Principal's Report

Planning for 2014

A seventeen-class structure will be utilized again in 2014 with the advantage that the current school facilities will not be put under additional enrolment pressure. The class structure will be:

• Prep                3 classes
• Year 1             3 classes
• Year 2             2 classes
• Year 3             2 classes
• Year 4             3 classes
• Year 5/6          4 classes

 The Specialist teacher program will include:

• PE                              1.0  EFT
• Visual Arts                  0.6  EFT
• Reading Recovery      0.5  EFT
• ICT                             1.0  EFT
• Korean                        0.7  EFT

In 2014, as in the previous nine years, this generous staffing arrangement will mean that the Student Resource Package will be in a moderate deficit situation. Student/Teacher ratios in Prep to Year 2 will be around 21.5:1 while the overall Prep to Year 6 ratio will be around 24:1. This is significantly lower than in many Victorian schools. There is therefore no capacity to employ additional support teachers for classes with 27-30 students. Additional support would require the reduction of the Specialist teaching program.

Staffing Movements

The employment of teaching staff for 2014 is nearing completion. A number of staff will be leaving Ormond at the of the 2013 school year to pursue new and exciting career opportunities.

Helen Fraser has accepted a position at a remote school in the Kimberley area of Western Australia. The remote community of Balgo is home to 400 residents and Helen will be the Year 5/6 teacher at the local school. This is a fantastic opportunity for Helen to give of her expertise and passion in education. After eight years she leaves Ormond with our highest regards.

Sarah Stanley will return to her home state of Western Australia to continue her teaching career. Since completing her initial teacher training Sarah has  provided great energy and enthusiasm to her teaching. She has begun her teaching career with rare brilliance and we anticipate that she will be a significant contributor to the profession for decades to come. 

Merle Rigby will be leaving Ormond after three years of inspired teaching built on exemplary pedagogy and tremendous enthusiasm for teaching. Merle is leaving teaching at the zenith to pursue other interests. We are confident that she will achieve great success and satisfaction in her new career. 

Christina Varcoe will be leaving Ormond to move with her family to the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Christina has been a wonderful classroom and support teacher throughout her stints at Ormond. She has a love for education and the students that is ever present. Her knowledge of education and her energy for the professional practice will ensure that she will continue to make increasingly significant contributions to the education system.

Staffing Appointments

A number of teachers have been appointed to fill advertised vacancies for the 2014 school year. Haydn Thompson and Gregg Workman have both been reappointed to fixed term teacher positions at Ormond. We congratulate them both on their continued association with Ormond. Both these teachers work diligently at their craft and are assets to our school. 

Dimitra Sfetsas has been appointed to fill the vacant Leading Teacher – Assessment & Reporting position. Dimi has benefited from over ten years teaching experience principally at Tucker Road P.S.  She brings a wealth of knowledge to the role at Ormond. 

Chris Cheverton has been appointed to his first teaching position at Ormond. He has benefited from many years of experience working as an outdoor educator with the YMCA and in the summer camping program in the United States. He is familiar to us at Ormond through his final teacher training rounds and his involvement with the Year 5 camp at Swan Hill in October 2013. 

After three rounds of applications and interviews one teacher vacancy remains. This position will be filled in the first week of December.

Many of you may be aware Ms Sally Berryman has been on leave for the last few weeks. Ms Berryman's anticipated return to Ormond P.S and her class 3B is Monday 2nd December. Thank you to Ms Melissa Kah who has filled in for the bulk of Ms Berryman's time away. 

Transistion

The Student Transition Program began last week with all students for 2014 having their first experience with the educational program they enjoy in 2014. Four more sessions are planned over the coming weeks in order to build each child’s confidence in advancing to the next year level. The final transition activity in the last week of school will be an opportunity for students to meet their new teachers

Parent Correspondance

Thank you to those parents who have taken the opportunity to highlight social and educational elements regarding their children. The teachers and school leaders take all of these thoughts into consideration when formulating classes for the following year. Once the announcement of teachers and classes is announced in the coming weeks it is anticipated that there will be a second wave of correspondence. We implore parents to not request specific teachers as we always endeavour to make the best possible placements after considering all factors.

Student Leadership

The Year 5 students are currently focusing on their Inquiry Unit around Leadership. This will culminate in the peer/teacher elections of all student leaders for 2014. We encourage all students to identify their interests and strengths and to put themselves forward for leadership opportunities. It is also acknowledged that not everyone wants to ‘lead’ but it is important to identify as part of a team. The leadership roles are:

• School Captains
• House Captains
• Environment Captains
• Community/ Junior School Council Captains
• Multimedia Captains
• The Arts Captains

Brick Fundraiser

Many families have indicated that they would like to contribute to the Brick Fundraiser around the construction of the Brick Shed, Bike Shelter and Rebound Wall. The promotion has been extended until Friday 29th November,  in order that families starting at Ormond in 2014 can also be included. The bricks will be ordered in early December to allow for the construction of the building in late January, 2014.

Principal for a Day

On Monday 25th November Chris Tisseverasinghe, the Head of Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Transformation at the National Australia Bank will be visiting Ormond Primary School as a part of the Principal for A Day program. 

The Principal for a Day program is a joint DEECD and industry initiative to bring business into contact with education. Chris has been assigned to shadow me for the day where he will learn about communicating with the community, student leadership, literacy, numeracy, inquiry learning P -6, staffing employment and budget management. 

Chris will be speaking at the Monday morning assembly and will also meet the teachers at recess. 

Successful Walk-a-thon

On Thursday, 7th of November Ormond Primary School conducted a Walk-a-thon to raise money for a school in Mombasa, Kenya. The money raised will help them buy new text books for their school. Four hundred and two Ormond students from Prep to Year 6 walked for half an hour. Prep and Year 1 walked around the oval.  Year 2 to 6 students walked around the perimeter of the school. 

Student organizers Chloe, Maya and Nikia participated along with their school friends to encourage them along the way. Nikia felt that the Walkathon was a big success and she thinks the students in Kenya will be very pleased. Ormond Primary School wishes the Kenyan students success in their Swim-a-thon tomorrow. The Kenyan students and volunteers are aiming to complete 295 laps of their local swimming pool.

Working Bee

In preparation for the Bush Picnic, we will be holding a mini Working Bee on Thursday 28th of November at 3.45pm.  We will be concentrating on clearing the yard as best we can, including sweeping leaves and utilising the Billy Goat.

If you have some free time on this afternoon, please come down and lend a hand. All parents, friends and students of Ormond are welcome. 

Parents & Friends Bush Picnic 

We encourage all of the Ormond parents and families to support the Parents & Friends Bush Dance scheduled for Saturday, 30th of November. This promises to be an enjoyable event for the Ormond community and we wish the organizers every success for their concerted efforts.

Glenn Butler

Principal