Principal Report & School News
From the Principal...
Learning in Lockdown
Let’s face it, the 6th time around in lockdown with students in remote learning and parents as partners in teaching is testing the limits of many. The question for each of us to consider is simply:
“What do we all need to do together to continue to motivate, engage and make sure the students’ educational and wellbeing needs are continually being met?”
Staff Focus
The staff at OPS have been very focused on the question: ‘how can we reinvigorate learning in lockdown?’
That is why we have reached out to families through the remote learning survey attached to this newsletter. While we remain in a remote learning model, the following key points have been at the forefront of our thinking.
- Students need opportunities to work together (collaborate) on shared learning tasks (to increase that peer connectedness and social interaction)
- Students need more time ‘online’ with their teacher
- Learning tasks need to be differentiated where possible
- Students need more opportunities for ‘fun’ (dress ups, themes, active games etc)
- Students should be valuing and applying feedback from the teacher to their ongoing work
- Students should be motivated and engaged in remote learning practices
Just as it’s important to obtain parent perspectives, it’s also valuable to share the following points that have been noted by the teachers:
- Students are losing focus and motivation, with many having less assistance from their parents
- A higher number of students are not doing any of the learning tasks set
- There is a higher number of absences each day
- There is a higher number of families reaching out for school support. This includes onsite supervision, additional feedback or support and daily phone check-ins.
Let’s clarify what feedback has already been happening
Teachers are providing feedback to students within the small group lessons. Teachers have noted the success indicator the child needs to continue to work on and they use the small group lesson to show the child how to develop the skill.
In addition to individualised feedback to the students online, students have been encouraged to upload their work to either See Saw or to Google classroom where written feedback is then provided.
Teachers have been doing the following during remote learning
- Preparing differentiated lessons for small groups based on notes from the day’s WEBEX lesson and the learning tasks that have been uploaded.
- Correcting work uploaded and providing feedback
- Creating differentiated resources for the small group lessons
- Checking students’ use and progress with online platforms (e.g. Essential Assessment, Wushka etc)
- Attending team meetings – where teachers share ideas and plan together
- Meeting with teacher assistants/ tutors and visiting teachers to plan for students with specialised needs
- Providing support to struggling students (and parents)
- Responding to emails
- Attending staff meetings, including continuing the work of professional learning action teams (Numeracy, Literacy, Inquiry & Wellbeing) & updating ‘evidence of learning’ records and collaborating with colleagues to plan for the following weeks
Remote Learning Parent Survey
As we edge closer to the end of a long and hard Term 3 for everyone, we understand that needs may be changing in your homes. We would like your input about the current Remote Learning program and how we may better support families and students moving forward.
Below are links to surveys for each Year Level. We ask that if you have children in multiple Years you complete an additional survey for them and consider how their needs may differ. This will further assist our teaching teams to plan Remote Learning programs that meet the needs of individual year levels.
We truly appreciate the ongoing commitment from each family and hope that we can continue to work together to support the needs of our community.
- Foundation https://forms.gle/TUhZTwXGnxjLzN6S7
- Year 1 https://forms.gle/udjQfyZAmcBThjK16
- Year 2 https://forms.gle/FhaeTBeW93VnTEbU8
- Year 3 https://forms.gle/kqYY46FHHcCrwvYWA
- Year 4 https://forms.gle/rmLVoxT6B6SwF2Ff7
- Year 5 https://forms.gle/winYUTj5etKYaejr7
- Year 6 https://forms.gle/eePBqwQRg83kwwqt6
Book Week Celebrations
It was lovely to see the enthusiasm and interest shown towards our Book Week activities. On Wednesday, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the onsite students dressed in costumes and I also interacted with children at home via online platforms. The students have enjoyed sharing stories and discussing their favourite characters. Their love of reading is clearly evident! I am pretty sure the staff also enjoyed a chance to dress up and immerse themselves in a good book.
Three Way Conferences
On Tuesday 31st August, the staff will be conducting three-way conferences with students and families. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with your child/ children’s teacher via WebEx. Students at OPS will reflect on their learning, discuss any challenges and set future goals. Please make sure you reserve a ten minute time slot as soon as possible. Bookings are now open on your Compass portal.
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.
Hang in There
Thank you to our wonderful students and parents who are doing their best in these challenging times. Thank you also to the staff who are constantly considering and making adjustments to engage our students and monitoring their learning.
Please make sure you take some time each day to ‘find joy in everyday moments.’
Kerri McLeod
Principal
Cyber Safety Webinar
Susan Mclean is partnering with ChildSafe Australia to present a webinar about online safety and young people. The $5 fee goes directly to assisting the fabulous work of Childsafe in ensuring that they continue to educate organisations in Child Safety Best Practice. Presented as part of National Child Protection week. Wednesday 8th Sept - 7pm
Susan McLean is Australia’s foremost expert in the area of cyber safety and young people. Widely known as the "Cyber Cop", she was the first Victoria Police Officer appointed to a position involving Cybersafety and young people.
Given lockdown continues around the nation and abuse online is at an all-time high this webinar is probably one of the most important ones you will see this year.
Some of the topics that will be discussed are:
1. What are the top three tips parents can do to keep their children safe online?
2. Why has lockdown presented predators with more opportunities to groom children online? What are the current statistics of the increase?
3. What can parents specifically do to make sure their children are safe from child predators and bullies online?
4. What is the appropriate rules around online learning? eg. what should teachers be doing and never do?
5. What does a parent do if their child is being cyberbullied, and or if an adult contacts them online?
6. Dick pics, naked selfies and the influence of pornography online is distorting our kid's minds. what can we do to teach them a better way to protect themselves?
Further information and booking details via the link below:
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
Library News
Scholastic Book Club Issue #6 is now available online.
https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/
Orders will be delivered to your residential address and not the school due to lockdown. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the OPS parent community for their continued support of the OPS Library Scholastic Rewards. With every Book Club order that you place, Scholastic gives back 20% of your total order spend to your school as Scholastic Rewards.
Happy Book Week
If there is something you would like to see in the library please come speak to us or email the school at Ormond.ps@education.vic.gov.au
Book Week - Dress-up Day - 25th August
This week Book Week was successfully celebrated in various forms online. Wednesday was a fun day with students and staff dressing up as their favourite book character and sharing books. Some students participated in a live book chat with Emily Rodda or listened to a writing session by Andy Griffiths, some students wrote book reports, designed book covers or listening to this year’s short listed books. We would like to thank everyone involved especially the parents for helping out with the student costumes and props. We hope you enjoy the photos in this Newsletter.
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
Year 1 News
Book Week 2021- Book Face Challenge!
To celebrate Book Week this week Year 1 and 2 students were given a challenge to find a book cover with a face or some other portion of a body, line it up with yours and snap yourself. Some students and families got very creative with their Book Face Challenge. Well done!
Year 2 News
Students in Year 2 kick started Book Week having fun with book covers.
Year 5 News
Year 5 students have been learning how poets engage readers and set out their poems to enhance meaning. Students have had opportunities to write their own poetry and have been intrigued by Haiku poetry. Haiku poetry is originally from Japan and is based on stanzas of lines with 5 syllables -7 syllables - 5 syllables.
Below are some captivating Haiku poems written by Ormond students.
Year 6 News
Over the last few weeks, Year 6 students have been learning about Poetry. They have thoroughly enjoyed learning about different types of poems such as limericks, rhyming couplets, narrative and verse poetry. As students gain a deeper understanding of a poem's structure, they have been learning to incorporate more descriptive language to awaken the five senses; see, touch, taste, smell and hear, in their poems to help the reader create a visual image in their mind.
We hope you enjoy the poems below written by two of our Yr 6 students
PE/Sport News
House Athletics Day 3-6 Results
We were very fortunate to get in our Year 3-6 Athletics day on Thursday 5th of August at Moorabbin Athletics Track. It was fantastic to see students participating in events with great enthusiasm and determination. The end results were extremely close with Hollows in 4th, MacKillop in 3rd, Flynn was a close 2nd and Chisholm finished in1st place.
Special mention to the following students who displayed fantastic skills.
- Noam in year 5 ran 100m in 14.83 seconds
- Gigi in year 5 ran 100m in 15.13 seconds
- Tao in year 4 ran 200m in 31.24 seconds.
- Harry B in year 5 jumped 3.9m in long jump.
- Evie H in year 6 jumped 1.10m in high jump
- Helena N in year 3 threw a shot put 5.06 metres
- Sam H in year 6 who threw a discus 21 metres.
The District Athletics date is still being finalised and I will let those in the District Athletics team know as soon as possible. Once we are back onsite there will be trainings for students in the District Athletics team. A big thank you to the Year 3 to 6 teachers for helping with running activities on this day!
Emma Milliken
PE/Sport Specialist
STEAM News
Term 3 STEAM Remote Learning
It has been wonderful seeing all the terrific STEAM projects students have been completing at home.
Year 1 Aim
Making a body fossil for their dinosaur of choice as students continued to extend their learning on dinosaurs and the pre-historic period.
Year 2 Aim
Creating a 3D model of an insect that they researched as part of their “Life Cycle” projects.
Year 3/4 Aim
Practice coding an interactive quiz for their project that is connected to the Science topic students are learning in their classrooms.
Year 5 Aim
Design and create a brand new animal that can adapt and survive in a biome of choice.
Year 6 Aim
In preparation for their next STEAM project, Year 6 students have had fun learning about forces and simple machines. Students then applied their understanding to create their own Rube Goldberg machines at home.
Anna Bui
STEAM Specialist
Visual Art News
Glen Eira Youth Art Exhibition - Unity in the Community
This week during Remote learning the Years 4, 5 and 6 students were sent a Visual Arts task to begin planning and designing their artwork entry to the Glen Eira Youth Art Exhibition – Unity in the Community.
The 2021 Youth Art Exhibition is a prestigious opportunity for young artists to showcase masterpieces of any medium! Students can select from any of the following to complete their artworks - photography, textiles, graphic art, sculpture, painting, drawing or crafts.
There are fantastic prizes available for each age category:
- Ages 5-9 years can win an art supplies hamper to the value of $100.00
- Ages 10-13 years can win a Westfield gift card valued at $150.00
- Ages 14-17 years can win a Westfield gift card valued at $250.00
- Ages 18-25 years can win a Westfield gift card valued at $300.00
Artists must register online and attach a digital copy of their work on the registration form. This registration form can be found on the Glen Eira City website,
https://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/services/youth/events-for-youth/youth-art-exhibition
All submissions must be entered by 5:00 PM on Friday the 3rd of September.
I will also be in contact with The Youth Leadership Team to arrange a bulk collection of artworks to be submitted from Ormond. Please see the attached flyer in the newsletter for more information.
Remote Learning with Foundation Students
I was blown away by the wonderful Snow scenes the Foundation students completed during Lockdown #5. They looked like they had a lot of fun and sent in some wonderful photos of their completed artworks that you can see here. Also take a look at the fabulous Hand Animal drawings they have been working on this week.
Remote Learning with Year 1 & 2 Students
Year 1 & 2 students have continued to explore insects and mini beasts and many students were able to go outside into their gardens to find some natural materials to make insect collages just like Japanese Canadian artist Raku Inoue. I loved seeing their creations and hope you do too!
Year 3 Artworks
Have a look at the creative transformations that Year 3 applied to every day objects, inspired by Ecuadorian artist Javier Perez (also known as Cintascotch).
Book week Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds! Visual Arts Task
As part of the Book week celebrations, Foundation to Year 3 students listened to different short-listed picture books before completing an art activity that went with their chosen book. Here are just some of the photos of their delightful creations. Some drew 10 layered birthday cakes, turned dangerous animals into cute critters, made upcycled birds, drew pictures of Magoo or created collages of Bear and Ted. I look forward to seeing more of their art as they continue to upload their work online.
Keep up your wonderful Visual Arts learning from home, OPS artists!
Helen Kupfer
Visual Arts Specialist