Principal Report & School News
From the Principal...
Staff Professional learning Update
The Professional Learning Communities team have persevered through lockdown 6.0 and the group has attended the scheduled workshop modules. The team are currently working on a PLC initiative which focuses on reading fluency. Staff members have gathered baseline data from the students attending onsite. This involves team members coming into school and hearing students read from a range of grade levels. This data will then be discussed and strategies for improvement will be set in place. This PLC trial and the outcomes will be shared with other participants and facilitators via a group presentation on Monday October 18th.
Building Works Update
The Art Room works are almost complete with new sinks and troughs being the latest addition. The architect will come in for a final inspection as soon as it is possible. I am sure the students will enjoy being creative again in this refurbished environment. I also want to acknowledge the work of the grounds team with their planting around the school. Our onsite students have enjoyed the plants in the area outside the STEAM room and we have had many comments from members of the community about the additional planting up the Ruby Street fence line. Thank you to the Hosken family and Rachel Marsden for all your efforts.
Covid-19 Update
As part of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, from Monday 13 September, all Victorians aged 12 and older are eligible to book and receive a COVID-19 vaccine at a state vaccination centre, a Commonwealth vaccination centre, or through a GP clinic, pharmacy or community health service. Vaccination bookings for students should be made by following the instructions under the heading ‘How to book an appointment’ below. Vaccination is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged. Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect our school community from further outbreaks and the spread of COVID-19. The Victorian Government’s aim is to provide an opportunity for all children aged 12 years and older to receive at least one vaccine dose by the end of the school year.
Face mask supplies to schools
The Department is providing an additional allocation of single use disposable masks to all schools for Term 4. Schools should expect to receive a delivery of between 500 and 3,000 masks over the coming weeks, depending on school size. This supply is in addition to the supplies that should be maintained by schools. Schools must also consistently review their personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies and ensure adequate supplies remain available in the event of a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.
Staffing
I want to acknowledge the hard work of Rae Galvin who took over in Foundation A this term. She has adjusted to the demands and changes associated with remote learning extremely well. The Foundation families have praised her hard work and dedication. In such challenging times, you need to ensure any disruptions to staffing are addressed swiftly and with the best possible outcomes.
Rae Galvin is one of the most flexible and professional teachers I have ever encountered. She can be teaching Year 5 or 6 one week and then transition into Foundation the next. All the staff at OPS value her hard work, collaborative planning skills and care. Amy Jones will return in Term 4, but the school has guaranteed that Rae will be on hand during the first week to work alongside her. This includes a comprehensive handover, including opportunities to discuss assessment and reporting data. We also need to thank Ursula Traynor who is working in 3B. Kim Stewart has also been on leave and Ursula stepped into the Year 3 team, again during a lockdown. Ursula has rapidly upskilled herself and she has successfully carried on with remote learning. She was well supported by her Year 3 team members!
School Planning
We continue to work in conjunction with a departmental representative on our long-term staffing plan. This includes unpacking potential enrolment figures for the next three years; salary increases and the possible number of grades. Creating a long-term plan helps with budgeting and carefully monitoring whole school finances. Susan Smith from the Department will check in with us again early in Term 4 to revisit the SRP. Staffing plans are discussed at consultative and leadership meetings to ensure there is transparency. The school has acquired additional Foundation enrolments for 2022 and our transition program has commenced with small group WEBEX meetings. At this stage, there will be 2 smaller classes of Preps next year.
Enrol Now for 2022
We are still open for 2022 enrolments and forms are available from Brodie in the front office. If you have a child turning 5 by April 30, 2022, please complete an enrolment form return it to the office with the supporting documentation as soon as possible. It helps us enormously with planning, if we have a clear indication of enrolments as early as possible. Please also reach out to your neighbours, and fellow families at the kindergartens and childcares to remind them to enrol if they have not yet done so.
Special Events & Activities
The school has been offering a range of additional activities during remote learning to keep our children engaged and well connected. These include specialist tasks with opportunities to receive feedback, author chats and whole class wellbeing activities. Some year levels have also been conducting cooking classes or hands-on Science tasks.
This is also the main intention behind our ‘Wellbeing Wednesday/ Footy Day’ that occurred this week. All students participated in a range of tasks that promoted happy and healthy lifestyles. Emma Milliken provided all grades with teaching resources relating to AFL sport and there were numerous wellbeing tasks to complete. The staff were collaboratively planning for Term 4, keeping in mind both remote learning and onsite possibilities.
Congratulations & Early Dismissal
The school term will end today on Friday September 17th with a 2.30pm finish.
I would like to thank the entire school community for their efforts and support during another challenging term. I also want to acknowledge the staff who have been working behind the scenes to plan and cater for all students in their care. My gratitude extends to ES staff, before and after care staff and our crossing ladies.
I also want to acknowledge and congratulate 40 years of service from our current AP – Lorrie Dell. Lorrie has played a huge part in onsite supervision, both with timetabling and cover. She always has the students at the forefront of everything she does. I hope she can take a moment to rest and relax over the break! I appreciate her support and the admin staff who understand my own family COVID lockdown ups and downs.
To all of you - please try to take some time out to relax with your families over the break. Hopefully, we will see all of you or some classes back onsite in Term 4. I have my fingers crossed! We will to communicate with the community as soon as we know anything further!
Kerri McLeod
Principal
FREE School Holiday Online Fun Available
Glen Eira Council are running FREE online sports clinics throughout the holidays.
Live and interactive online events everyday, including
- Come and Try Sports
Multiple dates and times (see attached)
Live streaming - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89046583338
Meeting ID: 890 4658 3338
- Children’s music concert -The Tiptoe Giants
Multiple dates and times
Bookings https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=812673&
- Storytime with Anna Walker and Jane Godwin
Friday 24 September
Bookings https://www.trybooking.com/BTSKW
Further events visit – www.gleneira.vic.gov.au
Mango Fundraiser happening NOW! Orders via Trybooking! See Compass or P&F page for more info
2021 Ormond Oak Leaf Yearbook - ORDERS NOW OPEN
The Ormond Oak Leaf Yearbook is a wonderful memento which highlights your child, their class and their participation in a variety of events and programs throughout the school year. The teachers, students and school community leaders are busy collating and putting together a collection of photos and memories to capture these occasions. Families that wish to purchase a yearbook can do so now via Course Confirmation/Payments on your Compass portal, as we need to confirm publication numbers.
Yearbooks are $15.00 per copy.
How to order:
Order via the Course Confirmation/School Payments area of Compass. this will appear as a link on you portal home screen. Please state in the question area how many yearbooks you wish to purchase. Please ensure you amend the final payment amount to reflect the total number of yearbooks you wish to order.
e.g. 3 x Yearbooks = $45.00
2 x Yearbooks = $30.00
1 x Yearbook = $15.00
Yearbooks will be distributed at the end of Term 4.
Please note, any photos submitted by parents to teachers/Brodie during remote learning activities for the newsletter may also be included in the yearbook. We ask you to be mindful when taking the photos that only OPS students are in the photos and that there are no undesirables or personal items/situations visible in the backgrounds (e.g alcohol/cigarettes on tables, identifiable addresses etc) to help protect the privacy of others.
Please only send photos in that you approve of being published.
Helen Kupfer & Kim Stewart
Yearbook Coordinators
Premiers Reading Challenge 2021
The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and Ormond Primary is excited to be participating. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:
- access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
- a modern user-friendly interface
- rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
- the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review
The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 17 September 2021.
Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.
All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.
To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: www.education.vic.gov.au/prc
Bulldogs Colours, I mean...Footy Colours Day!!
Remote Learning Fun On-Site & at Home
Foundation
Term 3 has been a very busy time for Foundation students. They have enjoyed a wide range of learning activities and celebrated some very special occasions. For the very few days that were spent on- site, they appreciated spending time with older students in Year 2, 4 and 5 during Buddy Reading Time. This peer reading was pleasurable and confidence- boosting for all students, and has undoubtedly been beneficial to our Foundation students’ reading.
The children were also excited to celebrate the marvellous milestone of 100 days at school, with specially created T- shirts and crowns. They proudly visited other classrooms to share their achievement.
Foundation students also began their PMP program and had great fun with a terrific array of sports/ physical skills activities supervised by Ms Milliken and the Year 6 leaders.
During Remote Learning, the students have worked diligently to complete daily learning tasks on SeeSaw, with special challenges on ‘Wacky Art ’ and ‘ Maths Madness’ Wednesdays, which provided extra interest and diversity.
Foundation students also shared special occasion days with the whole school, such as Crazy Hair Day and Book Week, where many dressed as Mr Men or Little Miss characters.
The students are to be congratulated for their resilience, hard work and fabulous sense of humour throughout this difficult time.
Year 1 News
As Term Three comes to an end, we would like to congratulate all Grade One students on their outstanding efforts and learning over the past ten weeks. Throughout the term we have explored poems and their different forms such as acrostic, shape, rhyming and concrete poems. Below you will find a few samples of some descriptive acrostic poems inspired by our ‘Five Senses’.
Year 2 News
In Year 2, we celebrated Roald Day, learning all about the life of Roald Dahl, reading his books, and learning about how his love of chocolate inspired the book Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. The children enjoyed several activities based on his books such as fantastic drawings of Willy Wonka after watching a drawing workshop with Quentin Blake, some wacky experiments and a wide variety of poetry styles such as diamante, shape, haiku, sensory and colour poetry.
PE/Sport News
It has been another challenging term with remote learning and I want to congratulate all students for getting outside and completing their PE activities.
Activities have included;
- Athletics jump, throw and running sessions
- Creating your own fitness workouts and challenges
- Designing a game
- Creating a TV advertisement encouraging physical activity
- Football day activities- click on the link below if you wish to complete some more over the holiday break.
https://sites.google.com/ormondps.vic.edu.au/footycoloursday/footy-colours-day
Enjoy your holiday break and your much needed time away from the screen! It’s really important to continue doing exercise which you enjoy, as there are numerous benefits.
Did you know when you do regular exercise it helps you to sleep better, concentrate on other activities and can even help increase your mood. I always feel happier after exercising!
Go for a bike ride, walk, run or scoter with your family, to get fresh air and happy holidays.
Ms Milliken
Visual Art News
It is always a pleasure to see what wonderful creativity is continuing from the homes of our talented Ormond artists. Here are some photos to showcase what has been happening in Visual Arts Remote Learning from the last two weeks.
Across the school, amazing drawings and cards for dads, grandpa’s, uncles or special friends have been a big focus this last week as part of our Father’s Day activities.
Year 1 and 2 put in a wonderful effort with their minibeast origami and it was so lovely to see whole families joining in on following some quite tricky paper folding techniques.
Year 3 went outside into their gardens to make some delightful nature mandalas and what a perfect activity for a lovely Spring Day.
Year 4, 5 & 6 have been exploring the meaning of ‘ Unity in Community’ by creating artworks in response to the Glen Eira Youth Exhibition. Take a look at their thoughtful compositions and enjoy the well-deserved Term break. I look forward to seeing everyone in Term 4.
Helen Kupfer
Visual Arts Specialist