From the Principal

Dear Families,

Welcome back: It was great to see so many happy faces on Monday morning as I welcomed hundreds of kids into the school grounds with Rhonda. Congrats to all families for getting back into the routines of school. I hope you all had a restful break. 

Term 4: As you read on and look through the calendar, you will see an action packed term - especially for the Year 6’s. Organisation is the key! Keep an eye on dates and events coming up. Staff have worked hard to plan these great opportunities and we look forward to them.

Lunch Orders: Lunch orders are now available for order. The Groove Cafe will supply lunches on a Friday.  Please see the 'Parent Information' page for more information regarding ordering lunches.  Thank you to everyone involved for all of your hard work with making this possible. 

NAPLAN data: Earlier this year I mentioned how well OGPS students performed in the 2022 NAPLAN testing. As you can see from the graphs below, our Year 3’s outperformed the State, Network and similar schools in ALL areas and our Year 5’s outperformed the State and Network (nearby schools) in all areas and when compared to similar schools, we had similar results, but we significantly outperformed them in Grammar & Punctuation, while reading continues to be strong. Congrats to all students and families – and teachers, who create the partnership to enable our students to perform well in the NAPLAN testing. I am so proud of all of you! 

2023

Preps: Have you enrolled your child yet? We have 73 Preps for 2023 so far. 

Grounds works: have you noticed how much work has been happening onsite recently? Shade sail poles have been installed, new carpet in the STEM room, fire services are progressing slowly, materials arrived for the Inclusive Playground area, a number of High Risk trees from the last audit have been removed with more to be attended to soon. Mr Kev has been in and fixed up bits and pieces for us and Mick Malecki our groundskeeper has the oval and grounds looking great! Thanks to Mrs H for coordinating all the works to add value to the school and keep things looking great and as safe as possible. 

Dallas Holden is back: We welcome Dallas (and her boys) back to school. It was so good to have her enthusiasm back this week and we look forward to hearing many more stories from your adventures - all while we get ready for the end of year concert! And there are a few other traveling families who have returned too – we welcome them back and I look forward to getting their travel tips too!

Apple Fair: Adele Smith and her team are continuing to plan for the 2023 Apple Fair and would love some extra helpers please! They are working in the background to ensure we have a wonderful event but the old saying still applies – Many hands make light work! Contact the office if you can help and we will put you in touch with Adele.

Cleaners: We have a new cleaning company that started with us over the holidays. We welcome the crew from Logical Property Services who will keep our school clean and tidy. 

Sustainability: Our wonderful sustainability committee are also working hard in the background to put things in place for enhanced recycling and education around sustainable practices. We strongly encourage all families to think about the types of packaging being sent to school and ask you to think about more sustainable options, such as nude food. Each Year level has a designated eating area to prevent waste (food and rubbish) being scattered around the yard. We all want a neat and clean environment to learn and play in, so let’s work together and ensure OGPS is as sustainable as possible. 

Uniform Shop: Looking Smart have recently sold their business to DCS clothing and all our school uniform requirements can be ordered online via https://www.dcsuniforms.com.au/collections/ocean-grove-primary-school   

Each Thursday, DCS will deliver to schools (Surfside PS and Wallington PS too) and if there are any sizing issues, will quickly work to resolving them. All three schools met with DCS last term to ask questions and have any concerns resolved and we all agreed that we believed DCS will be able to fulfill our schools’ requirements. 

Hats: It’s that time of year that SunSmart hats are compulsory. No excuses! Those without a SunSmart hat will be directed to the undercover area near the library and lower basketball court. Don’t forget sunscreen too! 

Thanks for a terrific start to term 4. It is a long one (11 weeks and 2 days!) and we want to continue the strong learning and academic focus but also strengthen and develop the social aspect of the students. 

Have a great week everyone.

Scott McCumber

Principal