From the Principal
Dear Families,
Thunderstorm Asthma Season: This is a great time of the year to ensure your child’s asthma plans are up to date and are as accurate as possible. The last few years have seen a significant increase the number of asthma event, linked to seasonal changes and thunderstorms. Please ensure all asthma (and any other medical plans) are up to date and give to Jen & Anna in the office.
Playground visitors: Quite often on a Monday we find some very interesting things in the playground! When this happens, Mrs H jumps on the CCTV footage to see if we can identify those who may make a mess in the grounds. We often see many of our community members but often there are more than just the ones we know. Please keep an eye on the ground and facilities for us over the weekend and ensure those others using our grounds are being respectful too. You can always call 000 if you feel they are not doing the right thing.
Head lice: Thanks to all the families for keeping an eye on this and luckily we have not had an outbreak for a while so let’s keep our shoulder length hair tied up please to prevent the chance of an outbreak occurring.
Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey: Last term all families had an opportunity to engage in a survey about various elements of school life. In years gone by OGPS has had around 30-40 families from over 400 families participate. This year we had 143 families engage in the survey with a good spread of representation from all year levels. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. Each domain had several sub questions and the aggregate calculated. Please see the results below.
G.A.T.E.WAYS: As part of our approach to learning and a high quality education, sometimes we reach out to various organisations to help us stretch our teaching and student learning. GATEWAYS is one of those organisations that we have turned to for further enrichment, led by Jo Earle and Kate Mitchell. This opportunity is in line with the High Abilities/Student Excellence programs. More information about GATEWAYS can be found at https://www.gateways.edu.au/gifted-and-talented
LivingWorks Training: A wonderful initiative about keeping young people safe has been rolled out in NSW and is now offered for anyone 15 years and over who reside in the Great South Coast areas of Victoria – that is us! There are training modules for teachers, parents and friends to engage in increasing their awareness and knowledge of suicide intervention skills. Check out the flyer in the newsletter for more details in Geelong during November.
Trivia Night: SOLD OUT! What an effort by our wonderful P&F team (thanks Georgia and crew) to organise a magnificent community event for our families. Thanks for supporting them by organising a table and purchasing tickets. Look forward to seeing some photos of the ‘musicians’ next week. Have a great night on Friday everyone who was lucky to grab a ticket.
Art Show: Each day I walk through the staffroom and the wonderful Kath Wade is busily preparing the students work for next Friday nights Art Show at The Hive. We also had Ellen Smith in helping this week and without these wonderful volunteers, the event just wouldn’t happen!
Cybersafety: As always, we strongly encourage families to be aware and involved in the life of your young person online. With various apps available for chatting and conversations, it is important that we are ensuring the topics of conversation are appropriate and respectful. If your child is involved in a chat group, perhaps have a parent chat group too, where if am issue arises, the village can support and help the young person behave respectfully. https://www.esafety.gov.au/ is a great resource for all of us to access for advice and strategies.
Reminder: Geelong Cup Public Holiday 19th October – Next Wednesday. Newsletter will be out next Thursday.
Have a great week everyone.
Scott McCumber
Principal
