  The staff are or were ready to go this week and will aim to improve on what they have done each and every other lockdown. I hope we as a group of parents will have the same mindset as our teachers have!

Considerations: We are aware that no family is the same. We all have a range of things going on and will handle lock downs differently. Some will be excited about remote learning and some not so. Just a reminder that during lockdowns, staff also supervise Essential Workers’ children and those eligible for supervision, teach remotely without their usual classroom resources at hand and many will have their own families and children to assist too. 

Supervision onsite: Like before the processes to request supervision are in place. The Google Doc will be distributed and you must be eligible for supervision. We have a staff roster and when your child’s teacher is rostered on for supervision, they will be unavailable to their class. 

Learning: It is easy to start making comparisons about what other schools are doing and we also talk to other schools about what they are doing, how they manage it and how it is going. At the recent Principal Conference, Prof. John Hattie talked about how it has taken a pandemic to flip a 140 year old system and let the teachers take control of how to deliver the curriculum – not the bureaucrats. Our teachers are now running two systems – one that has been tried and tested and one that continually evolves. Many teachers enjoy this challenge and can find many benefits. Professor Hattie asked us to find the benefits in this pandemic to the students. OGPS staff have always strived to improve and I believe we will continue to improve, refine and enhance our practice.

And in other learning opportunities coming up…

• Science Week – Monday 16th August to Friday 20th August. Mr KT will no doubt be spruiking this.
• Spelling Bee – In the week starting 30th August, Mrs McKeon will be sorting the bees out!
• Mr Hughes is trying his best to squeeze as much sport in as possible. Keep your eyes out for his communications too.
• Dallas, with Libby, our creative arts visitor, continues to navigate the various restrictions to keep their plan in place.
• And we also welcome Amy Natale into our Art program to work with Amanda – I hear they may be even planning an Art Show – cross your fingers!

I am so impressed with how staff have continued to work towards the extra activities, excursions, camps, celebrations etc in spite of the obvious challenges.

Data: Professor Hattie also spoke about data and how system wide there has been minimal ‘learning loss’. This certainly made me inspired to dig into our mid year data and we have found the average OGPS student is slightly ahead in all areas. We have some students excelling and some who are working below expected levels and this is not uncommon across schools. Our teachers have done an amazing job during this pandemic and it is with your assistance during a pandemic that helps us progress student learning. 

Curriculum Day postponed: We had a professional learning day for staff scheduled and approved by School Council for 27th Aug… We are super conscious that we need as much time with the students while we can - and we also need to continue with staff professional learning.

In this instance we will postpone the scheduled Curriculum Day from 27th Aug, until the last day of the term – Friday 17th Sept. In these challenging times we still have competing priorities and while Andy McNeilly has planned an amazing day of learning for staff, we are putting the interest of students first and will reshuffle the day for staff. We will keep adjusting various aspects of school when needed due to COVID19 and we sincerely appreciate your understanding and support.

Attendance: This is a priority area from DET (Department of Education and Training). It is of paramount importance that our students have regular attendance at school. Just one day away per fortnight equates to nearly 1.5 years away from school over the 13 years of a child’s schooling journey. Please let us know if your child is going to be away.

I sincerely hope you all have a great week.

Scott McCumber

Principal