Dear Families,

Hope you have all had a wonderful midyear break and are ready for a great term of school. Thanks for the smooth start to this term. Continue to work on family routines.

Welcome: Donna Heffernan has joined the Year 4 team for the second semester with Lauren Baker retiring at the end of last term. We sent Lauren off after camp and she is enjoying her grand babies in Canberra at the moment.

Specialist Program review: After being at OGPS for nearly 5 years now, it is time we review our current specialist program. We value family input and will consider the feedback we receive to make decisions as we move towards 2025. Please see the short survey to provide input into future planning.

Holly Confoy: Ex-OGPS student Holly, will represent Victoria on the Gold Coast for AFL in the next few weeks. We wish Holly all the best from her OGPS family! Keep an eye on her development as she may one day be playing in the AFLW!

Good luck Holly.

Facilities works: Loads of activity over the holidays from various tradespeople. A special thanks to Mr Kev who not only maintains our school but helps other trades gain access and locks up after them too. We appreciate the love and care Mr Kev has for the school!

Laurie: Some of you may have noticed Laurie is back on the crossing in Draper St… well, at least in the mornings. We have missed you Laurie and it was a great surprise to see you back with us this week. Stay warm and keep us safe!!!

NAPLAN: On Monday, the 2024 NAPLAN results were released to schools, and we now have individual student results ready for distribution too. As this is confidential data, we will send them home today (Wednesday) in a sealed envelope. More info is available at https://nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers to help in understanding the results.

NAPLAN proficiency scales have been introduced where student results are categorised into Exceeding, Strong, Developing and Needs additional Support. The below table shows the Percentage of Students who are Exceeding or Strong in each test.

(* Similar Schools: a group of Victorian Government Schools with similar characteristics - socio-economic status, non-English speaking students, enrolment size and geographic location.)

Overall, in each of the 5 areas tested across Years 3 & 5, our students NAPLAN proficiency indicates an outstanding achievement from students, families and staff. A great team effort. Congratulations.

Lions Club: Yesterday we had a visit from the Local Lions club who handed over a massive donation of $2300 for us to use in the new Yarning Circle/Outdoor Learning space near the library. The Lions Club have been quietly donating money to various projects over the last few years which have enabled new tables to be built via the Men’s Shed, and added to our playground. We are so grateful to the Lions members and Men’s Shed workers for assisting us and we look forward to welcoming them back to see the progress on the new space over the term.

Barwon Infant Study (BIS): About 12 years ago, Medical researcher Dr Peter Vuillerman from around Geelong began a longitudinal study of children born in and around Geelong, the Surf Coast and Bellarine. My family have been a part of this study and there are some OGPS families involved too. Later this term, the BIS bus will visit the school to follow up with those families who have been involved over time. More info will be shared closer to their arrival.

Collecting Students: if collecting your child/ren from school outside normal school hours. We ask if you are collecting your child/ren from school early if you could please arrange pickup at the following times:

11:00am start of recess

11:30am end of recess

1:30pm start of lunch

2:20pm end of lunch.

As you can appreciate it is difficult to find students in the playground at recess and lunchtime and this also avoids interruptions to classrooms. If however, it is an emergency we understand and will do our best locate students.

Reminders:

School Ground supervision starts at 8.45am
Class instruction time starts at 9am. Please be prompt!
School finishes at 3.20pm.
Please minimise messages to students via the office during the day
A guardian MUST sign out a student if collected early and if late, attend the office with your child for a late pass
Wet weather programs (or extreme weather) will be held indoors in classrooms.
No tackling!
Label school uniform. We have so much lost property.
Second hand uniform is available from the office. Please ensure school uniform. Save the local community sports tops for their time!

Collecting your child/ren from school outside normal school hours. We ask if you are collecting your child/ren from school early if you could please arrange pickup at the following times:

11:00am start of recess

11:30am end of recess

1:30pm start of lunch

2:20pm end of lunch.

As you can appreciate it is difficult to find students in the playground at recess and lunchtime and this also avoids interruptions to classrooms. If however, it is an emergency we understand and will do our best to locate students.

Have a great term everyone.

Scott McCumber

Principal

Parenting Programs

COGG Regional Parenting Support