Principal Report

From the Principal...

I trust everyone will have a wonderful long weekend and enjoy some sunny breaks over the next few days. I have had a wonderful Thursday with lots of birthday wishes and cards arriving in my office and I have enjoyed some very special Happy Birthday singing from classes across the school. Thank you one and all.

Collectible Cards

At this time of the year, I like to remind everyone at Ormond, and especially the younger students and their parents, about our ‘Collectible Card Rules’ so that all children can enjoy this activity throughout the season. During the winter season many children will begin to collect footy or Pokémon cards and they will want to bring them along to school. Collecting cards and trading them with friends is a wonderful pastime which helps to promote an understanding of value as well as providing experience in trading and negotiating. However, the enjoyment of these activities needs structure and a few simple rules.

Children need to trade cards only with children of a similar age. It would be unfair for a child in Year 3 to attempt to trade cards with a Prep or Year 1 student as they would often have a different understanding of the relative value of various cards. This is a potential source of conflict which can easily be avoided by trading only with age group peers.
Cards should not become a distraction in class. Children who bring cards to school must put them in their tub, locker or bag during class time.
Responsibility for the cards rests with the child who owns them. If a child drops their cards in the yard, puts them down or misplaces them it is their responsibility.
Keep your special cards separate from your trading cards. Your special cards are mementos that you will want to keep. Your trading cards are ones showing players from your least favourite teams or cards which you already have.

Parents could discuss these rules with their children so that they enter in to collecting and trading with a clear idea about how best to enjoy the activity.

Traffic Safety and Awareness

Just a reminder for all students and families to keep discussions around traffic safety a priority. The Bentleigh, Ormond and McKinnon areas have become overly congested with traffic and therefore everyone needs to be extra cautious. Unfortunately, we have had reports of concerning near misses and students not adhering to traffic expectations and ignoring crossing signals etc. Students in younger grade levels are advised not to travel to school on their own. As a community, we need to ensure the safety of all of our students. The school will continue to provide traffic safety education and reminders on a regular basis.

Yard Duty and Playground Safety

I would like to remind parents that teachers are on yard duty from 8:45am only. Students should only be at school with parent supervision from this time. Alternatively, students should be booked into Before School Care if they need to arrive prior to 8:45am.

Also, I ask parents to please only allow students on the appropriate playground for their age before and after school and to also supervise them during this time. Junior students should not be on the senior playground.

AToSS – Attitudes to School Survey

The AtoSS is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist your child’s school to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Students will be asked about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer relationships and life in general.

There are also some questions about student health and wellbeing.

Understanding health and wellbeing needs is important to support students to learn and thrive at school. The Department is providing this addition to the core survey to allow your child’s school to capture this information to support students. Students will be asked about resilience, community connections, mental health and physical activity.

This year, the AtoSS was completed on Thursday June 8th with all students from Year 4 – 6 who were present on this day.

Mid-Year Reports

The mid-year reports will go live on Friday 16th June and we are hoping families will have sufficient and accurate information to refer to when they book in for a parent teacher interview on Monday June 19th.This is an assigned Curriculum Day and will run from 11 am to 7 pm, in conjunction with the new staffing agreement which limits opportunities for teachers to extend their hours of work. We encourage families to book in early for their desired interview times but please understand if times do not suit, the staff are flexible in reorganising other days for a catch up. Please contact them via COMPASS or phone the school for other options.

Final Note

The school is currently upgrading the student toilets with a new urinal and an audit of the plumbing, accessibility to sanitary items, paper dispensers and soap etc. This is in response to student voice and agency and the needs of all age groups across the school. I will be on leave till next week due to further family health matters, but I encourage you all to reach out to Lorrie Dell, Susan Rimmer or Simone in the front office. They will also contact me with any pressing school matters.

Kerri McLeod

Principal