Dear Families,

Tomorrow: Wednesday 22nd October – Geelong Cup Public Holiday – No school

Cybersafety: Yesterday VicPol joined our Year 5 & 6 students for a presentation called “Think you know”. It is a timely education piece where VicPol enlighten students about facts and consequences of actions and how students can safely manage their online activities. It is also timely in that the Social Media ban for Under 16’s will take place from December 10th, and I strongly encourage families to become familiar with the law.

Media: The last week has seen several education topics promoted in the media like never before. From the 90 mins of screen time per day, no BYOD programs and schools supplying devices, through to bullying reforms and 48 hours to address the concerns. These announcements have all come via the media and schools are now waiting eagerly for the detail around these reforms and policies. I sincerely hope they are resourced appropriately and become tools that help schools navigate these issues. I look forward to seeing the resourcing match the policy.

Bikes & Helmets: Great to see so many students riding bikes to school. Please stay safe on the roads and paths. I also recommend locking your bike and helmet when you get to school to ensure safety and security.

Victorian Education Excellence Awards: This Friday night the school’s leadership team will represent the school and community at the VEEA where OGPS is in the top 3 finalists for Outstanding Provision for High-Ability Students. This is in recognition of the work all staff do, in conjunction with families to cater for and deliver a high-quality education program. We will let you know the outcome next week.

Swimming: Great to see the P-2 students hopping on and off the bus on their way to and from swimming lessons. The preps were super excited on Monday as they had specialist classes too. Please remember to unpack bags, dry towels etc and send some extra food to refuel them so you do not have to experience the ‘hangry’ students at the end of the day!

Athletics: Congratulations to the athletes who competed at the regional level today. Looking forward to hearing the results. Sorry they were not available at time of writing this.

School Council: We meet tonight in the staffroom from 6.30pm. Special guest, Steph King is joining us to update us all about Apple Fair plans. If you are keen to be involved, please reach out so we create another special OGPS event, early next year.

Uniforms: 2 new items are coming soon. A long sleeve shirt and a short-sleeved shirt (polo) will be available made from the same material as the House shirts. We know some students do not like the feel of the current material, so we explored some different materials with a sublimated logo, not embroided. They will hopefully be available before the end of the year through DCS uniform suppliers on our school website.

2026 Class Placement: As much as we would love to stay in the now, 2026 is approaching quite fast! We have started planning for next year and one of the elements is parent requests for student placement. We have a Class Placement Policy which outlines the process, also available on the school website. With many avenues to contact us these days, I do not want to miss a parent request for 2026. A dedicated Google Form “2026 Class Placement requests for Consideration” is now available until Thursday 23rd October.

This process will be conducted on an annual basis. Previous requests do not carry over for the life of the student at school. I also want families to understand the complexities of developing classes and trying to accommodate requests. A few quick things – Please do not request a teacher as our staffing profile is incomplete. Be kind in your request and aware that we often have conflicting requests to manage.

Enjoy the day off tomorrow and will see you on Thursday.

Scott McCumber

Principal

Parenting Programs