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 wellbeing 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

As I am writing this article, and hearing the rain beating on my office window, I know we made the right decision to postpone the House Athletics today, but we are all feeling a bit disappointed. Mr Liston has been in contact with the Bill Sewart Athletics Track and found an alternative date, on Thursday February 27. The Foundation to Year 2 House Athletics will still be here at school, but has now been moved to Tuesday February 25.  It is always such a fun event and I hope that, if you have children in this age group, you can come along and support them.

Around the school

It has been great to see how well our little Foundation students have settled in and, in many ways, acting like they have been at school for ages.  Ruby, our school dog, has been visiting classrooms and is fully booked for every session of the school day, chilling with the kids both inside and outside the classroom. This is now her eighth year at the school and she is still is so excited to be here each day, and clearly brings joy to our community.  A group of Year Six students started their cooking classes with Trinity in our student kitchen during Monday lunch time.  The rice paper rolls they made were fantastic and I was lucky enough to taste test one.  This is a great initiative and clearly enjoyed by all involved. 

OGPS this year has been accepted into the John Monash Science School's Young Scientist and Robogals Program. A number of our Year Five and Six students will be attending this program each Wednesday with Mrs Bec Bird for the term. We are looking forward to hearing how they go.

Student School Leaders Assembly

Next Wednesday 26th February at 9:10am we will be having our annual badge presentation assembly for our school leaders.  This is a very exciting event for our Year Six students, as we congratulate them on receiving their role and they officially begin their duties. A special morning tea is held for the school leaders and their families after.  Everyone is welcome to attend the assembly.

School Council Elections

The nomination for candidates for School Council closed tonight at 4pm. We received more nominations than vacancies again this year, which is fantastic, so we will be going to an election.  Next week each family will receive ballot papers including a blurb from each candidate introducing themselves and explaining why they want to be on council.  Watch out for more information to come.

District Swimming

26  students from Years Four to Six competed on Monday in the District Swimming competition at Aquanation.

Our swimmers did  very well, placing well across the events.  Overall, OGPS came 3rd, which was a great effort.  Mr Liston will have more details to come over the next few weeks.

Information Night

Next Thursday 27th February we are holding our annual information night for each year level.  This is an important meeting to attend and helps to orientate parents as to what will be happening during the year for your child. Please look out for more information regarding times and locations.

There is also an induction session being held at 5:40pm in the PAC. If you are wanting to help around the school this year, you must have been inducted according to the regulations, outlined by Child Safe Standards.

Active Travel and Road Safety Whitehorse Council Program

You may remember that, last year, OGPS was chosen as the school in the City of Whitehorse do be involved in the Active Travel and Road Safety Initiative.  Whitehorse Council has acknowledged that we have complex and challenging issues around being a large school with many people trying to access our school site at the one time and the pressures that can bring around student safety.  The aim of this program is to encourage families to have their children walk or ride to school on a more regular basis and reduce the number of cars coming into the school to pick up students.  We have a working party of students that met last year with the program coordinators to flesh out the issues and possible solutions, and how we can educate our community in this space.  This year, we will be encouraging families to park in the surrounding area and walk into the school, identifying 'park and stride' points around the school to encourage active travel.  We will be commencing a WOW program - a walk and wheels initiative -  where, at least once a week, children will be encouraged to either walk or ride to school and we will once again be participating in the 'Ride2school' official program.  Our nominated day for the 'Ride2School' day will be the last day of term, Friday 26th March.  Keep a look out for more information about this initiative in the weeks to come.

Well, that's all from me for this week.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend with your family.

Talk soon.

Glenda Harry

Principal