LAST DAY OF SCHOOL DISMISSAL

FRIDAY 19th DECEMBER at 1:30pm

Dear families,

House Celebration Day: Tomorrow the streets will be packed with buses and excited students heading off in their Houses to celebrate the end of the year at various places. Please ensure your child is here on time (or even earlier – 8.50am), has food, drink bottle, mozzie repellent, any medication needed and of course, their SunSmart hats. It’s a great day to be with their “House” mates for the day.

Christmas Assembly: Hope to see you all in the park, seated and ready to go for the end of year assembly by 9.15am on Friday morning. We will celebrate the year with some SWAG (Students With Amazing GROWTH and Students With Amazing GRADES) awards, some SEL awards, thank various community groups that support us throughout the year, and our current school captains will present the 2026 School Captains and leaders. There will be a special performance from our Prep cohort too, so please show your appreciation of their learning when it concludes. We know the weather is starting to get a little warmer and we will monitor it closely. We expect the assembly to be over by 11am.

Surfing: The year 6’s have been back to the beach twice this week for some end of year fun and surf lessons. Yet another great opportunity to deepen friendships before they head off to secondary school very soon.

Year 6’s Transition: We have started the farewells to our Year 6’s as they begin their transition to secondary school. The school felt empty yesterday with the majority of them offsite, visiting their new schools. More were away today meeting new friends, teachers and experiencing the next steps in their education. We know they will do well.

Mosquitoes: Warm and wet weather in Victoria can result in greater numbers of mosquitoes and increased risk of illnesses from mosquito bites. Please consider applying appropriate insect repellent to your child before school. Roll on repellents are suitable for school however, these will need to be reapplied by your child and are not to be shared with other students.

School Council: We met for the final time in 2025 last night and celebrated the work of the school. We have achieved excellent academic results from NAPLAN and teacher judgements, have continued to deliver high quality curriculum. Sub committees have worked hard and have more work planned for 2026. Thanks to all School Councillors, led by the President, Ross Gibson. We appreciate your work leading the staff and parent reps to assist school leaders in delivering the best for OGPS students.

Parents & Friends: A huge thanks to Georgia Fiske (President) and the very active committee for your contributions, planning and work in 2025. The ability to connect our community, have so many great events and raise a few dollars is greatly appreciated. I encourage families to join in, add value in the future and meet your new mates while continuing to strengthen the school and community connections.

Colour Run: Another amazing event last Friday with music, colour, water, fun and smiles everywhere. Congratulations to all the participants and a special thanks to Nikita Stanley, Jono Marsay and Megan Lowery for planning and organising the event. The Year 6 helpers were sensational and while we still have some money to come in, it is expected to be well in excess of $10,000 which will be used to purchase and install new drink taps, near the main toilet block. Well done and thanks for collecting sponsors and contributing to the school. Flexi schools will close on Friday so pop those last contributions in!

Spelling Bee: Congratulations again to all the ‘Spellers’ who competed recently and a big thanks to Mrs McKeon who organised the opportunity. Special Mention to Johnny L in Year 6 who won his 4th Spelling Bee crown!

Early departures: Last Thursday we had over 40 students who left school early which caused significant disruption to those in classes. We ask that if you are collecting your child early that it be in the break times. If not, you will be given an early departure slip to collect your child from the classroom, so we decrease the number of announcements.

Step Up Day: Yesterday all students ‘stepped up’ to their 2026 year level, visited the 2026 learning environment and met the teachers who currently work in that area. They stayed in their current 2025 class for the session and will find out their 2026 teachers and classmates next week.

2026 Teaching Staff: Please see the information shared within the newsletter regarding Teachers to Grades for 2026. Students will be informed of their 2026 teacher and class location very soon. Please have positive conversations at home about 2026, and the opportunities new classes bring. It’s an exciting time of the year for some and a nervous time for others. The best thing is that we are at OGPS with great friends in classes nearby, great teachers in each classroom and a supporting community all around us.

Year Book: The 2025 Year Book has arrived. It is a fantastic book that has captured school life this year. Congrats to Lilly M whose front cover design was the winner with Rosie F’s artwork on the back cover. Thanks to the team of staff members (Mia, Liz, Renee, Bec B and Jess C) who have coordinated this work. Families are welcome to pay for a Year Book on Flexischools or swing into the office and pay for one.

Semester 2 Reports: The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority recently published its revised English and Mathematics curriculum. All Victorian government schools started using the English and Mathematics curriculum 2.0 this year.

In your child's reports prior to 2025 (if applicable), the teacher reported against the 3 strands of the achievement standard for Mathematics (Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability). In the new Mathematics curriculum 2.0 there are 5 stands for Levels F to 2 and 6 strands for Levels 3 to 6, and schools determine how these strands are implemented across the year. In your child’s report, their teacher will report against the Mathematics achievement standard as a whole, providing a single, aggregated score. As this report is the second report under the Mathematics 2.0 curriculum, it will now show achievement and progress against the single Mathematics Summative Assessment score. Your child’s teacher will also provide an assessment of the individual strands. Any strands that were not covered for their year level this semester will appear blank and all strands will only show semester achievement, not progress. The reporting for the English Curriculum 2.0 (Reading and Viewing, Writing, Speaking and Listening) remains the same.

Your child’s report will be published to Sentral on Wednesday next week (17th December).

Help needed: We are having our bulk classroom supplies delivered on Monday 15th December and need to assist in unpacking the truck of supplies into the gym. We’re looking for parent volunteers to help out. We won’t know the time the truck is coming until the morning, so if you think you’d be available on the day we’d give you a call once the truck arrives.

Please email into the school at ocean.grove.ps@education.vic.gov.au with your name, mobile no and availability time if you think you can help out.

With 7 days left, let’s celebrate the year well, make the extra effort to be kind and patient with each other as many people are very tired at this time of the year.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Scott McCumber

Principal

Parenting Programs