At Ocean Reef, our visions and belief help us focus on meeting the needs of each child.

School Vision

Ocean Reef Primary School’s vision is to provide an educational experience for each child that enables them to reach their full potential and equip them to adapt and succeed in their chosen endeavour in a continuously changing world.

Belonging, Being and Becoming

Belonging, Being and Becoming the early years learning Framework for Australia is a view of children’s lives as characterised by belonging, being and becoming. From before birth children are connected to family, community, culture and place. Their earliest development and learning take place through these relationships, particularly within families, who are children’s first and most influential educators. As children participate in everyday life, they develop interests and construct their own identities and understandings of the world.

Building those partnerships, at Ocean Reef, is very important to us; we have worked to support them grow; we still are! The partnership between the school and home is at the heart of helping you ‘Belong, Be and Become’ part of our school community. As a Leadership Team, we have an open-door approach. We’re always happy to chat if you see us, give us a ring, send us an email or DOJO. Our cabins (classrooms) are open in the morning from 8:30. This is an opportunity for staff to interact with the children and support them to prepare for the day. In week 3 and 7 parents are welcome to join their child and share in some of the learning. We are looking for ways for parents to become involved in the learning processes throughout the day, and more details will follow in the new year.

The website also has the most up-to-date Parent Planner with key dates and events for the term.

Orientation Afternoon 

One event that we would like to invite you and your child to is an orientation afternoon on Wednesday 16 November, at 2pm. During this time, you and your child will be able to spend some time in the room and meet some of the other families that are joining the school next year. During this time, there will also be the opportunity to have a school tour if you’ve not already had a chance.

Welcome Afternoon Tea 2023

At the start of the school year, we invite you to join us for a welcome afternoon tea with other new families, parents from Pre-Primary and the P&C. This is an opportunity to engage with fellow parents and find out how the P&C operates and supports our school.

Your Child’s School Voyage

Children learn many important things before they start school. They learn from you at home, from friends and family, in local playgroups, at Child and Parent Centres, and at child/family daycare if they attend. They bring all of this learning with them to school when they start Kindergarten. Children learn best when they are supported by their families. The more you are involved in your child’s learning and the more you talk with the teacher, the better you can both support your child. A strong partnership with the school and regular contact with the teacher makes sure your child gets the best  start to school.

The Department’s booklet ‘Hello Kindergarten’ is a great resource that explains some of what to expect from our school and how to best prepare your child for Kindy.

School uniform – New and second-hand 

At ORPS we have a school uniform that all students wear. In most of the school, the shirts are blue with a red bar down the side, the kindy shirts are the reverse. This makes them easy to distinguish when they are in the playground. The children can wear any plain blue shorts or trackpants; closed in runners are best. You will see from the picture that the inside of the bucket hat has a different colour on it. Depending upon their ship (faction) this colour is different. You will be told which ship your child is in, red is Phillip, white is Stirling and pale blue is Dampier. You can see that we also have a fleece top.

Which Days will they come to school?

Kindergarten students come to school 5 days across a fortnight, two days one week, three days in the next. In 2023, students will come to school

  • Week 1 (Odd weeks of term) – Thursday & Friday
  • Week 2 (Even weeks of term) – Wednesday, Thursday & Friday.

Students come to school all day from 8:44 to 3pm. But Cadet 1, their classroom, is open from 8:30 in the morning.

Term Dates for this year and future years are available on the Department of Education’s website

What do I need to buy for them? What is the Personal Items lists?

The school tries to purchase any item that is shared or used by multiple families, but some items of consumable stationery are used just by your child. Every year, around October, a Personal Items list for the following year is posted on the website. In subsequent years, any unused items will be returned before the deadline for ordering. Stationery items can be bought from many stores, but we have a main supplier from which you can get everything. Some items are only available from them, and some books and writing books require specific spaces between the lines.

Details of the Kindy Personal Item list can be found at: https://www.oceanreefps.wa.edu.au/parents-community/personal-items-list/

The deadline for free delivery from Campion is Friday 18 November 2022.

Keeping in Touch and Payment Applications

We also use Class Dojo. This is a free app that sits on your smartphone. We are trying to make the classroom and learning ‘visible’. That’s school speak for allowing you to see your child has been learning in class. I hope that this will be something that we can build into the review of communications that the school, with the support of the School Board, is working on. Teachers and the school post messages and reminders to you. You can also use this tool to communicate with the teacher.

In 2019 was the introduction of QKR. This app allows you to make payments for school and P&C events really easily. The app is managed through Commonwealth Bank and Mastercard.

School Website

We work hard to make our website our main information source. We hope you will find all the appropriate information you need on this site. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the information available on the site, please e-mail us at OceanReef.PS@education.wa.edu.au.

Student Progress

Throughout the year we have some ‘formal’ opportunities for you to find out how your son or daughter is doing. In Term 1 we hold a parent/teaching evening. At the end of Term 2 you will receive a written report and then there is an end of Year report. But, if you have a concern in between please make an appointment to speak to your teacher or send them an email.

The P&C

At Ocean Reef Primary School, we are very lucky to have the ongoing support of a wonderful group of parents that form our P&C. Our school P&C have been very successful in fundraising for school resources and regularly providing support at school events throughout the year.
“At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of parents”
The P&C support the school by running many fun events throughout the year. Some of the events are to raise money, others are simply to support us in creating an enjoyable environment for the students.
Over the years, the P&C have supported the school with the purchase of iPads, play equipment, building outdoor play areas and classrooms, additional reading and learning resources, as well as running discos, special lunches and morning teas.
One area that they also support the community is by selling second-hand uniform. Our new shirts last very well and many people donate them to the P&C when their child out grows them. The P&C have a stall in their room every Friday morning where these items can be bought.
We are very fortunate to have such an amazing auxiliary crew.

Allergy Aware School and Healthy Eating

As an allergy-aware school, all staff are trained in anaphylaxis management and we utilise the Department’s standardised management and emergency response plans. If your child has a known allergy, please contact your teacher and the bridge, so that we can complete a management plan.

Whilst we promote healthy eating and sustainable practices, through the curriculum, you know your child best and are best placed to provide the essential fruit, recess snack, lunch and water bottle. We do request that water bottles contain exactly that – water! We will notify you of feedback from your child regarding their lunch or recess items, so that you can have a discussion with them. 

We will wherever possible make sure items that are not eaten are sent home in the lunch box, again so you can have a chat with your child. From personal experience, those little taste buds can change quickly and what works today may not be flavour of the month tomorrow!

In the Cadet 1

In the classroom, there will be a teacher and an education assistant working with the children. There will be occasions when there may be additional staff working with individuals or groups of students. Your child will quickly get to know all staff in the cadet block.

Parent Helpers

Throughout the year, the teacher will look for opportunities for you, to come into the classroom to provide some specific help, if you are available to do so. Your child’s teacher will provide more information about these opportunities via dojo.

Western Australian Curriculum (WAC)

Your child’s curriculum journey is set by the Schools Curriculum and Standards Authority, who establish the Western Australian Curriculum (based on the Australian Curriculum) which guides all schools in WA. At ORPS staff work collaboratively to develop the teaching and learning program that implements the WAC in the classroom. 

 

Supporting Your Child access the curriculum

As a school we recognised that at different times in their school career, your child may need support. The support may be academic, health or emotional.

As part of our school we have a Student At Educational Risk Team, comprising of the Principal, Associate Principal, School Psychologist and Chaplain. We also use our education assistants to provide support when it is necessary. This team looks at students, referred by class teachers, through the lens of ‘maximising potential’,we are looking at those students who are experiencing challenges with their learning , those needing extension and those with social or emotional challenges. We don’t use a ‘cookie cutter’ approach but rather manage each circumstance to match the needs of the individual. You may find that your teacher contacts you to speak about putting your child onto a documented plan; this is not unusual. The plan is just to say, ‘we’ve noted that your child needs some additional support, we want to include you in the discussion, this is what we are proposing’. At any point in the year, 20% of our students could be receiving some form of additional support. I know that in the early years, that can often take the form of external support through speech or occupational therapy. If you have a specific concern, or your child has a diagnosis that you think we should be aware of, please contact the Bridge and we can have a talk to see what plans we can put in place for next year.

Voluntary Contributions and School Contributions on the Personal Items list – which should I tick?

Either, both or neither is the short answer!  Ticking both makes the biggest difference to the students.

The school voluntary contributions are used to help pay for the classroom consumable resources, such as paints, cardboard, they assist with purchase of computers and iPads, playground equipment, anything that directly contributes to the learning of the students and the environment around them. Whilst we receive Government funding, this helps a lot. In primary schools the contribution has been set at $40 for kindy, and $60 for the rest of the school. In high schools this contribution is set at around $250 pert year + school course fees. The amount is set by the WA Government and has remained the same for over 10 years.

The P&C Voluntary contribution is slightly different. The P&C assist the school in fundraising and providing many of the extra events that take place within the school. In the past they have raised money to support the purchase of iPads, purchase thousands of dollars of books for the library, build play areas, like the one in the early childhood area, soccer and AFL kits for interschool competitions. Several years ago, parents in the school community wanted to contribute but found committing time to bake cakes, attend events, etc. difficult. The suggestion was put forward that by giving a $30 voluntary contribution (per family) those that felt that giving time was challenging could still feel like they could contribute.

What else is on your mind?

There may be other questions that you have, some answers may be found on the FAQs on our website:

https://www.oceanreefps.wa.edu.au/faqs/

If you have other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.