Principal Message

Dear Families,

ANZAC Day: Tomorrow we commemorate the soldiers and service people who fought for our freedom in Australia and New Zealand during the First World War. It is a day we can be extremely grateful for our lifestyle we all enjoy too as a result of these efforts. We pay our respects to those who gave their lives and to those who returned and lived with the impact of war for so long.

ANZAC March: Our School Leaders will be a major part of the Ocean Grove ANZAC Day commemoration by reading the Requiem at the cenotaph and placing a wreath on behalf of the school. They will also be a part of the March down the Parade and all our students are invited to participate. 9.30am at the Commonwealth Bank (Kristy Dodds will be there) in school uniform if you would like to be involved.

Leadership Conference: Next week the five school captains and I attend an annual conference in Geelong where our school captains engage with other primary school leadership team. They participate in activities and are challenged to step out of their comfort zone and learn more about themselves as leaders.

Year 5 Camp: Next week our Year 5’s head up to Bacchus Marsh and spend 2 nights/3days at the YMCA camp, Lady Northcote. The teachers have been planning, completing risk assessments, collecting forms, dietary requirements, and will no doubt be seeking as much medical info as possible to ensure we can have a successful camping experience. Please support any teachers organising a camp by returning forms and information ASAP as it is a massive task taking 80+ people away! Thanks in advance to all staff attending and the extra helpers too.

Wadawurrung Country: Last night we were led through some more powerful learning from Ashley Skinner from the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. He is a wealth of knowledge and explained more about the rich history of this area. No question has been unanswered and his willingness to teach us and learn is clearly evident. This learning will help us in instigating our school’s first Reconciliation Action Plan that Anita Mullick (School Councillor) is coordinating via the Inclusion Subcommittee. If you are keen to be involved, please reach out to us via the office and we will let you know meeting dates and times etc for the working party.

Annual Report to the community: Next Wednesday 1st May, our new School President, Ross Gibson and I will be in the staffroom from 9am to share the 2023 Annual Report. It is a great celebration of our achievements for that year. The report is also available on our school website here.

Admin team: The amazing Jen Warren will be away for the next 2 weeks or so as she recovers from ankle surgery. We all know how valuable Jen is to the smooth operations of OGPS and we wish her a speedy recovery and sincerely thank her for her work over many years. In the meantime Jade McTaggart will be in supporting Mel Roberts at the front of office. We know Jade is a quick learner and will fill in really well for Jen. And on Friday’s when Lara is not working, Sam Sheehan will pop into the front of office while Mel steers the ship from the Business Managers seat.

New Education Support employees: DET technically call them Education Support officers, but we like to call them Learning Mentors. Recently we advertised 3 vacancies and are so fortunate that when we advertise, we attract a strong field of candidates. Some schools at the moment are having zero applicants for jobs so I am very grateful that we can attract strong fields. Ryan, Andy and Lara formed a panel to employ the successful candidates which are Jade Hisco, Jade McTaggart and Kym Cameron. We congratulate them and welcome them into the fold at OGPS.

Attitudes to School Survey: Student in Years 4-6 participate in DE survey to gain insights into various aspects of school life for them. This survey has been implemented across school for my whole career at least and gives schools a greater understanding of cohorts and areas of strengths and improvements. A consent notification will be coming home today via Sentral for Year 4-6 students. More information is available via the Sentral permission form.

Have a great week everyone.

Scott McCumber 

Principal