Principal's Message

School Philosophy

Orchard Grove Primary School is committed to providing a safe, nurturing environment that engages curiosity, promotes learning, personal growth, and well-being for all students. We strive to develop adaptability and resilience so students can become valued members of the local and global communities and be prepared for future life experiences.

From the Principal

Welcome back for the 2023 school year! 

Firstly, it is exciting to be writing this newsletter as the principal of OGPS, a role I am really proud to have. I look forward to leading the school as we continue to build on our values and philosophy. I am passionate about ensuring that all students feel supported in their learning, achieve success, and feel confident in challenging themselves to strive and achieve their best.

I would also like to welcome our new staff: Liz Padman in FEP, Stephanie Vawser in FSV, Abbey Tiernan in 2AT, David Simpson in 5DS, Shay Jayewardene in 5SJ, Danielle Calvisi in 6DC, and Patricia Soler-Coy in Spanish. We also welcome back Georgia Syme in the Library, Jo Fellowes in Performing Arts (and as a tutor), Bec Bird as our new STEM specialist, and Abbey Papailiou and Hayley Sheridan in 2PS. Whilst not new, Alex Edwards is now Alex Phillips and Tara Smith is now Tara McLeod, as they both were married over the holidays. A big congratulations to them both! Charlee McElligott will be here next week before commencing her maternity leave. 

We celebrated the Lunar New Year yesterday, with a dragon dance as the finale of the day. It was great to see so many parents come along and we hope to be able to once again schedule events across the year to celebrate our many cultures. Stay tuned for news about how we will celebrate Harmony Day. A big thank you to our EAL teacher, Tulin Koc, for her work in organising these events.

All of our classrooms are busy engaging in our start-of-year program, in@OGPS, where they are revising our values and setting norms and expectations for their new classrooms. Mission statements and ICT agreements will be coming home soon for you to talk through with your children, sign and return to class teachers. Teachers have also had a planning day this week so they could plan for the term. This and other information will be shared with parents at the Parent Information Sessions we will hold in the coming weeks. These will be online (via Webex) as we have noticed more parents are available to attend these sessions when they are online rather than in person. Please keep an eye out for times and dates.

Our 2023 student leaders will have their badges presented to them in a special assembly on Thursday February 16 at 9:15 am. The whole school will attend, with the assembly lasting about 20 minutes. Parents are most welcome to attend.

Finally, a reminder about school uniforms: hair needs to be tied up if longer than shoulder length, shoes and socks (without visible logos) need to be primarily black, white or navy in colour, and house t-shirts can be worn on PE days only; hats are needed for this term as well. Teachers will remind the students, and then email parents, about items that need to be adjusted or changed, when and if the need arises. The policy in full can be viewed on the school website.  

Speaking of uniforms, the lost property cupboard was very full from the end of the year, with about half of the items being named. Whilst naming clothes is a good step, we really encourage you to name and register with RagTagd via the tag within the clothing as this should alert you (via text message) once the item is placed in the cupboard. 

Thanks everyone.

Michelle Ogilvie

Principal